The Auroran Carrier is an Auroran ship in Escape Velocity Nova.
"There is an Auroran legend about the creation of the first Carrier. The Auroran lord who first conceived of such a mighty vessel gave these precepts to the shipwright for its creation: "Make me a hand with which I might strike mine enemies!" The keel for the vessel is so large that it has to be laid in a planet-based shipyard. The ship itself is 1.2 km long, mounts deck-guns, and has bays for Firebirds and Phoenixes." ― Buying a Carrier
"The carrier before you is an impressive sight. Its weapons gleam menacingly in the harsh docking bay lights, and the crew working on it look very efficient, if a bit savage. The captain tells you lovingly about the ship's performance, and the quality of his warriors. You are unsure as to which is the more impressive; the crew with their casual predatory look, or the obvious deadliness of the war machine before you." ― Hiring a Carrier
Gameplay Analysis
"A heavy ship, to say the least, this ship carries tons of fighters, as well as being heavily armored and having excellent armament (in terms of diversification). It's speed makes it a target for heavy missiles, but it's thick armor means that you'll have to do more than just pound away at it from a distance -- besides, those railguns can take you out if you sit in one place too long." ― EVula Survival Guide
While big and slow, the Aurora carrier is one of the most effective carrier-class ships in the game. It has a huge amount of expansion room, and all auroran fighter bays launch when multiple bays of the same fighter are installed. This is very helpful if you have to skirmish a squadron of fighters to an immediate threat, and the Firebirds and Phoenixes you get with the ship are cheap and expendable, as is reflected in the rest of the auroran battle-tactics.
It is not without its drawbacks, however. The bay it fields have a fairly large weakness, which is the speed it can launch out its fighters (it is fully possible though, to have them undocked all the time, which will circumvent this problem). Another disadvantage lies in its speed and manueverability, making it less effective as the player's ship, since the time to jump to another system is also increased, due to Auroran technology. Even with all the sigma upgrades the speed of this ship is barely over 200 (if that). It is also a quite big target, making it difficult to dodge.
It can stand up to a Federation Carrier, depending on which version it is, but against smaller ships it relies on its fighters. Do not try to fight the Polaris with this Carrier. The best defense against them is speed and long range firepower. It might have the latter, but it fails horribly at the first. Armor and shields matter little when a CPL comes crashing down upon you.
As an escort, the Auroran Carrier is very formidable, but it is, just as the Aurora Cruiser, rather difficult to capture due to the large crew. One of the advantages of having them as an escort is that you do not need to pay for the fighters they have lost in a battle. Because of their railguns, they will also prefer to stay outside of combat, as a weapon platform to support its fighters. The Heraan Va Ytreck Aurora Carrier brings six 100mm Turreted Railguns to battle alongside six Firebirds and four Phoenixes, making it the best long-range escort after Polaris capital ships have ran out of Polaron torpedoes (the Heavy Weapons Pirate Carrier makes a better medium-range escort with its Heavy Blaster Turrets and EMP's).
As with all Carrier escorts, the Aurora Carrier need it orders regularly changed from "Attack" to anything else. Phoenixes that have ran out of missiles will simply return to formation with their carreir while "Attack" is in effect.
| Sub-factions: Family Heraan • Family Moash • Family Dani • Family Tekel • Family Vella • Dechtakar • Houseless Auroran Ships: Firebird (v) (i) 150k, Phoenix (v) (i) 150k, Argosy (v) (i) 200k, Abomination (v) (i) 400k, Enterprise (v) (i) 450k, Cruiser (v) (i) 2M, Carrier (v) (i) 12M, Thunderforge (i) 14M Heraan Storyline (Preamble • Main Story • Gaiden 1 • Gaiden 2) Auroran Outfits • Auroran Weapons Auroran fauna: Cunjo • Drop Bear | ||