Yaki do kick ass!!!

[ConCorDian]

ive never truly noticed this till tonight but im actually a fan of the yaki and not only that but they are actually damned good, infact if you use them correctly they are possibly one of the best (non terran) "races" in game.

take their M1 for example...

its the fastest ingame... 112m/s, split Raptor being the second with 109m/s so we will compair the two of them.
as two ships themselves yes the raptor has more laser energy but the Hoshi has 28 weapon slots compaired to the Raptor's 20.

now my personal prefrence with M1's is not to properly engage the enimy with the carrier itself, it only fights to recover fighters then flee... so this thing still has the ability to load IBL's on the aft. but still have 20 slots around its belly for flak weapons. and its my thinking that this alone could make more of a difference between the Raptor and Hoshi because a Hoshi with its rear guns facing a chasing Raptor even though it has 65 fighters compaired to the Hoshi's 40 has got to rip those split fighters to shreds with 20 Flak weapons!! and anyways, how many attacks do you really need more than those 40 fighters? then something that always makes a difference for me, the split cant fit ion weapons!!!

its a similar story with the M2's, closest comparison is the Python, except the python is slightly faster. but the fact that the Akuma can be riged with IonC's it should be able to rip the Pythons sheilds down quicker than the Python can the Akuma's and as we all no once your sheilds are gone the damage doesn't take long to build up on your hull!!

then take the fact that you can pick these monsters up relativly early on in the game (all be it for an additional hefty fee over normal commonwealth) because you dont really need to have a high end rep.

[Nick Northern]

Totally agree with you. Yaki ships give the game a unique alternative for your combat choices.

What Yaki do better than any race (other than maybe Xenon ships, which are much harder to get) is give you unorthodox fighting choices. Yaki M2 have twice the number of guns on the top and bottom turrets as the regular M2, at the cost of half as many guns on the front guns. The M1 gives you 50% more firepower on the side turrets as any other (nonterran) M1. This makes both ships fantastic ships for the AI to control IS, and great personal combat ships for heavy fighting.

While strafing, your turrets pound enemy capitals with superior turret mounts and fantastic turret coverage. You 'broadside' capitals, making the front gun advantage of most enemy capitals moot. This form of combat should really appeal to all those split panther lovers out there. Worry about strafing and dodging and let your ship do all the work. All capitals can do this, but Yaki and Pirate ships do it best.

I agree that Yaki fighers are also fantastic and unique. I like the way they look as well. To me, the only drawback is price tag, but you can always cap them as well.

If you love Yaki ships for your play style, take a hard look at the pirate M7 Carrack. Often dismissed as an easy cap target for selling off and training marines, this is another really underused ship. As a personal ship, it is really really fun. With only 2gj of shielding, you don't want to get shot, but it makes up for that with great turning and the best laser energy of any commonwealth M7. (Tied with Cerebus, but mounts twice as many IBL's)

Yaki economy is also fun to build up. You can make it a pirate cove of vice.

[kurush]

Yaki M1 has the same speed as split Panther but inferior to it in most other aspects M2 is fast but too damn huge to be usable. Chokaro is awesome, Ruy is something I used in all my games. Yaki fighters are mediocre. Susanova is apparently a knock-off of the split design but they forgot important pieces such as rear turret for the raider version. Tenjin is undershielded and its cargo hold is small for M3+.
What rocks about Yaki is that they give you *exclusive* *trading* *rights* in their space. Just build them enough stations, set up a bunch of STs and watch your account grow. I had all these traders homebased on a dedicated trading station for accounting purposes and its income was second only to Kingdom End NV mining...

[Bill Huntington]

Yes, ConCorDian, well put !

I find the Chokaro an excellent choice as well, for a TM and Mk3 Trader.

It was a pleasant surprise to find that the M5 Fujian was a very good fighting M5, and with its bigger cargo bay, a good choice for an early game fighter.

I really lke the way they handle intruders, like the Police who are chasing the Stolen ship you have parked in the Yaki SY.

[Nick Northern]

Have to disagree with you on quite a few points kurush.

Yaki M1 has the same speed as split Panther but inferior to it in most other aspects

Very different ships. Panther gets cheaper price tag, faster speed, larger laser battery and regen. Hoshi gets larger shield battery and regen, larger cargo hold, more hanger bay, the ability to mount 6 more IBL's, and more guns onl turrets. Imop, Panther is a better personal ship, but Hoshi is a better...well...carrier.

