' Wrote:Not all gunboats. Such gunboats as the IMG gunboat and the Hacker Gunship don't have forward guns.
Read before you comment. Blunt was referring to <strike>VANILLA</strike> (/endstupidformat) Freelancer, mmkay? I think you should stand corrected right about... now!;)
in a way - Xing is right about gunboats being large bombers...
vanilla does not know bombers. - VHFs are basicly bombers ( with their starkiller torpedos ) while gunboats are..... large bombers. - instead of a torpedo which is ammobased, they got a F-gun that is energy based ( but they sacrifice size for it )
so - yes, they ARE larger bombers in vanilla... but - we re playing discovery. we do have bombers, a stand alone fighter class that easily outperforms gunboats anywhere but in the passive defense.
since we got bombers and bombers are about the most popular ships in disco - gunboats had to find another purpose. now - gunboats are doing what bombers are NOT supposed to do - which is .... killing fighters from a superior weaponsplatform.
GB's are a versatile platform. they can be made to serve a number of purposes. with the right set up they can kill caps and with the change of a few turrets they become deadly to fighter craft.
they seem to be the link between fighter craft and the big capships, able to swing either way very easily
I fly a Gunship, and it is set for direct support (anti-fighter). That was it's primary role and it's noted on the data card. I suppose I can engage large capital ships, but all I can really do is harrass them. I'm not willing to give up this ship's natural inclination toward an anti fighter role.
' Wrote:Well, i always picture the role of the liberty cruiser as submarine wolfpack style, have like 3 go in and just main gun the enemy capital to death.
As for the gunboats, dont forget YES they had main guns, but they were meant to be agile enough to dodge capital fire, but at the same time couldent break the cruiser sheilding. its said in the mission you first face the RH gb's the cruisers couldent hit them , but the gb couldent get close due to the firepower of the cruisers.
They take out the Battleship stationed at Willard. Seems to suggest anti-capital.
' Wrote:Liberty didn't have a GB but their cruiser had a forward gun.
Rheinland (to my knowledge) didn't have a cruiser but their GB had a forward gun.
i can't remember what ships Bretonia and Kusari had in SP, did any of them have forward guns?
Very wrong. All Houses had a gunboat, cruiser, and battleship. Except Liberty had no Gunboats. All the Gunboats had FWD Guns. Rheinland certainly had a Cruiser, and you can see a wall of them while doing the mission to save Von Claussen.
Though, Jinx is right. At this point, its too late. Bombers have taken their place.
' Wrote:Very wrong. All Houses had a gunboat, cruiser, and battleship. Except Liberty had no Gunboats. All the Gunboats had FWD Guns. Rheinland certainly had a Cruiser, and you can see a wall of them while doing the mission to save Von Claussen.
i stand corrected, like i say it's been at least a month of sundays since i played SP all the way through.
' Wrote:They take out the Battleship stationed at Willard. Seems to suggest anti-capital.
Eh... they're not supposed to. In fact you'll notice that that battleship (the Unity) is encountered again, during mission 4, otherwise known as the Mission From Hell.;)If you saw that happen with Disco on, it's due to the fact that for some reason, the Unity has its Vanilla armour, but the gunboats all have Disco guns. In fact, when it goes, you get docked money for letting a CRUISER die, of all things. :wacko:
Note that they kept sending gunboats after a couple of fighters in the campaign, that suggests that gunboats are good against fighters, too. Why would you send a gunboat after a fighter otherwise? I feel that gunboats should be able to perform in both roles if we're looking at the Vanilla intent.
' Wrote:GB's are a versatile platform. they can be made to serve a number of purposes. with the right set up they can kill caps and with the change of a few turrets they become deadly to fighter craft.
they seem to be the link between fighter craft and the big capships, able to swing either way very easily
Dreygon is right about this generalization though.
GB's are now a versatile platform, regardless of their original vanilla intent. Think Swiss Army Knife.