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The Halcyon Carrier is the Advent's capital ship carrier.
Description: Responsible for remotely piloting groups of the Drone fighters, Drone Anima are valued crew members aboard all Advent capital ships. The most veteran of this caste are reserved for positions aboard Halcyon Carriers; leveraging the piloting skill of these elite Psintegrat allows the ship to host a veritable swarm of strike craft. Halcyon Carriers employ a number of systems to augment the combat effectiveness of their own fighter wings, as well as those of allies.
Tactics
The Halcyon is extremely versatile and useful to almost any type of fleet imaginable. Almost any Advent fleet will greatly benefit from the inclusion of a Halcyon, particularly one with maxed out (or close to maxed out) Amplify Energy Aura. Due to the entirely energy-reliant nature of the Advent's fleets, the Halcyon can benefit any vessel or combination of vessels, but it is probably most helpful when it is combined with large numbers of Illuminator Vessels, light carriers, and/or Destra Crusaders.
Telekinetic Push, pushes strike craft away from your ships, damaging and temporarily stunning them. If the Halcyon or its allies are swarmed by enemy strike craft, this ability keeps them from getting too close. Early on, though, this isn't very likely to happen - it becomes important in the late game, however.
The Halcyon's second ability, Adept Drone Anima, passively gives the carrier extra squadrons, increasing the number of strike craft it can deploy.
The third ability is known as Amplify Energy Aura. The aura allows all your energy-using ships, with the exception of fighters and bombers, to fire more shots in a shorter time interval. This ability is useful for any fleet and a must-have for larger fleets. All Advent military units use energy-based weapons, but only some TEC and Vasari units do, so this ability is not very useful when supporting allies.
The Halcyon's "Ultimate" ability is Anima Tempest. For a brief period of time, 60 additional drones are deployed to your squadrons of bombers and fighters, splitting themselves up equally. They won't benefit directly from Adept Drone Anima however it will rapidly refill depleted squadrons as only the excess units are lost and Amplify Energy Aura will still reduce their cooldowns.
Using the Halcyon
The Halcyon is a carrier with an anti-carrier special, which hints at its role: Fighter Superiority. To be truly effective you must have more fighters than your opponent, but the true strength lies in its bombers. A Halcyon with a few Aeria Drone Hosts and a Rapture Battlecruiser giving a 30% damage bonus can enter a gravity well and take down a starbase in a matter of seconds. Anima Tempest basically allows you to ignore fighter-defenses, and with its low antimatter cost it should be used every single time it cools off. If you use a Halcyon as your first ship, I recommend NOT taking Amplify Energy at first. The effect on a small fleet is a much smaller force multiplier than starting off with 4 squadrons, which will allow you to overwhelm neutral Garda Flak Frigates and take systems faster. It's tempting to ignore Push in favor of the passives, but first scout and make sure you don't get caught facing an enemy carrier without it.
The Rapture Battlecruiser makes an excellent companion, but keep in mind if you take these two as your first and second capital ships, you'll have no Shield Regeneration and no Detonate Antimatter. It's not too hard to beat an AI without one of those abilities, but a human is another story. If you survive and rank up, Dominating enemy light carriers is an excellent way to ensure your fighter superiority for the rest of all time. Remember, the aura works as long as the Rapture is in range of the carrier, not the fighters. Only send in the capitals when you have the advantage, otherwise let them come to you.
As a final note, you can control the effect of Anima Tempest by shifting carrier roles in your fleet: if you want a fighter tempest, have your Aeria Drone Hosts hold 1 fighter and 2 bombers each, with mostly fighters in the carrier; if you want a bomber tempest have the Aeria Drone Hosts hold 2 fighters, 1 bomber and use the carrier for bombers. Your overall composition stays the same but the carrier special gets applied to one role specifically.
| Ship Type: | Capital |
|---|---|
| Primary Role: | Squadron Support |
| Shield Power:i90 | Very High |
| Hull Points: | High |
| Armor Level: | Medium |
| Armor Type: | Capital |
| Antimatter: | Medium |
| Weapons (Side): | 4x Heavy Beam Cannons (Starboard / Port) / 2 x Pulse Laser Batteries (Starboard / Port) / Ship-to-Surface Kinetic Bolts |
| Squadrons Supported: | 2 +1 per 2 level ups. Maximum: 6 |
| Crew Complement: | 2,270 |
 Telekinetic Push |
 Adept Drone Anima |
 Amplify Energy Aura |
 Anima Tempest |
 Ability Management |
 Attack |
 Stop |
 Move |
 Tactics Management |
 Squadron Management |