Depends how big my guns are If I can shoot you once, then you're pretty much dead

I prefer the Sabre which happens to be a Very Heavy Fighter. Good luck in your light fighter against it hehe Actually when it comes down to it, it's the pilot more than anything. If you have a bad pilot in a Sabre and a ace pilot in a Hawk, the Hawk pilot might very well pull off the win even with the Sabre's superior firepower and shields.

If the difference in turning was bigger, probably light, but I didn't notice that HUGE a difference, so probably heavy. I say probably because I honestly haven't played enough in enough ships to tell you for sure yet.

You really have to compare more along the lines of the same general grouping of fighter: A Hawk is completely outside the league of a Saber.

A more reasonable comparison would be a Hawk against a Dragon, or a Patriot against a Defender.

Even in the groups of fighters classified as Very Heavy, there's still a light and heavy: The Eagle is the "light" VHF, retaining much of the nice handling of LFs, and the Saber and Titan are the heavy VHFs, with all the cumbersome weaponry or armor inherent.

In singleplayer, Heavy Fighters are generally a better deal. Except for a few annoying (spoiler!) Nomad fighters near the end of the plot missions, none of the Light Fighter pilots in the game are huge annoyances that can't be killed easily from an HF.

In multiplayer, on the other hand, the LF's manuverability in the hands of a skilled pilot could be a huge advantage.

-Nogana Naishi
[email protected]

I prefer heavy fighters aswell. I started over after screwing up on that mission where you attack Tegaki's (sp?) base, and I was using a dromedary because I'd been trading for money, and I forgot to buy a HF instead, because I figured with all the massive firepower I had, I could kill those 50 fighters. I couldn't. I started over, and I'll bet that with a good HF I'll be able to take em out. It all depends on the pilot, really, but a LF or freighter doesn't work too well against those guys in my experience. But it's all in the pilot. A superior pilot flying a low-end LF could take out an average pilot in a titan, I'll bet.

I myself prefer heavy fighters. More particularly, the Anubis. Partially because I'm a ZOE fan and the Anubis Oribital Frame rocks in that series. But also because the design is pretty cool and it can be armed rather well. True, it's not the best overall but it is my personal favorite. As far as which is better between light and heavy fighters... I've never had a problem maneuvering in a heavy fighter against groups of light fighters. With better firepower and stronger defenses, heavy fighters dominate.

In my noobish experience (only liberty and bretonian ships) I'm leaning towards the light fighters for combat, mainly because the dogfighting technique against the AI is to get on one guys tail and stay on it until he's dead.

I've been only slightly more successful dogfighting with a HF than with a freighter. On the upside, you can really mess up a lot of the lesser threats with a freighter

Course, the heavies are the only ones that can carry torpedoes. Then again, I haven't needed any of those yet...

ER

After testing a handful of ships (starflyer, patriot, defender, cavalier, drake, hawk, and eagle) I think I've gotta go with the Very Heavy Fight chassis. Sure, between them all I think the drake has the highest maneuverability, but the eagle isn't that far behind. I even think it has a tighter turning radius than the patriot (though I'm not positive on that one so don't quote me). This combined with 6/1 gun mounts and a default shield of 4303 makes it to be quite a slayer.

I rely heavily on my thrusters to dodge fire, which I suspect is a carry-over from my piloting style in Tribes2(just because the controls are so similar). That and a lot of random maneuvers, skimming large objects, etc.

I've had very good results in SP so far with freighters in particular. I have to say, and it may seem like bragging, I take fewer hits in freighters than I do in fighters. While I was using a defender, I got shot down at least once a mission. When I got my hands on a clydesdale, I only used one repair bot. And it's not because of the armor difference, either, I took fewer hits in the freighter.

It's a matter of what you're more suited for.


Reaper: $200,000,000.
Rockets: $100,000
The look on that pilot's face when you launch a full pod of screamers up his tailpipe: priceless

Actually I am on Blood Dragons' base but I still use the Crusader (I got it early in Bretonia space) and it still rocks! The only change I made lately was the torpedo launcher to use against heavy foes.
That's the only good heavy fighter I've seen so far. Plus the look is original (like a mutant fish/bird.

-----

Bazil, M. P.
Webmaster and founder of Roughnecks -Freelancer Division
"If you would care to follow me... " -- DEATH of the Discworld

I prefer the very heavy fighters myself, the Sabre to be exact, with the sheer offensive and defensive power, there's just no comparison. I doubt one will survive the first pass in a light fighter against a Sabre with lvl 10 shields and nomad weapons, the AIs may be bad shots, but some of us have good aim and knows how to use afterburn and strafing to our advantage.

I used to really love light fighters but i've moved on to a heavy fighter because i've gotten a lot better at killing the engines around turns, strafing, after burning, and tracking targets. However, if there was a light fighter that could hold level 10 weapons I would probably use that.

I had the Crusader for a large portion of the single player campaign. I purchased it as soon as I got into Bretonian space. Before that I had the Starflier (of course), the Patriot, and the Defender. The Defender lasted until I got to Bretonia. I sold the Crusader and bought the Hawk at the Blood Dragons' base. As soon as I had the chance to buy the Anubis I did. I had no problem getting rid of the Hawk. There were a few times when I wished I had kept the Crusader. But I've had the Anubis ever since I bought it.