big question as a new player

Mercenary Center Q & A Section (Pilots Version)
1

okay so should i focus on fed recon, empire gunship, or jericho lrf?

if i play fed recon, everything will be about going as fast as possible (as in packing speed mods into every slot that has them). if i play empire gunship, everything will be about playing like a trap door spider around juicy targets, and if i play jericho lrf it will be my mission in life to pollute the area around control points every waking moment.

given my lack of experience in the game, as someone who likes to be a big factor in victories, which is the proper place to focus all of my attention so that i get super good at something valuable later on. Right now I’m leaning towards recon but i dont want to invest serious time into anything without  first consulting the experienced players.

2

Empire gunship. There are too many Interceptors and Frigates already.

3

Empire Recon is better IMO. You won’t need much in the way of speed if you’re already pretty mobile.

 

Jericho LRFs have been deposed as lords of suppression and area denial with the return of the AMS’ torpedo-stopping powers.

 

So it’ll be Empire Gunship. You might feel fragile in some cases, but you learn to treat your firepower as your armor. Most Empire ships are slow as molasses, so you might also learn a bit of positioning when flying the things.

4

yes but in a fed recon you are the fastest thing in the game, nobody can touch you and if you fill your cpu slots with proton walls… well…  I’ve got this working theory that by flying around really fast i’ll not only be able to troll the opposing team, but i’ll be able to help my team out with scouting as well

when i get my spectre falcon, i’m going to try real hard to find out if theres a hard cap to speed. Sure i’ll be really fragile, but then again

5

Due to the shield drain module and the proximity mines (which you should always have on, starting from T2) Recon is the better choice. And only then, because its proximity mines are definitely somewhat OP. 

The damage on those things, if used properly, will be worth more than 2 shots of missiles and, if used well, cannot be dodged.

And that, SoldiersFortune,  is why there are so many.

With that being said, do not focus on speed so much as acceleration; Speed will come from your warp. Also, aim for the

implant Mk.5 from the federation. It gives a big increase to your side thrusts, and, in an interceptor, that is very good to have. 

P.s. use energy regeneration modules. you will have unlimited thrust with those. (Empire recons, at least.) 

6

Due to the shield drain module and the proximity mines (which you should always have on, starting from T2) Recon is the better choice. And only then, because its proximity mines are definitely somewhat OP. 

The damage on those things, if used properly, will be worth more than 2 shots of missiles and, if used well, cannot be dodged.

And that, SoldiersFortune,  is why there are so many.

With that being said, do not focus on speed so much as acceleration; Speed will come from your warp. Also, aim for the

implant Mk.5 from the federation. It gives a big increase to your side thrusts, and, in an interceptor, that is very good to have. 

P.s. use energy regeneration modules. you will have unlimited thrust with those. (Empire recons, at least.) 

dont focus on speed? who needs warp when you’re pushing almost 1000m/s. actually on that note, practically 28,000 m/s is silly, entire map in one warp, exit anywhere by strafe dropping.

plus this lets me take advantage of the 50% speed things quite a bit with set throttle. half speed is 4-500 m/s lol.

yes i’ll be fragile, but recon’s job is to be a very annoying eyeball from hell first, and killer second

7

P.s. use energy regeneration modules. you will have unlimited thrust with those. (Empire recons, at least.) 

 

It is a great honor to draw upon your wisdom, O dread lord of warbirds.

8

Just play them all :stuck_out_tongue:

Like always: a different pick for a different situation

9

when i get my spectre falcon, i’m going to try real hard to find out if theres a hard cap to speed. Sure i’ll be really fragile, but then again

You can reach that with T3 Federate Ceptors and even their Fighters, 700m/s

10

There’s a 700m/s hard speed limit. You can easily reach 600+ on fed recons

 

In case you go for recon

Don’t just focus on being the fastest, focus on being agile as well

Things like acceleration and rotation speed will often help you more than velocity will. Also, you’ll want to used AB for long durations in order to truly benefit from all that increased speed so make sure your AB energy consumption is less than your energy regen

If you only have one energy slot use emergency barriers on it. Don’t even think about switching that for something else

 

Use afterburner energy reduction implant

11

If you only have one energy slot use emergency barriers on it. Don’t even think about switching that for something else

Unless it’s a Dwarf 2.  I swear, my survivability went up with an Mk.II Voltage Regulator rather than EB.

