I agree with zombie, I found the whole single player storyline too easy - until the last 2 missions anyway. However! i was consciously trying to zip through the whole thing so I could get it open-ended and start exploring properly....I wanted an "elite variation", and thats what I got as soon as the linear crap was finished.

If you are getting bored, play around with your reputation, simply switch sides it can be really fun. Or attack the police, a base or a storage facility....that usually spices it all up again

Ok, now its easy

Did the next story mission and didnt really break a sweat. The enemy were in tough ships but I seemed able to zip around them easily this time. I tended to use 1 or 2 shield batteries each battle at the beginning whilst I concentrated on taking 2 or 3 out to reduce the odds. After that I just used avoidance and let the shield regen itself and then renetered fight. I also used the reverse thruster trick several times to good effect.

The game is much more relaxing now, but I do have one question .... how would you play if you wanted to be a trader?? I cant imaging these missions in a freighter. And you cant advance without the story missions.

personally i didn't do any real trade runs until after the story finished - thats when the fun begins and the universe opens up to you....but I have heard people say that they'd rather do a major trade than several small missions so they can upgrade their ships quicker.

good to hear you've sussed the flying techniques....enjoy it!

Need a little advice and I thought id stick it on the end of this thread seeing as I had good feedback so far

I got to a new system and had options to buy : Drake, Hawk and Baracuda.

Saved up for Drake .... WOW! Loved it. With good guns and best shield I was rocking. Seriously agile ship.

The I saved up and (what I thought was upgrading) switched to Hawk .... hmmm. Its like 40% more expensive and I dont see why!? It doesnt feel as agile as the drake. And nothing else on it seems different.

So i now have the baracuda. Little boring to fly. Not really agile (heavy fighter I guess should not be). I have ok success with it so far, but I havnt managed to fully equip it yet. So im not making my mind up until ive got the best shield and weapons in it. My guess is it wont be as much fun as the drake, but probably will survive mission (story) better.

So why is every instinct telling me to sell it all and buy back the Drake??

Hehe, the Drake is one of the best ship in the game. All the class 6 ships are good enough to beat the campaign easily but only the Drake can easily beat even the highest-level enemies in the game, long after the end of the campaign. The Barracuda and the ship you'll encounter after two more missions are actually rather decent and can go pretty far - but not as easily as the Drake.

The Hawk is just a normal light fighter - stronger powerplant and armour than the Drake, bigger cargo hold, but not as agile and you can lose equipment if the wings get shot off. May be a good option for some people; being an LF the Hawk is easier to fly than the heavy fighters and the superior agility of the Drake is not much of an advantage if you have not yet learned to make full use of it.

The heavy fighters are more difficult to fly than the light ones because their lesser manoeuvrability makes them more vulnerable and it also makes it more difficult to track enemies. On the other hand they offer superior loadout possibilities (more hardpoints, can use torpedoes) and so they can really dish it out if equipped & handled well. That is why they are called 'elite' fighters - more vulnerable, but also more rewarding. The Barracuda is one of the best because it is more agile than most of the other heavy fighters.

So should I stick with the baracuda? Or should I go back to the drake? Or should I try ALL ships just for the fun of it?

Too many damned choices....

BTW if i decide to try multiplayer (and find a norwegian server) I think id go for the Drake. I just find it so much easier to do missions in without ever needing to use shield batteries.

I do tend to favor the Hawk...that little bit of extra armor does make a difference when you get into the more radioactive missions. But the drake is definitely a fine piece of equipment.



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"Although I do not consider myself a member of the Bounty Hunters' Guild, I find that their goals and mine often follow the same path. I will aid them when I can...if they give me a percentage of the salvage from whatever they frag along the way. Hell, they were even so kind as to sell me a ship after one of my jobs with them, and I've been flying her ever since. But god help them if someone puts a bounty on THEIR heads, for I don't care who I hunt for, as long as their live capture(or untimely death) can get me enough credits to buy a decent sized mug of my favorite drink."- A Freelance Bounty Hunter.

