Shepherd of the Stars

by joestej

When Humanity ventured into the stars, they found they were not alone. And they were not liked. So they learned. How to build bigger, stronger ships. More powerful weapons. In order to survive, they learned to wield the Sword of the Stars. But there was one lesson they hadn't learned. It was called the Mass Effect.

37. A Brief Comparative Essay (Codex)

You wanted ships? You get ships! I'm leaving my poll up just so people can still vote if there's another Codex they'd like to see, but this one was pretty clearly the winner from the choices I presented.

Like many of my previous Codex chapters this is an in-universe document, this time an essay by a young Salarian in their equivalent of secondary school. Please keep that in mind when reading this. If something seems off or unrealistic about how ships or tactics are described, it's because our poor author got all his information off forums on the extranet and has a very limited grasp of how naval combat would actually work. This is also the source for any discrepeancy between what he describes and what you would experience if you actually tried to play these tactics in Sword of the Stars 2 (where I got most of my information on Orion ships and tactics). He may get the details wrong, but he has a good general idea on how the different races and ships line up.

A shout out to LogicalPremise, by the way. I took a lot of the Council's tactics and technology from his story "A Season of Sorrows Unending", with his permission. Go check out his stuff, its very well thought out.

A Brief Comparative Essay on Orion and Citadel Combat Vessels

By Aestann Gulis

The discovery and integration of the Orion Arm is without a doubt the single most important event of this millennium. The many technologies the Orion races brought to the Council have caused revolutionary changes in culture, trade, medicine, but most importantly, in warfare.

Prior to the opening of the Orion Arm, space combat was restricted to long range bombardment, with point defense 'knife fights' occurring only as a last resort. Lasers, though powerful and capable of bypassing kinetic barriers, could not muster the sheer crushing power of a cruiser or dreadnought's spinal cannon. Close ranged battles prevented easy aiming of spinal weapons, thus limiting the damage output of fleets. Thus the knife fight was restricted to smaller and more maneuverable frigates, while the larger ships engaged at much longer ranges.

The Orion Arm changed everything. A single Lancer heavy beam weapon provides almost half the energy yield of a Turian dreadnought's spinal cannon, and the pre-refit Sword of the Stars class dreadnought mounted twelve of them. To add insult to injury, a pre-refit SolForce dreadnought measured just 216 meters, not even the size of a Turian frigate, which measured 236.5 meters. It was no wonder that the first Turians to engage a full SolForce fleet got their asses thoroughly handed to them.

Which is not to say that Citadel ship design at the time was faulty, or that our technology was inferior. A Turian dreadnought's main gun fires twenty times per minute. An Orion Arm Heavy Driver fired at the same rate, but only impacted for 2.6 kilotons, compared to the 38 kilotons of a Turian cannon. Without element zero to stabilize themselves, the force from a single shot was often enough to send Orion ships hurtling miles off course, even if they were able to survive the initial impact. Orion Arm targeting systems also lagged far behind their Citadel counterparts, with ballistic weapons having only a fraction of the effective range guided ordinance like missiles or torpedoes could provide.

Mass effect cores also allowed Citadel ship a level of maneuverability impossible for conventional thrusters. A Turian frigate could dart and swoop like an atmospheric fighter, while an Orion dreadnought, though similarly sized, found the simple act of turning to be a ponderous chore. Orion field technology, though capable of great feats, was still quite limited, unable to project a full shield envelop over their comparatively small dreadnoughts, while Council ships easily projected full barriers around ships as massive as the Destiny Ascension.

Following the Citadel Truce and the technological exchanges that occurred in its aftermath, virtually all Orion ships were redesigned with the properties of element zero in mind. Though prohibited by the Truce from mounting element zero cores strong enough to reduce the mass of their ships to zero, they were able to use smaller cores to decrease the mass of their vessel to NEARLY zero, allowing them to benefit from the added maneuverability element zero provided. The reduction in mass allowed them to mount extra armor, systems, and weaponry, effectively doubling the size of their ships.

