Your preferred ships and why

[Sovereign01]

I've really fallen for the Acinonyx after ambushing one from the pirates.

It also has a phenomenal weapon generator if I remember correctly. What weapons do you equip?

Its generator matches the Hyperion Vanguard, its weakness is that its loadout of weapons is extremely limited, and cannot use the PBG which hurts its performance against anything smaller than an M6.

[OrionTaltos]

I've really fallen for the Acinonyx after ambushing one from the pirates.

It also has a phenomenal weapon generator if I remember correctly. What weapons do you equip?

Its generator matches the Hyperion Vanguard, its weakness is that its loadout of weapons is extremely limited, and cannot use the PBG which hurts its performance against anything smaller than an M6.

12 Ion Shard Railguns in the main battery and simply 6 Particle Accelerator Cannons across the three turret positions (Protect x2, Missile Defense x1). If I'm going full out it's 12 seconds of firing to 0 with a 20 second recharge. No real trouble with fighters they don't survive a full burn usually. Though I do load up hurricanes and tempests to open with. Cargo capacity isn't particularly generous.

I don't know how effective the weapon drain feature of the railguns are.

[Sovereign01]

It also has a phenomenal weapon generator if I remember correctly. What weapons do you equip?

Its generator matches the Hyperion Vanguard, its weakness is that its loadout of weapons is extremely limited, and cannot use the PBG which hurts its performance against anything smaller than an M6.

12 Ion Shard Railguns in the main battery and simply 6 Particle Accelerator Cannons across the three turret positions (Protect x2, Missile Defense x1). If I'm going full out it's 12 seconds of firing to 0 with a 20 second recharge. No real trouble with fighters they don't survive a full burn usually. Though I do load up hurricanes and tempests to open with. Cargo capacity isn't particularly generous.

I don't know how effective the weapon drain feature of the railguns are.

Compared to the damage it does, not very is the honest answer, in TC I could suppress the guns of an (invincible) TL with them, with the increased laser recharge rate of FL it could probably maintain the fire for longer. Really the damage it does is much more of a factor than its power drain.

Against fighters, the CIG's greater projectile size offsets its lower muzzle velocity giving it greater accuracy vs fighters, though I've always switched to the flamethrowers whenever I get within range. Nothing survives a full burn from those

I'll be the first to admit I'm incredibly lazy when it comes to missiles, preferring to use guns to get the job done. Except when facing off against a capital ship then I'll whip out the Wraiths. An interesting thing about Wraiths is that they're only 1m/s faster than the Hyperion Vanguard, meaning you can have an incredibly tight grouping on its way to the target if you can fire enough of them before you have to turn away

[BrigandPhantos77]

Against fighters, the CIG's greater projectile size offsets its lower muzzle velocity giving it greater accuracy vs fighters, though I've always switched to the flamethrowers whenever I get within range. Nothing survives a full burn from those

I'll be the first to admit I'm incredibly lazy when it comes to missiles, preferring to use guns to get the job done. Except when facing off against a capital ship then I'll whip out the Wraiths. An interesting thing about Wraiths is that they're only 1m/s faster than the Hyperion Vanguard, meaning you can have an incredibly tight grouping on its way to the target if you can fire enough of them before you have to turn away

Flamethrowers - Nothing survives a full burn eh? Including friend, foe, loot, drones, lol..... everyone just wants to see the world burn these days.

Key to missiles is circle the target. Don't ride with the missiles. Good way to get kaboomboomed.... when they all go up together. Let's get together and go, KA boom...

Sorry for the bad jokes. Sitting waiting for Idalia in a couple hours. (South Georgia.) Expecting power to go out in the least.

I actually like the Acinonyx too. Especially the ISRs on it. I just prefer to have speed. Then I can turbo boost to a speed most M5s can't reach.
Tip: I have turbo boost mapped to Shift + W. If you release the shift key before the W (or any key really) in this config the turbo stays on. Only down side, it becomes hard as heck to steer. Smashing N's, M's and the odd L is really quite fun. Just don't body slam an Athena. I died with that one.

