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How are Flashfires/Stings not Overwhelmingly OP?


DarthVindictus

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All balance issues in this part of the game would be fixed by increasing the size of the maps and requiring a larger point total to win. Strike fighters would be much more effective in the space between satellites, scouts couldn't cross the map in seconds, and gunships would need player protection to stay alive.
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That'd actually make flashfires even more dominant, being highly offensive ships that can cover the increased distance quicker.

 

Flashfires lose their engine power pool really quick unless you swap out your thrusters and upgrade the snot out of them. Even then you have to leave your power boost set to them in order to use them effectively. I would argue that nothing in Starfighter is overpowered, BioWare did a great job with this and I can't wait for more maps and ships. GSF is a HUGE success in my book!

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Flashfires lose their engine power pool really quick unless you swap out your thrusters and upgrade the snot out of them. Even then you have to leave your power boost set to them in order to use them effectively. I would argue that nothing in Starfighter is overpowered, BioWare did a great job with this and I can't wait for more maps and ships. GSF is a HUGE success in my book!

 

Flashfires can boost as long as Novadrives (that is longer than any other ship) by default. Good lord you guys defend the crap out of this ship when it's obvious it doesn't have weaknesses aside from armor/shields that with maneuverability, speed, and evasion chance, are near meaningless anyway

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If you want to fly like a flashfire/sting, then fly one. Don't hop into another ship and complain because it doesn't operate the same.

 

I set up my strike to maximize it's range advantage, and I pop scouts much easier than when I'm in my own scout. I'm not even a good pilot. Use a ship according to its strengths. Don't try to shoe-horn it into a use that it will be bad at, and then complain when it fails you.

 

Beginning to suspect you people are just whiners.

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If you want to fly like a flashfire/sting, then fly one. Don't hop into another ship and complain because it doesn't operate the same.

 

I set up my strike to maximize it's range advantage, and I pop scouts much easier than when I'm in my own scout. I'm not even a good pilot. Use a ship according to its strengths. Don't try to shoe-horn it into a use that it will be bad at, and then complain when it fails you.

 

Beginning to suspect you people are just whiners.

 

They tend to have the same armaments/range, only the scout is faster and more maneuverable, and the strike fighter can take more hits, but will get hit more often because of a lack of evade and slower maneuvering.

 

There is no real strength to play to. Are you going to claim to use proton torpedos for max range as a solution? A scout boosting towards you will fly right by you before you can lock on, nailing you with blasters all the way, that's if they're feeling gutsy, otherwise they can just outrun you and you will never lock on.

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Flashfires can boost as long as Novadrives (that is longer than any other ship) by default. Good lord you guys defend the crap out of this ship when it's obvious it doesn't have weaknesses aside from armor/shields that with maneuverability, speed, and evasion chance, are near meaningless anyway

 

They can boost as long as if they are upgraded for it. And they are still slower and less maneuverable.

 

And if you think crap shields are meaningless you obviously have never touched a scout.

 

Oh and Novadrive is faster and more agile than a Flashfire and it has the exact same Evasion, so shouldn't you be QQ'ing more about Novadrive than Flash?

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They can boost as long as if they are upgraded for it. And they are still slower and less maneuverable.

 

And if you think crap shields are meaningless you obviously have never touched a scout.

 

Oh and Novadrive is faster and more agile than a Flashfire and it has the exact same Evasion, so shouldn't you be QQ'ing more about Novadrive than Flash?

 

Sigh, still passing misinfo.

 

Flashfires and Novadrives have the exact same base speeds, maneuverability, boost consumption, engine pool, and the exact same options for engines, engine components, they still have boost regen as a system upgrade possibility, they have everything a Novadrive has for speed and maneuverability, you're talking out of your rear to defend your obvious favorite ship.

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scouts can fire proton torpedoes at 10 km?

 

Proton torpedos are only useful against stationary targets and afk gunships.

