Good ships for taking into enemy territory

Miramor · Post by **Miramor** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 10:11 pm

I'm starting to think that, once I get my hands on a decent ship, I might try taking an extended sojourn into Aera and/or Luddite territory. The problem is figuring out what sort of ship would be good for that... I figure I'd need a cloaking device (though I hear some Aera ships can see through them), maybe some torps for dealing with light capships, and maybe a tractor beam if there's spilled cargo around.

The ships I think might work...

- Progeny: Looks good against fighters. Good performance, no heavy weapons but dual razor guns could punch some holes in things (including my energy reserves). On the other hand, no room for a tractor beam if I want any firepower, and the chief means of dealing with anything bigger than a corvet would be running away.

[Edit: whoops, Progeny can mount a tractor beam. Not that that does much good, seeing as how the quantity of cargo recoverable from exploded ships is so tiny.

]

- Goddard: Lots of firepower. Looks great for dealing with light capships, has room for a tractor beam, on the other hand... I am really not comfortable with the idea of letting turrets handle those Aristons, especially with the damn kamikaze AI.

- Lancelot: Heavy shields, heavy weapons and room for a tractor beam. No torps, though. Also, last time I had one I had problems with the combination of high inertia and high turn speed...

- Dostoevsky: Light fighter with heavy weapon mounts... Nice. Only one missile hardpoint though, even if it can carry a torpedo. Basically doesn't look like it's designed for prolonged fighting.

- Derivative: The milspec model is great, though it needs mult shield regen kind of badly. Has room for a tractor beam, at the cost of some firepower. On the other hand, it doesn't carry a lot of missiles, let alone a torp.

What would you guys recommend?

Miramor · Post by **Miramor** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 3:37 am

Grr, the Progeny is right out. Who designed the cockpit for this thing? It blocks out almost half the screen!

Post by **jackS** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 5:02 am

press F1 to toggle between cockpit/no-cockpit views.

Miramor · Post by **Miramor** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 5:11 am

Thanks

Dark-Blood-Hound · Post by **Dark-Blood-Hound** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 10:33 am

The Mule, when converted to a military-class vessel can be quite effective.
Also, the Admonisher works for me.

micheal_andreas_stahl · Sun Jul 15, 2007 1:37 pm

Goddard. Light cap ship, turrats. VERY sturdy. It's your ticket..

Please let us know what happens on your trip.

Andy

Miramor · Post by **Miramor** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 2:49 pm

(I ended up chosing Derivative again. For now, at least.)

So far, nothing, as the Aera seem to love me. I think I killed too many pirates...

Miramor · Post by **Miramor** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 4:49 pm

Whoah. Has anyone tried a milspec Taizong? I just saw one of these things in a Rlaan barracks, It has better speed than a Lancelot and comes with two autotracking Ktek beams... And it costs more than a Goddard.

micheal_andreas_stahl · Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:11 am

Understanable as it is a military ship. Though still, i like my goddard with my six weapons and 4000 FF missiles.

curufir · Post by **curufir** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:25 am

I got a milspec Dostoevsky with two Tachyon cannons (I know this gun from Prophecy and trusted it) and 30 HS missiles.
In the beginning I felt quite comfortable but ... I don't know if there is technical progress ... after a while aeras took me apart with their purple gun. I switched to reaper cannons and did less damage than before

. So I decided to try a lancelot blank (the milspec version has no autotracking). With two razor (medium) and two neutron guns (heavy) I feel well at the moment (razor and neutron have nearly the same fire distance).

Question : is there a secret with those reaper guns ?

Miramor · Post by **Miramor** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 12:09 am

Hmm. Looking at the specs the reaper guns do half again as much damage as tachyon guns, at three times the distance. I think the problem might be with the speed of the bolts throwing off autotracking, though I haven't had any trouble with that.