[OrionTaltos]

Sitting waiting for Idalia in a couple hours. (South Georgia.) Expecting power to go out in the least.

Hope that went okay! I'm a bit more west and was just hoping to get some of the rain bands only

I really do need to take my Acinonyx around exploring to get some engine tuning. I have been turbo boosting with it more when tangling with Ks when I let my shields get wrecked too much. I can't do a lot with it because the cargo just doesn't afford a lot of spare energy and still have a decent jump range in the tank.

As far as the flamethrowers and shockwaves, I strongly dislike both. In old X3, they used to cause me such nasty performance issues. And it's frustrating a weapon you can't really dodge doing absolutely huuuuge amounts of damage. I'm so glad Cargo Shielding is a thing now. Because without it, I immediately get stripped of critical equipment because of so many rolls of the dice with hits.

For missiles, I don't use too many once engaged with something nasty. Usually I send out my volley at a leisurely pace while I have a chance to select missiles and cycle through targets. If I have a factory producing it... surplus has to go somewhere It makes for cool images to see a flock of them. And until they start hitting and triggering defensive movements, AI escorts are a bit oblivious to them.

I should try out more CIGs on my bigger ships to see how they perform in that department. I don't have any laser production in my current game, so I'm having to send out a few ships to collect larger weapons to fit to my patchwork fleet.

[BrigandPhantos77]

Hope that went okay! I'm a bit more west and was just hoping to get some of the rain bands only

I really do need to take my Acinonyx around exploring to get some engine tuning. I have been turbo boosting with it more when tangling with Ks when I let my shields get wrecked too much. I can't do a lot with it because the cargo just doesn't afford a lot of spare energy and still have a decent jump range in the tank.

As far as the flamethrowers and shockwaves, I strongly dislike both. In old X3, they used to cause me such nasty performance issues. And it's frustrating a weapon you can't really dodge doing absolutely huuuuge amounts of damage. I'm so glad Cargo Shielding is a thing now. Because without it, I immediately get stripped of critical equipment because of so many rolls of the dice with hits.

For missiles, I don't use too many once engaged with something nasty. Usually I send out my volley at a leisurely pace while I have a chance to select missiles and cycle through targets. If I have a factory producing it... surplus has to go somewhere It makes for cool images to see a flock of them. And until they start hitting and triggering defensive movements, AI escorts are a bit oblivious to them.

I should try out more CIGs on my bigger ships to see how they perform in that department. I don't have any laser production in my current game, so I'm having to send out a few ships to collect larger weapons to fit to my patchwork fleet.

It went ok. Power flickered a few times but never went out. I think a few places nearby were without. It was mostly just downpour after downpour. We definitely got enough water to take care of our garden.

You could probably use the all-seeing-eye mod to find the tunings. They do show up in it. I'm used to the ej.findwares script. Both work except the findwares pulls up all floating crates and "no pilot" ships specifically. All of the pandora's do. That is if you can get used to the use and reloading your game life to stay unmodified. You get quite a few, though the majority of mine appeared as the +1 variety. I've used it mainly to find all the discovery and special discovery locations so I could purchase some of the blue-prints.

[Sovereign01]

The PSG is worse than the PBG, its indiscriminate AOE means it absolutely sucks when friendly ships are nearby so you can't use it as part of a fleet. Or using carriers. Going solo against enemies on the other hand, with what amounts to the best missile screen in the game, is a different matter! The PBG is much more focused and controlled, its shorter range works in its favour. Maybe I'm more biased because I'm firing them from my M6 so I'm not cooked by anything equipped with flamethrowers, there's a reason most M6s can use them. Just like most M7s can use the IBL even though both are officially pirate weapons!

Circling the target doesn't work with slow-turning missiles like the Wraith, what I would do when starting a run with them, I match their speed as best I can then start launching at max range and keep firing since they have a long cooldown until just before I get within laser range when I jink away. Being a swarm missile, they pack a serious punch!

I need to track down some more tunings to improve my handful of M2+, imagine a Valhalla that could move at a decent speed

[BrigandPhantos77]

Circling the target doesn't work with slow-turning missiles like the Wraith, what I would do when starting a run with them, I match their speed as best I can then start launching at max range and keep firing since they have a long cooldown until just before I get within laser range when I jink away. Being a swarm missile, they pack a serious punch!

