WC's best fighter and bomber of all time

Successfully finishing a mission with no guns could be very intense. I remember it was a bit frightening to be flying in circles trying to dodge an enemy and hoping your wingman could take him out before he got you.

I rammed a Salthi to destroy it on one occasion, after losing all my weapons. I didn't really expect to survive it, but managed to limp home afterwards.
 
I can't wait to add the new Arena ships to this discussion. The new Paktahn Mauler looks pretty damn impressive and a fine capship killer. I have a feeling the Paktahn will be one of the fighters I log a lot of time in.

The Paktahns are definately the ships I am looking most forward to fly. And while I agree that the Mauler looks are impressive, I am not so impressed by the things we know about it. I think the Phantom is my favourite - cloaked bombers should be awesome!
 
Well... my humble experience:
For bombers i have an absolute favorite: Crossbow. I remember when i played the wc2, and i figured that that's the only ship i could finish all missions with, successfully.

Bout the fighters i gues i could take one from each: Raptor, rapier(i don't remember ships in 2 very well, it's been i while since i played it), excalibur, dragon, vampire/interceptor(wasp?)
 
Well... my humble experience:
For bombers i have an absolute favorite: Crossbow. I remember when i played the wc2, and i figured that that's the only ship i could finish all missions with, successfully.

Yeah, I liked the Crossbow, too. It's like the love child of a Raptor and a Broadsword. Lovely stuff.
 
Yeah, I liked the Crossbow, too. It's like the love child of a Raptor and a Broadsword. Lovely stuff.

Nicely said. :)

At first, I favoured the Crossbow above the Broadsword (which I despised) because it was faster and had incredible protection.
But with age comes nostalgia and now the Broadsword, as the first bomber I flew, holds a special place in my heart.
 
... and no ship (Except the despised Epee) has killed more pilots than Crossbow.
Well, maybe Talon did. But Talon's a civilian ship, so it is another story.
But Crossbow...
No burn, no side turrets, no chance to evade an attack once it not so mighty shields are blown...
Later modifications of Raptor would always be better bomber than this ugly flying target (I mean Crossbow). And Sabre (while not so much armored) has much more chances to survive an attack on a cruiser.

Just an experience of Mjav:
Here's Fralthra. We're attacking it with a non-burning bomber. We do live long enough to close for first torpedo strike, all right. We've launched the torpedo, out front shields (and hald armor) are already blown , for we're crawling like ... I don't know like what or whom. We're turning back and crawling away to start locking the second torpedo, and our rear shield and two thirds of armor are blown - for we're ugly, slow and unable to dodge an attack... We're starting the second torpedo run - and get annihilated before we get a solid lock. So here goes mighty Crossbow. A nice flying firework, nothing more.

And if we have a Raptor or a Sabre? We have a torpedo lock, burn close, launch a torpedoe, and burn away without a scratch - for we're fast and nimble, too fast and nimble for turrets of the cruiser.

Now tell me. Which bomber is better? The one which survives the attack it is made for? Or the one which is blown out of the sky not having completed the task?
 
Now tell me. Which bomber is better? The one which survives the attack it is made for? Or the one which is blown out of the sky not having completed the task?
Well, my experience making and testing Standoff's episode 4 so far tells me the Crossbow is better :p.
 
Funny, i check in here after being away for months to discover that same threads are still pop up (no offence though!) :p

Fighter: Black Wasp
Bomber: Black Devastator
 
... and no ship (Except the despised Epee) has killed more pilots than Crossbow.
Well, maybe Talon did. But Talon's a civilian ship, so it is another story.
But Crossbow...
No burn, no side turrets, no chance to evade an attack once it not so mighty shields are blown...
(...)

I certainly prefer fighters with torpedoes to bombers without AB as well but:

Not so mighty shields? With 25cm of shields and 20 cm of armour (25cm even on the sides), the Crossbow is the best protected ship during WC2. And since it's faster and more manoeuverable than the Broadsword, it is certainly more apt at surviving torpedo runs.

And having no AB was great for a challenge! (Though I envied the Grikath for its ABs)

And poor Epee, I just have to say that I never (well, almost) had any problems with it. It was a fine light attack fighter.
 
Fighter: Rapier II (well armed, nice shields, a beauty, never let me down)
Bomber: Broadsword (Made me feel safe and hulky, like the WWII bomber look)

Post-WC II craft don't grow on me...
 
I certainly prefer fighters with torpedoes to bombers without AB as well but:

Not so mighty shields? With 25cm of shields and 20 cm of armour (25cm even on the sides), the Crossbow is the best protected ship during WC2. And since it's faster and more manoeuverable than the Broadsword, it is certainly more apt at surviving torpedo runs.

And having no AB was great for a challenge! (Though I envied the Grikath for its ABs)

And poor Epee, I just have to say that I never (well, almost) had any problems with it. It was a fine light attack fighter.

Okay. Crossbow's A BIT faster. A BIT MORE nimble. I mean - compared to Broadsword.
But when did 20 clicks count as savior for a bomber? Do they make it a dogfighter? Sure they won't. You can't burn and go - 20 clicks are nothing when a single Drakhri is biting your tail from a safe distance. Just be careful, do not come close enough - and the bomber is gone, sooner or later. Didn't we all kill Grikaths with a Rapier's lasers from safe distance? Piece of cake it is :)

So Mjav still thinks that Crossbow is a "downgrade" of Broadsword because of naked flanks.

:)
 
The Crossbow is 50 kps faster than the Broadsword, a 15% improvement, and is half again as maneuverable.

So Mjav still thinks that Crossbow is a "downgrade" of Broadsword because of naked flanks.

The Crossbow also has double the side armor and 50% stronger shields all around.
 
Yeah, I tink it's unfair towards the Crossbow not to acknowledge its impressive design.

Of course, that doesn't mean you can't favour the Broadsword instead of the Crossbow (many people do, I think) but you should give credit where it owns it.
 
Successfully finishing a mission with no guns could be very intense. I remember it was a bit frightening to be flying in circles trying to dodge an enemy and hoping your wingman could take him out before he got you.

Sir,

You are very brave!

If I lost either both my guns, shield generators, or my radar panel blew out (or a combination) I would always attempt to withdraw. That was the best thing about WC, dynamic campaigns. Halcyon always gave a sound bollocking to me afterwards, but I guess if my wingman and I were dead, the mission would still have been failed!

KvK
 
Sir,

You are very brave!

If I lost either both my guns, shield generators, or my radar panel blew out (or a combination) I would always attempt to withdraw. That was the best thing about WC, dynamic campaigns. Halcyon always gave a sound bollocking to me afterwards, but I guess if my wingman and I were dead, the mission would still have been failed!

KvK

Perhaps there was a very little bit of bravery involved, but if I remember correctly, I think I ran out of afterburners at about the same time. Even limping home was intense, hoping that you didn't get jumped by enemy fighters.

Withdrawing would be the smart thing to do though if you're going for survivability (hopefully I would have the sense to do that in real life). I sometimes would withdraw, but often I would just fight to the death and replay the mission if I failed. Completing campaigns in WC3 and 4 on nightmare difficulty without dying was a former goal of mine that I never accomplished. I also didn't successfully complete the original game without dying either. Blair must've been quite a pilot!
 
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