BWS Vindicator

frostytheplebe

frostytheplebe

Seventh Part of the Seal
Ok so I'm sick of making the now famous "gripe" threads, so I thought I'd take a hack at a fighter I really like.

Now I could go for the overpowered Dragon. I could go with the rather generic space superiority figher (Rapier). I could even justify going with a Hornet... but nothing stands out quite like the fighter that is quite arguably the best thing in the Border World's arsenal: the Vindicator.

A medium fighter sporting 2 Tachyon cannons and two lasers, secondary weapons include the stormfire AND leech cannon, hardpoints for torpedos, standard loadout is the FF missiles (can't go wrong with these), armer equivalent to the leading Confed HEAVY fighter, a rear turret (uncommon on medium fighters), and capable of atmospheric combat.

Down side? As Pliers said, "Nothin's perfect right?" She's a bit slower then her Confed equivalent, a minor flaw that no one really notices as they blast away at the enemy fighters! This fighter is truly the Unsung hero of WC4. If you choose not to fly the Dragon, this is the fighter you use most often.
So yea, my vote for a favorite would have to go with the Border Worlds Beauty: The Vindicator.

... Now why do I feel like a used car salesman? Ok I tell you what I'm gonna do; no money down, cash back, and I'll throw in a toaster... thats the best I can do! :p
 
I still like the Bearcat best, but the Vindicator can indeed be a very, very good ship in some missions.

I was having a lot of trouble in a Banshee with the "losing" version of the Jammer mission, so I gave the Vindicator another try. I picked 3 DFs and 3 ImRecs. I shut down the power to everything but the engines, and selected the Stormfire Cannon. I blasted everything at the first two navpoints wthout much trouble. The third one was a bit tougher since I was starting to run out of ammo, so I put some power back into the guns. At the fourth nav point I afterburned toward the jamming capship and destroyed it with two DFs (I had used the first one against an enemy fighter, I think). Then I easily destroyed the reamaining ships with ImRecs and guns.
 
I agree, the Vindicator is my favourite fighter in WC 4 as well. I know I am repeating myself but with a payload of 3 torpedoes, I consider it a far more capable bomber than the Avenger.
 
The Vindicator certainly is a great bomber. I'm not sure of the effect the rear turret had, but I wouldn't doubt it kept enemies off my tail when I didn't even realize it. My top pick was still the Banshee because of the higher speed and autoslide capability (Other than the Dragon and Bearcat which are only available late in the game) .
 
Drizzt Do Urden said:
I agree with that. It was kinda like the saber in WC2, a Jack of all Trades. I liked it.
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I the difference being that a Vin could take a far better pounding... I'm curious as to why it was only a medium fighter? Its specs suggest more of a heavy fighter's design. The Border Worlds didn't really have a dedicated Heavy Fighter.

Yeah someone can say the Avenger qualifies, but I don't really buy that. The Avenger was too slow and packed with torpedoes to justify it as a heavy fighter.
 
The Vindicator flies like a Thunderbolt that has extra torps, the special guns, and one pair of regular guns removed. You have about the same speed and maneuverability, so the real difference is in how you can handle the difference in weapon loadouts.
 
It's true that the Avenger is a bomber rather than a heavy fighter... Fortunately the Avenger's guns are extremely good, which sort of makes up for its lack of dogfighting ability. The shields are very good also, and it carries more missiles than the Vindicator. It's not a bad fighter at all... But usually (though not always) I find the other ships to be better (or just as useful). In other words, I have trouble thinking of a mission where the Avenger would be the absolute best ship to pick.
 
Sharpshooter said:
It's true that the Avenger is a bomber rather than a heavy fighter... Fortunately the Avenger's guns are extremely good, which sort of makes up for its lack of dogfighting ability. The shields are very good also, and it carries more missiles than the Vindicator. It's not a bad fighter at all... But usually (though not always) I find the other ships to be better (or just as useful). In other words, I have trouble thinking of a mission where the Avenger would be the absolute best ship to pick.
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I agree with you. I just always thought it was too slow to work as a fighter. As for its guns, that heavy mass driver was kick ass! I loved the sound it made and everything. But even pliers didn't like the photon gun.
 
The nice thing about the Avenger was that it was faster and more maneuverable than the Longbow while still having the weapons and defenses of a heavy bomber. While it lacked the Longbow's sixteen missiles, the special guns and extra speed more than made up for it.
 
The Border Worlds had some great fighters all around, kind of to be expected considering the story, but they were typically butt ugly, except maybe the Banshee.

That said, my favorite thing about fighting for the Union was the Stormfire gun. It didn't matter what ship I was flying, even into Prophecy, if it had a Stormfire on it I'd take it, so consequently in WC4 I flew the Vindicator a lot. Afterburn in behind someone, hit'em with a burst from all my enrgy guns at once, and then flip over and wail on them with the Stormfire. Sweet.
 
I'd definitely prefer Vindycator to Avenger in any situation. Just can't fly ship which is made to be a flying target.
And I'd definitely prefer Thunderbolt to Longbow, though I'd still prefer Longbow to Avenger.

Would I prefer Thunder or Vindycator? Don't really know - never had a chance to compare them.
 
MjavTheGray said:
I'd definitely prefer Vindycator to Avenger in any situation. Just can't fly ship which is made to be a flying target.
And I'd definitely prefer Thunderbolt to Longbow, though I'd still prefer Longbow to Avenger.

Would I prefer Thunder or Vindycator? Don't really know - never had a chance to compare them.
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I would take the WC3 Tbolt over the Vindicator, and I would take anything but an Epee or a Hellcat V over the Longbow, I hated that bomber.
 
frostytheplebe said:
I would take the WC3 Tbolt over the Vindicator, and I would take anything but an Epee or a Hellcat V over the Longbow, I hated that bomber.
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Still, Epee could be a light bomber, as we know :)
It mounts a single torpedo, so a couple of Epees could replace a Longbow when hunting for a destroyer. Having speed and agility,they have a change of evading an enemy patrol, and having burners, they have a chance of successful torpedo attack.

It's not that I would choose Epee (confed model) if I had a chance. BW Epee's another thing. I would certainly choose it over Longbow :)
 
"It's not that I would choose Epee (confed model) if I had a chance. BW Epee's another thing. I would certainly choose it over Longbow"


I'd take the BW epee as well.
 
A pity, though, that we couldn't fly Ferrets in Unknown Enemy in real missions, but BW Epee were nice enough.
Long range cannons combined with stormfire make it very deadly.

P.S.
Anyone has Hornet model for WCSO ?....
 
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