Jugger

The Utwig Jugger is one of the most dangerous ships in our region of space, thanks to its unique weapons and shield systems.

Navigation

The Jugger is surprisingly fast for its size, although its acceleration is weak. But it is also outfitted with a set of amazingly powerful turning jets, and is capable of coming about as quickly as a vessel less than half its size.

Armament

Primary

The Jugger's main weapon is an array of six forward-facing, "energy spear" cannons powered by an extremely efficient combat dynamo system. With it, the cannons have a virtually limitless supply of energy, and are able to fire without drawing any energy from the combat batteries. With a moderate rate of fire and damage, a Jugger can obliterate most other ships with a few salvos. Each cannon "spear" in a salvo will kill one member of the enemy's crew upon striking the ship.

Secondary

The Jugger is equipped with a unique shielding system. It is capable of absorbing an almost limitless amount of punishment from both kinetic and energy-based attacks, and it in fact converts this energy for storage in its combat batteries! However, the vessel is not capable of replenishing energy on its own, so if the combat batteries run out, the shields are no longer usable. The only way for a Jugger to get its energy levels back up then is by leaving the combat theater; a Jugger always enters battle with its batteries at half of its maximum capacity.

Tactical Overview

The Jugger's shields consume energy when used, but they absorb energy from enemy attacks. Therefore, a skilled Jugger pilot who uses his shields only when necessary can keep his batteries fully charged and minimize damage to his ship. A corollary to this is that one should keep an eye on "skirmisher" weapons that require more energy to shield against than will be regained by shielding against them. Such weapons can slowly bleed the batteries dry, leaving captains in a vulnerable position.

The Jugger's massive size and poor acceleration make gravity wells particularly dangerous, since at full speed they can be difficult to avoid. This, combined with the excellent turning rate of the ship and unique weapons systems, make pillboxing a wildly popular tactic.

When fighting a computer-controlled Ur-Quan Dreadnought or Kohr-Ah Marauder, a most effective strategy is a full-on frontal assault. The computer makes a policy of firing as fast as it can, so on approach, absorb all the punishment they can dish out, and when their fuel tanks run dry, take a potshot or two from point-blank range. As soon as they get enough energy to fire back, they will, so keep the shields at the ready, and whittle them down to nothing with impunity. Indeed, some consider this ship to be more effective against Dreadnoughts AND Marauders than even the almighty Chmmr Avatar! It is worth noting, however, that a lone Dreadnought fighter represents a hole in this strategy, as their individual attacks do not appreciably replenish the Jugger's shields, and once shield energy is exhausted the Jugger can easily be picked apart.

One thing to note is that a Jugger's shields do not absorb energy from an Androsynth Guardian in its Blazer form. While the Jugger won't take damage from the Guardian's Blazer form, it also cannot re-energize its Batteries from it. It can, however, re-energize from the molecular acid spheres the Guardian fires, just like it might from any other standard projectile.

Strong Against

Umgah Drone: All an Utwig captain has to do is allow the Drone to fire upon the Jugger for a while, allowing the Jugger to fully replenish its batteries. After this, the Utwig captain merely has to get out of the Umgah's effective range, and rip the Drone to pieces. Even if the Drone keeps its antimatter cone up, it is possible to get into a position where the outer spears can fire around the cone.

Kohr-Ah Marauder: As noted above, a direct frontal assault is often the best tactic. The Marauder is not quite fast enough to outrun the Jugger on its own, and well-timed use of the energy shield will allow the Jugger to withstand both the homing mines and the F.R.I.E.D. without damage. Once weapons range is achieved, there is little the Marauder can do to prevent the Jugger's endless salvoes from reducing it to scrap. The Jugger captain must remain alert, however, for any already-fired mines that may be slowly closing in; concentrating solely on shielding against direct shots can lead to indirect casualties.

Ur-Quan Dreadnought: As noted above, a direct frontal assault is usually the best tactic. An AI Dreadnought will rarely deploy fighters against a Jugger with shield energy, as the energy spears can easily strike them down. The fusion blasts are good for recovering a Jugger's shields, as they deal the highest amount of damage/firing rate and thus recover the fastest amount of energy in the shortest time of any weapon in the game except the Hellbore Cannon (full game only).

Mycon Podship: The slow firing rate and high visibility of the Mycon's projectiles mean that an Utwig can usually leave this battle with no damage, although their very close max speeds (although the Utwig's is slightly higher) mean that this battle can take a while, especially if the Mycon is allowed to regenerate.

Tenuous Against

Chenjesu Broodhome: The Broodhome's DOGIs can rapidly drain an Utwig's battery, leaving it defenseless and forced to resort to a probably-fatal frontal charge. However, the DOGIs are slow-moving, as well as being a big target, and if the Jugger can take them down the battle will usually only go one way.

Weak Against

Melnorme Trader: The Trader's confusion ray, in addition to causing the Jugger to rotate uncontrollably, prevents use of the shield as long as the Jugger is affected, allowing the Trader to pick it apart with relative ease. The fast turning rate and slow firing rate of the Jugger mean that the captain will find it difficult to strike accurately even with timed shots.

Orz Nemesis: When faced with the Nemesis' Marines an Utwig captain is faced with two choices: Allow them inside the ship and hope for the best or consume valuable shield energy to deflect them and attempt to shoot the relatively small targets down with the widely-spread energy spears. The space marines do not restore the Jugger's battery if deflected.

3DO Utwig Jugger Basic stats Crew: 20 Value: 22 pts Battery: 20 Batt. Regeneration: 0 units/frame Armament Primary: Energy spears Secondary: Absorption shield Refire delay: 7 frames Refire delay: 12 frames Energy use: 0 units Energy use: 1 units Propulsion Max speed: 36 world units/frame Turn rate: 0.5 facings/frame Acceleration: 0.86 units/frame Mass: 8