What to know
The Aegis Hammerhead is a multi-crew screening ship built to keep hostile fighters away from larger fleet assets. Six manned quad turrets place twenty-four Size 4 guns around the hull, creating broad coverage against light and medium attackers rather than the concentrated...
Hammerhead specifications
A defensive wall that moves with the formation
Fighters can exploit the blind spots and slow weapon tracking of larger ships. The Hammerhead answers that problem with six distributed turrets, overlapping fields of fire, and enough crew stations to watch several approaches at once. It stays near the ships it is protecting and breaks up attack runs before smaller threats reach their target.
Built to screen, not chase capital ships
The Hammerhead is most valuable beside a convoy, carrier, or capital ship. Its Size 4 turret guns can track and overwhelm agile fighters, but they do not replace the heavy cannon or torpedo fire used against large warships.
Development note: The Hammerhead is flight ready and entered the live game in Alpha 3.3.0. Because Star Citizen remains in active development, specifications, features, and imagery may change over time.
The Hammerhead anti-fighter screen
Twenty-four turret guns provide the volume of fire, but coverage is the real advantage. Six gunners can watch different sectors, overlap their arcs, and concentrate several turrets on a fighter that commits to an attack run.
Six manned turrets each carry four Size 4 guns, giving the Hammerhead twenty-four turret guns under the direct control of its crew.
The Hammerhead is designed to protect larger ships from light and medium fighters, interceptors, and other fast threats that can slip inside a fleet's heavier weapon coverage.
Turrets placed around the hull let several gunners cover different approaches and combine their fire when one attacker crosses between sectors.
The turret battery favors the tracking and sustained fire needed against agile spacecraft. It is far better suited to fighters than to trading damage with capital ships.
When an attacker commits to a pass, adjacent turrets can overlap their fire and turn the Hammerhead's coverage into a focused wall of Size 4 rounds.
The Hammerhead should protect the formation rather than chase a fighter away from it. Staying close preserves the coverage that larger ships need.
The turret network at the centre of the Hammerhead
Six quad turrets give the Hammerhead broad, crewed coverage around the ship. The battery is built to track and overwhelm light and medium fighters threatening the formation; it does not provide the concentrated heavy fire of an anti-capital weapon.
Twenty-four Size 4 guns across six manned turrets
Assigned turret sectors let the crew cover the space around a convoy or capital ship without waiting for the pilot to point the entire corvette at every threat.
A fighter crossing between sectors can be engaged by more than one turret, concentrating the Hammerhead's volume of fire when the attacker is easiest to track.
Size 4 turret guns are effective against agile light and medium craft, but the Hammerhead should leave heavily armoured warships to torpedoes and larger naval weapons.
Protecting the formation
The Hammerhead is not a large fighter looking for a private duel. It establishes protected airspace around other ships, divides that space between six gunners, and breaks up the attack runs that threaten the formation.
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Stay with the ships that need protection
Place the Hammerhead close enough to a convoy, carrier, or capital ship that its turret coverage closes the approaches fighters are most likely to use.
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Give every turret its own sector
Divide the space around the formation between the six gunners so each approach remains watched and no fighter slips through while everyone follows the same target.
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Disrupt the attack run
Let the nearest turrets engage first, then overlap adjacent guns as the fighter commits. The goal is to force the attacker away or destroy it before it reaches the protected ship.
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Hold the screen instead of chasing
Remain with the formation after one threat turns away. The Hammerhead protects the fleet by keeping its coverage in place for the next fighter, missile carrier, or incoming attack group.
Protecting the ships around it
The Hammerhead works as part of a formation. Each gunner watches a different arc, then nearby turrets combine their fire when a fighter commits to an attack.
Eight racks carry thirty-two Size 3 missiles, giving the crew another way to drive fighters away approaching outside the strongest turret overlap.
A full crew gives the Hammerhead a pilot, six turret gunners, and another crew member to help coordinate command, systems, and engineering duties.
The corvette-sized hull and defensive systems let the Hammerhead remain with vulnerable fleet assets while smaller escorts rotate, rearm, or pursue targets farther out.
Each gunner watches an assigned arc so another fighter cannot slip through while the crew concentrates on one attacker.
The crew turns the hull into a fighter screen
A Hammerhead with empty turret seats loses the coverage that defines it. The pilot holds the formation while six gunners watch assigned sectors, share target calls, and overlap their fire when a fighter commits to an attack.
Built around an eight-person crew
A full crew places one person in each of the six manned turrets and keeps the ship itself under dedicated control. Command and engineering decisions have to support the screen without pulling attention away from incoming fighters.
The pilot keeps the Hammerhead beside the ships it protects and leaves several turret arcs open instead of pursuing one fighter beyond the screen.
Each gunner watches a defined approach, then communicates when a target moves into the next turret's arc so the crew can maintain continuous fire.
Target priority should favor fighters already committed to an attack run, missile carriers preparing a launch, and targets entering an uncovered part of the formation.
See the Hammerhead in action
Watch official footage of the Hammerhead in action and see it from every angle.
Find your Hammerhead
Explore in-stock Hammerhead ships, upgrades, and game packages available from The Impound.