GSF is the main reason i played this game, and the main reason i re-subbed and the sole reason im unsubbing. Theres no point at all in playing GSF when the enemy team has 3 gunship camping your spawn point or sitting in midfield with repair drones around them. Fly in as a scout get insta killed . Strike fighters don't have enough speed or boost to get next to them in time. Scout can't do anything to them i've shot rockets at them laser cannons and somehow when im shooting them i seem to get hit with reflective damage? This is unacceptable. Nothing beats them. I've teamed up with a player who had a cartel scout ship vs 1 gunship and he still managed to kill both of us in 4 shots.

To the Dev's look at this ship and re design it, its horribly unbalanced.

I think that you'll find most people here think that Gunships are only slightly overpowered, and even then not as overpowered as some Scout builds.

I agree with them, with the caveat that that judgment only holds at higher tiers of play with experienced pilots on both sides.

I agree that for new players, Gunships (even those piloted by other new players) are very hard to deal with. It takes experience and upgrades to deal with even a moderately competent Gunship.

And by their sniping nature, Gunships are naturally more infuriating to new players. When someone shoots you from across the map, without your having been aware of them, it feels like you got cheated out of your opportunity to evade and defend yourself.

Certainly, a Gunship exacerbates any difference in skill and experience between two players. Though Scouts do too.

That's not the problem.

The problem is the game doesn't seem all that interested in putting premades against each other, and not to put fresh newbies against premades period. They don't know rapids are totally useless outside 4km, and they're supposed to know not to fly into that?

I think that you'll find most people here think that Gunships are only slightly overpowered, and even then not as overpowered as some Scout builds.

 

I agree with them, with the caveat that that judgment only holds at higher tiers of play with experienced pilots on both sides.

 

I agree that for new players, Gunships (even those piloted by other new players) are very hard to deal with. It takes experience and upgrades to deal with even a moderately competent Gunship.

 

And by their sniping nature, Gunships are naturally more infuriating to new players. When someone shoots you from across the map, without your having been aware of them, it feels like you got cheated out of your opportunity to evade and defend yourself.

 

Certainly, a Gunship exacerbates any difference in skill and experience between two players. Though Scouts do too.

2 gunships camping you wont kill them , you die it just happened to me again. Its stupid can't lock onto them with missiles since they are out of range to all missiles. and if by some unknown space magic you do get into their range for cannons they have a ability that reflects damage back at you. Its stupid.

Gunships cave to pressure, keep pressing them and it makes their life miserable. Know the map and use LOS to close to firing range, if they are in the open then use evasive flying (unpredictable moves and turns while you close range)

I for one make it my job to harass GS since they are the biggest threat to scouts (and other ships) with smart flying and aggression you can effectively take them out of the game.

If they cover eachother though watch out, you need surprise on your side in order to win.

somehow when im shooting them i seem to get hit with reflective damage? This is unacceptable.

Its called Feedback Shields. A 15 second buff every 30 seconds(20 when upgraded) with very noticeable icon, that only triggers off the first hit. Learn to hold your fire when you see it up. And no, its perfectly acceptable as Feedback is crap compared to Distortion.

I've teamed up with a player who had a cartel scout ship

People still think having a cartel ship means anything? Its the same freaking ship, just uglier.

In my opinion best way to deal with multiple gunships is to try your luck with high evasion build tier 2 scout using burst lasers and clusters.. I have yet to test rocket pods, but I have a feeling that they may be pretty great alternative for gunship hunting too. Even though you have pretty good maneuverabilty with tier 2 scout as it is you should look for engine overcharges too if possible. It will give you great edge when fighting multiple gunships that are far apart from each other. Always look out for gunships don't get too carried away dogfighting other ships because if you succeed in taking gunships down they have tedency to pay you back sooner or later. Watch who they are targeting (remember that some sneaky ones might try to bluff you) and how far they are from you. Then attack or get out of their line of sight/range. Try not to charge them head on unless you have all evasion buffs on - with them you can usually leave it up to luck.

