Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock/Cylon Ships

Cylon vessels are generally lighter with fewer hard-hitting ships. Relying more on finesse, hacking, and subterfuge, Cylons can nonetheless be powerful if used properly.

Most Cylon vessels have an 80% subsystem repair rate instead of the Colonial's standard 100%. They rely much more on additional power to Engineering in order to recover from subsystem damage. They also have weaker firewall regen ability than Colonial ships.

Nemesis Class
The Cylon Nemesis corvette is a fragile vessel equipped only with a single forward-mounted gun and extremely light armour. What it lacks in durability, it makes up for speed, hacking ability, and the most potent scouting range in the game.

Campaign: Its small size and fast speed make it a tough target for battlestar artillery. Use guided missiles, Adamants, and Manticores to take them down. Try to destroy the Nemesis before other vessels in the enemy fleet; two or three Nemeses working in tandem will quickly disable your firewalls and deal subsystem damage.

Multiplayer: The Nemesis is the ultimate scout craft. It is both faster and more manoeuvrable than the Colonial Manticore. With maximum power to its tech bay, the Nemesis has over 10 km worth of DRADIS range. It can identify targets as early as the second turn, and is almost always worth bringing. Once the enemy has been scouted, keep your Nemesis away from the main fight and have it contribute via torpedo attacks and long distance hacks.

Official Description: ''Nemesis tech corvettes are the spearhead of the Cylon electronic warfare strategy. Coupled with long-range missile capabilities and high maneuverability, these light ships are perfect for hit and run tactics that can hamstring larger capitals.''

Talon Class
The Talon Class is a reasonably armoured, if sluggish, light carrier. It is roughly equivalent to the Colonial Berzerk class, though it is stronger defensively.

Campaign: Most likely the second Cylon ship encountered in the campaign after the Nemesis class, dealing with Talons using Manticores and Adamants involves whittling down their armour. With narrow front and rear arcs, and an unaccomodating AI, front and rear shots will be difficult. The numerous light guns make approaching Talons with Manticores using the nose gun difficult. With no belly guns, however, they are helpless to Adamants from below. Once you unlock battlestars, the Talon itself is an easy target.

Multiplayer: With its large size and the guarantee of facing Colonial battlestars, Talons are support ships. Either keep them back and use their squadron slot, or have them act as light fire support for Raiders against Vipers.

Official Description: ''Talon mini-carriers bear a striking resemblance to obsolete Canceron frigates discarded before the rebellion. The single-bay fore hangar has become a regular sight of the Cylon War, regularly bearing squadrons of prototype radar crafts and electronic warfare fighters.''

Revenant Class
With a multitude of light and heavy guns, the Revenant can heavily damage anything it can reach. With several heavy guns underneath, Revenants can even deal with targets below them. It is a good blend of mediocre armour and speed coupled with excellent weapons. It is similar to, but weaker than, the Colonial Minotaur class.

Revenants are also known for their faster than average subsystem repair rate of 95%. While not a match for the Colonials, Revenants have the best subsystem repair rate of all Cylon vessels.

Campaign: A Revenant's excellent firepower is a particular danger to Manticores. Adamants, with their light guns, will have trouble damaging them. The ideal combination is Berzerks to deal damage, and Adamants to soak it up. If you do not have the Reinforcements DLC and the Berzerk, use Adamants equipped with torpedoes to sink them. Once you unlock them, Minotaurs are capable of outgunning Revenants, provided all other factors are equal. The Artemis battlestar can deal with these ships handily, especially once targeted with focus fire.

Multiplayer: As pure gunships, Revenants need to be close to their targets to be able to deal damage. They can stand up to some fire, but will fall apart if not supported by Basestars and the core of your fleet. Revenants will operate on the flanks or in the front supported by missile fire from Basestars.

Official Description: ''The core hull of the Revenant is stolen from the design of Scorpian gunship captured early in the war. The Revenant uses aggressive turret placements to suppress and dominate opponents with constant barrages of gunfire.''

Arachne Class
Despite its official description, the Arachne behaves more like an improved version of the Adamant class than a frontline battlestar. The Arachne is equipped with a fast-firing missile slot, a solid suite of guns, and a single hangar slot. The hangar slot is rather sub-par, however, with a Squad Evasion stat of 8. It lacks the firepower of the Revenant and is overall a rather average ship on its own, but works well at filling gaps in a Cylon fleet.

