Janus

Janus is a Colonial capital ship in .

Background
The Janus heavy cruiser is an old Gemenese ship, made popular during the later stages of the imperial wars between Virgon and Leonis. Heavy armour plating provides it with enough staying power to remain relevant in modern warfare, although its older fire control systems are considered outdated compared to more modern cruisers.

Weapons layout and performance
The ship has a 20% base damage reduction and 100% base subsystem repair rate. Its firewall regerates at a rate of 100/s.

Strategy
The Janus is a counterpart to the Ranger, with thicker armor and an extra munitions slot, making it an even more specialized munitions carrier. By comparison, the Janus sacrifices firing rate and ballistic versatility in favor of an extra munitions slot and additional staying power. If using for fire support, it requires four turns to reload and, like the Ranger, careful players can layer a rhythm of firing allowing for continuous fire every turn, with a break on the fourth turn as the last cooldown cycle. Alternately, the Janus can deliver powerful barrages all at once, though this is a 'high-risk, high-reward' strategy, as the cooldown leaves the Janus vulnerable for three turns.

In terms of close range ballistics, its most powerful guns are on the bottom of the ship, making a front/top-down attack vector its ideal angle. It has little to no ballistic coverage on the broadsides or to the rear, instead putting all of its most lethal abilities to the front. Because its main guns are on the bottom, the Janus works best with a "high-low" pairing with other ships, particularly Battlestars. Manticore scouts and Janus escorts can "go high" and effectively drive the enemy down their z-axis while a Battlestar, Ranger, or gunship placed low can shoot upwards at the target, creating damage on the top and bottom of enemy craft, which frequently have less armor than the front and broadsides. The drawback to this approach is that it divides forces to peeling away armor at different locations, thereby doubling effort.

Careful planning and weapons choice can reward patient players, as the extra munitions slot gives the Janus more tactical options than the ranger, including a 'three-in-one' combination finisher for larger targets: Armor-piercing for slot 1, torpedo for slot 2, and nuke for slot 3. This works best for patient players willing to escort the Janus into position and to negate more powerful units, such as Basestars, with greater speed and efficiency.