The Sword of Damocles: The Ultimate Interstellar Capital Ship
Ever since its introduction in Weird Worlds, the Starship Damocles has been one of the most sought-after capital ships in the entire Infinite Space series. Much of its appeal lies in its immense firepower and formidable shielding. However, its usefulness is slightly limited by the fact that it only appears as part of a quest, and cannot be used at all in the Combat Simulator. Even so, for overall effectiveness, there are few other ships that can match it.
Supplementary material for Weird Worlds delves deeper into the origins of this vast vessel. Centuries before the events of the Infinite Space trilogy, the Damocles belonged to the legendary hero, Prince Arcturus, the son of Centurian queen, Eledra. It was highly automated and self-maintaining, with a crew of up to 50, but was relatively lightly armed for its size by contemporary standards (although by the time the events of Sea of Stars took place, its armament was much more formidable than what most other capital ships had). Its opulent living quarters, observation deck and banquet halls took up most of the forward hull, with the crew quarters, bridge, cargo hold, drive and thruster compartments being placed further aft.
The first thing you notice about the Damocles (after you've discovered it) is its sheer size. According to background material for Weird Worlds, it is 186 metres long and 66 metres wide, with a cargo hold capable of carrying 20 items (although this was nerfed to 16 items for Sea of Stars). This makes it easier to stockpile lots of items in your flotilla but hinders the ship's speed and maneuverability, even with a Reactionless Thruster fitted. However, such a large ship also has plenty of capacity for weapons and armor, which the ship is best known for.
Speaking of which, the Damocles is very heavily armored, even more so than Terran and Muktian destroyers. This attribute, when combined with the ship's standard-issue Temporal Flux Shield (the strongest shield in the game, and capable of withstanding supernova explosions to boot), makes it extremely difficult to destroy in combat. In addition, in Sea of Stars, it is one of the few ships in the game with at least five hardpoints for weapons (it had four in Weird Worlds).
By default, the fore and aft turrets all carry Proton Blasters, which are unquestionably the best light weapons available to the player, and much more useful than the Proton Phasor Beams it carried in Weird Worlds. The two wing hardpoints, meanwhile, are used for mounting Cobalt Torpedo Tubes. These are generally considered to be the most accurate long-range weapons in the entire series, and are also quite powerful on their own - but are even more devastating when fired in pairs, as is the case with the Damocles. As a side note, the ram plating it had in Weird Worlds has been omitted from its Sea of Stars rendition, but this is no bad thing considering that ramming damage has also been nixed for this latest game.
In addition to its weapons, shields and armor, the Damocles is also renowned for its highly advanced propulsion systems. For superluminal (i.e. faster than light) travel, it relies on a Nebular Sled Drive, allowing it to reach 12 times the speed of light in a vacuum or in a nebula. When traveling at sublight speeds, it makes use of an Ion Impulse Thruster, which gives a boost to maximum speed during combat at the expense of maneuverability. However, as stated above, the Damocles' sheer bulk makes it somewhat sluggish in battle, even when fitted with highly advanced thrusters.
Mind you, it was even worse in Weird Worlds, where its standard drives and thrusters were Hydrogen Fusion Drives and Fusion Tube Thrusters, respectively. The former wouldn't work at all in a nebula (just like most other star drives) and the latter were much slower than the Ion Impulse Thrusters (but not as bad as more primitive thrusters), although maneuverability was not at all influenced by your choice of sublight thrusters back then. There is one upside to the Damocles' immense size: installing a more powerful FTL drive allows your flotilla to travel more quickly through deep space when not in combat.
The Damocles is also equipped with an Anti-Graviton Shunt by default, a trait shared only with the Yellow Kawangi Dreadnought. This device renders an entire flotilla immune to the gravitational pull of a black hole and is indispensable when going into battle against Primordius, which actually orbits a black hole and as such cannot be reached without the device installed. However, this and the Temporal Flux Shield occupy two of the Damocles' five equipment slots. Since its starting loadout also includes a Hyperfoam Injector and a Mnemonic Sequencer, this leaves only one unused slot on board.
Using that slot for a Plasma Coil Cloaker, however, will increase the ship's combat effectiveness still further by allowing it to hide from enemy fire when things get tough - a worthwhile addition to any ship, but especially effective on the Damocles due to its immense firepower and lack of speed. Another recommended upgrade is to replace the standard targeting computer with a faster-acting, more accurate one, such as an Eidetic Matrix Bubble or even a Sardion Optimizer. It's even possible to fit a Multibot Repair Drone to the Damocles in order to repair battle damage more effectively. With at least one of these upgrades installed, the Damocles is a legitimate contender for the title of most powerful ship in the game, even more so than when fitted with its default equipment.
In short, the Damocles, while not actually essential for defeating Primordius, is highly recommended not just for this particular quest, but also for general combat use. And if you manage to acquire it (not that it's necessary if you obtained another Anti-Graviton Shunt and fitted it to your other capital ships), you're pretty much set for the rest of the game, especially if you choose to upgrade it. Even so, it can still be destroyed if you're too careless with it, so make sure to use it wisely in combat, preferably by deploying other ships alongside it. At any rate, once you manage to get the most out of this ship, you will most likely be unstoppable - not even the best-equipped enemy fleets will be safe from you with the Damocles in your flotilla!
