UEC Custos
| The following information has not been confirmed by Volition and is therefore not canon for the FreeSpace universe. |
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| The UEC Custos |
Contents
Description
Tech Room Description
The UEC Custos is a class of patrol cruiser built for the Federation Navy. Smaller and lighter than the massive Sanctus class, Custos cruisers fare poorly in the beam-heavy combat environment that makes up much of the Federation-Alliance conflict, but crippling Sanctus losses have forced Admirals Netreba and Calder to include these cruisers in their fleet maneuvers. They are capable of limited torpedo strikes against soft (or, when supported, hard) targets and have adequate point defenses to handle bomber attack.
The Custos is notable for its highly modular design, a quality which made it economical in peacetime and flexible in wartime. The directive to prepare Custos units for front-line combat led to a crash upgrade program that enhanced the Custos' agility and electronic warfare capabilities in order to give it a fighting chance against beam attack and heavy assault wings armed with swarm missiles. Orders were also placed for Custos spaceframes modified from the keel up for expanded capabilities, but these craft were apparently never produced.
The Custos is now deployed as an ad-hoc convoy harasser, screening element, and electronics warfare platform to anchor maneuvers by other Fleet elements.
Credits List
- Model by Cadius, inspired from Nexus' Noah ships.
- Modifications by Darius.
Name Origin
Custos is the Latin word for "guard".
Performance:
Statistics
| Name | UEC Custos | |
| Type | Cruiser | |
| Yaw, Pitch, Roll | 20.0, 20.0, 10.0 s | |
| Max Velocity | 40 - 55 ms-1 | |
| Hitpoints | 20 000 pts | |
| Length | 197.6 m | |
| Turrets | 6 turrets |
Armaments
| Default Statistics | |
| Turret Type | Amount |
| Point Defense Turret | 4 |
| Warhammer#Sanctus | 2 |
Veteran Comments
Pretty much equivalent in role to the GTC Cretheus, this ship does have some light anti-capital ship capabilities with its Warhammer launchers, although to an even more laughable level than the UEC Sanctus (who sports a few additional Mass Drivers and Gauss Cannons), but can make the difference in term of point defense saturation. Its high speed and small size, especially compared to the huge Sanctus, plus the ECM capabilities mentioned in the tech description, means it fares better against Tev beams. It also excels at warhead interception with its Point Defense Turrets, contrary to the Cretheus, but isn't as helpful in the capital ship escort role given how formidable UEF point defenses already are. It is not a bad ship, arguably superior to the Cretheus, but it won't change the course of the war on its own - requisitioning them was more of a desperate action than anything.
Best used in coordinated support with fighters. Strike craft eliminate a cruiser's fighter escort (if it exists), knock out its anti-ship weapons, and the Custos comes in to kill the target with Warhammer strikes, supplamented with its Point Defense Turrets and the fighters. Its PDT's also serve as a handy 'safe zone' for allied pilots and a supplemental boost to a larger ship's point defenses where needed. Still, compared to the Cretheus, this ship is significantly larger and has fewer turrets, though its anti-ship capabilities are probably superior.
A good little gunboat. When deployed in wings, as in Red Mars, the overlapping fire from the PDCs is enough to deter most Tev fighters from closing, while its Warhammer spam is more than capable of taking down a capital ship. When deployed in wings like this, it needs some fighter cover, but not much.
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