Ranger-class

Second only to the Huginn in ULA size and firepower, with its own fighter bay. Four medium plasma mounts cover fighters; twin dorsal railguns add anti-capital chip damage. Boardable by dropships.

What this hull is for

The Ranger-class is a United League (ULA) frigate. 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.

Frigates combine serious anti-capital teeth with fighter bays. They are high-value boarding targets — keep gunners alert on small craft and treat the hangar as a second front.

Armament

• Helm: Ion Cannon, 2M Missiles, mines
• 4x Medium Plasma
• 2x Railgun

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

• Acts as a forward spawn and fighter base - protect it accordingly.
• Watch the hull for breach-point objectives appearing on the tactical map: that means you have been boarded.

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 frigate on the other side is usually the Khamun-class (AIA). 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 ULA capital ships

• Griphon-class (Corvette) — A jack-of-all-trades escort let down by light armour.
• Rejkhart-class (Destroyer) — Unique among capital ships: the captain fires torpedo salvos while a gunner mans the main ion cannon.
• Heimdall-class (Cruiser) — Guided missile cruiser that prefers long-range engagements against other capitals over point defence.
• Huginn-class (Battleship) — The largest ULA vessel.

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.