Privateer
- Thread starter Delance
- Start date
Wedge009
Rogue Leader
Standard? Says who?
Come to think of it, that living-on-the-edge did keep things interesting.
I seldom ran out of cash for repairs 'cause I was always saving up for the next ship.
To a degree...
That's a good idea - a friend said once he retires to the Galaxy and lives the rest of his privateering life as a merchant.
Yes. I still fly Tarsus-Galaxy-Orion-Centurion. All with max upgrades, all before the plot missions.Originally posted by steampunk
People had a ship in between the Tarsus and Centurion?
I didn't think the Orion was that bad either, but once I was at the Tingerhoff end of a Perry-Tingerhoff jump, where there's often a flight of Gothri hanging around. I thought "oh, they shouldn't be too hard", but the Orion thick shields recharge so slowly, once they were knocked out I took armour hits constantly. As soon as I started taking damage, I decided to chicken out, but it was too late... I died, something which seldom happens in Privateer. And that was near the end of a long and lucrative flight too.
Quarto
Unknown Enemy
Well, from what you usually hear in these Priv conversations, Tarsus-Orion-Centurion seems to be what most people have taken.
...Compare this with the end of the game, when, after completing RF's storyline, I decided to go hunting in the Kilrathi systems just to bring my Kilrathi kill score up to 1000. The Gothri usually didn't even manage to damage me, and the Kamekhs were merely more time-consuming. The only challenge was in the asteroid belts, where even in a Centurion you still could get yourself killed.
Yeah. One of my best Priv memories was when I took up my first kill-a-Dralthi mission, figuring that, you know, it's just a Dralthi. But the bastard managed to evade most of my missiles, and was practically flying circles around me. It seemed like the best I could do was to run away or die. However, a friend of mine was watching, and his mocking jibes drove me to stay and keep fighting. Eventually, I got lucky - I collided with the Dralthi and managed to take out its shield generator. Of course, ultimately the mission was a giant loss, since the bounty money didn't even come close to compensating me for the damages.
...Compare this with the end of the game, when, after completing RF's storyline, I decided to go hunting in the Kilrathi systems just to bring my Kilrathi kill score up to 1000. The Gothri usually didn't even manage to damage me, and the Kamekhs were merely more time-consuming. The only challenge was in the asteroid belts, where even in a Centurion you still could get yourself killed.
.Ok everybody, since Eder mentioned the Tarsus starting off with the single laser cannon, I was wondering what everybody's preferred gun type is.
Laser:
Damage: 1.8 cm
Refire: 300 ms
Speed: 1400 kps
Range: 4760 km
Energy: 4 GJ
Price: 1000 Cr
The Laser has the fastest refire and lowest energy cost in the game, but two of them are inadequate for taking out enemies heavier than Talon light fighters, and four of them on the Centurion are barely adequate against heavy enemies such as the Gothri. I reccommend that you upgrade to something else ASAP.
Mass Driver:
Damage: 2.6 cm
Refire: 475 ms
Speed: 1100 kps
Range: 3740 km
Energy: 6 GJ
Price: 1500 Cr
In Privateer, the Mass Driver does not have as much of a range handicap in comparison to the Laser as it does in WC2. Unless you like to fight at extreme range of 4000 km or more, the Mass Driver is probably more powerful in your hands than the Laser.
Meson Blaster:
Damage: 3.2 cm
Refire: 400 ms
Speed: 1300 kps
Range: 4420 km
Energy: 8 GJ
Price: 2500 Cr
The Meson Blaster is close in speed and range to the Laser, and delivers about double the punch, with a slightly faster refire rate than the Mass Driver. This is the best all-round of the cheaper guns in my opinion.
Neutron Gun:
Damage: 6.2 cm
Refire: 650 ms
Speed: 900 kps
Range: 3060 km
Energy: 18 GJ
Price: 5000 Cr
The Neutron Gun is the cheapest of the heavy-hitting guns. It is devestating at close range with twice the damage per shot of the Meson Blaster, but it consumes huge amounts of energy--it is NOT reccommended that you use Neutron Guns on your Tarsus unless you have the highest level Engine Upgrade available to you--without an Engine Upgrade, you will completely drain your capacitors in only two volleys.
Particle Cannon:
Damage: 4.3 cm
Refire: 550 ms
Speed: 1000 kps
Range: 3400 km
Energy: 11 GJ
Price: 10,000 Cr
Something of a middle ground between the light, fast long-range guns and the slow heavy-hitters, the Particle Cannon offers more damage than the Meson Blaster for much less energy cost than the Neutron Gun.
