Cerberus Roster Review Part Three feature - Dawn of the Reapers mod for Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

Cerberus Roster Review Part Three

The last part of the Cerberus roster is upon us… And I’ve saved the best for last. Today we will be taking an in depth look at the Cerberus Titans. There are three, one for each sub-faction, and each one of them has a drastically different playstyle.

Themis Super Dreadnought

This mighty warship is Cerberus’ most powerful Dreadnought. It is immense, covered in weaponry and defended by the best armor mankind has ever produced. Such is its raw power, that it can even take on a Reaper and expect to win, albeit with heavy damage sustained.

The Themis is locked to the Control faction, and is a very selfish ship overall. Its abilities are focused on augmenting its own already considerable destructive potential, and rather than aiding its surrounding fleet, it relies on its support ships to absorb fire while it tears the enemy fleet apart. It also holds the special distinction of being the only ship outside of the Reaper faction able to make use of Thanix bombardment to permanently degrade planets.

Since its recent rework, the Themis has been very popular in internal playtests. Common fleet compositions for supporting the Themis revolve around heavy use of Arcadia Cruisers to absorb enemy fire and Zenith Flak Frigates to keep fighters away. The Themis is quite vulnerable to large fighter attacks, and any supporting fleet needs to be able to help it out with this problem.

Armament:

• Spinal Mass Accelerator
• Quad Auxiliary Forward Mass Accelerators
• Broadside Mass Accelerators, eight a side
• Twelve Thanix Cannons, four forward, four on each broadside.

Squadrons:

• Four Morocco class Interceptor Squadrons

Abilities:

• Sledgehammer Ammo - Like the Trafalgar, the Themis can make use of Sledgehammer Ammo. With this Ammo loaded, the Themis can disrupt enemy fleets, stop frigates dead in their attack runs and generally cause havoc.
• Cryo Ammo - An extremely valuable ammo for a low level Themis. This ammo can slow down enemy ships significantly, which combined with the Themis’ long range weapons allows it to secure kills consistently, gaining valuable xp.
• Incendiary Ammo - The ammo type a Themis captain chooses when he wants to make sure every other ship in the gravity well is thoroughly destroyed. Inferno ammo adds damage over time to the Themis’ Accelerators, just in case you weren’t doing enough damage already.
• Thanix Bombardment - Requiring level 6 to unlock, this allows the Themis to bombard a planet with such force that it will be permanently, irreparably damaged. Note that the visuals and effects of this ability will still be very much placeholder in the beta release.

Aeolus Super Carrier

The largest carrier ever constructed by humanity, the Aeolus is a true marvel of engineering. It carries a whopping ten squadrons of strike craft, but does so while retaining a very respectable armament as well. Given advantageous positioning, it and its fighters can even down a Reaper alone… Though it will suffer if caught in a shooting match with the Reaper.

Yet direct combat is not the primary task of the Aeolus. Locked to the Destroy faction, it is the ultimate in fleet support, empowering its escorting fleet and augmenting the already strong Cerberus carriers.

Fleet composition to support the Aeolus is not hard to figure out - Ark Royals, Centurions and Praetors are all perfect. One should not forget more direct combat ships in the fleet however, and for this task the Elbrus and Minerva Cruisers are perfect. Not only are they cheaper than the Arcadia, they also contribute additional fighters to the immense strike craft force the Aeolus relies on for dealing damage.

Armament:

• Dual Auxiliary Forward Mass Accelerators
• Broadside Mass Accelerators, fifteen a side
• Ten angled Javelin Missile launchers

Squadrons:

• Ten squadrons, either Sudan Fighters or Morocco Interceptors

Abilities:

• Support Fleet - The Aeolus never travels alone. It has the ability to call in a small fleet of free Cerberus Cruisers and Frigates to help it out, anywhere, anytime, ensuring it is never truly out of position.
• Endless Reserves - The Aeolus carries a truly astounding number of fighters, far more than it could ever manage to field on its own. This ability restores the fighter complement of both the Aeolus and all nearby carriers to full strength instantly, ensuring that even an enemy with a lot of point defense is still at risk of being overwhelmed by the unending tide of strike craft.
• Distribute Ammunition - Although the Aeolus does not make use of ammo powers on its own, it does have the ability to supply nearby frigates with ammo. Specifically, Disruptor ammo. Multiple frigates firing this ammo will quickly see large portions of an enemy fleet disabled.
• Kamikaze Strike - The level six ability of the Aeolus allows it to order all Cerberus fighters in the general area to carry out a Kamikaze ramming attack against a specific enemy ship. The fighters will be destroyed in this attack, but they will deal high damage in the process, and the more fighters in the Cerberus fleet, the more damage this attack can do.

Ark Hecate

Finally, we have the Cerberus Ark - the Hecate. This is by far the most unique Titan in the game. Being entirely unarmed, it is not going to be destroying any Reapers, or anything else for that matter, any time soon. It has several squadrons of fighters for self defense, but ideally it will never see combat at all…

Locked to the Escape faction, the Ark is the easiest of all the Titans to access, and functions as both an escape mechanism and a valuable strategic tool. It has powerful colonisation, mobility and diplomatic abilities that allow Cerberus relocate their entire empire very quickly if necessary.

Being such an unusual Titan, the Ark does not really have an ideal supporting fleet. Indeed, it will most often be away on its own, carrying out decidedly non military tasks far from the front line. Occasionally it will tag along with a military fleet, and is not at all in danger doing so, as it has the best barriers in the entire Cerberus fleet.

Armament:

• None. The Ark is a civilian ship not meant for direct combat. It can, however, invade planets with its vast numbers of onboard infantry.

Squadrons:

• Four squadrons, either Sudan Fighters or Morocco Interceptors

Abilities:

The Ark is unique in its role as a non-combat Titan, and so rather than forcing players to level it up by risking it in battle, it will gain XP from using its abilities. It still gains combat experience, but in general it will level up much faster by actually performing its intended non-combat roles.

• A New Home - The most powerful colonisation ability in DotR, colonising with the Ark has definite perks. Planet upgrades will be nearly free and build at an astounding rate for a long time after the Ark colonises a planet. In addition, many free extractors are given and extraction rate is significantly improved, as is population growth rate.
• Intergalactic FTL - The Ark is unique in its ability to casually ignore Mass Relays when traveling. It gains a significant FTL speed boost, as well as the ability to plot routes directly to any other explored planet on the map via this ability. Cunning use of this ability makes the Ark nearly impossible to catch for an opponent. Crucially, this ability also allows other Cerberus ships to travel on the same routes, albeit much more slowly than the Ark, ensuring an unparalleled strategic edge.
• Construct Outpost - The Ark is able to periodically deploy a unique structure to any grav well it is present in. This structure counts as a civilian lab, and in future updates it will also have the ability to provide powerful economic buffs to the grav well it is present in.
• Embark Colonists - This is a powerful diplomatic ability that will allow the Escape faction to quickly befriend most other factions, and ensure they will want to keep your Ark alive to continue benefiting from the buffs it can apply to their planets. It is also a very convenient way to level your Ark safely, as this ability has a comparatively short cooldown.