Adamant

Adamant is a Colonial capital ship in .

Background
Designed by Sinon Quade a decade before the start of the Cylon War, the Adamant carrier and cruiser combo has become the cornerstone of many Colonial fleet groups. What it lacks in speed, it makes up with its constant presence and firepower on the battlefield.

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

Special abilities
The adamant possesses a single fighter, raptor, or sweeper wing.

Strategy
Adamant Frigates are best used in groups or as escorts to higher tier vessels. Their light guns allow the vessel to punch well above their weight, due to high accuracy and rate of fire. Because it possesses munitions, a squadron, and firepower located on the broadsides, the Adamant is essentially a Battlestar trainer; the play style necessary to maximize the Adamant's utility will provide the fundamentals for Battlestars themselves.

There is, however, a single weakness unique to the Adamant that players should always remain conscious of: broadside location of its engineering subsection. Loss of the engineering section causes the ship to lose damage reduction and become a fair softer target. Once an adamant loses armor on a broadside, it should turn away from the enemy to present the other broadside.

Early in the game, one basic strategy is to 'stack' three Adamants together (low, medium, and high) and move them in concert. As the three Adamants approach an enemy, turn all three ships so that their broadsides face the enemy craft's target zone, and then use the "Focus Fire" feature to concentrate their attacks. This strategy was developed by players during the initial game release, and was nicknamed the "wall of death" in some online circles. Tutorials are prominent on YouTube and include more advanced formations using staggering, Berzerk support ships, and deploying squadrons strategically.

For very aggressive players, a second strategy pairs Adamants with Manticores to offset their firepower profiles, as Manticores can fire forward and to the rear, whereas the Adamant has stronger firepower on the sides. Placing the Manticores out front to punch through the line with Adamants in the middle brings the Adamant into a more effective position. In this strategy, loading the Adamant's fighter/utility slot with fighters and placing them on defense will add a layer of protection and increase damage to enemy units.

As fleets become larger, the strongest options for an Adamant will shift towards defense; they are ideal units to provide buffer for more expensive units and can house a Sweeper rather than spending utility slots in a Battlestar or Atlas. Adamants are ideal for 'screening' the flanking opposition for friendly ships unable to deploy flak. As the sweeper defends the Adamant, it essentially creates a barrier for incoming missile spreads. The stronger, protected ship, presumably a Ranger or Artemis, can then use its distance weaponry to return fire. For players favoring offense, the Adamant may find a second life in the mid-to-late game campaigns as a Nuke-delivery unit.

The addition of the major gunships (Minotaur and Heracles, if available) as well as the much stronger Battlestars (Artemis, Minerva, Jupiter, and Jupiter Mk II), effectively make the Adamant obsolete. However, as many of the older fleets throughout the campaign may have them, they will make for good buffers along with fighter wings to soften tougher enemies.

As a last resort, the strongest defensive move for an Adamant may be to take the hit from missiles and Nukes to keep them from your core units.