Nighthawk Frigate

"The Nighthawk Frigate makes short work of its enemies by evading their attacks. Frigates only have forward weapons."

General
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.

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
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.