Tue Feb 27, 2007 7:55 am
"Best" VHF
I recently did some pretty detailed experiments to help illuminate the age-old question, which VHF is "the best." So I'd like to report my findings and maybe generate a little discussion.
Interestingly, there really is not a simple theoretical answer: it depends on the situation. (It's cool that way -- makes the game more fun when it's balanced and you have to pick your strategy and your ship.) So nobody can tell you what ship you should fly.
-- But from what follows you can get a pretty decent idea what the parameters are.
Conventional wisdom normally says maneuverability is the most important, so the Eagle wins. Obviously maneuverability is the premium within certain bounds. But in practice, it's almost dead even, and in fact -- surprise surprise -- this contest is probably won by the Titan, the *least* maneuverable VHF.
What is "Best"?
---------------
Before I go on, I should remark that "best" is surprisingly ambiguous. If I'm doing a speed-challenge, I'll pick the Eagle because in principle the most maneuverable ship is capable of doing all the same maneuvers as the less maneuverable ship, and is a tiny bit faster; this is basically the same basis from which I recommend the Barracude for Mission 11 in the SP Campaign speed run. But if I'm not trying to break any speed records, the way I personally fly it's not going to make a difference.
And it's not all about speed, but safety plays a major part, especially where other all other things are equal. Indeed, the ship more likely to survive the head-on "joust" (which is both the most typical and the most dangerous battle in the game), is likely the one we'll favor.
If you're relatively new to the game and aren't good at advanced maneuvering techniques (and we were all there at one point!), I'd go back to recommending the Eagle again, because it's the *easiest* one to maneuver reasonably well, if you're the newbie sitting and spinning.
So what is "best?" Is it the fastest? The safest? The least technically demanding? The "right" mixture of all these? You decide what it means to you. But while you're deciding, you might enjoy considering the following.
Armor vs. Maneuverability:
--------------------------
The Titan has better armor, and more bots/batts. These two issues are sort-of cumulative, almost equivalent. So the Titan really does feel more secure. Just judging from the armor, it looks like the Titan is a little over 20% stronger. But if you factor in the extra bots/bats, its feels like 30% stronger or more -- it feels really significant. If you play any RPGs, you know that 30% armor bonus is huge.
The other VHFs definitely feel much more fragile. It's not a dealbreaker, though: if you're flying the Eagle or Sabre, you can play a little more defensively in order to compensate. It's a significant difference if you're concentrating on it, certainly quite noticeable, but in a way it's subtle. You get into flying one or the other and your technique naturally develops to suit.
But as far as technique goes, whether you're flying an Eagle or a Titan, you never want to remain in the *center* of the dogfight. The reason for this is not, as one might suppose, because you'll be "surrounded," but because if you're in the center, you'll have to do a lot of turning in order to keep your target in the crosshairs. All VHFs turn too slowly for this to work out well. They all definitely recommend the same basic strategy of passing *through* the furball and out the other side, killing engines or using reverse-thrust, as you turn, then starting another run through the furball. (This is the principle technique for all heavy fighters and especially combat-minded freighters.)
So basically the VHFs are all approximately the same, in terms of maneuvering and tactics, but the Titan has something like 30% more armor, which makes it pretty appealing. However, it heavily depends on...
The Loadout:
------------
If you're using missiles and pulses, the difference in maneuverability is irrelevant, and the Titan's armor gives it the clearest advantage.
However, straight gunning is really popular: sure, it's slower and therefore more dangerous, but hey it's a lot cheaper, and a heck of a lot of fun! And if you're a gunner you know that want to keep the enemy in the crosshairs as long as possible, and the Eagle is a little better at that. It's more dangerous to slow down in the middle to get those last few extra shots, but if you're favoring offense (a little hunting is probably good) and you're straight gunning, I'd probably recommend the Eagle. Doing it fast means being relatively reckless, and the Eagle is good at both.
But I would not echo conventional wisdom, which recommends the Eagle on the grounds that you can maneuver more fluidly in the center of the fight -- remember that you don't want to be or remain in the center. The Eagle is stronger because you can deal more damage as you're passing through, because you can get off an extra shot or three at your target as you pass. Once you pass, you want to go full thrust, then engine kill, and turn around for another pass: you don't want to hunt around indefinitely because that's both slower and more dangerous.
It's arguably about the same benefit you can get by slowing down a bit more in the more heavily armored Titan, which can more easily sustain the punishment you get for slowing down -- so when it comes down to it, they're probably about equal in this area. The Eagle rotates slightly more quickly, so you get to re-enter the furball slightly faster. So as I mentioned above, I'd recommend it for bleeding-edge speed runs, but that's normally not the issue.
So which one is better?!
------------------------
If you want to hypothesize a "perfect play" 1-on-1 competition, I speculate that the battle would be decided in passes, not tight maneuverings -- a situation which the Titan can force, by settling into its defensive position (flying backwards at 200-M) after the first and every subsequent pass. The secret is that the Titan uses engine kill, so it never turns *towards*. Obviously it loses the simple "turns towards" race, but it wins the battle if it turns to face its target while it's moving away from its target. So I predict that the Titan would win a "perfect play" competition. With the same reasoning in mind, I would tentatively recommend the Titan for 1-on-1 player-versus-player. -- But I'd be very interested if any expert PKers have any thoughts on this.
As for normal play, in short, it depends on the player. More specifically, it depends on the maneuvering tactics the player favors, and especially on the loadout the player chooses. Aggressive and reckless bleeding-edge speed gunner? Pick the Eagle. You like missiles and you want to live through the fight? Pick the Titan.
