Pathfinder Mk.II
Faction: universal
Overview
Heavy long-range scout built for sustained deep-space reconnaissance far beyond friendly supply lines. Trades the Mk.I's raw sprint speed for a hardened sensor suite, expanded fuel reserves, and enough armour to survive a brief ambush long enough to jump out. Where the Scout Mk.I peeks across a border, the Pathfinder maps an entire hostile sector and brings the data home.
Base Stats
Weapon Type
Strong vs armor. Weak vs shields. Consistent damage output.
Module Slots
| Weapon Slots | Defense Slots | Utility Slots |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 4 |
Special Ability
Long-Range Survey
maps an entire adjacent sector and flags resource anomalies without entering it
Lore
A Pathfinder crew measures success not in kills but in maps. The best of them have charted systems no warship has ever entered — and lived to sell the coordinates.
Tactics
- 1
Use Long-Range Survey to map hostile sectors before any fleet entry — knowing the resource anomaly positions and enemy patrol patterns within a sector saves both ships and time compared to blind exploration.
- 2
Assign Pathfinders to stay two sectors ahead of your expanding frontier at all times; the intelligence they return on unclaimed systems determines where to send your next Colony Ship and which routes to fortify.
- 3
Unlike the Scout Mk.I, the Pathfinder can survive a brief ambush — use this durability to take calculated risks entering partially-charted systems when Long-Range Survey isn't specific enough.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- +Long-Range Survey maps entire adjacent sectors including resource anomalies without ever entering enemy-controlled space, eliminating the risk of losing a scout to an ambush.
- +Expanded fuel reserves of 220 allow sustained deep-space operations far beyond friendly supply lines without requiring resupply runs.
- +Hardened sensor suite detects more anomaly types than the Scout Mk.I, including rare exotic anomalies that lighter sensors miss entirely.
Weaknesses
- −Speed of 15 is significantly slower than the Scout Mk.I — the Pathfinder sacrifices sprint speed for endurance, making it less effective at evading direct pursuit.
- −Higher build cost and longer build time than the Scout Mk.I mean losing a Pathfinder to an ambush is a meaningful setback rather than a trivial replacement.
- −Limited attack of 80 and single weapon slot provides token self-defence only — in an actual fight the Pathfinder relies entirely on its armour buffer to survive long enough to jump out.
Recommended Modules
- long range sensor array
- expanded fuel cell
- hardened hull plating