Campaign: The Arachne's biggest weakness is its lack of ventral firepower. While its forward guns have some arc downwards, the majority of its weapons are on its back and can be avoided by getting below it. The Arachne is helpless to ships beneath it and to its side.

Multiplayer: Arachnes are notorious for their lack of belly weapons, so expect enemy vessels to dive when they identify your Arachnes and Revenants. A catch-all vessel, bringing an Arachne to support the core of your fleet is always a good idea.

Official Description: ''The Arachne carrier is the closest counterpart Cylon Command has to the Colonial battlestar design. Equipped with broadside hangars and missile tubes, this warship is a deadly combination of cruiser and carrier with the maneuverability of a light assault ship.

Cerberus Class
The predecessor to the Cylon Basestars of the TV series, the Cerberus is a dedicated carrier with four squadrons. The support slot supports Heavy Raiders, Wardrivers, Scorpions, and Vespids. It also has a multitude of heavy guns, giving it teeth against large enemies. While it carries no missiles, the Cerberus has the heaviest gun armament of all the major Cylon capital ships.

Campaign: Despite its imposing appearance, the biggest threat the Cerberus has is its fighter wing. Flak, Adamants, Vipers, and Debris Mines can be used to counter them. The ship itself can then be focused down with heavy gunfire from Artemis, Minerva, and Jupiter class battlestars. While it has a number of large guns, it doesn't have enough of them to deal damage to a battlestar on its own.

Multiplayer: The cornerstone of Cylon carrier fleets. Keep this ship close to the fight and get its six heavy guns working, but keep it away from concentrated fire as it doesn't have the same armour as the Atlas class.

Official Description: ''A supercarrier by Colonial standards, the Cerberus is the mainstay of Cylon assault forces. With greater hangar capacity than any other warship, and hull plating to rival a battlestar, the Cerberus provides an imposing tactical presence on any battlefield.''

Basestar
The Cylon Basestar is a low-cost, well balanced command vessel. The basestar's primary attack will be with its two missile slots and its large fighter wing, as its heavy guns are too few to deal reasonable damage. Its armour is only average and is almost incapable of moving, but its quick turn speed lets it spin around and expose multiple different facings to the enemy. This is helped by its sets of 360 degree turrets.

Campaign: Basestars are encountered only close to the end of the game, by which point you will have access to Artemis class battlestars to deal with them. Basestars cannot withstand concentrated gunfire from battlestar artillery. Their slow speed also makes them easy to hit with torpedoes, even without a DRADIS lock.

Multiplayer: While not all Cylon fleets will use basestars, they nonetheless can fulfill either a carrier or missile role in the fleet. Take advantage of the basestar's high turn speed and well-balanced armour to constantly expose a fresh facing to the enemy. Basestars should have a plan for countering torpedoes, as most opponents will notice the immobility of one of your ships and target it from a distance.

Official Description: ''The basestar is the core of the Cylon fleet. Even without the pace and armour plating of a battlestar, these command ships carry the destructive potential to annihilate entire fleets within minutes.''

Phobos Class
The Phobos is a lightly armoured hacking cruiser, similar to the Nemesis but lacking the munitions slot and gaining a hangar slot. It is also equipped with a short-range jump drive, allowing it to jump to any location 4.8 km away from it. This makes it a powerful flanker, or to jump out of dangerous situations while it is hacking.

Campaign: The Phobos cruiser is not a threat by itself, but its hacking abilties can be powerful. Its large size makes it an easier target than the Nemesis for torpedoes.

Multiplayer: Though a skilled flanker thanks to its jumping ability, the Phobos is not often used due to its lack of firepower. It is powerful with hacking-focused fleets. The Phobos can also perform a tactical jump straight in the enemy's path, either damaging or destroying the target ship as well as the Phobos itself.

Official Description: ''The Phobos class tech cruiser has highly sophisticated DRADIS systems integrated into its FTL drives, allowing it to make tactical-range jumps while engaged with the enemy. An array of missile tubes, a fore-facing hangar and a powerful electronic warfare suite rounds out this high impact cruiser.''