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Conquest

27 (31.8%)

Onslaught

15 (17.6%)

Odyssey

16 (18.8%)

Astral

7 (8.2%)

Paragon

20 (23.5%)

Total Members Voted: 85

[VikingHaag]

I like using the paragon with a weird setup.

No large weapons, but all medium and large slots are pulse lasers, all small ones are PD or burst PD lasers.

This setup allows the paragon to hit targets on any side with enough firepower to take it out or force it to retreat.

It's a setup made to engage all targets effectively on all sides, not to go toe to toe with multiple other capital ships (but you can bet it will likely take out one of them before it's overwhelmed)

[ValkyriaL]

I tend to go with the Onslaught because NOTHING will take that firepower and live afterwards.

Its the rightful God of War in starsector.

[TJJ]

Reading this thread has *yet again* made me excited for MP. 

[LoneWolf]

Starting to get into the game i'd say the onslaught is my favourite, i use the astral class as a means to get around in the first place though.

[Debido]

Re-phrasing Samuel L Jackson here, but it has to be the Onslaught: the very best there is. When you absolutely, positively, got to kill every mother ***-er in the room; accept no substitutes.

[Aereto]

While still new and recently purchased the game. My play style went well with the Paragon. The outfit when I first had my hands on it was armed with all beam weapons. I would still play in vanilla so I could get the feel the direction as updates go by. After moving on to a different, it was saved as the 'Attrition' variant.

Spoiler

2 High Intensity Laser
2 Guardian PD
6 Graviton
Tactical to all small energy mounts
Harpoon to all small missile mounts

Hull mods include augmented engines and maneuvering thrusters to improve turn rate and speed; improved optics, turret speed, and integrated targeting unit brings out the range and responsiveness on the beam weapons. Rest went to flux or shield-focused mods.

This outfit struggles with capital ships, but outlasts anything else smaller. The focus was on flux management, sacrificing finishing strikes to conserve reserves when surrounded, found effective if Combat aptitude is 10 and gained limited hard flux dissipation while shielded. Found to put an end to large pirate fleets, since the largest they have at the time are cruisers, especially when flying with just one capital for any reason. It will withstand some waves until CR depletes. While beam weapons deliver soft flux when shielded, graviton beams are just for that purpose, build up flux to the point that enemies could not fire weapons that give off more flux than it can carry. After getting a sizable fleet to keep pirates off me, I set that variant aside for long-term defense needs.

[close]

My current outfit is named as the 'Obliterator' variant

Spoiler

2 plasma cannons on hardpoint
2 Tachyon turrents
2 Gravitons at front
4 Phase beams on the rest of medium mounts
Tactical laser on all small energy mounts
4 Reaper torpedoes

Modded with Augmented Engines and Maneuvering thrusters; has integrated targeting unit and stabilized shields; made sure to put 100 points to venting, or it won't last when surrounded.

This outfit became a credible threat to a capital, even with heavy escorts smaller than a capital; it was matter of which ship can the plasma cannon salvo say hi to first. Due to said player-only skills, PD lasers were no longer used (unless the opposing fleet carries high-yield torpedoes). More than enough to erase a pirate armada or cut off all combat ships in a supply fleet and leave the disengaging fleet to the Hyperions (My default flagship is a Hyperion, but always switch to Paragon on first engagement; needed to have extra CR on reserve.). The gravitons at the front were placed to keep pressure on enemy flux before the plasma cannons are ready to breach. Tachyons are most useful in putting ships under EMP and take out long-distance and fleeing ships. The torpedoes were meant in the rare event of facing a capital; that or accurately predict and hit a fleeing target with unforgiving linked firing of all four. While a bad idea in itself, piloting that variant by itself while engaging the Hegemony's 3 Onslaught ships with escorts was successful, though left with more than mere armor scratches. As far as I remembered, that was on 'full damage' setting, and the AI mishandling the Onslaughts to burn drive into my plasma cannon range.

[close]

----------------
I find myself relying on front shields over omni-shields; one being that playing on a laptop made it impractical to move the cursor over fast and accurate enough to minimize damage on particular points.

[Midnight Kitsune]

I find myself relying on front shields over omni-shields; one being that playing on a laptop made it impractical to move the cursor over fast and accurate enough to minimize damage on particular points.

Same here. It is also art of the reason why I can't use frigates too well...

As for my flagship, in vanilla I use Medusa and the Paragon as my main ships.

But for mods though... Hehehe
My main ships are the Jneer until I can earn the 900K to buy the Sajuuk Khar! The Jneer is fast, powerful and CHEAP while the Khar is basically a "wall o' guns" as the OP put it.

[Aereto]

Re-phrasing Samuel L Jackson here, but it has to be the Onslaught: the very best there is. When you absolutely, positively, got to kill every mother ***-er in the room; accept no substitutes.

As I used the Onslaught, there is that one important point to add on to...

Better give them hull mods that improve armor, and command them with a 10 Technology player skill to squeeze out every bit of OP and armor bonuses. That keeps even high-explosive weapons and bombers at bay and rely less on shields to bring death to all ships in a 300-degree arc during a shot-for-shot cross-counter. It's Achilles's Heel is disabling its weapons unless all weapon, engine, and EMP protections are reinforced.