For their part, the races in Citadel space realized that the days where war was decided by stand-off bombardment were over. With the speed increases element zero provided, many Orion Arm ships could even surpass their Citadel counterparts for slower-than-light speed, and technology like Deflector fields could repel even the strongest kinetic strikes. Though the strength of Citadel vessels remains at long range, virtually all active vessels have been refitted to carry turrets and energy-based weaponry to allow them to effectively fight in close engagements.

To illustrate my point, let us compare an Octavian class Turian dreadnought and a post-refit Olympus Class SolForce dreadnought. The merits and abilities is a complicated subject, but for the purpose of this exercise I will use the official calculated yield of their weapons. According to the new dreadnought classifications provided in the Citadel Truce, weapon yield is calculated in average energy transferred to a target over a period of time. The formula for calculating such values is complicated and highly classified, but the final result is popularly known as DPM, or Damage Per Minute.

I must stress before I begin that DPM is NOT a good way to measure a weapon's true effectiveness. DPM assumes ideal conditions, such as all shots from a weapon hitting and penetrating the armor, or that a beam will remain focused on a single point for the full duration of its energy stream. It ignores the special properties weapons like Inertial Cannons possess, and disregards the effect of specific weapons on crew or systems. That said, it is still the best way to get an idea of a ship's damage potential.

An Octavian class dreadnought utilizes the traditional spinal cannon as its main weapon. This gun has a total DPM rating of 1860. In addition, several of the dreadnought's old broadside guns were removed to allow the remaining weapons a greater arc of fire. Each broadside array provides 540 DPM. Following the introduction advanced lasers by the Orion races, the ship's GARDIAN Point Defense array was upgraded to UV beams, providing an additional 1200 DPM. The ship also mounts a half dozen fusion turrets and five traditional ballistic cannons, at 924 DPM and 540 DPM each. The ship's total DPM clocks in at 5604. This final value disregards the firepower provided by the ships small fighter compliment.

In contrast, an Olympus class dreadnought relies on its four antimatter torpedoes for its long-range capabilities. Together, they provide 608 DPM. At medium ranges, it can engage with its three Heavy Drivers, at 1260 DPM. It is also equipped with four Meson Beams, which provide 1152 DPM. But the Olympus class' true strength is in smaller weaponry. It mounts fourteen antimatter missile launchers (532 DPM), ten mass drivers (2100 DPM), eight variable phasers (768 DPM), and eight fusion cannons (1232 DPM). It is also equipped with thirty four small pulse phasers, for an additional 3502 DPM. All told, the Olympus class has a combined DPM of 11154, twice that of the Octavian.

I must again stress that DPM does not equal combat potential. It is physically impossible for either ship to bring all of its guns to bear on a single target. A weapon on the starboard hull cannot shoot through the ship to attack an enemy on the port side. Similarly, the effects of various weapons are ignored in this calculation. Citadel ballistic weapons do reduced damage compared to their Orion counterparts, simply due to their superior velocity. They punch clean through most armor, and as such are highly effective in combat, but do less damage against an unprotected target like a DPM meter. Meson beams have a similar problem.

Despite these factors, the Olympus class dreadnought undeniably mounts more firepower than the Octavian class. The catch is that this firepower is almost entirely short ranged compared to what Citadel races use. The only weapons the Olympus class mounts that have even a fraction of the range the Octavian's main gun possesses are its missiles and torpedoes, both of which can be intercepted by the Octavian's GARDIAN PD grid. If an Olympus class could close to medium or close range, suddenly the balance of power would shift as it brings its superior number of weapons to bear. Maneuvering and strategy are key for Orion races in battle for this reason.

Another common issue is the size difference between the two ships. An Olympus class dreadnought is half the size of an Octavian, but still manages to mount more firepower. How is that possible? Most novice theorists believe it to be because Orion design is superior to Citadel engineering, but that's not true. It's possible for three reasons.