The Damocles in all its glory - a majestic capital ship resembling a sword. Its standard loadout is shown above.
Supplementary material for Weird Worlds delves deeper into the origins of this vast vessel. Centuries before the events of the Infinite Space trilogy, the Damocles belonged to the legendary hero, Prince Arcturus, the son of Centurian queen, Eledra. It was highly automated and self-maintaining, with a crew of up to 50, but was relatively lightly armed for its size by contemporary standards (although by the time the events of Sea of Stars took place, its armament was much more formidable than what most other capital ships had). Its opulent living quarters, observation deck and banquet halls took up most of the forward hull, with the crew quarters, bridge, cargo hold, drive and thruster compartments being placed further aft.
The first thing you notice about the Damocles (after you've discovered it) is its sheer size. According to background material for Weird Worlds, it is 186 metres long and 66 metres wide, with a cargo hold capable of carrying 20 items (although this was nerfed to 16 items for Sea of Stars). This makes it easier to stockpile lots of items in your flotilla but hinders the ship's speed and maneuverability, even with a Reactionless Thruster fitted. However, such a large ship also has plenty of capacity for weapons and armor, which the ship is best known for.
Speaking of which, the Damocles is very heavily armored, even more so than Terran and Muktian destroyers. This attribute, when combined with the ship's standard-issue Temporal Flux Shield (the strongest shield in the game, and capable of withstanding supernova explosions to boot), makes it extremely difficult to destroy in combat. In addition, in Sea of Stars, it is one of the few ships in the game with at least five hardpoints for weapons (it had four in Weird Worlds).
Upgrading the Damocles with more advanced systems is not essential, but makes it even more lethal to its foes than it already is.
In addition to its weapons, shields and armor, the Damocles is also renowned for its highly advanced propulsion systems. For superluminal (i.e. faster than light) travel, it relies on a Nebular Sled Drive, allowing it to reach 12 times the speed of light in a vacuum or in a nebula. When traveling at sublight speeds, it makes use of an Ion Impulse Thruster, which gives a boost to maximum speed during combat at the expense of maneuverability. However, as stated above, the Damocles' sheer bulk makes it somewhat sluggish in battle, even when fitted with highly advanced thrusters.
Even with a Quantum Corkscrew Thruster (as shown here) or the more exotic Reactionless Thruster, the Damocles is no match for smaller vessels in terms of speed or maneuverability. Then again, with so much armor and firepower, it doesn't need to be fast...
Mind you, it was even worse in Weird Worlds, where its standard drives and thrusters were Hydrogen Fusion Drives and Fusion Tube Thrusters, respectively. The former wouldn't work at all in a nebula (just like most other star drives) and the latter were much slower than the Ion Impulse Thrusters (but not as bad as more primitive thrusters), although maneuverability was not at all influenced by your choice of sublight thrusters back then. There is one upside to the Damocles' immense size: installing a more powerful FTL drive allows your flotilla to travel more quickly through deep space when not in combat.
The Damocles being used as intended: sniping Primordius with its dual Cobalt Torpedo Tubes, made easier in this case by the fitment of a cloaking device.
The Damocles is also equipped with an Anti-Graviton Shunt by default, a trait shared only with the Yellow Kawangi Dreadnought. This device renders an entire flotilla immune to the gravitational pull of a black hole and is indispensable when going into battle against Primordius, which actually orbits a black hole and as such cannot be reached without the device installed. However, this and the Temporal Flux Shield occupy two of the Damocles' five equipment slots. Since its starting loadout also includes a Hyperfoam Injector and a Mnemonic Sequencer, this leaves only one unused slot on board.
Using that slot for a Plasma Coil Cloaker, however, will increase the ship's combat effectiveness still further by allowing it to hide from enemy fire when things get tough - a worthwhile addition to any ship, but especially effective on the Damocles due to its immense firepower and lack of speed. Another recommended upgrade is to replace the standard targeting computer with a faster-acting, more accurate one, such as an Eidetic Matrix Bubble or even a Sardion Optimizer. It's even possible to fit a Multibot Repair Drone to the Damocles in order to repair battle damage more effectively. With at least one of these upgrades installed, the Damocles is a legitimate contender for the title of most powerful ship in the game, even more so than when fitted with its default equipment.
Using the Damocles in combat against ordinary foes is like taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut - not entirely necessary, but guaranteed to yield the desired result.
In short, the Damocles, while not actually essential for defeating Primordius, is highly recommended not just for this particular quest, but also for general combat use. And if you manage to acquire it (not that it's necessary if you obtained another Anti-Graviton Shunt and fitted it to your other capital ships), you're pretty much set for the rest of the game, especially if you choose to upgrade it. Even so, it can still be destroyed if you're too careless with it, so make sure to use it wisely in combat, preferably by deploying other ships alongside it. At any rate, once you manage to get the most out of this ship, you will most likely be unstoppable - not even the best-equipped enemy fleets will be safe from you with the Damocles in your flotilla!
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