 

Dogfighting people use cluster missiles because at close range you only have minimal windows to lock on before a direction change takes them out of arc. Concussion missiles you can get away with if your target is otherwise distracted, but clusters are a more sure fire hit.

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*Sigh*

 

A dogfight isn't just a short-range affair. Short range is just one type of dogfighting.

 

Again, you complain because a ship that isn't suited for close range dogfights loses to one that is. If you try to turn fight in a strike, you will lose to a scout. A Flashfire gets one good pass in a joust, and it is survivable in a strike. Next pass, if you force it, and that scout pops.

 

But head to head passes aren't as frequent as getting the drop on otherwise engaged ships. You can usually get one or two protons off before a busy scout finds you and tries to make a pass. On that pass, your guns open up 1k sooner, and you can usually get another proton off in that time.

 

I find it EASIER to pop scouts in a strike (as opposed to another strike) because of this. But if I let myself get sucked into his game, I will lose. I hope to eventually unlock the 2nd strike so I can run heavy cannon, protons, and clusters on the same platform.

Edited by Svarthrafn
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They can boost as long as if they are upgraded for it. And they are still slower and less maneuverable.

 

And if you think crap shields are meaningless you obviously have never touched a scout.

 

Oh and Novadrive is faster and more agile than a Flashfire and it has the exact same Evasion, so shouldn't you be QQ'ing more about Novadrive than Flash?

You've been called out on that multiple times. Stop lying. Both Scouts have the same base stats. What matters are components and crew selections. Both, Nova and Flash have the same HP, power pools, the same regen rates.

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What i've found most useful with my Flashfire is the combination of its components.

 

Using the blaster upgrades and co-pilot ability that increases my blaster damage, speed, and penetration I make up for the scout's lower offensive ability.

 

Using the distortion field i can pretty much avoid being hit for 3-6 seconds by missiles and blaster fire.

 

People (on my server) tend to see someone sitting still and fly directly at them, so using my three abilities and missiles i pretty much sit above the objective and wait for people to come to me in a straight line and kill them.

 

But i disagree that FF/Stings are OP, i've had many matches where i've been sniped out of nowhere, or shot down by a tricky pilot that avoids my missiles and waits for my abilities to be on cool down. I've had heaps of matches where i've been completely smashed as a scout and had to change. Should i cry out "OP" and complain about their ship builds? No! It just means that i have to change the way i play with pilots that are better than me with their ship.

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Flashfires can boost as long as Novadrives (that is longer than any other ship) by default. Good lord you guys defend the crap out of this ship when it's obvious it doesn't have weaknesses aside from armor/shields that with maneuverability, speed, and evasion chance, are near meaningless anyway

 

all the ships have weaknesses (except perhaps strike fighters but we will get into that further in the post.)

 

Anyways, All ships have their weaknesses and strong points. Now, a scout's weaknesses are its weak armour/shields along with their short weapon range. Its strong point is maneuverability, speed, and relatively strong weapons once you get in range (but of course the range weakness keeps the weapon strength in check.) A gunship's weakness is its poor boost and maneuverability. Its strong points are very long ranged heavy hitting rail gun. The scout and gunship naturally counter each other.

 

Now, the strike fighter is the happy medium. Long ranged weapons, decent maneuverability, good firepower, and speed. Basically its a jack-of-all-trades master of none. This ultimately being its weakness. As the mando advanced class dude says "Spread yourself to thin and you excel at nothing.". Now don't get me wrong the strike fighter can definitely kill scouts and gunships, but only in a medium ground. If its locked in a maneuverability battle it will lose. If its locked in a ranged battle (specifically with gunship, a scout would definitely lose a ranged battle with a strike fighter) it will lose.

 

All three ships keep each other in balance.

 

Also did you ever stop to think maybe your the problem? Maybe your not doing something right when fighting scouts? perhaps maybe the scout is the preferred ship of more skilled players making it seem OP?

