Federal Assault ShipCombat

The Federal Assault Ship is what happens when Core Dynamics takes the slow Federal Dropship and tunes it for aggression. The bulk comes off, the engines wake up, and the result is a fast, agile brawler with two large hardpoints, a heavy armour base and two military slots for reinforcement — a Federal medium built to close, hit hard and stay mobile.

It sits in the same conceptual space as the Alliance Chieftain: an agile, affordable, tough combat medium. The FAS trades a couple of the Chieftain's hardpoints for a slightly more aggressive flight profile and Federal flavour, and asks a Federal Navy rank to buy. For commanders grinding Federal standing toward a Corvette, it's the ship they'll happily fight in along the way.

Four things make the FAS a standout Federal brawler:

• Speed and agility. The fastest-boosting Federal combat medium with a nimble turn rate — it closes, holds guns on, and disengages at will.
• Two large hardpoints. Enough main-battery punch to kill anything in a RES or CZ, backed by two mediums for support weapons.
• Heavy armour plus military slots. A 540 armour base and two reinforcement bays make it far tougher than its agility suggests.
• Low cost. Under 20M credits once you've earned the rank — a bargain aggressive brawler.

Best-in-class speed and agility plus heavy 540 armour carry an 84; only four mounts (2L 2M), shallow optionals and a weak ~133 MJ base shield cap it.

The 84/100 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 FAS is the agile-aggressive pick in the mid-tier combat bracket. The Chieftain matches its profile with more mounts and no rank gate, so for many pilots the Chieftain is the rational choice — but the FAS flies with a sharper, more aggressive feel and pairs perfectly with a Federal-rank grind.

Other classes — the larger leagues

The FAS is a waypoint on the road to the Federal Corvette — the agile medium you fight in while grinding the rank that unlocks the apex large warship. Until then it delivers most of a premium medium's aggression at a fraction of the price.

At ~19.1M Cr the FAS is cheap for its combat capability, but it carries a Federal Navy rank gate — Chief Petty Officer — so you earn the right to buy it. The engineering bill is modest thanks to its shallow internals.

Conveniently, the missions that raise Federal rank (and the combat that pays for them) are exactly what the FAS is good at — so grinding toward a Corvette and fielding the FAS reinforce each other.

An aggressive armour-tank brawler that uses both military slots and the optional internals for reinforcement, with a bi-weave shield run purely as a regenerating buffer. Initial is buy-only; A-rated is the combat-ready baseline; Engineered applies the house combat pattern weighted to speed and hull.

Earn the rank, buy the hull (~19.1M Cr), fit a 5E Shield Generator with a 0A Shield Booster, and reinforce the first military slot with a 4E Hull Reinforcement.

Arm the hardpoints buy-only with gimballed weapons — a 3E Pulse Laser and a 3C Multi-Cannon on the two large mounts, a 2F Pulse Laser and a 2F Multi-Cannon on the mediums. Leave the second military slot, the spare utility mounts and the optional internals (beyond a stock cargo rack) empty until the A-rated pass — the beam laser and the second reinforcement wait until then.

Bulkheads stay stock Lightweight Alloy at this stage; the Military Grade Composite swap is an A-rated job. Even on the lighter shell, the speed and armour make it a strong RES and CZ brawler immediately.

A-rating priority for an aggressive armour-tank:

• 1Thrusters → 6A — The FAS's aggression is its speed and agility; A-rate thrusters first. ~3M Cr
• 2Power Distributor → 6A — Sustain two large guns plus boost. ~3M Cr
• 3Power Plant → 6A — Headroom for guns, shields and utilities. ~3M Cr
• 4Bulkheads → Military Grade Composite — The core of the armour tank; raises raw hull before any reinforcement is layered on. ~4M Cr
• 5Shield Generator → 5C bi-weave — A regenerating buffer over the armour tank. ~2M Cr
• 6FSD → 5A — Reach fights and Federal-rank turn-ins faster. ~3M Cr
• 7Battery & defences → A-rated — Swap the buy-only pulse lasers for the 3C Multi-Cannon and the 2D Beam Laser, add the second 0A Shield Booster, a Chaff Launcher and a Heat Sink, and fill every military and optional slot with hull and module reinforcement — right down to a 1D Hull Reinforcement in the size-1 bay rather than a scanner. ~6M Cr

The house combat pattern weighted to speed and hull. Pin blueprints for remote G1→G5 application; visit in person for experimentals.

Recommended order

• 1Thrusters first — speed and agility are the FAS's identity.
• 2Distributor and plant to G5 to sustain the guns.
• 3Heavy-Duty hull reinforcement in the military slots and optionals for the armour tank.
• 4Weapons and the bi-weave buffer last.

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

The Military Grade Composite bulkhead and stacked reinforcement lift effective armour well past a thousand by the A-rated pass; engineering — Heavy Duty bulkheads, Heavy Duty hull packages and Deep Plating throughout — then pushes it into the thousands while boost clears 440 m/s. A fast, aggressive brawler that closes in an instant and absorbs the return fire. DPS is solid; speed and toughness are the story.

• Fly it aggressively — the FAS rewards closing the distance and brawling, not kiting.
• Fill both military slots with Heavy-Duty reinforcement; the low base shield means armour carries it.
• Pair its use with Federal rank missions so every fight advances the Corvette grind.
• If the rank gate annoys you, the Alliance Chieftain offers a very similar profile with no rank requirement.