What is everyone's favourite fighter

The auto-track guns are great against small targets, BUT they consume a lot of power. I turn them off against capships and often against heavy fighters too. Without the auto-tracking, the Excal usually has enough power to take down a heavy in one burst.

As for charging guns like the Fission cannon, or more commonly the charging mass drivers from Prophecy (they almost make the Tigershark a decent fighter), they're great if you are a good shot. You can spend more time dodging enemy fire and getting onto an enemies tail, then just burn in close and fire. Of course, if you miss frequently, then they are a waste of time.
 
Does auto-tracking consume gun power? I never noticed that.

I consider myself a reasonable shot (which is why I prefer slower firing weapons (heh, heh, plasma cannon!)) I don't like charging weapons because I tend to wait to line up my shot - and by then I've charged up using the whole gun pool. On the times I miss, I need to wait a long time for the gun pool to recharge.
 
I think that the Charge Mass Drivers are ok, but the fusion cannons just have a way of missing, I think that it is partly due to the position of the wing. But they have to be like that inorder to fire so, theres nothing that anyone can do about it.
Also, I know that you can definatly take out a Trasport with one burst of full guns from the Excalibur, and I thin a light destroyer and maybe a corrvett, but I think that all. But still, if I'm in an Excalibur, I can make short work of almost any cap ship.:) Or a Vampire for that matter.
 
Wedge: I'm not sure if the Bearcat's guns auto-track or not, but I'm pretty sure the Dragon's main guns do. The Excalibur's guns, of course, auto-track.

Azaeral: Good shot or not, the fact still remains, in the time it to charge up the fissions, you can already have killed a target with main guns. That's not taking into aiming time with the fissions, which takes at least a few seconds on the crazy/nightmare levels. Not only that, in the time you're charging, your options are limited because you can't cloak without losing the charge, and you can't simulteously evade *and* keep your gunsights continously tracking your target, which increases the time to use the fissions even further. I admit killing a fighter with one shot has a "wow!" factor to it, but when all's said and done, it's more a gimmick than a parctical combat tactic.

Best, Raptor
 
Originally posted by Raptor
Wedge: I'm not sure if the Bearcat's guns auto-track or not, but I'm pretty sure the Dragon's main guns do. The Excalibur's guns, of course, auto-track.
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The Bearcats guns do auto-track, but due to the position of the guns on the wing tips means that if you are close to an enemy, 2 miss usually.

Incidentally, on the issue of the fission guns, in the cut scene at the start of WCIV, the dragons seemed pretty efficient at taking out the hellcats with them, as for them being a practical weapon i suppose it depends on your flight style, whether you are a prescion shooter (like me :D) or a gun-jockey
 
Originally posted by Oggy
...depends on your flight style, whether you are a prescion shooter (like me :D) or a gun-jockey
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My flying style is usually: "Take this, you Kilrathi bastards!!! AARGGHH I'm going to die!! Oh wait, no I'm not." :D
Which means a high refire rate does me more good than a powerful slow fire weapon. Unless it's a real weak weapon, like the single laser on a Hornet.
Which brings me back to the Raptor, which for me has just the right balance between firepower and fire rate.
That's in WC1 at least.
In WC4, I must say I didn't really use them fission cannons much, except against capships.
 
I just find that it is not to hard to use the fission cannon against fighters, one hit and....BOOM!
<use the force Oggy :D>
i just found that easier than plinking away at a fighter for several hits...unless i am using the stormfire, in which case i burn through ammo like its going out of fashion,
 
My flying style is simple: if it works, do it. That is, the simplest and most practical route to a kill is the best one. In a Dragon, for example, with those quad heavy guys at your disposal, just chain link them, select target, fire a 3-5 five round burst, and watch it go BOOM! Charging up a fission cannon and taking extra time just to prove I'm a good shot always seemed pretty pointless to me.