 

Just a thought.

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all the ships have weaknesses (except perhaps strike fighters but we will get into that further in the post.)

 

Anyways, All ships have their weaknesses and strong points. Now, a scout's weaknesses are its weak armour/shields along with their short weapon range. Its strong point is maneuverability, speed, and relatively strong weapons once you get in range (but of course the range weakness keeps the weapon strength in check.) A gunship's weakness is its poor boost and maneuverability. Its strong points are very long ranged heavy hitting rail gun. The scout and gunship naturally counter each other.

 

Now, the strike fighter is the happy medium. Long ranged weapons, decent maneuverability, good firepower, and speed. Basically its a jack-of-all-trades master of none. This ultimately being its weakness. As the mando advanced class dude says "Spread yourself to thin and you excel at nothing.". Now don't get me wrong the strike fighter can definitely kill scouts and gunships, but only in a medium ground. If its locked in a maneuverability battle it will lose. If its locked in a ranged battle (specifically with gunship, a scout would definitely lose a ranged battle with a strike fighter) it will lose.

 

All three ships keep each other in balance.

 

Also did you ever stop to think maybe your the problem? Maybe your not doing something right when fighting scouts? perhaps maybe the scout is the preferred ship of more skilled players making it seem OP?

 

Just a thought.

 

Flashfires/Stings can use the same armaments that are commonly used on strike fighters. Very few people use the heavy laser cannon because the quad lasers and rapid fire lasers have much better sustained damage over time, with less risk associated with missing. If you miss heavy laser shots, you're pooched. Not to mention they're only 1000 more range than quads.

 

The range thing is a completely insignificant argument. Unless you give strike fighters 7500 range lasers with a good rate of fire, it's a moot argument. They both operate in about 4000-5000 range.

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Heavies work far better than anything else for a strike hunting scouts. You don't need a sustained barrage to punch through a scout's tissue paper armor. All you need are a handful of powerful shots. Sustained barrage is more useful for burning down strikes. For the type of damage you need, the extra range gives you the couple extra chances you need to punch them down.

 

Please stop talking about things you keep showing that you know nothing about.

 

To put it another way. When you fight a scout, you don't often get an opportunity to pour sustained fire into your target, unless you're jousting. What you get instead are a lot of "snap shots". "DPS" doesn't help you much when you are getting snapshots. What you need in that situation is raw damage per hit, since you can't depend on several shots stacking up to pile on damage. Heavies are perfect for this, and can operate in the 6k range, which is insane.

 

You use your strength to attack his weakness. A strike will never be a better scout than an actual scout, so stop thinking/playing like a scout when you fly your strike.

Edited by Svarthrafn
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...

......

............ like turrets.

 

Who cares about turrets? Even scouts can solo three turrets with 0 hull damage. The ability to use up your entire secondary weapons system for that (or half of your picks) for turrets is silly. Not that protons are useless, but the turret thing pretty much is. In a gunship I can eat all three in less than ten seconds, as a strike fighter it's longer and even assuming torps.

 

 

I think I'm confused at a different level by this:

 

When I'm on my strike fighter, I have a WHOLE BUTTON devoted to "switch gun types". The only way this really seems useful is if I'm running ion cannons and something else. A reasonable set of choices- like for instance, longer range lasers and shorter range burst lasers- doesn't seem to be available. I certainly don't press this button with the same delight as when I press "rapid fire death mode" as a Flashfire. I don't understand why they can put an offensive button there and a strike fighter cannot, nor do I understand why there isn't more threat to the strike fighter shots baseline, given how hard it is to keep a scout onscreen.

 

 

All three ships keep each other in balance.

 

I might buy that about all FIVE ships. I definitely suspect that gunships are meant to be hunted by infiltrators- the fact that a gunship will get splatted by the dogfighting ships isn't really a weakness when you remember that the actual goal of the game is satellites thus far, and than if the scout chases the gunship and the gunship runs, either the scout chases (maybe getting a generally useless kill) or the scout turns back- either way 20 seconds of scout time is traded for 30 seconds of gunship time, max, and that's the BEST possible scenario.

