Greetings everyone,
This dispute has quite gotten out of hand and I hope this input will help in some way. (P.S. I am a registered player but have my EV and EVO password lost, anyway..)In my years of EV I've done many things. I haven't done amazing things like killing Matt Burch in a shuttlecraft(Quite unbelievable, I'll tip my hat to the person who did it) or destroying an Alien Fighter with a luxury liner but I do know the many differences between the Feds and the Rebels. This will be quite lengthy so don't fall asleep (or pass out). Let me just say first that I support the Feds but I still like the Rebels due to their Star Warsish nature. Ships are more important than living in different planets so expect a power-packed comparison.
ROUND 1 (Fighters department)
Mantas are solid cute little ships (Samosas!) with a missile or two. Against a patrol ship (keep in mind that this is AI vs AI), the missile plays all the difference. If one fighter pulls off both missiles in succession, the other one is toast. If they lose all their missiles , the patrol ship will usually win due to the proton bolts. Normally speed isn't that important because they'll both blaze past each other. Very evenly matched but I guess they'll kill each other (clowns). Against a gunboat is very similar except that in the rare occasion that they line up, you will hear a rocket and smell a fried samosa. The manta should do fine if it sticks to it's missiles.
WINNER: Nobody. They are all pretty even matched. I hate secondary weapons that need reloading.
ROUND 2 (Frigate vs Destroyer)
Don't you love these sea ship names? I LOVE it when a computer controlled destroyer and frigate go head to head with no cheating.It sounds like this...torpedo....torpedo..torpedo...rocket!..proton turrets (budda budda budda)...repeat. Anyho, (I'm sorry Fed people) The destroyer wins most of the time. I'll tell you why....
Speed and turning rate: Critical for an AI controlled ship to pull off it's secondary weapons. The rebel destroyer usually gets in one more torpedo in due to his turning rate. A computer controlled ship needs a certain distance or else it can't fire off it's secondary weapons and there are times on fly-bys where the frigate can't even fire a torpedo due to the speed of the destroyer.
Shields and weaponry: Okay...50 points more shields for the frigate. 1 EXTRA TURRET SPACE for the destroyer! For a secondary weapon hater like me...it's..it's heaven. Alright, back to reality, the stupid rebels didn't have the foresight(or brains) to install all four turrets so AI destroyers only have 2 so turret-wise...they are both equal. However..the destroyer has the capability of hitting the slow moving frigate with all it's secondary weapons. The poor frigates do the same but to a less extent. So....
WINNER: Destroyer, all hands down. Besides, the frigate looks like garbage anyway. WHO drives a frigate anyway? C'mon, don't kid yourself, drive a Fed Cruiser.
ROUND 3 (Heavy cruisers)
I love them both. They make EV, more like EV. This might take awhile but please don't pass out. The Fed Cruiser is THE ship in game. I don't care about those stupid planet-busting, child murdering , sheep-eating aliens. Frankly, the Fed cruiser looks the coolest. Okay...okay, lets not drift away,the comparison!
Yadda yadda....Fed cruiser wins. Huh? Well, against a rebel cruiser, I've seen the cruiser lose many times. Know why? I'll use a term from an EVO ship guide. "Monty Python". A term whereby a ship gets confused fighting many ships (those mantas) at once. If a rebel cruiser fought toe-to-toe against Fed Cruiser without his fighters....he can consider himself red toast, heavy rocket or no heavy rocket. With the fighters, he has a chance of beating the cruiser with 50% of his shields left. Because at close range where the real brawling begins, no cruiser has the brains to fire off his torpedos (no ship in the game controlled by the AI at close range fires his torpedos). His neutron cannons are cool, but he still doesn't have the brain to use them like a human (what the hell am I saying?).
WINNER: Both of them. Huh? You want a real answer? As a ship for a human to use, the Fed cruiser would be better. However, it takes skill to be a rebel pilot and if used properly, a skilled rebel cruiser pilot can take out 3 fed cruisers at once (maybe ten!). The rebel cruiser is lethal.
P.S. I prefer the Fed cruiser. Maybe cuz I like big ships with big guns. (small boys with big toys)
EPILOGUE
It's quite unbelievable people will go to lengths such as comparing planets to live on to what paint a ship has. If you're a hardcore EV fan, these things will apply to you but if your the average gamer....it just sounds stupid. No doubt both governments are cool in a way. I admit the Feds are rat weasels when in comes to diplomacy and the rebels are the "good" guys...blah.blah..blah... but let us look at it from a different angle. You love Star Wars right (I hope so)? Sounds familiar to this storyline? Well, think of the Confederation as the Empire and the rebels as the uh....rebels? Okay, everyone loves Vader. Why? He's cooler than the Emperor and uses a red lightsaber (colour plays no part okay?). We prefer Star destroyers to Rebel blockade runners and prefer stormtroopers to boy bands (huh? somethings not right). I like Big ships. Really BIG ships! Compared to Fed cruiser, the rebel cruiser looks like Anakin Skywalker. It's a difference of tastes.
I Hope this wasn't boring. Perhaps a bit too long. It took a good hour to write this so I hope the EV community appreciates this. By the way...Don't kill Matt Burch, kill sheep (huh?) !!!!
SELESAI