Ariadne

Paranid Ariadne Class M7C Carrier Frigate Buy: @ 18,745,140 Cr Speed (Min-Max) 67.8 - 122.0 m/s Acceleration (Min-Max) 5 - 9 m/s2 Steering (Min-Max) 0.8 - 1.3 RPM Hull Strength Max. Shield (Total) 4 x 200 MJ (800 MJ) Shield Reactor 2,000 MW Cargo Class (Min-Max) 2,500 - 3,500 @ XL Laser Capacitor 14,000 MJ Laser Recharge 700 MW                                                                                                          Main x 4                                                                                                          Front x 4                                                                                                          Rear x 4                                                                                                          Up x 4                                                                                                          Down x 4 Docking 24 M3+-M5, 1 TS/TP

Overview

The Paranid's offering in the M7C catergory is capable of projecting over 50% of the fighter strength of the Paranid Zeus at 20% of the cost. Given that the majority of the expense of a carrier is its fighter wing, however, few players find value in this savings by the time they can field a carrier at all.

Like the other M7Cs, they are described in-game as "Drone frigates" and carry a built-in component called a "Drone Hauler", but this has no effect on gameplay, and the ships are no better or worse at using drones.

The ship can dock a single transport ship (TS or TP), which magnifies the capabilities of the ship. Carring a TS like the Mistral Super Freighter allows the ship to carry its own resupply, obviating the need for a TL to support the fighter wing.

Background

Following the trend of employing drone carriers in border patrol duty, a strategy established by the Argon with their successful Griffon prototype, the Paranid Empire issued an order for a drone frigate design of their own. Superior to the early Griffon variants in every way, the current Ariadne, the result of several months of corporate espionage and outright plagiarism, is indeed a vastly improved version of the Argon prototype. Unfortunately, the Ariadne is still considered very much a work in progress, and retains a number of issues that would not appear in a more polished, finalized version. Due to pressure from the Priest Kings, the prototype Ariadne blueprints were sent to all major Paranid shipyards before the ship could be put through field tests. Nevertheless, the military has not reported any major issues with the ship as yet, so for all intents and purposes, it is a bona fide drone frigate, well worth its price.

Combat

All carriers are vulnerable to attack, but the Ariadne only mounts 800 MJ of shielding and minimal armament. Special care must be taken to keep it off the front lines while its fighters are in action.

Equipment

Missiles

Mosquito Missile Wasp Missile Silkworm Missile Disruptor Missile

Thunderbolt Missile Tempest Missile Hurricane Missile Cyclone Missile

Tornado Missile Remote Guided Warhead Beluga Missile Hammerhead Missile

Wildfire Missile Windstalker Missile Banshee Missile

Availability

Variant	Cardinal's Domain
Ariadne	x

Suggested Roles

• The ability to dock a TS class ship makes the Ariadne a good choice for Return Ship missions that may otherwise prove difficult to complete.
• The Ariadne's high fighter capacity and TS docking ability means it is the most logistically flexible of the M7Cs, making it especially effective at both supporting and resupplying a fleet.

See Also

• Paranid Agamemnon
• Paranid Ares
• Paranid Deimos

Ships by Class

M7C Ships

Argon	Griffon
ATF	none
Boron	Guppy
Goner	none
Kha'ak	none
OTAS	none
Paranid	Ariadne
Pirate	none
Split	none
Teladi	Cormorant
Terran	Maccana
Xenon	none
Yaki	none