Tachyon Cannon:
Damage: 3.7 cm
Refire: 400 ms
Speed: 1250 kps
Range: 4250 km
Energy: 8 GJ
Price: 20,000 Cr
The Tachyon Cannon does moderately more damage than the Meson Blaster, but is otherwise pretty similar. Use it instead of the Meson Blaster if you can afford to.
Ionic Pulse Cannon:
Damage: 5.4 cm
Refire: 650 ms
Speed: 1200 kps
Range: 4080 km
Energy: 16 GJ
Price: 40,000 Cr
More speed and range than the Neutron Gun, and slightly less energy cost and damage. This is a good weapon for those who want to strike a balance between hard-hitting and long-range high-speed weaponry.
Plasma Gun:
Damage: 7.2 cm
Refire: 720 ms
Speed: 840 kps
Range: 2856 km
Energy: 22 GJ
Price: 80,000 Cr
While it does inflict 7.2 cm of damage instead of the 6.2 cm of the Neutron Gun, it has marginally slower refire, speed, and range, and uses more energy. More importantly, however, it costs SIXTEEN TIMES as much! My reccommendation is to use the Neutron Gun instead and buy something useful with the 150,000 credits you save on two of them.
Fusion Cannon:
Damage: 10.0 cm
Refire: 750 ms
Speed: 950 kps
Range: 3230 km
Energy: 17 GJ
Price: 100,000 Cr
The Fusion Cannon is the best of the heavy-hitting guns you can buy (RF only!)! It deals 75% more damage than the Neutron Gun for only a slightly slower refire rate and is otherwise virtually identical in stats! Forget the Plasma Cannon, the Fusion Cannon costs only a bit more and is superior in every way.
Laser:
Damage: 1.8 cm
Refire: 300 ms
Speed: 1400 kps
Range: 4760 km
Energy: 4 GJ
Price: 1000 Cr
The Laser has the fastest refire and lowest energy cost in the game, but two of them are inadequate for taking out enemies heavier than Talon light fighters, and four of them on the Centurion are barely adequate against heavy enemies such as the Gothri. I reccommend that you upgrade to something else ASAP.
Mass Driver:
Damage: 2.6 cm
Refire: 475 ms
Speed: 1100 kps
Range: 3740 km
Energy: 6 GJ
Price: 1500 Cr
In Privateer, the Mass Driver does not have as much of a range handicap in comparison to the Laser as it does in WC2. Unless you like to fight at extreme range of 4000 km or more, the Mass Driver is probably more powerful in your hands than the Laser.
Meson Blaster:
Damage: 3.2 cm
Refire: 400 ms
Speed: 1300 kps
Range: 4420 km
Energy: 8 GJ
Price: 2500 Cr
The Meson Blaster is close in speed and range to the Laser, and delivers about double the punch, with a slightly faster refire rate than the Mass Driver. This is the best all-round of the cheaper guns in my opinion.
Neutron Gun:
Damage: 6.2 cm
Refire: 650 ms
Speed: 900 kps
Range: 3060 km
Energy: 18 GJ
Price: 5000 Cr
The Neutron Gun is the cheapest of the heavy-hitting guns. It is devestating at close range with twice the damage per shot of the Meson Blaster, but it consumes huge amounts of energy--it is NOT reccommended that you use Neutron Guns on your Tarsus unless you have the highest level Engine Upgrade available to you--without an Engine Upgrade, you will completely drain your capacitors in only two volleys.
Particle Cannon:
Damage: 4.3 cm
Refire: 550 ms
Speed: 1000 kps
Range: 3400 km
Energy: 11 GJ
Price: 10,000 Cr
Something of a middle ground between the light, fast long-range guns and the slow heavy-hitters, the Particle Cannon offers more damage than the Meson Blaster for much less energy cost than the Neutron Gun.
Tachyon Cannon:
Damage: 3.7 cm
Refire: 400 ms
Speed: 1250 kps
Range: 4250 km
Energy: 8 GJ
Price: 20,000 Cr
The Tachyon Cannon does moderately more damage than the Meson Blaster, but is otherwise pretty similar. Use it instead of the Meson Blaster if you can afford to.
Ionic Pulse Cannon:
Damage: 5.4 cm
Refire: 650 ms
Speed: 1200 kps
Range: 4080 km
Energy: 16 GJ
Price: 40,000 Cr
More speed and range than the Neutron Gun, and slightly less energy cost and damage. This is a good weapon for those who want to strike a balance between hard-hitting and long-range high-speed weaponry.
