| This is the article on the basic fighter. For the upgraded corvette, see Acolyte Composite Vehicle. |
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Acolyte
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Classification
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Purpose
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Fleet Defence
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Ship Type
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Heavy Fighter
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RU Cost
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75 RUs
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| Technical Information | |
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Mass
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90 tons
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Length
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22.3 metres
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Acceleration
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1000 m/s2
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Speed
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825 m/s
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Armaments
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2 Light Mass Drivers
2 Light Missile Launchers |
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Eras
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Affiliation
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The Acolyte is a strike craft unique to Kiith Somtaaw, built on technology obtained from the Bentusi and notable for its unique drive system that enabled it to function indefinitely without docking to refuel.
Overview[]
Due to its low caste and lack of resources, Kiith Somtaaw could not afford the manufacturing licenses and technology needed to make Interceptors and other strike craft. Instead, they struck a deal with the Bentusi, offering to go into small asteroid belts to retrieve ancient artifacts, and in return the Bentusi gifted the Somtaaw the specs and tech needed to make the Acolyte heavy fighter. They didn't give the designs for their famous Ion Cannons, but had no problems with the kiith attaching their own weapons instead, thus allowing Somtaaw to finally have their own strike craft.
Twin underwing missile hardpoints were added during the Beast War era, giving the Acolyte a secondary role as a bomber and partially compensating for Somtaaw's initial lack of capital ships. The ventral docking ports and control links also allowed pairs of Acolytes to be linked in space to form the Acolyte Composite Vehicle. This creates a slower vehicle and disables the missile firing mechanism as the hardpoint closed, but creates a sturdier and more powerful fighter/corvette hybrid that can easily deal with other strike craft and can disable even the hugest ships with an EMP burst
The initial variant of the Acolyte, before the various upgrades applied during the Beast War, is slower but better-armored and has a slightly better rate of turn than the standard interceptor; their relative merits are a matter for opinion.
Most Acolyte pilots were apparently combat veterans from the original Mothership Fleet; canon does not go into the specifics, but presumably they were either enticed away from their birth kiithid or hired from Kiith Soban as mercenaries.
Beast Infected Acolyte
The Beast stole and adopted the design for the Acolyte from Somtaaw, and has also incorporated it as its primary combat fighter. The Beast variant seems to be a pound-for-pound match to the Somtaaw version with one exception: the Beast version also has self regeneration like many other Beast Ships, and can fully repair itself from even critical damage if given enough time without having to dock.
Trivia[]
- In the Homeworld: Cataclysm manual, it is referred to as an Acolyte-class Heavy Fighter. The name "Heavy Fighter" is never used in-game, with the ship always being referenced by its class name instead.[1]
Appearances[]
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ Homeworld: Cataclysm manual