OK, what does the EV community think is a better ship, the Lightning with it's speed and missles, or the Rapier with it's direct firepower. So vote!

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ZidAz

For flying, I prefer the rapier, it is more expandable, better shielded, and fast enough. It also has a useful amount of cargo space.

Yesterday, I completed my first plugin (a syst, 3 spobs, a new ship, the beginnings of plot), and set up some misns to observe rapier vs lightning battles. The Lightning won all of them.

The lightning makes a better escort ship-- it quickly dispatches those pesky defenders.

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I dont get it how can you you test the battles of ships against each other.
And for me its neither but if I had to choose it would be a Rapier. Stronger and more room thats what I like!

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if it dosent doesn't
squiel its not worth
killing

Never go by the AI. A Rapier, non-escort, does not use torpedos, whereas the Lightning uses its secondary weapon no matter what. Find out what happends if you set both AI's to escort? Just curious. If this were a poll I would go for Rapier. My opinion is that the Lightning is just a suped-up Defender.

That's a tough question. Though I love having Lightnings as escorts, I normally prefer using the Rapier as my own ship.

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~Captain Skyblade

President of the Corsair Development Team
(url="http://"http://artworks.tmgmedia.net")Corsair Homepage(/url) | (url="http://"http://pub57.ezboard.com/bcorsairdevelopers")Corsair Web Board(/url)

Lightning all the way.

Find my post about it and read the test results against Rapiers.

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Great webboard: (url="http://"http://pub18.ezboard.com/baradapilotsboard")http://pub18.ezboard...radapilotsboard(/url)

well, it has to be the rapier.
It has torpedos, which, as I outlined in the missiles v torps thread, are the best secondary. It's a great springboard because you can take down bigger fish, and corvettes are a doddle. It's only a matter of time before you can get a better ship. And i'd rather have 6 rapiers than 6 lightnings as escorts; they all launch their torps from a distance, so waves of toirps quickly disable your prey; frigates are taken down with incredible ease. Rapiers all the way.

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I choose to believe that the glass is half empty.

This is alot like the board for Missiles and Torpedos, since the strongpoint of the rapier is that it has missiles, and the strongpoint of the rapier is its torpedoes. Both are good ships, its just that one works better in one situation, and the other works better in another situation.

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Whichever has more space is the better ship, in my opinion. In this case its the rapier.

I like rapiers as escorts because they are aggresive. They will hit anything that poses a threat.

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Quote

What the people say is law. There is no honor in the Lands of Mizra.
-Mizra

Quote

Originally posted by Mizra:
**Whichever has more space is the better ship, in my opinion. In this case its the rapier.

I like rapiers as escorts because they are aggresive. They will hit anything that poses a threat.

**

But the Lightnings act quick as well. With all their missiles, then can mutilate any target quickly; and if that doesn't destroy the target, all the heavy rockets ave javelins will. The Rapiers are better against bigger ships however, with their array of heavy rockets, torpedoes, and proton weapons. Although I prefer flying the Rapier by a long shot as my own ship, I have no problem with having six Lightnings as escorts.

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~Captain Skyblade

President of the Corsair Development Team
(url="http://"http://artworks.tmgmedia.net")Corsair Homepage(/url) | (url="http://"http://pub57.ezboard.com/bcorsairdevelopers")Corsair Web Board(/url)

I must say I made a cheat fighter that cost 10 million and was worth every penny,
and one of them as a fighter dispatched almost EVERYTHING, and two Lightnings
were able to overpower it.

It had 60 shields, and a long range beam that worked as a tractor beam.
Faster than a Defender, can haul a Confed Cruiser to it's death.......

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Great webboard: (url="http://"http://pub18.ezboard.com/baradapilotsboard")http://pub18.ezboard...radapilotsboard(/url)

(This message has been edited by SilverDragon (edited 06-22-2001).)

I have never liked using a fighter as my personal ship. Why? Little cargo space, not a helluva lot of weapons space, and low jump distances. Ergo, I can only judge this in an escort capacity, where I have seen lightings kick butt. I think that the lightings are better.

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You don't have to do this! Life is too precious! Good, good, slowly, everything will be OK. Now, put the trout down...

...besides, the Rapier is much better looking. It's a handsome delta-winged ship that is devilishly handsome. The lightning's not really as nice.

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I choose to believe that the glass is half empty.

Actually, in my opinion, I think the Lightning is the better-looking fighter. It has the mix of a modern-day F-16 Falcon, F-15 Eagle, and a bit of the X-22. But as I stated earlier, I prefer the Rapier as my own ship.

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~Captain Skyblade

President of the Corsair Development Team
(url="http://"http://artworks.tmgmedia.net")Corsair Homepage(/url) | (url="http://"http://pub57.ezboard.com/bcorsairdevelopers")Corsair Web Board(/url)

I prefer the Rapier for looks, since the Lightning looks too much of a sort of
"brawling" fighter.

But I prefer the Lightning for everything else, including my own ship, since I
dislike sluggish fighters.

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Great webboard: http://pub18.ezboard.com/baradapilotsboard

Quote

Originally posted by SilverDragon:
**But I prefer the Lightning for everything else, including my own ship, since I
dislike sluggish fighters.

**

Oh, that brings up another point: I never fly the Rapier unless I have money to buy all the upgrades. Otherwise, I agree that the Rapier is too sluggish.

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~Captain Skyblade

President of the Corsair Development Team
(url="http://"http://artworks.tmgmedia.net")Corsair Homepage(/url) | (url="http://"http://pub57.ezboard.com/bcorsairdevelopers")Corsair Web Board(/url)

I think we can all agree that the Confed Cruiser is sluggish. But it is one hell of a fighter. I've gotten all upgrades, and it takes missile hits like they are flies ramming windows at full speed. Total, it can take around 150 missiles. Luckily, with upgrades, its faster than torpedoes.
Return fire is simple . . . let them run outa missiles, and nail them with the 4 proton cannons while shooting missiles the whole time.

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Quote

What the people say is law. There is no honor in the Lands of Mizra.
-Mizra

Gotta love the rapier!!!
not that i've ever flown a lightning...i couldn't stand to put myself in one of those 'things'!!!

i'm gonna run a few tests of my own... then i'll get back to you on the REAL winner!

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Kirk - Scotty, we need more power!
Scott - I kinna do it captain, I kinna reach the controls...

The Lightning is merely a "Super Defender." The Rapier is a chore.

Since this is a vote for one or the other ... Rapier. It has more space and cargo. But I don't like either ship as MY ship. They are both "okay" as escorts.

- KK

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“You will find that our crew will be either the most valuable, loyal, and trustworthy of allies, or ... if you insist on trying to swallow us up -- the worst of enemies. The choice is yours. And should you choose to fight us ... don’t bring a knife to a gunfight!”

ok, i ran my test. i had one AI rapier vs one AI lightning.
the rapier won and it won with 100% shields!
hmm, maybe i should run it in a system other than levo, apparently the AI rapier learned to hide behind asteroids...

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Kirk - Scotty, we need more power!
Scott - I kinna do it captain, I kinna reach the controls...