I wanted to ask you, fellow pilots, about your experiences and opinions when playing as (or against) Tier 2 (rank 6) Interceptors.
Which one of the 3 types of Interceptors did you like the most?
What do you consider each type’s strengths and weaknesses?
How useful are their abilities (modules) in Tier 2?
Any advice, experience and hits you can provide about T2 (rank 6) Interceptors would be awesome 
In T2 ONLY
Fed CovOp > Recon > ECM
ECMs are more of a squad disabler than a solo pew pew pew ship, and in T2 it is not even developed yet, lack of energy, no stasis makes big MEH in T2
recons are cool and fun but overshadowed by raw dmg output combined with good mobility on fed CovOp
Out of 3 Classes, Fed CovOps are the best - they already have their DMG modules (Orion and Plasma Gun available) that do xxxx tons of dmg in quick burst, but that is not counterweighted by passive tanking on ships, proper tanking is not yet an option in t2 on pretty much all ships, it gets better balanced in T3+
T2 is ruled by raw dmg combined with mobility:
Fed CovOp
Fed Tacklers (much harder to play but have huge potential)
Empire Gunships (maybe not as mobile, but those can easily decimate enemy teams alone)
Just keep in mind that in T3+ everything changes, it is pretty much different world from T1-T2
Gonna have to agree with xKostyan.
Federation cov-ops for raw damage:
(Swift Mk.3)
And empire recon for raw fun:
(Dwarf 2)
In tiers 2 and 3 the empire recons are my one true love and I absolutely dominated in them (in later tiers there’s no way around fed recons). You are practically unkillable in a recon but have so much staying power that you can end up out-damaging a cov-ops over the course of the battle.
Fed cov-ops are best throughout all tiers - you just don’t want to fly a shield tanked interceptor (Jericho) when any recon can suck your entire shield dry in an instant.
Everything xKostyan wrote is correct, in my opinion.
I would recommend trying one ship of every type with the cheap low rank ships.
You will almost certainly go covert opts for low tiers, but get a chance to mess around with some modules. It is great for learning.
I seriously wish I had. I flew command ships till I was blue in the face, and didn’t know I was an interceptor pilot until about 9 months in. I think I would be a lot better had I taken some time to try out some ships.
Now the only thing I can fly are Covert Opts because the module management is crazy easy.
In tiers 2 and 3 the empire recons are my one true love and I absolutely dominated in them (in later tiers there’s no way around fed recons). You are practically unkillable in a recon but have so much staying power that you can end up out-damaging a cov-ops over the course of the battle.
In Sec Con Jarl and Viking > Falcon, i would use falcon only if i had to have 3 recons in my hangar, otherwise i would rather have Jarl AND Viking (currently i have only 1 set of recon modules, slowly working towards 2d set so i can have Jarl and Viking in my line up in the same time)
Fed cov-ops are best throughout all tiers - you just don’t want to fly a shield tanked interceptor (Jericho) when any recon can suck your entire shield dry in an instant.
Absolutely, untill you hit R14/r15. I personally prefer Wakizashi over Falcons
Maybe I’m just too used to insane fed interceptor speeds by now. 
Btw, slightly unrelated but the last ship I’m currently synergizing in T3 is the Prometheus. Not sure why I kept it for last but that ship is absolutely beastly. It’s quite possibly the strongest T3 ship I’ve ever flown. Might have to do that I’ve fit it like an OP-Styx - what’s a man to do when he sees 3 hull slots. :lol:
I finding Fed CovOps the best for regular fight(especially Swift Mk III and Superkite), but still Stilletto is best captain ship.
Maybe I’m just too used to insane fed interceptor speeds by now.
Btw, slightly unrelated but the last ship I’m currently synergizing in T3 is the Prometheus. Not sure why I kept it for last but that ship is absolutely beastly. It’s quite possibly the strongest T3 ship I’ve ever flown. Might have to do that I’ve fit it like an OP-Styx - what’s a man to do when he sees 3 hull slots. :lol:
Please, prometheus x is much better, resist tank + bubbleguns AND with cap slots set up for max diff shield tankyness is even more ludicrous
Please, prometheus x is much better, resist tank + bubbleguns AND with cap slots set up for max diff shield tankyness is even more ludicrous
Please, nukem with 3x glavanized, ions and r9 emp implant, best pew pew pew
Please, nukem with 3x glavanized, ions and r9 emp implant, best pew pew pew
Almost as boring as gauss builds or LRFs
Please, prometheus x is much better, resist tank + bubbleguns AND with cap slots set up for max diff shield tankyness is even more ludicrous
Prom is much better. 1 CPU and more Hull slots, also the bonuses are way better. Also it’s rank 8 so it will not screw your que rank in squads. The only bad thing is the lack of Gigas II, but you compensate it with the 3 hull slots tho.
