So the first time I played modded Starsector was after a mostly fulfilled vanilla run before the last update came out. When I modded it, I went looking for faction mods, and I saw the ARS. I really, really liked most everything about them.
Then I played as them for a run.
Don't get me wrong, I quickly understood their weaknesses as a non-mainliner faction, and more of a range and hard hitting group. I like that. Don't want to get too close to something that can blow me up, and it keeps the opposition out of their optimal range and well within mine.
However, after a good run that lasted a few cycles, I started hitting a limit where the ships couldn't keep range on targets, or got smashed by opponents before we could weather them down. I started experimenting with the hulls and available weapons (which includes vanilla, Arkgneisis, Diable Avionics, and a couple of alternative weapons that are similar to vanilla) and found a few to work for me, but I couldn't just stick with faction only stuff, since it works, but didn't fill in all the gaps.
I still want to stick with faction only ships where I can as I like the synergies they have, but I need a more comprehensive weapon, hull mod, and fighter complement list to better make use of the ARS's hulls. Also determining which hulls are worth the buy and in what situations would be great.
These are my experiences and opinions, and I'm open to adjusting my views if given sufficient understanding on where these ships can be used and when. But know that I prefer ranged combat, and damage output when I can, or tank when I cannot. Speed and/or agility doesn't factor for me unless the ship needs it to stay in range or out of the enemy's.
My experience with the weapons are as follows:
Edith: Didn't see these until later, but I wish I had them sooner. They help keep the enemy over there and away from me, and made many more ships I would have phased out sooner last longer in fights where they didn't have the range.
Fox: Only great as an objective point taker, and I'd use the Pirate version over stock because of the speed difference when built correctly.
Ike: I thought it was cute, it never saw any frontline service, it only helped me in raids against pirates or other undesirables when I needed to steal what I couldn't buy, or conduct raids for other reasons. Usually the fighter complements took over the Ike's role, but I still wanted one.
Reid: Wanted to like it more for its speed, but it usually has to close in the distance to be worth the cost, and I am not personally a fan of fixed mount small weapons on a ship that has to get in close and aim its hull to attack. In my experience this has made it more vulnerable and it rarely got an opportunity to attack since not all the weapons would fire. Not bad for interception, but it wasn't to my liking.
Sherman: Wanted to like, couldn't build competently for my last doctrine. Didn't really use it.
Walsh: Frigate bombardment central. Got me through the early frigate game, but it was difficult to fit weapons for range on a hull of that size to keep it from taking hits from larger targets, and not break the bank for flux and/or hull mods.
Burke: Wanted to like, since it should have a gnarly range advantage with the right weapons, but it's difficult to modify to extend the range further unless it's an energy weapon, and it's hard to fit its defenses. Felt like I always needed more range or more speed that I just couldn't give it to keep it from getting attacked.
Burke (P): Didn't see many of these. Might have filled in the large weapons hole that the ARS has, relying on small and medium weapons to get the job done more often than not.
Caswell: Didn't use it until the end, and I wasn't particularly impressed by its performance in my own ranks.
Norwood: Not a mainline combat unit, but it was good early on as a combat support craft, and even in later battles when I could get it to stay way in the backline and fire away whenever it could. Fitted it out the rest of the way for PD duty.
Taylor: Fast, mean, but it had to get in closer than I liked, or it was hard to fit. Otherwise robust, but I rarely saw them show up on market for some reason.
Victoria: Victoria is love. Victoria is life. *coughs* Anyway, everything I liked and wanted to like about the Walsh was in the Victoria. It's just the right size, right field cost, has a decent armament and possible PD amount and placement, and it can stay far out in bigger slugouts, or get in closer with more lightly armed and armored targets and raise hell.
Osmond: A good interdictor indeed, but it does have a slightly odd cost to field, and it was a bit slow for my tastes, and couldn't always close in to range. It's not bad, but I need a better understanding of what to put on it to make it work better. Maybe a Tachyon Lance so it's not always using the large hardpoint all the time, but saves it for bigger targets, or as a finisher.
