Originally not a vessel of war, the Hur’q Vridyat-class Ravager strike wing escort’s hull has been retrofit from a resource harvester and fast-moving cargo hauler. In those days, it would have been the backbone of the Hur’q ascendency, cutting apart asteroids and other spaceborne objects with its powerful harvesting tools.

However, since that more peaceful time, the Hur’q grew dissonant and lost their way – overcome with a bloodthirst that can only be described as pure rage, ships such as the Ravager were reborn in bloodshed and fire.

Now the Ravager has become a front-line assault vessel. With a full complement of Hur’q Swarmer-class fighters and high-energy weaponry, the Ravager can arrive at extreme speed and unleash the fury of the Hur’q swarm on its enemies.

The hull appears sewn together like a spider would debris into its terrible shape with sinews and cords connecting its various components, the Ravager is partially empty space, a shard of grit and terror in the dark.

Never alone, the Ravager uses its swarmers and energy nullifier buoys to sew confusion and mayhem.

As the lost memory of a once-great empire, lost not just to time but to sanity, the Ravager represents an echo of dread and doom – a pale, forgotten memory of the once bright ascendency of the hive.

It’s harmony and glory lost to vicious bloodshed and susurrating insanity.

With its every fiber, the energy rushing through the spires and silken cables of its superstructure, the Ravager remembers the breathtaking ferocity that is the swarm.

Acquisition

The Hur’q Vridyat-class Ravager strike wing escort appeared first in the Swarm Lock Box released in November 2018. The lockbox is currently available on the exchange and can be opened with lockbox keys for captains willing to take the gamble.

Otherwise, it is currently being sold on the Exchange and, at time of writing, approximately 240 million EC.

Assuming a value of 4.8 million EC for a single Master Key, which can be purchased for 125 Zen, or $1.25. That means that a Ravager, bought without taking advantage of any sales, could cost around $50.

The Ravager is a Tier 6 scaling vessel. This means that captains who acquire this ship early in their levelling career can use it from low level all the way up to Rear Admiral. The hull, shields, equipment and weapons will scale proportionately until level 65.

Aesthetics

At first glance, the Hur’q Vridyat-class Ravager strike wing escort looks like it is fashioned out of an asteroid, a long pinnacle of rock woven together with silk into the shape of a spacecraft. Its outer hull appears both organic and silicate, but it has an open space between two portions of the ship – split down the middle – that is held together with long spines interlocking between them.

In the dark, the Ravager has subtly-rounded regions of its hull that glow a sickly green. This makes it appear more like a bioluminescent larva as it glides through space. The dull brown of the hull vanishes into the darkness of space and the green glow dotting the hull becomes noticeable.

Forward on the fuselage, some of the hull appears to have veins on its surface over a lighter colored substance that makes up its deflector section. Overall, this begins to make it appear even more organic than before – like something that was grown rather than hewn or manufactured.

The beam emitter and cannon points on the vessel are not immediately visible, so beams lance out from pretty much anywhere. However, their glow does cast colors across the hull when it opens fire.

Watching the Amplified Ravager Beam fire is also a majestic vision. It emerges from the front of the vessel in a plume of orange fire and spears into space with a fury – seeing it strike another ship and punch through makes it feel as if a primal force has just been unbridled and set loose.

The bridge of the Ravager is a lot like the hull, a smooth, organic surface that is brown-green with circular chambers merged together to create a cavernous vaulted space. The walls appear to have square tiles on them of varying reflectivity.

Walking into the rooms, which are split into various stations, which surround pools of non-Newtonian fluids that appear to be rising up in spikes and waves. Floating above them are large orbs of fluid that ripple and wave, sometimes their vibrations begin to generate spikes, only to have them calm again to the reflective shimmering ripples again.

Handling

As a variant of a heavy escort, the Hur’q Vridyat-class Ravager strike wing escort moves like a breath of solar wind. It is a nimble and dangerous weapon’s platform. Smaller than most vessels, it has a noticeably fast time-on-target – boosted easily with maneuverability skills – and can be built into a passable beam destroyer or an alpha-striker bristling with cannons.

The Ravager is also classified as a heavy escort carrier because of it’s single hangar bay. This comes equipped with Hur’q Swarmer-class fighters, which it can launch six in total. They are effective harassment fighters, although they’re fragile.

The console that comes with the Ravager instills captains with a sense that they will generally be facing their opponent. See the equipment section for details on the [Amplifying Ravager Beam] vital stats. In practice it works like a giant, orange space-laser that bursts forth from the front of the Ravager like a laser pointer. Because of this, the turn rate of the Ravager can work against a captain as they swing it around wildly trying to keep it on a target – bigger capital ships can be much easier to hit.

As an escort, even a heavy escort, the Ravager is extremely fragile in actual combat. The shield modifier of .9 can certainly be felt when taking fire, since shields go down fast, exposing bare hull. As a result, the 1.3 hull modifier makes armor much more of a necessity to survive incoming projectiles and energy weapons while shields come back online.

