Fighters main weapon damage should be increased by 10 or 15%. Especially for gunships and command fighters. If a fighter pilot needs 20 or 30 seconds to destroy frigate (engy or guard) - one on one … why shoud he fly a fighter in the first place. With the removal of doomsday missiles in T3 and T4, gap between these classes only increased. Or this will become frigate game, if it isnt already.
Differences in speed are just not enough. Federation frigates are faster or equal than some empire or jericho fighters - so … why to use fighters anyway.
This is my opinion. I m relatively new here - not a veteran as many of this forum members are and I m intrested in what more expirianced and skilled pilots have to say about this topic.
Second thing that I want to address here (maybe it is not the right place but it is also some kind of balancing question) is removal of doomsday missiles. Devs wrote on patch forum - “These weapons used to be available on all tiers, making life easier for the better-developed pilots”. As a worse-developed pilot this makes my life much harder becouse now I dont have any weapon to counter fully (purple or orange) equiped ships especially frigates. That means less kills more deaths - less fun for new or middle tier pilots - less players on the servers - much more time for waiting. Maybe this is the point where most members of this forum will disagree.
Sorry about my english.
The problem is that gunships are already very strong. Try equipping singularity cannon with supernova ammo and firestorm missiles. The firestrom missiles were buffed in the last patch and can do up to 10k damage, depending on the frigate’s thermal resists. This is as much as a doomsday anyway.
As for commands, there can be some very nice builds with three capacitor slots, if you are willing to sacrifice your diffusion tank. For example assault railguns + 3 iridium heatsinks has a high rate of fire and high damage. Also with the ion warhead missiles, you are really a pain in the a** to frigates by switching off their heals and other modules!
To conclude, no I don’t think we should increase the damage.
Gunships are already frigate killers. Commands can be with good valkirie, diffusion shield and tank management.
Of course what you can’t expect is to fight 1 on 1 on a single guard and win. Those things are made for that. You need to attack guards 2 on 1 to deny their phase shield advantage.
Also, you are more manoeuvrable, strafe and move around the frigate to avoid the damage.
Guys I really respect your opinion and your experiance…
Look at the situation at hand - T3 - I m behind probably fully tanked guard (solo, no engy around to heal it), and firing at him with purple ion beam ( on my Achilles with iridium heatsink ) and I needed 20+ seconds to kill him (without aiming overcharge). Dont forget that Achilles has 7% bonus damage more then rest of t3/t4 gunships. What about commands - yes they are built to withstand damage not to inflict one - but if i put all modules for firing and damage - not for speed or energy or maneuverability, i m flying with a “frigate brick” not a fighter (look at the speeds of empire gunship or jericho command). Then why should people fly with fighters (tacklers not included here). Or maybe to nerf frigate hull and shield …
Firestorm missiles are unguided so … hevy guided missile is different category … Maybe to nerf doomsday missile maneuverability but not much … Also ints shoud not have the option to equip hevy missiles like doomsday or to have only one per cartridge. It has to be means to hurt frigate or unwary fighter pilot … And also it gives more dynamics to fighting.
This is only one opinion more not a request or something like that. I have in mind that all dev team and test pilots think about balancing constantly.
It will always take a long time to kill guards 1v1 but you can make it better by using different damage types - if you are using ion emitter, perhaps try using EM missiles. While his phase shield is set to thermal the EM missile will do a nice amount of damage. Also learn how to position so that you can sneak up on the frigate where you can, or wait for a team mate to distract it then attack.
Rennie thnx for advice … it is a fact that I dont have the skill as more expirienced pilots with 4000 - 5000 and more battles jet, but strategy is something that I understand very, very well. Of course there is a better way but what i m saying is that in general fighters are underpowered especially their main weapon. Now when there is not heavy missile like doomsday difference between fighters and frigates is even bigger.
Rennie thnx for advice … it is a fact that I dont have the skill as more expirienced pilots with 4000 - 5000 and more battles jet, but strategy is something that I understand very, very well. Of course there is a better way but what i m saying is that in general fighters are underpowered especially their main weapon. Now when there is not heavy missile like doomsday difference between fighters and frigates is even bigger.
On Achiles equip ion emmiters (2 iridium heatsinks) kinetic missiles and Particle purge,this was you will have all 3 dmg types and guards will die faster.
1.) Commands are not really the damage dealers of the team. They are meant to provide buffs to teammates and (in later tiers) tank incoming damage. However as Evis said, a properly outfitted command can dish out some pretty substantial damage.
2.) Gunships, when properly outfitted, are some of the best damage dealers in the game. They are only second to covert ops in terms of burst damage - however they can participate in big fights more frequently than covops. A buff in damage as you suggest would make them seriously overpowered - think of the Spark with a 40% damage increase _without _the Aura’s Valkyrie system.
3.) Tacklers are never meant to fight 1v1 versus anyone, except the occaisonal interceptor (since that is their prey). They simply do not have the damage output required to slug it out, which is what their original concept entails. They are meant to surprise and weaken enemies for coordinated teammates to easily take down.
Tip: As people have said above, the best way to take down a guard is in a group. If that cannot be done easily, bring at least two different types of damage so that the guard cannot hardtank your incoming DPS. An example is EM missiles and ion emitters - that combination works very well on guards to reduce resists and exploit their shield’s vulnerability against EM. A great example of 3 different types of damage is Nightmare’s suggestion above mine.
Also, keep in mind that T5 gunships are very strong, even ridiculously so. The DPS that ships can dish out at that tier will wreck a guard in seconds.
1.) Commands are not really the damage dealers of the team. They are meant to provide buffs to teammates and (in later tiers) tank incoming damage. However as Evis said, a properly outfitted command can dish out some pretty substantial damage.
2.) Gunships, when properly outfitted, are some of the best damage dealers in the game. They are only second to covert ops in terms of burst damage - however they can participate in big fights more frequently than covops. A buff in damage as you suggest would make them seriously overpowered - think of the Spark with a 40% damage increase _without _the Aura’s Valkyrie system.
3.) Tacklers are never meant to fight 1v1 versus anyone, except the occaisonal interceptor (since that is their prey). They simply do not have the damage output required to slug it out, which is what their original concept entails. They are meant to surprise and weaken enemies for coordinated teammates to easily take down.
Tip: As people have said above, the best way to take down a guard is in a group. If that cannot be done easily, bring at least two different types of damage so that the guard cannot hardtank your incoming DPS. An example is EM missiles and ion emitters - that combination works very well on guards to reduce resists and exploit their shield’s vulnerability against EM. A great example of 3 different types of damage is Nightmare’s suggestion above mine.
Also, keep in mind that T5 gunships are very strong, even ridiculously so. The DPS that ships can dish out at that tier will wreck a guard in seconds.
Sparks can still take down my Naga in five or six shots. xxxx hurts, yo.