First, the majority of the Octavian class's length is due to the size of its spinal gun. As a railgun, the length of its rails factors into the speed of the projectile. If the gun were removed or cut down, its remaining armaments could easily be mounted on a much smaller frame. This brings me to another reoccurring issue I hear armchair theorists often bring up, the idea that Orion ballistic weapons are superior because they can produce large yields from comparatively small weapons. Again, this idea is ridiculously misguided. As ballistics are a factor of Mass and Acceleration, Orion races must increase one or the other to create any increased yield. To that end, Orion ballistic weapons fire much larger slugs than their Citadel counterparts. Because they find an increase in size to be undesirable, they achieve an increased velocity by increasing the magnetic forces on their drivers. This allows them to increase the power of their weapons, but at the price of making them considerably more unstable. Orion ballistic weapons are notoriously inaccurate and have worse rates of fire compared to Citadel weapons. They also require more energy to function, and have to dedicate much more space to ammunition storage.

The second factor in the increased size of Citadel dreadnoughts is their use of baffled armor. Citadel armor is designed in layers, with large gaps of empty space between each layer. Because they were originally designed with the limitations of mass in mind, Orion vessels are solid masses, with much thicker armor and no layering. As you can imagine, this baffling causes Citadel dreadnoughts to be much larger than they strictly have to, but the protective effect they provide is well worth the effort. A common tactic in the Orion Arm is known as the "Rip and Tear". No doubt you have already realized from the implied brutality the tactic was first named by a Tarkasian. The first step, the Rip, is to barrage an enemy with weapons that are not designed to penetrate, but will do considerable damage to the armor itself. This can be seen in the Olympus class's weaponry, as its torpedoes, missiles, and drivers are all considered excellent for this takes. Once the armor has been strategically weakened or ripped off (hence the name), accurate, penetrating weapons like phasers and beams go to work on the vulnerable sections, punching through the remaining armor layers to strike deep at the ship's internal structure. This is the Tear. Though the weapons used vary between races, most prefer to use long range weapons for Ripping, so the armor is already damaged when they close enough to use their close ranged Tearing weapons. As you may have guessed, baffled armor is resistant to this tactic. Blast weapons like missiles and torpedoes often get caught up on the remains of the outermost layer, detonating them prematurely or deflecting and defusing the force of drivers and fusion weapons. Baffled armor is also resistant to armor-piercing weapons like HEAP rounds, as it causes them to deliver their penetrating payload inside the first armor layer, rather than directly into the interior of the ship.

The third reason is one we've already covered: mass. Orion race ships, even when equipped with eezo cores, are still highly limited by their existing mass. Inexperience with mass effect technology generally means that Orion ship have difficulty shifting their mass on the fly, and cannot raise or lower their mass as dramatically as a Citadel ship might. A Turian dreadnought can go from being virtually massless to double or triple its original mass in just a few seconds, allowing it to both maneuver at speed and weather a heavy barrage without being thrown radically off course. Orion arm ships would take two or three times as long to shift their mass so dramatically, so they compensate by having less mass to try and shift in the first place. This has had several positive side effects as well, such as their reduced size making them harder targets and allowing them to reduce the amount of crew they require to operate. Unfortunately, the density of Orion ships usually means that an Orion vessel takes almost as much resources and time to build as a Citadel vessel twice its size would.

Another major change in modern warfare pioneered by the Orion Arm is the introduction of Battle Riders. The original concept of Battle Riders was created by the Tarka Silver Imperium, which created the first Hunter/Killer vessels. Hunter/Killers were Tarka cruisers with their FTL warp engines removed, as well as all other unnecessary systems, like crew quarters or cargo holds. In essence, a Hunter/Killer vessel is nothing more than a bridge with guns and STL engines strapped on it. Without FTL engines, Hunter/Killer ships were dependent on Hunter Carriers to transport them into battle and provide support for their crews. Thought the Tarka first created the concept, the Liir swiftly adopted it as well, and SolForce and the Hiver Imperium soon followed suit.

Battle Riders have several advantages over their FTL equivalents. Though they cannot operate independently, Battle Riders are much faster and better armed than FTL vessels. Without a large FTL drive to support, Battle Riders can devote more space and power to weaponry. As Battle Riders aren't expected to operate independently, they need only store enough supplies for a day of travel at most. Medical facilities are not required, as injured crew only need to be stabilized long enough to be returned to the Battle Rider's carrier. Some Battle Riders even remove the ship's life support, letting the crew rely on the air in the suits for the duration of combat. All told, a Battle Rider variant can sometimes eliminate half of a ship's original systems. This free space is filled with additional weapons, armor, or STL engines to improve its combat performance. As a rule, a Battle Rider will always out perform an FTL ship of the same class, and is cheaper to produce as well.

