Alliance Assault Frigate Mark II

None

* 160 Seconds (Galactic Conquest)
* 42 Seconds (Space Skirmish)

* Average Charging Anti-Turbolaser

* 20 per second

* Medium Armor

* 0.0075% per 8 Seconds

Non-Targetable:

* 3x Medium Turbolasers
* 6x Heavy Laser Cannons

## Player Evaluation

The Alliance Assault Frigate Mark 2 is a medium sized cruiser that primarily saw action during the New Republic era. As such in AOTR the ship is only available to the player and AI post-New Republic Transition. When compared to its older cousin the Mark I, the Mark II is a direct upgrade over it. Instead of having its weapons in broadside firing positions, which halved the total firepower of the original Alliance Assault Frigate Mark I, the Mark II has most of its weapons in forward firing arcs, greatly increasing its firepower and making it that much more deadly.

In addition to the repositioning of the weapons, the Mark II also saw a few more weapon emplacements added on top of it as well as greatly improved survivability compared to the Mark I. The hull of the Mark 2 became much more robust as a result of the redesigns and improved power generation allowed for improved shield generation which is reflected in the ship being unique in the fact it has both Boost Power to Weapons and Power to Shields. In Standard 1 on 1 Engagements the AAF Mk II can pretty much outclass any ship in its size range if its allowed to close the gap and start pumping rounds into its opposing vessel. The Mark II becomes even more deadly when operating as part of a small wolf pack to hunt down lone enemy ships or even being sent in flanking maneuvers.

However all of these upsides do not come without drawbacks. Much like its older counterpart, the Mark 2 lacks both a starfighter compliment and proper point defense systems. Meaning that the ship if unescorted can and will be vulnerable to targeted fighter attacks from the enemy. Not to mention because of its medium armor it is still vulnerable to shield penetrating weapons and torpedoes. So it is imperative you have screening vessels and/or fighter support covering these vessels as they go in for attack runs. Also be aware of the distance between you and the enemy, a side effect of all these changes is that the Mark 2 is much slower than the Mark 1 meaning it will take longer for the ship to get into firing position. Overall the Mark II is a solid anti-capital ship cruiser that can be incredibly dangerous when properly supported and working in a wolf pack.

## Background/Lore

While the Alliance Assault Frigate Mark I proved to be a decent upgrade for the aging Dreadnaught-class Heavy Cruisers that were still kicking around in the Alliance Navy. There were notable problems that rebel engineers were made aware of, namely the fact the ship had trouble with generating power to both its weapons and its shields which in turn made for problems when the ships engaged in combat. Alliance Engineers, now with the help of the Mon Calamari, sought to refine this design and improve it even further. Continuing to base the ship off the old frame of the Dreadnaught and the previously mentioned AAF Mark I, the designers repositioned many of the weapons from their original broadside positions into more forward facing positions. In addition they also made the hull a lot more compact and robust compared to the fairly stripped down Dreadnaught frame of the Mark I. Not to mention with the help of the Mon Calamari they were able to install much more efficient and powerful shield generators.

The resulting Alliance Assault Frigate Mark II was not only a better ship to ship combatant than the preceding Mark I but it provided the Rebellion and later New Republic with a highly capable medium sized capital ship that was capable of operating as the flagship of a small fleet or working as part of a larger fleet. The ships while slower than their predecessors were still perfectly capable of outmaneuvering larger imperial vessels such as the Imperial Star Destroyer, the ships were even deadlier when working in wolf packs and could easily punch above their weight class. Meaning typically there would be 2 or 3 assault frigates engaging 1 Imperial Star Destroyer and often coming out on top. The advanced shielding systems and robust hull allowed these frigates to take fire from these larger vessels whilst doing damage themselves. However much like the Mark 1 the Mark 2 did not come with an internal hangar and had lackluster point defense when compared to some other vessels. Regardless the Mark 2 did its job and did its job well by filling a role in the Alliance and later New Republic Navy that was needed in order to continue the war effort. They would serve throughout the existence of the Rebellion, New Republic, and Galactic Alliance before slowly being retired and replaced by more modern and specialized vessels following the Yuuzhan Vong War.