Darshu's OFFICIAL Best Ships...

[Darshu]

Do PSG's still have the same effect in in the latest patch, 1.2. I thought this was "fixed".

I know that Ego increased the amount of energy required to fire the GPSG, and I think they may have decreased the damage across the board, but not by much.

If you think about it, the concept of the weapons means that they would make excellent anti-cap weaponry. The ONLY way I could see to fix these would be to give the shockwave an overall, arbitrary damage cap, each corresponding version (A,B, and G) could have a TOTAL damage output of say three to four times that of its HEPT cousin.

Now before you flame, this would allow the weapon to still be an effective fighter deterrent, like it was supposed to be, and if it is used against cap ships/stations, then when the wave's total damage output is used up, it dissipates, doing no more damage.

Although they may be cheesy, and I don't use them (the Osprey is my one weakness hehe) their concept and execution makes sense in that an expanding wave passing through a station would of course do more damage than a single bolt from a HEPT.

The other alternative would be to make shields of any object cause the shockwave to mold with it, so rather than the wave passing through the object, it envelops the target, doing damage to the outside, instead of magically passing through to the middle, bypassing shields and then expanding through the enemy craft.

[PhineasGage]

I have a question about the fast Orinocos you may capture in mission2. Is it in 1.2 still possible to get one? An Orinoco with a speed of >300 would be the best M3 I suppose.

[Darshu]

I believe you can capture them, but I've never tried. I prefer corvettes myself, and so I'm used to slower speeds, considering my main two ships are a Nova and an Osprey.

[Ravein]

true, the osprey is a great ship, for the reasons that Darshu pointed out (namely, better sheilding, as I remember, and thus less equipment losses). It also looks the best of the M6's. Like a hot-rod Nova that has been streamlined. Nova's also are the best all-rounder M3, for the same reasons (cargo, missile defence rear turret, carries 2XBHEPT 2X Ion)

[Sorasil]

For M2s i like the teladi pheonix the most, mainly for the extra shield. And it looks cool , i also use it as my personal ship worked my butt off to have nuff cash to purchase it so no way im letting AI fly it.

a lil slow though but that dosnt matter cus whenever i go anywhere anyway i use the jumpdrive.

[Freeholder]

I have a question about the fast Orinocos you may capture in mission2. Is it in 1.2 still possible to get one? An Orinoco with a speed of >300 would be the best M3 I suppose.

I'm guessing so, since I just nabbed a 340m/s Bayamon (23 engine upgrades) with 80% hull and four bpac's. This took me twenty runs through mission two. I'm debating if I want to be satisfied with this or go for better loot.

[GrendelMk1]

Someone mentioned the Perseus only carries AHEPTs, which are less powerful than the BHEPTs on most M3s. Very true. One thing, though. It carries 3, not 2 That's more power than 2 GHEPTs.

I use one off my TL (my working ship). "Oh, look, Khaak/pirates. Dying time."

I agree fully with the "PSG=cheese" sentiment. Blew an entire Khaak cluster away in a few seconds, went "holy CRAP!" and put 'em away. HEPTs are more satisfying

[pjknibbs]

Someone mentioned the Perseus only carries AHEPTs, which are less powerful than the BHEPTs on most M3s. Very true. One thing, though. It carries 3, not 2 That's more power than 2 GHEPTs.

Not quite. According to Argonaught's shipstat spreadsheet, you get the following:

2xBHEPT = 3400 shield damage, 2000 hull damage
3xAHEPT = 3000 shield damage, 2700 hull damage

Also, the BHEPT fires fractionally faster, so gains a little more ground on the AHEPT. Against Khaak clusters the BHEPTs are definitely superior because Khaak ships tend to have stronger shields and weak hulls--therefore the extra hull damage dealt by the AHEPTs is pretty much useless.

[easternblocrobotcowboy]

bump

[Syfoo]

How do the Xenon ships factor into all this? I've captured L, M, and N variants but so far haven't kept any.

Also is there any kind of faq like this for weapons? According to the chart over at the commander site, I'd only ever want to use HEPTs and Ions?

A post like this one but concerning weapons instead would be great.

Also, completely off the topic, but what in the heck is the point of secret containers? I can't pick up most of them because of their locations and the ones I have got have energy cells and one cargo extension (it was one extension in one crate).

Thanks, and sorry if this all got asked before, but the search function is still disabled and this forum is rather cluttered. Too much in one folder, 3 games tech support and hints and tips.

[esd]

Brilliant read - this is the best thread I've seen in ages - I arrived when it was 4 pages, and still took the time to read it all.

I'm a Dragon owner, and I too am paranoid about having the AI fly it, which is why now that I have returned to capturing Xenon L's in my Nova, I have left it parked in my busiest sector guarding a lasertower

I use a Demeter for mining, with a fleet of mantas and a dolphin following for mining support (I blow up rocks, the mantas pick it up and the dolphin lugs it).

I don't know if I will ever be able to get anything bigger than a M6 - every time I get more than 4million Cr I go and buy something......

[High_Pinger]

My first m3 was a nova and it was an incredible ship, to tell you the truth i never died once in it and captured about 30 ships in one sitting... but as soon as i had a TL i started buying groups of perseus, 3*perseus with a total of 9 bpsg's all firing at the same target can make mush of a khaak cluster of any size and turn capital ships to scrap. As a personal ship early on however they aren't all that useful.

However in the end its for defence and has no other real use in the game, you are not going to get as many captures or use it in assasination missions (friendly fire!), or be able to use the jump drive, and as such its purely for the advanced player with lots of money to waste.

