The Alliance Rex Pilot Escort is a hybrid of the Federation Defiant Class and a Jem'Hadar Fighter. The result is quite a unique-looking ship with an array of features from both classes that influenced its design. It comes equipped with four antiproton dual cannons, a quantum torpedo launcher, and two antiproton turrets, all standard issue. Unlike either the Defiant or Adamant, the Rex features a Lieutenant Tactical/Miracle Worker seat and a Lieutenant Commander Engineering/Pilot seat, allowing the use of those specialization Bridge Officer abilities. Like other escorts, it is a smaller, more nimble ship. As a pilot ship, it has access to pilot maneuvers, which give a nice boost to speed and mobility in and out of combat. This ship also features a built-in cloak, so it does not need to use the T5 Defiant's universal console for cloaking. Unlike the Terran Adamant, however, this is not a battle cloak and cannot be activated in combat.
The most obvious Jem'Hadar influence can be seen in this ship's access to wingmates and its experimental weapon, the Inertial Polaron Shunt. The two wingmates appear as matching Rex ships and can be controlled using wingmate commands. The Inertial Polaron Shunt weapon uses energy from the ship's impulse engines to deal polaron damage and can trigger more often with higher speeds. Reflecting the fact that it is a Khitomer Alliance ship, the Rex also comes equipped with an Elite Alliance Squadron Beacon universal console, which summons Alliance escort ships to fight alongside you on a two-minute cooldown. The ships summoned by this console will even follow your wingmate commands. The console additionally provides 8% Critical Severity and 10% Flight Speed. Finally, completing this ship's mastery track unlocks the Inertial Supremacy starship trait. This trait causes your AoE weapon attacks, such as Beams: Fire at Will, to apply a damage resistance debuff to your target that increases based on your maximum potential speed.
For me, flying the Rex has been a blast. It feels noticeably more durable than either the T5 Defiant or the T6 Terran Adamant and can certainly take a hit. It is perhaps slightly less maneuverable than the Adamant, but the pilot maneuvers make up for that, and are also just plain fun to use. While I like the Adamant's Intelligence abilities, I found them a bit cumbersome to use and much prefer using the Rex's Pilot abilities. The wingmates are fun to play with and give a sort of light carrier feel to it. Activating the Beacon console essentially gives you a small army at your command. Cloaking is always useful, both for sneaking around and for getting a damage boost at the start of combat. While the Adamant's battle cloak is useful, I don't feel that the Rex lacking it is a drawback, and not having it has had no real impact on my gameplay. The Polaron Shunt experimental weapon seems to hit reasonably hard and triggers consistently. I've also enjoyed having access to some Miracle Worker and Pilot Bridge Officer abilities to play with. I have not had much opportunity to experiment with the Inertial Supremacy trait, so I honestly cannot say anything positive or negative about that. All these things together result in a powerful feeling ship that can dish out damage and still have some survivability.
In conclusion, the Rex is an excellent little ship that is a lot of fun to fly. It has proven to be a worthy addition to my roster of ships, and I'll be using it. Although it may not be the best, or most optimal, ship for competitive play, it is great for everything I have wanted to do with it.
WRITTEN BY Keval
EDITED BY Jess
Thanks for the writeup!