' Wrote:The Slipstream is an amazing LF. I fly it all the time on my Phantom and I can usually rip people apart quite easily. I've flown the Ki, Arrow and Loki. The Ki isn't so great. Its ugly for starters, but the Arrow and Loki are great.
Dont even bring the slipstream up in this thread... that thing outclasses any other LF in the mod -_-
As far as the arrow... I've flown one several times on a xeno character, it's a fun ship but just doesnt have enough firepower to kill anything.
Now, I did my first practice fight in my BHG sea serpent tonight... I have 2 warriors (class 8 bhg guns), 2 buckshots, a ripper mine (low level mine ftl), only a class 6 shield instead of the class 8 I should be using, just a wasp cruise disruptor, and no armor upgrade.
I went up against a Raven's Talon with mk 8 armor, codename guns, basically a fully kitted VHF. I won the fight, sort of... we agreed to no killing since he had codes he was trying to sell and didnt want to lose them, but if the fight had continued I would have won.
I wasnt even able to hit him for the first half of the fight since we were just both dodging in close, but halfway through we started to joust one another, and that's when things turned in my favor. With the ridiculously narrow front profile of the Sea Serpent, I was able to strafe and avoid nearly all of his fire, while landing a ton of my own against him. It wasnt quick bringing him down with only 4 guns, but I managed.
It's a fun ship to fly, I doubt I'd be any good in a furball considering people are dodging more there - my aim is terrible and nothing I've tried has improved it any... but straight on jousts like that, I was kicking bass =P
Supposedly the Sea Serpent isn't one of the better LFs out there (according to opinion, I've never flown it...)
If you can't get a hold of hard hitting weapons like Magmahammers or Firekiss, I'd suggest going with 2 class 9 faction guns and 2 class 8 shield busters. Either a Ripper or a Screamer is best for Light Fighters, Nukes are a bad idea because they can be used against you, and one Nuke means death to a LF. Also, do not joust anyone with a Mini Razor, because one MR is death too.
The important thing is to learn to dodge mines, once you can do that you're pretty much invincible. Generally making longer passes is a good way to avoid mines, once your opponent has run out of mines from there it's easy stuff. Use X to turn around after you pass (dangerous to do if they're laying mines) and you'll face their back while they're still turning, since LFs turn on a hairpin. This is when having hard hitting weapons comes in perfectly. They'll rip through bombers, but to hit other LFs and some faster VHFs you'll need to chain fire them.
Dont try a decurion, corsair weapons are too slow and can hardly hit anything, you might consider a scimitar, it has the 5 foreward wepons, but outcast/hacker wepons are much faster (almost as fast as the BHG particle guns). That said, if you are good at aiming, the decurion turns so nicely, it is amasing.
Sea Serpent is not that good. I flew one a while ago for some time and it lacks the power to hurt unless you are really good with the nukes. That's why I changed it to Manta.
I've never flown Loki. I should try it sometimes.
One thing is for sure. LFs train your reflexes and aim a lot. And they will definitely develop your mining skills.
Of course errors in LF are costly too, so you can't afford to make too many mistakes in a battle.
The scimitar is a very nice lightfighter, I used it for quite a while. Debs and Krakens, organised for the best energy efficiency. While some have mentioned that nukes are a dangerous combination with a lightfighter (and it's true) you increase your potential damage astronomically if you get used to setting up mines, EK turning (because it's so fast) and launching off a TCD to pop that mine as it bobs towards the enemy.
If you're facing multiple enemies, tap afterburner as you EK turn to screw with their targeting. Or just use normal turning. That's pretty fast too.
the scimitar is my light fighter of choice, and I've flown a few...this one certianly gets the job done.
Currently my hacker scimitar has 1 imp dep, 1 cannonball, 1 ripper, 2 Hellflurry class 8s and the class 5 hellflurry turret
she's a small and compact ship, with excilent firepower. The rippermine certianly has nice damage, and won't instant kill you as badly as the nuke mine when it blows up in your face.
the cannonball missile I've found is one of the more usefull changes I've made to the load out recently. with it, you can do a considerable high damage burst, usually the nessisary thing to bring down VHFs. Alternate firing the CB and some cruis disruptors and you'll be in good shape. I've been using train CDs but a Mosq. CD may be a better idea....it hits more often, does more damage, and the blast range is smaller, meaning you won't loose the engine kill if it hits too close.
the important thing is to keep the other guy off ballance...CDs and the odd mine in some passes, also mix up your approches, don't fly head onto him.
keep the shape of the ship in mind too. you want to strafe more often in a direction that will complement it...for the scimitar, up and down and for the Sea Serpent left and right
sorry this kind of stuff is hard to discribe...usually it's instinctive piloting for me
' Wrote:Assuming you are in LF, other guy in something slower, you do the following:
You: drop mine
Other guy: since he is slower, he cannot cd you near your mine
After you hopefully change positions:
Other guy: he is now hopefully near your mine
You: shoot cd to blow up that mine
Repeat ;) Should work well with 2 buckshots and 2 debs.
You gotta be careful with that tactic though. You turn around much faster than your opponent, so the CDing of mines has to be timed better when facing VHFs. Against other LFs it works well though.