Blade Breakers

"We are permitted to die, not to surrender."

The **Blade Breakers** is a minor faction that mainly inhabit the fringe systems away from the Core Worlds, operating in a similar manner to the AI Remnants. They can pose a considerable threat to unwary explorers charting out their systems but otherwise do not constitute much danger barring from the occasional raiding fleets.

## Overview

Very little is known about the Blade Breakers, but it's highly likely that they are once affiliated with Dassault-Mikoyan Engineering, as several of their weapon descriptions show that DME scientists and technicians have a hand in designing and/or testing these weapons. Both DME and BB ships also produce the same distinct noises when raising shields or venting flux, suggesting shared core components in their designs despite drastically different doctrines.

The Blade Breakers answer to a shadowy group known only as the Council of Five, next to nothing is known about the Council, but it's very likely that they are artificial intelligences. Most Blade Breakers are kept in line by loyalty implants to ensue that their devotion to the Council is absolute. However, it's been shown that some have managed to break free and desert the Blade Breakers.

## Gameplay

“DANGER: This star system is controlled by Active Service Units of the Blade Breakers, operating under the rightful authority of the Council of Five. Entry is forbidden to all fleets under Council Law.”

Systems inhabited by the Blade Breakers are marked by unique, black colored hardened warning beacons. The color of the beacons indicate the amount of presence the Blade Breakers have in the marked system. Green colored beacons indicate minimum threat, with only a handful of Scout Groups present; yellow beacons usually indicate moderate threat, with Scout Groups and Task Groups patrolling the system and possibly Battle Groups and a Bastion; red beacons indicate high levels of Blade Breaker presence, with multiple Battle Groups and the very likely presence of a Bastion.

Scout Groups are the Blade Breakers’ equivalent to a small patrol, consisting of mostly frigates and destroyers; Task Groups are medium sized patrols consisting of some cruisers, multiple destroyers and frigates; Battle Groups are the largest patrols consisting of multiple cruisers, smaller hulls and the occasional Warlock-class mothership. Blade Breaker raider fleets are named Excision Fleets.

Blade Breakers use exclusively their own ships, such as the Imp-class drone frigate, the Devil Ray-class phase destroyer, the Black Lancer-class drone cruiser, and the Warlock-class drone mothership. Unlike the [REDACTED], the Blade Breakers use a mixture of crewed and automated ships, with the latter being far more numerous. All crewed Blade Breaker ships possess the "Unboardable" flag which prevents the player from recovering them post battle, their automated ships can be recovered using the Automated Ships skill.

Blade Breakers mainly use their own weapon designs or Sigma Matter based weapons, sometimes they may also use Dassault-Mikoyan weapons. Many of the Blade Breaker weapons are designed as compound types, such as the Degeneration Cycler being a hybrid weapon, the Jackal Burst Slicer a composite weapon and the Smart Plasmid Mortar a synergy weapon.

Blade Breaker Bastions, either Acolyte-class stations or Preceptor-class dreadnaughts, are capable of spawning additional Blade Breaker patrols and raiding fleets. However, there is little incentive to actually destroy the Bastions as they do not drop anything of substantial value. Acolytes primarily spawn in randomly generated Blade Breaker controlled systems, while only 3 Preceptors spawn orbiting the Sigma-Distorted star in the Lenz star system.

All Blade Breaker ships have the Sigma Matter Engineering hullmod built-in which reduces the amount of ordnance points required to install ballistic and energy weapons as well as drastically reducing the effects of hyperspace storms and environmental hazards such as solar coronas. However, their ships consume 50% additional supply to maintain and suffer from prolonged overload durations. Sigma Matter Engineering is also incompatible with several hullmods such as Converted Hangar, Safety Overrides and Integrated Targeting Unit etc. Instead, Blade Breaker ships require specific combat focus hullmods to provide the aforementioned upgrades.

In combat, the Blade Breakers’ fighting style can be compared to that of the [SUPER ALABASTER], they are extremely aggressive, will never retreat from a fight and rely primarily on high mobility alpha strikes. Therefore it’s very important to ensure that your fleet possesses good, well rounded defense when taking on the Blade Breakers, otherwise it easily runs the risk of being overwhelmed. Relying heavily on armor is also not recommended, as the Blade Breakers also possess weapons that are capable of eroding armor. However, most Blade Breaker hulls do not posses the insane durability of the [SUPER ALABASTER], most are about as susceptible to damage as midline ships. Therefore it’s highly recommended to focus more on kinetic weapons to overwhelm their shields or overload them. Due to the Sigma Matter Engineering hullmod increasing overload duration and their less than impressive armor, Blade Breaker ships are exceptionally vulnerable when overfluxed.

Blade Breaker fleets typically benefit from 3 of the following fleetwide skills:

* Electronic Warfare
* Flux Regulation
* Coordinated Maneuvers
* Energy Weapon Mastery
* Phase Coil Tuning

## Faction Strengths & Drawbacks

### Advantages:

* Very high mobility.
* Flexible mount types on most ships.
* OP discounts on energy and ballistic weapons.
* An assortment of powerful ballistic and energy weapons.
* A variety of drone fighter LPCs to choose from.
* Rugged construction on their automated ships permits more aggressive engagement.
* Ships are ideal for hyperspace storm surfing.

### Disadvantages:

* Ships cost more to maintain.
* Overload lasts longer on their ships.
* Weapons tend to be rather costly in terms of OP.
* Low to mediocre durability.
* Requires specific hullmods in place of commonly available ones.