Ship advice

Rolo

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caveat: I'm extremely biased :-)

I've been having a *lot* of fun in my 350r and my Mustang Beta.
While the 350r is not available at the moment, the 325a is, and it is quick and maneuverable.
The Beta is cheap and fun, though it has issues. Also, don't fly without 4xm3a cannons equipped. Just don't ;-)

This is a purely personal preference, as your enjoyment of your sip depends heavily on how you fly her. I like nimble and I do the death of a thousand cuts. So those ships suit me.

If you like to slug it out, the base Hornet *is* available and quite tanky. It is a well balanced fighter.

Something to point out, though, is all the ship flight models are changing constantly. I started with an LN and was happy with it. Then I got my Titan and I rocked with that. For a while I'd fly nothing but the Glaive and now, I'm flying most of my ships, regardless of how broken they seem at the moment.

The Gladius will return to being a nimble, light fighter and be enjoyable for people who fly that way.

But for a can't-go-wrong choice? I'd have to point ya toward the F7C base Hornet.
 

Rolo

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Neither the stealth of the Ghost nor the C&C of the Tracker are pertinent at the moment, and it seemed you were asking about right now, as opposed to the future :-)

And the SuperHornet is limited, so again, it wasn't a choice
 

Blind Owl

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Do you have enough REC to tent different ships? That's the way I'd go, for testing anyways.
If you like bashing it out, Hornet all the way. If you like speed and maneuverability, the Sabre is awesome.
 

Phil

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Subscribers get to test different ships each month I think now, Sabre was July? If you want a tank fighter I think Hornet is best option out there, maybe a Avenger Stalker? I hear they are pretty good also.
 

marcsand2

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So I'm quickly finding that my Gladius has shields worthy of being called wet paper bag. What would be a good ship to change it to? I keep hearing Sabre... but I can't get a sabre from the store atm. Need a good fighter variant. Thoughts?
A Gladius is not a tank, you should use its speed and agility to evade incoming fire. A Hornet or Super Hornet indeed is a tank, but when you try to take everything head on without evading at least some of incoming fire, it won't last that long also ;)
 
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marcsand2

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Avenger Stalker? I hear they are pretty good also
the Avenger is one of the toughest ships at present and is highly manoeuvrable
The Avenger is not so fast and agile as the Gladius, has similar Weapons Systems but has a better nose gun. Replace the guns on Avenger and Gladius with 2 CF117 and you are good to go. She really is a nice ship to fly :)
 
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DeepDrum

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I like my hornets. Which version is somewhat irrelevent as parts can be changed over. The tracker carries more fuel and since you can't switch fuel tanks, it's a logical choice.
I went with the tracker first and trhen got the base model too when I cashed in my two 325s which were good but I got stuck in the "gun won't reload glitch", "the falling through the floor glitch" and got fed up with it. 300s will be great someday but I have found my true Love in the Hornet.
I took the long reach radar from the tracker and put it on my base model and added a class 5 mount and a c-788 ballistic cannon to my tracker (and C117s on the wings and a C227 on the nose as well as 8 missles).
It is still not top of the line yet. It'll come.
The tracker carries 20% more fuel than other single seater hornets.
This is a good thing since I am hard on fuel. ;) It has been scarily close to empty when I finally get to cry astro stations to refuel but since the Hornet makes money so quickly, I always leave a tip.

The seat on my Hornet is soo comfy. It has been nicely broken in and fits my body like a glove.
It is way easier to get in and out of than the 300 series at this point.
I WILL get another 325 someday so I can throw a prisioner in the back. ;)
I used my refund credits from melting ships to buy UEC (not aUEC) and then upgraded a few guns.
Did I say I Love my Hornets yet? I Love my Hornets.
Reconfigured tracker on the left. That thing rocks!
I trhink we should have a Hornet division. ;)
oops open the stasr citizen _)whatever tmc tmc file not tmh for the first file. I noticed I said tmh.

 
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Shadow Reaper

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A wise man in my position--one who has never flown in SC--would not answer this question. There are plenty of experts here. I will however capitalize on my ignorance for once and share an opine that has served me well in similar games.

