Well, I don't think it really has anything to do with the fact its a freighters- it just has more weapon space and armor than what the fighters had. The next step up fighter would probably be better than the Rhino. But how can you not love a Rhino..

i just got it and i like it already. took my awhile.

-Nuff Said-
-Hell is only a place you visit when your not living, thats why when you meet me your in hell-

its sluggish like hell and can not use high energy weapons, so really I take a usefull fighter over it anyday for a fight, heck even a defender kills a lot faster and more imporant dies a lot harder.

Supporter and Founder of the :p for smilies Campange

We want :p

yeah but rhino lasts longer due to heavy armor. and its nto so bad. get more and better gunhs. dont buy from pittsburg they have crapship. and dont waste ur money on mines unless your LOOKING for fights. those diversions come in handy at times too. and what better for trading in the demo than the rhino?

-Nuff Said-
-Hell is only a place you visit when your not living, thats why when you meet me your in hell-

How are Pittsburg Rhinos different from other Rhinos?

no the guns, they sell crappy guns. but to be on the safe side i would buy my rhino from manhatten.

-I trade for a living, rouges piss me off, come get me, catch me if you can, i will leave you in the dust, or you'll die trying, take your pick.-

@Heretic Inc. We trade because we own.@

I can't think of being a Freigther pilot. From the first time I bought the LSF Fighter, up to Battleship Missouri (Were I got my Heavy FIgther) I just feels unatural being a Trader. It was easier in IW2 -EoC, you have an AI shipper. But this game is good.

I used to hate weddings; all the Grandmas would poke me and say, "You're next sonny!" They stopped doing that when i started to do it to them at funerals.

standard argument in space sims, agaility vs firepower, the ship with heaviest armour and firepower may be able to swat the other one out of the sky like a bug, but if it can't hit the other ship, and is getting constantly pounded its not going to to win
when sl began wolverines where at least as popular as shrouds, as people got better at dodging wolverines pretty muched stopped getting played
in the end it'll all swing one way depending on how blananced the game is, either everyone will fly high speed light stuff, or everyone will fly mini battleships
(unless theres an all in one ship)

right, but we speak here of ships with turrets, in other words nearly 360 degree fire arcs. flying tanks, not bricks

and rockets cost you money

still frighter are to extrem slugish, but heavy fighers highly armed are imo better than light armed more agile fighers. (alone for the simple fact that you can make with them faster money and still able to defend your self, and well all weapons have a good firearc, so the agilltiy problem is not that much, furthermore all ships can turn with engine kill within not much more than a second)

So the SL rule does not really fit for freelancer
(and btw there is no fishing in fl, so one of the advantages of the fast ships is gone)

You know what i'm doing now for kicks? I sold my shield system as well as the nano bots and shield batteries (what would i do with them anyway when having no shields?), i do trading runs and see how far i can get. There's alway this scary *bang* when they hit the hull of my poor old Rhino and it's really scary and intense. You should give it a try.

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"In all likelihood you're going to die out there. We're all going to die out there, but none of us needs to be reminded of that fact. So you die, you never existed." - Lt. Cmdr. 'Angel' Devereaux

What I think is the best comprimise is the heavy fighter. Most (all?) have at least one turret mount, and several weapon mounts. They also have great armor, good manuverablity, and a modest amount of cargo space.

I may bounce back and forth between a light and heavy fighter, but I don't think I'll ever bother with a freighter unless I find a real need for the extra cargo space. Freighters are also grossly underpowered. The heavy fighters have the power to handle firing multiple guns repeatedly or a long period of time.

One thing I don't see many people talking about is how they use their guns in combat. I've found that by mounting two higher class guns that are more effective against shields, and then a couple that do more damage to hulls, you can switch between the two sets, and never worry about draining you gun energy down to nothing. Personally, I don't really care for missiles at this point, because they cost to much, and don't hit their target as often as you like them too.

I like the light fighter over the Rino. It is a lot quicker to move around in a heavy dogfight and you can mount 4 guns on it...so plenty of firepower. The one thing about Freelancer that bugs me is the way the turrets are used. I would think turrets on a freighter would be to use them for defense of a rear or side attack while your busy firing at the ship in front of you. I remember in WC and Privateer the rear turrets would fire at the attackers all on thier own. And if you wanted to..you could jump in the turret seat and do the firing. The turrets in Freelancer seem to be just more places to mount extra guns.

Tiger, use turret view, and get your frighter going to your destination, this way you can keep the enemys away from you and still going fast to the next waypoint.

i imagine i'll be flying a somethign slow with a lot of capacity initially till i've made a decent amount of money, then will switch to a fighter once i've got the money to keep replacing it

oh and sheild batterys are just anoying, how you gonna be able to kill osmething when you have to knock the sheilds down 20 times