I've tried all sorts of different loadouts for Scouts and Strike Fighters, but I'm about to give up on Strike Fighters for solo queuing. If I have a good team, my Strike Fighters can make it better with their high damage capabilities from different ranges. If a Scout gets up on me, I can stay alive long enough for my teammates to deal with him. However, it's really ugly when I don't have team support.

 

With a Scout, I'm at least able to get to a point, kill some turrets, maybe even capture it, no matter how bad my team is. The extra speed and maneuverability makes a big difference.

 

Is there a way to carry a bad team in a Strike Fighter, or is it just not possible to the degree that it is for Scouts?

I've tried all sorts of different loadouts for Scouts and Strike Fighters, but I'm about to give up on Strike Fighters for solo queuing. If I have a good team, my Strike Fighters can make it better with their high damage capabilities from different ranges. If a Scout gets up on me, I can stay alive long enough for my teammates to deal with him. However, it's really ugly when I don't have team support.

 

With a Scout, I'm at least able to get to a point, kill some turrets, maybe even capture it, no matter how bad my team is. The extra speed and maneuverability makes a big difference.

 

Is there a way to carry a bad team in a Strike Fighter, or is it just not possible to the degree that it is for Scouts?

 

 

I solo queue in my Pike all the time (you've probably seen me, Tranquility). When I'm faced with a bad team on my side I'll simply pick a satellite and defend/attack it constantly. I will work my hardest to either take one of the outlying satellites (A/C - I can usually get there ahead of scouts or anyone else with upgraded speed thrusters and barrel roll) or deny it to the enemy - I've kept it out of enemy hands for over 4 minutes before being shot down before.

 

What this does is drags several enemies out of the fight (You can get 4-5 of them circling you trying to get you off that satellite), and if your strike fighter is properly kitted, you can survive for a VERY long time if you fly well - which means your less skilled teammates will have an easier time at the other two satellites.

 

If my team only manages to cap one other satellite and I can't conceivably cap the one I am at, dependent on my ship health I will either let them vape me/self destruct to respawn or I'll just bug right the hell out of there and head to the other satellite that my team needs, where I can back them up. Unfortunately that means the 4-5 guys who were circling me at the satellite are now free to engage, but you don't have much choice there.

 

As an aside - a lot of times in crappy matches I will switch to my unupgraded ships just to get the double requisition on them. I suck at them cause I'm so unused to them and die a lot, but it doesn't matter cause we're losing anyway. I hate doing that, but sometimes the Pubs on The Ebon Hawk have great GSF teams - and sometimes they have the worst

Edited December 21, 2013 by silvershadows

I feel your pain. I too am an imp pilot on ebon hawk. I started out loving my strikes and purchased the Quell early on. It was going good but then everyone started flying the flashfire/stings that completely outclass us when we have no support. I have since started flying my scouts more now and have a new found love for my blackbolt. What the imps need is some more premades like the repubs do. Add Andiozi to your friends and I will group up with you when we are both on and give each other some support.

Add Hrafn to your list on the Imp side. Sucks not having any support.

I've tried all sorts of different loadouts for Scouts and Strike Fighters, but I'm about to give up on Strike Fighters for solo queuing. If I have a good team, my Strike Fighters can make it better with their high damage capabilities from different ranges. If a Scout gets up on me, I can stay alive long enough for my teammates to deal with him. However, it's really ugly when I don't have team support.

 

With a Scout, I'm at least able to get to a point, kill some turrets, maybe even capture it, no matter how bad my team is. The extra speed and maneuverability makes a big difference.

 

Is there a way to carry a bad team in a Strike Fighter, or is it just not possible to the degree that it is for Scouts?

 

I primarily play a striker in solo que (I fly a Star Guard, the default striker model). I like dogfighting and I anticipate that I may have to take on a guy solo so I've put points into the thruster upgrade that gives me a 10% boost to maneuverability and the Koiogran Turn upgrade that boosts engines 10%. This gives me mobility stats that rival a scout's default load out which is a huge improvement.

 

I also prefer the directional shields because of their ability to transfer power from an undamaged shield arc to reinforce damaged arcs (I find the controls currently too clumsy to use in combat and use them when I know I have a few seconds to safely cycle through to the power setting I need).