I need to track down some more tunings to improve my handful of M2+, imagine a Valhalla that could move at a decent speed

I've never used the wraith missile. The only ones I use from the terran group are Specters. They absolutely wreck the Q when fired in groups. I haven't gotten a tuning in a long time. The last thing I got was a rudder optimization. The IBLs absolutely drain the Q of weapons power after like 3 / 4 volleys. I switch the main back to CIGs because of it. I was using it to take on other M7s on combat missions. Honestly don't like it very much. But hunting down armored TS with it is fun.

[Sovereign01]

Circling the target doesn't work with slow-turning missiles like the Wraith, what I would do when starting a run with them, I match their speed as best I can then start launching at max range and keep firing since they have a long cooldown until just before I get within laser range when I jink away. Being a swarm missile, they pack a serious punch!

I need to track down some more tunings to improve my handful of M2+, imagine a Valhalla that could move at a decent speed

I've never used the wraith missile. The only ones I use from the terran group are Specters. They absolutely wreck the Q when fired in groups. I haven't gotten a tuning in a long time. The last thing I got was a rudder optimization. The IBLs absolutely drain the Q of weapons power after like 3 / 4 volleys. I switch the main back to CIGs because of it. I was using it to take on other M7s on combat missions. Honestly don't like it very much. But hunting down armored TS with it is fun.

Yeah, the Q is actually bad in a lot of respects, they only work OOS because they can mount Photon Pulse Cannons. Even then the Thresher is superior because it has the same shielding and can mount 10 PPCs to the Q's 4.

[BrigandPhantos77]

Yeah, the Q is actually bad in a lot of respects, they only work OOS because they can mount Photon Pulse Cannons. Even then the Thresher is superior because it has the same shielding and can mount 10 PPCs to the Q's 4.

On the flip side of that, the Q can load 8 IBLs in it's main. But they just suck up too much power. The Thresher, doesn't use all it's power as quickly using the PPCs up front. The side PPCs on the Q could be the tipping point for the energy draw. But when it comes to the turrets, I am iffy on opinions. The best part of the Q though is mounting FBCs and it's speed and agility. It's about as nimble as an M6. But I've still taken them down in an overtuned Heavy Nemesis one on one.

[BrigandPhantos77]

Circling the target doesn't work with slow-turning missiles like the Wraith, what I would do when starting a run with them, I match their speed as best I can then start launching at max range and keep firing since they have a long cooldown until just before I get within laser range when I jink away. Being a swarm missile, they pack a serious punch!

I need to track down some more tunings to improve my handful of M2+, imagine a Valhalla that could move at a decent speed

Ok, I have had enough practice with these now to dislike them. I am re-evaluating my preferred ships.

3 wraith swarms launched at a Sturgeon and not a single one hit. In fact they missed completely, did a 24 km circle about, and all fell pray to anti-missile fire.
Ghouls and Phantoms also do about the same.

So I got annoyed by a split rapid response cobra. I managed to drop a beacon and call in a new Skirnir. Launched a barrage of 48 phantom missiles. Only one hit. They were launched at the nose (weapons of Cobra are in the back) and from 21 km away. Most just sailed past it and fell victim to the rear turrets. Or did it launch flails as anti missile defense? (I do that sometimes at Duke's firing Firestorms at me.)

What annoys me further, you can use hammer heavy torpedo's and they almost never miss. About a 90% hit rate for me. They go straight in and hit. But the Phantom's have about a 10 to 25% hit rate. When boarding Duke's I find myself having to fire followup barrages. On some occasions those phantom's that missed, cycle back and end up finding there mark. Destroying the ship I just finished boarding. (We really need a launched missile self destruct option.) Saving with unlimited salvage for the win I guess. Best credits spent in game.