Hawke: I liked it as a midline (not class, but usage) craft with above average drone support using its unique drones, but it felt a little expensive to run when compared to the cost of other ships at times,even though they rarely took fatal damage and gave about as good as they got on average. Good missile support as well, usually built them with two offensive mediums, and the rest, including missiles, was PD. Feelings are a little mixed on it.
Hawke (P): A huge boat. With guns. Gunboat. Couldn't decide what to put on it, but against me it shredded destroyers and below if you got too close.
Hawke (SE): An alternative take on the Hawke with vastly different mounts, and an ability to increase damage output on its chosen wings rather than increase their number. An interesting take, but I didn't humor it often.
Jameson: See what I said about Norwood above, but it was generally more useful than that, since the ARS fighters have fantastic range and stats, but were not all that numerous per wing unless you counted the drones, which were more for when you didn't have the OP to fit anything larger, or needed something more general. With ships like the Norwood and Jameson I didn't need dedicated logi ships that couldn't participate in the fights to keep me flying or fighting, almost everything I had in the fight was there.
King: I liked it for a while, but like other ships it was hard to balance offense and defense with the ARS's anemic flux stats. It can be mean, and well worth the points to field with the right build, but it was hard to make work. I've heard that it works well with a Tachyon Lance for a finisher, making it easier to balance the weapons and flux when not everything is being used at once (plus, an Omniloader'd TachLance sounds mean as hell, and I want in on that), but I need to figure out what to do with the rest of it.
Lyons: Like a Victoria, but bigger, and not as kitted for damage as it is for tanking. They're just like Eagles in terms of fielding, they're an evenly odd number of points to put out there, and that can make their cost debatable to field at times. Not bad, but hard to make work, in addition to their capacity to field energy, missile, ballistic, and fighter weapons all at once. A very capable, but extremely busy design for its size, hard to balance it to make it able, or good at any one thing over another that it can do.
Macnamara: Like the Reid, it's closer range temprament and fixed hardpoints make it hard for me to like it. The Reid had an advantage, being smaller and harder to hit, but the Mac is bigger, and slower even when boosting, and runs a little hot for my tastes.
Donovan: I loved having one or two to just bombard with. I had one as my command ship for a while, and it was mean. Like all ARS vessels it did well at range and sitting back to kick ass, while also bombarding all targets with infinite payloads. 8 Can MRMs is nothing to sneeze at, and can be an alternative to Squall if you can't find a ship to put a Squall on.
Alastair: Like the Osmond and the Lyons had a baby, and that baby became Andre the Giant. It's a powerful hull, but it's very busy, and hard to fit. At this size I'd expect more tank and flux than it has, but it doesn't, which makes fitting it a near nightmare for me. I really want to like it, but I can't seem to field more than one, and those that I do don't seem to hold up in equal tonnage fights.
[Hidden]: A very big ship. I wanted to use them more, but they're expensive to field, and kinda hard to fit for. Also very expensive, and not as tanky as they should be for their size. Like a supersized King, but very tricky to build.
And as for the [REDACTED] hulls, the older stuff is interesting as a collector's item, but not worth using otherwise. The... shiny, however, is worth using as a command ship, especially once rebuilt. Main armament is mean. I love it. Wish the prompt to go find it wasn't so hard to find in the first place.
I won't go on about the weapons too much, as this post is long enough as is, but I like the small missiles. I do not like the Needle PD missile, as it might be okay against fighters, it is miserable against missiles, and more so if you fit the ship using them with ECCM, as they seem undertuned to actually track and hit their targets. Cans are great, and the anti-engine missiles are a spectacle to watch. The Lighthouse is so cheap it's not even worth using. Maybe if there was a medium scale Lighthouse that was still cheap for its size, but not complete ass I'd give the weapon a try.
If you have any ideas on how to get more mileage out of the ARS, I'd love to hear it.
