I think we're all missing the big picture here....the companions are pissed at being nerfed and in a show of strength and solidarity have taken the game hostage!

Well, that's pretty cool. I'd like to think that the majority of us Shadowlands GSFers are friendly and helpful players, but it's nice to see concrete proof now and again.

Thank you all for the replies/ideas. I figured that most of the EMPs would be on the pike/quell for the ability to carry another missile; yet I can't seem to find a build that makes it an effective system for clearing mines/drones before getting blown up by other ships. Urlgrab, I may give your "quick strike" idea a shot and see if my reflexes are up to the challenge. The novadive/blackbolt with EMP field is certainly another way to address the situation- I've just always felt too vulnerable having to get so close to activate and then trying to clean up the drones before they reactivate while the gunships are taking shots at me. Still, maybe if I practice I can get better at it. I have tried EMP missles on the T3 scouts, thinking that tensor field gives the speed advantage to get in and out, but with just those missiles and light/reg lasers, I feel like I'm not doing enough damage to anyone I go after. I'm currently trying to decide if my T3 scouts work better with ion missles or thermite. Any more thoughts?

Thank you very much for those replies. I of course wasn't expecting a "magic build" that would easily nullify one of the most difficult situations in the game, but you all have given me some new insights that I believe will be helpful in at least making a contribution and not feeling uselessly blasted out of the sky over and over. Drak/Verain, your points are absolutely valid and obviously come from much experience. In a perfect team up, if one group decides to jump on 6 or 7 gunships, the other team of equal skill does the same and the playing field levels. I don't have any problem choosing a gunship myself for the benefit of the team, but as I said, I really do lack the skill of many gs pilots, and therefore don't contribute much before getting blown out of the sky by the better gunships. That being said, which gs is considered the best to field in TDM? I don't want to carry two in my hangar (for reasons already mentioned), so I've been going with the T3. This one seems to work best for me b/c when I get rushed by scouts/strikers, I can switch to missiles and use my scout skills to have a chance to survive or even win the dogfight. However, I often feel undermatched when I fly the T3 against a standard T1 gunship. Is this by design, or is it just highlighting my lack of gs skill? Oh, and Xi'ao, your advice is good as always and yes, the real answer is team play, but for some reason you're the only one who seems to want me on imp side, and on pub side when there are teams (which seems rare lately) they seem to be a set group of 4, 8, or 12 that don't have much interest in outsiders. So, I often go it alone- but thanks for letting me be your "charity case" !

Sir, we have names, but if you can't remember all of us... we go for either Xi'ao's Cronies or Imperial Elitist ********, not Xi'ao wannabes (We love the 2nd one) Just for clarification- by "wannabes," I wasn't referring to Xi'ao's teammates/friends (of which I am often one when flying imp side) or skilled pilots in general- I was specifically thinking of those who chose to name themselves things like "Xi'aopub" or "Xi'aonumberthree" and such. I guess it can be viewed as homage (I'm not Xi'ao, so I can't say how he feels about it), but the cynic in me suspects it's done to try to scare less-experienced players into thinking they're flying against the actual Xi'ao using one of his other character slots. Either way, I have yet to meet a Xi'ao clone that is anywhere near the challenge that the one true Xi'ao himself is.

Yes, much has been said, to the point of trolls and flames, about multiple gunships with bomber support in TDM. There are those that say it's completely unfair, and others that claim it's simply a matter of L2P and/or strategizing with teammates. My opinion falls somewhere in the middle. I don't think any team is necessarily invincible, but, during TDM in particular, using 3 or more gunships provides a significant tactical advantage, especially when paired with one or more bombers for defense. The fact that most of these players are fairly-skilled pilots increases the challenge. I know that the first two responses to this situation are: a) get an equally-skilled team, and b) fly your own gunship. The problem is that I'm often pugging b/c I don't really know too many of the other pilots, and though I'm above average at most ships, the gunship is a weak spot for me. What I'm looking for is the best non gunship ship/build to go against gunships/bombers solo, assuming little to no team support. My battlescout works pretty well against 1 or 2 gunships, but the limited range weapons make it hard to deal with 3 or more gs and multiple mines/drones. I thought the Pike/Quell would be the answer with its versatile missiles and better survivability, but I can't seem to find the right combination of offense and defense to take on the gunships AND the bombers. The other option I've tried is the T1 scout with EMP field, but I'm not the greatest shot with rocket pods, and its inherent squisiness often gets me killed before I can do much damage. So, I am again asking for advice, stories, etc. on how people might deal with this situation- anything, no matter how oddball it sounds, would be appreciated.