Firepower, speed, agility, range, range of weapons, weapons speed (ease of hit), stealth, longevity in battle, maintenance costs (including missiles and ammo), and other concerns all come to the issue of choosing the best fighter for your fighting style. I will however paraphrase something that marcsand2 has said before: that no matter how else you optimize, you are always better off with raw firepower. No matter whether you load your bird with primaries for shooting often and secondaries for dumping big hurt, or set up a bird with all one gun type, whether you attack from stealth, or use agility, or shields and armor, you need to be able to put hurt on your target, and if you optimize other things too much and can't put on the hurt, your performance will suffer.

Back in the day when I was driving a Black Knight with eleven medium pulse lasers and one jump jet, the thing was at the heavy end of a medium size Mech, and I had optimized the thing so it performed amazingly, but even though I could refit it for any particular mission, what I found was that most times I would not. It is really best to get used to one strategy and find variations on a theme. If you are in a highly unusual situation you may find reasons to swap out your guns, or add stealth, or subtract it, etc., but in general it is best to find whichever fighter is best for your play style and optimize it based on that style.

I'm not the tank type so I will probably fly a Saber, and I will certainly try it with 4 Sledges. If it doesn't have energy draw problems, and has enough reactor to run the guns when needed, that would suit my play style. I like to run all energy weapons, because you can never run out of ammo, but if you are accustomed to practicing trigger control and not shooting when you know you can't hit, probably the Sledges will never run out of ammo. They are amazing weapons, so far beyond any of the S one's that it's not even worth comparing. They are not as fast to target as the 3MA's, but they hit more than twice as hard, and have more than 3X the range. Flying a hard-to-lock ship like the Saber and attacking from out of lock range greatly appeals to my fighting style. I never want to go into a fair fight. Smart fighters don't fight fair. We use overwhelming force and every advantage we can find.

In any case just saying, IMHO you should eschew S one guns and the fighters that carry them. If you want a Sabre then look for one on Craig's list or some such. My guess is you'll never be sorry for that.

EDIT:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/252433675573?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/331811490200?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Star-Citizen-Aegis-Sabre-w-LTI-Standalone/172242016559?_trksid=p2141725.c100338.m3726&_trkparms=aid=222007&algo=SIC.MBE&ao=1&asc=20150313114020&meid=18fc8b6b0bfa4478adf690554308f8cd&pid=100338&rk=4&rkt=17&sd=331811490200
 
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Shadow Reaper

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I took the long reach radar from the tracker and put it on my base model
Can you take a moment please, and tell us what the difference is between flying this radar and the standard radar, and then how it affects your flying? Not just what it looks like in the hud, but how you use the extended ability of the Long-Reach? I am fascinated by the whole EM warfare thing, including weapons locks and countermeasures, extended radar, etc. I want to see and not be seen. For instance, do you actually get a pip at greater ranges with the Long-Reach, and can you lock missiles at greater range? What are the ranges involved?
 

Han Burgundy

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Since the firegroup customization in my SuperHornet isnt working at the moment, I am mono-boating with 5 badgers. Seems to work pretty well. Especially when you can get in there and take a beating while getting close enough to put some real sustained fire on-target. Hornet=A10 for toughness.
 

Shadow Reaper

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I think subscribers can fly Sabres for free this month, but you can't put whatever weapon on you like. You have to fly with what they give you, which is what is described on the ships comparison page. Is that right?

BTW, I just saw a vid with DanGeesling flying 4 S3's on his Sabre, and it is one hit and target goes dead. The Tarantulas he is flying are slow, so you need to lead the target, but it is so much firepower on target at once that he never needs to worry about taking down shields, etc. Just squeeze-and-boom. This is almost 5X the firepower of 3X 3MA on the smaller fighters.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwWwuzx_5vU

It is probably hard to hit with those guns out to their 6km range, but practice makes perfect and my guess is most people flying them regularly would learn to hit with them within a couple weeks. That is just amazing raw killing power, all packaged up in a stealthy, agile, fast, long-range murder machine.
 
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