12

There’s a 700m/s hard speed limit. You can easily reach 600+ on fed recons

 

Now the important things.

Don’t focus on being the fastest, focus on being the most agile.

Things like acceleration and rotation speed will often help you more than velocity will. Also, you’ll want to used AB for long durations in order to truly benefit from all that increased speed so make sure your AB energy consumption is less than your energy regen

If you only have one energy slot use emergency barriers on it. Don’t even think about switching that for something else

 

Use afterburner energy reduction implant

700m/s hard limit? dammit…  I got my hopes up.  See this is the kind of stuff I made the thread for, thank you… on the other hand i could just fly around a 670 without boost all day, using ab to accelerate when I need to.

 if i remember correctly spectre falcon  goes 2/3/2/1/1, but I definitely want to hit the hard cap on speed so I’ll see if i can do that without putting speed mods in the engine slots and still fitting an e-barrier.

i think covert ops is pretty neat, but honestly they’re just another damage class and a very fragile one at that.  I’ve also always been gimpy when it comes to offense, but one of the hardest people to kill when it comes to defense, and thats why something that is very agile and vast, and is about subverting the enemy’s force through smart movement and evasion is my style.

i’m also pretty good with gunships, but they’re honestly in the same boat.  defensive placement is key, bait is complementary, and when the timing is right you appear like some kind of cop and arrest all the things. but again its a damage class, and while damage classes make opponents scramble, trying to steal their beacons and making them chase you around is a much better kind of scramble, because then your teams damage classes have a much easier target.

although the real question here is now down to weapon.  I like the blasters because they let me agitate people into chasing me, the damage isnt half bad either, but its emp and the needle system is no more…

rails seems like the reasonable choice, for killing other interceptors. i have the shield drain and that means kinetic would be effective in those situations or so i think.

13

I would pick fed Recon. After playing Sai I felt in love with them, they are fast and deadly, they have op mines and shield drain. And also an auto scape buttom… 

14

Fed recons just don’t really have the durability though to get in close for a shield drain.   Fed recon is more of a scout ship while Empire recon is more of a frontline ship.   Knowing this you’d probably be best using plasma guns on your recon for the range and accuracy since you’ll rarely get close enough to use shrapnel or pulse lasers (both of which are horribly inaccurate past 800m)

15

Fed recons just don’t really have the durability though to get in close for a shield drain.   Fed recon is more of a scout ship while Empire recon is more of a frontline ship.   Knowing this you’d probably be best using plasma guns on your recon for the range and accuracy since you’ll rarely get close enough to use shrapnel or pulse lasers (both of which are horribly inaccurate past 800m)

Never had a problem staying alive in enemy range once i have parasitic running (Swift eagle: 50% bonus + module effect increase implant)

Guards are food :smiley:

16

Fed recons just don’t really have the durability though to get in close for a shield drain.   Fed recon is more of a scout ship while Empire recon is more of a frontline ship.   Knowing this you’d probably be best using plasma guns on your recon for the range and accuracy since you’ll rarely get close enough to use shrapnel or pulse lasers (both of which are horribly inaccurate past 800m)

yes, scouting is what i’m interested in.

17

yes, scouting is what i’m interested in.

 

In what way do you plan on helping your team while you do that?

18

If you want to scout, then empire recons are better, multiple cpu slots allow you to just that

19

In what way do you plan on helping your team while you do that?

I’ve had a few matches recently that have pissed me off because I get attacked by ships with 4km+ weapon range on an ion emitter, and not even having sensor range to see anything other than a red beam.

20

I’ve had a few matches recently that have pissed me off because I get attacked by ships with 4km+ weapon range on an ion emitter, and not even having sensor range to see anything other than a red beam.

 

I’ve had people laser me from their spawn! 13km lasers. Crazy stuff 

 

Anyway, unless you both play in a squad there’s fair chances that you’ll not get the scout to place drones on your target. You can ping, sure, but there’s many people doing that already to random targets. He certainly can’t drone the entire team (module CD, drone time-out and combat reboot)

Its sad that the game doesn’t have as much tactical play as its supposed to have.

 

Lack of communication

 

That’s one reason some matches are boring, there’s no co-ordination. That’s also the reason squads dominated battles to a point where devs had to basically punish people for making squads.