At any rate, I'm having to reevaluate my opinion of the Dostoevsky. It may be an ugly lump, but having two heavy weapons mounts on a light fighter is really cool, and being able to carry heavy munitions is nice - those Cluster missiles are great. However, the combination of high turn speed/acceleration and low inertia is actually a big problem - keyboard controls are so horribly imprecise that you need some inertia to get the ship's nose pointed where you want (without ASAP). I really hope that the keyboard controls are as precise as in Prophecy in the next release,

curufir · Post by **curufir** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:28 am

I bought 2 light Ion Beams (light) and a KTEK Beam and a heavy Ion Beam (Lancelot has 2 medium and 2 heavy mounts). After proof I bought back the razor and neutron guns and felt more comfortable. Perhaps it's the personal taste. Guns sound solid to me

. I'll give Reaper cannons a second chance one day. But at the moment I have to trust my cannons. The Confed isn't happy with me and so I have to take every chance to go for luddities

.

Ever tried a fully (I still miss the Cloak device) upgraded Lancelot stock ?
I came from the Dostoevsky and now I'm doing better with that Lance

.

Miramor · Post by **Miramor** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 3:32 pm

Never tried a Lancelot stock. Currently on a second milspec Dosto, with two Ktek beams (b*****d ship salesman stole my old one and the twin reaper cannons). And looking for a cloaking device.

Re the tachyon gun, it's actually kind of pathetic, I find. About the same damage per second as a laser beam, with slightly higher efficiency and no range attenuation, but half the range... And costing much, much more. Most of the non-milspec heavy guns are even worse. In fact, most of the Confed guns suck compared to beam weapons in the same price range, The razor gun is worth it on a ship that can handle its horrible energy expendature, and that's about it. The reaper gun is the only one I've ever found to be seriously good, what with the 6.9 km range.

(That's in 0.4.3 though, things may be significantly rebalanced in SVN, so what I said may not apply.)

BTW, can anyone give me the stats on Aera milspec penetrator guns? I've been thinking I might try getting a pair of those for my Dosto before I go and PO the Aera.

Stakhanov · Post by **Stakhanov** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 5:11 pm

I don't like human ships , their function is pretty redundant compared to a fully upgraded llama (save for the goddard , but it's the only capship you can fly really)

Aera have the best , but they are by no means cost effective. Just fly them if money isn't an issue. The areus steers about the same as a plated llama , but packs much better firepower (including torps) and is probably the best all purpose solo ship next to the goddard. Ariston is tricky to configure , but delivers. Nicander is too small / agile and will make you extra dizzy

but its firepower is not much better than a llama's.

Nicest ship to fly has to be the rlaan vidar. Very light and agile , decent firepower (same mounts as a llama , but has enough cap to feed 2 razor guns) and torps to easily kill capships with. Its shields are weaker though , so it has trouble engaging hordes of hostiles. The strong armor buffer can help you run away.

Miramor · Post by **Miramor** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:51 pm

Hmm. Does the Nicander have light and light/medium mounts, not just medium? If so you can put ion beams on all mounts, that would be pretty damaging. Or you could use all laser beams for somewhat less damage but less attenuation at range. It wouldn't be anticapship material but it could do in a pirate squadron pretty easily.

BTW, how much damage can an Aeran refinery take? There's one in the system I'm in, and if one torp (or 18 cluster bombs) can do it in it's a target.

Dark-Blood-Hound · Post by **Dark-Blood-Hound** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:26 pm

Miramor wrote:Hmm. Does the Nicander have light and light/medium mounts, not just medium? If so you can put ion beams on all mounts, that would be pretty damaging. Or you could use all laser beams for somewhat less damage but less attenuation at range. It wouldn't be anticapship material but it could do in a pirate squadron pretty easily.

BTW, how much damage can an Aeran refinery take? There's one in the system I'm in, and if one torp (or 18 cluster bombs) can do it in it's a target.

I find gauss missiles quite effective, I know their... MISSILES... But you usely get them in a pack of 100, and they fire extremely fast, just like an automatic machine gun in realife.

