Okay, I've been looking at the list of ships people have, and I've noticed that
very few people use fighters. So, I've been trying to collect the pros and cons,
and was also wondering what everyone thinks.

AGAINST FIGHTERS

• If you buy yourself an Argosy, you'll have enough money for a warship in no time.
• They have very little shielding.
• They have very little space.
• They serve no practical use early on when you want to trade, and later on they
  are too weak.

FOR FIGHTERS

• At an early stage you can wreak unthought of amounts of havoc, destroying Frigates,
  Kestrels and even cruisers with patience, and NOT with the Monty Python.
• They allow you to "run" dangerous but profitable cargo runs, with escorts carrying
  cargo and you landing before you or they are destroyed.
• A good pilot in a Lightning or Rapier can make more money counter-pirating than
  a fleet of freighters can make on a good cargo run.
• It opens up a whole new type of combat - spearheads, outcircling - that you can
  carry with you to use against slower warships once you've upgraded.

Opinions, please.

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Jude's left. sniff
We'll miss you/are missing you!
sniff sniff

For me, the cargo thing does it. I hate escorts, they never do what I want them to do, and I need some decent cargo space. Ergo, I never go with fighters unless they are on my own ship.

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"Victory goes to the player who makes the next-to-last mistake. " - Chessmaster Savielly Grigorievitch Tartakower

Well, the main problem with fighters is that they have next to none cargo space, which makes them useless if one wants to do cargo missions for a change. Also, they aren't very tough in terms of shielding and armor. The weapons are pretty good, but they're still just ships for battle.

Besides, there's nothing I can't take on with my Shuttlecraft, so why would I waste money on a fighter?

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"I don't say yes or no, more like the other way around"
Ankh Starrunner, The Diamond Blaster

I think fighters were made to create diversety in the game, also if you have alot of money you can buy one and have some fun( hit and run a Fed Cruiser)!

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if it dosent doesn't
squiel its not worth
killing

i think that fighters are only good in groups (you know, like a wing of four.) however, the one reason i don't use fighters in my ships is because you, the pilot, have to control them. if they would target all enemies in the system without you telling them to, it would be better. thats when i would use fighters.

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Fighters aren't all that praticle, I guess, but their fun as hell!

I like finding a good fighter that I can hire as escorts as well. Use a cheat plug to get all the money I need. Then buy myself one(unmodified makes it look better and more challenging) and as many escorts of the same type, and then go wreak havok on some government. I know it's cheating, but hey its fun!

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Knowledge is power, but ignorance is bliss.

Quote

Originally posted by SilverDragon:

• A good pilot in a Lightning or Rapier can make more money counter-pirating than
  a fleet of freighters can make on a good cargo run.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

A fleet of freighters can make more money than anything else. I mean, really. 200,000 credits per jump is not unreasonable with 7 light freighters.

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Giule out.

(This message has been edited by Giule (edited 04-22-2001).)

Well, personally, I love fighters... and while taking a fleet of pathetic freighters may make you more money, have u actually looked at the 'fun' aspect of the game? A game is called a game, after all, because it is designed for 'fun. If you just plonk your butt in a freighter and jump between two systems...well...where's the fun in that. Then you compare that to flying in a beautiful, shining fighter, racing in for a pass on a slow pirate, then smashing your fist on to the afterburner, and screaming "COME ON!!! YOU CAN DO IT!!! THAT MISSLES NOTHING COMPARED TO YOUR AFTERBURNER!!!" and once you escape the missle you yell "YEAH!! YOU BEAUTY!!! EAT THAT YOU STUPID PIRATE!!!" then suddenly a horde of missles starts coming your way and u utter "where the hell did that kestrel come from??!"

Honestly, nothing compares to a fighter. Freighters are just boring.

And, can you imagine a game with just capital ships and frieghters? how boring! you need these speedy little things to popup behind you and zip away before your turrets can get a lock!
a game without fighters...is not much of a game.

and in my plug-in, i'm gonna get an abundance of fighters

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

I'm totally in favour of fighters. My kestrel wouldn't be nearly as powerful without it's lightnings. I have little faith in escorts though; you just don';t have enough control over them.

I have a second pilot with a rapier, and it's a lot of fun. I'm hoping I can join UGE, as this would be a major earner and the rapier should have enough cargo space.

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for my own ship i like warships, not fighters. but before i can get warships, the clipper, rapier, and corvette are fine, if you consider the clipper, and corvette a fighter. to keep throughout the game i would not like. rebel cruisers are to my liking.

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Ultimate Rebel-Rebel General leading the Confederates' Demise

I dont understand why you people bad mouthing escourts. I have 6 rebel criusers so when ever a enemy pops into the system they go at it with all their might.Capitla escourts might not be fast but they will smash any thinh that comes in the range of thier turets. When I want to capture a ship I go after it my self.

