Three observations:

1. Trade lanes make escort services to protect from NPCs almost worthless.

If a player hasn't learned how to dodge fire and wait for the trade ring to come back up, he needs to DIE a few times and learn from experience.

2. You cannot stop PKs after cargo ships

This is simply because ANY good PK has come to the realization that PLAYER ships drop nothing. That said, it is more efficient to go straight for the cargo hauler, kill him and then let his escorts chop you to bits. After all, you don't lose or gain anything in the process, and it is absolutely impossible to save the cargo ship under these circumstances. If players actually dropped the cargo they lose when they die, there might be a place for your service, because the PK would try to survive to cash in the gain.

3. Why Banshee? The Drake is a much better ship.

Some of our members use Banshees because RES stands for RHEINLAND Escort service. We only fly Rheinland, Civilian (cept Eagle), and Bounty Hunter Ships. No Kusari ships, besides, the Banshee can take much more punishment.

Gen Solo, I never have fired on any player who is in a freigher except if they fire on me first. I dont think any of our members are lame enough to PK freighters owned by other players.

Also, Default, if you have actually played as a freighter, you would know that PKers tell other players to drop their cargo or be killed. That is what we protect from, and also when we escort thru the Omicrons, you can meet pretty decent NPC attacks. We protect from that too. Put simply, if you dont think you need our service, thats fine. We can repsect that. But there are numerous players who like to take precautions by hiring us for a small fee to ensure that their cargo gets to their destnation.



Edited by - a51falcon on 11-05-2003 20:51:07

The Drake is in no way better than the Banshee, where the hell did you get that idea? Have fun with even CRAPPIER weapons on the Drake than on the Banshee, you'd never get a VHF shields down.

Edited by - CoOlDuDe on 11-05-2003 20:54:49

We would NEVER, and I mean NEVER fire on somebody who refused our service. If you are good enough to fly your route on your own, more power to you. We're here to help those who CANT fly their route safely. Also, the Banshee is nearly as maneuverable as the Drake, and is significantly better armored, shielded, and armed. Personally I like the Valkyrie, since I have it set up perfectly for PvP combat now, and can take on a player piloted VHF unless theyre a great pilot.

As far as how useful or necessary the escort service is, it doesn't really matter does it? It is a chance to interact with other players in a cooperative effort. It's fun and it takes some of the stress off of the frieghter pilot. Yeah I could have stayed alive on my own, but for the few bucks it cost it was worth having the protection even against NPCs.

Ne frustra vixisse videar

Edited by - Holliday on 11-05-2003 22:05:43

Drake vs. Banshee

I don't think this one's as clear cut as people make. The game description says the Banshee is the best light fighter, but it also says the 'Titan' is quite simply, the one (ROFL).

I've tried both for a while (although I must admit I have used the Drake more). The drake is far more agile - test this by counting the number of complete spins you can do in 1 min - for the Drake, it comes out to over 16 wheras the Banshee manages just 12.5, putting it on a par with the Eagle (!) for agility. This means that the Drake turns a full circle about a second faster than the Banshee - this is a substantial advantage.

The point I will concede is the shielding - the Banshee can equip class 7, making its shields about 30% better than the Drakes. However, vs. the AI, I've noticed they don't really tend to be able to hit the Drake.

Finally, weapons. Assuming that you go for 1 shield killer + 3 hull killers, there is actually surprisingly little in it. I prefer to match speed on all my guns, meaning I would equip the Drake with a Borocco + Pyros weapons. For the Banshee, I'd be tempted by a Debilitator + 3 sunblasts (2 A's + 1 B ). The Banshee with this load out gets about 25% more damage over time, but with the Drakes extra agility you can probably keep its gun on the target much better.

Sorry for the long post and all, but I really don't like the way that everyone says the Banshee is the best LF almost as a mantra. I myself have on one of the servers I play on traded down from an Eagle with optimised loadout to the Drake outfitted as above, and I enjoy it. With the Drake, I can easily take on Level 32-34 missions, possibly higher if they are of the assassinate or destroy base (without having to kill all enemies) types.

Edited because B + ) comes out as some sort of smiley face

Edited by - case on 12-05-2003 01:12:54

Hmm, more shields, more armor, more cargo, more bats/bots... I think I'll take the Banshee.

Also, if anyone would really bother to READ... no one in the group even flies a Banshee anymore.

Edited by - CoOlDuDe on 12-05-2003 01:00:36

I'd take the banshee over it as well.. One more thing, I dun think ANY RES member has attacked a frieghter for dismissing our service.. Lus we don't even ask people more than half the time! They come to us..... And default user.................. just one word.............. alright maybe more that one Moron....... (who only thinks that everyone beleives exactly what he does)

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Those who watch their backs meet death from the front.