But most of all, remember that "best" does not necessarily mean "most fun" -- and really the best fun is in mastering them all and having a good time with all the many playing styles.
Interestingly, there really is not a simple theoretical answer: it depends on the situation. (It's cool that way -- makes the game more fun when it's balanced and you have to pick your strategy and your ship.) So nobody can tell you what ship you should fly.
-- But from what follows you can get a pretty decent idea what the parameters are.
Conventional wisdom normally says maneuverability is the most important, so the Eagle wins. Obviously maneuverability is the premium within certain bounds. But in practice, it's almost dead even, and in fact -- surprise surprise -- this contest is probably won by the Titan, the *least* maneuverable VHF.
What is "Best"?
---------------
Before I go on, I should remark that "best" is surprisingly ambiguous. If I'm doing a speed-challenge, I'll pick the Eagle because in principle the most maneuverable ship is capable of doing all the same maneuvers as the less maneuverable ship, and is a tiny bit faster; this is basically the same basis from which I recommend the Barracude for Mission 11 in the SP Campaign speed run. But if I'm not trying to break any speed records, the way I personally fly it's not going to make a difference.
And it's not all about speed, but safety plays a major part, especially where other all other things are equal. Indeed, the ship more likely to survive the head-on "joust" (which is both the most typical and the most dangerous battle in the game), is likely the one we'll favor.
If you're relatively new to the game and aren't good at advanced maneuvering techniques (and we were all there at one point!), I'd go back to recommending the Eagle again, because it's the *easiest* one to maneuver reasonably well, if you're the newbie sitting and spinning.
So what is "best?" Is it the fastest? The safest? The least technically demanding? The "right" mixture of all these? You decide what it means to you. But while you're deciding, you might enjoy considering the following.
Armor vs. Maneuverability:
--------------------------
The Titan has better armor, and more bots/batts. These two issues are sort-of cumulative, almost equivalent. So the Titan really does feel more secure. Just judging from the armor, it looks like the Titan is a little over 20% stronger. But if you factor in the extra bots/bats, its feels like 30% stronger or more -- it feels really significant. If you play any RPGs, you know that 30% armor bonus is huge.
The other VHFs definitely feel much more fragile. It's not a dealbreaker, though: if you're flying the Eagle or Sabre, you can play a little more defensively in order to compensate. It's a significant difference if you're concentrating on it, certainly quite noticeable, but in a way it's subtle. You get into flying one or the other and your technique naturally develops to suit.
But as far as technique goes, whether you're flying an Eagle or a Titan, you never want to remain in the *center* of the dogfight. The reason for this is not, as one might suppose, because you'll be "surrounded," but because if you're in the center, you'll have to do a lot of turning in order to keep your target in the crosshairs. All VHFs turn too slowly for this to work out well. They all definitely recommend the same basic strategy of passing *through* the furball and out the other side, killing engines or using reverse-thrust, as you turn, then starting another run through the furball. (This is the principle technique for all heavy fighters and especially combat-minded freighters.)
So basically the VHFs are all approximately the same, in terms of maneuvering and tactics, but the Titan has something like 30% more armor, which makes it pretty appealing. However, it heavily depends on...
The Loadout:
------------
If you're using missiles and pulses, the difference in maneuverability is irrelevant, and the Titan's armor gives it the clearest advantage.
However, straight gunning is really popular: sure, it's slower and therefore more dangerous, but hey it's a lot cheaper, and a heck of a lot of fun! And if you're a gunner you know that want to keep the enemy in the crosshairs as long as possible, and the Eagle is a little better at that. It's more dangerous to slow down in the middle to get those last few extra shots, but if you're favoring offense (a little hunting is probably good) and you're straight gunning, I'd probably recommend the Eagle. Doing it fast means being relatively reckless, and the Eagle is good at both.
But I would not echo conventional wisdom, which recommends the Eagle on the grounds that you can maneuver more fluidly in the center of the fight -- remember that you don't want to be or remain in the center. The Eagle is stronger because you can deal more damage as you're passing through, because you can get off an extra shot or three at your target as you pass. Once you pass, you want to go full thrust, then engine kill, and turn around for another pass: you don't want to hunt around indefinitely because that's both slower and more dangerous.
It's arguably about the same benefit you can get by slowing down a bit more in the more heavily armored Titan, which can more easily sustain the punishment you get for slowing down -- so when it comes down to it, they're probably about equal in this area. The Eagle rotates slightly more quickly, so you get to re-enter the furball slightly faster. So as I mentioned above, I'd recommend it for bleeding-edge speed runs, but that's normally not the issue.
So which one is better?!
------------------------
If you want to hypothesize a "perfect play" 1-on-1 competition, I speculate that the battle would be decided in passes, not tight maneuverings -- a situation which the Titan can force, by settling into its defensive position (flying backwards at 200-M) after the first and every subsequent pass. The secret is that the Titan uses engine kill, so it never turns *towards*. Obviously it loses the simple "turns towards" race, but it wins the battle if it turns to face its target while it's moving away from its target. So I predict that the Titan would win a "perfect play" competition. With the same reasoning in mind, I would tentatively recommend the Titan for 1-on-1 player-versus-player. -- But I'd be very interested if any expert PKers have any thoughts on this.
As for normal play, in short, it depends on the player. More specifically, it depends on the maneuvering tactics the player favors, and especially on the loadout the player chooses. Aggressive and reckless bleeding-edge speed gunner? Pick the Eagle. You like missiles and you want to live through the fight? Pick the Titan.
But most of all, remember that "best" does not necessarily mean "most fun" -- and really the best fun is in mastering them all and having a good time with all the many playing styles.