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To GS or not to GS, that is the question (Alt. Title: What's in YOUR hangar?)


bmharrison

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Ok, I admit it, I hate gunships. I hate flying against them, I hate getting completely disabled (or outright killed) by one shot, and I really hate how the number of gunships in play increases the advantage for a team exponentially like no other class of ship (or ground class, for that matter) in the game.

 

As much as I hate flying against them, I also hate flying them myself. I don't enjoy the play style of sit, fire, run, turn around, sit, fire, run, etc. To me, that's not what GSF is supposed to be about. My opinion, not stating a fact or trying to argue with anyone about play styles.

 

Additionally, I don't fare well when I do fly gunships. I may get in a kill or two before I'm noticed (though often I miss b/c I'm not good at the railgun targeting system and just end up drawing attention to myself), but once someone is after me I spend the rest of my time running away until I get blown up or get so far away that no one is interested in pursuing anymore, and then have to spend a great deal of time trying to get back into position and try the whole fiasco again.

 

All that being said, I kept my gs in my hangar and consistently upgraded it so that if it was needed on the field I could use it. I still firmly believe (my opinion again) that any number of gunships over 2 (especially when working with a couple of bombers) creates a huge imbalance in most matches unless countered by an equal or greater number of gunships. Of course, pilot skill is a factor, but less-so than with scouts/sfs (bombers are another topic). And, speaking from painful experience, most of the GS pilots on my server (Shadowlands) are quite skilled at what they do.

 

So, whenever I came across a team (mostly on imp side) that either weren't choosing their gunships or didn't have them available, I felt obligated to jump in mine to try and balance things out against the often 4+ gunships we were facing.

 

I did this for a long while with no real success. I finally got sick of it. I hated the gunship. It was taking the place of a ship I might actually want to fly, and I couldn't seem to contribute to the team at all when I used it. So I dumped it and dropped the t1 sf back in (not the most powerful ship, but with heavy lasers/ion cannons and concussion missiles, it does have its uses, at least in dogfighting scenarios).

 

My question is this- am I gimping my team by not having the gs in my hangar? I currently have both scouts, both sfs, and a drone bomber on each side. The bomber's not my favorite, but as it seems to be damn near vital anymore for domination matches, I decided I could put up with it. (I'm actually pretty decent at flying the bomber, but I guess it's not hard for anyone to fly around a sat and drop drones.)

 

As for the scouts, I find use for both, depending on the match and the other team's makeup. Same thing for the strike fighters. I even have EMP field and missiles for dealing with drone/mine fields, though they are a little underpowered for the tasks in which they were designed (that's a discussion for another post).

 

The only thing I've been using my gunships for is to convert their req to fleet so I can upgrade my other ships faster. Still, I wonder if I'm not being a good team player by leaving out an obviously powerful ship choice. Should I give up one of my ships and put the GS back in? If so, which one? (I would lean toward the t1 strike fighter but would like to hear suggestions.)

 

So that's my dilemma. Sorry this is yet another long post, but I've really been struggling with this one. Anyone else having a similar experience? Please tell me why I should leave my gs out or put it back in. Thanks.

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We have similar experiences I believe. I don't fair to badly in a gunship, but the play style does not suit me. this is not a slight against the gunship tho.

 

Ultimately I think you do gimp your team by not having one available..

Edited by Yndras
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*shakes his head*

 

Your thought process is far too complicated in this instance.

 

Basically, what you need to ask yourself when you put a ship on your bar, is this: Am I going to enjoy flying this?

 

Look, I've known pilots that rocked the house with no Gunship on their bar. I've known pilots who have pretty much crunched their bars down to two ships, because they KNOW what they're going to enjoy flying. I've known pilots who are so secure in their enjoyment of a particular ship that they will deliberately go and exclude the rest because it's just not a priority for them.

 

Worry about fun. Let someone else worry about good team play or whatever. You sound like you're more in need of that fun anyway.

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*shakes his head*

 

Your thought process is far too complicated in this instance.

 

Basically, what you need to ask yourself when you put a ship on your bar, is this: Am I going to enjoy flying this?

 

Look, I've known pilots that rocked the house with no Gunship on their bar. I've known pilots who have pretty much crunched their bars down to two ships, because they KNOW what they're going to enjoy flying. I've known pilots who are so secure in their enjoyment of a particular ship that they will deliberately go and exclude the rest because it's just not a priority for them.

