Hey everybody Daniel from Spacedock here.
Just a couple of quick update before this short, first up if you’re a BSG fan and
I have to assume you are given that you’re watching this video, then you may have noticed
the BSG Wiki has recently been down.
This is due to some domain issues and they are currently working on a patreon to try
and get it back up, the site was a great service and it would be fantastic to see it back in
action so please do go and check their patreon out if you get the chance.
Second up, some good friends of mine from the Wrexham Glyndwr Sci Fi society are kicking
off a new podcast channel, the flagship series of which is a Dr Who podcast, so if you’re
a dr who fan then you may want to go and throw those guys some views, help them get their
channel off the ground.
I can say from experience that getting started up is the hardest part of running a YouTube
series so I’m sure any views they get from you guys will be greatly appreciated.
Ok on with the video.
Assembled in the wake of their initial revolution against humanity, and heavily modified during
the 40-year armistice, the Cylon Starfleet is well rounded and highly effective in combat,
boasting a variety of vessel classifications which each complement the fleet and serve
a crucial purpose to the greater whole, reflecting many of the principles upon which the entirety
of Cylon Society is based.
Serving as the primary space superiority fighter of the Cylon Fleet, the Raider is a semi-sentient
biomechanical attack craft, optimised for use in swarms.
Armed with a pair of rapid-fire kinetic energy weapons, capable of carrying both conventional
and nuclear missiles, and largely immune to the g-forces suffered by piloted spacecraft,
the Raider is a lethal opponent in ship-to-ship combat, and the fighter carries an FTL drive
whose range far exceeds that of all colonial drive units, including those installed on
warships.
The use of Raiders is central to the majority of Cylon naval strategies, and much of their
fleet is designed to facilitate the support and rapid deployment of these deadly interceptors.
Often seen alongside the Raider, is its larger and sturdier counterpart, the Heavy Raider.
Like the standard Raider, the vessel features an autonomous bio-mechanical control system,
but it instead serves a more secondary role, assisting a centurion or humanoid cylon pilot,
and taking over control should they be incapacitated.
The Heavy Raider carries a pair of tri-barrelled autocannons as well as a complement of ship-to-ship
missiles, and can carry 10 Centurions into battle as an extremely powerful boarding party
or assault team.
Heavy Raiders are extremely resilient and well-armoured, and play a crucial role in
the cylon fleet as assault transports and gunships, they are often seen supporting wings
of conventional raiders, establishing small planetside firebases or delivering assault
teams to hostile warships.
The Cylon Basestar serves as the backbone of the fleet, providing the Cylons with a
resilient missile platform and force projection vessel.
The Basestar does not carry any ballistic cannons or mid-range gun batteries, nor is
it especially manoeuvrable at Sublight speeds, Instead the ship is used as a deployable staging
ground, jumping into an area using its supremely advanced FTL Drive and creating a central
point from which cylon forces can strike at the enemy.
The Basestar is armed with 220 missile tubes, each compatible with aspect seeking missiles,
dumbfire ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads, and across the vessel’s large pylons, 434
Raiders are stored in vertical deployment bays, ready to be scrambled at a moment’s
notice.
The Basestar also features several larger hanger bays within its primary hull, where
Heavy Raiders and recon drones are stored along with any commandeered colonial vessels.
Basestars share many of the biomechanical properties of their auxiliary craft, as well
as an impressive organic resin which allows the vessel to be repaired extremely quickly,
but the ships are not reliant on their organic elements to function, as they are fully crewed
by many humanoid Cylons and centurions, as well a single Hybrid, a biosynthetic lifeform
which serves as the vessel’s brain.
In the support role, the Cylons employ only two vessels, a modular freighter for cargo
and passenger transportation, and the rare but crucial resurrection ships.
Resurrection Ships maintain a constant connection to the Resurrection hub, and carry all of
the necessary hardware to support the transfer of cylon consciousness to new humanoid bodies,
making the vessel is a critical asset to the Cylon Fleet.
The Cylons will often refuse to overstretch their forces beyond the range of their resurrection
ships, for fear of placing Cylons at risk of permanent mortal death, and wherever their
resurrection ships are deployed, large flotillas of basestars and wings of raiders are positioned
to escort them, as the resurrection ships themselves lack armament or meaningful defences.
Overall the Cylon fleet is exceptionally balanced and versatile, designed around a core group
of strategies which have led the Cylons to victory on many occasions.
So long as a resurrection ship is active and within range, the forces of the Cylon Fleet
can relentlessly pursue and attack their enemies with no risk of casualties, and though the
loss of a Basestar or a wing of raiders will serve as a momentary setback, the constant
replacement of lost Humanoid Cylons and destroyed warships makes escape from the Cylon War Machine,
into a near impossibility.