These were seen as the solution to a problem the Orion Races had been encountering even before First Contact. Frigates (or destroyers, as they are called in the Orion Arm), even when organized into wolf packs, were unable to effectively engage larger ship classes without massive casualties. As you may have noticed in my earlier comparison, Orion vessels typically mount large collections of small weapons, rather than one or two powerful guns. Without element zero, Orion destroyers could not muster the agility to avoid the heavy firepower of cruisers or dreadnoughts, and the varied armaments of larger ships allowed them to easily engage multiple small vessels at a time. This is not the case with Citadel vessels, where the agility of frigates makes them very difficult targets. Citadel cruisers or dreadnoughts would have to spend considerable time and effort aligning their main guns to destroy a single frigate, and in that time the rest of the squadron would be able to close and engage.

Even after the introduction of mass effect technology, destroyers lagged behind other ship classes. The prevalence of fast, accurate weapons like lasers or particle beams meant that even with the added agility, destroyers would require three to one odds or more to even have a hope of victory against a cruiser. Even then, casualties would be extremely heavy. To be viable in combat, destroyers required support from larger ships, or some new edge. Battle Riders provided that edge.

Today, the term Battle Rider refers both to any craft without an FTL drive that is carried to battle by another ship, and to the frigate/destroyer class of Battle Rider. Cruiser class Battle Riders are known as Battlecruisers, and dreadnought class Battle Riders are known as Battleships. To date, no Battleships exist, though the Liir/Prester Zuul Alliance and Turian Hierarchy have announced that they are constructing super-dreadnought vessels to carry such ships. Today virtually all FTL destroyer vessels have been retired from active service in the Orion Arm, replaced by Battle Riders. As Citadel frigates did not suffer from the same weaknesses as Orion destroyers, most still retain their FTL capabilities. Though the Elcor, Volus, and Asari have all experimented with Battle Riders, only the Turians have fully embraced the concept. Because Turians believe in patrol in force, with their patrol groups often comprised of a full squadron of cruisers with frigate support, the idea of removing the frigates and replacing them with Battle Riders appealed to them. Though hard facts are difficult to come by, extranet rumors suggest that all Turian frigates will be replaced by Battle Riders within the next two decades.

Battle Riders come in many variants, each named after their primary purpose. The most common is the Patrol Battle Rider, which is designed as an all-purpose workhorse ship. The Spinal Battle Rider mounts a powerful spinal gun, similar to Citadel frigates, and is designed to engage larger enemy ships like cruisers or dreadnoughts. Interceptor Battle Riders are designed for speed, dog-fighting with frigates and other battle riders using their superior maneuverability. Torpedo Battle Riders are built around powerful energy torpedo launchers, and often break away from the main fleet to attack large enemy ships from a distance. They use their superior range and maneuverability to avoid retaliation. Escort Battle Riders are designed to remain near their fleets, screening them from missiles, drones, and other Battle Riders with their numerous small weapons. Scout Battle Riders are intended as recon units, scouting for the main fleet and acting as spotters for beyond-visual-range weaponry. Due to their reliance on powerful ballistic weapons, Citadel races favor Scout Battle Riders over any other type.

Though the Orion Arm has made many changes to how interstellar wars are fought, each race approaches combat differently and has made different use of the new technologies available to them. A common flaw I see in many analyses is assuming that all ships are created equal or utilize the same technologies. They are not, and they done. A side effect of the Orion Arm's diverse technology base is that their ships are also extremely diverse. Some ships mount powerful heavy lasers in fixed mounts. Some, like the Olympus class we discussed, mount heavy armor and many smaller weapons instead of several large weapons. Citadel ships are designed as a single unit, with all parts of the ship customized for a specific class. Orion ships are different. They are designed in sections, with a unique command section, engine section, and a mission section dedicated to the ship's primary purpose. In this way, ships can be quickly customized to fill specific battlefield roles without extensive design work. The practice was first adopted during the technological race of the Hiver/Tarka War, where all three sides realized that they needed highly adaptable fleets that could be quickly designed and optimized for the latest technology in order to stay competitive. Though Orion ships still require design and prototyping, it is a much quicker process for them than it is for Citadel races. The sections of the ships also allow an added degree of survivability in combat. Secondary bridges allow a ship to still fight even after its command section was completely destroyed, and a ship whose mission section has been smashed can still fight on in a limited capacity. One of the downsides to these designs is that it is much easier to destroy individual sections. The engine section of an Orion vessel is designed to snap off completely when enough damage has been done to it, where a Citadel ship's engines might still retain some limited functionality even after it has been heavily damaged. Orion vessels are also very easy to visually identify. An antimatter warp section maintains the same appearance and weapon layout on all ship models, regardless of their role in combat. This allows opponents to quickly assess the capabilities of an enemy fleet and plan against the weak points of those ships.

