Ive noticed alot of people who are complaining about the opness of certain ship classes in galactic starfighter so im going to clear a few things up about the classes by comparing them to the ground classes we already have.

 

Scout

For the scout you can think of them as a vigilance guardian, OK damage and high mobility. For a scout your job is to be the first to your teams objective and secure it so it will be safe for your gunships to stand at the turret and blast away.The only way to counter a good scout is to double team him. Many scouts like to charge in guns blaring as if they where a strike fighter however this is not what the scout was designed for. If you or your team is outnumbered in an upcoming engagement DO NOT FIGHT IT, although your mobility is second to none, your main job is to target enemys who are already being engaged by another scout or strike fighter. Scouts tend to run out of engine power VERY quickly so whenever you are not firing you must focus all power to your engines ( f3 ) . It is very important never to be caught in a fight with no engine power, you will die if you cannot escape. You are a gunships worst nightmare. To agile to target and to fast to run from, whenever you see a gunship focus all power to your engines and charge at them while rolling, stop, and fire away. Strike fighters are a bit of a harder kill if the player knows what he is doing, however with good maneuvering you can take any strike fighter 1v1. If you happen to come across another scout, its best to get another strike fighter or scout to help you 2v1 him.

 

Strike Fighter

You can compare a strike fighter to a Focus Guardian in tank stance. They deal considerable damage while still being tanky enough to soak damage from a 2v1. Your job is to be the main fighter on the contested node. While your teams scouts roam and look for an opportunity to burn an enemy player down. You will mainly be targeting enemy strike fighters. Scouts are your worst nightmare. If you happen to come across a good scout and are not completely familiar with your ship and how it works. DO NOT FIGHT. The scout will out turn you are stay on your backside the entire fight. A good thing to do in this situation is to press X to stop your ship when the scout is making a pass at you, then boost to close the gap and fire on his backside. However the scout will escape soon and be on your back again. Its always best to 2v1 a scout. Gunships are your worst enemy. They will 2 shot railgun you and have you begging for mercy. Why? because you lack the mobility of the scout as well as the speed, and you lack the engine power to make a full charge at them while still having power to escape and dodge. I find while playing a strike its best to stay out of range if possible and let the scouts take care of him.

 

Gunship

Gunships can be compared to the sniper class. Just sit back and do massive damage. If you see a scout coming at you, prepare to hit the respawn. If you see a gunship or enemy strike fighter, lock in for an easy kill. best to sit back out of the action but not so far that you cant get help. your range is 15,000m... shouldn't be to hard. Nothing really to say about this class really. Just sit back in your cover and 2 shot people.

Edited December 5, 2013 by MindgameZ

If you see a scout coming at you, prepare to hit the respawn

 

Going to have really disagree with you there. Scouts can be easily handled if you know what you are doing. Slug Railgun + Bypass can easily one shot them. Even without Bypass all it takes is 2 hits to take them out. Feedback shield also works well in countering scouts.

 

You just have to not tunnel vision, always use tab to see who is near you. If you see someone near you check to see if they are coming at you and plan your moves to counter them.

Scouts should be used as a pestering force and for map control. My best game ever had me in a gunship and another player in a scout holding a point. Scout would do damage while the big shot would finish off, or the gunship would take out shields/put on a dot while the scout finishes off. Scouts are real good with others, but a scout going 1v1 is definitely not an auto win

Well its definitely not an auto-win, but I'll take anyone on any time in 1v1 on my NovaDive.

Just a note:

 

As a Strike pilot, you CAN fight scouts. And kill them. Just don't get in a turning fight with them, they'll win it. But that doesn't mean you should avoid scouts.

 

As a rule, to be honest, you should try to avoid turning fights. Get some range going, use your missiles on targets, avoid one on one with scouts (and by this I mean if you are literally ALONE, I don't mean you should always be fighting scouts 2v1). Remember you're not alone, and don't be afraid to switch targets if you find yourself stuck in a turning fight.

 

Maybe the scout will stick on you, and if so hope you have a buddy nearby who will pick off the easy target... and be prepared to do the same yourself to your buddies. Use those wonderful missiles: either you'll get them off and put a beatdown on your target, or they'll break off to avoid the missile. Either way, it's a win: they're either beat up/dead, or no longer attacking your buddy.

 

Strikes are pretty good, but there's more to 'em than dogfighting (and I wager they'll become even better when bombers come around).

Edited December 5, 2013 by Itkovian

Yeah, the best thing to me about strikers is the missile lock. When you can get it off, it can devastate someone. Even when you don't, people will freak out and often either flee or make desperate attempts to shake you off (like going into an asteroid and suiciding). This can get a gunship to stop sniping you with a railgun or can get a scout to stop trying to harass you to death. Again, it doesn't matter if you actually can target someone long enough to get the lock, as long as you can even start it someone can freak out. (I admit, I tend to freak a little when I hear the missile lock beeps too, so...)