So I ended up buying a resheph the other day after much internal debate with my other selves, who peer pressured me into the purchase, only to realize that none of us liked it very much afterwards. Big slow capships just arent our style (anymore, apparently), and a lot has apparently changed in regards to capship weaponry and balance/tactics, and it's just too much to bother with right now. Also doesnt help that I have a severely gimped budget and buying that resheph cost me some precious credits that I cant recover now.
So, after experimenting a bit, I've come to the conclusion that I'm a terrible cap pilot, and a terrible snub pilot, so I need something inbetween. So far, I've had the most success (and enjoyment) flying some of the SHFs and bombers in the game - indeed, the Anzu and Spatial are both rapidly becoming my favorite ships - and I think I'm ok with a few gunboats for some heavier gameplay. I just need to not be reduced to turtle speeds and agility when in combat, problem is trying to combat the plethora of larger ships while not in one myself.
So, at the moment, I have the following ships, and am looking for advice on their loadouts/equipment as well as combat tactics/piloting tips for them:
1. Order Hathor Gunboat -Not a huge fan of the model downgrade from that beautiful Bishamon I had before, and losing all the story work that went with it, but the Hathor has the not-so-slight advantage of not being gimped to 75% power core, and it has more guns.
I do like the harpoon missiles, was using two of them on my bishamon to some decent effect against outcast cruisers, though I'm disappointed the ammo doesnt stack up like it does for multiple chainguns.
2. Spatial SHF - So far one of my favorite ships to fly except that I cant turret zoom with it (and the turret view is too damn close to the ship to be useful). I currently have it equipped with adapted nomad blasters/cannons and two scorcher bombs (I friggin love scorchers, even if they're not super effective, the effect and burst is just awesome).
3. Voyager Freighter - dont actually have one yet but i'm considering buying it, obviously not a combat craft but I think it could do in a pinch, looks like it has a disruptor and a torp hardpoint, so I could probably mount a scorcher or razor there, not sure.
Other ships I'm considering investing in:
-Barghest LR bomber - Always liked this thing back in the day, though it doesnt seem like many rogues are around anymore. I've always been a fan of heavy bombers over light/medium bombers for the extra disruptor/torp slot and bigger shields/armor/core.
-Werewolf LR SHF - With or possibly as an alternative to the barghest, I havent seen this thing since it was made an SHF, so I'm not even sure what it looks like - but how does it perform?
-Waran bomber - used to be a joke, seems to be relatively decent (and much better looking) now. If I get this it'll be as an Order bomber, since I'm not a fan of the sekhmet.
-Liberty Gunboat - Possibly if I make an LSF character?
Gunboats are arguably the easiest shipclass in the game to be good at, all you need do is load up with full prims and 2 pulses or 2 razors on the heavy slots (either will do, I prefer razors for the added versatility), bind your turretsteer keys, fly in circles, and shoot. You're fast enough and small enough to escape larger capital ships, and put up a pretty mean anti snub screen within 600 meters of yourself. The drawback is that a lighter gunship will always lose to a heavier gunship nowadays, since turn rates and ship size matter a lot less due to the nature of gunship combat being "do circles around each other in TZ and shoot until one of you dies."
If you want to hop into the game with the least amount of effort I'd strongly recommend buying a heavy gunboat such as the Imperator (Corsairs), or Oder (Rheinland) and jumping into some fights with it.
How are the harpoon missiles, really? I couldnt tell how effective they were against those outcast stortas because it was a fleet battle, but they 'felt' like they were punching hard.
They're alright, I guess. As I mentioned in another thread I prefer using missiles on heavier ships to track lighter ones. Pulses or razors are always coming to be more versatile.