I recently started a new game and was curious about how carriers were doing, so I decided to spend the current run testing them.
Some of the results pleasantly surprised me, while others simply upset me. I don't want to turn this thread into whining (I'm brilliant at that), but I'd like to speak out and hear your opinion.
FIGHTERS:
Talon - perhaps the biggest revelation for me was these little mosquitoes, it always seemed to me that they overload the replacement rate due to their fragility and large losses, but surprisingly they don't have any problems with this, and despite their weapons, they confidently saw through lightly armored targets and are even quite capable of melting heavy armor in large quantities (the active heron system is especially helpful in this). Thanks to converted hangars, their low cost in credits and OP, you can fill the entire battlefield with them, the increased cost of DP doesn't seem so terrible (although they are not very effective against remnants and doritos).
Wasp - for the same +1 DP, they are a more specialized interceptor for destroying missiles and fighters, they are very good in their niche, but they have huge problems with the replacement rate, which is why they often get stuck at 30% after several strafes.
Gladius - despite my skepticism, a very good fighter, the only problems of which are the too high similarity to Broadswords and its high price (12,000 on the black market, 20,000 from arms dealers). Slightly better speed, slightly better kill potential, better hit strength against armor, but less survivability and fewer numbers in the wing, overall a very solid option.
Broadsword - the love of my life: tough, numerous, cheap, versatile, kinetic. There was not a single situation when I was dissatisfied with them, they work like clockwork.
Sparks - not as good as they once were, suffer from replacement rate drain (hereinafter simply RR) as much as Wasps, as does the next one on the list. I'm sure they can be replaced with Wasps without noticing much of a difference. Today they are not such a desirable reward as before.
Claw - this thing is cursed, there is not a single situation in which a person in their right mind would want to take this abomination. Complete lack of survivability, complete lack of damage, this could be explained by the presence of EMP, but the existence of shields and its constant misses reduce it to zero. It does not matter whether you use it in tandem with other fighters as a support, or just throw them alone, they are just a waste of OP sparkling with white flares. If the only reason for their worthless state is EMP, then you need to reduce the chance of ion arc without reducing damage (pull it up to at least 60 from 25 as it is now) and increase the turn speed so that the Claw can fire more accurately. It will not get worse from such changes, they will still die like flies, but at the same time doing at least something (or as an option, introduce a new system temporarily increasing the rate of fire with damage).
Lux - almost completely forgotten by everyone, average, not too outstanding, does not like heavy losses, but has a large number in the wing, is durable enough and has high hit strength due to which it deals damage to armored opponents. If it gains critical mass, the RR problem goes away, but the main problem is their rarity, which is why this is not the easiest task.
Thunder - loses to Talon in damage, it would seem that it should be "thunder" for frigates and other small targets, a real apex predator, but no, its kill potential is simply non-existent. But after long-term use, I noticed its strange behavior, the fighter simply cannot keep the target in sight, missing almost 80% of the time, I thought about how to solve this problem and ... BAM! Auxiliary Thrusters hullmod solves the problem entirely, bringing the machine's power to the level of Gladius! I would really like to draw Alex's attention to this problem. Otherwise, Thunder is a stupid rattle rushing around the map at the speed of light, unable to bite anyone.
Warthog - overall good, but extremely limited in its use, on slow aircraft carriers like Mora often does not participate in combat at all due to short range, an increase of 500-1000 to which would greatly help. The fear that he will begin to remove frigates from existence is in vain; other fighters are doing just as well, if not better already.
Sarissa - is a good escort fighter, nothing to say, its only problem is its use on ships with converted hangars, +3 DP is too expensive.
Xyphos - same as above, but with a cost of whopping +4 DP. Maybe it's worth revising the system by making the limit at a maximum of +2 DP?
BOMBERS:
Piranha - well, the list opens with a certified cripple. Strange AI behavior, when it keeps its finger on the "engage" button without waiting for the entire wing to rearm and respawn, killing RR at 30% per minute. This problem haunts all bombers, but the piranha suffers from it almost more than all the others, and fast respawn and a small number of units in the wing do not really help. And then there is low speed, extremely low bomb release speed, lack of accuracy, inability to hit even a large stationary target make the Piranha the worst choice, and even filling the battlefield with them does not help one bit.
Khopesh - good, fairly reliable, cheap, but due to his HE and unguided nature he has a hard time finding a place in the late game against Remnants and Hi-tech.
Longbow - *sigh* once this was almost my favorite bomber, but in today's reality it is very bad, as was said earlier the problem is in the behavior of bombers, missiles being dropped too close to the target and in the shield of 100. All this is a death sentence, Longbow is overloaded by any stray kinetic projectile, after which inevitable death follows. 100 health is the survivability of a Wasp with a respawn of 5 seconds, but certainly not a bomber with a respawn of 20. And this is not to mention the fact that the medium Sabot completely replaces the entire Longbow wing without a single con. Longbow requires a survivability buff, up to the level of Dagger to be somewhat viable.
Cobra - miraculously does not suffer from problems with RR like other representatives of bombers, fast respawn, fast rearm, Reapers. Legion on full Reapers with 4 Cobras is a blood chilling red nightmare. Watching how cruisers burst like balloons is an exceptional pleasure. The minus is like other unguided bombers in low accuracy. But the pros outweigh all the cons.
Dagger - reliable, guided, can survive some hits, but low payload compared to others. Works entirely because of its versatility. Solid choice.
Perdition - misses even at point-blank range, unguided, RR overloads due to losses, costs as much as 20 OP. Next.
Trident - is incredibly expensive. Compared to Dagger, it has +1 torpedo for the price of +7 OP. Ridiculous. Someone might say that it has an advantage in its cheaper replacement of the entire wing unlike the Dagger, but in my opinion this does not justify its price. Maybe someday they will lower its cost, or at least replace the torpedoes with, for example, Dragonfire. Who knows...
CARRIERS:
Gemini - despite the buffs it has already received, the ship still suffers from a lack of OP to a greater extent and to a lesser extent from low speed. I believe that a +5-10 OP boost can finally bring it back to order.
Drover - is completely dead, 14 DP could be justified by his old Reserve Deployment system, but not with today's placeholder Flares, and no, the new hulmod doesn't help him at all. I hope in the next patch the devs will either return the system or lower the DP.
Heron - >fast carrier
>doesn't have 9 burn for some reason
There's been so much talk about the ship needing buffs, well, perhaps I'll bring this up as well. The fighter meta is long gone and while battlecarriers can still offer something other than fighters, pure aircraft carriers have become very weak along with their flying cargo. The lack of flexibility in its armament greatly affects its self-defense ability, turning it into an ordinary space freighter limited to Tac-Lasers. Changing four small slots from energy to universal and adding extra OP should at least somehow diversify its mortal existence.
Astral - once this was almost the most broken ship. Times have changed. Desperately requires Legion treatment to remain relevant. Without it, it continues to stand with 12000 shield and empty slots.
Battlecarriers are good and great, nothing more to say.
Skillwise tho requirement to have officer to get that sweet x1.5 on skills should be lifted, there is no way in hell player would want to have officer on Heron or Condor (they doesn't benefit from any personal skills except System Expertise on Heron).
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Topic: The current state of fighters and carriers (Read 12110 times)