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Author Topic: .8.1 Favorite Ships  (Read 21476 times)

mehgamer

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.8.1 Favorite Ships
« on: September 05, 2017, 07:25:13 PM »

I am certain that there have been plenty of posts like this, but now that we've had enough time to properly sit on the current build of the game, what is everyone's take on the ships we fly?

Anyone who knows me will probably guess my answer to this question, so instead I'll start us off by reiterating that the falcon is like ambrosia.  So good, so tasty.

But what about everyone else here?  I'd really like to see everyone's take on the craft found in Starsector, and all the ways that people can agree or disagree with the assessments made within.

Jazz hands!
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Surge

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Re: .8.1 Favorite Ships
« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2017, 07:57:13 PM »

The Nevermore-0 has claimed my heart, no cruiser has any right to move that fast and I love every second of it.
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Death_Silence_66

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Re: .8.1 Favorite Ships
« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2017, 09:12:46 PM »

Give me an SO Aurora or Tempest and ill be a happy man.
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TaLaR

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Re: .8.1 Favorite Ships
« Reply #3 on: September 05, 2017, 10:31:29 PM »

Chain deployed Afflictors slaughter anything except Remnant Station. For cheap. One can blow up a Paragon in single pass (4 Reapers with missile spec, while you disable shield with system). While AM-blaster focused Afflictor can easily delete frigates and DEs.
It's basically a cheat-ship.
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ANGRYABOUTELVES

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Re: .8.1 Favorite Ships
« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2017, 08:42:21 AM »

I was skeptical about the Aurora changes, but I quickly became a fan once I realized it's still a missile boat despite all the default variants being gun-heavy. Possibly even more of a missile boat than before, considering that its flux capacity has been lowered. A player-piloted Aurora with 2 Sabot Pods and 4 Annihilator Launchers can quickly single out, immediately overload, and kill up to 6 cruisers or 12 destroyers per battle before running out of Sabots.

The Doom used to be my favourite ship in 0.72, but it has unfortunately fallen from grace for me. I have previously said that the Aurora could never be better than the Doom at the Doom's fleet role, but I've been proven wrong. The Aurora is better at the Doom's fleet role and I struggle to justify bringing a Doom along when I could have an Aurora or nearly two Herons/Moras for around the same logistical/deployment cost.

Carriers have gotten a large buff in terms of how fun they are to pilot, and I find the Heron to be the most fun vanilla carrier. The three fighter bays, Targeting Feed, and the medium universal slot give it quite a lot of flexibility and punch, it's fast enough to avoid anything it can't kill, and it can carry enough non-fighter weaponry to fend off most frigates and destroyers.

There's a lot of love for the Afflictor, but I still prefer the Shade. You can't pack as many Reapers into it so it's not as good as the Afflictor at killing capitals, but it can kill everything smaller more sustainably due to the EMP emitter. The EMP emitter is a medium weapon in its own right; it does quite a bit of energy damage now in addition to the EMP and you can finish ships off with the EMP emitter alone.

I was initially very attracted to the Astral's massive fighter complement and absurdly effective bomber cheese, but the Legion has managed to Burn Drive away with my heart. It's self-sufficient, mobile, and can fight in almost any range band, from long-range support to close-range assault. You can easily give it builds that the AI won't screw up with, as well as builds that allow a player to leverage their superior positioning skills and ability to create their own opportunities.

In terms of mod ships, I especially like: the Vapor, Storm, and Maelstrom from Diable Avionics; the Tereshkova, Baikal, and Zelenograd from Dassault-Mikoyan Engineering; the Kurmaraja, Mantis, and Hawkmoth from Blackrock Drive Yards; the Invictus, Decurion, and Adamas from Interstellar Imperium; the Elysium, Skadi, and Charybdis from Shadowyards Reconstruction Authority.
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Megas

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Re: .8.1 Favorite Ships
« Reply #5 on: September 06, 2017, 09:12:17 AM »

My favorite ships are godships.  The closer they are to an easy "I WIN!" button, the better.  However, the most effective ships (at least in player's hands) tend to be unarmed carriers built to run away from everything while fighters kill things, and that is not very fun because I do not get to maul things personally.  With that in mind, assuming standard non-mod ships...

