Who should read it: Those who like to...um... think outside the box?
This is the next part in the series. Previous one: M6 Heavy Hydra: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php? ... highlight=
Introduction
I am not going to tell 'where' or 'when' you get this ship but if you are working on the plots in X3:Terran Conflict then some day you might perhaps stumble across this ship and acquire one for yourself. The problem though with this ship is that as soon as you get it and you go all 'YAY!' and you enthusiasticly hit 't' to target the ship and hit 'i' key for information.... you suddenly fall silent and go 'what am i supposed to do with this ship?'
I believe most of all people who get this ship pretty much leave it to gather dust somewhere or may attempt to use it for limited OOS patrols. Others use it as a test platform as the ship has a unique property in that it is able to equip ANY gun in the game.
The largest issue that people point out with this ship is it's nonexistent shielding, recharge rate for both weapons and shields coupled with a weak hull that doesnt have any turrets for defense. On top of that it doesnt support the full array of missiles that M6 ships usualy do making this ship unable to function as a missile launching platform that usualy is the left-over role for the most obsolete of M6 classes when it's unable to do anything else other than just die. (like the good ol' Osprey.
) Equiping the ship for active duty
This ship has got teeth... No I'm not joking!
... but you need to look deeper into the stats to build up a setup that prolongs the life of this ship. Lets start with missile setup as this section is the one that lacks the most. You will immediately notice that the most common anti-M3 and heavier missiles are missing from the list yet it does support some lighter which is a relief as M4 ships can tear this ship apart in no time.
Grab Wasp Missiles as an antidote against M5 ships. If you got disruptors they are even better.
Grab Silkworms against M4 ships. Also get Hurricanes for generic-purpose missile. It is the mainstay 'distraction & damage' missile this ship can carry. not much to celebrate but better than nothing.
This now leaves the Wildfire and Remote Guided warhead missile which are the only missiles that could perhaps work as a anti-M3 missile but theese missiles like the Disruptor cannot be obtained easily and must be picked up from fights so you cant count much on them.
Next up is weapon setup which is quite interesting. If you compare weapon choices with weapon energy + renewal rate of weapons energy then you will quickly realize that any kind of wasting of energy is a no-no with this ship.
However one very clear role quickly comes up when you start to do the math on this ship: flexible heavy weapons firing platform.
Translated to english i would say this means 'bolt some heavy weapons on this ship and kill some Q patrols'. Here are the most successfull setups i tested:
1) 2xIon Cannon + 2xPPC
2) 2xSingularity Point Projectors
3) 3xGauss Cannons
If you like to have a little more teeth against fighters you can add 2xHEPT to the rack for 1:1 dogfighting. I personaly left out any smaller close combat weapons quite quickly because the ship is just so weak that you manage to win fights in 1:1 against, say Pirate Novas. But if there was 2 or more against you and you were out of missiles then it was Jump out or Game Over time... Besides in a 1:1 fight i used the main weapons anyway to take out the opposition. PPC kills anything when you get close enough.
When you have bolted the weapons of choice into the main rack then you should have space for atleast 200 energy cells in your bay. This ship may require more jumping than normaly when things heat up so leave space for energy. Fight!
Truelight Seeker is not bad in a duel. It has good speed (138ms) and maybe the best turn rate of M6 ships making it as dodgy as a fast M3. Use theese to your advantage. You are going to need them.
If equiped properly this ship is now a match against Q patrols. Not in a 'i press a button to win' way of course. You must approach the patrol carefully and if the Q patrol is in full fighter strength then you should either wait for the race patrols to diminish/distract them a bit or just use a proper missile to hit each type of fighter to reduce their numbers. When the Q is alone go on and attack it. If there is a asteroid or station nearby then that's all the better. The more you force the Q to evade the better. It's weapons and shields are far superior to you but this fight is winable even if you engage the Q in open space.
Got that strange feeling in your gut? it's called fear. A feeling very rarely felt in X-games but you do get it when going head first against a Q.
Go straight at the Q. it probably does the same to you. Set autoaim to OFF and press down fire button and release to use charged shots if using PPC/ION/PSP. If you use Ion Cannons then start the fight using them only to draw shields down quickly and then switch to PPC only when it's time to wreck the hull. Do NOT use overcharging coupled with autoaim. it misses horribly and missing is not an option as you need to tear down the enemy as quick as possibly. Time is against you.
If all goes well you should be able to land two charged shots at it before weering of. Notice the energy levels. If you only got the weapons suggested and use like suggested you should have just barely enough energy to fire twice a non-auto aim assisted, charged shot against your foe. Another alternative here is to bolt an additional ION/PPC/PSP to the rack but now it means you have to hit on the first shot. You will also be low on cargo space because heavy weapons take a lot of space so that means lesser energy cells in your hold.
Keep your distance. when distance is less than 1km and closing in fast: weer off!. if the Q starts to fire Chain gun shots or similar on you will inhale space dust very quick! Remember to strafe and rotate to avoid incoming fire.
Use autoaim in all situations except when attempting overcharged shots. Only use overcharge shot when 1) The Q is coming straight at you or 2) when so close you cant miss, this is usualy not recomended as it causes you to 'overreach' yourself bringing yourself too close to the enemy when trying to land a perfect shot where it's turrets will murder you when you attempt to escape it's counter-attack fire. Keep the distance.
If all went well then congrats: you just killed your first Q patrol in a dinky. Eat that you K killers flying in a M5 Pegasus!
Now try the same recipe against pirate capitals in Maelstrom for some extra fun.
Verdict
As can be read above this ship DOES have it's uses once you start digging in.
However it still doesnt change the fact that this might be the most obsolete ship in the game. It has it's potentials but when you get an opportunity to get it you probably have atleast one M7 or one of the better M6 ships already making this ship a true curiosity only. What a shame. It sure is a fun ship to fly in.
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