VultureAX Combat

Anti-Xeno combat 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. Guardian Gauss Cannons are the heart-killers — but they fit only small and medium mounts, and the Vulture has neither. Its two hardpoints are both Large, so the AX battery is limited to two large AX multi-cannons or a Guardian Shard Cannon. Two guns, none of them Gauss-capable, is the thinnest heart-damage layout in the rated field.

What the Vulture keeps is its defining strength — elite agility — and one genuine bright spot for a small hull: a class-5 military slot, big enough for a size-5 Guardian reinforcement block that most rated mediums can't match. But the optionals are shallow (5·4·2·1·1·1·1), only four utility mounts carry the whole support kit, and the class-4 power plant cannot comfortably run two large guns plus the shield. That is why it lands at 44 — a cheap, agile hull that clears scouts and skirmishes light Interceptors, but cannot mount the weapon the role is built around.

What decides the Vulture's Thargoid fight:

• No Gauss mount. Two Large hardpoints and nothing smaller — Guardian Gauss caps at medium, so the hull cannot carry the role's key precision weapon at all. It fights with two large AX multi-cannons or a Guardian Shard instead.
• Elite agility. Class-leading turn rate lets it dodge Interceptor lightning and hold guns on an exposed heart — its whole survival case, though a 340 m/s boost is modest for opening distance from a swarm.
• A rare class-5 military slot. Unusual on a small hull — room for a size-5 Guardian reinforcement block, the single biggest survival gain the Vulture can make.
• Cheap and small-pad. Under 5M credits with no rank gate and outpost-anywhere access — the lowest-cost way into AX work.

Two large hardpoints and no medium/small mount mean the Vulture cannot fit a single Guardian Gauss Cannon, the role's heart-killer; elite agility and a rare class-5 military slot keep it a viable cheap scout-clearer, but the thinnest heart-DPS of any rated AX hull pins it at 44.

The 44/100 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 ~4.7M Cr with no rank or permit gate, the Vulture is the cheapest hull that can meaningfully enter anti-Xeno work. The AX and Guardian weapons and the Guardian reinforcement modules require the Guardian tech-broker unlocks — a prerequisite for any AX ship, not specific to this one.

The value case is real but narrow: a few million credits and low rebuy make it a fearless scout-clearer. It will not carry you into sustained Interceptor or Titan fights — that is a medium's job.

A budget anti-Xeno skirmisher built on the Vulture's elite agility. The two large hardpoints carry the AX battery — an Enhanced AX Multi-Cannon for sustained fire and a large Guardian Shard Cannon for burst — but the hull has NO medium or small mounts, so it cannot fit a single Guardian Gauss Cannon, the role's heart-killer. 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 and Guardian weapons themselves carry no engineering.

Buy the hull (~4.7M Cr); its stock Lightweight Alloy bulkheads stay for now — Military Grade is an A-rated upgrade. Fit a 5E shield generator, one 0E shield booster, a basic AFMU for module repair, and a 5E military-slot hull reinforcement.

Arm both large mounts buy-only with basic AX multi-cannons — they need no Guardian unlock and are enough to learn Thargoid fights. Set power priorities so weapons and shields don't brown out when you deploy hardpoints and boost.

A-rating priority for the AX Vulture — power first, always:

• 1Power Plant → A — The chronic bottleneck; A-rate and Overcharge it before anything else so two large AX guns and the shield stay lit. ~1.5M Cr
• 2Power Distributor → A — The Shard and AX multi-cannon drain the WEP capacitor fast. ~1.2M Cr
• 3Thrusters → A — Maximise the agility that dodges Interceptor lightning. ~1.5M Cr
• 4Shield Generator → bi-weave — Fast regen for a skirmisher that re-engages between passes. ~1M Cr
• 5Guardian Hull Reinforcement → class-5 military slot — The single biggest survival block, with built-in caustic resistance. Guardian unlock
• 6FSD → A — Reach Thargoid airspace and rescue megaships. ~1M Cr

The house AX pattern with a hard focus on power and mobility; the AX and Guardian weapons themselves are not engineerable. Pin blueprints for remote G1→G5 application; visit in person for experimentals.

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

Initial armour is stock Lightweight Alloy plus the one military-slot reinforcement (~450 raw). A-rated adds Military Grade Composite and a size-5 Guardian Hull Reinforcement with caustic resistance (~900 raw); engineered — Heavy Duty bulkhead and Deep Plating — the Vulture holds ~1,500 raw hull behind a fast-regen bi-weave and reaches ~430 m/s on boost. Heart DPS stays the flat limiter: two large guns, none of them Gauss-capable, is the least heart damage of any rated AX hull.

• No Gauss, ever — the hull has no medium or small mount, so heart damage rides two large AX guns and is slow by design.
• Power is the skill — Overcharge the plant and set power priorities before you undock, or the guns cut out mid-pass.
• Clear caustic with the sink launcher and a heat-sink overheat; there is no cargo room for a decontamination limpet.
• Use the class-5 military slot for a size-5 Guardian reinforcement — the biggest single survival gain the hull can make.