Quad Tachyon Lance Paragon is probably the most destructive non-carrier ship that can wipe out just about anything, although AI frigates tend to not engage until they have the numbers to overwhelm and kill Paragon.  Anything else gets lance sniped or blasted and killed before they do too much damage.

Unarmed Astral is good for bomber or Warthog spam.  During 0.8, Astral with six Sparks could solo the Remnant battlestation, and it could nearly solo the simulator.  I use Astral if I find one before I find Paragon and enough weapons to outfit said Paragon properly.

Legion is a swiss army knife that can kill a wide variety of targets, either by itself or with its fighters.  Useful when I want to deploy a capital, but not a Paragon because of CR management.  Everyone and their pirate dog uses Legion about as much as (or more than) Onslaught, meaning finding one is relatively easy.

Eagle with HVDs, Mauler, various beams (including one Ion Beam), and a wing of fighters (from Converted Hangar) is versatile.  It can kite-and-snipe, and can sometimes flush out smaller ships with a wing of interceptors.  Alternatively, I may outfit it as a disposable grunt with Arbalests, Heavy Mortar, and more common beams.

Falcon is good, being either super Hammerhead or faster Eagle with less guns.  Here, in 0.8.x, being a destroyer in a cruiser chassis can be a benefit, thanks to peak performance, DTC/ITU, and Converted Hangar.  The 75% recovery penalty destroyers get from Converted Hangar make it non-viable for destroyers, but 50% for cruisers is more tolerable with fast recovering interceptors.  Falcons tend to be my late-game disposable grunts, they get cheap weapons and maybe a wing of Talons.

Heron is good for three wings of fighters, being relatively fast, and a universal mount that can hold a HVD or dual flak.  (Although AI with dual flak insists on kissing the enemy instead of running far away.)

Drover is my destroyer of choice.  No weapons, built to run and stream fighters non-stop.

Tempest is great for being the fastest ship on the campaign map, and putting one in my fleet enables pursuit and auto-resolve against everything.  Terminator Drone gives the Tempest carrier-like effectiveness, and is useful for mopping up small fights for the rare times the outmatched AI decides to fight (e.g., two Lumens against your big endgame fleet).

Hyperion is my favorite special OPs flagship.  It can bypass shields and kill stuff.  May not be as cheap as Afflictor, but Hyperion is more forgiving to use.

As TaLaR writes, Afflictor is good.  Piloting it is a pain, and I only use it if my fleet is missing a capital and Hyperion.
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Althaea

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Re: .8.1 Favorite Ships
« Reply #6 on: September 06, 2017, 09:49:08 AM »

I don't particularly like to fly the Falcon, I will admit. I like symmetry, and with the Falcon it's hard to have a loadout that's both good and symmetrical. It absolutely should have an ion beam, but two is too much. It bothers me a lot less when it's an AI officer taking the wheel, though, in which case - well, it's the archetypical light cruiser. Cheap, sturdier and more powerful than a destroyer, capable of outrunning most things it can't outgun. It's a bit weak to fighters, though.

In terms of carriers... I strongly prefer battlecarriers, for which I consider the Heron and the Legion to be the only qualified examples. The Mora is too slow, more of a hulking presence that catches unaware opponents with its missiles than a real battlecarrier. I've seen the Drover described as such, but I don't agree with that description at all. The Drover is as pure a carrier as you can get.

