Bounty Hunting Combat Fighter

[marcsand2]

I tested the Freelancer in Vanduul swarms. You will need some modified tactics. The Tarantula GT-870 Mark 3 does a good job. I will try the Panther repeaters also. 36 S2 missiles aren't bad. The Freelancer is slow and sluggish, but it can do combat. Keep her out of asteroid fields!!! You will have more trouble evading asteroids then enemy fire. Always try to keep the targets movement horizontal. If the target get up or down, then you won't track it anymore. Zoom helps allot with aiming. Always try to make wide turns. With narrow turns you definitely will have a disadvantage.
In dogfight she will loose when overwhelmed, but she can make a stand.
[EDIT] before I forget, the Freelancer has the issue that the gun trigger locks. Then they will stay firing until overheated and when they finally stop they are broke!!!!! Map the "all weapon groups on/off" action. If they lock, switch them off and on.

 

[maynard]

as an aspiring combat pilot, this is the most valuable thread on the forum

 

[Blind Owl]

as an aspiring combat pilot, this is the most valuable thread on the forum

Amen to that.

 

[marcsand2]

As a learning and evolving combat fighter, this is a great thread to share knowledge :)

 

[marcsand2]

http://imgur.com/y7VyxTB

Who ever dared to say that the Cutlass is a bad fighter????? :D My left index finger hurts from strafing, I even had to lookup the button for power management during fight while my engines got low on energy, but in the end the Cutlass survived... half of it at least :D
@Blind Owl, start practicing, she really is a sturdy ship, I'l cover your ass if you want assistance

 

[Blind Owl]

http://imgur.com/y7VyxTB

Who ever dared to say that the Cutlass is a bad fighter????? :D My left index finger hurts from strafing, I even had to lookup the button for power management during fight while my engines got low on energy, but in the end the Cutlass survived... half of it at least :D
@Blind Owl, start practicing, she really is a sturdy ship, I'l cover your ass if you want assistance

I shall my friend! Soon.

 

[Strykker666]

I started, like many, with an Aurora. Now I'm running a Gladius as well. Slowly working on building up my flying/fighting skills. Considering picking up Anna to try out voice commands as well.

 

[marcsand2]

I started, like many, with an Aurora. Now I'm running a Gladius as well. Slowly working on building up my flying/fighting skills. Considering picking up Anna to try out voice commands as well.

Right now I classified the Gladius together with the Avenger as light fighter. The Gladius has more missiles, tha Avenger has a better nose gun. Have you flown the Avenger too?

 

[Strykker666]

Right now I classified the Gladius together with the Avenger as light fighter. The Gladius has more missiles, tha Avenger has a better nose gun. Have you flown the Avenger too?

Not yet. Only recently started playing on a more consistent scale.

 

[marcsand2]

I just tested the free Beta in Vanduul swarms, only 4 S1 M3A instead of the 2 S1 M3A and 2 S2 CF117....:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: The Hornet that accompanied me left before the first Vanduul was down. CHICKEN!!!!!!
My 1st Beta lasted until wave 16, my 2nd Beta scratched an asteroid in wave 16, lost its engines and got shot down before completing the 16th wave. My 3rd Beta succumbed under the massive waves of missiles and crossfire in wave 18.......:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:..... even with 4 S1 the Mustang Beta is a great dogfighter!!! Just focus on evasive flight, try to miss the asteroids and you a good to go :cool:

 

[Blind Owl]

I just tested the free Beta in Vanduul swarms, only 4 S1 M3A instead of the 2 S1 M3A and 2 S2 CF117....:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: The Hornet that accompanied me left before the first Vanduul was down. CHICKEN!!!!!!
My 1st Beta lasted until wave 16, my 2nd Beta scratched an asteroid in wave 16, lost its engines and got shot down before completing the 16th wave. My 3rd Beta succumbed under the massive waves of missiles and crossfire in wave 18.......:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:..... even with 4 S1 the Mustang Beta is a great dogfighter!!! Just focus on evasive flight, try to miss the asteroids and you a good to go :cool:

Nice. I may give this little girl a go.

 

[marcsand2]

Just remember: keep her strafing in the good direction, silence your guns on time. and hit the boost on time to keep up speed ;)

 

[Blind Owl]

Just remember: keep her strafing in the good direction, silence your guns on time. and hit the boost on time to keep up speed ;)

Roger that

 

[marcsand2]

I tested the Freelancer a few nights. The CF227 improves its hitrate, although left and right strafe is not so good. when you go more then 50% right strafe, then your right guns won't shoot anymore. The same is for left strafe, more then 50% left strafe and no left guns. Keep her out of the asteroid fields and you will be fine. It's biggest combat capability still is the use of missiles, but be aware, friendly hits won't be tolerated. I replaced the 6 underwing single missile platforms with 2 triple missile platforms and 4 double missile platforms. Best case I could replace all 12 single missile platforms with 12 triple missile platform, resulting in 36 missiles, you won't need them all, I never use my 20 missiles.
I use 6 Tempest II missiles and 14 ignite II missiles. The Tempest has a longer lock time, but hits better. Tempest is EM and ignite is IR

 

[marcsand2]

If you really want to learn how to use boost, afterburner and strafe then you must take the 350R and go dogfighting with it, you won't survive without it. Close quarter dogfight isn't meant for the 350R, it is a hit and run fighter, a zoom and boom. Because the weapons aren't big, you will need to hit and run allot, or you must use heavy hitting weapons and have a good aim. At short range you can't avoid to strafe because otherwise you will ram the target, the strafe will make your aim bad.

