Astral Driver

"The Astral Driver fires a single high damage Kinetic projectile, capable of piercing through enemy hulls in order to maximise its damage output."
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"The Astral Driver fires a single high damage Alien projectile, capable of piercing through enemy hulls in order to maximise its damage output."
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"The Astral Driver fires a single high damage Plasma projectile, capable of piercing through enemy hulls in order to maximise its damage output."
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"The Astral Driver fires a single high damage Blight projectile, capable of piercing through enemy hulls in order to maximise its damage output."
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Stats
Note: The level 4 version is only available to the faction with the corresponding damage type: Altairian for Alien Damage, Umbra for Blight Damage, Pharmakon for Plasma Damage.

General
The Astral Driver fires a projectile that looks much like the Atomic Driver, but pierces ships instead.

Advantages
The Astral Driver has an extremely long maximum range, making it suited for Ranger ships which have long maximum effective range.

Moreover, it has the potential to deal extra damage against enemies that are lined up thanks to its Piercing ability. Due to the fact that projectile range is not bounded by the ship's effective range, even Fighters can hit distant enemies by shooting at a closer one.

Compared to the Nova Driver, the Astral Driver has a slightly shorter charge time and a faster projectile speed (which can be further boosted by specials such as Iridium Magnets), allowing it to get the first hit.

Disadvantages
The Astral Driver has a large minimum range and thus may not be suitable for ships with lower maximum effective range such as those with the Fighter or Titan role.

It has a moderate charge time, which gives enemies the opportunity to duck inside the ship's blind spot before it can open fire.