Your favirote ship and why?
 

This thread was inevitable. So don't fight it.

Mine has to be the Abbidon Crusier 2. She is big enough to carry some nice electronics and good weapons. The hardpoint layout is about perfect for a multi-role ship. And she looks damm sexy to.

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

Just started playing the full game so ah just don't know yet... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

Terran Battleship. Only a little extra space over the Abbidon heavy cruiser, but with manuvering thrusters and afterburners it performs quite nicely, and the extra weapon points help a lot.

The Abbidon battleship would be nice for sheer size, but the hardpoints are in weird spots..

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

The Addiban Battleship III.

Plenty of room to hold goodies like electronics, shield regenerators, and more.
But, it absolutly needs the manuvering thrusters to bring the rear guns into the battle.

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

From the looks I like the Fazrah CR the best. Very graceful.

For power I prefer the Xiati BB. Nothing beats those massive broadsides http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif .

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

I like the Xiati "Skull" ships, such as the Battleship. Not much is worse when you have a few of those firing at you.

Runner up would be the Abbidon Battleship.

Overall, I think they did a good job with most of the stock ships in the game.

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I tried the Terrar Carrier, but I haven't been able constantly find fighters at shops... I end up being without fighters. It's very annoying that they crash into you.

My pref'ed ship is the Xiati Battleship III. The strategy is to overwhelm enemies PD with missiles. 2 or 3 volleys kill most ships. I only have a hard time against other Xiati Battleships.

The Xiati battleship can carry up to 6 plasma missiles (40kt). I use a tachyon beam on front so I can shoot fleeing enemies engines and DUC on the right side (lightweight, great reload time, decent damage, great for circling the enemy at close range).

So my ship goes like this
Front: tachyon + 2 plasma torps
right: 2 plasma torps + 2 DUC's
left : 2 toxic injectors
3 PD guns
75kt of energy supply
This leaves room for all eletronics + long range scanners + repair bay + shield regenerator + energy capacitor(name?), 2 cargo holds.
The remaining space goes for shields/armor in a 2/1 proportion, regular shields, regen armor

Regards,
brainman

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

I usually go for the Abbidon Battleship III. Why? It's a great mulit-purpose ship. Its large size relative to other battleships allows me to indulge my love of shields. Although it doesn't have as many weapons hardpoints, it doesn't matter if you have tons of shielding.

BTW, does anyone else use 160kT forward shielding? Maybe that's overkill, but when you're facing a ton of Xiati ships looking for a kill, it comes in real handy. And with the huge size of the Abbidon Battleship, you can afford to use tons of space on shields.

I usually go for Anti-Proton beams forward, with a couple of toxic injectors thrown in for fun, although they become more and more useless as enemy PD usage increases. Another couple of AP beams on the sides, and I'm unstoppable http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Renegade

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

The Terran ships have too narrow a range of firing arcs. Once you get behind a Terran ship it can be too easy to pound on them. Granted, the AI is too dumb to exploit this so it doesn't matter in a single-player game. But if SF ever becomes multi-player this will matter.

I like the Abbidon ships, especially the battleship, becauce they have much wider arcs including directly rear-facing mounts. I like being able to swoop down on someone, fire on approach and then fire again after they pass. I also like to be able to fight many ships at once with the 'Y' key (switch target). Fire forward weapons at cruiser in your face, hit 'Y' a few times till some destroyer behind you is selected, fire rear weapons while the forward weapons are recharging, hit 'Y' a few more times to reselect forward target. What's really deadly of course is putting maneuvering thrusters on an Abbidon ship so it can whirl around and use all its weapons quickly in any direction.

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

I recently outfitted my Abbidon BB III with Toxic Injector torpedos and the Sithrak Psyhic Flailer guns in the front. Both of these weapons are very deadly to the crew.

PD almost always kills the single rack side torpedoes so I don't bother with them any more and save the wieght. But, The side racks have the Sithrak 50K gun that deals a tremendous amount of damage about 230Kt up close.

I have Null Space Torpedoes in the back racks. I was amazed at how deadly they were when they were used on me. I added Psyhic Flailer guns in the back gun rack also.

I am destroying Sithrak BB easily now. They are dying with full shields and armor and a little hull damage. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Ahh, the Pkunk Flaming Blossom of Death http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

I traded up for a Terran Carrier recently. I think I am in love. She has all the electronics mounted with 6 fighter bays. Her forward biased hardpoints allow you to pour out an almost constant stream of death. Plus the fighters are fun. The pilots are stupid and the crash alot. But they are good at drawing fire away from you. And I have nothing else to spend all my money on, so loosing them is no biggy.

Has anybody else use fighters? What have you learned about them?

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

My absolute fav is the Xiati battleship MK III as well.