 

Worry about fun. Let someone else worry about good team play or whatever. You sound like you're more in need of that fun anyway.

 

I think the purpose of his over thought was to illustrate how he feels he cannot have fun without playing a gunship when matches turn to gunship snipe sessions.

 

But that was just my interpretation.

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I'm really sad that this happens on some servers, and can only be grateful that it doesn't happen on mine.

 

I don't know if Ebon Hawk is just a different breed now or what, because y'all's experiences with GSF are really different from mine.

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I'm really sad that this happens on some servers, and can only be grateful that it doesn't happen on mine.

 

I don't know if Ebon Hawk is just a different breed now or what, because y'all's experiences with GSF are really different from mine.

 

Im going to come and roll an alt on your server. Which faction is weakest?

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I'm really sad that this happens on some servers, and can only be grateful that it doesn't happen on mine.

 

I don't know if Ebon Hawk is just a different breed now or what, because y'all's experiences with GSF are really different from mine.

 

I also hate gunships and don't enjoy flying them at all, but I keep one in my hanger for those times when my team really really needs ion aoe.

 

We could ask why only one ship can provide a tool to counter deeply entrenched bombers and other such threats, but Verain would come in and sardonically dismiss it all as off-topic gunship qq.

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Your average imp pug is fairly clueless, but most of their aces are in one guild, so it's rare to see them in groups of less than three.

 

I find this to be an accurate assessment. Pug vs. pug matches usually favor the republic, but when the Imp veterans queue up, especially together, they usually dominate.

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I find this to be an accurate assessment. Pug vs. pug matches usually favor the republic, but when the Imp veterans queue up, especially together, they usually dominate.

 

Your sig implies that you play on Shadowlands, not TEH.

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To the OP: If you don't like flying gunships, don't fly one. GSF is a game for enjoyment, you should fly what you enjoy flying. I'd even argue that you would help your team more by flying a ship you are good and comfortable with, rather than flying a ship that doesn't fit your play style.
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I also hate gunships and don't enjoy flying them at all, but I keep one in my hanger for those times when my team really really needs ion aoe.

 

We could ask why only one ship can provide a tool to counter deeply entrenched bombers and other such threats, but Verain would come in and sardonically dismiss it all as off-topic gunship qq.

 

this made me lol.

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Well, not sure it's as much of an issue in TDM, cause you can use range to pull gunships and bombers out of their cozy little groups if they are a PUG.

 

In domination though you might try a Pike with EMPs and maybe concussions. Start hitting defense turrets, mines, and drones that are close to gunships and bombers. No lock on warning in that case.

 

Might be a starting point for you to try in any case.

 

What's in my hangar is two strikes I fly a lot, two scouts I fly some, a Quarrel I rarely fly, and a gunship and two bombers in storage that I've never flown.

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I would like to play more in my strike sighters (have 3 of them, but only 2 in ready to use in matches) but I end up most of the time playing either scout, when the opposite site has quite a few gunships or I am flying a gunship (I actually enjoy flying them) since they are strong (have also two of them always ready, with slightly different emphasis in the build depending on what type of mission). Only the bomber didn't made me too happy, maybe I will give it a another try in a few weeks when I have more points to spend on that ship.

 

So, overall, gunships are quite strong, but have a scout always ready to hunt gunships can make a huge difference (if I see too many opponents starting with scouts I prefer not to fly a gunship... at least opponents who have plenty of other options, against a team in which most players just have 2 ships I doubt that many of those will have done much with their ships either).

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I always have a GS in my hanger. I don't really enjoy flying it, I am certainly not as good with it in equal circumstances as my other ships. I use it pretty much solely when I end up in a TDM and we are getting farmed.

 

I always aspirationally aim for a 4:1 K/D ratio in matches and in those situations its really the only ship that can have a hope to achieve that, and I often do. I'm not terrible at it, its just not what I enjoy the most.

 

There is something malevolently satisfying in lining up that Scout that just tore you a new arseh0le and making him go pop from 14kms.

 

That's all GS's really are to me, "This match is a write off so imma throw lasers at you from over here" ships.

