LF could use some love I think. right now people avoid them because they don't really have a strongpoint. in packs they are true murder if flown properly. but I guess players like to play it safe and fly a ship that can't be ista'd. so there are no LF packs. hell, you rarely see LF in any case.
as a LF lover myself, I'd say, give LF something they can be good at. something to make em dangerous. because their firepower is just not threatening enough right now. and the only thing it can use to dish out some hurting, a nuc mine, is a huge threat to the user. same applies to missles.
maybe give it a super chaingun of sorts? with a very high refire and some serieus damage output (400-450 hull, I dunno) that drains the entire core in 3 to 4 seconds. that way a properly flown lf has firepower to actually hurst something, without being a super agile killing machine due to the drain. basically, short bursts of proper damage.
What I've seen in my time across Freelancer servers is a select few "Super Light Fighters" which are nimble with class 10 weaponry but a horrid power plant, hardly any armor, no CD/Torp slot, Mine, or Counter Measure. The ships are fast as hell, but it's all about conserving your power in being able to knock out other bombers/VHF's.
It worked in balancing out some of the people always flying VHF's all the time and wtfpwning LF's and HF's.
But i have couple of HF... Executioner, Switchblade, Bayonet, Gladiator. They are fine if you can dodge and ppl cant aim at you. HF and LF work wonders in group fights.
Only thing could be added is "Mini Razor" for LF, i mean miniature mini razor for LFs. Those who can use normal Mini Razor would use it still. But those who cant should get Mini T slot for Mini Mini Razor. Little bit faster then normal but less stronger.
I like the idea of a Highspeed projectile weapon that is unique to the light fighter class.
I used to play Tachyon: The Fringe, and they had a railgun weapon (I know this idea has been mentioned a few times before and shot down) that was basically, a high energy drain low shield damage but high hull damage kind of weapon. The important thing about it, was that the speed of the weapon was basically instantaneous.
Now of course, I am not suggesting a LF highspeed projectile weapon to be that fast. Maybe make it at max 1000 m/s or maybe 1250 (Don't capital ships razors and some turrets go faster than 1200 m/s anyway? We dodge those in fighters and bombers all the time) but make the effective range of the weapon short, say 600 or 700m, very low shield damage, a hull hitter only. Moreover, make it so it'll basically drain any LF's power core in one shot. After the LF shoots this weapon, its going to be on the defense as the power core regenerates for a bit. Damage, half as much as a mini-razor?
I think it'd be a cool new weapon addition. Maybe overpowered the way I have described it, but with some tweaking I think it could bring people out of their GBs and throw them into LF.
I love heavy fighters... I fly them a lot. You'll see me in my executioner more frequently than my guardian, despite the exe's obvious weaknesses of being large and losing wings...
Light fighters I find make me want to hurl, just through the stupid turn rate.
Both have their place, heavy fighters seem to be able to shred bombers fairly fast, but LF's just don't have the firepower. Light fighters are not a solo pilot's ship. They are a support ship (CD's) or a pack-ship. They have their place, and do a job very well. I just find myself wanting to vomit with motion sickness every time I try.
' Wrote:Looking at the stats I'd use "normal" guns over them anytime.
Guns with 700-750 m/s speed are more than enough on LFs, since those can keep very close to the target at any time.
2 reasons
1. cap (or more GB) spam, with 2-3 VHFs it's not problem killing a GB, with 2 LFs it's basically impossible
2. LFs now die to to nukes/mini instantly, while they have no way of killling enemy instantly. In 4.84 when they could kill vanilla VHFs with 1 mine, they were much more used, now they mostly get killed themselves. One interesting idea was to give LFs 2 mine droppers.
Why not give all light fighters (or all of the mk 2's / high end lf's, anyways) a cd/torpedo slot so they can use mini razors? That gives them plenty of extra firepower against slower targets.
Quote:Why not give all light fighters (or all of the mk 2's / high end lf's, anyways) a cd/torpedo slot so they can use mini razors?
Because they're light fighters. The only LF with a torp slot is the Loki (iirc), and have you flown that thing? it's a beast. Big ship.
The rest of them could stand a power-plant upgrade. Its all well-and-good to be able to stick to the back of a fighter/bomber, but when you're firing and you drain your powerplant before significant damage is done, all the agility in the world isn't going to do you any good.