The vessel supports a 5/2 weapons layout, making it heavily forward-facing and it can equip dual-cannons, which means it can be turned into a fast-moving cannon striker – and it has the speed and maneuverability to support that. A third Experimental Weapon slot is equipped with a [Rapid Pulse Ablating Mining Laser]. This weapon has an extremely rapid firing cycle and inflicts massive kinetic damage, with increasing armor penetration the longer it fires on the same spot.

The trait on this ship is “Nullifier Warheads,” which gets triggered anytime a projectile weapon ability is used – so it’s best to slot one. This trait floods the area with nullifier buoys, which target nearby ships and explode for phaser damage, or become primary targets for torpedoes and mines (destroying them). Nullifiers are pretty much like launching flares and can protect the Ravager from torpedo spreads.

The bridge officer seating leans this ship heavily towards Cmdr. Tactical with an Ens. Science – with a weird hybrid Tactical/Pilot Lt. Cmdr. seat. The remaining seats are both Universal with another Lt. Cmdr and a Lt. seat.

This means that captain’s have to decide between enhanced firepower (with more Tactical) or some extra survivability by slotting Engineering. During combat, the Ravager cannot sustain a lot of incoming firepower – it lacks the shields or the hull to tank.

Hull Strength: 1.3 (39,000 at level 40, 44,850 at level 50, 52,000 at level 60)

Shield Modifier: 0.9

Fore Weapons: 5

Aft Weapons: 2

Device Slots: 2

Bridge Officer Stations: 1 Lieutenant Commander Tactical/Pilot, 1 Commander Tactical,  1

Ensign Science, 1 Lieutenant Universal, 1 Lieutenant Commander Universal

Console Modifications: 5 Tactical, 3 Engineering, 3 Science

Base Turn Rate: 16 degrees per second

Impulse Modifier: 0.20

Inertia: 65

+10 Power to Weapons, +5 Power to Engines, +5 Power to Auxiliary

Can Load Dual Cannons

Console – Universal – Amplifying Ravager Beam

Experimental Weapon Slot, equipped with Rapid Pulse Ablating Mining Laser

1 Hangar Bay loaded with Hur’q Swarmer Fighters

Starship Mastery Package: Escort Carrier

Starship Trait: Nullifier Warheads

The captain who pilots a Ravager is never alone. Operationally, this fragile but nimble and rapacious ship – with a +10 to Weapons and +5 to Engines – is basically its own strike wing. With six swarmers launched from the hangar bay and various traits that spawn pets available, a captain in this ship should accept the inevitable and become the vanguard of the swarm.

Outside of becoming its own squadron, the Ravager operates a lot like any other escort. It can bring to the battlefield a great deal of withering firepower with its heavy Tactical focus, which means it can support a great deal of cannon abilities – and let captains not forget projectile skills.

This means that it can both operate as a battlefield harasser, using the swarm as way to destroy small craft and pick apart larger vessels. But it also means it can be built to be an extremely powerful alpha-strike platform that pummels down shields and slices apart hulls with baleful energy salvos.

The biggest problem the Ravager suffers in prolonged conflict is that it severely lacks durability. However, it has Pilot seating, which could give it an advantage when it comes to staying nimble and moving in and out of weapon’s range. Skills that dump threat, or increase defense, may become a necessity during attack runs.

From a play standpoint, the Ravager is just fast enough to do something stupid in and has enough firepower behind its guns to make sure there are no witnesses to tell the tale.

Build Advice

This vessel feels very solidly like an escort, and it is dubbed a heavy escort carrier, so as a result captains will probably use its heavy Tactical lean to push its outgoing firepower needle right into the red. With that in mind, the Hur’q Vridyat-class Ravager strike wing escort can be somewhat fragile and will need some tending to with Engineering and Science survival powers.

The five Tactical consoles will probably have most captain’s slotting at least three weapon amplification consoles. We would suggest captain’s invest in a mix of three [Console – Tactical – Vulnerability Exploiter ] or [Console – Tactical – Vulnerability Locator] with the [+Phaser Damage] suffix if using the Amplifying Ravager Beam console or [+Beam]/[+Can] appropriate to the build. These consoles come from the Fleet Spire.

The Engineering bay contains only three slots and this is where one or more of the Universal consoles might get placed; however, more circumspect captains might want to slot armor to help beef up survivability. This means either an Advanced Engineering Armor console from the Fleet Dilthium mine or something more exotic such as a Xenotech Engineering Console from Fleet Station K-13 (both the armor and shield hardness consoles seem like good candidates).

The Science bay also holds only three slots and is another likely candidate to fill up with Universal consoles, however given the durability of the ship it might even use a Weapon Signature Nullifier from the Fleet Embassy. Any WSN console could work, but a Hull-Repairing or Shield-Repairing might work best for a little extra durability.

When looking at bridge officers, the Tactical Cmdr. seat will open up lots of opportunities to get [Cannon Rapid Fire] and [Cannon Scatter Volley] for cannon boats and since it’s a Cmdr. slot it can give access to [Attack Pattern Omega III]. With the two Universal bridge officer seats it also opens up [Tactical Team I] and most certainly at least one or two projectile weapon abilities (to trigger the trait).