 

For primary weapons I run with quads/ions although now I'm experimenting with quads/heavies and I think I may stick with that combo as it seems much more versatile. Quads for general use/dogfighting, heavies for turret busting/opener/shooting fleeing enemies that are beyond quad range; I believe that once you get the 100% armor penetration and 18% shield penetration heavies could truly excel for openers (damage your enemy's hull at the very start), kill shots (penetrate whatever shields they have left to finish off their remaining hull) & possibly pot shots (you damage their hull each time a shot lands and may be able to force them to withdraw or use abilities early) although I have yet to get both of these unlocks to test these uses in practice. I use capacitor upgrade that increases the ROF as I think both blasters have very respectable range by default. While extra damage would compliment the high damage quads/heavies do by default I've found that the way the accuracy/evasion currently works in the game the ROF upgrade is more useful by allowing you to fire more bolts at your target to compensate for any bad RNG roles that decide that a shot misses. If you run with the rapid blasters the damage capacitor would probably be more useful as their ROF doesn't need any boosting but the damage does.

 

For missiles I use concussions. While clusters are apparently the favorite I've found that concussions are more useful for several reasons. 1) their range allows you to scare enemies off allies tails when you see a guy getting swarmed by 2+ enemies and you know waiting until they're within blaster range may be too late 2)by using the superior lock on range to cause enemies to panic you may cause enough chaos to briefly have the advantage you need when you get within blaster range (while that one guy who freaked is still recovering from whereever their evasive action ability sent them you may be able to take out or at least damage their wingman). Sometimes this works out wonderfully where those enemies then refocus on you (with your full hull and shields), forgetting the guy who they have damaged only to get shot down by their former prey 3)the lock on range is slightly more than your blasters and with the shield penetration you may still land that kill shot before they escape completely out of range.

 

I also use the companion that boosts radar range to maximum as I assume that I may not have any friendly scouts to give me an early warning.

 

So that's my load out. I'd say first and foremost having keen situational awareness, paying attention to your radar, and anticipating how best to get in position to ambush your enemies is THE key to succeeding in a striker, especially if you have to try to carry the team. It comes down to using your situational awareness to anticipate where you're going to be needed before you're really needed. This is primarily because you're slower so you have to anticipate whether you should/need to get to a sat to beef up defenders/attackers there before it reaches that "oh **** I'm needed at that sat!" moment. Normally what I aim to do is arrive slightly after any enemy reinforcements I spot on my radar, by arriving right after them I'm already on their tails and they'll be starting their attack runs on my allies who are already there so they'll be less likely to notice me until I've started shooting them (a key here is to not immediately start locking on with missiles unless you see an opportunity to cause them to panic and possibly fly into a wall or break off an attack on an ally).

 

I agree though with silvershadows that one of the biggest things you can do when you're on a really bad team is utilize your strong defensive abilities to deny sats to enemies. Like him I've kept a sat as "contested" for a good few minutes by just carefully managing my defenses and, whether my team ends up taking it or I get shot down, I've also kept a good few enemies occupied trying to shoot me down.

 

It may be a thankless job but sometimes I've found I've "carried" my team by defending the sat that isn't getting attacked much. Sometimes I'm the only guy there, other times it's just me and one other guy. But normally it works out that the sat would've been capped if I had rushed off seeking to inflate my kill count. Thankless being that guy who spends most of the match circling a sat the enemy isn't interested in trying to cap? Yes. Essential to allowing your team to win? Definitely.

Edited December 22, 2013 by Gavin_Kelvar

It may be a thankless job but sometimes I've found I've "carried" my team by defending the sat that isn't getting attacked much. Sometimes I'm the only guy there, other times it's just me and one other guy. But normally it works out that the sat would've been capped if I had rushed off seeking to inflate my kill count. Thankless being that guy who spends most of the match circling a sat the enemy isn't interested in trying to cap? Yes. Essential to allowing your team to win? Definitely.

 

Teams that have selfless players like this in them tend to win more than ones full of kill hunters. Teams win matches by holding Sat's. If you have two under you control you win. But every day I join teams on both sides when I solo Q that lose because almost no one protects the Sat's that have been won. Loads of people just fly around shooting at targets for the kills . My particular hate is those that can't seem to work out you can't take a Sat if an enemy player is parked underneath it. Dive deep and take a look. In most games you will see an enemy ship glued to the underside stopping it being taken. Kill them and the Sat is yours. But most seem happy to just keep flying around waiting for the enemy to regroup.

 

I guess the only way to stop this glory hunting is to up the reward for defending. At least then more people would be tempted to play to win, rather than play for kills.

Edited December 22, 2013 by abercromb

Thanks for the tips, guys. It does seem like I should probably pick a point and stick to it with my Strike Fighters. I'll have to see how that goes when my team is overmatched.

