Skate light fighter
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The Skate light fighter was a fictional spaceplane in the Wing Commander computer game. It was fielded by the Nephilim as a directed single-role fighter.
Skates fly into battle in trios, arrayed around a central pod which includes a shield generator, a rear turret, and a number of missile weapons: the Skate B cluster is an anti-bomber interceptor and carries three unguided rockets which split into three IFF missiles, the Skate T cluster carries a single heavy torpedo, and the Skate M cluster carries several mines. Once those weapons are deployed and the central pylon exhausted, the individual Skates separate from it and begin lives as fighter craft, with the specific purpose of exploiting the effectiveness of their missile payload and the general purpose of creating chaos. The Skates themselves are poorly armed, carrying only two light masers and no missiles, their shields and armor are substandard, and they carry no missile ECM decoys. However, their speed, maneuverability and small size combine to make them very difficult to hit; if an opposing pilot does not land a lucky shot or a missile, they can evade enemy fire almost indefinitely.
Curiously, destruction of a Skate cluster almost always seemed to result in the three individual Skates launching off and the central pylon being destroyed. It is unknown whether a pilot has ever successfully destroyed both the pylon and one or more Skates at the same time. This feature made the clusters dangerous opponents as they could "mutiply" quickly -- pilots could soon find themselves fending off many of the individually weak fighters.