 

But you'll note that while babies are crying about the gunship in the QQ thread over there, and different babies are crying about the Flashfire over here, the commonality is that no one is QQing about Strike Fighters. I don't think they are trash, but people should be QQing about their ability to swap guns and missiles but those abilities are so niche it doesn't matter. If they had a gun that did double damage to scouts but half damage to everyone else, I bet you'd hear the appropriate amount of waaaah needed to mark a ship as solid ("but they just switch it outtttttt they have NO DOWNSIDES QQQQQQ").

 

 

Right now, the best at damage seems to be the scout, who also seem to be the best at maneuvering, and they have a nigh invulnerability bubble for a few seconds, plus they can run in and out of range. I'm not saying that kit is too good, but I am saying that a strike fighter's power of "more shields" seems to be like as if a mouse had a second heart and lung set versus a cat- that's not a power, that's the ability to entertain the predator a bit longer as you die.

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To put it another way. When you fight a scout, you don't often get an opportunity to pour sustained fire into your target, unless you're jousting. What you get instead are a lot of "snap shots". "DPS" doesn't help you much when you are getting snapshots. What you need in that situation is raw damage per hit, since you can't depend on several shots stacking up to pile on damage. Heavies are perfect for this, and can operate in the 6k range, which is insane.

 

This is an interesting point I haven't seen a lot of people talk about yet. The two blasters that the strikers have access to that the scouts don't are the ion blasters and the heavy blasters. I haven't used the heavy blasters myself yet, and I wonder if anyone else has tried them out and loved that extra 1k range?

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This is an interesting point I haven't seen a lot of people talk about yet. The two blasters that the strikers have access to that the scouts don't are the ion blasters and the heavy blasters. I haven't used the heavy blasters myself yet, and I wonder if anyone else has tried them out and loved that extra 1k range?

 

I tried it briefly and I found it to be something that was very situational. It has the lowest ROF and most brutal tracking penalty of all striker blasters so it's really only effective against enemy starfighters when you can get an enemy dead center in your sights. If you are forced to engage an enemy that won't stay in the center of your firing arc you'll need quads or rapids, especially if it's a scout running an evasion build.

 

They did have a distinct advantage against targets like turrets (especially I think if you get the 100% armor penetration upgrade although I haven't gotten that far yet) so it seems like it would be a viable alternative to ions as a secondary weapon. I think there's potential for it to be part of a "turret buster" setup that uses concussions/torps, heavies, and quads/rapids. Quads as your general purpose offense/defense blasters, heavies for taking on turrets or the odd starfighter running a damage reduction build, and concussions or torps depending on whether you wanted ship to ship missile capabilities or further emphasize your turret busting abilities.

 

that being said I didn't upgrade it much as I found quads to be far more versatile and have since focused on the quad/ion combo. Right now I'm trying to focus on getting mastery on my star guard so I'm going to stick with the quad/ion set up but I intend to try out heavies once I've mastered my star guard.

Edited by Gavin_Kelvar
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I use Heavy Laser Canons with great success on my FT-8.

 

Pro :

* long range (currently 6900m)

* 18% shield percing (last upgrade)

* very high accuracy as long as your target is in front of you

 

Con :

* bad accuracy if the target is not directly ahead, ie bad a short range

* the short range dps in low vs burst / rapid / light laser canon

Edited by Hyrune
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its quite amusing that no one mentions the defensive advatages a strike fighter has over a scout. sure the can not equip the distorsion field and thus have 15% less base evasion chance. but no one mentioned the tremendous amounts of dmg strikes can soak up with charged plating(shield)+structural support(crew)+hydro spammer while still beeing only 15% evasion behind...
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