[Megas]

When I play Onslaught as Combat/Technology, I go almost total offense.  I load up on Storm Needlers, Heavy Maulers, and Annihiliators for offense; and Vulcans and three dual Flak Cannons for defense.  Hullmods are Expanded Magazines, ITU and anything related to speed.  (If I have fewer OP, I use Hellbores and Heavy Needlers instead, but the AI does better with Storm Needlers and Heavy Maulers.)  In the Onslaught's case, the best defense is to kill the enemy before it can get into range and shoot back.

[Aereto]

When I play Onslaught as Combat/Technology, I go almost total offense.  I load up on Storm Needlers, Heavy Maulers, and Annihiliators for offense; and Vulcans and three dual Flak Cannons for defense.  Hullmods are Expanded Magazines, ITU and anything related to speed.  (If I have fewer OP, I use Hellbores and Heavy Needlers instead, but the AI does better with Storm Needlers and Heavy Maulers.)  In the Onslaught's case, the best defense is to kill the enemy before it can get into range and shoot back.

For Onslaught uses, I find them useful in numbers. As a result, I use them with Leadership/Technology players. As I explained before, the mod emphasis is armor and survivability, ensuring that every weapon fires without being disabled. That said, all small ballistics are armed with vulcans to deal with waves of bombers and rockets. Single flaks are at the front center to deal with the ones that vulcans could not reach, dual flaks are at back center to deal with anything else behind. Hypervelocity Drivers at the four medium corners to shove hard flux on shielded ships or EMP the unshielded. The hellbores are at the sides to deliver a decisive punch to those that wander into its direction while keeping flux levels at ease. The autocannon at the center will do what the heavy mauler at the front can't in terms of shielded ships, and its damage and spread helps to deal with fast ships between the thermal pulse cannons. For missiles, Pilums are used due to range and persistence to chase the target, along with enough ammo to last the entire engagement.

A pair of them can deal with a pirate armada or plunder fleet if commanded properly. Expanded magazines does help to ensure they don't run out of ammo, and place as much spare OP to vents, since they barely rely on shields and the attrition is too much for capacitors (that job belongs to the Paragon and its Fortress Shield system). Auxiliary Thrusters help get the few seconds needed to turn its 300-degree death arc to its intended target.

[ArthropodOfDoom]

I didn't read the whole thread, but I'd like to add in that the Odyssey with dual Autopulse Lasers and two ion cannons on the port side, with the Hornet missiles from Starsector+ in all available slots, the huge point-defense turret on the starboard large energy slot, and small burst lasers everywhere else kicks an AMAZING amount of butt.

I also use extended magazines, which is practically a requirement when using the Autopulse Lasers. There are a lot of changed skills in Starsector+, so I can't remember the exact stats off the top of my head, but it suffices to say that I've got rank 10 in both Tech and Combat, and it really shows up in how much damage I can slam into two or three destroyers in a single salvo.

[GUNINANRUNIN]

I just love carriers. So much. I wish there were more fighters and long-range support craft, really.

[RandomnessInc]

Unmodded: onslaught standard loadout exept replace Mk. IX autocannons with hellbores
modded Ive got two: 1. Standard loadout vatican Mk. IV from valkirians, 2. Standard loadout for better capital from SHI

[Voyager I]

When I play Onslaught as Combat/Technology, I go almost total offense.  I load up on Storm Needlers, Heavy Maulers, and Annihiliators for offense; and Vulcans and three dual Flak Cannons for defense.  Hullmods are Expanded Magazines, ITU and anything related to speed.  (If I have fewer OP, I use Hellbores and Heavy Needlers instead, but the AI does better with Storm Needlers and Heavy Maulers.)  In the Onslaught's case, the best defense is to kill the enemy before it can get into range and shoot back.

One thing I do with my Onslaughts is combat venting.  You probably don't have your shields on anyways, so turning off all your damage for a few seconds and then absolutely demolishing anything still in your firing arcs when you come back online at full strength feels a lot better than firing at reduced efficiency because you're fluxed out.

Honestly, learning how to use armor properly is probably one of the most important improvements the AI needs to make.  It absolutely loves to soak up flux from kinetic weapons or other non-threatening things and then get pooped on because it can no longer do anything and it hates to vent if you are close enough to shoot at it even if it just means sitting there being useless indefinitely while it slowly dies.

[CrazyDave]

Oh man. The Conquest is ridiculously OP. ive flown solo right into a full fleet and decimated nearly everything in one run, straight down the middle.

This is my setup:

Weapons:
Hephaestus Assault Guns (in each large ballistic turret)
Phase Beams (in each medium energy turret)
Flak Cannons (in each medium ballistic turret)
Harpoon MRM pods (in each large missile hardpoint)
Pilum LRM launchers (in each medium missile harpoint)
PD lasers (in all the small energy turrets)

Mods:
Accelerated Shields
Extended Shields
Dedicated Targeting Core
Expanded Magazines

20 capacitors
50 vents

note i dont have all the mods unlocked, so there may be a better setup, but this one absolutely DESTROYS.