[JackScratch]

This was a great read, but while I would agree with most of your overall opinions on craft, I think some of the final choices may have missed the boat. The 'best' craft of a given type should arguably be the one that can best serve it's intended function.

For example a Split Iguana is a pretty damn nice craft but it only barely qualifies as being a TP. For example I bought my first TP it was primarially so I could have the fun of doing the lucrative Tour/people transport missions. I immediately went for the Iguana for the speed and all the guns only to promptly find out it's cargo capacity rendered it unable to qualify for 90% of the TP missions, and the ones it did paid next to nothing.

So really the 'best' choice of a TP is the Boron model hands down. It's the only one that can qualify for 100% of the TP bbs missions, packs more shielding, is fast, and can be a better TS than most of the actual ones.


Anyway on the later topic of the Nemesis, and PSGs in general, they may seem powerful and 'cheaterish' but they are largely useless in inhabited sectors unless you really love continually killing your ratings with friendly races and losing your police licences. No matter how clear I think an area is of friendlies before using one there's always some one I didn't catch. (like those damn cargo inspectors)

Anyway, rushing in to protect your investments with a PSG usually means destroying them yourself, so the Nemesis is probably the worst for Sector defense and that's the best use of an M6 whether you are behind the wheel or not.

[Myrrath]

Excellent thread.

I noticed though that when you were discussing the M1's and the M2's you left out the Argon ships.

Any particular reason?? I haven't managed to get very far yet but was looking at grabbing a Titan. Any reason I should avoid these???

Just curious

[Flaco]

Also added to My Favourites. Nice job, Darshu. Your effort is much appreciated.

[Darshu]

Excellent thread.

I noticed though that when you were discussing the M1's and the M2's you left out the Argon ships.

Any particular reason?? I haven't managed to get very far yet but was looking at grabbing a Titan. Any reason I should avoid these???

Just curious

Well, haven't played in a while, but thinking of getting back into it, so thought I'd refresh this topic cause of all the "noobies"

In any case, my experience with the cap ships led to my conclusions. The Argon ships are all "middle of the road" ships. They'll do the job, but don't really excel in any one area (except for the Argon Nova, which is probably the best all round combat ship, period).

With the cap ships, especially if you pilot them yourself, you're going to want as much speed and maneuverability as you can squeeze out of them. In pretty much every category, the Titan is substandard compared to the other M2s. Some are faster, some have better weapon loadouts (ESPECIALLY the Paranid Odysseus, capable of mounting 18 PSGs...), more cargo space or more dockable ships even.

I would suggest taking a look at the various sites that list shipstats (I think there's a link to it in the Ultimate Answer post that's stickied), and make you decision from that. The Titan may look like the cool Starship Troopers ship, but remember the lesson learned, one shot from a bug would blow up those ships...

[pjknibbs]

In any case, my experience with the cap ships led to my conclusions. The Argon ships are all "middle of the road" ships. They'll do the job, but don't really excel in any one area (except for the Argon Nova, which is probably the best all round combat ship, period).

I'd say the Nova is middle of the road as well, mainly due to its low speed--it's a tank, really. The only thing which gives it an advantage is its rear turret, and personally I'd rather fly a ship which is fast enough to not need one (e.g. Paranid Perseus).

[Lutzie]

Same here. I much prefer the Mamba over the Nova. The only dodgy thing to do in a Mamba is take on a the largest Khaak cluster. Sheer weight of numbers and missiles wears you down then, although if you take out the M3 fast and have a healty supply of wasps and mosquito's you can still do it.

I'd give Nova second place TBH. Although I've not yet flown all the M3's...

Infact not played X2 recently!

[Mad Max 36]

I agree with Darshu's selection of the Ody as the best M2 - since the PPC/PSG combo is lethal. However, I do not like leaving PSG's in the hands of this games AI - since they are likely to decimate my growing fleet of ships.

So my favourite M2 to leave in AI hands is the Xenon K - I have 5 maxed out K's - and another 3 waiting for shields and guns. It is the fastest, has the best acceleration and easily the best steering (when maxed out).

It only takes standard weapons - but as I said PSG's are dangerour in AI hands, I don't like the mass driver and the IOD works at very short range, so I'm happy with PPC's.

The only significant disadvantage, is that you cannot dock to it (although stats say it takes 5 fighters) but hoperfully this will be rectified in 1.4 - so have to mess around transporting transporters!!!

In terms of the M3 fighter - I am currently stocking my Raptor with Nova's and Perseus ships (mainly the latter) The Perseus has to be the best carrier ship, since the lack of cargo space is not relevant. So I have been keeping my 'assassination mission' ships and kitting them out - strangely only seem to get the extra speed on the Perseus and none on the Nove (best one does 260). Any Falcon's, Mamba's or Barracuda's get sold (kept some Mamba's for courier duties).

Mad Max

[Darshu]

Oh I'll agree that the Nova is as fast as a rock, and not too maneuverable, but the combination of Hornets, 2xBHEPT, rear turret, 3x25MW shields, and able to mount IonDs simply makes it the BEST all around ship for anybody.

Pilots with better skill (or better computers) can get away with a Mamba, or if your sole purpose is destroying the enemy, the Perseus, but as I've said i live versatility, and the ability to capture a bunch of ships, or utterly destroy them is nice...

[edit] oh and just curious, but how did you get the Xenon Ks? A script, or did 1.3 open up cap ship hunting as a new sport?