Chons-class

A catch-all vessel with several ion cannons - potent anti-capital firepower, but every weapon points forward. The aft quarter is nearly undefended.

What this hull is for

The Chons-class is a Antarean Empire (AIA) cruiser. Capital ships in Angels Fall First are crewed platforms: helm, gun seats, repairable subsystems and — on larger classes — vulnerability to dropship boarding. Winning outside with guns means nothing if you lose the corridors inside.

Cruisers prefer ranged capital trades and missile pressure. Manage distance deliberately; if a boarding dropship reaches you while you are tunnel-visioned on another hull, the duel is already lost.

Armament

• Helm: Ion Cannon, 2M Medium, AFX, mines
• 2x Cannon
• Heavy Plasma

Treat the list above as a crew plan, not a flavour paragraph. Assign humans to the mounts that decide the current duel — anti-capital beams or rails when trading hulls, point-defence and vulcans when fighters or bombers close in. Empty seats are the most common reason a “better” ship still loses.

Tactics

• Never let an enemy get behind you; fight nose-on as an escort to bigger ships.

Crewing, repairs and boarding

Before you volunteer for helm, spend matches as a gunner and as a Multitool repair tech. Learn which subsystems fail first under fire and how long a dropship needs to reach your hangar. Frigates and battleships especially must treat boarding as a second front: park fighters on CAP, keep a ready reaction squad, and do not tunnel-vision the enemy battleship while a Cricket or equivalent docks behind you.

The capital ships guide covers captaincy, crew roles and both sides of a boarding action. Space map context lives in the space combat guide, and the command layer that tells your fighter wing where to go is in the commander guide.

Enemy counterpart

The mirrored cruiser on the other side is usually the Heimdall-class (ULA). Study both armament lists so you know whether you win a nose-to-nose trade or need fighters and boarding to break the stalemate.

Other AIA capital ships

• Ti-class (Corvette) — AIA escort with a dense battery of smaller weapons.
• Javert-class (Destroyer) — A flexible mid-class slugger built to trade fire with other large ships.
• Khamun-class (Frigate) — Flexible AIA frigate with a fighter complement.
• Anubis-class (Battleship) — AIA flagship with five heavy and two medium plasma cannons concentrated astern on its wings.

Quick bridge checklist

• Fill guns before you undock into a contested zone.
• Call target priority: objective ship, fighter carrier, or boarding threat.
• Keep one Multitool on critical subsystems at all times.
• Watch the tac map for dropships as hard as you watch the enemy silhouette.