As of now, I do like the Maru. I am using it more and more in place of the Springblossom. Its very agile and I like the cargo hold on it. I am keeping an eye out though for engine tunings. I got it's speed to 210 at the moment. Sadly, I think the game chooses the engine tuning quantity at the game start and keeps it. I have never gotten more than 1 for either engine tuning or rudder. If it's randomly 1, 2 or 3, then laws of probility be damned I should have gotten at least a 2 or 3 once. But I noticed on my first play start I got only 3's. Second tries when 1.2 patch came out I got only 2's. Then magically it adjusted to 1 on my 1.3 start (Current game). Was this done with each up date on purpose? So it makes sense that's what it does. I'd suggest to Cycrow to adjust that somehow, but since the devs don't seem to care and he's the only one that does, what can you do. I want to reach epic empire achievement before starting a modified game. I give all the love and praise/thanks to Cycrow for at least trying to improve and fix the game. I asked one of the admins to reach out to get the unofficial patch signed at least. The admin did but it hasn't happened yet.

So my preferred ships as of now:
Springblossom - Speed is key sometimes. I can escape large swarms and take them on without help/support.
Maru - Cargo capacity, missile capacity (Beluga's and Spectre's are great).
Kracken - Great speed and cargo for boarding. Best one to use imho.
Skirnir - Used best for wanton destruction. At least in player hands, great for popping stations. (Sorry Split).
Odin - Second coolest looking ship (Valhalla is better looking).
Kyoto - Love the fact that it's a mini Valhalla. I've always loved using this ship in previous editions of X. Can carry several useful things (Bombers, Fuel Tankers, M6's or TMs with fighters).
Advanced Chokaro - How many does it carry? Imagine loading 60 of these fully loaded onto the Valhalla. Can we say 420 ship fleet at your beckon call?

[BrigandPhantos77]

Sorry that was long winded. Had a lot to say there.

[DanKara]

Then magically it adjusted to 1 on my 1.3 start (Current game). Was this done with each up date on purpose?

Yes, the number of tunings were reduced on purpose, as per Cycrows Statement. The change happend in 1.2 - but wasn't listed in patchnotes. Now the initial placed crates contain only up to 3 or 4 tunings. Replacements are said to go up to 2, but I only found the 1 pieces (just like you).

Ships, that I deem essential and always use are:
M6: MARU (boarding-capability is an excuse for the look...), tuned up to ≈230 m/s
M3: Blastclaw-Prototype (cargo and marine extender for MARU)
TP: Geochen-Miner (from NMMC, its ugly too but XL-cargo), tuned up to ≈230 m/s. For personal use I like to increase its cargo up to 3.000 units.
TM: Chokarro (for fast remote deliveries of commodities, ships and marines), usually paired with a Disco-Scout (as remote explorer and an extra jumpdrive/transporter)

Have no favorites among the M7, M2, M1's. Miss my Boreas from TC, as nothing comes even close...

[BrigandPhantos77]

Then magically it adjusted to 1 on my 1.3 start (Current game). Was this done with each up date on purpose?

Yes, the number of tunings were reduced on purpose, as per Cycrows Statement. The change happend in 1.2 - but wasn't listed in patchnotes. Now the initial placed crates contain only up to 3 or 4 tunings. Replacements are said to go up to 2, but I only found the 1 pieces (just like you).

Ships, that I deem essential and always use are:
M6: MARU (boarding-capability is an excuse for the look...), tuned up to ≈230 m/s
M3: Blastclaw-Prototype (cargo and marine extender for MARU)
TP: Geochen-Miner (from NMMC, its ugly too but XL-cargo), tuned up to ≈230 m/s. For personal use I like to increase its cargo up to 3.000 units.
TM: Chokarro (for fast remote deliveries of commodities, ships and marines), usually paired with a Disco-Scout (as remote explorer and an extra jumpdrive/transporter)

Have no favorites among the M7, M2, M1's. Miss my Boreas from TC, as nothing comes even close...

I never saw that statement.

I've only ever seen them spawn as singles, even at the game start. They've become about the rarest thing for me.

[BrigandPhantos77]

Would it be weird if I called my brand new Valhalla once it's complete, Galactica? Or maybe Pegasus?



Just askin...

Edit***
Ok, one final thing about a ship for me and I put it to bed.

