Victory-class Star Destroyer
In-Game Description: A smaller Star Destroyer design capable of atmospheric operations, the Victory class Star Destroyer has been made obsolete in space combat, but still serves as a useful planetary assault and garrison ship.
Role: Colony/Siege
Strikecraft: 1-2 Squads.
Abilities
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Establish Garrison: The Victory Star Destroyer sends a landing party and a prefabricated garrison base down to the planet via Sentinel landing craft, bring the planet under your control. The garrison also constructs resource extractors and increases the planet's maximum hit points.
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Bombardment Leader: The experienced gunnery crews and specialized targeting computers on this vessel allow it to better direct planetary bombardment, increasing the damage dealt by allies to enemy planets while the Star Destroyer is in the gravity well.
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Boron Missile Strike: Fires a salvo of powerful long range Boron missiles modified to deal maximum damage to orbital structures and starbases while reducing their armor.
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Landing Force: Deploys several Sentinel Landing Craft to land Stormtroopers on an enemy planet to destroy key planetary infrastructure, dealing substantial damage to the planet and slowing ship and planet upgrade construction.
Analysis: The Wars of Interregnum have forced the Imperial Navy to become increasingly specialized, and no warship better shows this than the original Victory class. While the extra-galactic invader's preference for orbital bombardment has caused most Imperial Warships to carry few if any ground forces, the Victory class has been retooled into all in one planetary assault ships. As one of the few Imperial capitalships available at the start, its ability to establish new bases makes the Victory class the go to first capitalship for Imperial commanders. Its outdated engines and weapons means it will lose to other capitalships in a space battle, but the Victory class' atmospheric flight capabilities and missile tubes make it adept at clearing gravity wells of enemy structures and then bombing the defenseless planet. It can also deploy ground forces to speed this task along while halting enemy production, and of course once the planet surrenders it can establish a new garrison straight away.
Also worth mentioning is that while the Victory class does not carry the more advanced TIE Fighters that other Star Destroyers do, it is the only Imperial ship that deployed TIE Bombers with Proton Bombs, which deal extra damage to space stations and starbases, further helping the Victory class clear enemy gravity wells.
Victory-II class Star Destroyer
In-Game Description: A Star Destroyer that shares the same base hull as the Victory-I, the Victory-II's improved support systems, faster engines and ion cannons make it better suited for space combat. It is an effective warship that makes an excellent escort for larger Star Destroyers.
Role: Battleship/Fleet Support
Strikecraft: 0-2 Squads.
Abilities
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Doubled Efforts: The ambitious Captain of the Victory-II rallies his ship and nearby allies to fight with all available energy, increasing unit initiative and providing more energy for special abilities.
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Disruptive Ion Bolts: A key improvement over the Victory-I, the Victory-II Star Destroyer's Ion Cannons are a useful tool, capable of inflicting extra damage to shields and reducing enemy rate of fire if the target's shields are down.
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Target Communications: Strikes the communication arrays of a hostile ship, temporarily knocking out its ability to contact its fighter squadrons, reducing enemy strikecraft effectiveness.
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Screening: Orders the Victory-II to act as a screening ship for another Star Destroyer, increasing the speed and firepower of the Victory-II as it rushes to engage while reducing the damage the escorted ship takes.
Analysis: First produced late in the Clone Wars, the Victory-II ended up having much more influence on future capitalship design than its more widely used contemporary the Venator class. Its focus on Turbolasers and Ion Cannons to engage forces in ship to ship combat at the expense of missiles and fighter squadrons became standard on later Star Destroyer models. While good combat ships in their own right, their limited fighter capacity limited their usefulness against the starfighter raids often used by the Rebellion, causing many Victory-IIs to be delegated to planetary defense forces, used as flagships in sector patrols (a Victory-II destroyer was the first to encounter a Triple Alliance task force several light years from Endor), or put into reserve. However, the Great Interregnum has brought these ships back into primary fleet combat roles, as the numerous smaller frigates used by the Sins races have forced the Imperial navy to protect its larger Star Destroyers with powerful escorts to prevent them from being swarmed.
Imperial-class Star Destroyer
In-Game Description: The infamous icon of the Imperial fleet, the Imperial Star Destroyer is a well rounded warship with a focus on command and deployment abilities.
Role: Carrier
Strikecraft: 2-6 Squads.
