Kestrel Mk IIAX Combat

Anti-Xeno work is a discipline of evasion and precision: Thargoid Interceptors strip modules with lightning, eat hulls with caustic clouds, and reward pilots who can dodge and place clean shots on exposed hearts. The Kestrel Mk II brings genuine speed and small-pad access to that fight, and its three large hardpoints carry a heavy AX multi-cannon battery. But Guardian Gauss — the heart-killer — only fits small and medium mounts, and the Kestrel's only spare mounts are its two smalls, so the precision battery is thin.

It pays for its firepower and speed with survivability. Base armour is just 135, there is a single class-4 military slot, and the optionals are shallow (5·4·3·2·2·2·1) — less Guardian reinforcement room than any rated medium. It cannot soak Thargoid punishment the way a Chieftain or Challenger can; it stays alive by out-flying the lightning. That is why it lands at 60 — a real AX skirmisher, but the frailest and lightest-hitting of the field, best on scouts and lighter Interceptors rather than sustained Titan work.

What the Kestrel brings to a Thargoid fight — and what it doesn't:

• Three large AX mounts. A heavy Enhanced AX Multi-Cannon array for a small hull — strong sustained anti-Thargoid damage and scout clearing.
• Only two Gauss-capable mounts. Guardian Gauss caps at medium, so the two small mounts carry the heart battery; heart damage is the Kestrel's thinnest axis.
• Speed to dodge. 271/360 m/s on a nimble hull, pushing past ~450 m/s boost on Dirty Drives — the agility to side-step Interceptor lightning is its whole survival case.
• One military slot, four utilities. A single class-4 military bay for Guardian reinforcement (rare on a small) plus four utilities for the shield-booster, Xeno Scanner, caustic-sink and heat-sink kit.

A fast, nimble small-pad AX skirmisher — three large Enhanced AX Multi-Cannons and the agility to dodge Interceptor lightning — held to 60 because Gauss caps at medium so heart damage rides only two small mounts, and a thin 135-armour, one-military-slot frame hardens far less than any rated medium.

The 60/100 headline is a verdict against the anti-Xeno 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.

Every table rates ships for AX specifically, split by landing-pad class. The Hardpoints column is the hardpoint loadout — the mount count for a Gauss suite; the rating is the same 1–100 suitability verdict used across the site.

Same class — small AX ships

3 small-pad AX hulls carry a rating, led by Kestrel Mk II (60). Every same-pad rival lands where this one does — the direct field to shop.

Other classes — the capital AX platforms

The large-pad AX field (4 rated), led by Imperial Cutter (90) — bigger pads and bankrolls. They out-muscle this hull on the numbers, but sit a pad class away.

Other classes — the medium AX fighters

The medium-pad AX field (13 rated), led by Alliance Chieftain (90) — cheaper hulls and tighter pads. They undercut this hull on the numbers, but sit a pad class away.

At ~13.8M Cr the hull carries no rank or permit gate, but the real access cost of an AX fit is the Guardian tech: Guardian Gauss Cannons and the Guardian reinforcement packages are unlocked at Guardian ruins and require Guardian materials, and the Enhanced AX Multi-Cannons come from Tech Brokers. Budget the material runs before the credits.

As an AX platform the Kestrel is a budget, small-pad option — cheaper than most medium AX hulls — justified when you value speed and universal pad access over a deep tank. If you can field a medium pad, a Chieftain buys far more survivability for a similar spend.

A small-pad anti-Xeno fit built on the Kestrel's speed: three large Enhanced AX Multi-Cannons for sustained fire, a Guardian Gauss pair on the two small mounts for heart damage, and Guardian reinforcement crammed into one military slot and shallow optionals. Initial is the buy-only bare hull; A-Rated bolts on the Thargoid kit and Guardian reinforcement; Engineered hardens mobility, shields and survival. The AX/Guardian weapons themselves carry no engineering — the gains are in flying and the ship modules.

Buy the hull on stock Lightweight Alloy and stock cores. The AX weapons matter first: arm the three large mounts with gimballed Enhanced AX Multi-Cannons and both small mounts with fixed Guardian Gauss Cannons, then fit a Xeno Scanner so you can read Interceptor hearts.

The bi-weave shield, Guardian reinforcement, decontamination limpet and the caustic/heat-sink launchers wait until the guns are paid off — but even unengineered, three large AX guns clear scout swarms and chip Cyclops hearts, so the buy-only fit is already useful on the lighter Thargoids.

Don't linger. With no reinforcement and a stock shield, the buy-only Kestrel has to disengage the moment a heart phase turns on it.

A-rating priority for a light AX skirmisher:

• 1Power Distributor → 5A — Gauss drains the WEP capacitor fast; A-rate it first so the pair keeps firing. ~2M Cr
• 2Power Plant → 5A — Headroom to run three large AX guns, two Gauss and the shield. ~2M Cr
• 3Thrusters → 5A — Speed is the survival tool; A-rate to keep dodging the lightning. ~1.5M Cr
• 4Shield Generator → 5C bi-weave — A fast-recharging bi-weave against sustained Thargoid thermal fire. ~1.5M Cr
• 5Guardian reinforcement — Guardian Module Reinforcement in the military slot, Guardian Hull Reinforcement in the optionals for caustic-resistant armour. ~2M Cr
• 6FSD → 4A — Reach Thargoid airspace and Maelstroms. ~1M Cr

Fill the four utilities with a shield booster, Xeno Scanner, caustic-sink launcher and heat-sink launcher, and drop a decontamination limpet controller into a mid optional to strip caustic mid-fight.

The house anti-Xeno pattern on a small gunboat — weighted to mobility, heat and shields, since the AX and Guardian weapons take no engineering. Pin blueprints for remote G1→G5 application; visit in person for experimentals.

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

Engineered, the Kestrel keeps ~450 m/s of boost to dodge the lightning, a fast-charging bi-weave against thermal fire, and a Guardian-reinforced hull for caustic resistance. The weapons never change — AX and Guardian tech carry no blueprints — so the engineering budget goes entirely into flying, heat and survival. The heart battery stays at two small Gauss no matter how much you spend, which is the ceiling on this hull's AX ambitions.

• Fly it light and fast — speed to dodge the lightning is the Kestrel's only real defence.
• Manage heat hard: three large AX guns plus two Gauss on a class-5 plant run hot on a small hull; stagger fire and keep a heat sink.
• Heart damage is the bottleneck — two small Gauss is slow, so pick lighter Interceptors and place every volley.
• For the heavier Thargoids, step up to an Alliance Chieftain or Krait Mk II — more Gauss and a deeper tank.