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"Best" Ship for the Fifth Spot on Your Bar?


Ornithopoda

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On my main GSF toons I like to try and have the best or most useful lineup of ships on my bar that I can. The first four are pretty easy: T2 scout, T1 GS, T1 and T2 bomber. I'm just curious if there is a "best" option for the fifth spot, or if it's just situational/matter of preference? I usually end up opting for a support type ship like the T3 scout or T3 strike.

 

Thoughts?

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If you want the most meta possible bar then the ships you listed as your standards plus a T3 scout with tensor (probably with the tier 5 speed option).

 

So by function you have:

Moving fast and killing stuff

Killing stuff far away and clearing minefields

Defending sats

Fortifications for gunships in TDMs

Making sure your team gets to sats first (or tied for first) in Domination.

 

I've seen enough games won or lost on the presence or absence of an initial Tensor that I'm pretty confident that the T3 scout is an easy win for the last slot.

 

That said, I generally prefer to have a for fun type ship in 1 or 2 slots. So I'll take a battlescout, a T1 gunship, a bomber, maybe a T3 scout, and then either one of the strikes or a double missile T3 gunship. As long as you have a strong scout, a T1 gunship, and either a minelayer or dronecarrier (the dronecarrier being the more versatile choice) there's a reasonable argument that you can fill the last two slots however you want. So if you like aggressively killing stuff maybe slot 4 would be a cartel battlescout reskin and slot 5 would be a standard T3 gunship.

 

If you have a full set of good enough tools (scout, gunship, bomber) then you don't have to have the perfect tool for every situation. Having a variant of a generalist tool often works just about as well.

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Sadly, I must report that the tensor scout normally does this:

 

1)- Announce position for tensor, ask who is beaconing

2)- Spawn, wait about 1 second

3)- Press tensor

4)- Boost into capship

5)- Spawn one of your other four ships at the beacon

 

If multiple players on your team can do this, your best bet is to have a player who intends to play a bomber make the tensor. Failing that, a gunship. If no one else can do it and you want to play scout, that still works, it is just lame to have the scout start in that position at that time.

 

 

Personally, I can make an argument for the following ships on a bar, all good enough to live there in the current metagame:

Type 1 Gunship

Type 3 Gunship

Type 1 Bomber

Type 2 Bomber

Second Type 2 Bomber

Type 2 Scout

Second Type 2 Scout

Type 3 Scout

 

Rarely, I can also make a case for:

Second Type 1 Gunship

Type 1 Scout

Type 3 Strike

 

A lot of it depends on which of the good ships you are good playing, what environment you are trying to get geared up for, and what your allies are bringing to the fight.

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Ramalina and Verain pretty much covered it. There's no right answer, since the right ship is going to change depending on your team's composition. Also, your own preferences/skills represent part of the equation. Ideally I know I ought to have T1 & T2 bombers on my bar, but I don't, because 1) I hate flying bombers, and 2) I suck at flying bombers (see item 1).

 

These days I've been going with tensor scout, T2 scout for dom (BLC/cluster/booster recharge), T2 scout for TDM (typically QnP/TT/retro), T1 GS, and then a rotating 5th ship per my whims of the day...a strike (frequently T2 because they amuse me), T1 trollscout (sabo probe), double torp T2 GS - whatever. Anything I put in that spot is inevitably sub-optimal and intensely anti-meta.

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We sorta did find a use for the "trollscout" back in the day. It was never for super serious, but when queueing as premade, we would sometimes be up against a premade in TDM with one enemy scout as a effectively a dedicated food-eater- he would simply devastate our non-premade teammates, putting the game on a tight clock. Peeling normally was possible but a hassle. One solution we experimented with (I would say somewhat successfully) was to put a sab probe type 1 scout on that guy, which dramatically reduced his ability to eat food and slowing the game down (which helped with the rest of our strategy). It was niche, and if both teams were pilots with no food to eat it probably wouldn't be great, but it had some damned job, which was interesting.
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The most "META" Bar I can imagine assuming you already have a tensor on your team is:

 

Burst Cluster T2 Scout for Dog Fighting

Burst/Pod or Quad Pod T2 Scout for Jousting and Gunship Hunting

T1 Bomber for Beacon and Mines

T2 Bomber for Repairs and Railgun Drone

T1 Gunship for Mine Sweeping and Sniping

 

I pretty much never make this bar, with a few exceptions. I usually only keep one Bomber on my bar, and either a Tensor Scout equipped with EMP Missile (for the lulz) or a T2 Strike for Missile Fun.

 

If I have a coordinated team, we'll coordinate bars also to make sure we have a Tensor Scout, a Beacon Bomber, and some Repairs somewhere.

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I also think it depends on your fly style. On two of my pilots on Harb, I have the T1 GS, T1 bomber, two T2 bombers (one with rail, the other with interdiction) and the tensor scout. ALL of my other pilots have the T1 GS and bomber, T2 scout and bomber and T3 scout.
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With all my pilots it is the same. Bloodmark / Spearpont has the best Win%, after that comes Rampart / Razorwire.

 

And btw: Spearpoint is also my best ship to cap an enemy satelite and to defend with emp, distorton and interdiction. It is not only Tensor, and I would never come to the thought of destroying myself.

