Heavy Fighters VS Very Heavy Fighters

[Ursus]

Well right now HFs and VHFs are pretty close in terms of performance, heavy fighters being a smidgen more maneuverable and sometimes with smaller hitboxes and a little less firepower. In general however, most are as easy to hit as our normal VHFs because they are just the same ships with slightly different stats. Gallia is currently the only place where HFs have a pretty level playing field, but that is mostly because they are not always fighting VHFs.

There are a couple HFs in Sirius that do standout however, mainly the Marauder, which I have been using to great enjoyment as of late... it has light fighter size and maneuverability, more power capacity than an Eagle, but 4 Class 8s and 2 Class 9s so it cannot dish out as much damage per hit as VHFs.

Is this what a real HF should be like? Something that acts similar to a LF in terms of how you fly it, but has more longevity in terms of power output than VHFs? VHFs would have heavier armor, better shields, more burst firepower but less firing time (they have bigger plants but their guns use much more energy)?

I don't know if there is common agreement on what the ideal role is intended to be. In my opinion the ideal role for a HF is to get behind a VHF or bomber and shoot it down with one full core dump if the target doesn't heal or move (assuming 2 class-8 shield busters and 4 class-9 hull busters). This requires maneuverability (speed and agility) and damage output that can do the job. AFAIK, none of the HFs can do this today since the typical core is too small to support any extended amount of weapons fire, and some of them dont even have the manueverability to get behind a bomber either.

If the HF gets caught from the front, it should lose the joust--this part works fine, since most HFs have weak hull.

Right now, it takes multiple passes for a HF to get in some damage and try to whittle down the enemy, each time puts the HF at risk of being shot down in that single pass, or at least this is why I think it doesn't work.

An HF should also lose to an LF with 2-3 core dumps pretty consistently, just based on the number of guns that are available to the typical LF. I haven't looekd at any LFs yet.

Right now the disco HFs are basically VHFs with 30-40% less hull, power plant, bats and bots, etc. Some of them are very maneuverable, some are about on par with the VHFs for agility, some have smaller profiles, some don't, some have same number of guns (different classes though) some have 1 less. They all have much weaker core and hull. I think the definitive HF is the Bayonet, it handles a dream, has the right number and type of guns, but like the others it is too weak on core. The Liberty Executioner is a poor HF, it is the same size as the Avenger VHF and only slightly better handling, and insufficient core. The Bretonian Paladin is in the middle ground, a little smaller than the VHF, a little more manueverable, too weak on core. The Gallic Serval is a little nicer than the Paladin, but still not as good as the Bayonet. Rheinland and Kusari don't have HFs, they have VHFs with VHF core, hull, weapon mounts, etc, and also fairly nimble for a VHF. I haven't tested the Marauder, it sounds like an overgrown LF.

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