Greetings.
Im new to big capital ships, I had only gunboats so far. I would like to have a bigger cap ship in Liberty (Navy).
I would like to use it for two purposes: 1. to fight pirates; 2. to take part in the fights against the invaders from Rheinland (or other enemy factions, like Hellfire or SCRA).
Im not that rich to try all the ships in question, so a bit of help would be appreciated to help choose the ship. I considered the siege cruiser, the assault battlecruiser and the dreadnought. I read that the carrier cant fly very well (or not at all) in asteroid fields, so it is not considered as a choice (feel free to correct me if im wrong). And the dreadnought is questionable too, as it has no cruise disruptor hardpoint.
Thanks for the answers in advance.
The Dreadnought is super amazing, it takes a little practice but when you got it nailed down it is perhaps THE best BS in the game. But yes, it doesn't have a CD so you have to have wingmen if you want to go on the hunt. Rest assured though, Liberty get raided all the time and you will have ample opportunity to fight other caps, even if you don't have a CD.
Siege cruiser is good as well, it's tiny and if you've got skill it can be really difficult to kill - be aware though, it is not heavy on the firepower so it will take you quite a while to take down a BS.
LABC, I really don't like it so much, and for the longest time I thought it was a mediocre ship. I've had my behind royally kicked by some LABC pilots though, so I figure that in the right hands it's a beast.
well....Any thing you want to get, needs a CAU these days. a Lib Dread + cau 7 will + 3 cerbs/2 cerbs + 1 heavy mortar
will be something to fight with. Also...mentioned setup is for heavy attacks. otherwise you can use some
solaris/missiles and rock on!
The LSC and the Dreadnought are both in the light end of their respective categories. Therefore, they favour kiting tactics, which involves exploiting your higher agility with long-range heavy weapons to hit targets outside of the range of their BS/Cruiser Primaries. However, they are capable of rushing in on smaller targets (Dread on Cruisers, LSC on Gunboats respectively) and using the significant difference in shields/guns to overpower enemies that don't get away in time.
The LABC is a different beast. The loadout really determines what kind of role it will be used for. It is capable of fitting four Light Mortars (and firing 3 of them simultaneously), making it a strong anti-cap support ship in fleet battles. You can swap a LM for a Cruiser Missile, depending on preference. Alternatively, take Cerberus turrets for a slightly more flexible approach, but beware of trying to go head-to-head against a Battleship inside the firing range of its BS Primaries. A LABC will happily turn an enemy Cruiser or Gunboat into a flaming wreck - just watch out for kiting Mortar-equipped Cruisers. It takes practice to find the loadout and combat style you like.
I would recommend taking a LSC at first, as it is the least expensive investment and not too bad for learning a few principles of cap-ship combat. Take a HAU mkIV as your armour - also not too expensive.
Siege cruiser: Normally used for anti-cruiser and anti-gunboat, but atleast solo some BS, you can TS, but its relatively weaker than other cruisers. Therefore this isnt the best option against BS, but best for TS.
LABC: Perhaps the best ship... if only TS. It can excel against a cruiser but you need practice to take down a BS if its heavy. Try a 2 missile - 2 cerb combination to fry the weapons on your enemy. Your missiles are useful against GBs without CMs, but fighters evade it easily. Its on par with the Dreadnought.
Dreadnought: This is a light-end BS with only 13 turrets, it sucks against larger BS but you can solo one, assuming TS. Plus its better than the LSC which you may have trouble navigating asteroids. So you choose the Dread its best.
Assault Carrier: It has 27 turrets, which is useful against large BS, but cant use TS to evade since its too big. Perhaps dont use that one it doesnt do much good against cruisers.
So your best bet is the Dreadnought or the LABC.
You don't even have to turret steer in Lib dread, you can just stay at range showing only your tiny back/small profile, use box strafe to mess up turret tracking on the opposing BS (he'll have to free-aim because the crosshair on your ship is all over the place, and if he as much as touch the little red cross (and he will if you are at range), his guns will automatically fire too far to either side and miss you; nothing he can do about it no matter how good his aim is - beware of ships with forward guns though, they fire in a straight line and are only dependent on aim so you can't "bug them out") and you're golden.
Well actually the carrier can also evade (at least some of) incoming fire if you TS it properly... The important thing is to position yourself properly but it takes a bit of practice though...
Thanks for the answers. I'll go on Echo 7-7's suggestion, and buy a Siege Cruiser first, as I am totally unexperienced in capital ship combat. After some practice I still can buy a larger one.
Do you have any suggestions on weapon loadout? I would like to be effective against bombers and gunboats (pirates) in the first place.
Full Liberty Cruiser turrets on the normal slots, and 2 Cerbs on the heavies. This is the absolute best setup for you in my opinion.
If you don't know how to turret steer
LEARN HOW. And zoom out a bit by entering turret view (press H, then hold ctrl+scroll back).
From there, have a weapon group that just fires all your Liberty Cruiser Turrets, have a weapons group that just fires all your Cerbs, and have a weapons group that fires both.
When fighting gunboats you may just want to use just the Cruiser Turrets or just the Cerbs. But when fighting Fighters or Bombers, fire both groups at once, if both Cerbs hit the hull, you'll instantly kill the Snub (on most occasions).