Best, Raptor
 
Originally posted by Oggy
i just found that easier than plinking away at a fighter for several hits...unless i am using the stormfire, in which case i burn through ammo like its going out of fashion,
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I like the Banshee for a similar reason, you can get off so many shots on a single charge. OK, they're not very strong shots, but it's nice and chaotic. All those shots would make your nose a very dangerous place to be in front of.
 
Originally posted by Raptor
Azaeral: Good shot or not, the fact still remains, in the time it to charge up the fissions, you can already have killed a target with main guns. That's not taking into aiming time with the fissions, which takes at least a few seconds on the crazy/nightmare levels. Not only that, in the time you're charging, your options are limited because you can't cloak without losing the charge, and you can't simulteously evade *and* keep your gunsights continously tracking your target, which increases the time to use the fissions even further. I admit killing a fighter with one shot has a "wow!" factor to it, but when all's said and done, it's more a gimmick than a parctical combat tactic.
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It all depends upon the firepower available to your 'main' guns. I will admit that I rarely (if ever) used the Dragon's Fission Cannon against fighters, simply because (as you said) the other guns were powerful enough to take out a fighter quite quickly.

With a Tigershark, the main guns are quite weak. I prefer to charge up the guns a pick one good shot, rather than try to stay glued to an enemies tail for twenty seconds. This even more true in a Shrike. Because it is so slugish to turn, its very hard to stay locked on a target for the length of time required to remove its shields and do serious damage to the hull. Its far simpler (IMHO) to line up a single good shot that does serious damage. If I miss, well, too bad ... but I rarely miss because I put the effort into that one shot to make sure it counts.
 
Good point about the Charging Mass Driver. I think I use that more often than the Fissions.

Originally posted by Unforgiven
...like the single laser on a Hornet.
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Unless you've taken serious damage, a standard Confed Hornet mounts two laser cannons. ;)
 
I agree absolutely on the charging Mass Drivers on the Shrike, the standard weaponry on the Shrike (the normal Mass Drivers and the Particles) is pretty crappy IMHO. Too slow firing and travelling. The Stormfire and the charging Mass Drivers are much more useful.

Though I often use the charging Mass Drivers on the Tigershark too, I found her guns to be a significant advantage over the Piranha's, mainly because the TShark has a greater Gun pool thus enabling her to get more shots off. And they were rather fast firing, so against smaller fighters no problem (up to Moray/Manta).
 
Originally posted by Mekt-Hakkikt
Though I often use the charging Mass Drivers on the Tigershark too, I found her guns to be a significant advantage over the Piranha's, mainly because the TShark has a greater Gun pool thus enabling her to get more shots off. And they were rather fast firing, so against smaller fighters no problem (up to Moray/Manta).
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True that the Tigersharks guns are an improvement over the Piranhas standard guns. I find the charging guns of particular advantage against large numbers of enemy - you can let the guns charge while you are concentrating on dodging, then just swing onto an enemies tail, deliver a usually fatal blow, and resume dodging again.

The Piranhas guns are pretty pathetic. I tend to soften my targets with the Stormfire and finish with a missile at close range. With 400 rounds and 6 missiles, you can wind up with 6 pretty easy kills. More than 6 enemy and a light scout like the Piranah should probably be running for home anyway. The standard guns are probably enough for your average pirate/kilrathi raider.
 
While some expect the Piranha to be a replacement for the Arrow, by definition, the Piranha is scout fighter, and is therefore not suited to prolonged engagements against anything bigger than probably a Manta. As Hawk puts it in the manual, the Piranha sacrifices firepower for speed and agility. And it might seem that it sacrificed a bit too much weaponry - sometimes it's hard to take down a Manta with just guns since its shields can absorb most of the damage you can dish out and recharge quickly enough before you can penetrate it and score armour hits.
 
That is the problem with the WCP fighters, they are specialized, the Piranha,being a Scout Fighter doesn´t have some serious guns, only the Stormfire, i think that properly refited, a Hornet can destroy a Piranha easily.
 
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