Farbourne
Rear Admiral
I just got my old copy of Kilrathi Saga working again, and I'm playing through it again. Good times. But now I'm remembering something that always struck me when I used to play through WC2 and I was wondering if it had struck other people...
Does anyone else think that the Epee and the Broadsword should switch their guns?
The Epee is a lightweight, highly-maneuverable fighter with very thin armor. As such, an Epee pilot should avoid head-on slugging matches whenever possible, use his speed and maneuverability to close quickly while evading enemy fire, get around on his opponent's tail, and take him down. Since the Epee is a dogfighter, a great deal of range is not vital in a weapon, but a high refire rate is, especially because the Epee is so maneuverabe that gunnery is more difficult than in a larger, more stable platform. And yet the Epee is armed with a pair of extremely long range, slow firing particle cannons that appeal to the marksman more than the dogfighter...
The Broadsword, on the other hand, really can't dogfight very well because of its poor maneuverability and slow speed. It's lack of afterburners pretty much means that it has to engage in head-on slugging matches since it can't evade enemy fire very well. Fortunately, it's heavy shields and strong armor make head on attacks safer. However, for head on attacks, you really want a long rang weapon that does a lot of damage--in other words, a particle cannon. High refire rate is nice, but not as vital in a craft that is not intended to dogfight. And yet the Broadsword, which is naturally a marksman's platform rather than a dogfighter, is armed with fast firing but short range mass drivers ideal for dogfighting... The Crossbow is even worse, as it adds even shorter range neutron guns. If you're lucky, you'll get one shot off in a head on pass between when the enemy comes into range and when you shoot past him (two if you cut your own speed to zero).
I always thought that the Confed ship designers got it backwards. When dogfighting in light fighters, I much perferred the mass drivers of the Ferret to the particle cannons of the Epee, and when pounding the snot out of Kilrathi in a bomber I wished many times for a longer range weapon like a laser or a particle cannon (in other words, a Jalkehi's armament). Would it really have been that hard for Confed engineers to retrofit particle cannons on bombers, especially on the new Crossbows?
Or do other people fly these fighters with very different styles and like the way the weapons are set up?
Does anyone else think that the Epee and the Broadsword should switch their guns?
The Epee is a lightweight, highly-maneuverable fighter with very thin armor. As such, an Epee pilot should avoid head-on slugging matches whenever possible, use his speed and maneuverability to close quickly while evading enemy fire, get around on his opponent's tail, and take him down. Since the Epee is a dogfighter, a great deal of range is not vital in a weapon, but a high refire rate is, especially because the Epee is so maneuverabe that gunnery is more difficult than in a larger, more stable platform. And yet the Epee is armed with a pair of extremely long range, slow firing particle cannons that appeal to the marksman more than the dogfighter...
The Broadsword, on the other hand, really can't dogfight very well because of its poor maneuverability and slow speed. It's lack of afterburners pretty much means that it has to engage in head-on slugging matches since it can't evade enemy fire very well. Fortunately, it's heavy shields and strong armor make head on attacks safer. However, for head on attacks, you really want a long rang weapon that does a lot of damage--in other words, a particle cannon. High refire rate is nice, but not as vital in a craft that is not intended to dogfight. And yet the Broadsword, which is naturally a marksman's platform rather than a dogfighter, is armed with fast firing but short range mass drivers ideal for dogfighting... The Crossbow is even worse, as it adds even shorter range neutron guns. If you're lucky, you'll get one shot off in a head on pass between when the enemy comes into range and when you shoot past him (two if you cut your own speed to zero).
I always thought that the Confed ship designers got it backwards. When dogfighting in light fighters, I much perferred the mass drivers of the Ferret to the particle cannons of the Epee, and when pounding the snot out of Kilrathi in a bomber I wished many times for a longer range weapon like a laser or a particle cannon (in other words, a Jalkehi's armament). Would it really have been that hard for Confed engineers to retrofit particle cannons on bombers, especially on the new Crossbows?
Or do other people fly these fighters with very different styles and like the way the weapons are set up?
