' Wrote:Use missiles on their cruise disruptor and then tell the trader its all good. Its worked for me.
Interesting and evil suggestion. I like.
Wouldn't you have to down their shield first, though?
Quote:Heres what you do. Get a scout in a gunboat, or a bomber. The way you put it, a gunboat is a rolling wave of destruction that will no questions asked destroy your ship.
They kind of are--killing a gunboat is a serious chore for just about everyone, as far as I've been able to tell.
Derailing my own thread: I've never actually flown a gunboat, but am looking to expand my repertoire. Is the Orca any good? That main gun seems really juicy...
The best scout ship is the Arrow.
Why? Because your job is not to kill any pirate in your way but to make sure the transport who hired you can make his trip as fast as possible without running into any pirate. Fighting the pirate takes way too long, leave that to the authorities.
Spot the enemy, report back to the trader and let him find a route to evade him. If the pirate manages to spot the transport, use your CD to prevent him from getting close. that's all of a weapon you need as a scout. And with the agility of that Arrow, there's no reason to worry about the pirate killing you. It is probably harder to hit than a starflier.
' Wrote:Go play the game, within the given limitations. That is how role play games are played. Not by trying to work around those limitations or whining about them.
I've escorted a bit for a while,
John Woodpecker in the past actually was my escort character.
He kinda changed but that doesn't matter now.
How I escorted:
well I let the one hiring me decide what he wanted me to do, stick close, be an extra eye forward, etc.
sometimes I was a lookout for miners, serving as an extra eye in the field.
hanging about 20k from the mine field between him and the most obvious approach routes for pirates.
When some possible target approached I distracted them with chatter / jokes / making them mad at me.
It mostly worked out pretty well for the transport, giving him enough time to get away / load up.
This can be achieved with a light fighter to a gunboat.
I used to use a Heavy fighter for this one. (Switchblade)
Use a cruise disruptor because you don't want your targets (the one chasing your employer) to get to your employer.
I never really cared to much about my payment,
About average of 10mill a week profit for a couple of hours playing this character.
---
About the Arrow,
me and spazzy one day were a bit occupied with 3 gunboats and 2 fighters.
I was in a Ki and he was in a Arrow. Ki lived through it, Arrow sadly didn't.
And that didn't mean I didn't get shot at.
So my personal choice for scouting only would be the 'Ki'.
' Wrote:me and spazzy one day were a bit occupied with 3 gunboats and 2 fighters.
I was in a Ki and he was in a Arrow. Ki lived through it, Arrow sadly didn't.
And that didn't mean I didn't get shot at.
Maybe it was just luck?
Terry Pratchett "Night Watch"' Wrote:We who think we are about to die will laugh at anything.
The fun part of escorting begins exactly when a pirate is spotted.
Don't tell the trader to land, but make sure you get the trader to his destination by employing cleverness:
> Detour: always know alternative routes. If Magellan is closed, go via Cortez. If both are blocked, detour via the holes.... there are many many routes and evadin pirates is fun.
> Fly to the pirate and talk. Many pirates actually like to RP, and if not, you can still pewpew.
> Distract him (by talk or pewpew) so that the trade lane is open and the trader can pass on your "Go"
> Distraction can also be fighting+engaging afterwards. You can easily fight a GB in a VHF and survive long enough to get the trader all the time he needs to get away.
> Tell the pirate that he can be content with 500k or 1 million if your trader can move on without being harmed. If you are paid 5 million for an ore run, this can be a good deal. Often pirates don't want to mess with escorts and focus on the small fish and easy prey.
> Scout the pirates location and order the convoy to move 20k above/below plane, then rejoin it.
> Alert the Lawfuls
> Put up a bounty
> In a chase, spam CDs to allow your traders to cruise away and keep the enemy from igniting its cruise engines.
> In a lane-chase, burn the lanes, ambush the pirate, exit lanes early and burn in the long lanes, etc...
> ...
The escort needs to be creative. And that's what the fun is.
hmm...
The fight took pretty long,
And when I was targeted my shield didn't really go down, and when it went no hull damage was given.
On the Arrow it did take damage, even though slowly.
Arrow isn't that good at strafing and it's pretty long so when making a turn you can actually be hit quite well by a good gunner.
Ki's advantage is it's strafe and still being a pretty short/flat ship.
Although that's not what this topic was really about.
--
Just fly what you find fitting best.
Gunboats can chase of pirate by pure showing off, but they are bad for pursuits.
Bombers can when flown right, take out gunboats and fighters.
Fighters can be very good to distract or neutralize small targets.
Light Fighters they can just annoy the target until he/she gives up and leaves the area.
![[Image: signaturr.gif]](http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/9549/signaturr.gif)
