Cutlass

Terran Cutlass Class M3+ Heavy Fighter Buy: Warrior of Io @ 5,640,001 Cr Speed (Min-Max) 86 - 173 m/s Acceleration (Min-Max) 12 - 24 m/s2 Steering (Min-Max) 15.8 - 39.5 RPM Hull Strength 10,625 Max. Shield (Total) 6 x 25 MJ (150 MJ) Shield Reactor 1,300 MW Cargo Class (Min-Max) 150 - 240 @ L Laser Capacitor 9,000 MJ Laser Recharge 270 MW                                                                                                          Main x 4                                                                                                          Front x 2                                                                                                          Rear x 2

Overview

The Cutlass is a very powerful fighter, weighing in as one of the most capable ships short of the corvette class. It does not suffer the speed penalty that shortfalls others in the M3+ class, making it a very dangerous all-purpose fighter. However, since only Terran weapons equip on it, it is very difficult to arm short of an exploit.

Background

Being larger and slightly slower than conventional heavy fighters, the Cutlass can normally be found escorting capital ships and large transport ships.

Physical Characteristics

Like all Terran fighters, the Cutlass has a streamlined, rocket-shaped fuselage painted white with black trim. It appears to be based largely on the Scimitar chassis, but is broader and flatter to accommodate a pair of defensive turrets.

Combat

A fully armed Cutlass is a shockingly efficient killer. Nothing short of a corvette, or a fighter with a particularly brutal front weapon loadout such as the Spitfyre or #deca.cefa, will trouble it in combat. You can trust an automated Cutlass to come off best in almost any dogfight.

It is also one of the very few fighters that can claim to be useful against Kha'ak beam weapons: its shielding is sufficient to keep it alive while its firepower dismantles enemy craft.

On the other hand, the slightly low number of forward-firing EMPCs (with lower shield DPS than even the PAC) capable of being mounted result in the Cutlass dealing damage more over the longer term than as an alpha-strike: therefore it's a good dogfighter, but somewhat less capable at instant raw damage. Also, the fighter needs to be cautious of scout craft as they can easily fly rings around it and its weapons cannot effectively draw a bead on them unless they come flying towards it in a straight line.

Equipment

The Cutlass mounts only the EMPC for a primary weapon, four fixed, four in two dual-barrel turrets. As secondary weapons, it can use the Poltergeist and Spectre missiles.

Availability

The Cutlass is available at most Terran shipyards.

Availability

Variant	Mars	The Moon	Saturn	Terran Unknown Sector 1
Cutlass	x	x	x

Suggested Roles

The Cutlass is a carrier fighter par excellence. Its survivability and attack power mean it can defeat most foes, so if enough EMPCs can be gathered for a Cutlass wing, it makes for one of the top choices for an AI controlled fighter, and among the most expensive. However, it will have trouble engaging against scouts, so having a backup wing made up of your own scouts should counter them.

See Also

• Terran Scimitar

Ships by Class

M3+ Ships

Argon	Eclipse (Prototype)
ATF	Fenrir
Boron	Skate (Prototype)
Goner	none
Kha'ak	none
OTAS	Notus Hauler
Paranid	Medusa (Prototype)
Pirate	Eclipse (Advanced) • Kea
Split	Chimera (Enhanced)
Teladi	Kea (Enhanced)
Terran	Cutlass
Xenon	LX
Yaki	Tenjin