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if it dosent doesn't
squiel its not worth
killing

I used to be in the UGE, but I f***ed it up by taking too long on one of those pirate runs. Those missions paid so much, too! Oh, and reb council, they were only badmouthing fighter escorts. Weren't you?!!!!

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Would someone please give me the title "swedish chef"? PLEASE?

Quote

Originally posted by ChaosMan:
**Well, personally, I love fighters... and while taking a fleet of pathetic freighters may make you more money, have u actually looked at the 'fun' aspect of the game? A game is called a game, after all, because it is designed for 'fun. If you just plonk your butt in a freighter and jump between two systems...well...where's the fun in that. Then you compare that to flying in a beautiful, shining fighter, racing in for a pass on a slow pirate, then smashing your fist on to the afterburner, and screaming "COME ON!!! YOU CAN DO IT!!! THAT MISSLES NOTHING COMPARED TO YOUR AFTERBURNER!!!" and once you escape the missle you yell "YEAH!! YOU BEAUTY!!! EAT THAT YOU STUPID PIRATE!!!" then suddenly a horde of missles starts coming your way and u utter "where the hell did that kestrel come from??!"

Honestly, nothing compares to a fighter. Freighters are just boring.

And, can you imagine a game with just capital ships and frieghters? how boring! you need these speedy little things to popup behind you and zip away before your turrets can get a lock!
a game without fighters...is not much of a game.

and in my plug-in, i'm gonna get an abundance of fighters
**

Nice quote, from the Simpsons if im right?

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This Vid is a bit like my beast; extremely long, and best enjoyed with a mouthful of nuts.
-Ali G.

I am also in total favour of fighters...they fly like...

My favourite ship of all time is undoubtedlely the pirate Raider (EVGE). If you upgrade its shield generators, it can cause untold havoc on slower ships with its dual pulse cannon...I once even took out a confed Baseship with it...

Go ahead, beat that for good piloting...

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This Vid is a bit like my beast; extremely long, and best enjoyed with a mouthful of nuts.
-Ali G.

Did I just see........ ANKH STARRUNER?

Actually, I'm a little confused by this theory tht Ankh is incredible. Short of
manually dodging bolt by bolt, there's no way anyone can improve on the webboards
standard skills.

So, if you're reading this, Ankh, mind giving us mortals a few tips?

Oh, and I like fighters. I've never tried to do much in a shuttle short of kill
pirates, but my Lightning can do anything.

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Jude's left. sniff
We'll miss you/are missing you!
sniff sniff

Oh, and on average I make 1 million every day with counter-pirating!

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Jude's left. sniff
We'll miss you/are missing you!
sniff sniff

Quote

Originally posted by SilverDragon:
**Oh, and on average I make 1 million every day with counter-pirating!

**

Find a good trade route, hire some freighter escorts, and you can make a million in an hour. I most recently did this trading zaxted<->diphidia in the Empire plug. Trading gets old after an hour, so I spend the money on a rapier/corvette.

Then I start counter-pirating. Killing corvettes and kestrels with anything less than a rapier is too time consuming.

The problem with freighter escorts is that they fire on ships that they cannot possibly defeat. I would prefer that they didn't fire at all, or better scatter and run.
Telling them to hold position as soon as you enter a system solves the shooting problem, but then some pirate kestrel will challenge a rebel destroyer right in the middle of your freighters. A couple of stray heavy rockets later, you are out half your cargo.

Fighter escorts are more fun, but they tend to do stupid things like attack the confed frigate that I accidently pissed off. If I tell the escorts to stop, then the frigate will kill them, so I have to join in and kill the frigate and get my reputation ruined in confed space.

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I mean 1 million a game day. Enough for a Kestrel a real day.

Now where's SilverDragon's password?

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A.S.S Beatrix,
Alexandria,
Save the Queen.

Against:
They require skill to use
Most people dislike that

For:
I use them

••The Crab

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Let's pretend you don't hate me for a second, then try posting.
WARNING : I don't take responsibility for my existense.
I'm like a bird. I always dump **** on people.

Half a year ago and I would have gone for freighters. I used to love buying an argosy and putting in a few missiles. However, time changes the mind...
As an experiment, I bought a Rapier. Not a lightning, I don't have a death wish. A rapier. And I haven't looked back yet. Start camping in Darven, because if things get too hot then you can land and just take off again until you get a situation you like.
Money comes flooding in and you can take over vessels. Besides, 200,000 a jump? 400,000 per Kestrel, my friend, in a Rapier. Plus, I got a free corvette out of it! I took it over with my rapier, nice bit of luck.

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I choose to believe that the glass is half empty.