'Shantaly made and shantaly maintained.... But good killin' grounds none the less[[[!' Korgen BGII

Falcon: let's get one thing straight. Very few players will drop their cargo when asked, it's this little thing called pride.

Instead, they will take the opportunity to take a few pot shots at you while pretending to make the drop, or they will try to run and in general be a pain. Most experienced PKs give up the whole idea after they realize this, attacking NPC transports is generally more lucrative. But they don't give up the chase, so instead if giving the players the option to drop, they just hunt them down.

Cool: the Drake vs Banshee is cut-and-dried. The Banshee is a much larger target than the Drake, and has been measured to have around a %25-33 slower turning rate. In other words, CAPABLE pilots prefer the one they can actually maneuver. If DA had made a Banshee as fast as the Drake, we'd both be happy.

And yes, you CAN outfit it with weapons that can puncture a class 10 shield. The Xenos make the most efficient, fast and deadly Class 5 and 6 weapons in the game, the Tarantula series. Add in an Adv Stunpulse or Corsair Class 5 shield killer and you're set.

Unfortunately, the Banshee is unable to benefit from these exceptional weapons, because a Class 7 version does not exist. You're stuck with 600/600 weapons if you want highest efficiency.

One more thing Cool, you forget that you're going to be ganging up on ships. What idiot group wouldn't wear down a target together? The key aspect of the Drake is it's capable of acting as a rabbit, AND SURVIVING: your enemies chase you while a couple of your wingmen tear them apart.

Cr: I'd like to hear something more intelligent.

How about you start by EXPLAINING to the world why defaultuser = moron, you moron.

Edited by - defaultuser on 12-05-2003 05:36:49

Myabe it's just that i'm exceptionally tired... but what on earth is going on? Are we fighting about things as silly as whether a banshee or drake are better? I don't think anyone in RES right now flies either. And the fact is that people do enjoy having us along for the ride. The key is perception. If people think it's worth 20k to have another pilot fly wing, then that's what matters, whether or not we can stop a pkr. Pesonally, i haven't lost a client yet to pkrs.

I'm too tired to deal with this now. Can we try to get a grasp on the situation before morning?

Well said Cyn. So what if some people think that different ships are better than others - who cares? People are entitled to their own opinion, so for gods sake don't start insulting somebody just because they prefer different ships to you.

(By the way, the Drom is far superior to both the Drake and the Banshee )

No way! 0.0 I'd take the rhino over ANY of them anyday! What's wrong with you people!?

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Those who watch their backs meet death from the front.

'Shantaly made and shantaly maintained.... But good killin' grounds none the less[[[!' Korgen BGII

To defaultuser: Oh boy, you must be TEH FREELANCER EXPART! I love how you brought up "CAPABLE PILOTS" since everyone's opinion must be the exact same as yours and everyone must love the Drake. Sorry, I don't want a damn Drake orgy on the server. And yes, the reason I choose the Banshee is because I'm not a good pilot, of course. Go screw yourself, stupid ****.

Guys,

About my post re Drake vs Banshee - I wasn't saying that anyone should use either one, I was just trying to put down the facts as I have tested them. I think they are both nice ships and my preference would be for people to use more than just the 3 VHFs that are class 10 capable (or the Drom / Humpback if flying freight). I support wholeheartedly the way that people in this thread are using some of the other ships out there (the BH models, the Falcon and so on).

As such, I really like the ship mods coming out and hope they add variety in due course when the big servers adopt them.

I think the RES idea is really good - its much more fun when you have your own goals / ways of doing interesting stuff in the game. I don't know if you guys would be interested in my services at some point (I just traded up to an eagle on Elite, and am already beginning to somewhat regret it ... )

I say kudos to you guys for setting up RES - I think more players should look for interesting ways to spend their time on Elite (read: don't just try and get the uber Eagle with 4 nomads and 2 del cids and then perform PvP vs people in freighters / LFs because you're playing an 'evil' role). I think that if more people did this kind of thing, it would make the game more fun for everyone, and also encourage mod builders to come up with more ideas that add 'colour' rather than just give more ships / weapons / whatever.

For example, one thing that people seem to be working on is customised paint jobs - this would be so cool if you could have all of the RES guys decked out in a particular paint job - then the choice of ship would be less necessary as there would be a common theme. This is something that the server admins would need to support as well, e.g. only allowing 'affiliated' players access to the paint jobs.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings, and if you guys would be willing to consider me for the RES outfit, I would be very flattered. Ciao