Class: Corvette
Role: Anti-Corvette
Attack: 54
Speed: 215
Hit Points: 1,200
Cost: 625 RU (3 craft)
Armament:
1 x Pulsar Turret

The Pulsar Gunship utilizes a short wave Ion Beam cannon, dubbed the Pulsar by Hiigaran scientists, as its main weapon. What it lacks in power it makes up in size, rate of fire, and coverage. Mounted on the Gunship chassis, the pulsar turret has 360 degrees of coverage, allowing it to target Corvettes effectively. The Pulsar is also powerful enough to punch through Frigate armor.

Based on captured Vaygr technology, the Pulsar Gunship utilizes a short wave Ion Beam cannon as its main weapon, dubbed the Pulsar. The Pulsar fires at a high rate of fire, allowing it to target fast moving ships. The Pulsar is also powerful enough to punch through Capital Ship armour.

"...these are Pulsar Corvettes, which include the ability to fire against larger ships, including frigates. This corvette includes a larger weapons array on top of it, so of course that can make it a  formidable opponent in numbers to attack larger strike groups, while still remaining nimble enough that it’s not going to take damage in its attack." - Dan Irish, Executive Producer

"There's a tactical component to grouping your ships together. If you have a group of battlecruisers, you can defeat them with anti-capital ship strike craft, like plasma bomb launchers or anti-frigate corvettes." - Dan Irish, Executive Producer

The armament listed in the Anark Ship Viewer item for the Pulsar Corvette is incorrect; it lists a minelayer as part of the armament, which is wrong. For those who are wondering how I know this, first take a look at the dedicated Minelayer Corvette, and note that the minelayer device is very large, taking up a huge portion of the ship's hull. Second, Relic sources have confirmed that both of the Anark-viewer ships have incorrect armament listings. Why Sierra has not fixed these, I do not know.

The pulsar beam weapon does appear different from the familiar ion cannons; it looks as if bright pulses are being sent down a dimmer carrier beam. On one of the images there appears to be a sort of sine-wave component to the pulse, almost like the "rail-guns" of Quake. In a recent gameplay video, it can be seen that the weapon fires rapidly, perhaps more than one pulse per second. In more recent shots, the beam appears orange-red. In the demo, the beams are blue and are more like conventional ion beams, but firing in quick pulses.

In almost all of the shots leading up to the demo, there is a kinetic turret in the belly of the craft but it never appeared to swivel or fire; in the Anark data, it is listed as being fixed forward. In the demo, this turret has been removed altogether.