The Universal bridge officer seats mean that captains can go in a number of different directions. This includes getting some Engineering or Science. With Engineering seating, it might be good to have at least one copy of [Engineering Team] or [Auxiliary to Structural] for the damage repairs.

The Ens. Science feels a little weird because there’s not much that can be done here, but for captain’s looking for more survivability it’s a good place to put [Hazard Emitters] or [Polarize Hull]. If shields prove to be more of a problem, this is also a good slot for [Science Team] since this seat is just kind of hanging there.

This ship has a Lt. Cmdr. hybrid Tactical/Pilot seat and that means although most captains will want more Tactical powers – to increase their outgoing firepower – there’s also opportunities for Pilot abilities. For example, [Form Up] can give a nice boost to damage with another vessel, [Reroute Reserves to Weapons] can provide a huge amount of extra weapon power when needed – and, given talk about durability, access to [Hold Together] will make high-throttle into damage resistance and hull heal.

For captains very comfortable with extremely advanced piloting, [Lock Trajectory] can be used on cannon boats to extreme effect by allowing for strafing runs where the ship is always facing an enemy – this is particularly nice with the Amplified Ravager Beam console.

Equipment

The Hur’q Vridyat-class Ravager strike wing escort comes with a few interesting pieces of equipment: its experimental [Rapid Pulse Ablating Mining Laser], the [Amplifying Ravager Beam] console, its Swarmer-class fighters and the “Nullifier Warheads” trait. However, it can also equip consoles from the other two Hur’q ships, so how those can be used will also be briefly covered.

The [Rapid Pulse Ablating Mining Laser] is an experimental weapon that takes up the extra weapon slot on the Ravager. It has a very rapid firing cycle and inflict direct kinetic damage. As a result, it does very little to shields, but when it meets bare hull it gains increasing penetration the longer it strikes along the same shield facing.

Once firing, it hits for kinetic damage three times a second over seven seconds and goes from zero to 50 armor penetration over that duration.

With the [Amplifying Ravager Beam] the Ravager becomes a massive beam weapon platform that fires a huge kinetic-damage beam directly forward. Everything caught in its narrow cylinder begins to take kinetic damage five times every second. The beam lasts five seconds.

Equipping this console also gives a +15% Phaser weapon damage boost and +0-6 Weapon Power that scales up as power setting decreases.

This vessel comes with a Hangar Bay, which is slotted with Hur’q Swarmer-class fighters. It can deploy six swarmers at a time. The first tier of swamers are equipped with [Short Range Mining Lasers and [Evasive Burst I]; Advanced swarmers get [Evasive Burst II] and [Focused Assault I]; Elite swarmers get [Evasive Burst III] and [Focused Assault II].

As for the trait, “Nullifier Warheads,” this is received upon reaching Mastery Tier 5. When the captain activates a torpedo bridge officer skill, it launches eight nullifier buoys. These look like semitransparent orange orbs and will confuse torpedo spreads as well as targetable torpedoes and mines. Upon impact they inflict Phaser damage and dampen Engine power by -50.

The Ravager can also equip the [Console – Universal – Nullifying Tractor Field] from the Hur’q Assembly Multi-Mission Science Vessel, which acts as a powerful tractor beam inflicting kinetic damage and floods the area with nullifier buoys; and the [Console – Universal – Energy Nullifier Disperser] from the Hur’q Vedcrid Hive Dreadnought Carrier, which launches up to 32 nullifier buoys.

This ship also comes equipped with standard-issue Phasic Harmonic weapons, which are also available in the [Swarm Lock Box]. These space weapons deal Phaser damage while also vibrating the hull of the target violently for a brief period of time, inflicting extra kinetic damage that bypasses shields. These weapons have a 2.5% chance to disable for 2.5 seconds and a 2.5% chance to inflict kinetic damage.

Conclusion

The Hur’q Vridyat-class Ravager strike wing escort represents one of the more truly alien starships available to captains in Star Trek Online. It’s design, aesthetics and even the seating speak to a particular culture that is less-than-comprehensible to the typical Starfleet mind. The forgotten fury of a long-dead empire that succumbed to insanity and bloodshed.

It is a lock box ship and thus comes with a particular price tag that might be difficult for casual captains to attain but in the end it’s worth its value.

The Ravager isn’t for everyone. It can deliver a great deal of firepower to the battlefield, but if it attracts too much attention its shields will buckle – so a captain flying this either needs to be sure their targets will be gone, or they need to find a way to survive the response.

This vessel is fast, versatile and brings out a lot of different – and interesting – pieces of equipment and traits. Firing the Amplified Ravager Beam also makes for one of the most fun major weapons in the game (except perhaps the Fluidic Energy Focusing Array from the Undine Nicor bio-warship).

Any captain who is already used to flying fast, powerful but fragile ships like escorts will find the Ravager a familiar platform.

Abandon your doubts, give in and become the vanguard of the swarm.

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