Plasma Gun:
Damage: 7.2 cm
Refire: 720 ms
Speed: 840 kps
Range: 2856 km
Energy: 22 GJ
Price: 80,000 Cr
While it does inflict 7.2 cm of damage instead of the 6.2 cm of the Neutron Gun, it has marginally slower refire, speed, and range, and uses more energy. More importantly, however, it costs SIXTEEN TIMES as much! My reccommendation is to use the Neutron Gun instead and buy something useful with the 150,000 credits you save on two of them.
Fusion Cannon:
Damage: 10.0 cm
Refire: 750 ms
Speed: 950 kps
Range: 3230 km
Energy: 17 GJ
Price: 100,000 Cr
The Fusion Cannon is the best of the heavy-hitting guns you can buy (RF only!)! It deals 75% more damage than the Neutron Gun for only a slightly slower refire rate and is otherwise virtually identical in stats! Forget the Plasma Cannon, the Fusion Cannon costs only a bit more and is superior in every way.
Quarto
Unknown Enemy
I like mass drivers for nostalgia value. Particle guns are also quite effective. When it comes to pure killing power... well, a Steltek gun and three plasma guns (and a plasma turret) in Priv, and four fusion guns in RF, along with a fusion turret, naturally - when you do that much damage, you can forget all about refire rates, bullet speeds and energy useage.
As far as missiles are concerned, I usually have an IR launcher for standard combat and a torpedo launcher for Kilrathi corvettes.
My favourite weapon of all, however, is the ship itself. Ramming Talons at every opportunity is really the only way you can bring some risk back into the game when you have a fully-loaded Centurion.
As far as missiles are concerned, I usually have an IR launcher for standard combat and a torpedo launcher for Kilrathi corvettes.
My favourite weapon of all, however, is the ship itself
. Ramming Talons at every opportunity is really the only way you can bring some risk back into the game when you have a fully-loaded Centurion.Well as for bullet speeds, that becomes important if you are tailing your target (light craft can actually OUTRUN your gunshots) or if you are near the edge of your gun range and your opponent is agile.
When I get a Steltek cannon I usually pair it with a high-speed cannon mainly to match fire rates and bullet speed--if you use two types of guns with radically different bullet speeds, then their ITTS markers are far apart, meaning that one shot will hit while the other will miss due to being too fast/slow. Of course, with the Steltek cannon after it's been boosted by the Steltek scout, you can pretty much ignore your other gun completely since your one boosted Steltek cannon is as powerful as any two guns other than the RF Fusion Cannon.
My personal preference is to go with 2 Meson/2 Neutron early on--the Meson for long-range and the Neutron for close-up, much like with the WC1 Rapier--and upgrade to 2 Tachyon/2 Ion when I can afford it. In RF I just get the biggest engine upgrade available and go with all Fusion Cannons.
As for missiles, the 1 missile launcher/1 torp lancher is cool, but I prefer to have two of the same type of launcher because that allows me to fire a volley of two missiles at once. Two guided missiles will kill a Talon with full shields and armor, and will kill anything except a Centurion, Orion, or Gothri if you take down the shields partway first. Or if you feel that your aim is good, you can use torps--two of those will kill pretty near anything except the Paradigm or Kamekh.
When I get a Steltek cannon I usually pair it with a high-speed cannon mainly to match fire rates and bullet speed--if you use two types of guns with radically different bullet speeds, then their ITTS markers are far apart, meaning that one shot will hit while the other will miss due to being too fast/slow. Of course, with the Steltek cannon after it's been boosted by the Steltek scout, you can pretty much ignore your other gun completely since your one boosted Steltek cannon is as powerful as any two guns other than the RF Fusion Cannon.
My personal preference is to go with 2 Meson/2 Neutron early on--the Meson for long-range and the Neutron for close-up, much like with the WC1 Rapier--and upgrade to 2 Tachyon/2 Ion when I can afford it. In RF I just get the biggest engine upgrade available and go with all Fusion Cannons.
As for missiles, the 1 missile launcher/1 torp lancher is cool, but I prefer to have two of the same type of launcher because that allows me to fire a volley of two missiles at once. Two guided missiles will kill a Talon with full shields and armor, and will kill anything except a Centurion, Orion, or Gothri if you take down the shields partway first. Or if you feel that your aim is good, you can use torps--two of those will kill pretty near anything except the Paradigm or Kamekh.
Delance
Victory, you say?
The concept that the privateer have to leave the flight control seat and *walk* to the turret to fight enemies is, quite frankly, ludicrous. The guy would have to be an Olympic sprinter in the more hectic dogfights. Not to mention the fact that there's no one piloting the ship. It is even more strange given the fact that as early as WW2 there were bombers equipped with electric turrets (well, they still needed an operator, but he didn’t have to be inside it). Anyway, it's a bad thing for gameplay, since it renders a ship likes the Galaxy mostly useless in combat.