You may not be able to carry whole team that way, but you should be able to make gunshipers suffer atleast as long as you aren't againts coordinated premade with voip. Burst lasers alone should be enough to take most gunships down even when they are close to repair drone, but I usually tend to deal with drones first especially railgun ones since they don't miss no matter how much evasion you have. In case they are middle of minefield I would probably rather use gunship with ion railgun or atleast ask someone to deal with those mines first before going in with my scout. It depends very much on situation. I don't guarantee this will work, but it is what I would try in tough situation like that and It has ocassionaly worked pretty well for me.

I haven't played againts players using feedback shields too often since most gunships (tier 1 and 3) rather go for distortion field, but I think they only reflect back primary weapon damage so you should be able to use missiles and rocket pods without getting any damage - though I might be wrong about that. Like I said I'm not really expert againts them since I rarely see them in use, but for me they haven't really been problem and I think it's been pretty rare for me to die because of them. Just don't hit them with your lasers if you are low on shields and hull and they have that buff on.

As far as balance goes it's not too bad like Nemarus said it's some scout builds that are overpowered rather than gunships even though gunships will feel overpowered for new players. In my opinion 1v1 all ships are pretty well balanced even when some clearly are bit stronger than others and some are bit weaker. As long as you know what your ship can do and what your enemy can do you have pretty good chance to take them down, if you are both close to same skill and gear level. Then again it's never really 1v1. I admit gunship/bomber heavy matches tend to be a problem. Experienced players will always have edge againts noobs even if they aren't playing in premade. Coordinated premades are completely different story. Bad match making could be fixed, but I don't think players should be forced to use some other ship class just because whole team is using same class they want to use.

GSF is the main reason i played this game, and the main reason i re-subbed and the sole reason im unsubbing. Theres no point at all in playing GSF when the enemy team has 3 gunship camping your spawn point or sitting in midfield with repair drones around them. Fly in as a scout get insta killed . Strike fighters don't have enough speed or boost to get next to them in time. Scout can't do anything to them i've shot rockets at them laser cannons and somehow when im shooting them i seem to get hit with reflective damage? This is unacceptable. Nothing beats them. I've teamed up with a player who had a cartel scout ship vs 1 gunship and he still managed to kill both of us in 4 shots.

Oooooh, a Cartel ship. Well now that your friend put down the big bucks it's basically unconscionable that he lost.

I've teamed up with a player who had a cartel scout ship vs 1 gunship and he still managed to kill both of us in 4 shots.

So you think cartel ships are superior?

This proves that you still need to learn a lot about GSF. Listen to advice above. Get behind gunships with a scout and shoot them down with Concentrated Fire or Targeting Telemetry or both.

I spend a solid amount of time flying both a scout and a gunship (and a bomber, but unrelated), so might as well give my two cents...

1. If your opponents are in a coordinated pre-made and using some kinda voice chat and all have at least decently upgraded ships, and your team is a full on PuG with a bunch of newbies, winning is going to be nearly impossible. It's just a sad fact of GSF, and thankfully in my experience you'll have far, far more games where this isn't the case (though the games where the premade spanks you super hard do stand out). Hell, even if your PuG is mostly solid pilots in upgraded ships, that pre-made with voice chat is going to be a hard nut to crack. Possible though, I've seen it happen.

2. Yeah, gunships really are a pain as a new player in GSF. A coordinated group? Yikes. Plenty of good advice here, though, but sometimes you just gotta accept that you can't be Rambo and singlehandedly take down a trio of coordinated gunships with repair drones. Because, as with the above, beating a coordinated pre-made is never an easy task (but it also doesn't reflect the majority of my GSF experiences). One or two gunships in a PuG can still be daunting when you're first starting off, but they arent' so rough once you learn how to deal with them. Use evasion, try and sneak up on them, learn to use hard cover to get into range before charging. Very few gunships pilots are good enough to stand toe to toe with another ship in a dogfight and will run at the first sign of trouble. If they do flee, be careful about giving chase: pretty common gunship tactic to immediately take shelter in the midst of their allies, meaning you'll get swarmed and die. Still, harassing them and keeping them from shooting the rail gun is huge.