Ok, so who uses EMP missile, on what ship, and to what purpose? I feel like it should have a place somewhere in my arsenal, but I can't figure out the best way to use it. Or, is it just not effective due to the many limitations (range, reload time, limited aoe/lack of dam)? If anyone has success stories of using the EMP, please share them. I'm guessing that the best place for them is on the Pike/Quell because of the 2 missile slots, but if you use them effectively on another ship, I'd love to hear about it. Also, when is the best time to pull them out- for instance, are they good in TDM when used against the wall of bombers/gunships, or for clearing out a mine/drone field around a satelite in DOM? Also, are they effective in solo/pug play, or do they require support from teammates? All advice is appreciated.

I'm no ace, but I'll go after any gunship I can- let me know who it is that vexes you and I'll be sure to give him/her some attention. I am often overmatched by skilled gunships, but tenacity and a little strategy can go a long way toward rattling their cages. I know Xi'ao is more skilled than I'll ever be, but I won't hesitate to go after him when we're on opposite sides. I've even gotten him a few times . (Then there's the crop of Xi'ao wannabes- they're just fun to blow up as a consequence of their hubris. ) That being said, when one gunship becomes 2, 3, 4, etc. the job gets significantly harder, esp. in a PUG. Also, many of our server's "aces" often run in teams with other skilled pilots. Not sure what the answer is if an equally-skilled team is not available, but I say just keep plugging away- any and all experience will be helpful, even if it is frustrating. The more you play, the more you'll get to know your opponents- even the best pilots get beaten sometimes. Try not to be intimidated and see if you can work with your team to form a strategy. Also, sincere requests for help/strategy on the boards are usually answered with some pretty good advice.

I'll admit that I'm guilty of "calling out" Xi'ao when I'm on pub side- though usually it is to warn new players to try to avoid him. Not that it really works- I've seen him rack up kills while dogfighting with his bomber, so I'm at a loss as to how to minimize his contribution. I'll usually go after him myself just to try and keep him busy long enough for others to accomplish objectives. Of course, when I'm on imp side, getting on his team is a real boon, especially if we are up against veteran pilots (which are the most fun matches IMO). As for me, i actually do find myself the target of 3 or 4 pilots at a time quite often. I'm not sure why this is. While I'm a bit above average, I'm nowhere near an ace. In dom matches, my scores are especially unimpressive, b/c I usually end up holding a node (if we're winning) or trying to dislodge opponents from one, often unsuccessfully (if we're not). The weird thing is that it seems to happen on both imp and pub side equally. My imp pilot (Zexxar) may get tagged because I've teamed with Xi'ao many times so I might be just getting some of his "love." As for my pub pilot (Xaxxer)- I don't know any of the good pub pilots, and I always que solo, so I have no idea why I get so much attention. Maybe I should paint over that bright red target someone painted on the roof of my cockpit.

Ok, thanks....I know I'm not getting that one, because I specifically look for it and see it come up in my chat window without popping up on the screen. Guess I'll have to bug it.