Despite the natural diversity of ship design and construction, some patterns have developed due to racial preference and access to specific technology. Though it is an over-simplification, the three basic traits each ship can possess are movement, armor, and weaponry. As I mentioned, these are extreme simplifications. Movement can and does include such traits as acceleration, top speed, agility, and other factors. Weaponry includes range, DPM, weapon arcs, turret spread, and many other things. Armor can include deflection and reflection, armor placement, and armor materials. Interestingly, it is the psychology of each race that determines what traits they favor in a ship, as this psychology will prioritize certain avenues of research that will then be translated to their ships.

For example, Asari ships undeniably have the best mass effect cores in the known galaxy. The glowing oval design of the Cascade Core is a very visually distinct image, and the capabilities of the Core are well known. Asari ships can shift their mass almost instantly, giving them the best acceleration and deceleration of all Citadel ships. Some Asari ships have even been known to perform a maneuver known as the Flash-Step, where the drive core is utilized to create a small corridor of massless space that they then fling themselves through, almost teleporting across the battlefield and shoving enemy vessels violently out of the way. This ability is similar to the tactic used by their commandos, and operates on similar principles. The other unique property of Asari ships is their armor. Like their Cascade Cores, Silaris armor is the best in known space, surpassing even the Orion Arm's neutronium-laced adamantine armor in kilogram for kilogram tests. However, silaris armor is far and again the most expensive type of armor known, with the cost of armor often outstripping the cost of the eezo core in many Asari vessels. For all their maneuverability and armor, Asari weapons are often only average, with only their particle weapons standing out as exceptional. Because of these factors, Asari often prefer harassment tactics in battle. They use their dreadnoughts and heavier cruisers to bombard the enemy from a distance, while their more agile frigates and light cruisers dart through and around enemy formations, striking vulnerable targets and crippling the enemy. The superior armor of their frigates and cruisers allow them to safely engage against much larger ships, and the agility of even their larger ships allows them to avoid most long-ranged bombardment. The constant maneuvering by Asari fleets to avoid long range fire is often known as the Ghost Dance, and is as beautiful as it is lethal. By the time an enemy fleet can fight its way past the Asari skirmishers to range close enough to penetrate the Ghost Dance, they've already been heavily damaged. The asari heavy elements only have to mop up. Clever use of this tactic has resulting in Asari Op For squadrons destroying their Turian counterparts without suffering a single casualty.

We Salarians prefer a very different approach to war. Our ships maintain the highest top speed of any Council race, even if their agility and acceleration are no match for that of the Asari. We combine this with our liberal use of stealth technology to create one of the most lethal tactics in Council space. We have always led the Council in stealth technology, and with the introduction of Cloaking fields that can completely hide ships from the enemy, we have truly become a force to be reckoned with. Advances to cloaking technology have allowed ships to fire even while cloaked, and we have taken full advantage of this. Over half of our navy is equipped with stealth armor or cloaks of some kind, and we make heavy use of ECM and ECCM to both hide our own positions and project sensor ghosts to confuse the enemy. Our ships are notoriously fragile, with thin armor and structure build for speed and power rather than survivability. This is an acceptable tradeoff, as in an ideal situation, a ship should not be taking fire at all if the battle is planned correctly. Our ships prefer to approach their enemy unseen, fire massive alpha strikes with all their weapons, and then use their superior speed to quickly redeploy away from any retaliation. Because of this, our guns have some of the lowest range and fire rates of any Citadel ballistic weapon, but do the most damage per shot of any Citadel ballistic weapon. Larger ships, like dreadnoughts, cannot be hidden with cloaks, but use ECM and stealth armor to fire long range strikes based off data provided by cloaked spotters. In a well-planned battle, the battle should be over before the first gun even fires. Salarians are one of the only races to not utilize Battle Riders in any capacity. This is because our frigates are designed to operate independently or in small wolf packs, and the addition of a slower, more exposed support craft would only slow them down.