Why in the world would you create a ship like the Valhalla, make it look cool, give it great gun potential, then set a hard limit of 60 docked ships negating it's 10 external docking points if you load up the hangar? Hard limit should be 70.

"smh"

And here is the rant....
That was meant to be funny. Old man throwing his temper tantrum.

[Sovereign01]

Would it be weird if I called my brand new Valhalla once it's complete, Galactica? Or maybe Pegasus?



Just askin...

Edit***
Ok, one final thing about a ship for me and I put it to bed.

Why in the world would you create a ship like the Valhalla, make it look cool, give it great gun potential, then set a hard limit of 60 docked ships negating it's 10 external docking points if you load up the hangar? Hard limit should be 70.

"smh"

And here is the rant....
That was meant to be funny. Old man throwing his temper tantrum.

I went up against a Xenon battlegroup that had been terrorising PTNI HQ Beta, from the timers it was clear they'd been at this for days. Because the sector had no jump gates I had to fly my M6 over there manually and deploy a jump beacon to get the Valhalla to jump in, then use my M6 as a tug to tractor the Valhalla closer to the enemy before flying it myself. The results were not pretty, and not in the way I was expecting. Going up against an I, a K and a couple of Qs should have been easy but the Valhalla couldn't fire at any of them long enough to do significant damage and I lost several times before trying again, this time with my own I. That... was much more satisfying! Took a lot of hull damage clearing them out but nothing a couple of hours with my Guppy can't fix, even though I could have docked at the nearby shipyard in sector for repairs!

[BrigandPhantos77]

I went up against a Xenon battlegroup that had been terrorising PTNI HQ Beta, from the timers it was clear they'd been at this for days. Because the sector had no jump gates I had to fly my M6 over there manually and deploy a jump beacon to get the Valhalla to jump in, then use my M6 as a tug to tractor the Valhalla closer to the enemy before flying it myself. The results were not pretty, and not in the way I was expecting. Going up against an I, a K and a couple of Qs should have been easy but the Valhalla couldn't fire at any of them long enough to do significant damage and I lost several times before trying again, this time with my own I. That... was much more satisfying! Took a lot of hull damage clearing them out but nothing a couple of hours with my Guppy can't fix, even though I could have docked at the nearby shipyard in sector for repairs!

My game has literally decided it's time to spawn wave after wave of Xenon everywhere. I think the Valhalla is just a pretty ship at this point to act as a talking piece.

Like, yea I got one!

But I also got 4 Odin, 1 Woden, and 1 Kyoto sitting next to one of my complexes just chilling.

I currently got a Tyr cooking, though it's too limited (like the K) with it's cargo space. Its amazing they call the Woden a heavy carrier and the Valhalla just a destroyer.
Since you got it (the Maru), and the spring blossom can do it too, both the Maru and Springblossom are good for reducing Xenon capital ship in quantities. A Q might be agile and quick, but flooding with Specter's and Wraith; or Hammerhead missiles are very deadly against them when they connect.

1 on 1, the Valhalla will absolutely wreck an I. But as for others it will never hit a J or Q, and a K is a crapshoot. But the I is not much faster and turns about the same. The I has an advantage with it's small missile boat capability. But then again, the Valhalla is a carrier. So fighters for the win. Or a group of M6's docked / M8's kaboom material.

[Sovereign01]

I went up against a Xenon battlegroup that had been terrorising PTNI HQ Beta, from the timers it was clear they'd been at this for days. Because the sector had no jump gates I had to fly my M6 over there manually and deploy a jump beacon to get the Valhalla to jump in, then use my M6 as a tug to tractor the Valhalla closer to the enemy before flying it myself. The results were not pretty, and not in the way I was expecting. Going up against an I, a K and a couple of Qs should have been easy but the Valhalla couldn't fire at any of them long enough to do significant damage and I lost several times before trying again, this time with my own I. That... was much more satisfying! Took a lot of hull damage clearing them out but nothing a couple of hours with my Guppy can't fix, even though I could have docked at the nearby shipyard in sector for repairs!

My game has literally decided it's time to spawn wave after wave of Xenon everywhere. I think the Valhalla is just a pretty ship at this point to act as a talking piece.