I have a question about the messages that flash up in TDM. I get the normal ones from both sides (pilot x was destroyed by pilot y.....pilot z self-destructed, etc.), and I get the green messages when one of my teammates grabs a power-up. What I don't get is a red message for when an opposing team pilot gets a power-up. I only see it in the chat window in the corner (which is very hard to monitor while flying). Is this a bug or working as intended? I get the feeling from other posts that other people get the big red message. It sure would make it easier to adjust tactics if I knew who had what. I just want to know what it's supposed to do so I know if I should put in a bug report. Thanks.

I'm pretty sure missile sentry drones do in fact have a lock-on time, because I've witnessed them firing at me after a warning tone. Seeker mines I didn't know about. That's probably it. It seems like they're doing a lot more damage than you've indicated; however it could be that I'm getting hit by multiple mines/lasers/whatever simultaneously and not realizing it. I often seem to attract the attention of 3 or 4 opponents at once; I'm not sure why this is, because I'm not even close to being an Ace and very rarely make it to the top of the kills scoreboard. Guess I must have "please kill me now!" painted on all of my ships. Oh, well. Thanks for the replies.

I'm asking because I've had a couple of matches recently where I instantly get the "missile fired" tone and big red triangle without hearing any warning tone. It's only happened in a couple of matches, but when it does happen, it happens A LOT. I don't believe it's rocket pods because a) if I don't use an evasion ability it will hit me even if I turn/flip/whatever; b) I didn't think that rocket pods even get the locked-on triangle/tone b/c they can't lock on; c) they seem to do way more damage than is possible for a rocket pod; and d) whenever this happens I think (but I could be wrong) there aren't any scouts close enough to fire one off. Mostly this seems to happen when I'm in the midst of enemy bombers- is there a mine or drone that locks on instantly? If so, it seems a bit OP for something that doesn't suffer from human error to begin with, but if that's what it is, I'd like to know so I can try to plan accordingly. If it isn't a bomber/drone, please tell me what does this, b/c none of the missiles I have loaded perform like this. Or, is it a bug? Should I let EA know so they can look into it and fix it around patch 12.7 or so? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Ok, I admit it, I hate gunships. I hate flying against them, I hate getting completely disabled (or outright killed) by one shot, and I really hate how the number of gunships in play increases the advantage for a team exponentially like no other class of ship (or ground class, for that matter) in the game. As much as I hate flying against them, I also hate flying them myself. I don't enjoy the play style of sit, fire, run, turn around, sit, fire, run, etc. To me, that's not what GSF is supposed to be about. My opinion, not stating a fact or trying to argue with anyone about play styles. Additionally, I don't fare well when I do fly gunships. I may get in a kill or two before I'm noticed (though often I miss b/c I'm not good at the railgun targeting system and just end up drawing attention to myself), but once someone is after me I spend the rest of my time running away until I get blown up or get so far away that no one is interested in pursuing anymore, and then have to spend a great deal of time trying to get back into position and try the whole fiasco again. All that being said, I kept my gs in my hangar and consistently upgraded it so that if it was needed on the field I could use it. I still firmly believe (my opinion again) that any number of gunships over 2 (especially when working with a couple of bombers) creates a huge imbalance in most matches unless countered by an equal or greater number of gunships. Of course, pilot skill is a factor, but less-so than with scouts/sfs (bombers are another topic). And, speaking from painful experience, most of the GS pilots on my server (Shadowlands) are quite skilled at what they do. So, whenever I came across a team (mostly on imp side) that either weren't choosing their gunships or didn't have them available, I felt obligated to jump in mine to try and balance things out against the often 4+ gunships we were facing. I did this for a long while with no real success. I finally got sick of it. I hated the gunship. It was taking the place of a ship I might actually want to fly, and I couldn't seem to contribute to the team at all when I used it. So I dumped it and dropped the t1 sf back in (not the most powerful ship, but with heavy lasers/ion cannons and concussion missiles, it does have its uses, at least in dogfighting scenarios). My question is this- am I gimping my team by not having the gs in my hangar? I currently have both scouts, both sfs, and a drone bomber on each side. The bomber's not my favorite, but as it seems to be damn near vital anymore for domination matches, I decided I could put up with it. (I'm actually pretty decent at flying the bomber, but I guess it's not hard for anyone to fly around a sat and drop drones.) As for the scouts, I find use for both, depending on the match and the other team's makeup. Same thing for the strike fighters. I even have EMP field and missiles for dealing with drone/mine fields, though they are a little underpowered for the tasks in which they were designed (that's a discussion for another post). The only thing I've been using my gunships for is to convert their req to fleet so I can upgrade my other ships faster. Still, I wonder if I'm not being a good team player by leaving out an obviously powerful ship choice. Should I give up one of my ships and put the GS back in? If so, which one? (I would lean toward the t1 strike fighter but would like to hear suggestions.) So that's my dilemma. Sorry this is yet another long post, but I've really been struggling with this one. Anyone else having a similar experience? Please tell me why I should leave my gs out or put it back in. Thanks.

