Named for the unpainted look of an early prototype, the Blacksteele-Class Frigate is a highly manoeuvrable, albeit small-statured vessel. Deployment of “Trident” Submarines by the Republic Coastal Legion saw the Caoivish Naval Command respond in kind with the Blacksteele. Designed as a sub-hunter escort, the Blacksteele excels at thwarting submersible assaults against larger, ungainly ships. The head shipwright on the project was none other than Conor O’Brien’s top protégé, Rory Boyd, who, in his later years became known as a master shipwright, and largely recognised as the man behind the Caoivish Naval Command’s world-class reputation.
The Blacksteele houses a minimum crew of 12 sailors:
Driver
Controls the movement of the ship, and can see the remaining fuel in the tank, the speed in knots, and the azimuth of the ship in degree.
Can see the distance and angle to the closest repair location (Dry Dock).
Cannoneers (Gunners) x2
Control the movement, reload, and firing of the 120mm cannons.
Switch the gun between indirect and direct fire mode with Shift + F
Cannoneers (Gunners) x2
Control the movement, reload, and firing of the 68mm cannons.
Secondary Gunners x2
Controls the movement, reload, and firing of the 12.7mm machine guns.
Secondary Gunner
Controls the movement, reload, and firing of the Depth Charge launcher.
Spotter
Can view 230m in every direction with distance and azimuth displayed.
Can act as the ship commander to direct the other crew members.
Sensor Operator
Operates the ship's sonar.
Switch between Long range directional and Short range omnidirectional modes - Press F
Engineer
Not an actual seat
Switches each of the two ship engines below deck between "Forward" and "Reverse" mode using a Wrench while crouching
Can view the status of an engine by pressing E next to it.
Loader
Not an actual seat
Retrieves shells from the ammo room below deck to load them into the 120mm turret and Depth Charge launcher inventories.
The entrance area for each seat is marked on the floor by white paint.
Additional crew can be on the ship's decks for various purposes (transport, helping load guns, bail water in below deck, fix leaks, etc...). The ship can have a total of 30 players onboard, any more and it cannot cross region borders.
Armament
2x 12.7mm Machine Gun
Mounted on the elevated platforms on the port and starboard side of the ship (150 degree firing arc)
The sonar system helps detect other ships, both surfaced and submerged. The operator aims in a direction with RMB and "fires" the sonar with LMB. It has two modes that can be switched with F:
Long range directional (500m): Detects vessels within 500m and in a 14° cone
Short range omnidirectional (50m): Detects vessels within 50m in every direction
For every detected vessel, the operator receives a ping which is represented by a white line aiming towards the target with the azimuth displayed.
If the vessel is far (Long range mode only), the sonar ping will show "Distant contact signature" and display the Strength of the ping (value between 0 and 100, the higher the strength the closer the contact), but won't show the target's Depth.
If the vessel is close, the sonar ping will show "Close contact signature" and display the Depth of the target. The exact distance is not displayed but the white line will stop right under the vessel and become vertical.
The sonar can be fired every 5 seconds.
Inventory
There is an ammo room at the stern below deck between the 120mm turrets with a single inventory slot and a stockpile that can contain up to 450 items. This stockpile only accepts 120mm shells, Depth Charges, Sea Mines, and Metal Beams.
Below deck forward, the ship has a 15 slot inventory and a large stockpile. The stockpile is identical to a Base stockpile, except the amount of 120mm shells, Heavy Oil, Depth Charges, and Sea Mines it can contain is artificially limited to 5.
Each armament on board also has its own separate inventory with just a single dedicated ammo slot for the relevant ammo types: 40 magazines for the 12.7mm Machine Guns, 3 shells for the 120mm cannons, and 100 shells for the 68mm cannons.
The Blacksteele has 34500 HP. It has "Large Ship" armor resistance: it can soak small arms fire, shrapnel, 12.7mm machine guns, and it is immune to Flamethrowers. It's also fairly resistant to anti-tank weaponry. High explosive shells are very effective against it. It has subsystems that have a chance to be disabled by heavy explosives and anti-tank weaponry if hit specifically: Turret/Cannon: 5%, Second Turret/Cannon: 5%. It has Tank Armor. With it, in best case scenario, penetrating projectiles only have a 10% chance of penetrating and doing damage. That chance goes up quickly if the armor is worn or if it is shot from up close or with ammo that has penetration bonuses. As a Large Ship, its health, Tank Armor, and subsystems can only be repaired at a Dry Dock, costs 10 Naval Shell Plating, and takes some time.