But in the drake i didnt seem to need the armour as much.

Just played the next story mission and it was too easy and boring in the baracuda. Enemies pretty much died in 2 seconds max. Firepower is a little overkill for the difficulty When I get outta this system I may go back to the drake just for the sheer fun of it.

Long way from thinking it was all too hard eh?

Ok, just went hard again. Last mission and I thought id try the Anubis. Packs quite a punch, but its the sort of punch a blind man tied to a chair could avoid if he was awake.

Its an utter cow!

Last mission and im having problems Back to using batteries and nanos and hoping some of the enemy drop em. Back to cruising away when im low and praying. Ahh welll ... u live and learn ....

be careful this doesn't turn into a "best ship" thread, if there's any admin watching they'll click it.

your best bet Morgan is to try out all the ships and make up your own mind...

Best ship thread?

Seems a little odd as I would guess it would depend on the situation and the pilot. eg. I suck at turret combat. Also I find trade boring etc. But someone who loves trade and has good turret skills is gonna think my fav ship sucks. Whats the point of a best ship thread?

Anyways. I think I have just one or two more battles left in the story .... Gonna be hard in this tub of junk but Im uop for it

Im not sure what will happen afterwards. Is it just random missions after that? If so im gonna try the multiplayer if i can find an Oslo server.

MorganB, in the right hands the Anubis is a much more powerful fighter than the other class 6ers. It is just not as easy to use as the more agile Barracuda or light fighters like Hawk and Drawk, and it requires a bit different tactics to utilize its advantages and avoid the drawbacks of its one disadvantage (lack of agility). By the way, the manoeuvrability of the Anubis is normal for a heavy fighter - exactly the same as Crusader, Dragon, Stiletto and Valkyrie, for example.

But the tactic for the final missions is pretty much the same for all ships: keep firing all weapons at the designated targets whenever there is a firing solution (remember that missiles and torpedoes have greater range than guns, mines drastically less) but keep moving at all times (dodging/weaving a bit if necessary) unless you find that there is a lull in enemy fire; in the latter case you can use the X key (brake and reverse) to extend the time your ship is the quiet spot, until you get found by a squad of enemy fighters. If you stay close to a target then Alpha wing (whose leader you are) will help you destroy it, and the target will shield you from enemies in one half of the sky. Enemies shooting at you from the other half of the sky will likely hit the target instead of you, and with their powerful guns they are a big help in dispatching the targets.

As for combat against fighters: to get the most out of heavy fighters and freighters you need to use different tactics than in a light fighter, especially regarding which enemy you pick next. Using the R key to pick the nearest enemy is rarely a good choice - it will usually select the bogie that is 50 m behind you. It takes a lot of time to turn a heavy fighter or freighter around (during which time you get fired on quite a bit) and if you finally have the enemy in your firing cone you are too close to use torpedoes and missiles, both because the remaining time is too short to remove the enemy shield and because you have to get your ship to top afterburn speed in order to achieve maximum damage with explosive ammo. So, instead pick one of the enemies that are already in your forward firing cone, preferrably one that is in just the right distance for a torpedo/missile run. It takes quite a bit of practice to judge the tactical situation and to have a feel for whether a torpedo/missile can work in a given constellation, but it is more fun and more rewarding than using a light fighter to whittle down the enemies slowly but surely.

Thanks for the input, I may stick with it. I have flown a few trade missions now and the Anubis is pretty good cos of its cargo hold. I am getting better at picking targets too. I was thinking of buying a Falcon next just to try it. BUT I briefly tried the Clydesdale freighter and got my ass handed to me on a run from Leeds to Cambridge. Seeing as thats the system I bought the ship in im assuming my skills with frieghters is the problem.

There is so much more to this game thatn I previously thought

Wait until you finish the SP .... there's MUCH more to the game. The fun's about to start when you get unleashed by Juni.

PS. I miss my Annubis

If you throw enough mud ..some's gonna stick.