Tech-Frigate

For Institutes that cannot afford a Tech-Cruiser but want something more prestigious than a civilian research cruiser, a Tech-Frigate can make for a much more achievable and attractive proposition. Ten are in operation with the Technocracy and its various Institutes.

The Tech-Frigate is a competent all-purpose frigate, as long as one is more interested in research than diplomacy. It is also a fairly reasonable skirmisher for the Tech-Cruiser in a war-time scenario. Its seemingly modest armament is augmented by good sensors that help punch through defences. Like with the Tech-Cruiser, nearly two-decades of technological development has seen the Technocracy begin work on a refit package for the Tech-Frigate, which is welcome news for the Institutes that operate them. In the end, however, it became clear that the Tech-Frigate was an evolutionary dead-end, and the Technocracy began a reform push to shift the smaller Institutes towards replacements. The Kepler, and to a lesser extent the Centaur-B, would become the mainstay replacement.