Turian ships are the most universal of any Citadel craft. If you can name a mission, a Turian cruiser can probably perform it. Escort, forward strike duty, troop deployment, a Turian ship can do it all. The capabilities of their ships vary based off their roles. Most Turian frigates have decent speed and agility, not as fast as Salarian ships or as agile as agile as Asari vessels, but faster and more agile than a Krogan or Batarian vessel was. Turian ships have decent armor, which is sloped and angled specifically to deflect incoming fire and allow them to survive even heavy bombardment. Turian ships are specifically built to have very small forward and broadside profiles, making them much harder to hit from those angles. Unfortunately, the structural designs of Turian ships are not quite as hardy, but there is a reason for that. Turian ships were designed for easy mass production. Compared to Asari or Salarian ships, both of which mount a great deal of expensive special equipment, Turian ships are cheap and easy to build, and they build them by the dozen. From a Turian perspective, their ships doesn't need to be the most well-built or advanced, since they have more ships than anyone else. Turian guns are built around this theory, with some of the highest rates of fire in Council space and long barrels for accuracy at range. The ideal formation for Turians is the gun line, where the largest ships line up and begin raining a hail of death at the enemy. Drones, fighters, and frigates serve as spotters and skirmishers, highlighting vulnerable targets and preventing faster enemy elements from closing with the 'guns'. Cruisers and other medium ships screen for the dreadnoughts and other artillery ships, holding the enemy static while they are demolished by superior Turian firepower.

You may have noticed that we Salarians are the only Council race that does not rely on some variation of the 'hold and smash' tactic. Even with the new advancements and capabilities of our technologies, the Citadel races' mastery of mass effect technology means that we still tend to rely on long range firepower over other, more direct solutions. Orion races, due to their varied psychology and technology, are a bit more colorful in their tactics.

Hivers, for instance, have some of the lowest technology of the Orion Arm. They lack any dedicated FTL engines, and have very limited use of energy weapons. Most Hiver ships only mount lasers for point defense or as powerful forward weapons, like Lancers. But they have turned these weaknesses into their strengths. Because they have no FTL, they rely on STL fusion torches to travel the stars. This gives them the highest top speed in the known galaxy, surpassing even our own ships at maximum thrust. It takes some time for these engines to build up speed, however, and the engines are designed for forward movement, not maneuverability. Hivers are well aware that their fleets will not be able to call in reinforcements until they are able to deploy a gate, and so are built for maximum survivability. Hiver ships are often lined with thick adamantine plates and have many redundant bulkheads and pylons to prevent structural collapse if the armor is ever breached. For this reason, some Hiver ships are even tougher than Asari ships. As mentioned previously, Hivers do not usually use energy weapons. Instead, they have developed several different types of missile and ballistic weapons they use instead. Without energy weapons to pass through shields, they use special Shield Breaker rounds. To defeat armor, they use guns designed to fire HEAP or solid AP shells. At longer ranges, they use normal missiles, fusion and photonic torpedoes, and solid kinetic kill missiles. Because of their use of ballistic and missile weapons, Hivers prefer to engage at medium to long ranges, where their guns can do the most good. Unlike Citadel races, most Hiver ships are more damaging in broadside attacks, where they can fire more of their turrets at the enemy. The most common tactic used by the Hivers was darkly nicknamed the Hammer Swarm by SolForce, and involves their toughest ships accelerating toward the enemy and then gradually curving around the edges of the enemy formation. This allows the Hiver ships to maintain a high top speed and hold the enemy in place. Hivers are used to being technologically out classed, and know that they will often need superior numbers to triumph. For this reason, the Hammer Swarm is not intended to destroy the enemy in a single thrust. It grinds away at the ends of the enemy and ties them down, while the Hiver Gate ship deploys. Once the gate is active, the entire Hiver navy can swarm through and crush the enemy under endless waves of bullets and armor.