Early-game I do take a surprising amount of joy out of piloting a Gemini or Drover and supporting the rest of my fleet with Thunders. (Thunders, incidentally, are probably my favourite fighter to use, and if I'm not piloting a carrier myself I will make sure to have at least one Thunder-carrier on the battlefield so I can throw them at hot-spots.) Personally I find the Heron too undergunned to fly and I always forget to use the ship system, which can be fiddly and flux-intensive with the timing. It's also not really got a lot of OP. It's quite good in AI hands though I prefer the Drover for pure carrier capability. The Legion is really fun, but I don't feel I can justify filling four hangar bays with Thunders. Instead I often end up going with the Onslaught.

Early on I often fly an Enforcer with a converted hangar bay and a Talon wing, instead. It works surprisingly well with even just the fleet-wide carrier skills, and the personal carrier skills end up making that lone wing count for a surprising lot.

Overall I prefer low-tech ships, occasionally dipping into mid-tech. For high-tech I usually limit myself to the Wolf and Tempest - I have a personal bias against most other high-tech ships, though I will occasionally fly the Medusa.

The Lasher used to be my favourite frigate in 0.72, but with the nerf to Unstable Injectors it's just not very survivable in 0.8. It's good early on, but it deals poorly with sustained pressure and it finds itself in an uncomfortable middle-ground in terms of speed, firepower and durability versus the Centurion and Brawler on one end and the Hound, Wolf and Tempest on the other. SO solves that in player hands but is often suicidal in AI hands. I still like it best in terms of its basic concept, but it is too slow to fly and very vulnerable against certain enemy types.

Instead I favour the Wolf and the Tempest. Fast, evasive, decent and flexible firepower.

My favourite cruiser is probably the Eagle. I like the Dominator in theory, but I find the firing arcs of its main guns a bit too restrictive compared with its low maneuverability. The Eagle is fast and versatile. You can really see why it's the most common cruiser in the sector. It just works in every situation. Its only downside is that you have to give up a lot of offensive power if you want to have more point defense than the average Destroyer.

My favourite capital ship (and favourite ship period) is far and away the Onslaught. If I were not a lazy butt, the XIV variant would be my avatar. The vast amount of ordnance points it has, the in-built TPCs, the excellent burst and sustained firepower, the supremely heavy armour, the way it scales up with combat skills, the heavy point defenses, even the ship system to some extent, and of course, the ship's looks and lore. It is a brick. It is the best of all bricks. Starsector lives and dies for me depending on how it treats the Onslaught. It's my baby, Alex, so don't you ever nerf it.  >:(

You have not lived until, with a Combat build, you've soaked up an entire ion pulser magazine to the side and laughed it off.

In mods, there are a lot of ships I like.

Between the non-faction Ships & Weapons Pack, Underworld, Disassemble & Reassemble and Expanded Arsenal, there is the Predator, Predator-X, Wren, Taurus, Manta, Vanguard and Duelist. The Predator is like a lower-tech Wolf in function, the Wren is cheap but very fast, the Taurus is tough and has flexible weapon mounts, the Manta is a destroyer-sized light battlecarrier of sorts, the Vanguard's main gun and ship system is very lovely, and the Duelist's dual-shield system is just fancy enough to win me over.

Most non-gimmick Imperial ships, period. They sometimes feel a bit too good compared to regular low-tech ships and the II is an enemy of the Hegemony whose Onslaught I love so much, though. Of course, Imperial ships are more-or-less intended to be all-round solid. A good mix of weapon types, sturdy, fast... a bit ordnance-point starved, though. Particular mentions go to the Princeps, Sebastos and Dominos, followed by the Decurion, Praetorian, Legionnaire and Dictator.

From Diable there is the Gust. I have not yet played around with the bigger ships but I imagine I would quite like both the Storm and Maelstrom.

From Dassault-Mikoyan Engineering, the Kormoran stands out. Overall I dislike the aesthetics even if I like the gameplay, alas.

From Shadowyards Reconstruction Authority, there is the Morningstar and the Charybdis. Both are flexible, maneuveral ships with drone/fighter support; in the latter case an excellent example of a combat carrier.