Yaki fighters are mediocre. Susanova is apparently a knock-off of the split design but they forgot important pieces such as rear turret for the raider version.

Oh dear. Susanowa has vastly superior laser energy and regen compared to Mamba. It also sports a superior steering. The cargo is bad, and so it shines when working out of a TM instead of using a jumpdrive, I'll give you that. The varients of Mamba and Susanowa exhagerate these differences, with Mamba gaining a rear 1 gun turret, and Susanowa getting an even larger laser battery advantage and regen. Susanowa Raider has 2k more laser energy than a Mamba Raider! I'll trade a one gun rear turret for 1/4 more energy.

Tenjin is undershielded and its cargo hold is small for M3+.

Again, I will compare the Tenjin with the Split M3+ Chimera which is very popular as a player fighter. Stats are very similar except Chimera enjoys a moderate (500) advantage in laser battery and a large advantage in turning. The Tenjin has the same shields as Chimera, the same speed, and a very slightly (15) smaller cargo bay. What makes Tenjin > Chimera in my opinion is that it can load PBG's and Chimera can not. Chimera does let you load a PBE or MD on its one gun turrets, while on the Tenjin you will have to settle for PAC for missile defense. PBG's tho (especially if you are playing in a pirate ship!) are just too useful and fun to pass up tho. If you don't like PBG's and prefer to do damage from farther away, hit and run and so on, then I can see why you would dismiss the Tenjin.


I know all of this is largely a difference of taste and opinion, but I had to point out the good points of Yaki fighters, and what makes them useful to the undecided reader.

[Infekted]

Comparing the Akuma to the Python is a bit of a wierd one imo.. The Python is purely anti-cap and the Akuma is one of the best Anti-fighter platform in the game. It makes an awesome player M2, whereas the Python is quite frankly rubbish.

The Tenjin is a sick M3. Siiiiiick. How many forward guns has it got again? 9 or 10? Either way, load that baby up with EBC and PBG and you can take down fleets. The Chimera is garbage compared to it. Any M3 that cannot mount PBG and EBC is at a massive disadvantage in my eyes.

Chokoro is a great TM. Can't go wrong with it.

I don't really have much time for the other yaki ships, but the above 3 make up for it.

As for the Yaki themselves. Love them. Love the insanely aggressive bushido mentality. Love the fact they are like "your" race once you have them on side. And unlike the dirty pirates, if they are friends with you, they are ALL friends with you. None of this stupid random red ships even at max rep rank.

[Triaxx2]

Akuma is amazing. Length is in fact a benefit to the Akuma. The dispersion of turrets is important when engaging fast moving targets like fighters, so having the turrets firing from different angles produces a better kill pattern than having them all bunched in one spot.

I like the Tenjin mainly because I can drop in 9 of anything, EBC, MD, PBG, PBE... if you want it, it'll do it.

[ConCorDian]

everyone is probably rite this is all a matter of personal prefrence and because of that nobody is ever truly wrong. but honestly i think when you look at the trade offs with ships in the same class between the races, the yaki trade offs make more sense for me.

Susanowa - oh no we dont have a big enough cargo bay.... can you fit max sheilds? yes.. can you fill the weapon slots? yes!! and you still have at least 11 units of cargo hold left for a couple of missiles (fair enough you might not use it as a player ship but you also dont want the AI flying about unloading all your well earned missiles either!!) for M3 patrols you have the Tenjin... the Susanowa is still an excellent drop ship for TM's or Carriers

Tenjin - most importantly its sexual!!! compairing it to other commonwealth m3's what can be really said to bring this ship down? its closest competitor is the Chimera, its the same speed, same sheilds (but less sheild recharge than the Tenjin) yes the Split counter part has 500J more laser energy but the recharge boost over the Tenjin is a Tiny 4J/s. then you have 9 main guns for your forward battery, not 8 and a turret that decides to pick silly targets, YOU TOTALLY CONTROL 9!!!! and then look at the possitioning of the Tenjin Turrets, they are soo close back to back facing the sides that you have as close to complete anti missile coverage as your going to get from a fighter.. then compair it to the other M3+, yes they can be heavier sheilded but they have lost too much speed for it, or they got bigger cargo holds yeh i can fill my Tenjin with enough firepower and max its sheilds and still have enough Ecells to jump where i want to go... and still fit missiles!!

moving below that your seeing the same kind of trade offs... sometimes your dropping a little speed over some main race varients but the bonus's on sheilds is better... there is only one fighter i find disappointing... the Fujin... why on earth they gave that thing only 550 worth of laser energy i have no idea!!!