Because I love to strafe it is almost impossible to use energy weapons and ballistics together, the strafe will get the target pips to far away from each other to be useful firing both together. Even if you don't use strafe, a light turn also results in natural strafe, best practice is to turn and strafe in the direction where you are turning to to minimize the natural strafe. If you make a 180, it will take allot time to reverse your speed. Boost to speed up this.

I'm not good with hit and run and definitely no super aim, so i try to dogfight with it. It can work, but your greatest enemy are the asteroids and border. A very good practice at hitting targets is to engage, strafe a little to miss your target and make a 180 behind it, hit boost or even better afterburner to stop flying too fast away from your target and open all guns. If you make the 180 good then the pips of your 1st and 2nd firegroup will be close together and you can make allot of hits. Missiles are not a big concern, just fly away from them, keep your speed up and use some strafe, make no 180s

Because I don't use it strengths and don't fly her the way it is intended, for me she is a very hard fighter to fly. She needs allot of boost and strafe, which can result in red and white outs. A strong point of her however is: she hard to handle between asteroids because of her speed, you must use that speed to your advantage to manoeuvre away from the danger zone and choose the right place to fight. Because of her speed you can pick the best position to engage.
In swarms you have a disadvantage, but 1 vs 1 you dictate the fight. My respect for those who can handle her!!!

 

[BUTUZ]

I only have a freelancer now, I kinda miss my Avenger.

 

[marcsand2]

Yeap, the Avenger is a surprisingly agile light fighter, better then the Gladius due to its Tigerstreik.

 

[Blind Owl]

If you really want to learn how to use boost, afterburner and strafe then you must take the 350R and go dogfighting with it, you won't survive without it. Close quarter dogfight isn't meant for the 350R, it is a hit and run fighter, a zoom and boom. Because the weapons aren't big, you will need to hit and run allot, or you must use heavy hitting weapons and have a good aim. At short range you can't avoid to strafe because otherwise you will ram the target, the strafe will make your aim bad.

Because I love to strafe it is almost impossible to use energy weapons and ballistics together, the strafe will get the target pips to far away from each other to be useful firing both together. Even if you don't use strafe, a light turn also results in natural strafe, best practice is to turn and strafe in the direction where you are turning to to minimize the natural strafe. If you make a 180, it will take allot time to reverse your speed. Boost to speed up this.

I'm not good with hit and run and definitely no super aim, so i try to dogfight with it. It can work, but your greatest enemy are the asteroids and border. A very good practice at hitting targets is to engage, strafe a little to miss your target and make a 180 behind it, hit boost or even better afterburner to stop flying too fast away from your target and open all guns. If you make the 180 good then the pips of your 1st and 2nd firegroup will be close together and you can make allot of hits. Missiles are not a big concern, just fly away from them, keep your speed up and use some strafe, make no 180s

Because I don't use it strengths and don't fly her the way it is intended, for me she is a very hard fighter to fly. She needs allot of boost and strafe, which can result in red and white outs. A strong point of her however is: she hard to handle between asteroids because of her speed, you must use that speed to your advantage to manoeuvre away from the danger zone and choose the right place to fight. Because of her speed you can pick the best position to engage.
In swarms you have a disadvantage, but 1 vs 1 you dictate the fight. My respect for those who can handle her!!!

May be worth renting this ship just to practice strafing. What about the m50? She a good one to practice with?

 

[marcsand2]

May be worth renting this ship just to practice strafing. What about the m50? She a good one to practice with?

I don't know (yet), I still must get her out of the hangar :oops: Based on my experience with the 350R I recon that the M50 will be better against human players then against KI swarms. Her speed and small target size will be her best defences.

 

[marcsand2]

I tested the Vanguard again, The 4 nose guns are simply awesome!!! 4x S2 nose guns, concentrating on 1 point. If 1 hits, then chances are good that all 4 hit. It usually takes 3 - 4 hits to get a KI target down. The gatling gun works good to get tougher targets down at close range.
Big backdraw from the Vanguard is: if you lose 1 engine, (which usually happens when I'm flying it) then aiming gets a hard job. your turn to one opposite direction will be disabled. A 180 roll or a 180 turn will do better then turning to the target in the wrong direction.
Shield management is very important, also avoiding incoming fire is essential because she is a big target. Strafing away from a target to keep good firing distance and on time reverse strafe and boost to prevent passing target to enlarge distance is a good tactic. The roll doesn't affect your hit chances because the nose guns are concentrated, so use the roll to prevent red-outs when turning sharp with boost to accelerate the process.