From Scy, there is very noteably the Corocotta. Competes with DA's Gust and II's Sebastos for being my favourite mod cruiser, certainly. The fragile combination of speed and firepower is exhilarating.

From Blackrock Driveyards, there is the ever-predictable Nevermore. I distinguish myself by not counting it as my absolute favourite, preferring instead the trio of cruisers mentioned previously. I also quite like the Knight, even if it is incredibly starved for ordnance points.

From the Templars - well, I quite like the Elucidator. The Bulwark is excellent in AI hands but a bit of a finicky snooze to fly personally. The Paladin I only have a limited amount of experience with, and never in a proper combined-arms setting, and I have no experience at all with the Archbishop, but I imagine I would quite like both of these.
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xenoargh

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Re: .8.1 Favorite Ships
« Reply #7 on: September 06, 2017, 11:19:10 AM »

Unmodded... packs of Enforcers still rule. 

Sure, they need a little backup; a couple of Drovers and a few Wolves in the mix is great.  But it's so hard to go wrong with the Enforcer-pack of doom. 

They aren't single, heroic vessels; they aren't fast or sexy.  But they're pack-killers that can crack shields easily and tear armor up from extreme range, with ITU'd Heavy Maulers, Light Needlers, Railguns or HVD's.  They're also largely immune to fighter swarms, because they can give up slots to efficient Single Flak or LAG's, and the Flak also makes them largely immune to Harpoon swarms.

While one Enforcer is dead meat, a group of six with high-end Captains is like watching a bowling-ball go through a room full of glassware.  Three can take down an Onslaught without taking much damage; four can kill an Elite Paragon.  And all for a price, both in CP and Supplies, that is cheaper than anything else with equivalent combat power.  Their main weakness is when they get scattered about; then they might get swarmed and destroyed.  The AI's use of Burn Drive, in Vanilla, often means they need direct orders.  But if they're together, they're almost impossible to kill fast enough, because they'll Flux-lock anything that gets into range and blow it away before it can respond.

Granted, they can be worn down by a large-enough enemy fleet; eventually CP can take a toll.  But with Captains with high-enough resistance to CP loss, they're usually good against anything in the game.
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FooF

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Re: .8.1 Favorite Ships
« Reply #8 on: September 06, 2017, 01:40:28 PM »

Vanilla ships:

Frigate: Tempest is my favorite, and not just because of the Terminator drone (though it is awesome). The Tempest is my go-to pursuit ship and it becomes the bane of Destroyers and Cruisers that can't turn fast enough.

Destroyer: SO Hammerhead. It's extremely efficient, fast, and tough and I can win any flux war due to AAF. They can hit surprisingly hard and with a few Reapers in the missile slots, they can eliminate large targets, too.

Cruiser: SO Aurora. It's too fast, hits too hard, and can escape just about any situation. AM Blaster builds, Pulse IR/Laser builds, Heavy Blaster builds...it's very versatile and if you can manage to find the Front-Shield conversion, it has no real weakness. Sabot Pod in the back ensures that larger targets either get crippled or EMP'd. An SO Eagle can do a pretty good impression of the Aurora but I find it doesn't have the flux stats to really wade into a fight and get out.

Capital: Legion. Paragon is the One True Capital King but the Legion is just fun to pilot. You can still crush enemies yourself and have 4 fighter wings to harass or deliver the coup de grace. It also has an extremely versatile weapon layout. Of course, it has something like a 120 degree blindspot in the back so cover your butt.
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King Alfonzo

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Re: .8.1 Favorite Ships
« Reply #9 on: September 06, 2017, 05:57:21 PM »

Frigate: Toss up between Neutrino Causality (Versatile anti-frigate ship) and CABAL Tempest (Good anti anything ship).
Destroyer: Toss up between the Hammerhead (Really love it in 0.8.1a version vs the really crap version from 0.7.2a), the Qianzi (Tiangdong Sunder, VERY good mining ship) and the Snow Goose (DME Medusa+).
Cruiser: I can't believe no one has mentioned the Morpheus from Blackrock. Sure, the Nevermore is sexy as all hell, but nothing comes close to how rewarding the Morpheus is to play. In close second and third are the Metellson Gadfar and Grancursor. Both are surprisingly respectable in early game engagements.
Capital Ship: Karkinos. Because having essentially a teleporting Onslaught with energy weapons is not at all broken amazing.