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TIE Fighter
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TIE Bomber
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TIE Interceptor
Abilities
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Tractor Beam: "Activates the Imperial Star Destroyer's Phylon Q7 Tractor Beam, drawing a target ship closer to the Star Destroyer, preventing it from jumping into hyperspace and making it more vulnerable to weapons. Assault Shuttles boarding a tractor beamed target will inflict more damage."
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Deploy Gunboats: Deploys a group of Alpha-class Xg-1 Star Wing Gunboats from the Star Destroyer's hangar bay. Armed with lasers, small ion cannons and warhead launchers, these fighter/bombers can engage many types of enemies. Higher levels of this ability spawn more gunboats.
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Assault Shuttles: Sends a shuttle full of Stormtroopers to board an enemy starship, sabotaging the hull and if possible capturing the vessel. Deals increased damage to targets in a tractor beam.
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Imperial Presence: As one of the main symbols of Imperial stability and order, the presence of an Imperial Star Destroyer is a potent rallying symbol for the Empire's units, increasing the shield mitigation of all nearby friendly ships.
Analysis: The first of the the 1.6km capitalships of the Empire, the original Imperial Star Destroyer serves as an effective command and carrier unit. While it and the other Imperial capitalships below are larger and more powerful than standard Sins capitalships, they are also more expensive, use more fleet supply and require research before they can be constructed.
A well rounded warship, the Imperial Star Destroyer's abilities allow it to play a number of roles. For one, it can do direct hull damage and has a chance to capture enemy frigates with Assault Shuttles, allowing an Imperial Fleet to gain new units in the middle of a battle. This is even more effective if it is using its tractor beam ability at the same time, for the target will be stuck in range and take much more damage.
It also has the largest fighter capacity of any regular Imperial capitalship. Among its figher compliment, it can deploy powerful Alpha Assault gunboats with its Deploy Gunboat ability, which can deal substantial damage to almost any unit. It is also one of the few units that can deploy the more advanced TIE Interceptors as one of its fighter squadrons. However, these advanced fighters take much longer to build and cost antimatter to replenish. Deploy to many of them and your Star Destroyer may not have enough antimatter to use its normal abilities, and if they are destroyed they cannot be replaced as quickly as normal TIE fighters.
Finally, the Imperial Star Destroyer's ultimate ability, Imperial Presence, is a passive ability that increases the shield mitigation of all nearby Imperial Units. This means high level Imperial Star Destroyers are invaluable in increasing your fleet's survivability, especially for a faction that lacks an efficient repair cruiser like the Hoshiko.
Imperial-II class Star Destroyer
Interdictor-class Star Destroyer
Tector-class Star Destroyer
In-Game Description: A variant of the Imperial Star Destroyer that traded its main hangar bays for a larger and more well protected hypermatter reactor, the Tector class serves as a powerful battleship with extra endurance and firepower more than making up for a lack of starfighter support.
Role: Battleship
Strikecraft: None
Abilities
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Energy Surge: The Tector Star Destroyer pushes its reactor core to full power, increasing the damage output of its weapons while rapidly regenerating its shields.
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Crippling Shots: Gives a chance for weapons to inflict critical hits, doing extra damage and reducing the defense of the damaged ship. Higher levels increase the chance of scoring critical hits.
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Durasteel Curtain: Increases the armor of all friendly ships near the Tector Star Destroyer.
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Armored Reactor: While lacking the large hangar bay of the Imperial class, the Tector Star Destroyer instead features a massive armored hypermatter reactor core that is almost impossible to damage. This prevents the Tector from being disabled by most abilities.
Analysis: Essentially an Imperial-II Star Destroyer with heavier armor and its main hangar bay removed to fit a more powerful reactor, the Tector is the most powerful Star Destroyer in the Empire's service in direct combat, with the exception of only the Allegiance class Battlecruiser and the Executor class Star Dreadnaught. While the lack of TIE fighters may hurt the Tector's versatility, it more than makes up for it by being extremely difficult to kill. While the Tector lacks an ultimate ability, it instead has the "Armored Reactor" passive ability available from the start, preventing most abilities from disabling its systems. The Tector can boost its armor as well of that of nearby friendly ships with Durasteel curtain, while it can restore its shields with Energy Surge. This ensures both the hull and shields of the Tector are much more difficult to deplete than the standard Imperial Star Destroyers. Finally, Energy Surge and Crippling Shots give the Tector potent offensive firepower, and the later ability is especially useful in weakening important enemy units so that your entire fleet can focus fire and quickly destroy it.