Who would fly an Empire Fighter without CPU modules and with a Singularity Cannon? You’re pretty much forced to play close combat, with a slow xxxx Empire Command (even with the speed bonus is slow…), or forced to use Albatross implant.
I’ve learnt that going full energy tank with PhaseSshield is kinda pointless since any decent player on a ECM will just wreck you. 1 single slot is enough if you have an Engineer to replenish your Energy. I actually have Discharger on my Prom’s Capacitor slot and it still has positive regen with Coating Polarizer on and afterburning. And with an Engineer by your side it’s really hard to kill that ship.
Prom is much better. 1 CPU and more Hull slots, also the bonuses are way better. Also it’s rank 8 so it will not screw your que rank in squads. The only bad thing is the lack of Gigas II, but you compensate it with the 3 hull slots tho.
Who would fly an Empire Fighter without CPU modules and with a Singularity Cannon? You’re pretty much forced to play close combat, with a slow xxxx Empire Command (even with the speed bonus is slow…), or forced to use Albatross implant.
I’ve learnt that going full energy tank with PhaseSshield is kinda pointless since any decent player on a ECM will just wreck you. 1 single slot is enough if you have an Engineer to replenish your Energy. I actually have Discharger on my Prom’s Capacitor slot and it still has positive regen with Coating Polarizer on and afterburning. And with an Engineer by your side it’s really hard to kill that ship.
Dont knock it till you try it, bubble guns on imp commands are really good, i remember soloing a three-man t4-5 squad in sec con with a similarly fitted spartacus
Prom is much better. 1 CPU and more Hull slots, also the bonuses are way better. Also it’s rank 8 so it will not screw your que rank in squads. The only bad thing is the lack of Gigas II, but you compensate it with the 3 hull slots tho.
Who would fly an Empire Fighter without CPU modules and with a Singularity Cannon? You’re pretty much forced to play close combat, with a slow xxxx Empire Command (even with the speed bonus is slow…), or forced to use Albatross implant.
I’ve learnt that going full energy tank with Phase Shield is kinda pointless since any decent player on a ECM will just wreck you. 1 single slot is enough if you have an Engineer to replenish your Energy. I actually have Discharger on my Prom’s Capacitor slot and it still has positive regen with Coating Polarizer on and afterburning. And with an Engineer by your side it’s really hard to kill that ship.
This is wrong on a very fundamental levels
50% Command Range vs 10% Speed, Prometheus’s bonus is simply put an Assist whoring bonus, it doesn’t make you any more effective, stronger nor it doesn’t really help your team (chances are there is another command covering that area anyways), The only place for this bonus is only in competitive premades Team vs Team (i.e. not random games) when you have only 1 spot for a command, even then there are plenty of reason to fly Prometheus X. 10% is nothing to pass on, combined with Booster modules and Gravi scanner you are rocking almost 400 speed for 20 seconds (and if you don’t use Gigas 2, you are going over 400) You can further tune mobility of this ship if needed by capacitor slots or shield slot
Is not necessary, and all r7-r8 ships prove this point, if you get into a position where you get 3+locked on and gunned down, chances are you are dead and no amount of resist from gigas will save you. Gigas 2 is a Frigate module, it doesn’t make much sense on Empire ships that already slow and have xxxx tons of resistances. I would even say it is a ESB implant, because in random games, most of ESB members have 3+ lock on them through the whole game, no matter what they fly or what part of the map they are on, for everyone else - if you are not breaking LoS or falling back when you have 3+ locks in interceptors/fighters, 99% of the time you are doing it wrong. I am not saying it is Useless, but in the way games currently flows and what ship-roles interactions we have on a battlefield, its effectiveness hugely reduced on anything except frigates.
Prometheus’s Diffusion shils is non existent, even if you don’t fly active Aura (which doesn’t make sense with extra range)you cant tank it up, it is only there to absorb 1-2 missiles, thats it. All it can do Hull tank, nothing more nothing less.