You simply can't touch 7 heavy and 5 light weapon slots with exceptionally large firing arcs. This ship can deliver 100 % firepower forward, with just a slight change of course on approach. Similarly it can fire 6 heavy and 4 light weapons rear, again with only a slight course change. That's enough to overwhelm any enemy PD. And even the broadsides deliver 3 heavy and 2 light weapon loads, when flying in parallel.

The downside is the low hull space. Armor and shields of my ship are paper thin. For that reason I use plasma missiles (small, only 40kt, 180 range) and anti proton beams (with 30kt not exactly small, but 120 range). With that armament I win most battles unscratched. Most AI ships use 140 range torpedoes/missiles and 100 range beams only, so they never ever hit me. Unless they're cruisers and faster than I am. But then they have insufficient defenses to hold against my firepower for long.

I tried out an Abbidon battleship MK III in campaign 2 and got seriously beaten up by the Xiati ships I was up against. A Xiati battleship outguns an Abbidon ship roughly 2:1 in every direction. Attack from behind ? No good. 2 heavy/2 light vs. 6 heavy/4 light. Let them chase and use rear guns ? Not good. 2 heavy/2 light vs. 7 heavy/5 light. broadside to broadside ? 1 heavy/1 light vs. 3 heavy/2 light, ugh. Best would be approaching the broadside of the Xiati head on. But even there the Xiati ship has one heavy weapon more. And if it turns, you face the rear or front batteries again.

[ November 11, 2003, 10:03: Message edited by: LesserHellspawn ]

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

You all keep saying the Xiati battleship is good. So I tried it but I don't like it. By the time you load her up with weapons, there is no room for any thing else. Maybe the 1400kt of the Terran Carrier has me spoiled.

Toxic injectors, I just can't use them. They make me feel dirty on the inside...

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Yes, it has spoiled you http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

It's true, my setup uses 430 kt of the 1070 kt available for weapons. 200 kt go for the necessary power reactors, another 80 kt for 4 PD guns. That's why I only have 5 kt armor and 20 kt shields (100 kt total). But the setup still totally rocks. I've done all of campaigns 2 and 3 with that ship. And I guarantee that I'd rip your precious carrier to shreds if this game was multiplayer.

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Probably. But I wouldn't be using my carrier "as is" for mulitplayer. ;-)

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

I'd try my ship. If it wouldn't work, I'd probably use an Abbidon battleship MK III with Sithrak weapons. Their firepower should balance the small firing arcs out. Useless for the campaigns though, since those weapons become available so late.

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

I just finished the campaign using the Abbidon BB III.

DAMN YOU AARON!!! I AM ADDICTED!!!

rant off...

I was taking serious damage when I first encountered the shield and armor skipping Null Space torpedoes. The weapons were damaged first, probably because they are the closest componant to the outside of the hull. It is really inconvient to lose your weapons. I had to use a of hull patches until I loaded up with Sithrak weapons and toxic torpedos. The extra electronics payload capacity caused the Sithrak to miss about more than 50% of the time.

Just how do you keep the Xiati BB hull flying with light shields and light armor and low electronics?

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

Actually I have a good load of electronics. The only parts I don't have are multiplex tracking and long range scanners. I have combat sensors, master computer, ECM and scanner jammer. But mainly it is because I simply stay out of range. As you can read below, I utilize range 180 plasma missiles. The Sithrak don't have that range. And my 4 PD do a quite good job, especially if I'm running from the enemy torpedoes. *If* I take an occasional hit, it goes right through of course, although it's not too bad with most components at level 20 and the rest at 19. And I've usually taken out the Sithrak cruiser weapons by the time they get in range for their weapons.

[ November 11, 2003, 23:14: Message edited by: LesserHellspawn ]

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I employ all electronics. Neural net, computer core, ecm & combat sensors, long range scanners, multiplex tracking, scanner jammer.

I stay at range > 100, which means it's a torpedoe battle... with the Xiati's 7 heavy mounts, I can easily overwhelm the enemy before he does... and I employ 4 PD's

Against Sithrak null-space projector I've found essential
- latest tech repair bay
- some character atributes in hull repair
- repair bay with to repair priority

Also I
- place my PD guns evenly spread through the ship
- my eletronics go in the outer positions... I can live without them
- my cargo holds go in the center of the ship, cause if you lose the cargo hold you'll probably lose all speed.
- My energy core used to be 1 50kt + 1 25kt. Best against sithrak would be 3 25kt spread around the ship

Ah, btw, I forgot in the other post, my xiati batttleship 3 goes with 30kt regular shields and 10kt organic armor everywhere.

What usually happens to me with this setup is that my ship is tollerant to 1 or 2 null-space hits ... and thats pretty good...

regards
brainman

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

I think my strategy is some what the opposite of you guys.

