Minotaur

Minotaur is a Colonial capital ship in .

Background
The Minotaur warship is a testament to the pragmatic nature of the Aerilan people; you build a ship, give it plenty of armour, and fit every other spare inch with guns. It is a cost-effective fixture for fleet groups looking to bulk up their firepower.

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.

Special abilities
None; however, in SP the Minotaur can receive bonuses to firing accuracy through experience.

Strategy
The Minotaur is a pragmatic choice in the mid-game to inexpensively bolster aging fleets as it excels at close-to-mid range combat, helping to shore up the disadvantages of fleets stacked with Manticores (where lines can stretch too thin as they chase targets), Adamants (when light turrets are no longer punching effectively), and Berzerks (when longevity becomes a problem). Introduced roughly in the mid-game for SP, the Minotaur is the natural counterpart of the Ranger; while the Ranger is quick, lightly armored, and loaded with munitions, the Minotaur is densely armored, with enough guns per square inch to threaten a capital ship of any size.

As a ballistic gun ship, Minotaurs can remain effective for the duration of a battle and cost nothing to resupply. As such, for the Anabasis DLC, the Minotaur is a viable support option in that it can maintain fire without impacting resupply costs.

Because it lacks munitions and fighter/utility squadrons, the Minotaur will generally need to be part of a larger fleet strategy to layer offensive and defensive elements. For ballistic firepower support, the Minotaur pairs well with the Heracles and battlestar-class ships (Artemis, Minerva, Jupiter, and Jupiter Mk II) which rely on point-defense turrets on their sides. The Minotaur can help protect the non flak-generating side or angle support along the z-axis for additional coverage.

While the Minotaur is technically outclassed by the Heracles for sheer firepower, players may find the Heracles to be cost-prohibitive, unavailable (if playing the main campaign/Broken Alliance), or less valuable than upgrading to a full battlestar. Additionally, the Minotaur's armor distribution is more even around the chassis, allowing for more versatility in attack angle and direction.

Players should note that Cylon units tend to favor Minotaurs for long range missile strikes, hoping to neutralize its threat before coming into range. As such, using 2-3 Minotaurs at a time can be advantageous when using a staggered stack similar to the Adamant strategy; presenting multiple targets make it less likely that the Cylons will target a lone ship, while the stack formation helps individual units cover each other.

In terms of defense, the Minotaur is one of the more effective ships at shooting down Cylon squadrons, though it cannot match the sheer destruction of a flak field on squadrons. Using the Minotaur to soften squadrons and/or target weakened ones by relegating it to an escort role can help punish any Cylon squadron that gets too close.