I find it the exact opposite -- I prefer barrel roll in tight spaces to k-turn or retros. The reason is that I can see where I'm going to go. With excellent situational awareness, you might know if that retro or k-turn will put you into a rock or structure behind you, but I'd rather point myself at the most open space I can and barrel roll. I just feel like I have more assurance that I'm not going to hit something when I execute the maneuver. To each his own though, I really believe that none of these are so clearly superior to the others that only one is worthwhile, or even the best. It really comes down to personal preference and how it fits a given pilot's style and skill with a given ship.

I love my Pike. It was the first ship I mastered, and when I'm in a close match where I feel like I really need to maximize my contribution, that's what I fly. First, it can be extremely survivable -- when you need to go defensive, power to shields and ducking and weaving around the environment makes you very, very hard to kill. Add a little situational awareness and you can keep a satellite from being capped for a good long bit, unless you get ganged hard. When I'm going up against the better pilots on my server, it gives me enough survivability to be able to get out of a lot of sticky situations. Barrel roll is a lifesaver too, and it's also good for quickly jumping on nodes as soon as a domination match starts. Basically, anyone can kill enemies if they're left to just go shoot them unmolested. With the pike, I find I have more time to react when I get jumped so that I can try to either escape or turn the tables before I can get taken down. Quick-charge shields and hydrospanner can be lifesavers too. Offensively, I go with quads and primarily concussions. I started with protons, maxed those out, and have switched to EMP missiles. The only problem with those is that I forget that I have them since it's not a habit yet, but they seem useful against drones/mines as well as enemy ships. Maxed quads with power to weapons is a force, and in a head-to-head with scouts, I can start locking missiles a little earlier due to the longer range. They lock faster, but once I launch, I can barrel roll right at them, evading theirs while mine hit. As I go head to head, I use the quick-charge shield after I've taken some damage to fill them up and pop hydrospanner too if much gets through to my hull. I find there's no ship type that I have trouble with in my pike -- just good pilots. It's got the speed and closing ability (especially when you use barrel roll OFFENSIVELY) to deal with gunships, is nimble enough to deal with scouts (though in the hands of a skilled pilot, can be hard to get a bead on), and can pound away at bombers and their drones/mines. I've mastered at least one of each type, and while they all have strengths and weaknesses, for my style, I just like the pike best. I'm sure there are some who feel the same way about pretty much every other ship too. But I wouldn't say it has any major flaws, and it very well might not be you either -- it could just be that your natural style is more suited to another ship.

I'll agree that drone LOS, missile drone zero time to lock on and fire, and rail gun accuracy are all issues that should be balanced with bombers. In my last post, I hope I didn't come off sounding as though I thought bombers were just right as they are. But all the ships can probably use some balancing, and with bombers being newest to be released to the masses, they've had the least amount of time to get fixed. I'm not trying to excuse it, just stating what I see as the facts. I have mastered a scout, strike, and bomber, and am one tier 5 box from a mastered gunship. Having played all of these against both total newbies as well as experienced pilots, I can say that I've struggled against good pilots in all the ships as well as owned lesser pilots in all the ships. While the ship (as well as its upgrades) do make a difference, it's more about skill and teamwork. In my bomber, I've had the most trouble with gunships and scouts. In my scout, I have the most trouble with gunships and strikes. In my strike, I'm the most comfortable and I can't say there's any ship type that gives me more trouble, just good opponents. In my gunship, I have trouble with everyone since sniping's just not my thing, I doubt I'll ever be as good with it. But in all of them, a good pilot in any ship is more of a concern to me than what ship they're flying. I've abused my share of inexperienced pilots in bombers using any of my ships. So yeah, balancing is needed. Not just with bombers, but perhaps a little more so with them. Mainly though, two things are more important than the ship you're flying or the ship you're flying against -- you and your opponent's skill with whatever ship it may be, and that of the folks flying with and against you.

Bombers are more useful in dominations matches than deathmatch. In domination matches, if I'm flying against middling to lower-tier pilots, I use my bomber. I do this because (a) I can drop mines/drones near objectives knowing that the enemy will come near, and (b) knowing that I can do far more mass damage against them since they don't actively wipe me or my drones out. In deathmatch, it can be somewhat effective if you can keep folks fighting in a reasonably small area, which is best done in a group. Since I'm mostly a solo queuer, it's not easy for me to dictate the battle location. Now, in either mode, against good pilots, they know 3 things. Drones/mines blow up easy. Also, when I die, all my mines/drones go too. Further, I'm slow and have next to no escapability if I'm being ganged. So basically if they focus me down, I'm gone as are all my toys, and it'll take a long time until I'm back in the fight, compared to other ships. When that happens, I'm a far more useful member to my team (particularly solo) in my pike or flashfire. TL;DR - Bombers are most useful in small areas. Bombers have weaknesses, good pilots (especially teamed) can exploit these and render a bomber almost totally useless. Against good pilots (and especially when solo queued), fly a strike or a scout.

Same observation here. I'm not 100% sure, but I seem to see Larrah with them a fair amount too. Regardless, from my experience, they're all good pilots individually, but their teamwork is a big force multiplier. As a team, they're tough to beat, I can't say I recall having been in a match when they've been on the losing side. Kudos to them, they've got skills and good teamwork to match.