In the late stages of campaign 1 and very early stages of campaign I find the Terran battleship, with its four forward firing light guns to be the best. Awesome firepower for that stage of the gun. With it I use 80kt phased shields front/rear and 40kt on each side. Same for the armor. Then cram the hull with basic electronics (like you guys listed) and go to war. Mine is set up this way cuz I like to get in and slug it out.

Once things start getting tough in campaign 2, usually after the 2nd mission, I switch over to the Abbidon Carrier MKIII as soon as I have the coins to buy it. Then I set it up essentially like I do the Terran BB, except using 160kt shields/armor front/rear and 80kt on the sides.

I stick with the Anti-Proton beam gun in the forward firing slots for both ships because of its range. You need its range because most ships are faster then the carrier or BB. For the side guns I use the heaviest fire power guns, usually the ones that are 5000ms regen, that have a range of 80-100 (nothing short of that range for the side guns). As the game goes on I keep upgunning the side slots, especially when I finally run into the Sithrak and their great guns. I should note that I never use guns that have a power consumption higher then 10.

When fighting I swing the ship side to side, first the forward guns, then a side gun, back to the forward guns, then the other side guns. Doing this I keep the enemy under continuous fire, with no time-outs waiting for a gun to recharge.

I consider the Abbidon Carrier MKIII to be the best ship you can buy. It's 1600kt storage is essential for building a great slugger. With shields and armor up in the 4000/2000 range you can basically go in and slug it out with anything, including star bases. The thing here is that I use it basically as a battleship, no fighters at all. The only ship with more forward firing guns is the Terran BB which you should never end up fighting. Set up this way the Abbidon Carrier MKIII out-matches any, and I do mean ANY, ship or starbase you will be fighting.

The secret is to put your character points into armor/shield repair. In campaign 1 I built my offense/defense up to 10 points each then put everything into armor/shield repair. By the time I got deep into campaign 2 quite often I was repairing my shields/armor almost as fast as the enemy could damage them. As a matter of fact, with the Abbidon carrier set up that way, campaign 3 really became way too easy, a turkey shoot.

Heh... Just finished my first game, and gonna try it this time on "expert" using this same strategy and see what happens.

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Do try my P&N physics mod. It deals a number of changes to shields and armor. Should make things a bit more difficult.
Not to mention all the nifty changes to lifesupport/crewquarters & weapons.

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

Maybe I should add that I've slightly modded the ships. I found it ridiculous that all ships of the same class have identical speed and maneuverability, yet having vastly different size and weight.

The slowest destroyer will still outrun the fastest cruiser, the slowest cruiser will outrun the fastest battle ship, but in the classes there is a range. I used the MK II Versions as an average and made MK I slower and MK III faster. I applied my MK II stats to all AI ships as well. Last not least, I slowed the carriers down.

So in my game, the Xiati battleship III has a top speed of 640 and a base turn rate of 11 (being the lightest), while the Abbidon battleship III runs 600 with turn rate 9. Terran one is in the middle with 620/10. MK III Carriers start at speed 540, turn rate 8, acceleration 4.

With that mod, you cannot use a carrier as a battleship. Real battleships will outgun and outrun you. Massive fighter use is necessary, as it should be, IMHO.

[ November 14, 2003, 09:12: Message edited by: LesserHellspawn ]

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

Xiati BB III.

The 180 degree firing arc is cheating in my opinion, seeing as how no other ship I flew had it. With the 90 degree and a little skill in wiggling, my broadsides are forward firing, not requiring me to come about, and from the same position, I can simply lock onto a ship behind me, and just hit the weapon bank occasionally until it's in range, destroying it without ever seeing after establishing lock. My PD makes short work of the incoming fighters, and since i like them thar Bio-weapons, no major ship can Last long enough to chew through my 4 digit shielding, unless he has at least 3 big friends. I didn;t have much luck with the null-space dmg vs. weight though. Felt like thiers hit harder than mine did,

[ November 19, 2003, 19:26: Message edited by: it depends ]

Re: Your favirote ship and why?
 

Hmmm...

I am using the Terran Mk III battleship and am not having any problems.

Have 4 high energy magnifiers on the front + 2 plasma missiles.
40 absorption armor and 20 crystalline front, then 40 shields and 20 armor on sides and back.
Shields
4160
920 920
920

Armor
1320
840 840
880

Nueral Net
Scanner Jammer
Multiplex track
Master Computer
System Scanners
ECM
Shield Regen x2
Combat Sensors
Repair Bay
Long Range Scanners
Afterburners
Manuevering Thrusters.


It's all about staying head on, guns blazing. I'm nearly done with the 3rd campaign.

Not sure if any of do this, but I realized it half way through the second campaign. You DON'T need all your engines. Heh. I only use 6 engines and I still go 600. Once you get engines with 900 propulsion, ditch 3 of them for extra space.

Dominictus