Edited by MystbladeWA
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I don't really like flying a gunship but I like having some on my team. Especially when they have ion railgun. During the times I play I've noticed very few support minded gunships. When there are 2+ mine layers on a satellite it is almost mandatory to use a gunship to break it. Domination matches become boring when the other team has 3-4 competent bombers and your team has no gunships because you can never take a node.
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My GS (Mangler) is my main ship. Automatically click ready and I'm down to take the opposition's hopes and dreams away. I've started working the Dustmaker during Domination b/c sometimes it's super irritating when a scout is circling a sat, so a bomber / dustmaker combo seemed ideal. Started flying a quell that hasn't been fully upgraded, but it's definitely fun. My blackbolt is pretty geared, as is my other scout (forget the name) but I don't usually fly them since I prefer to either snipe or to outfly someone (but be able to take a few hits in a dogfight). There was a time where the only ship in my hanger was a GS. Only time I really change ships is when we're up against noobs so they aren't AS SCARED, and thus less likely to quit GSF
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#1 rule of MMOs is play what you want to play. If you forever pursue the FOTM, you'll be forever unhappy. While I care what they do to Strikes and Scoundrels, I still love playing them enough that I'm not going to stop playing them, either.

 

Other gunships are more affected by your team keeping them busy, no matter what ships your team is using.

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#1 rule of MMOs is play what you want to play. If you forever pursue the FOTM, you'll be forever unhappy. While I care what they do to Strikes and Scoundrels, I still love playing them enough that I'm not going to stop playing them, either.

 

Other gunships are more affected by your team keeping them busy, no matter what ships your team is using.

 

This. Learn to be useful in the class you like to play best. Every class has a role and can be deadly, though some are clearly specialized for certain things. Just know where and how you can best use your ship. You happen to like the other class highly favored by the meta right now (who am I kidding - since launch) - the flashfire/sting. So rejoice :) Those can be built to be highly effective in all situations, except against multiple minelayers under the node in domination.

 

If by some chance you are in a group that doesn't have anything other than the standard 2 ships on their bars, then chances are, you're outmatched as a team. Flying a ship that you're not good at or don't like to play is not going to change that fact. Take your best ship, and work on something for that match, whether it's survival skills, damage, holding one objective at least, being a giant pain in the a** or whatever. I run Imperial exclusively on Shadowlands, and I had a LOT of experience with matches like that in the first month.

 

 

Gunships can bring a lot of utility to the table, but gunship heavy compositions can be really bad for the team, especially in domination. It could be bad if you don't have ANY gunships on the team (or no good ones), but you can say that about any unbalanced team setup, except maybe flashfire/sting spam in TDM.

 

The best example I have was one game pre-2.6 on shipyards. Imperial team was me, Heisenburg, Kinglsaya (Kantner's imp alt), and Arc-a. If you've been around a while, you know that is a Bad Thing to see on the other side. Well, we lost. Got three capped in fact. Why? We all ran gunships, and couldn't force the pub side off the nodes. One of us would kill the defenders and cap, but couldn't hold against the flashfires that pushed us off again. Maybe it would have been different if we had been on VOIP, so we knew to swap ships mid fight. But still, it's a great example of how multiple gunships are not a guarantee of anything. In fact, when it was all domination, I would specifically swap to Sting when I saw the imperial side stacking gunships, because that was the best way to actually win at the node.

 

In the current meta, pub side likes to run teams heavily stacked in one class, be it gunships or bombers. If you see that happening, you'll have to adjust your play or your default build a bit. Quads instead of burst is pretty nice in the current meta, with the range you'll need against bombers but still with enough punch against gunships.

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Hey, quoted by my least favorite imperial to fly against. Damn you and your ion drain. ;)

 

But I agree--you want to change up your ship for what your team needs. I generally prefer to go Strike or Scout, but there are times when I go gunship just because my team looks overly balanced to those two. Although I just can't make myself go Bomber... playstyle just does not appeal to me. I hope the next class floats my boat more.

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I've said before that scouts are like barbarians, strikes are like fighters, gunships are wizards, and bombers are clerics.

 

The net effect: most parties are heavily in favor of barbarians and fighters. They need some heals, tanks, ranged dps, and ranged controls.

 

If you do find yourself in a party with plenty of gunships and bombers, a strike or scout is very nice. But most groups are filled in with strikes and scouts, enhancing the desirability of the almost absent gunships and bombers.

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I've said before that scouts are like barbarians

For some reason I find this hilarious. Probably because it took me forever to realize you where using names of classes from another game. I took barbarians at face value.

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