It may be a thankless job but sometimes I've found I've "carried" my team by defending the sat that isn't getting attacked much. Sometimes I'm the only guy there, other times it's just me and one other guy. But normally it works out that the sat would've been capped if I had rushed off seeking to inflate my kill count. Thankless being that guy who spends most of the match circling a sat the enemy isn't interested in trying to cap? Yes. Essential to allowing your team to win? Definitely.

 

I do this too on both my Nova and my Sting. It can get boring but at least I know that while I'm there and alive, the satellite will not be taken.

I find that survivability upgrades make a big difference on the Strike Fighters. You're almost certainly going to get hit multiple times and may find it difficult to escape. The downside of course, is that with un-upgraded offense it's hard to get good numbers for damage and kills at first. Still, you can't do much if you're dead, so first priority is survival.

 

Once you're upgraded survivability is pretty good, and when you start getting to upper levels of offense related upgrades there's a noteable improvement there too. With the hydrospanner and directional shields, as others have noted, a Strike Fighter can hold a satellite against odds of 2-4 : 1. With turning upgrades I like the sats with lots of obstructions. It makes it harder for gunships to make shots and a lot of the time you can get scouts to help you out by flying into obstacles. You have to vary your flying though, both around the sat and over and under, and reverse directions sometimes. Sticking in very close both keeps them from capping the sat and makes it very hard for them to line up shots if they're in close pursuit.

 

Another approach is to use a speed + boost build, emphasizing boost, for the missile boat strikers. The idea being that you have enough boost to be able to fly to 10 or 11 km from your target, launch proton torps, and then boost away when they come after you. With gunships you need to use cover or boost across the 16 to 10 km range while the gunship is facing away from you. Persistent scouts are a real problem with this sort of build though, a good pilot can hunt you down and kill you pretty much no matter what you do if you don't have support.

 

Oh, one other thing. If you can't find player wingmen sometimes the best option is to try to start a turning dogfight about 3 km above or below a friendly sat with defensive turrets up. If the enemy focuses on you the turrets make short work of them, if they focus on the turrets it's an opportunity for you to get the kill.

 

As far as carrying a team, well maybe not. You can be valuable certainly, but if there are more people on the other side fighting the objectives a dogfight focused team will almost always loose. Only a Interceptor geared scout can really have any shot of carrying a team in that situation, and it's not a very big shot.

Edited December 22, 2013 by Ramalina

I've tried all sorts of different loadouts for Scouts and Strike Fighters, but I'm about to give up on Strike Fighters for solo queuing. If I have a good team, my Strike Fighters can make it better with their high damage capabilities from different ranges. If a Scout gets up on me, I can stay alive long enough for my teammates to deal with him. However, it's really ugly when I don't have team support.

 

With a Scout, I'm at least able to get to a point, kill some turrets, maybe even capture it, no matter how bad my team is. The extra speed and maneuverability makes a big difference.

 

Is there a way to carry a bad team in a Strike Fighter, or is it just not possible to the degree that it is for Scouts?

Probably not. You're a good pilot, good enough to stand out, and so you get specifically targeted. Um, you know, hypothetically speaking! No hard feelings! It was, uh, other guys.

 

I find I can do fine in a Strike Fighter queuing solo -- right up until someone has enough and comes after me. In a Scout I can get away and turn the tables, but this is difficult in Strike Fighter, especially if several foes are on you.

 

In a Scout you've a decent chance of slipping away, but in a Strike Fighter you're stuck without support, especially if your opponents are coordinated enough to high/low you around a node so you can't weave around it for cover.

 

- Zojata

Is there a way to carry a bad team in a Strike Fighter, or is it just not possible to the degree that it is for Scouts?

 

My experience has been generally no. I consider myself competent with my reasonably upgraded Star Guard, but if my team insists on dogfighting well out of range of the objectives and the enemy team has at least 2 competent scouts to keep me occupied, there is little that I can do in my strike to carry a win. I could perhaps hold one satellite against 2 scouts depending on how skilled they are, but I couldn't possibly hold 2 together. The shields are awesome but eventually the pierce damage will add up and you're flying back from a spawn point.

 

With a Scout I can generally keep moving between two satellites as I see attackers engaging there, enough afterburner to get there quickly and enough damage and maneuverability to quickly take out the attackers.

 

Frankly I expect Star Guards to have stronger offensive capabilities than a FlashFire, but they don't. Strikes are countered by both other classes of ship.