Nighthawk Frigate

“	The Nighthawk Frigate makes short work of its enemies by evading their attacks. Frigates only have forward weapons.	”
	— In-Game Description

General[ | ]

Nighthawk Frigate

Basic Information
Faction	Miner Rebellion
Tier	3.0
Class	Frigate
Slot Configuration
Weapon	3
Armor	1
Shield	1
Special	2
Specifications
Health	400
Unladen Mass	400 t
Maximum Mass	3,000 t
Firing Arc	135.00°
Cargo	72,000 t
Ship Speed	360 m/s
Turning Speed	32.0 deg/s
Strafe Speed	280 m/s
Rear Speed	100 m/s
Acceleration	80 m/s²
Sector Speed	660 AU/h
Hull XP	286 XP
Modifiers
Resurgence	40%
Research
Requires	Ship Factory VIII, Ship Lab VIII, Talon Frigate
Time	1d 23h 50m 10s
He-3	17,642,070
AM	928,530
Module XP	864
Blueprint
Build
Time	18m 00s
He-3	5,875,817
AM	309,254
Craft
Repair
Time	6m 40s

The Nighthawk Frigate is a Tier 3 hull with advanced Miner Rebellion technology.

As a frigate, this ship focuses on agility and evasion, avoiding damage when possible.

Strategy and Setup[ | ]

Advantages[ | ]

The Nighthawk Frigate, when piloted correctly, can become a very capable ship. It has a moderate mass, allowing for a variety of equipment to be fit on. The combination of long-range weapons and Rear Thrusters IV enables this ship to kite most enemies.

Most people use heavy shielding to provide the Nighthawk Frigate with decent survivability. Frenzied Scatter Missiles and Repeating Polaron Rays, although mass-inefficient, are common troll weapons that deal lots of damage for minimal XP, enabling Nighthawk Frigates to engage Talon Frigate fleets and stomp on them.

Nighthawk Frigates are excellent sniper decoys, especially when equipped with Strafe Thrusters, because they can easily dodge incoming fire at that level, minimizing the damage taken by your fleet as a whole. Repulsor Shields work wonders due to their recharge ability and inherent resistance to Kinetic weapons.

When faced against stronger enemies such as Fury Battleships, Nighthawk Frigates usually have the option to run and evade combat.

Mk IV Nighthawk Frigates gain an extra special slot, which some people use to fill with a total of 3x Basic Cargo V. This makes a relatively low-cost cargo fleet that remains useful even at Tier 5.

Disadvantages[ | ]

Nighthawk Frigates regularly lose to similarly Tier 3 Taipan Cutters because these cutters have almost double the maximum mass and 2 extra armor slots, as well as a very high forward speed that enables them to catch frigates with ease.

They are unable to win against long-range Revelation Cruisers that have homing weaponry, but can otherwise kite and eventually destroy them, despite the latter's bonus damage against frigates when upgraded.

Upgrading[ | ]

Level	II	III	IV	V
SLOT CONFIGURATION
Special Slots	2	2	3	3
Resistance Slots	1	1	1	1
SPECIFICATIONS
Max. Mass	3,150 t	3,300 t	3,450 t	3,600 t
Cargo	90,000 t	108,000 t	126,000 t	144,000 t
MODIFIERS
Destroyer Damage	+100%	+130%	+160%	+200%
Battleship Damage	+50%	+66%	+83%	+100%
Thruster Mass	-12%	-24%	-36%	-50%
Shield Damage	+5%	+10%	+15%	+20%
Resurgence	50%	60%	70%	70%
Stasis Resist	+20%	+40%	+60%	+80%
RESEARCH
Prerequisites	Talon Frigate Mk II, Nighthawk Frigate	Talon Frigate Mk III, Nighthawk Frigate Mk II	Nighthawk Frigate Mk III	Unavailable
Workshop Required	IV	N/A	V	N/A
Time	1m 00s	1m 15s	1m 30s	N/A
Mineral Ore	1,106,500	2,213,000	3,319,500	N/A
CRAFT
Time	5m 21s	9m 18s	14m 39s	N/A
Mineral Ore	403,613	807,225	1,210,838	N/A
Patterns	1	1	1	N/A
Cores	3	3	3	N/A
Parts	10	30	90	N/A
Armaments	256	320	400	N/A

Note: Mk V Nighthawk Frigates are exclusive to NPC Targets.

Trivia[ | ]

There used to be an Enhanced version of the Nighthawk Frigate available for purchase in the Black Market, but it has since been deprecated.
All player ships had their Resurgence values modified as a result of the late February 2020 update.