Edited by Magira
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And btw: Spearpoint is also my best ship to cap an enemy satelite and to defend with emp, distorton and interdiction. It is not only Tensor, and I would never come to the thought of destroying myself.

 

I rarely tensorcide too; typically I'll cap and then immediately seek out a bomber to unload on. But I'd stop short of claiming the T3 scout is any good at defending. If your opposition is remotely competent, they should dispose of you without much difficulty. Doesn't take much: a mine, and/or a rail to the face, and/or a superior offensive scout in your teeth. Interdiction drive is fun but imo the CD's too long to make it a viable defense.

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I rarely tensorcide too; typically I'll cap and then immediately seek out a bomber to unload on. But I'd stop short of claiming the T3 scout is any good at defending. If your opposition is remotely competent, they should dispose of you without much difficulty. Doesn't take much: a mine, and/or a rail to the face, and/or a superior offensive scout in your teeth. Interdiction drive is fun but imo the CD's too long to make it a viable defense.

 

haha didn't used to be the case. ;-)

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4 ships are the obvious: T1 gunship, T2 scout, and the 2 bombers. For my 5th ship I have a strike fighter. This is mainly for matches where our side looks a lot stronger than the other side, so I can fly a strike without endangering a victory for our team, just to try to see what I can do.
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The most "META" Bar I can imagine assuming you already have a tensor on your team is:

 

Burst Cluster T2 Scout for Dog Fighting

Burst/Pod or Quad Pod T2 Scout for Jousting and Gunship Hunting

T1 Bomber for Beacon and Mines

T2 Bomber for Repairs and Railgun Drone

T1 Gunship for Mine Sweeping and Sniping

 

I pretty much never make this bar, with a few exceptions. I usually only keep one Bomber on my bar, and either a Tensor Scout equipped with EMP Missile (for the lulz) or a T2 Strike for Missile Fun.

 

If I have a coordinated team, we'll coordinate bars also to make sure we have a Tensor Scout, a Beacon Bomber, and some Repairs somewhere.

 

This nails it for me. I'll normally either sub out the T2 bomber or one of the T2 scouts for a T3 scout, because more people on Harb have T2 bombers than T3 scouts. Once I get on a team, we usually try and make sure we have something resembling more what Verain listed. In solo queue, you'd be hard pressed to do more for your team than having a tensor and a beacon ready to help them out in TDM, and just fill the other 3 spots with at least one T2 scout and at least one T1/T3 gunship for TDM.

 

-Skell

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If you already have a T1 gunship and a T2 scout on your bar, is the T3 gunship just kind of redundant, or does it have it's own unique roll to play? The T2 and T3 gunships are the only ships I have little to no experience flying yet.

 

T3 is the ship to fly if you want an insane K\D ratio.

 

Power Dive's short CD, and ability to both move you closer, away, or around, makes it the single best engine ability in the game. If you want to fly in a way that has zero death's at the end of a match, the T3 gunship is a very good choice for that.

 

Personally, for a 5th ship, its really going to depend on your team. T3 strike's are nice in that they bring repairs from a non destroy-able method. I've had 45K damage taken with zero deaths during a one sided brutal beat down from the other faction death match.

 

Blood Mark has some great utility as well.

 

If the Rycer could equip power dive, it would be my #1 recommendation for the 5th slot, but alas, this option is denied it.

 

The ability of a black bolt to absolutely wipe out a satellite in seconds makes it a good option for 5th choice as well. Fly in from low or high, you'll easily kill a sitting bomber, and all three turrets. The bomber's poo, and the turret damage will go away with a EMP blast. Armor piercing rocket pods will make short work of the turrets and bomber.

Edited by ThrakhathSpawn
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I rarely tensorcide too; typically I'll cap and then immediately seek out a bomber to unload on. But I'd stop short of claiming the T3 scout is any good at defending. If your opposition is remotely competent, they should dispose of you without much difficulty. Doesn't take much: a mine, and/or a rail to the face, and/or a superior offensive scout in your teeth. Interdiction drive is fun but imo the CD's too long to make it a viable defense.

 

I just have a fable for rarely used annoying components. I've already seen very good battlescouts in the satellite crashing when I ignite interdiction. This is so seldom used that no one is expecting it.

 

But yes, I can save a time, but the possibilities are exhausted. Normally I should replace by the bomber to whom I gave Tensor, so I can devote myself to the offensive.

 

The win% is with me with Searpoint by 5% better than with my Minellayer. Tensor seems to be the strongest "weapon" for me in domination.

Edited by Magira
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IMO the T3 gunship is worth having on your bar for TDM games. The synergy of cluster missiles + friendly seeker mines is incredible against scouts. A feedback + cluster T3 gunship with seeker mine/railgun drone protection is really a nightmare for an enemy scout.

 

Directional shield T3 gunship is also very strong here and has the added benefit of being strong in gunship chess matches. Directional shields may or may not allow you to facetank as many railgun shots as DF, but the consistency is important. In particular, one cool feature of this build is that you can "eat" an enemy DO railgun shot every time. If you and a teammate both have directional shields you can aggressively attack a DO GS enemy and take him out easily.

Edited by RickDagles
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