X3: Albian Prelude

M7 Frigates are a new development sitting between M2 Destroyers and M6 Corvettes. They represent significant anti-shipping capability. Like Corvettes, they are also regarded to be capable of taking on any other ship, but their lack of maneuverability and large size make them difficult to maneuver around a dogfight and a large target for the guns of an M2.

Unlike M2 Destroyers, the forward weapons on many M7 Frigates are manually fired, giving the player control of a large portion of the firepower offered by this class.

Some M7s have hangar bays for a small fighter wing; the Split Panther has many and qualifies as a light carrier.

M7C Light Carriers are a a new class of fast and light escort carriers. The distinction between M7Cs and other M7s was introduced in Albion Prelude along with four new ships, but several ships in Terran Conflict, like the Griffon exhibited a similar concept.

M7C mount significantly less shielding than M1 Carriers, but they are significantly faster, averaging about 40 m/s faster than their race's counterpart M1, and they are significantly cheaper to buy and equip.

In their in-game descriptions, the ships are designed to deploy large amounts of fighter drones, and indeed, scanning their cargo reveals a “Drone Hauler” ware, but this has no in-game function.

The M7M Missile Frigates are dedicated missile platforms, and in practice are used largely differently from M7 ships except for similarities in size and shielding. These ships carry few laser turrets, if any, and only for point defense purposes. Their primary form of attack is Missile Barrages, a capability unique to the class, where the ship can launch as many as 16 missiles simultaneously. This ability easily overwhelms the point defenses of their targets, allowing the M7M Frigates to have tremendous anti-capital power. They are also a major threat to fighters as well due to their ability to launch deadly fast-moving swarm missiles. Generally speaking they are the deadliest ships in the game since they can overwhelm anything with the size of their barrages, though their reliance on missiles makes them expensive and supply intensive. They are slow for their size, but have good carrying capacity.

The missiles used by M7Ms are unique to the class. Commonwealth and Terran weapons vary, as show below:

Commonwealth ships mount:

• Hammer Heavy Torpedo, a heavy anti-capital missile.
• Flail Barrage Missile, a swarm anti-fighter missile.

The ATF Skirnir, as with other Terran ships, is incompatible with Commonwealth weaponry. Instead, they fire:

• Shadow Missile, the counterpart to the Hammer.
• Ghoul Missile, the counterpart to the Flail.

In addition, most Commonwealth M7Ms can fire Boarding pods for Marine boarding operations. Using Boarding Pods makes delivering marines to the target significantly easier, and once they are there, using the pods significantly reduces the Mechanical skill required to cut through the hull.

The OTAS Aquilo and the ATF Skirnir are incapable of firing boarding pods.

The OTAS Sirokos is a special M7M intended for boarding, and can mount boarding pods, but not any offensive missiles. It can also carry 30 marines to the others' 20.

Name Race Class Speed Accel Steering Hull Shields Shield Reactor Turrets Laser Cap Laser Rchg. Cargo Cargo Class Hangar Price Cerberus Argon M7 101.7 8 3.5 600,000 3 x 1GJ 5,500 5 63,000 2,199 3,500 XL 6 36,098,766 Aegir ATF M7 132 12 3.4 480,000 5 x 1GJ 12,500 5 71,900 1,617 9,500 XL 0 36,893,300 Thresher Boron M7 111.2 11 3.5 540,000 3 x 1GJ 5,900 5 50,500 1,262 4,750 XL 0 38,206,712 Astraeus Hauler OTAS M7 132.3 13 2.9 480,000 4 x 1GJ 6,050 5 63,000 1,575 2,975 XL 5 36,302,643 Agamemnon Paranid M7 107.9 8.28 3.0 150,000 6 x 1GJ 6,100 4 62,000 1,550 3,600 XL 0 Not for sale Deimos Paranid M7 107.9 8 3.0 150,000 6 x 1GJ 6,100 5 62,000 1,550 3,600 XL 6 38,237,259 Carrack Pirate M7 106.2 11 4.0 112,500 2 x 1GJ 4,400 4 63,000 1575 3,325 XL 0 Not for sale Panther Split M7 121.6 17 3.5 480,000 4 x 1GJ 6,200 5 35,000 1,750 4,100 XL 32 36,461,288 Tiger Split M7 121.6 17 3.5 480,000 4 x 1GJ 6,200 5 53,000 1,854 4,100 XL 0 36,461,288 Shrike Teladi M7 96 5 2.4 180,000 4 x 1GJ 5,800 5 49,000 979 7,000 XL 8 29,944,060 Yokohama Terran M7 112 14 3.2 510,000 5 x 1GJ 7,150 4 71,900 1,617 2,800 XL 0 34,950,881 Q Xenon M7 121.8 9 3.4 180,000 4 x 1GJ 5,800 3 49,000 979 5,850 XL 0 Not for sale Akurei Yaki M7 130.1 10 2.8 500,000 3 x 1GJ 2,000 4 45,000 1,101 3,500 XL 3 33,944,077

Name Race Class Speed Accel Steering Hull Shields Shield Reactor Turrets Laser Cap Laser Rchg. Cargo Cargo Class Hangar Price Griffon Argon M7C 124.2 11 3.2 600,000 4 x 1GJ 6,800 4 74,000 2,200 4,800 XL 9 36,098,766 Guppy Boron M7C 132.0 12 1.4 250,000 1 x 1GJ 2,000 4 13,000 900 5,000 XL 12 + 1 16,412,847 Ariadne Paranid M7C 122.0 9 1.3 255,000 4 x 200MJ 2,000 4 14,000 700 3,500 XL 24 + 1 18,745,140 Cormorant Teladi M7C 115 5 1 720,000 3 x 200MJ 3,500 3 10,000 500 8,000 XL 12 13,495,504 Maccana Terran M7C 130.0 6 1.5 180,000 1 x 1GJ 1,700 4 16,000 600 5,500 XL 10 17,299,092

Name Race Class Speed Accel Steering Hull Shields Shield Reactor Turrets Laser Cap Laser Rchg. Cargo Cargo Class Hangar Price Minotaur Argon M7M 69.9 8 0.9 1,400,000 3 x 1GJ 14,400 16MT 50,500 1,262 8,000 XL 0 50,333,548 Skirnir ATF M7M 91 13 1 280,000 4 x 2GJ 12,500 16MT 71,900 1,617 9,500 XL 0 51,426,360 Kraken Boron M7M 83.9 12 0.8 1,260,000 3 x 1GJ 14,200 16MT 50,500 1,262 8,500 XL 0 51,019,915 Aquilo OTAS M7M 91.8 13 0.8 280,000 3 x 2GJ 5,900 16MT 50,500 1,262 8,000 XL 0 38,206,712 Sirokos OTAS M7M 111.2 11.6 3.4 90,000 3 x 1GJ 5,900 16MT 50,500 1,262 4,750 XL 0 38,206,712 Ares Paranid M7M 77 9 0.9 350,000 2 x 2GJ 12,400 12MT 50,500 1,262 7,500 XL 0 50,675,750 Cobra Split M7M 97.9 16 0.8 280,000 3 x 1GJ 14,400 16MT 50,500 1,262 7,000 XL 0 50,774,081 Gannet Teladi M7M 55.9 7 0.7 420,000 3 x 2GJ 8,000 16MT 50,500 1,262 9,000 XL 0 50,272,580 Senshi Yaki M7M 69.9 8 0.9 360,000 3 x 1GJ 14,400 16MT 50,500 1262 8,000 XL 0 29,969,691