Megas

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Re: .8.1 Favorite Ships
« Reply #10 on: September 06, 2017, 06:06:46 PM »

@ King Alfonzo:  Blackrock's Morpheus is a destroyer, not a cruiser.  It would be fun to use except it costs as much as a capital to use.  If I pay as much as a capital to use a ship, then it better be as overwhelming as one.  With the loss of skill power, Morpheus is not the killer ship it used to be.
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Drokkath

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Re: .8.1 Favorite Ships
« Reply #11 on: September 06, 2017, 08:18:04 PM »

My favorite default and mod-default ship are as follows: Hammerhead, Hammerhead skin/variants in mods, Hermit from TUP mod and Securi Stout from Metelson mod.
I don't use those ships anymore but those are the ships I've invested more time in piloting as far as default ships are concerned, I still fly them sometimes though.

I fly Hermit's bulkier superior version I made for myself along with few others like a battle-barge super version of a Talus from TUP I've been also recently using as a death-incarnate multibeamer... so yeah my favorite ships these days are various ship's I love the look of but aren't a viable commando ships in their default form, hence why I make a copy or two of them and turn them into standalone beasts of battlefield desolators.

Recently this week I made myself a customized personal version of a regular buffalo and attached a quite a few elements to make it bulkier and with more turrets by help of using also parts from the new Buffalo XL from TUP mod. Just yesterday worked on it again to give it a built-in super mininglaser beam on the left side's front and save one extra turret mount for another weapon, welded a fitting piece on its front from Underworld's Torch ship's front since I have a super version of the Torch too.

That's about the size of it as far as my favorite ships go, to put it shortly: I have many favorite ships and I almost loathe it if I can't use a visually appealing ship as a multi-role beast because of crap stats and configs, one of the major reasons I'm a "cheap" shameless cheating "degenerate" heretic because the heck with limitations, I reject reality and use powers of the Warp's chaos to inject some of my own ideas to a copy of a ship. :D
« Last Edit: September 06, 2017, 08:28:37 PM by Drokkath »
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lechibang

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Re: .8.1 Favorite Ships
« Reply #12 on: September 06, 2017, 09:53:14 PM »

I like big ships, but I was particularly fond of the Conquest battlecruiser. The way it arranges its main hardpoints to the sides reminds me a lot of IoM's ships in Warhammer 40k.
As for another one, I love the Maelstrom-class battlecruiser from Diable Avionics mod. Macross missile overkill I guess. I just stick the micro missile onto every missile slot i can find on that ship, haha.
« Last Edit: September 06, 2017, 10:11:54 PM by lechibang »
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Flying Birdy

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Re: .8.1 Favorite Ships
« Reply #13 on: September 07, 2017, 07:56:37 AM »

Biggest suprise for me 0.8 has definitely been the falcon (especially XIV variant). SO Falcon is basically SO destroyer on steroids. Machine guns for shields and heavy blasters for armor. Ontop of that maneuvering jets to get in and out. That's not to mention the amazing 0.8 shields with 270 arc (to ward off any emp missles).
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cjuicy

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Re: .8.1 Favorite Ships
« Reply #14 on: September 07, 2017, 02:34:20 PM »

I love myself a proper SO Hammerhead. Sunder is still great, though.

My oddest guilty pleasure is the Odyssey. I don't know why, but it is just so much fun to abuse.

For mods, however, the Sebastos from II is a staple of my mid-late game fleets. Throw in a Nevermore and an Initial D soundtrack and I go wild.
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