X3TC - Best Player ship for Capping and general all around ownage

[Hubasan]

Well, with one successful thread of suggestions for outfitting Argon Heavy Centaur Prototype that you can find HERE I wanted to see what would you guys consider a best all around Player ship you can own in the game, the one that is capable of course. This ship would be used for Capping and it can be used in any combination with other personal wingman ships you think would complement it nicely.

So please share your views if you please.

[space pirate]

a cobra with ten mistral sf hauling missiles, lol.

boreas is also quite powerful with flaks in its rear, top and bottom turrets and ppc in front, left and right turrets. being able to bring 16 ppc cannons to bear on a single target at one time is quite nice and it is quite untouchable by anything smaller than an m7 due to its flak turrets, but can't launch boarding operations.

[Nanook]

There is no overall best ship. It all depends on what you want to do with it as well as your playing style. You might ask what's the best TL, for example, but even then, it depends on how you're going to use it. It's why we have all the ships in the game that we do. Something for everyone.

You might just as well ask "What's the best movie?"

[Hubasan]

There is no overall best ship. It all depends on what you want to do with it as well as your playing style. You might ask what's the best TL, for example, but even then, it depends on how you're going to use it. It's why we have all the ships in the game that we do. Something for everyone.

You might just as well ask "What's the best movie?"

I do agree with that statement, and that is exactly why I wanted to start this thread. It's geared to be more of a discussion of what people use as their player ship, and what they would consider a best ship for multiple different tasks with a focus on Capping as I mentioned above.

For example I personally use HCP at the moment and find it to be very versatile for that task, especially if it's paired with couple of AI controlled HCP's loaded Fighter/Missile defence configs and with Marines, then there is almost nothing you can't cap.

[1muvwndr]

Each ship should have a role in your fleet. There is no overally best ship, some of them are especially good at something but are lacking in something else.

I use the HCP for capping if I have to disable the target's weapons before boarding or if I want to capture an M3 or smaller (since it can carry both Ion-Ds and PBE), the Springblossom for targets that do not need weapon disablingbut need "hit & run" (M1s, M2s, M7s) and the Cobra + a HCP (or more, I have 3) + 4 Blastclaws (4x fr ont Ion-d each) for anything that requres boarding pods to breach the hull or just for some hard-to-get ships (mainly terran/xenon capital ships). And there is always at least 1 TP on standby with some fresh cannon fodder.

One thing I have learned, there's never enough trained marines.

[GCU Grey Area]

I tend not to bother trying to capture the smaller ships - if one want's to surrender that's fine & I'll do my best to stop shooting before the ship goes boom, but if it does anyway I'm not overly bothered - the real money is in capturing capital ships. For that I generally use the Springblossom. Several reasons:

1. It's bloody fast, which makes it much easier to dodge turret fire & get into the optimal position for deploying marines,
2. Large cargo bay - plenty of room for missiles & fighter drones (to use as a distraction for turrets & for shield suppression),
3. With judicious use of the strafe drive, its high speed makes it good for dogfighting with the fighters which capital ships often have as escorts,
4. It's well armed - M/AMs for shield stripping capital ships prior to boarding & SSCs for killing the faster escort ships,
5. It also uses Poltergeists, probably my favourite auto-targetting swarm missile.

[1muvwndr]

I tend not to bother trying to capture the smaller ships - if one want's to surrender that's fine & I'll do my best to stop shooting before the ship goes boom, but if it does anyway I'm not overly bothered - the real money is in capturing capital ships.

But you would want a Notus Hauler, Fenrir or other rare/unique/hard-to-get fighters, wouldn't you? The Springblossom is just not good for this task.
Besides, the real money is in building missions, not in capturing capital ships. Say, how many capital ships can you get in 1 hour? You can make 500M quite easily with station building in 1 hour.

[Orion1632]

You can make 500M quite easily with station building in 1 hour.

Cool, that's good to know..... now all I have to do is to cap a TL and go station building..... those Casino's floating in Split areas look very tempting!

[GCU Grey Area]

Besides, the real money is in building missions, not in capturing capital ships. Say, how many capital ships can you get in 1 hour? You can make 500M quite easily with station building in 1 hour.

Depends on circumstances. For example, my current game is pure piracy (i.e. no automated trade ships, no stations, etc) so trade rank is pretty abysmal & what little rank I do have is entirely due to selling captured cargo. Consequently build missions won't pay much, even if they'd let me buy the stations (can't buy stations with low/negative race rep). At present the build missions I've seen are at least an order of magnitude less profitable than capturing capital ships.

Also it should theoretically be possible to get a few 100 million per hour by hunting Akumas - they respawn only a few minutes after each one is stolen (though haven't done that in this game - the Yaki are my friends).

[lowenblade]

You can make 500M quite easily with station building in 1 hour.

Cool, that's good to know..... now all I have to do is to cap a TL and go station building..... those Casino's floating in Split areas look very tempting!

Can you explain how station building can make that kind of money? Do you mean complexes or solo stations in dangerous zones?

[Nanook]

Can you explain why you're posting in a nearly two year old thread?

*click*

This is a prime example why dredging up old threads is such a bad idea. Way back in Jan '09, station building missions for the NPC's could net hundreds of millions of credits in a very short time. Subsequent patches greatly toned that down, making this whole thread obsolete. So please check dates and refrain from committing such blatant necromancy in the future.