April 21 — Today marks the release of only the second Medium sized fighter in the Star Atlas marketplace. Until today, the Pearce F4 was the only ship of its size and class. With the release of the Calico ATS Enforcer, how do these two ships stack up against one another?

Pearce F4

Calico Air to Space (ATS) Enforcer

With relatively few ships in the Medium Fighter Class category, it becomes important to understand the advantages each ship has when compared to similarly designed ships. The Calico ATS Enforcer is only the second ship in this category to be released to the general public. Additionally, only one more Medium Fighter will be released during the Galactic Asset Offering Phase 2. The Ogrika Tursic, unreleased at this point, will round out the eventual trio of Medium Fighters. In one-on-one combat scenarios, this could turn into a rock-paper-scissor engagement strategy for Medium Fighter fleets.

To better understand the capabilities of each ship, let’s take a look at some of the key differences that set these two ships apart.

Combat

Faction Aligned Company

The F4 is manufactured by the Pearce company. A MUD aligned company, Pearce heavily specializes in producing the best ships for military use. So highly regarded is the F4’s military prowess, it has become the official standard issue Medium Fighter for Council of Peace fleets.

The ATS is a stunning new design from Calico. Calico is a MUD oriented company with a smaller ONI influence within its corporation. Calico does not have an identified production specialization, but its blend of MUD/ONI influence should give the ATS an edge in stealthier patrol operations.

Looking at Faction Aligned Company alone and in a direct head-on fight, the F4 should outclass the ATS a majority of the time.

Components and Modules

The F4 and ATS are nearly identical when it comes to components and modules. There is, however, one key distinction between the two ships. The F4 comes standard with two large weapon hardpoint slots. These two weapon hardpoints allow the F4 to continuously dominate its opponents with consistent fire.

Surprisingly, instead of two large weapons, the ATS opts for a single capital sized weapon slot supplemented by two medium weapon hardpoints. This oversized weapon on a medium ship allows the ATS to completely devastate any ship in its sights. However, being that it has only one capital weapon which likely requires a significant time to recharge, we suspect that the ATS is incapable of prolonged combat without additional support.

Tactical Application

The F4 represents raw, direct, and sustained fleet combat power. A pair or trio of F4s can make short work of many small to medium sized fleets. The F4 is also much smaller in size compared to the ATS. This would ideally give the F4 a maneuvering advantage over the ATS making the F4 much harder to target. Conversely, the ATS would give the F4’s targeting computers a simpler solution for tracking and engagement.

There is a scenario, however, that plays to the ATS’s strengths and advantages. Owing to its ONI influence, the ATS possesses a much greater aptitude for stealth application than the F4. While ONI stealth systems still remain a mystery, the stealth systems aboard the ATS could give it enough time to launch a surprise first strike attack against an F4. Coming from its long range capital weapon, a critical hit against an F4 from the ATS main weapon would likely disable the F4 outright. At the very least, it could significantly tilt the next few moments of combat in favor of the ATS.

Economics

Crew

Interestingly, the ATS has space for only two crewmembers compared to the F4’s five person crew. The ATS cockpit is designed like 21st Century Earth Era Fighter Aircraft. It has a two person tandem cockpit for a single pilot and a single copilot. On the other hand, the F4 is a more traditional spacefaring vessel, crewed by a Captain, pilot, co-pilot, engineer, and gunner. Perhaps the ATS exhibits undisclosed advantages in atmospheric flight as its namesake would imply.

Crew resource management is also a concern for the ATS. A medium sized ship places a significant workload on two people. The pilot and co-pilot must work in perfect unison to complete a variety of shared tasks successfully. The tandem design of the ATS cockpits also appears to leave little room for crew comforts, increasing the fatigue of crewmembers during extended missions.

Price
Comparing origination prices, the ATS is valued slightly cheaper than the F4. At initial release, the ATS can be acquired for 2,245 $USDC. The F4 was originally listed at 2,500 $USDC, although buyers can find used F4s for approximately 2,000 $USDC.

SCORE and SCREAM
For SCORE, ship owners can expect the F4 to generate slightly better rewards than the ATS. The F4 currently generates just under 119 $ATLAS per day with a moderate food supply of just under four days. The ATS will likely perform similar to the F4, albeit with slightly reduced results.

However, this could potentially change for SCREAM when it is released later this year. During Atlas Brew #10, SCREAM designer Chypto stated that SCREAM would factor in different ship mechanics like crew size to determine resource burn rates and rewards. This could mean that the ATS may become more efficient than the F4 at SCREAM, outperforming the F4 during particular missions. Additionally, the ATS should carry a minor stealth capability with it that would have a heavier impact during SCREAM. Currently, SCORE does not account for any stealth mechanics or features.

Final Comparison

The decision to either develop a fleet around the F4 or the ATS will have to be determined by fleet captains and guild fleet managers. The F4 and the ATS represent two different and distinct engagement strategies in the plane of combat. The F4, a Council of Peace standard, is designed to bring direct firepower immediately to the fight. The ATS, a capital weapon carrying behemoth, combines elements of surprise strike with devastating firepower to quickly defeat adversaries. For now, the F4 remains at a slight advantage to the ATS. We shall see how the ATS fares when SCREAM flips the script on mission mechanics.