Avatar

The Chmmr Avatar is a state of the art ship with few real foes, combining the technological prowess of the Mmrnmhrm and the Chenjesu. With medium speed and a fairly good turn-rate the Avatar shouldn't be taken lightly. Its main weapon is a strong and deadly laser and its tractor beam would make even the bravest enemy captain sweat. It is orbited by three Zap-satellites for point defense.

Navigation

Built specifically for the purpose of defeating Ur-Quan vessels, the Avatar is faster and has a better turn rate than both the Dreadnought and Marauder. It is, however, quite large, and appropriate care should be taken near gravity wells.

Armament

Primary

Chmmr Designers bring in the most devastating laser in the galaxy, so powerful that it ionizes the solar wind, causing visible sparkles in the void. Capable of tearing anything to pieces in a few seconds, this laser turns a face-to-face battle with the Avatar into a suicide run. Some sources describe this primary weapon as a "heavy X-ray laser."¹

Secondary

The Avatar is also outfitted with a powerful Tractor Beam, capable of tractoring ships towards the Avatar's laser-jaws by generating a field of artificial gravity. Only fast-and-heavy ships can hope to evade this awesome beam. Slow ships or fast but light weighted ships (such as the Shofixti Scout and especially the Yehat Terminator) cannot evade this powerful tractoring. Lightweight ships can actually be thrown into immense speeds. It is quite funny to see a Terminator flying around in speeds three and four times higher than those of a Slylandro Probe. The Arilou Skiff or Slylandro Probe, being unaffected by gravity, are not affected by the Tractor beam.

Additional

In addition to its already formidable arsenal, three AI-Controlled laser-turrets orbit around the Avatar, providing it with point-defense against most types of attacks. Each zap-sat has 12 hit-points, and when all three are functional, the Avatar is nearly immune to weapons with 3 or less hit-points.

Tactical Overview

Don't mess with an Avatar. There are clearly few ships that can actually match it.

Strengths

So long as its zap-sats remain in place, the Avatar will have little trouble defeating most ships. Several ships do not have any weaponry that will penetrate the zap-sats.

Weaknesses

• The Shofixti Scout's glory device will usually destroy at least two zap-sats, leaving the Avatar much more vulnerable for the next fight.
• The Androsynth Guardian in comet form proves very nasty against the Avatar, if lucky enough - there's roughly a 25% chance per attack run for the Guardian to get stuck between the Avatar's nose and wings. However, the outcome may often be mutual annihilation, since the zap-sats will continually damage the Guardian. A good defense for the Avatar is to face in the opposite direction, since this will render nearly impossible for the Guardian to successfully wedge.
  • Another tactic for the Guardian is to launch small groups of bubbles and comet away to safety. This is slower than ramming with the comet, but much safer, though many players despise the tactic, considering it unfair (since the Avatar is not really forced to speed through the bubbles).
• A very lucky or incredibly skilled Pkunk Fury pilot can defeat the Avatar, though he doesn't have many chances.
• A Supox Blade using its secondary to stay out of the Avatar's range can defeat it, if lucky enough not to be hit by asteroids. However, if the Avatar uses a gravity whip, the match will prove effectively impossible for the Blade.
• A Yehat Terminator, if hurled into "hyperspacing speed" can rain fire on the Avatar but this is also not an easy thing to do. *An Orz Nemesis can evade the tractor beam while patiently firing at the zap-sats with its turret facing backwards.

All of these ships are capable of defeating the Avatar, but will be destroyed if their captain makes a single mistake.

Few ships can truly fight the Avatar with impunity.

• Any of the ships above can defeat it if the Avatar has lost all of its zap-sats.
• The Druuge Mauler can recoil out of laser range while pummeling the Avatar with its cannon. The Mauler has to be careful not to recoil too fast, lest he won't be able to change course and will be smashed by the X-Ray laser in seconds.
• The Utwig Jugger can use its shields to defend against zap-sats while firing at the Avatar when out of range, quickly draining the Avatar - unless the zap-sats happen to die first; the AI is able, with a Jugger, to quickly let down the shield and fire, its vulnerability window being too small to be dangerous. However, this is much harder to do for a human player, and in netplay with any lag, even impossible.
• The Thraddash Torch is surely the greatest weakness of an AI-controlled Avatar, as its plasma afterburner acts as both a means for evading the Avatar's attacks, and destroying its satellites - human players, however, will pillbox, forcing the Torch to enter in the ZapSats' range, lest the match will be dragged indefinitely. As a lightweight ship, however, the Torch is vulnerable to the tractor beam, so its pilot must remain wary and alert.

Interesting Matchups

• The Kohr-Ah Marauder's F.R.I.E.D rips the Zap-sats into pieces. Its shuriken mines are also a force to be reckoned with, since each takes 8 shots to destroy(while being fired) — less if stationary. All in all, the Marauder has the best chance of any race at destroying the Avatar with minimal losses.
• While the Kzer-Za Dreadnought's fighters are pointless versus the zap-sats, the Dreadnought has a better range and its fusion blasts can tear down the Avatar extremely quickly. An AI Dreadnought will not even launch any fighters if the Avatar has at least one Zap-sat remaining.
• The Chenjesu Broodhome, with its range, can prove a worthy adversary as well.

The Chmmr has significantly more firepower than these ships, however, and once the tractor beam pulls them into range of the laser they will quickly be destroyed, but leaving the Avatar without zap-sats for its next fight.

Notes and references

¹3DO version ship video