Like, yea I got one!

But I also got 4 Odin, 1 Woden, and 1 Kyoto sitting next to one of my complexes just chilling.

I currently got a Tyr cooking, though it's too limited (like the K) with it's cargo space. Its amazing they call the Woden a heavy carrier and the Valhalla just a destroyer.
Since you got it (the Maru), and the spring blossom can do it too, both the Maru and Springblossom are good for reducing Xenon capital ship in quantities. A Q might be agile and quick, but flooding with Specter's and Wraith; or Hammerhead missiles are very deadly against them when they connect.

1 on 1, the Valhalla will absolutely wreck an I. But as for others it will never hit a J or Q, and a K is a crapshoot. But the I is not much faster and turns about the same. The I has an advantage with it's small missile boat capability. But then again, the Valhalla is a carrier. So fighters for the win. Or a group of M6's docked / M8's kaboom material.

I think the Valhalla must lack overlapping fields of fire because it never seems to concentrate its fire on a target, even when I tell my turrets to attack my target

I need to finish off what I was doing with my (overtuned) Kyoto to use it as a bomber base- dock a couple of owls full of Phantoms and Tomahawks and a Claymore and one of the commonwealth M8s, can't quite decide what's most important in a bomber that's operating from an M2+. Speed? Missile capacity? Shielding? From the specs available it's a case of pick any two from the Commonwealth contenders, there is a definite tradeoff between shielding and speed. It depends how far from the carrier the bomber will be flying.

The Split Viper is the fastest but it has the lowest capacity and weakest shields.
The Boron Marlin is the second fastest and has the biggest cargo bay but has the same weak shields, albeit it has the strongest hull.
The OTAS Auster has the strongest shields but is one of the slowest and has average capacity.
The Teladi Peregrine has the second best shields and cargo bay, but is the slowest.
The Argon Gladiator and Paranid Hades have average shields and speed, with cargo bays on the small side.

[BrigandPhantos77]

I think the Valhalla must lack overlapping fields of fire because it never seems to concentrate its fire on a target, even when I tell my turrets to attack my target

I need to finish off what I was doing with my (overtuned) Kyoto to use it as a bomber base- dock a couple of owls full of Phantoms and Tomahawks and a Claymore and one of the commonwealth M8s, can't quite decide what's most important in a bomber that's operating from an M2+. Speed? Missile capacity? Shielding? From the specs available it's a case of pick any two from the Commonwealth contenders, there is a definite tradeoff between shielding and speed. It depends how far from the carrier the bomber will be flying.

The Split Viper is the fastest but it has the lowest capacity and weakest shields.
The Boron Marlin is the second fastest and has the biggest cargo bay but has the same weak shields, albeit it has the strongest hull.
The OTAS Auster has the strongest shields but is one of the slowest and has average capacity.
The Teladi Peregrine has the second best shields and cargo bay, but is the slowest.
The Argon Gladiator and Paranid Hades have average shields and speed, with cargo bays on the small side.

Yea, but Valhalla has quite a few guns in each arc. Except front of course. Only normal 8. Still, it's too much of a pain to use and it's more of a Carrier than a gunboat to me. Though 10 Vali might be nice to unleash on an unsuspecting foe.

I'd pick the Claymore and Marlin. To be frank, all the bombers seem fragile to me. When dealing with a Q, I jump it in, launch the missile attack, and jump it right back out.

Calling the Auster a heavy bomber is definitely a joke someone made. I'll never use it. The Viper is definitely not one I'd use either. I might consider using the Peregrine. A great cargo bay is nice, and since these ships are weak anyway, the speed don't really matter (per a previous and my next comment). "I like loaded up on missiles, and launch them fast and furious." I use Gladiators for rapid response duty. They perform it to my need. Keep them fueled and ready with about 150 energy cells. Harmony of Perpetuity > Nathan's Voyage (One example of location).

[DanKara]

...can't quite decide what's most important in a bomber ..

Obviously - only the look counts. Therefore I always have some M8 Paranid Hades stored away (although I am still not into 'missiles').