PromX on a contrary has
(a) Shield slot that for the most part can go toward Phase shield buffer (it gives 535 cap volume ( which is 4200 dmg right there) and
(b) there are 3 capacitors that will buff Diffusion tanking through the roof (if you are getting problems vs ECMs, you gotta learn to use R8 Jericho Implant preemptively combined with gamesense) (throw in Friendly engineer with 89 energy Aura, and as long as you keep your eyes open it is nigh impossible to penetrate your Bubble)
2 hull, 17% speed(cheetah II) vs 3 hull slots, that speed will make you dodge/avoid way more fire than you can take by simply tanking it, and dont forget gravy scanner that will push your speed through the roof.
Conclusion:
Prometheus X outshine Prometheus in every aspect, there are MULTIPLE absolutely different roles/builds that it can full fill while tanking multiples of what Prometheus can tank.
Fact is Prometheus X even better at fulfilling DPS role than a Nukem or Desert Eagle while maintaining mobility and not loosing to much of tankiness
P.S. I am really sick of Prometheus’s that run 2x mk4 auras, tank through the roof on Hulls and Gauss, than sit at 4-5k from battle with all this tanking potential, collecting assists for doing nothing, and hardly doing anything with Gausses (it is not that Gauss is bad, but it is pretty xxxx on a Prometheus comparing to other options out there)
Dont knock it till you try it, bubble guns on imp commands are really good, i remember soloing a three-man t4-5 squad in sec con with a similarly fitted spartacus
I am pretty sure it is more of a 3 man squad failure than a Bubble gun power.
There aren’t many Empire ships that can use Bubble Guns to a full potential, but prometheus X is one of those
P.S. I am really sick of Prometheus’s that run 2x mk4 auras, tank through the roof on Hulls and Gauss, than sit at 4-5k from battle with all this tanking potential, collecting assists for doing nothing, and hardly doing anything with Gausses (it is not that Gauss is bad, but it is pretty xxxx on a Prometheus comparing to other options out there)
Oh come on now, don’t diss my GaussProm:
Session Type: PVP (Detonation) at Pandora. Dreadnought debris
Session Size: 9v9
Session Result: Victory (Timeout)
Total Damage: 1,760,874 - Team: 47.08%
Total Heals: 644,187 - Team: 51.02%
Total Kills: 74 - Team: 39.19%
TEAM 1:
PLAYER SHIPS FLOWN K AD AB D Obj DAMAGE TEAM % MSL MSL% HEALS DT:KIN DT:EMP DT:THR DT:COL EFF EXP Bonus CREDITS AFK
Dalas777 Katana[7] 3 13 3 7 0 83,464 8.96% 12 67% 2,494 57,615 69,011 7,772 1,313 1,226 3,155 0% 75,101
EGZONM Styx[9] 13 22 6 1 0 254,743 27.34% 10 0% 253,862 31,003 65,515 21,912 1,274 3,445 21,872 0% 105,032
Kurdi ☼Desert Eagle[9] 9 17 0 1 0 196,824 21.12% 19 63% 43,863 99,425 46,249 29,040 1,741 2,264 53,443 134% 221,898
mbusc1 Dagger AE[4],Machete S[6],Templar AE[7] 3 5 15 6 0 32,313 3.47% 9 89% 0 21,363 37,443 18,521 0 1,135 3,385 0% 58,337
Stalher Silent Fox[7] 2 4 3 7 0 19,566 2.10% 12 58% 0 35,076 31,621 21,083 361 1,012 3,139 0% 73,582
Summit Katana AE[8] 10 19 1 0 0 170,560 18.30% 14 50% 2,066 34,709 19,011 6,895 51 2,776 18,772 0% 101,567
syava79 Katana AE[8] 2 10 0 1 0 29,414 3.16% 10 60% 6,976 19,034 9,442 17,198 1,376 713 3,302 0% 95,235
vlad5520 Swarm[8] 1 17 0 5 1 42,588 4.57% 15 73% 6,252 31,255 31,899 13,482 6,678 1,522 4,509 0% 93,679
Vlsab Machete S[6],Cerberus[8] 2 11 3 2 0 102,457 10.99% 5 80% 0 10,649 11,755 7,676 0 1,131 4,312 0% 74,444
TEAM 2:
PLAYER SHIPS FLOWN K AD AB D Obj DAMAGE TEAM % MSL MSL% HEALS DT:KIN DT:EMP DT:THR DT:COL EFF EXP Bonus CREDITS AFK
Acilleuz Hawk-Eye[7] 1 14 0 5 2 43,020 5.19% 3 0% 8,472 19,825 14,151 14,086 381 2,194 8,873 0% 83,528
AndrewDeKortes Diamond Dwarf[7],Kris AE[9],Anaconda[8] 2 16 1 4 0 119,080 14.37% 28 39% 142,532 29,009 29,720 33,851 464 1,307 6,286 0% 89,058
BearSquish Phobos[7],Templar S[7] 6 10 0 2 0 125,934 15.19% 14 57% 0 46,643 30,876 21,930 415 1,061 5,947 0% 75,905