Liir use very different tactics. Unlike Hiver vessels, Liir ships have relatively weak armor. The semi-organic coral structure of the interior is extremely durable, however, and Liir telekinesis is very useful for repairing combat damage. Liir flickerwarp drives are notoriously slow near gravity wells like planets, but they offer other advantages. Flickerwarp functions by rapidly teleporting the ship inches at a time at a rapid pace. This swift microteleportation does take some time to accelerate and decelerate (the drive cannot be disengaged in the middle of a rapid teleportation sequence), it is still much faster than trying to decelerate with an inertial drive. Flickerwarp provides one other advantage: the constant teleportation sometimes allows shots to pass right through the teleporting ship, giving it an extra layer of protection. The Batarian Extermination revealed that the Liir's preferred method of engagement is at a distance, bombarding their enemies with energy torpedoes. Ships designed for close battle were created, but such combat was avoided if possible. But now that the Prester Zuul have joined their ranks, new tactics have developed. The Liir/Prester Zuul alliance field some of the most powerful Battle Riders in existence, and are one of only three races to field Battlecruisers. When their new Leviathan is complete, they will be the first race to deploy Battleships as well. Liir Battle Riders are almost universally designed for close engagement, and as such are crewed almost entirely by Zuul. Even Black Swimmers are too psychically sensitive to participate in close battle without serious discomfort and mental trauma. As I mentioned, Liir prefer to pelt their enemies from a distance with energy torpedoes, circling around them like aquatic predators. This circling tactic, like the one used by the Hivers, allows them to continue moving so they can benefit from the protection of their flicker drives. While the Liir vessels circle, the Zuul dart in for the enemy's heart, using their advanced beam weapons to tear at the weak points exposed by the torpedo salvos.

Humans have a very unique approach to war. Their ships mount strong armor, but the general structure of their ships is somewhat weak, for the same reason the structure of Turian ships is weak: it is designed for mass production. Human ships are usually cheaper to produce than their Orion or Citadel counterparts, and slightly easier to manufacture as well. Unlike Hivers, who use their massive numbers to crush their enemies, Humans prefer a subtler route. They customize their ship designs to combat specific enemies, and then group these complimentary designs into fleets they can send against their enemies. Humans have a very flexible grasp on technology, with solid missile, ballistic, and beam weaponry, though their knowledge of beams currently outstrips their ballistic technology. Though human ships are the most flexible in their roles, some statements are generally true of all human ships. Human STL drives are relatively slow, but they make up for this by having a limited forward profile, making their ships difficult targets. The Node Ring is their biggest weak point, as it is the largest part of the ship, and can only be armored to a certain degree before it no longer functions. Though Humans prefer to tailor their tactics specifically to their foes, if they do not have appropriate ships available or are facing an unknown enemy, they prefer to blitz. When possible, their ships drop out of Node Space as close to optimum range for their own weapons as possible, and in a place as inconvenient for their enemies as they can. They then use beam weapons like phasers and meson beams to destroy enemy turrets while their missiles and drivers tear through the enemy armor. Due to their lower durability, human ships prefer precision strikes over massed brawls like the Hivers enjoy.

