Atlas

Atlas is a Colonial capital ship in .

Background
The Atlas is an iconic remnant of Virgon’s imperialist history. Slow and densely armoured, the Atlas carrier now provides powerful fighter support for modern Colonial fleet groups.

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 Atlas is an extremely useful ship for players who prefer or need to use fighter/utility support during missions. As Cylon fleets become more aggressive, players may find the additional fighter support useful in establishing air superiority (using the Viper Mk I or Viper Mk II) or to carry specialized units (for example, the Assault Raptor, Sweeper, or Taipan) for unique strategies.

While it carries decent ballistic weapons, players will find that it cannot offer much in the way of fire support. As such, it ideally pairs with complementary ships, such as the Ranger for munitions, or Minotaur/Heracles class gunships for raw firepower. Once the more powerful battlestars become available, particularly the Jupiter and Jupiter Mk II, the Atlas can work well as a buffer in the center or rear of a fleet formation, offering fire support and a "tempting target" to draw fire away from the more powerful units.

In terms of squadron composition, players have maximum versatility when adding an Atlas to the fleet, but may find that "boating" squadrons of Raptors (standard ECM version), Assault Raptors, or Taipan units can create opportunities. Swarms of Raptors can cripple enemy ships, Assault Raptors have ample armor-stripping ability, and Taipan units can issue consistent damage.

When developing a strategy for using an Atlas, note that it takes roughly three ships (the Heracles, an Atlas, and a Ranger/Janus) to bring together all the components inherent to any battlestar. However, in prolonged engagements, the combination of ships may be an advantage. More ships = more targets on the field to draw fire, making it less likely that Cylons will target the fleet flagship alone. Three ships are often more difficult to destroy than one, and the whole may be greater than the sum of their parts. As such, players should not discount the utility of building a small fleet segment around an Atlas as the anchor.