My input...
Heya, fellas.
Congrats, Dragonslayer, on getting through on your own!
As for my two cents about the Sabre...always liked her, always will. Her full guns have more kick than the Rapier and I never found the shields to be that terribly deficient...whatever they lack in fortification, I've found they more than make up for in recharge rate. But I'm not the definitive fan all of you are, so I can just only base that on my own impressions...I don't have number values to back me up here.
I personally just loved flying that bird back in WC2...she could take a bit of a beating, was pretty phenomenal at dishing it out, and all this without sacrificing all that much agility.
As for Thrakhath, I never found him to be particularly challenging myself in WC2...kind of like Jazz. So long as you kept them in front of you, had the juice (i.e. thrust) pushed up all the way, never used afterburners, and had it on full guns, you'd just have to peck away at both as they tried to maneuver around you, which I found they could never do. And the fact that you keep chasing them like that makes it hard for them to land all that many shots as well.
What DID give me a bit of a problem the first time I played it WAY, WAY back in the day was that wave of royal guard fighters that come after him (somewhere between like 3-5, unless I'm mistaken). But then, if you just use the policy of taking each of them out head-to-head, it proved to be of little problem (you just pick one that you want to single out, go head to head, land a few shots, then pull away, do a little jig for a second, then swing around after he's gained enough distance to be foolish enough to charge in at ya again). And hey, if this doesn't work for you and you're a bad shot, look on the bright side - it makes for a fun game of chicken.
Just again - no afterburners, full throttle, full guns.
Here's a question to all of you who don't mind slagging K'Tithrak Mang after all is said and done...what in the hell was Sparks thinking in giving you like 7 torpedos to blast it apart? Has anyone ever had to use this many?
One more point - I always thought the Sabre was outstanding on bombing runs. The afterburners were a fantastic help in closing the distance to the target so you could launch a torpedo within like 2500m (at least that's the sweet spot I decreed for myself)...not to mention pulling back away out of range to let your shields recharge before doing all of it again...
Well anyway, enough of my input. You guys don't want to hear the tactics of a crazy loon like me anyway...with the exception of torpedos, I don't really even use missiles, lame as that may be. Now if only I could get the cats to be as kind!
- FireFalcon ~};^