[LesserHellspawn]

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 ]