Alliance CrusaderCombat

The Alliance Crusader is the trio's crewed gunboat. It shares the chassis, the three military slots and the tough hull, but its defining features are a built-in ship-launched-fighter bay and a three-seat cockpit for multicrew. It's designed to fight as a team: you fly and shoot, a gunner mans turrets or the SLF, and a launched fighter adds a third angle of attack.

The cost is pace. The Crusader is the slowest of the three Alliance hulls and carries the lowest base shield, so flown solo it's the least dynamic of the family. But with a fighter deployed and a gunner aboard, it becomes a force multiplier — effectively two-and-a-half ships in one hull — which is exactly the niche the Chieftain and Challenger don't fill.

Four things define the Crusader as a combat ship:

• A fighter bay. Launch an SLF to split enemy fire and add a second damage source — a force multiplier the other two Alliance hulls don't have.
• Three crew seats. Multicrew lets a friend or NPC gun for you or fly the fighter, multiplying your effective firepower and awareness.
• Three military slots. The Alliance tank signature — dedicated reinforcement bays that toughen the hull without eating shield or cargo room.
• Six weapon mounts. One large, two medium and three small — a respectable spread for the pilot while crew and fighter add more.

An SLF bay, three crew seats and three class-4 military slots on a 540-armour tank chassis carry it; the slowest, lowest-shielded Alliance hull and a single-large hardpoint cap the score.

The 80/100 headline is a verdict against the combat role's priority-ordered factors. Each factor carries a weight (its share of 100); this hull earns part of each based on how it performs against the whole field. The points sum to the rating.

Both tables rate ships for the combat role specifically. The role column is the hardpoint loadout — the raw weapon mounts behind the damage.

Same class — medium-pad combat ships

The Crusader's niche is crew-and-fighter combat. The Krait Mk II offers an SLF bay with more agility and bigger guns, so for fighter-supported solo play it's often the better pick; the Crusader's edge is the Alliance tank chassis plus three crew seats for true multicrew. In a coordinated team it shines; flown solo it trails its own siblings.

Other classes — SLF and crew platforms

Most fighter-bay platforms are large ships that need a pad and often a rank grind. The Crusader is the cheap, medium-pad way into SLF-and-multicrew combat — not the best fighter carrier, but the most accessible one with a genuine tank chassis underneath.

At ~22M Cr the Crusader sits between the Chieftain and Challenger in price, with no rank or permit gate. The fighter bay and a good NPC pilot are part of the build cost — budget for them, since the SLF is central to the ship's value.

A full combat fit with three military-slot reinforcements, a shield, and the fighter bay adds up, but stays well under a large fighter-carrier's cost — the Crusader is the budget route to crewed combat.

A crewed gunboat fit with a fighter bay and three military slots. Initial is buy-only; A-rated is the combat-ready baseline; Engineered applies the house combat pattern with reinforcement and an SLF.

Buy the hull on stock E-rated cores and stock Lightweight Alloy bulkheads, fit a basic 6E Shield Generator and one 0A Shield Booster, and drop a single 4D Hull Reinforcement into the first military slot. The other two military slots, the second booster, and the chaff/heat-sink utilities stay empty until you A-rate.

Arm the large and both medium mounts for yourself — a gimballed multi-cannon up top, a pulse and a second multi-cannon on the mediums — plus one small fixed pulse. The two remaining small mounts and the gunner's turret weapons fill in on the A-rated pass.

The fighter bay is not a buy-only fit — the Size 6 slot carries a shield generator at this stage, and the SLF hangar replaces it once you upgrade. Bulkheads stay stock here: Military Grade Composite is a paid-for upgrade you slot on the A-rated pass, not at the dealership. Buy-only the Crusader is serviceable for light work; it only becomes itself with crew and a fighter aboard.

A-rating priority for a crewed gunboat:

• 1Power Plant → 6A — Guns, shield, fighter bay and turrets are power-hungry; plant first. ~4M Cr
• 2Power Distributor → 6A — Sustain the guns and the SLF's draw. ~3M Cr
• 3Thrusters → 6A — Recover what speed the heavy hull allows. ~3M Cr
• 4Bulkheads → Military Grade Composite — The combat role lives or dies on hull. Swap Lightweight Alloy for Military Grade Composite to roughly double effective armour before any engineering. ~4M Cr
• 5Shield → 5C bi-weave — The Size-6 shield gives way to the fighter bay, so shielding moves to a 5C bi-weave in the optional slot, backed by twin Specialised SCBs. ~3M Cr
• 6FSD → 5A — Reach fights and turn-ins. ~3M Cr
• 7Crew kit + reinforcement — The 6D Fighter Hangar takes the vacated Size-6 slot; turret pulse and multi-cannon go on the smalls for a gunner; the second hull reinforcement, second shield booster, chaff and heat sink fill out the baseline. The Size-1 slot carries a 1D Hull Reinforcement rather than a surface scanner — this is a gunboat, not a survey ship.

The house combat pattern with reinforcement and a fighter bay. Pin blueprints for remote G1→G5 application; visit in person for experimentals.

Recommended order

• 1Plant and distributor to G5 first to power guns, shield and the fighter bay together.
• 2Thrusters to G5 to recover the limited mobility the heavy hull allows.
• 3Heavy-Duty reinforcement in the military slots; Reinforced bi-weave over the low base shield.
• 4Weapons last: Overcharged multi-cannons with one Corrosive, Thermal-Vent beams.

Approximate progression across the three states (figures are representative, not exact rolls):

The Military Grade Composite bulkhead does the heavy lifting early — effective armour roughly doubles the moment you fit it, before a single HRP is engineered. Fully built, the Heavy Duty bulkhead stacks with four Heavy Duty hull-reinforcement packages (down to the 1D in the Size-1 slot that replaces the dead-weight scanner) to push effective armour past 3,000, with a usable shield buffer and twin lightweight Specialised SCBs for uptime. Its solo numbers are modest; crewed with a fighter deployed, its output climbs sharply — formidable, not flashy.

• Flown solo, the Crusader under-performs its siblings — its value is the crew seats and fighter bay, so use them.
• A high-rank NPC fighter pilot dramatically increases the SLF's contribution; recruit and rank one up.
• Put turret weapons on the small mounts so a gunner has something to control while you fly.
• It's the slowest Alliance hull — play it as an anchor and let the fighter chase, not the mothership.