Once you've got a little practice, gunships aren't all that terrifying on their own. With my gunship I know I'm far less effective when I'm busy getting stuck in dogfights with scouts and strikes and having to blast them with lasers and missiles instead of my rail gun (still satisfying when I get kills doing this, though!). Play a little more and you'll learn that high evasion scouts are infinitely more painful to deal with than any gunship. They're definitely the bane of gunships... and, like, everything else.

I see there are still plenty of gunship hate threads. I was a very, very avid GSF player when it launched, then quit GSF when bombers were introduced. Quit SWTOR for a while, back now but still haven't queued a single GSF match and have no intention of doing so. I used to think it was a gunship balance issue, but now I think its more a playstyle issue. I simply do not like being in a starfighter game where there are snipers, period. I already hated playing with gunships then bombers were a bridge too far for me. It completely changed the dynamics of the game to the point where I hated it.

I'm not saying gunships or bombers are unbalanced, or that they're bad. I'm saying that they're bad for me personally. I just don't have fun playing a dogfighting starfighter game with snipers. Other people love it. Awesome, good for them. I don't like it so I don't queue. I really used to think it was a balance issue, but upon reflection and being away from it for a while, I really don't think that that is it. I think some people just really hate being in a starfighter game with snipers. For some people, myself included, it makes the dynamics of the game not fun.

Granted, the introduction of TDM also killed interest for me. I absolutely hated every second of TDM when I played it, whether I was on the winning or losing team. I like objective-based play, I found TDM to be a chaotic mess. Again, personal preference.

It's a shame for me personally, I really really loved GSF at first and was pretty bitterly disappointed in TDM and gunships and bombers. It was the first thing that they introduced that actually made me spend money apart from my monthly sub: I bought cartel coins to transfer to fleet req and to buy all the cosmetic ships and stuff.

So in essence, I agree with the OP but it might not be a balance issue he has a problem with. It is perfectly possible to deal with gunships (though I always did feel they were slightly overpowered). I just found that even though I COULD deal with gunships, I didn't WANT to. It was just frustrating to have someone parked halfway across the battlefield blowing you up before you can do anything. Some people think it adds an interesting dynamic to the gameplay. I don't at all, and so I don't play it anymore nor do I buy cartel coins. /shrug.

Are you Kintosi by chance not serious, just similar in your hate of gunships

 

You're gonna get wrecked by players that're better than you regardless of the ship they're in. Gunships are just snipers. How to counter a sniper? Get in fast and zerg from close. If you can't do that, you need to learn to fly. Regardless, good bye!!!!

Okay, seriously, what is your problem with me? I make one comment against using multiple gunships (3+) / premades against a team of almost entirely 2-shippers, and you've been trolling ever since. I let it drop a long time ago. You need to do so as well. This is borderline harassment man.

GSF is the main reason i played this game, and the main reason i re-subbed and the sole reason im unsubbing. Theres no point at all in playing GSF when the enemy team has 3 gunship camping your spawn point or sitting in midfield with repair drones around them. Fly in as a scout get insta killed . Strike fighters don't have enough speed or boost to get next to them in time. Scout can't do anything to them i've shot rockets at them laser cannons and somehow when im shooting them i seem to get hit with reflective damage? This is unacceptable. Nothing beats them. I've teamed up with a player who had a cartel scout ship vs 1 gunship and he still managed to kill both of us in 4 shots.

 

To the Dev's look at this ship and re design it, its horribly unbalanced.

i never understand the hatred towards gunships. my main is a gunship, before im called, im mastered in all ship types and love scouts and fighters. only other night me and a mate faced a top team that had 3 gunships (2 of 3 really good players) with 2 bombers, i started out on my gunship got my *** handed to me, so levelled playing field swapping between scout and fighter, me and mate spent little longer but managed to get round edge and back of them swarmed in at different angles, what didnt run out them 5 ships died. the point im making is learn everything about each ship and their easy to counter, if u target soemone it even tells u position their facing that alone u should learn to spot.

as for spawn camping, i hate this and i never do it but for god sake theres 3 spawn points perhaps choose another one.