[Coupaholic]

I never got on with the Yaki, but this time round I hope to be best buddies with them. And while their own ships do indeed kick ass when flown by the player I wonder, how does the AI fare with these ships? Would I need to worry about protecting the factories I plan to build there?

[ConCorDian]

Would I need to worry about protecting the factories I plan to build there?

well look at it this way, if your having problems with police or other races you jump to yaki space and they deal with them for you. if your on good terms with the yaki the only thing you might need to worry about is the random pirates if your not on good terms with them. if you lose rep with the yaki till they attack you then you might as well wave bye bye to your factories. but thats no difference than if you lose rep with the main races till they do the same, youd need to have some decent sized ships to protect them otherwise.

i would say always defend your stations. weither it be with heavy caps or fighter patrols is more upto where it is, if its near a Q patrol path then a few M3's wont help if its core main races then a few fighters should do the job for the small pirate patrols that youll come across.

as for the yaki ships in out of sector AI well they can be good, i dont know the total ins and outs of the out of sector calculations but its go to do with you weapons, sheilds, etc etc. and as this post shows Yaki ships are far from the worst infact if my understanding of the OOS combat is anything to go by they could be quite close to the top if fitted out properly.

[The X-Plorer]

I never realized how handy the yaki M1 could be...

I do agree some of their fighters are unique, some of them are just rip offs of paranid fighters, which i hated. (like the Fujin, Raijin and Susanowa)

the one thing i noticed is... they lack corvettes... (as far as i know)

anyway i could see a Terran M2 or M1 troll on a Yaki M1 OR M2, terran weps kick ass compared to everyone elses, although i do have to admit i dont really like the design of their M7, M8, and M6, they look too... docile.. looking. compared to the ATF versions of them...

while im on the ATF, has anyone heard of a possible M8 for the ATF? i haven't seen the slightest hint of one and i dont think it exists in vanilla....

[ConCorDian]

there is no ATF M8 in vanilla... there aint even an unused design sitting in programming files as far as im aware

[Bill Huntington]

Why would ATF have an M8 when they have the Skirnir?

With Shadows, the Skirnir is .... awesome !!

Most races have an M7 that carries Boarding Pods. ATF has an M7 with missiles, but no BP. Remember that OTAS had both two M7s, one for missiles and one for BP.

[ConCorDian]

well i suppose its the arguement that the M8 fills a decent role... i know the ATF doesn't truly need it but still. id prefer to see ATF TM's over M8's to be honest but thats never going to happen

[Triaxx2]

Yeah, when your single fire missiles do more damage than those the other bombers do in a barrage, what's the point of having a dedicated capital killer fighter?

Besides, they have fighters of such horrid power that they don't really need it anyway.

[AgamemnonArgon]

Yaki M3 Tenjin, their TL the Ryu, the TM they produce, the Hoshi.... all worth getting on your side.
Do missions for the Yaki. Lots of missions

[The X-Plorer]

One thing i would REALLY be intruiged to see is a specially designed anti-corvette / frigate M3. I know the Astraeus hauler (the OTAS M8 ) uses 200 MJ shields compared to the gladiator which uses just 25 MJ shields. Imagine a Nova with 200MJ sheilds on it... plus a single weapon mount for each side. that would make quite an impressive armored M3.

anyway, the nova and mamba fighters are two of my favorites, however i REALLY like the thor, its a perfectly (?) balanced fighter, strong shields, very fast speed (only beat by the spitfyre) for an M3, the strong terran weapons and missiles able to be fitted on it, i freaking LOVE that thor!

[jlehtone]

Imagine a Nova with 200MJ sheilds on it...

Teladi Falcon variants do mount those shields, don't they?

[Sovereign01]

Along with the standard Argon Eclipse and the Xperimental shuttle

[Kirlack]

Imagine a Nova with 200MJ sheilds on it...

Teladi Falcon variants do mount those shields, don't they?

Yep, the Sentinel and Vanguard models both pack 200 MJ shields, one on the vanguard and 2 on the sentinel (iirc).