I was really enjoying the Axe and Lynx ships while I was getting started, but now that I’ve moved up to T2 matches, I’ve been getting absolutely slaughtered in my Machete and Fox. Most of the top ships in my games are Interceptors(Swifts) and Frigates…I’ve heard that Fighters diminish in usefulness, but are they really just not worth it in T2? Or do I need to save up for the higher ranked T2 fighters?
Gunships and command fighters can be made to work even if it’s not the top end one.
But your current predicament has more to do with experienced pilots equipped with rare modules still flying the lower tiers than anything else. Just a guess. Play with the team, you’ll get more mileage from whatever ship that way.
They are still useful, you need to start focusing on the class strengths for T2 and avoiding bad situations, rather than blind killing. Lower rank ships and modules work fine, just know how to use them.
Command ships provide powerful buffs, and are fairly durable. Nice source of continuous damage with some speed. Know when to activate that Valkyrie for max team effectiveness. Overall fairly simple to play and get a good score.
Gunships do the most damage, but it takes time to learn when to pop your modules. Bug out and act like a command ship during cooldowns. Depending on your choice of guns, you can specialize on taking out frigates, other fighters, or interceptors.
Tacklers are my favorite fighter but are under appreciated. Great at picking off annoying interceptors, which are everywhere. They work great in detonation or combat recon.
Biggest mistake playing a fighter in T2 is charging in and getting ganked by interceptors; if you stay near an engineer, the enemies will be more likely to go after the engineer and you can pick ships off when they neglect you.
Interceptors are really popular in T2 now, I can understand why it seems like they get the better scores. Fighters are still viable though, especially anti-interceptor. You will have to learn to kill interceptors fast though. Players brave enough to field frigates, especially engineers, into those interceptor swarms tend to be skilled as they understand teamwork and map awareness, which explains their scores.
Players brave enough to field frigates, especially engineers, into those interceptor swarms tend to be skilled as they understand teamwork and map awareness, which explains their scores.
There’s always the foolishly brave, and the cowardly engineers who warp to safety the moment their shields fail (or possibly, much earlier).
I digress.
Generally speaking, IMO for fighters, you have to pick out targets to gank (ping an enemy and grab some allies to kill it together, or find someone already being targeted by a few allies) and speed up the process of killing it. Know when to disengage as well, and be decisive about it. Gunships and tacklers are fragile once their defense mechanisms are on cooldown (tackler’s cloak, gunship’s speed boosts).
Command fighters are a good all-around ship. You have enough firepower and durability plus a damage boost for yourself and allies. Gunships have excellent damage, good for sweeping through weakened enemies, and they can pump their speed to ridiculous levels in detonation mode when carrying the bomb. Tacklers are now the only ships capable of catching up to a fleeing inty (enemy capt, or bomb carrier); speed debuffs are pretty heinous.
I can think of three good reasons based on my experience:
- Machete Type S with stab rails = death machine if you know how to fly it. Try to fly “inconspicuous,” choose your shots well and you’ll have 4+ kills with a ton of assists. A good Machete pilot in a combat recon or domination game is utterly invaluable.
And with blue buffs, you’ll actually be useful.
- Kalah - my goodness, this thing is badass. If you dish out the sheckels to buy one, pimp it with either assault plasma or stab rails. Laugh as you melt frigs and other gunships.
- Wolf - I only recently started flying T3, but I"m having good teims with the Wolf w/ heavy lasers.
I don’t fly tacklers too much, but their role is very much underrated (especially in detonation games). Lots of people swear by the Fox-M.
Ah, Spooky, I know your pain all too well.
As someone who is currently leveling a Tackler in T2, I know the pain that all Fighter pilots suffer in that tier, so let me offer you my thoughts.
Command Fighters:
There will always be a place for these puppies. As stated, the Machete type S is a wonderful ship, able to buff the entire team even when they begin to spread out… if positioned right. If you are unsure of what you want to fly, the Command Fighter would always be the ship I recommend. Stay close to your allies, learn when to use the Diffusion Shield and you can go far.
I won’t lie though; you will have days where you feel seriously outclassed. If that feeling isn’t going away after a few weeks of play, then you should probably move on and find either an Interceptor or a Frigate to use.
Tackler Fighters:
Ah, the unsung heroes of Tier 2. Many a-time the noble Tackler has turned the tide of battle by soaring in, reducing the enemy Covert Ops to a sluggish crawl, and crying “Trolololol!” at the top of his lungs as he vanishes from sight with the Chameleon Cloak.
Tacklers are, to my mind, a difficult ship to use right. They don’t pack the punch of other ships, their survivability isn’t anything to write home about, and they’re too slow to run from trouble unless you have allies distracting your would-be killer. When your modules are active you can make one ship’s life a living hell, but you’ve got no protection against multiple ships, nor can you really shine while your modules are recharging.
I am hesitant to say you shouldn’t fly a Tackler, but I will say that you need a certain kind of mindset for these ships. You need to be willing to play a supporting role; to be the unsung hero of the team who makes the kills that matter, not the one who gets a Buff Assist every six seconds. You might never have your team singing your praises, but learn to love the Tackler and you’ll have every Bomb Carrier in the Sector cursing your name.
Gunship Fighters:
Don’t bother. Seriously, just don’t. As a Gunship you have no squad-buffs, no debuffs, and nothing to contribute to the team beyond your firepower. That might sound great, but frankly if all you want to do is fly around shooting people you’d do better in a Command - they’re harder to kill and you get Buff Assists.
If you do try to fly a Gunship, then you’ll have to learn that your moment to shine is a brief window that’s open for about 30 seconds between activating Overdrive, and Overdrive running out. In the downtime in between you’re just a Tackler without a cloak, so you might as well buy a bullseye sticker to keep yourself in the right mindset.
Gunships can be good, and they can seriously hurt in the right time and place, but I would never advise a player to fly a Gunship if they can avoid it. The one exception is if you an Empire pilot - the Hercules Arrow is simply not good enough for matches against Tier 2 ships. If you’re going Empire, then I’d begrudging suggest using their Gunships… but my first choice would always be to rank up Jericho as well and grab that sweet, sweet Machete type S…