The Ravagers fill the role of the bad guys in Ardent Seas, but are they really bad? They have no consciousness, they just do as they are programmed: Seek and destroy foreign technology. Because of their alien nature, they’re going to differ in some fundamental ways from the Tenorran Defense Navy and the Coalition.
The Ravagers don’t use fuel or ammunition, their ships get everything they need from the Sea below. That doesn’t apply to their aircraft though, which are just as dependent on energy and ammunition as the other two are dependent on fuel and ammunition.
Instead of Fuel, the Ravagers require Bandwidth. To increase the bandwidth, you have to upgrade the Flagship, that can be done a few times, and after that build Auxiliary Command Ships, which in turn can also be upgraded to further increase the bandwidth. Bandwidth works very much like power in other RTS games, if the limit is exceeded, ships shut down. They can however disable ships to bring the usage back down within the current limit.
Ravager ships are fast and lethal, and are protected by powerful shields, but their firing range is limited and they have weak armor. The shields and weak armor are both a weakness and strength of this faction. Shields aren’t quite as good as armor, but unlike armor, they will regenerate on their own. Additionally, shields attenuate damage based on how much damage they’re receiving, which makes them very, very good at taking on superior numbers.
They also build a bit differently. Their Flagship can produce every unit they have, sort of. Their units are built in the Mothership high above, and dropped from Space right next to the Flagship. They’re inactive for a brief moment while they power up, and are extremely vulnerable during that time, as their shields are inactive.
Harvesting also works differently. While the Coalition and the Navy both harvest resources with specialized units, the Ravager Flagship also acts as harvester, firing a mining beam into the water, and a transport beam up to the Mothership. This means that Ravager players are likely to fortify themselves around resource deposits.