Sweeper

Sweeper is a squadron type in .

Background
Sweepers deploy chaff payloads to provide radar and projectile countermeasure zones. A fundamental tactical craft that can hold off a Cylon long-range missile assault single-handedly.

Overview
The Sweeper is primarily a defensive unit, deploying chaff screens to confuse and disable incoming enemy munitions. Like the Raptor ECM, the Sweeper also has the ability to disarm nearby mines.

Strategy
Sweepers excel at close defense of capital units, particularly against missile strikes. While Flak fire can protect battlestars and some gunships from enemy missile barrages, the Sweeper eliminates the main shortcoming: the single-direction protection of flak fields. As combat becomes more dynamic along the z-axis, it is possible for some missile attacks to strike around the primary flak field location or at an angle that hits the top or bottom of the ship. Sweepers negate this by distributing chaff in an 'orbit' around the protected unit.

The Sweeper is the only defensive unit capable of deploying chaff within the game. Combined with the ability to disable mines, it is usually a good idea to keep at least one unit in reserve as soon as the player adds battlestars to a primary fleet. As fleets become larger, players may want to reserve slots in Battlestars and Atlases for offense units, such as fighters (Viper, Viper Mk II, Taipan) and Assault Raptors and place a sweeper in the smaller support units, such as an Adamant or Berzerk.

Finally, since the amount of chaff deployed is limited, keep protected units as far from missile strikes as possible. The few extra seconds of missile travel time may end the turn and provide enough space to make a decision to use flak or deploy chaff.