Gunships like any ship are not invincible just need the skill that u gain in time, if you want easy style i suggest u roll a fotm ground pvp class. GSF is about skill first you either learn or quit. Hope you choose the learn option and stick at it, best feature of game GSF. If you happen to be on red eclipse look me up ill team up with you and help you. if not wish u all the best.

i never understand the hatred towards gunships.

Presumably because people who like to dogfight don't like snipers ruining their fun...

only other night me and a mate faced a top team that had 3 gunships (2 of 3 really good players) with 2 bombers, i started out on my gunship got my *** handed to me, so levelled playing field swapping between scout and fighter, me and mate spent little longer but managed to get round edge and back of them swarmed in at different angles, what didnt run out them 5 ships died.

Wow, you & your mate sound like awesome players, I really must join your Rep-side guild, Eternal Dawn was it?

And if you are going to fly in a straight line, make sure it's from behind them (& to a lesser extent, from the sides).

lol no, u know which guild im in lol just not altered signature yet. Someone had to come finish your guys gsf training

Presumably because people who like to dogfight don't like snipers ruining their fun...

Dogfighting? In "normal" PVP simply calls the mindless thrashing Zerg.

Well done Bioware introduce the counterpoint with the GS and to promote tactical and strategic game.

I LOVE dogfighting, its literally my favorite thing in GSF (or any space/flight game)

Despite this I have 0 issues with bombers or gunships.

Gunships can prevent dogfighting, or at least maim any scout caught unawares. Thats why you keep an eye out for them, always be looking / tabbing. Try to take them out of the mix first since they are your biggest threat. Once they are gone work on the other scouts then the strikes etc

For bombers its a similar issue, keep an eye out for them and be sure not to blunder into their fields. If you have to engage do it while they are out in the open on the way to the node etc. If you have to assault a minefield try to draw any supporting fighters away, kill them, then slowly approach the most easily accessible mine and blow it up at max weapon range. Rinse and repeat until there is about 1 mine left then get in close behind the bomber and pop all your offensive cooldowns for the kill.

IMO bombers and gunships are not out of place in this "dogfighting game" . They are tactical additions that add depth to the battlefield. Making it so that a dogfighter has to keep his eyes peeled and not just focus fire targets one after another.

Gunships are fine, stop flying in a straight line and be aware of your surroundings.

That's ironic. Telling pilots trying to engage a gunship not to fly in a straight line.

Tell me how gunship pilots are "flying" in these engagements.

They're not flying at all. They're sitting perfectly still not doing a damn thing that resembles flying.

Before calling for a nerf to gunships I suggest a large, across the board bonus to missiles against stationary targets. A ship sitting perfectly still should be much easier to lock onto, at much further range and be susceptible to much more damage.

That's ironic. Telling pilots trying to engage a gunship not to fly in a straight line.

 

Tell me how gunship pilots are "flying" in these engagements.

 

They're not flying at all. They're sitting perfectly still not doing a damn thing that resembles flying.

 

Before calling for a nerf to gunships I suggest a large, across the board bonus to missiles against stationary targets. A ship sitting perfectly still should be much easier to lock onto, at much further range and be susceptible to much more damage.

Yes yes more useless drivel. Still waiting for that magical screenshot of you kicking *** with a gunship - should be easy right, since it involves "no skill"?

And a ship standing still IS much easier to lock onto. The willing trade of being a total sitting duck for long-range firepower is pretty explicit in the design of gunships as a ship class.

The problem isn't the gunship playing alone... but 2-3 or more, "gunship wall" tactic with few GS covering each other.

And I agree with one thing - the game would fare much better without gunships or bombers.

That's ironic. Telling pilots trying to engage a gunship not to fly in a straight line.

 

Tell me how gunship pilots are "flying" in these engagements.

 

They're not flying at all. They're sitting perfectly still not doing a damn thing that resembles flying.

 

Before calling for a nerf to gunships I suggest a large, across the board bonus to missiles against stationary targets. A ship sitting perfectly still should be much easier to lock onto, at much further range and be susceptible to much more damage.

A ship sitting perfectly still is already much easier to lock on to and is much more susceptible to damage.