dead19 Kris AE[9] 1 7 0 8 0 30,257 3.65% 6 83% 5,138 65,598 31,871 20,992 1,270 553 5,431 10% 86,463
Dudmaster Wolf[8] 2 10 0 6 0 91,811 11.08% 12 58% 7,951 55,385 16,534 23,303 4,309 919 8,158 50% 149,956
lionanddr1 Hawk-M[8],Alligator Mk II[7] 3 8 11 4 0 86,171 10.40% 14 29% 149,871 47,482 34,589 79,971 1,578 999 4,971 0% 83,556
SCBLucifer Diamond Dwarf[7] 3 6 0 9 0 45,848 5.53% 22 64% 0 45,635 6,521 25,119 0 897 4,177 0% 74,503
Snib Prometheus[8] 8 11 9 1 0 209,872 25.32% 13 85% 14,710 72,558 33,227 13,502 807 2,608 11,113 0% 104,375
WhiskeyDix Stiletto AE[7],Wolf[8] 3 10 0 5 0 76,951 9.28% 16 31% 0 45,039 43,636 10,699 2,058 1,448 11,238 50% 131,059
Considering it outdamaged the WPK kill squad’s assrail gunship (most of the damage that one was outputting landed on me btw as you can see, I tanked more damage than anybody else on the team) there’s really nothing wrong with it. 
Still loving that ship no matter what you say, it’s beastly and beastly is good! :lol:
Gah, I miss the insane 450 M/s in a T2 Covert Op.
Considering it outdamaged the WPK kill squad’s assrail gunship
WPK tag, or ESB, or any other one doesn’t necessary make a “kill” squad, does it
In this particular case, i’d rather say that your team was on a terrible side overall:)) And i believe that Empire Fighters,especially Commands will do way more good to a team by being in mid-front lines and taking advantage of tankiness and soaking dmg, while long range sniping is better left for Positron Snipers or ships with rail bonuses/multiple capacitors/cpus to actually boost Gauss raw dmg
WPK tag, or ESB, or any other one doesn’t necessary make a “kill” squad, does it
In this particular case, i’d rather say that your team was on a terrible side overall:)) And i believe that Empire Fighters,especially Commands will do way more good to a team by being in mid-front lines and taking advantage of tankiness and soaking dmg, while long range sniping is better left for Positron Snipers or ships with rail bonuses/multiple capacitors/cpus to actually boost Gauss raw dmg
Running elite ships with purple mods makes it a kill squad in my book but way to miss the point. The semantics are irrelevant, I only mentioned it to point out that Kurdi, who is a good pilot, was certainly pulling his weight on his gunship, so if I outdamaged his gunship with a Gauss command then the Gauss must be a good option on the ship I should think.
And considering I tanked more damage than anybody else on my team (and given my silly resists of >100 I really tanked huge amounts more) I rather thought I countered your second point, too.
:wub:
This is wrong on a very fundamental levels
- Bonuses
50% Command Range vs 10% Speed, Prometheus’s bonus is simply put an Assist whoring bonus, it doesn’t make you any more effective, stronger nor it doesn’t really help your team (chances are there is another command covering that area anyways), The only place for this bonus is only in competitive premades Team vs Team (i.e. not random games) when you have only 1 spot for a command, even then there are plenty of reason to fly Prometheus X. 10% is nothing to pass on, combined with Booster modules and Gravi scanner you are rocking almost 400 speed for 20 seconds (and if you don’t use Gigas 2, you are going over 400) You can further tune mobility of this ship if needed by capacitor slots or shield slot
Really? Assist whoring bonus? Did you forget that Valyrie System and Gravi-scanner also exist? The fact that you can give a damage and speed bonus to almost the whole map is indeed something good, way better than 10% Speed. If the bonus was Rotation or Strafe I would consider changing the ship. As you said this is good in premade Teams or even Tournaments (ask iBalrog and his Gauss Flamberge about it), but it is still also good for any game since most of the players I see are using Green auras. The extra speed on Prom X is good, but I would change it for Prometheus’ or Strong’s Command bonus.
