Sins II Ship Series: The TEC Kol Battleship

Many fans have been asking if I’d go back and update my older dev journals on the main units of Sins of a Solar Empire II. This seemed like a great opportunity to revisit the units I first covered over a year ago with the latest information. However, I wanted to do more than just update stats - I wanted to bring out more of the detail for the units. Let’s take a fresh look at the TEC’s Kol-class battleship.

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Kol Port View

Above you can see a Port-side view of the Kol, with its major stats and weapons systems called out. The Kol is a tank and can both dish out and take a great deal of punishment. No other vessel in the TEC arsenal (outside of a titan) really compares to its ability to take on enemy forces. While the Kol is able to dish out and take punishment, it’s vulnerable to carrier strike craft and missiles due to its lack of point-defense weaponry.

Armaments

• 2 x Gauss Cannon Turrets (Top/Bottom)

• 2 x Medium Autocannon Turrets (Port)

• 2 x Medium Autocannon Turrets (Starboard)

• 1 x Light Autocannon Turret (Port)

• 1 x Light Autocannon Turret (Starboard)

• 1 x Light Autocannon Turret (Aft)

• Planetary Bombardment Cannon

• Experimental Beam Cannon (Fore - Optional)

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Kol Starboard View

Optional Ability Upgrades

• Experimental Beam: Enables the latest beam technology on the Kol. Fires a powerful beam weapon that deals high damage over time.

• Fusillade: Diverts power to the weapon systems and grants a bonus to attack rates and turret tracking speeds for a short duration.

• Adaptive Force Field: An experimental force field generator is added to the Kol which greatly reduces the damage taken for a limited time. Also prevents Vasari phase missiles from bypassing the shields.

• Finest Hour: The entire crew pulls together and pushes themselves and ship to its limits. All weapons gain splash damage, passive repair rates increase, and antimatter regeneration is improved for duration.

As with all capital ships, the Kol can also support up to 4 specialized upgrade items:

Optional Offensive Upgrades

• Radiation Bomb (2 Uses): Fires a radioactive shell at the targeted enemy ship, causing it and nearby foes to suffer damage over time for a short duration.

• Rapid Autoloader: Increases the reload rate of Physical weapons.

• Targeting Array: Adds a specialized targeting system to the ship, greatly increasing weapon range. Also increases the weapon ranges of all nearby friendly ships.

• Missile Guidance Computer: Designed as a fleet support upgrade, the guidance computer enables missiles to retarget; and grants them bonus damage to friendly units within range.

• High Yield Warheads: Increases the yield of the nuclear bombs used against planets, greatly increasing their damage. Also affects nearby friendly units within range.

• Heavy Gauss Slugs: Upgrades the ammunition used in the Gauss Cannons, increasing their damage and Armor penetration.

Optional Defensive Upgrades

• Armor Patch Kit (3 Uses): A limited use item that repairs Armor damage, even in combat.

• Flak Burst: Adds Flak launchers to the Kol, which can inflict Physical damage to all strike craft and missiles within a short range.

• Combat Repair System: Adds a special repair system to the ship, increasing its passive repair rate and allowing it to repair during combat. Also has an active mode to further boost repairs.

• Reactive Armor: Upgrades the Kol with an extra layer of special armor and greatly reduces incoming missile damage.

• Backup Shield Generator: Installs a secondary shield generator to the ship which is rigged to rapidly come online whenever the main generator fails. Also enables Shield Burst.

Optional Utility Upgrades

• War Reporter: A war reporter and their media team are embedded with the crew to capture footage for propaganda films extolling the might of the TEC. Increases maximum Influence.

• Exotics Salvage Policy: Insures the exotic resources used in the construction of the ship. If destroyed, they are refunded.

• Volatile Accelerants: Adds potent additives to the ship’s fuel, greatly boosting the speed of the Kol and nearby ships for a duration. However, this fuel damages the Kol during use.

• Antimatter Engine: A dedicated antimatter engine is added which boosts the passive regeneration of antimatter on the ship; and increases its maximum. Can be activated to provide a fixed amount of antimatter immediately.

• Deploy Argonev Starbase: Prepares a deployment package for an Argonev starbase. Once ready, the Kol can deploy all the fabrication systems needed to build one of these mighty stations in any gravity well.