heavy fighters is ~Size 4/5 territory (Ares is a special snowflake)
upgrading S7 to S8 would equal per gun damage from ~1700-1800 to 2300-2400 dps (from ~6800 dps to 9200 dps).
+ substantial range increase
+ unknown impact increase on armor
Q & A Perseus
- Thread starter Bambooza
- Start date
upgrading S7 to S8 would equal per gun damage from ~1700-1800 to 2300-2400 dps (from ~6800 dps to 9200 dps).
+ substantial range increase
+ unknown impact increase on armor
This does add to the complexity of the situation. The other is that small ships might not have enough firepower to penetrate the shields and/or armor and so while they can't be hit by the large/capital ship they can't do anything against it. Even ships like the Constellation would just be easy target practice while not being able to do any harm to the Perseus.
As for fighting a Perseus I would imagine it would need to be careful around the Polaris, Idris and Javelin as its slow speed makes it easier to target for these ships. The Eclipse in a group would make quick work of it but one or two could land lucky shots they would be hard-pressed to get past its point defense weapons. Not sure about the Gladius as its torpedoes are rather small, but once again in numbers it might be an issue. The Retaliator while carrying large enough torpedoes is a big enough ship that the Perseus should be able to make quick work of it. So honestly, it's sitting in a pretty sweet spot only having to watch out for Ares and Eclipse in numbers and capital ships.
As for the debate of Ares vers Perseus, I would say while there is some overlap in their capabilities they also excel in different areas. Like I would not recommend taking an Ares up against a Hammerhead where the Perseus would be an easy call to have it go out and take out the enemies Hammerheads thus opening up the capability to bring in the smaller bombers and drop ships.
While it would make a great addition to a pirate force I am not sure how effective it would be on a defensive escort mission. The way I see the Perseus and the Q&A confirmed it for me is it's a slugger meant to dominate against medium to large ships. Outside of this range, it's not going to be very effective and while in a pinch with a skilled crew might be able to pull it off they are going to be at a distinct disadvantage.
The Ares is also supposed to engage ships in this range but its disadvantage is its size limits its operational reach as well as lower ammo (the energy-based one while not limited in ammo will be limited in its sustained fire rate, ie fire until the batteries run dry and then need to recharge). So the Ares can be as effective if not slightly more effective if they have the support of a Kraken at which point we start dipping into large-scale fleet battles.
As for the Polaris hanger, while I love this ship and have no intention of melting it the hanger is one of the more questionable features and not one I would say gives the ship any sort of advantage in a fight. While the hanger size has changed to come into metric of a small landing pad it might still only fit a gladius which is not going to do much against a group of fighters. And attempting to support then one fighter out of the hanger is going to be a logistical nightmare given fighters travel slower in QT, cannot be logged out in, and require refueling often. For me, I was always hoping the Terrapin would have some modularity with the scan room allowing the spinning seat to be switched out for jump seats or a medical stretcher (no healing just stabilizing) as it would be a great complement to the Polaris. But as of this moment, its flavor text is a lie.