Mauler
The Druuge Mauler is one of the single most troublesome ships in space. Its slow, ungainly reactions make it a difficult ship to pilot. Mastering the correct usage of the weapons is not easy and its slow battery regeneration turns the Mauler into a very vulnerable ship. Yet, when correctly used against certain ships, the Mauler can prove a deadly adversary.
Propulsion
The Mauler is a slow, plodding ship with poor acceleration and a modest turning rate. It is strongly affected by gravity wells. However, the Mauler also has a high-recoil forward cannon that is incredibly useful for sending it flying backwards at high speeds.
Armament
Primary
The Mauler is equipped with — or more accurately, is — a large, high-recoil cannon. Immensely powerful, it can destroy some vessels in a single shot, killing six crew members per shot, and those lucky enough to survive the impact are knocked off-course by it. The recoil generated from firing can also propel the Mauler backwards to incredible speeds, which can be a double-edged sword. The awesome power of this weapon is held in check by the dynamos on Mauler ships, which can only be described as "pathetic".
Secondary
To compensate for the Mauler's weak battery recharging, Druuge captains have been known to order lower-ranking crew members to be thrown into the furnace, which feeds vast amounts of energy into the combat batteries. At first, this appears to be the single most useless weapons system available, depleting your own crew in order to power your primary weapons; but it can prove quite useful in a pinch. This is especially useful against the Chmmr Avatar where you can use the high-recoil cannon and the supply of battery power to keep out of the Avatar’s Tractor-and-Laser tactic, pummeling it to dust. Generally, however, it is recommended that captains be as frugal as possible with their crew.
Tactical Overview
The Mauler is the sniper rifle of Star Control ships -- Proper aiming and conservation of fire are required to use it effectively. It has distinct advantages versus certain ships, and it can be hard to hit when it is flying at super-high speeds due to the recoil, but otherwise it is very vulnerable.
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