Like the others, Tarkasian ships are a product of their unique, ambition-focused culture. The speed of most of their ships is only average, which is unsurprising. Though Tarkasians favor lighting fast attacks in ground combat, in space they have a more utilitarian approach. Tarkasian ships are masterfully crafted and are some of the most visually appealing in the galaxy. This masterful craft also extends into their engineering, and Tarkasian ships are designed to handle internal damage without losing functionality. Their vessels also boast a thick armored sheath that wraps around the front, sides, and top of the ship. This sheath is strongest in the front of the ship, but leaves the ship's ventral section somewhat exposed. For this reason, Tarkasian ships often fly in mirrored formations or rotated cones, with their vulnerable bottoms covered by the armored top of another ship. The superior design of Tarkasian ships also gives them a very low sensor profile, allowing them to get closer to their targets before they're spotted. Tarkasian ships mount powerful forward-facing guns, and are positively lethal in close engagements. They employ special corrosion or beam blast missiles when at range, but the main purpose of these long range weapons is to soften the enemy up before the killing close range thrust. Tarkasian tactics are based of their historical hunting tactics. Their Battle Riders and Battlecruisers attack enemy weak points and distract them while the larger dreadnoughts and heavy cruisers remain hidden by their low sensor profiles. The Riders force or lure the enemy into corrosion fields or other disadvantageous areas, and once the enemy is vulnerable the heavy ships move in for a single, devastating strike that completely destroys the enemy. In the absence of enough Riders to fully manipulate the enemy's movements and ensure a swift kill, the Tarkasian fleet often prefers human-like blitz tactics, hitting with a single powerful thrust before sliding their way along the sides of the enemy fleet with their inertia. Because their most powerful weapons and armor are forward-facing, Tarkasian ships almost always try to orient their forward sections toward the enemy when possible.

Ships of the Morrigi Confederation are something of a mystery. As they are not affiliated in any way with the Council, much of their capabilities are a mystery. But we can determine some things from the few anonymous engagements the other Orion races had with their vessels prior to First Contact, and from recordings of their anti-pirate actions. Morrigi ships seem to have above average speed and have demonstrated fantastic agility in combat. Morrigi Gravity Ships, though useful for boosting the speed of their fleets at FTL, also are capable of slowing down nearby enemy ships with powerful gravity fields, ensuring that Morrigi vessels always have the edge in movement. The strength of Morrigi armor can only be guessed at, but historically it has always been strongest in the forward, dorsal, and ventral sections, and weakest on the broadsides. This is likely still the case, as Morrigi ships are built to present a very limited side profile to enemy ships. Morrigi ships retract their weapons during FTL travel, but weapon counts in anti-pirate actions suggest they mount a disproportionate number of lighter weapons, making them much more lethal at close ranges. Their weapons are often mounted in forward turrets with overlapping arcs, allowing them to focus a great deal of fire at a single point. Despite their close range power, Morrigi vessels prefer to snipe from a distance for the majority of battle. Though they seem to have traded out their Destroyers for Riders like their Council counterparts, they support these Riders with swarms of automated drones and bizarre weaponry. A favored weapon of the Confederation is the Complex Ordinance Launcher (or COL), a powerful magnetic catapult capable of firing a payload of deactive drones, mines, or more specialized ordinance far ahead of the main fleet. COLs play a major part in the Morrigi's favorite tactic, which is known on the extranet as the Tar Pit. Morrigi ships use their COLs to drop implosion mines directly into the enemy fleet. While the enemy is mired in the gravity distortions of the implosion mines, the Morrigi drones and Riders pounce, circling around the enemy fleet to dive at targets that appear weak. The enemy is prevented from responding to the Morrigi fleet by a constant barrage of mines and other special weapons, causing them to flounder while the drones continue weakening them. When the enemy is at its weakest, the main Morrigi element swoops in like a bird of prey, focusing their fire on vulnerabilities their drones have created and crushing all remaining resistance.

As you can see, the Orion Arm has had a great deal of impact on space combat in Citadel space, and in the galaxy in general. The crushing defeats suffered by Batarian fleets in the Extermination were a clear indicator that the old ways are not enough. Citadel navies have been severely overhauled in the past decades, and more refits and new ships are drawn up every day. Only time will tell what new advancements lay in store for the future of naval combat.

I can tell you worked hard on this paper, Aestann, and it's twice the length I requested. However, you completely disregarded the standard essay format that I assigned and went over extensively in class. This paper reads more like a collection of random ramblings and interesting facts than an ordered essay. In addition, several of the 'facts' you listed seem quite unlikely or draw unsupported conclusions, and you completely failed to cite any of your sources. On top of all that, this essay was supposed to be about the impact of the Orion Arm on your daily life. As you will not be old enough to volunteer for the navy for another year and a half, I doubt that the affect the Orion Arm has had on naval design and tactics can qualify as an impact on your daily life. I also found several grammatical and spelling mistakes. Did you even bother to proofread this? Please see me after class.