I've never been overwhelmed when clearing out entire xenon reigons with a solo snake, I've taken on battle groups with 10+ capitals and hundreds of Ms/Ps and didn't take a scratch. I also put slashered argon flak on my snake, so that could be why the fighter clouds pose no threat. Snake shields start weak but they can be boosted up to 170k with terran mk3 shield and 70% shield hp mod, more then enough. All split ships are much better now thanks to terran shields.Imperial Good wrote: ↑Mon, 25. Oct 21, 16:18Only if you are very lucky with as good as perfect rolls. Otherwise they will slightly out speed you while you are in reverse. You can of course drift backwards faster than they can fly but so can most destroyers. That said the Rattlesnake is agile enough to dodge single Is and move to favourable attack positions against multiple Ks.Karmaticdamage wrote: ↑Mon, 25. Oct 21, 01:46Snake can be made to fly in reverse faster then xenon capital ships can fly forwardRattlesnake can be overwelmed between S/M ship spam and Xenon capitals using their travel mode to get into melee range. Unlike the Syn, if the Rattlesnake is in melee range it is pretty much dead due to its paper shields. Once had this happen to me before Cradle of Humanity where my high rolled modded Rattlesnake was nearly killed due to a K traveling into it as I was trying to intercept.Karmaticdamage wrote: ↑Mon, 25. Oct 21, 01:46One snake can kill an infinite number of Ks and Is, because they can't catch you.But it has significantly more L turrets and 2 extra shields making it considerably more tanky. Where as the Rattlesnake has to be careful not to take too many Gravaton hits, a Syn can fly straight at a K and win without a single point of hull damage.
Syn has two more L turrets then snake which I wouldn't call significant, but gives up 8 M turrets for it. The extra L turrets aren't going to do much if their being using for fighter defense, Snake doesn't have to sacrifice anti capital dps to defend itself from fighters. The syn is the most specialized and least versatile destroyer in the game, it shines as a capital killer with 8 L plasma, but it is the worst anti fighter platform.
You don't need god rolls to get a snake to go faster in reverse, 20% or better on drag from nanotube mod and 40% forward thrust from nudger will provide the results needed and are not hard to reroll for. Of course you could just turn around and fly forward a little bit if you feel the xenon capitals are getting to close, they won't use their travel drives to get closer to you if you're kiting them at L plasma range.