Miramor · Post by **Miramor** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:56 pm

Looking at the damage and refire time, they shouldn't fire fast enough to cause serious harm... Then again, damage seems to act funny sometimes in 0.4.3.

BTW, the answer to my question about the refinery is "4 torpedoes". The Dosto can only carry one, but the refinery was selling them in bulk...

Miramor · Post by **Miramor** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 2:24 am

An addendum to the above post: although an Aera communications relay may not look like much, it's actually a lot harder to take out than the aforementioned refinery. I managed to destroy one, but it took a dozen torpedoes, almost a hundred dumbfire and Maul rounds, and fifteen or twenty minutes of my TI-83 holding the space key down while I had a snack. The Aera definitely know something about priorities.

Miramor · Post by **Miramor** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 4:38 pm

The count so far: two refineries, one mining base, and one factory with the aid of a Confed Goddard. After these exploits the Aera clogged up the system with over a dozen Vitiks; I would have gotten one, but my experiment in firing a torpedo inside the thing backfired.

Capships and bases are kind of a pain to take out with one torp at a time, though, so I may end up getting an Admonisher or something for torpedo runs.

(On the other hand, I've yet to try an EMP torp. I might want to see if one of those can make things easier.)

Dark-Blood-Hound · Post by **Dark-Blood-Hound** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 12:18 pm

I just get a medium/heavy Military fighter, or Capship and outfit it for whatever suits my needs..

The Rlaan Shizu ship is great for faster SPEC Travel, although it doesn't last aslong in combat... -_-

Admonishers can be quite tough, as I have been against 3 of them in my Detosky.. (Or however you spell it)...

Miramor · Post by **Miramor** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 2:28 pm

Admonisher looks good for missiles and maneuverability, but those two light gun mounts... meh. Even with ion beams (heaviest weapons on a light gun mount) it wouldn't be able to dish out a lot of damage at short range.

(I tried an Areus briefly, and came closs to being shredded by gunfire from some Aristons. That thing is not tough enough IMO to stand up to heavy gunfire with the sort of maneuverability it has. But that's why I never liked heavy fighters much, I guess.)

Dark-Blood-Hound · Post by **Dark-Blood-Hound** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 6:56 pm

Miramor wrote:Admonisher looks good for missiles and maneuverability, but those two light gun mounts... meh. Even with ion beams (heaviest weapons on a light gun mount) it wouldn't be able to dish out a lot of damage at short range.

(I tried an Areus briefly, and came closs to being shredded by gunfire from some Aristons. That thing is not tough enough IMO to stand up to heavy gunfire with the sort of maneuverability it has. But that's why I never liked heavy fighters much, I guess.)

I know, but like I said... It took ages to destroy one. Infact, I didn't.. Instead I just SPEC'd to another system before I got obliterated..

Miramor · Post by **Miramor** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 7:41 pm

Hmm. What was the Dosto's weapons loadout? A pair of ktek or heavy ion beams could probably tear up an Admonisher pretty fast, seeing what they can do to corvettes. Even disruptor beams would probably be pretty effective, especially seeing as the milspec Dosto comes with autotracking on both gun mounts.

Dark-Blood-Hound · Post by **Dark-Blood-Hound** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 12:35 pm

Miramor wrote:Hmm. What was the Dosto's weapons loadout? A pair of ktek or heavy ion beams could probably tear up an Admonisher pretty fast, seeing what they can do to corvettes. Even disruptor beams would probably be pretty effective, especially seeing as the milspec Dosto comes with autotracking on both gun mounts.

Ah right, never though of that... -_-

I always thought the most expensive weapons were the best quality, obviosly not.. :S

Miramor · Post by **Miramor** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 2:11 pm

Well, the reaper gun is the most expensive and it's pretty good. Like a ktek beam but less efficient and longer range. Ion beams are good, and they're the most expensive light weapon (though laser beams, the cheapest, are almost as good and better at long ranges).