Most people here know I am very transparent with my views It’s quite some time since the Ares came out and yet I have not shared any observations nor opinions about it. It’s competing with my beloved Sentinel, so I really didn’t want to find it is in any way a better ship. Seems we can’t always have what we want. Let me make just a few quick observations.
--The Vanguard and Ares are not competing for a place to live, since the Ares has no bed, head and galley.
--Despite the choice between ballistic or laser, the Ares can’t touch the variability of the Vanguard, since the Vanguard has all manner of different weapons, can carry an EMP, S5 torps, and marines. The Ares can’t even fit a loot box.
--The Sentinel offers stealth, or so I thought. That was nerfed in 3.14. All the medium ships had their stealth nerfed in 3.14 so count me shocked that suddenly, the Ares is the most stealthy S2 radar in game. It is in fact MUCH stealthier than anything else. It seems I have no choice but to like this ship in both versions.
--The Vanguard is a long range attack platform, so color me envious that the Ares has almost twice the range of the Vanguard, or about five times the range of a small fighter.
WTF?!
Yeah. So just some notes on equipment and such. No need to comment on the weapon choice save to say that there is a very large contingent of ex Elite Dangerous players flying the Ions. They are kicking ass and taking names. Note that this is NOT the ship to simply hold down the trigger. The Ion fires so slowly that you really want to time every shot with its own squeeze--semi-auto. It is common to swing the pip across a target, and if you are squeezing when you want to fire instead of just holding down the trigger, you will get more shots on target. Every shot from the Ion’s cannon does major damage.
These birds turn quickly enough to fight most ships, and those they can’t, just fire 3 Thunderbolts and be done with it. Snarky comments aside about evading missiles, the NPC M50’s cannot evade the Thunderbolts at all. They just die.
In general though, you do not want to dogfight. Extend away from your quarry, turn, take the missile shot, fire as you close, with or without stealth. Don’t try to actually dogfight.
Shields: you can use the same optimization as the Vanguard, 1 FR-76 and 1 Sukoran (something to work toward—you need to buy a Defender) will make you a tank. Just be sure to extend out after you have taken your first hits to give the Sukoran time to start recharging. It’s worth having the Sukoran for the higher shield pool and resistance to ballistics, and the FR will recharge it fast.
Yes, of course put Eclipse reactors in it. Fly just one when in stealth mode with shields, Q Drive and weapon off for missiles out of the black. Teamed with THREE Snowpacks, you can dump heat at an astonishing rate and reenter stealth during combat. Don’t use Nighfalls. They do not afford enough benefit to replace the exceedingly high thermal dump of the Snowpacks. This is a rare fighter with three coolers--make the most of them with high cooling rate Snowpacks.
This ship is meant to fire missiles from off sensors, turn on all systems with a voice command, attack, extend away and escape, circle, drop shields to drop off your opponent’s screens, fire missiles, and attack again. If you get chased then leave the shields on and forget stealth. This is a strategic fighter like the Vanguard and f-35, not a dogfighter. 9k EM and lower IR, puts all small, mediunm and Large ships in range of your missiles (15km) while they cannot see you. Only Cap ship[s can see you when you are in missile range, and they can't evade, nor expect to hit someone 15 km away. You can launch four, triple Thunderbolt strikes for about 15k damage each, before you are down to just one missile per strike. Alternatively, you can now load S4 and S5 missiles .
It works. I have seen these things chewing up everything. Really skilled crews in Hammerheads and Redeemers seem okay, but otherwise, the average team cannot manage against a smart pilot in this ship. I can’t believe CIG gave it 70% more range than the Vanguard. So far as I am aware, this is the longest range fighter in game, by far. Great escort, especially flying in stealth mode to dump missiles. Comparing four of these against the Redeemer. . .I would not want to be on the Redeemer.
--The Vanguard and Ares are not competing for a place to live, since the Ares has no bed, head and galley.
--Despite the choice between ballistic or laser, the Ares can’t touch the variability of the Vanguard, since the Vanguard has all manner of different weapons, can carry an EMP, S5 torps, and marines. The Ares can’t even fit a loot box.
--The Sentinel offers stealth, or so I thought. That was nerfed in 3.14. All the medium ships had their stealth nerfed in 3.14 so count me shocked that suddenly, the Ares is the most stealthy S2 radar in game. It is in fact MUCH stealthier than anything else. It seems I have no choice but to like this ship in both versions.
--The Vanguard is a long range attack platform, so color me envious that the Ares has almost twice the range of the Vanguard, or about five times the range of a small fighter.
WTF?!
Yeah. So just some notes on equipment and such. No need to comment on the weapon choice save to say that there is a very large contingent of ex Elite Dangerous players flying the Ions. They are kicking ass and taking names. Note that this is NOT the ship to simply hold down the trigger. The Ion fires so slowly that you really want to time every shot with its own squeeze--semi-auto. It is common to swing the pip across a target, and if you are squeezing when you want to fire instead of just holding down the trigger, you will get more shots on target. Every shot from the Ion’s cannon does major damage.
These birds turn quickly enough to fight most ships, and those they can’t, just fire 3 Thunderbolts and be done with it. Snarky comments aside about evading missiles, the NPC M50’s cannot evade the Thunderbolts at all. They just die.
In general though, you do not want to dogfight. Extend away from your quarry, turn, take the missile shot, fire as you close, with or without stealth. Don’t try to actually dogfight.
Shields: you can use the same optimization as the Vanguard, 1 FR-76 and 1 Sukoran (something to work toward—you need to buy a Defender) will make you a tank. Just be sure to extend out after you have taken your first hits to give the Sukoran time to start recharging. It’s worth having the Sukoran for the higher shield pool and resistance to ballistics, and the FR will recharge it fast.
Yes, of course put Eclipse reactors in it. Fly just one when in stealth mode with shields, Q Drive and weapon off for missiles out of the black. Teamed with THREE Snowpacks, you can dump heat at an astonishing rate and reenter stealth during combat. Don’t use Nighfalls. They do not afford enough benefit to replace the exceedingly high thermal dump of the Snowpacks. This is a rare fighter with three coolers--make the most of them with high cooling rate Snowpacks.
This ship is meant to fire missiles from off sensors, turn on all systems with a voice command, attack, extend away and escape, circle, drop shields to drop off your opponent’s screens, fire missiles, and attack again. If you get chased then leave the shields on and forget stealth. This is a strategic fighter like the Vanguard and f-35, not a dogfighter. 9k EM and lower IR, puts all small, mediunm and Large ships in range of your missiles (15km) while they cannot see you. Only Cap ship[s can see you when you are in missile range, and they can't evade, nor expect to hit someone 15 km away. You can launch four, triple Thunderbolt strikes for about 15k damage each, before you are down to just one missile per strike. Alternatively, you can now load S4 and S5 missiles .
It works. I have seen these things chewing up everything. Really skilled crews in Hammerheads and Redeemers seem okay, but otherwise, the average team cannot manage against a smart pilot in this ship. I can’t believe CIG gave it 70% more range than the Vanguard. So far as I am aware, this is the longest range fighter in game, by far. Great escort, especially flying in stealth mode to dump missiles. Comparing four of these against the Redeemer. . .I would not want to be on the Redeemer.
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