I hear a lot of chatter on my server (Shadowlands) about sides that "suck"- funny enough, it's often a player on one side saying that side sucks. I don't believe either side sucks, but there are certainly a lot of new/inexperienced players on both sides. I honestly try to encourage them the best I can, especially when I look over and see the dreaded "premade squad of death" or "gunship alley." If they get discouraged, they'll quit, and the player-base dwindles, which is bad for everybody. Now, I've been around since the start of sub access, and while I'm no ace (I'm decidedly average- another post on that topic soon) but I have a fair amount of upgrades and am a regular flyer, so I've been around long enough to know some stuff. I also fly both sides (Xaxxer on pub, Zexxar on imp) so I've been with and against most players on my server. So when I give advice or instructions, especially based on opponents, I tend to know about what I am speaking. Now I'm going to vent. Was playing pub side for a bit tonight- TDM and dom, some win, some lose. Up pops a dom match, and I get prepared- I check what my teammates are choosing so I can pick the right ship (I try to support the team by choosing what is needed except for gunships- another post about that soon as well). I also check out the opponents for ship types and names I know. Sure enough, Xi'ao pops up. I've flown with and against him, and I can say he's listed on the ace post for a reason. So Xi'ao decides to go bomber in this run (he's skilled at all roles, though I believe gs is his favorite) and I see Jmoney picking a gs to give him support. - Before the match begins, I warn them about the skill level of Xi'ao and Jmoney. It's the canyon map, so "b" is the covered sat. I rush to b in my flashfire, trying to grab it and hold it so one of our bombers can get in, but of course the imps have the same idea. A few seconds of dogfighting, and in comes Xi'ao and Jmoney. They promptly trounce my behind, clear everyone out, and set up camp. I then go over with my pike and, with a little effort and some good teamwork, take over "c". At this point, we are not too far behind, so I strongly urge my teammates in chat (I hate typing and flying!) to leave "b" alone and go for "a." With Xi'ao fully deployed, Jmoney hovering overtop, and a scout/sf or two in the middle, there was no way we were getting it back. I then watched most of my team attack b. And die. And attack b. And die. I repeated my earlier instruction- "B is entrenched- leave it and go for a." Then they....attacked b. And died. And attacked b.... You see how this went. We lost of course. Even if we would have had all upgraded pilots we probably would have lost trying to take b. At the end, I see from my teammates on chat: "Xiao is impossible to beat," and "Xiao sucks" (I assume you know to take the last as a complement, Xiao). To which I'm thinking, "Yep, if only someone would have warned them not to waste time pointlessly engaging him over and over in the most advantageous spot in which a bomber can set up shop...oh, wait...." So, the point of this long, drawn-out story is this: You find yourself in a pug. You have good advice to share. You'd like to be taken seriously because you've been around enough to know a few things. How do you impart this to your team as concisely as possible so you don't spend all your time typing? I tried short-to-the-point messages which seemed to be ignored, but longer ones put me in jeopardy of flying into a wall or being shot down. Anyone have advice on what works, or am I just insane trying to organize teamwork in a pug?