Yet again this topic comes up, and yet again I feel compelled to respond.
Azdgari
Here's my view on the three Strands. All of them are playable and have their own good and bad points.
Igadzra: Okay, so you can buy an Igazra, which is very tough. But I really hate slow ships, especially when I'm getting outmaneuvered by opponents. Even with the speed upgrades it lags too much for my taste. I flew one for a while, but I didn't really like it. The plasma siphon used to be pretty good in earlier versions of EVO, but since it now does less damage and uses fuel, it's a lot less cool. SAE's are just sucko-rrific. Zidagar are virtually immune to them, Azdgari are usually too fast to hit with them, and using them anywhere else means constant trips back to buy more. Plus these guys are a bit less fun to work with, IMO, because they are never really friendly.
Zidagar: These guys have some real good points, but they also have some areas where they just aren't that great. The systems upgrade and the Zid. ECM are both wonderful... hard to beat free space and a jammer that'll stop nearly anything. But I don't like their other signature equipment. I know I'll get a lot of disagreement on this, but here goes. The Zidara is very similar to the Lazira. However, it's missing something crucial: the Lazira has the second best shield recharge rate of any purchasable ship. In a ship of this size, recharge is vital because that's what allows you to take on large groups of opponents. The Zidara's recharge rate is about the rate of some UE ships.
And this will probably sound like blasphemy, but the phased beamer isn't that good. My reasoning is simply that it uses far too much fuel to be effective. In order to use it at all, you need to devote quite a bit of space to it: 20 tons for a single beamer, 10 tons for extra fuel, and 10 tons for 2 fuel scoops. Even with all that you're only getting several seconds of sustained fire. Once that's gone, you're forced to rely on your other weapons until you scoop some more fuel, and you can't fit as many other weapons because of mounting the beamer. So I feel that it is not a good weapon for sustained combat. This said, Zid. fighters are pretty good to have backing you up, because you don't have to worry about their fuel so much. And if they stop firing because they've run out, you can just call them back and relaunch them.
The Zidagar have pretty cool personalities, and there's really nothing disagreeable about them on that front. Overall, these are my second choice.
Azdgari: Well, their fighter bay can be very useful... if you enjoy flying a converted Miranu Heavy Freighter. Otherwise, sure the firepower it provides can be massive, but it really limits what else you can do. The initial shield generator is comparitively pretty weak. It's effects really only show up on small ships that might not have enough space to spare for it. However, as I'm a big fan of maneuverability, the Azd. turning upgrade is great for me. And of course, the exp. shield generator is just ridiculously cool. I no longer use it on fighters, since being invulnerable got to be boring, but I still like to use it slightly larger ships. And then there's the Azdara... a true marvel of engineering. I've reached the point where flying a Crescent fighter feels slow. There's really no way to argue against the overwhelming technological advantages of the Azdara. And even though you can never buy one, their warships are just frighteningly good: fast, better recharge rate than most warships, and armed with a wing of Azdaras...
Furthermore, I really enjoy the Azdgari missions. I like the idea of commanding my own wing of fighters. Now I know that people call the Azdgari "ruthless raiders," but I've never seen it that way. I have never even associated them with the far more evil renegades. The Azdgari are involved in a war. They fight using the tactics that best utilize their ships. All the Strands are interested in beating the others in pretty much any way they can. The Azdgari do not attack civilian ships, or raid Strandless planets, or do anything truly cold-blooded. The UEs use many of the same tactics against the Voinians that the Azdgari use. The Azdgari simply try to get some cash out of it, too. And for me, the Azdgari were the first friendly alien port I reached... after drifting slowly through all of Igadzra space. When you work with the Azdgari, they are always just as friendly as the Zidagar.
The one thing I dislike the most about working with the Azdgari is what a pain in the arse it is to leave Azdgari space and get to a friendly port.
Well, that's my two. Sorry if you feel this post is too long.
Paradigm
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