- Gigas 2
Is not necessary, and all r7-r8 ships prove this point, if you get into a position where you get 3+locked on and gunned down, chances are you are dead and no amount of resist from gigas will save you. Gigas 2 is a Frigate module, it doesn’t make much sense on Empire ships that already slow and have xxxx tons of resistances. I would even say it is a ESB implant, because in random games, most of ESB members have 3+ lock on them through the whole game, no matter what they fly or what part of the map they are on, for everyone else - if you are not breaking LoS or falling back when you have 3+ locks in interceptors/fighters, 99% of the time you are doing it wrong. I am not saying it is Useless, but in the way games currently flows and what ship-roles interactions we have on a battlefield, its effectiveness hugely reduced on anything except frigates.
I fly Armadillo on R9 Imperial ships so for me Gigas II is a must have. Nothing else to add tho.
- Energy
Prometheus’s Diffusion shils is non existent, even if you don’t fly active Aura (which doesn’t make sense with extra range)you cant tank it up, it is only there to absorb 1-2 missiles, thats it. All it can do Hull tank, nothing more nothing less.
PromX on a contrary has
(a) Shield slot that for the most part can go toward Phase shield buffer (it gives 535 cap volume ( which is 4200 dmg right there) and
(b) there are 3 capacitors that will buff Diffusion tanking through the roof (if you are getting problems vs ECMs, you gotta learn to use R8 Jericho Implant preemptively combined with gamesense) (throw in Friendly engineer with 89 energy Aura, and as long as you keep your eyes open it is nigh impossible to penetrate your Bubble)
It is indeed non existent, but it can still tank a whole Torpedo, Guided Torpedo, Desintegrator and even an Octopus just having an Engineer to you.
- Hull tanking
2 hull, 17% speed(cheetah II) vs 3 hull slots, that speed will make you dodge/avoid way more fire than you can take by simply tanking it, and dont forget gravy scanner that will push your speed through the roof.
How does that speed make you dodge and avoid more? I find strafe and rotation way more useful to dodge than raw speed on an Empire Fighter. It also depends on the weapons you’re using. If you’re using a Gauss Command I would go for rotation just to compensate Galvanized Armor.
Conclusion:
Prometheus X outshine Prometheus in every aspect, there are MULTIPLE absolutely different roles/builds that it can full fill while tanking multiples of what Prometheus can tank.
Fact is Prometheus X even better at fulfilling DPS role than a Nukem or Desert Eagle while maintaining mobility and not loosing to much of tankiness
No, not really, they are different ships tho, Prom X can tank more thanks to Energy, but Prom can support a whole team and has 1 CPU slot, depending on the weapon it can be a useful Proton Wall, an Horizon Module to make you fire from safer distance or (what I use) Infrared Scanner if you want to deal more damage.
I don’t see how Prom X is better at fulfilling DPS role than Gunships or other Commands unless you put 2-3 Dischargers but that will make it be as energy tanky as the Prom.
P.S. I am really sick of Prometheus’s that run 2x mk4 auras, tank through the roof on Hulls and Gauss, than sit at 4-5k from battle with all this tanking potential, collecting assists for doing nothing, and hardly doing anything with Gausses (it is not that Gauss is bad, but it is pretty xxxx on a Prometheus comparing to other options out there)
I yet have to see one of those players. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I saw anyone using Gauss Cannon on a Prometheus (oh yes I do, in a very old video from rakza, where NeoCodex was using that ship, and doing good, obviously). Actually I’ve seen tons of Gauss Prom X doing what you said. The extra range will not make you farm much more assist with Prom that with Prom X since with the new assist system is stupidly easy to get tons of assists each game.
I use Prom over Prom X for the queue number and to make sure my whole 4 men squad has always speed and damage boost whenever they’re on the map.
With the new MM I will change to Prom X to change a bit, but my experience with Prom is what made me say all I said, that ship with Gauss is very good, don’t know if you tried it yourself but the results are pretty good every game. In fact it’s the ship that made me get more Maniacs in the game, and no I’m not a kill stealer waiting for last hit
P.S. Bad players will be bad and will do xxxx no matter what they fly, I’m sick of Engineers with auras on and hiding behind asteroirs with Barriers around them just doing nothing using Attack Drones to steal if possible any kill.
Is not that hard. Prom X is a brawler, Prom is a turret command ship.
With the Prom X you can be, you need to be, on the heat of the battle, giving auras to everyone, surviving and retreating successfully.
The Prom in the other way, can stay at 4000 m from the furball, giving the same auras, and picking targets with gauss or flat lazors.
I prefer the prometheus X, because it feels more like a command. The prom is just a hybrid between a gunship and a command, and is quite boring to play with.