Sinking Mechanic:
With their massive health, large ships are hard to kill the normal way, but they can also be sunk.
Interactions
Friendly soldiers in the water can instantly climb aboard the ship with E while next to it.
You can drop items on the ship decks.
The ship has 4 Gangway ramps that can be toggled with E. The anchor must be lowered and there must be solid flat ground for the gangway to deploy (Shipyard, Beach, docks, Dry Dock, Navy Pier, etc...).
The ship's bottom deck contains 3 rooms separated by bulkhead doors which can be toggled with E. Closing a room's bulkheads prevent water from leaks from spreading to the adjacent rooms.
Water in the ship rooms can be bailed using a Water Bucket (reloading) and thrown overboard.
The ship can be reserved for a Squad (via a button in the menu) to prevent any non members from toggling the ship's anchor or changing the engine settings and to allow members to eject any player from the driver seat with the "Eject Driver" button in the menu . The reservation doesn't prevent other friendly players from using the ship's seats or accessing the ship's stockpile however.
Anchor
The anchor interaction area is marked by an arrow at the front of the ship on the Port side (left).
Respawn
Destroyers allow players to assign their "Forward" Spawn Point via a button in their menu and respawn on the ship when they die (the ship stockpile needs Soldier Supplies).
Deployment
Players can deploy onto Light Frigates from the Home Region if they're not within 150m of the region border.
Region Borders
The ship can cross a region border with up to 30 players on board, provided the destination would not exceed its population capacity; otherwise the ship must wait in queue. While preparing to cross the border, the ship must be idle for 60 seconds. Moving, firing any weapons or interacting with its stockpile resets this timer.
Production
Structure
Input(s)
Output
Time
Must be fully researched in the Vehicle Tech Tree in order to be produced.
The Blacksteele-class Light Frigate is faster and more agile than other Large Ships, but this comes at the cost of a specialized armament and reduced overall firepower. While these ships are well-suited to anti-submarine operations and gunboat screening for larger vessels, a Blacksteele should avoid fighting anything bigger than itself alone.
The 68mm forward turrets lack the anti-ship capabilities and range of other, larger naval guns, but they are a powerful anti-gunboat weapon. While their arc of fire and overall range is comparatively small, their speedy reloads and damage output can quickly decrew or destroy gunboats that try to engage at direct fire ranges.
As well as their traditional use in forcing submarines to surface, depth charges are a devastating short-range weapon against surface vessels too- this can mitigate the issue of the weaker forward battery a bit, although gunners and loaders are completely exposed.
Crews should work together to keep enemies within the arc of fire of the 120mm turrets as much as possible. An alert spotter and good communication can weaken or destroy a gunboat formation before it has a chance to retaliate.
The high rate of fire and convenient ammunition storage for the 120mm guns means that a Blacksteele-class Light Frigate might be able to take on a Conqueror-class Destroyer in a one-on-one fight and win, but don't expect it to come out on top in a close-range brawl where raw damage output is more important than maneuverability. A tougher and more heavily-armed enemy means that Blacksteele crews will need to use every advantage they have to win.
The Blacksteele-class Light Frigate is the only surface ship the Wardens have that can detect and engage submarines while they are submerged. Other Large Ships should have a Blacksteele escort whenever possible to deal with this threat during battles and landing operations.
Fewer watertight compartments, only one ramp to the top deck, and tight internal spaces can make damage control difficult, especially if the ship is hit by a torpedo. Remember that the ability to survive hits has been traded for the ability to dodge them: The Blacksteele is squishier than other Large Ships, but a well-organized crew with good intel and a competent spotter can leverage its maneuverability advantages to avoid hits that other ships would be unable to dodge.
Gallery
The Blacksteele from the front
The Blacksteele from the rear
The Blacksteele-Class Light Frigate shown in the Update 1.56 Dev Stream
Render Models of the Blacksteele-Class Light Frigate
Render Models of the Blacksteele-Class Light Frigate from a top down view, above and below deck.
