Zanar-pattern light cruiser: Difference between revisions

|manufacturer=[[Assembly Forges|Secondary Assembly Forges]]<ref name="Warfleet72"/>

|class=[[Cruiser]], [[Covenant ship classification system#Major categories|Attack Ship]]<ref name="Warfleet72"/>

|width=145 meters (476 feet)<ref name="EVG"/>

|mass=190,000 metric tons<ref name="Warfleet72"/>

*Four ''Pok''-pattern [[Laser|beam lasers]]<ref name="Warfleet72"/>

*Six ''Sintra''-pattern [[plasma torpedo]] silos<ref name="Warfleet72"/>

|complement=None<ref name="Warfleet72"/>

|crew=1 [[Sangheili|Superior]], 8 [[Menial]]s<ref name="Warfleet72"/>

|role=Fleet support, interference, investigation, security<ref name="Warfleet72"/>

While classified as "light cruisers" by the UNSC, the Covenant intended them to fill a role more analogous to [[police cutter]]s to patrol inhabited star systems, conducting routine inspections and enforcing travel laws.<ref name="Warfleet72"/> After the war, ''CRS''-class cruisers became the backbones of fleets owned by Covenant remnants, serving in combat roles against humanity and the Swords of Sanghelios.<ref name="Warfleet72"/> Crews of ''CRS'' cruisers generally regarded serving aboard one as a stepping stone to more glorious service aboard the Covenant's Examiner ships, such as {{Class|ORS|heavy cruiser}}s, and would take risks during combat to prove their worth in hopes of reassignment.<ref name="Warfleet64">'''Halo: Warfleet''', ''Examiners'', ''pages 64-65''</ref> They regarded escorting Executor-type ships and their disgraced crews such as the {{Class|CPV|heavy destroyer}} as a more distasteful assignment, and could never be relied on to do more than their basic duties.<ref name="Warfleet61">'''Halo: Warfleet''', ''Executioners'', ''pages 60-61''</ref> When the Prophets took their Procurator-type ships and fled Covenant space in the wake of the [[Great Schism]], they held many light cruisers whose crews remained loyal with them.<ref name="Warfleet68">'''Halo: Warfleet''', ''Procurators'', ''pages 68-69''</ref> As with other small attack craft employed by various Covenant fleets, ''CRS'' cruisers didn't have permanent crew quarters, instead rotating fresh crew members on between missions.<ref name="Warfleet72"/>

Resembling a luminous manta ray,<ref>'''Halo: First Strike''', ''page 205''</ref> the ''CRS'' is essentially a smaller, weaker version of the {{Class|CCS|battlecruiser}},<ref name="EVG"/> with the ''Zanar''-pattern light cruiser originally spawning as a stable mutation of the class' ''Elefen'' and ''Ket'' design patterns. One notable difference is that the ''CRS''-class (at least those used by [[Jul 'Mdama's Covenant]]) bears green lights, as opposed to the white-blue lighting on the ''CCS'' class. The control coils of ''CRS''-class light cruisers require careful fine-tuning to prevent disorientation and hallucination when operating at full power. In addition, in rare cases the sensor arrays of these ships subject to aberrant mutations during fabrication that make them appear friendly to Forerunner defense protocols.<ref name="Warfleet72"/>

The four ''Pok''-pattern beam lasers coordinate fire using two dedicated auger arrays to coordinate fire and rapidly target dozens of targets in quick succession, a useful feature during suppression operations on Covenant worlds. Their ''Sintra''-pattern plasma torpedoes were extremely fast, but their high velocity in flight made them almost impossible to guide to the target, making them better employed as airborne artillery.<ref name="Warfleet72"/>

While some ''CRS''-class light cruisers engaged human forces during the [[Covenant War]], the majority of them were assigned in rear echelon assignments to ensure Covenant supply lines were well protected. This made them a prime target for opportunistic warlords during and after the Great Schism to expand their fleets, using them in more combat focused roles than they were intended for.<ref name="Warfleet72"/>