The Gunstars were the last "Big Combination Warships" (Gunship & Aircraft Carrier) before the building of the large Battlestars.
In the earlier years of the Cylon War their design was balanced with the heavy gun armament against the need to carry fighter craft to protect themselves as well as carry the fight to the enemy. This made the Gunstars one of the most effective warship types against the Cylon Forces. At the time of their building they were the largest and most versatile warships in the Colonial Fleet. However as the war progressed and the size of Cylon warships increased it became increasingly apparent that the size of the Gunstars simply weren't large enough to carry the required number of fighter aircraft to be effective against the enemy. Many of the Colonial Gunstars were destroyed in "Formation Attacks" trying to close to weapon range before they were overwhelmed by the mass fighter wave attacks of the Cylons.
With the commissioning of the much larger and more capable Battlestars, the still invaluable Gunstars changed roles. Now they were charged with heavy anti-ship/anti-fighter escort for the Battlestars or as the center of Battle or Strike Groups were the presence of a Battlestar isn't needed or one just wasn't available.
The PULSAR CLASS Gunstar was the last and most heavily armed of the type to be launched by the Colonial Fleet. The Class of Gunstar was very effective against Cylon warships with it's large Rail Gun and three plasma cannons plus the ability to carry at least half the standard Battlestar sized Fighter Wing. Another very valuable feature of the class was it's Kryton Phase-Pulse range finder and fire control system. Operating through a very large trainable antenna mounted below the bow - the system has the ability to "see", track & engage multiple targets even through small planetoid and asteroids above the abilities of regular scanners.
It was general practice for when engaging Cylon Basestars for the Colonial fighters from the Battlestar to keep the Cylon fighter defenses busy while the several Gunstars of the Battlegroup would stand off and engage the Basestar with long-range fire from their main weapons and missiles. Another SOP of the Colonial Battlegroups was for the Gunstar's fighters to provide cover for the Battlegroup's ships while the Battlstar's fighters and fighter/bombers to provide the offensive punch for the formation.
PULSAR CLASS GUNSTAR:
LENGTH: 1,117 meters
STANDARD CREW: 1,700 Officers and Crew
PASSENGERS: 350 Marines
ARMAMENT:
1x Super-Heavy Mass Driver Rail Gun
3x Super-Heavy Plasma-Bolt Cannons (Lower Bow)
16x Heavy, Solonite Missile Tubes (Reloadable) (500 Megaton Thunderbolt anti-ship/anti-surface missiles)
(In 8-tube lateral launchers, P&S, located between the hangar pod supports on each side of the ship)
8x Twin, Heavy Dual-Purpose Blaster Batteries
35x Twin, Light Point-Defense Blaster Batteries
AIRWING:
2x Squadrons Viper Mk.I Fighters (24 aircraft each)
2x Squadrons Adder Mk.II Strike Fighters (24 aircraft each)
4x Thunderbird Class Drop-Ships
1x Transport Flight - 6x Alpha Class Shuttles - 6x Micro-Shuttles
(Can and is usually modified per the mission assigned)
