Light Fighters in General

[Rodnas]

The question is- should light fighters stay similar to what they are now or will there be a complete rework of how the snub-classes function.
As far as i remember HFs face a similare issue(aside from the Bayonet and the Marauder and such)....so in the ideal case at least in my opinion would be snubs, categorized like a toolshed...you need something to X ? Take snubclass A ...job Z needs to be done, sure get snubclass B and so on, the allrounder concept simply leads to almost everyone flying VHFs + Bombers and not much more.

Summed up: more diversity with very clear advantages and disadvantages and no more "do-it-alls" ...but that is almost off-topic already...

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Read about: The Benitez Familia and Trueno Benitez

---Not available for any disco stuff these days(and for an extended period of time to come, too ---

[Ninefour]

Class 10 guns (2) would be nice. Also cl 10 LF shields as others said.

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retired

[DarthBindo]

The problem with using LF's as pure interceptors, as they are now, is the hard limit of 70 ammo on that CD, and the specific application in which they can be used which results in a skewed cost-benefit analysis.
Bringing a LF to a fighter battle is simply not worth it. The duties performed by a LF (intercepting, fire absorption) can all be done by a HF or VHF and both those classes pack a hell more firepower and survivability.
The only situation it even makes sense to undock on a LF is for tackling and pinning cap fleets alongside a bomber wing or another cap fleet, and since it is far more efficient to bring along another bomber instead of another LF, you've got one guy trying to pin upwards of six ships at a time, with a hard limit of seventy CD's. You run out damn quick, not to mention the speed difference is a measly 50 m/s AT CRUISE(!), or an extra klick every ten seconds, with the same fighter thrust and impulse when caught in a furball, making it impractical to even try to tackle somebody with a distance of more than 7-8 klicks between the two at cruise. By that time you reach them your target is halfway across the system.
They all need an extra CD/T slot to mount two diff types (and stack two counts of ammo) and MOAR SPED!111!!1one!

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gone four years, first day back: Zoners still getting shot in Theta :|

[Dashiell]

imho, a fitting solution would be dedicated LF cd slots. on this slot a LF can mount:

- a cd (no really?) so it can function as an interceptor pur sang. In combat though, its usefulness will be poor.

- chaingun-of-doom type weapon. The LF can now deal more damage and contribute nicely in the dps department. it can however no longer work as an interceptor.

- missle-interdiction cd. a 'cd' that doesnt cd. but it can track and destroy nova torps and cruiser and bs missles. seeing as flak is still near useless, this would be a nice support role for a LF.

the above are just ideas. but they can each give the LF a specialised role. one role focusses on actual fighting, the other on support. Specialisation required which makes LF handy in situations but not omni potent.

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[Ursus]

the reality of warfare on the server is: if I have a choice to take an LF or two with my team of VHFs or go pure VHFs into a fighter battle - I will always take full VHFs because they can simply dish out more damage.

The problem is with VHFs not with LFs. People should not want to fly VHF all the time.

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Discovery 24/7 Negotiating Tactics:

[Switchback]

LFs are fine.

But if you want to give me another advantage, pls do so.

On a serious note, LFs are fine if you know how to fly them.

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Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power.

[DarthBindo]

LFs are fine.

But if you want to give me another advantage, pls do so.

On a serious note, LFs are fine if you know how to fly them.

Any ship is fine if you know how to fly it.
The abilities of a ship at the marginal skill level are irrelevant to the average user and their nominal use.

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gone four years, first day back: Zoners still getting shot in Theta :|

[Govedo13]

LFs should lose its troll ship role, so I am for reducing/keeping their their fighting capability and give them more other features- better cd without ammo and better range for example in exchange for less bots and bats.
Making them better in PvP would make HF that are hardly useful totally useless, also group of LFs would be brutal in PvP.
So I am with Jinx and Blodo on that one.

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€œ

Official faction players that are often accused of elitism, never deploy them and have those weird, immersion killing "fair fight/dueling" suicidal hobbies. (yes, i've seen enough of those lolduels, where house military with overwhelming force on the field willingly loses a pilot in a duel. ffs.)

[Silver]

Simple, do what the rest of the peeps were doing.

Fly gunboats.

<3

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[8:32:45 PM] Dusty Lens: Oh no, let me get that. Hello? Oh it's my grandma. She says to be roleplay.
[12:12:00] Traxit: this is smut stop

[Ironwatsas]

One reason LFs suck is due to the fact that they are pretty much reliant on mundane guns, wheras VHFs get torpedoes/razors/infernos/nuke mines/etc, and the hull strength to use them without gibbing themselves into a million pieces.

That fits into a larger issue of Snub fights just last so damn long, unless your enemy is either a crack shot or sucks horribly, or someone gets lucky and you trodden on a mine. I've been in fights lasting well over six hours in a single engagement. The basic thing is pretty much all of our ships below cruiser class have too much armor, and not enough gun.

If you were to either buff the damage and/or projectile speed of some if not all Fighter guns, or alternately remove some of the superfluous armor upgrades (or restrict them only to low-level ships like starfliers/mk1 fighters to make them semi-competitive) it might help mitigate some of the "Dodge forever" syndrome, and give LFs more damage potential.

The problem is, even on a VHF like the sabre with a monolithic loadout of all Krakens, hit probability (unless you're fighting something like a spatial or gunboat) tends to be very low. You need a full rack of heavy guns, or Debs in order to get past the kinds of Armors being thrown around. The piddly four gun LFs can barely overcome shield regen.

Personally, I think re-balancing the gun system is the Answer. To make it so you can accomplish the same job with fewer guns (faster). So you'd only need two to four guns of a given type to have a noticeable effect, and balance energy usage and regeneration so that a VHF with all Krakens becomes redundant. Weapon grouping and variety of weapons for a given situation would become the name of the game.

For LFs, this would mean their four guns (and any powerplant/manuverability changes) would make them actually a threat. VHFs would still beat them by virtue of getting faster weaponry and having more endurance, but an LF wouldn't be totally helpless. An LF pilot with skill would be able to out-dodge and actually deliver enough firepower to defeat an opponent.

In short:

1. Faster Guns to mitigate "Invincible Dodging"
   
2. Harder hitting guns to mitigate Overpowered Armors and Make LFs more dangerous offensively.
   
3. De-buff the afformentioned armors so fights don't last for a thousand hours.
   
4. Balance powerplants/individual weapon energy usage so an All-Kraken sabre dosen't become a 2-hit-kill powerhouse.
   

And also, I guess give LFs some goodies like Cloak Detectors, Turbo thrusters, Special Torpedoes of some kind.

Bigger LFs like the Phantom, Hyena, etc should probably just be buffed into HFs and given more armor and/or speed to mitigate their general size.

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All that begins must end.