For those of you lucky enough to have Skybolts/Oculas, how do you outfit your two ships differently to maximize your potential in the skies? Do you build one for domination and one for team deathmatch? Do you build one as a gunship hunter and the other as a dogfighter? Maybe you have one designed for speed and another designed for DPS? There are lots of potential niche builds out there. For example, I think Xinthos on Progenitor had an Ocula with blaster overcharge and concentrated Fire that was designed purely to melt bombers. Post your own builds and reasoning why you chose them/why they work.

 

Use the http://dulfy.net/2013/11/16/swtor-galactic-starfighter/ to link your builds.

 

 

For those of you that don't have a cartel scout, what do you think you would do if you had one? FYI if you didn't already know - you can save your cartel coins from the sub and buy a cartel ship every 4 months.

Edited May 13, 2016 by RickDagles

For example:

 

Team Deathmatch Specialist

 

http://dulfy.net/2013/11/16/swtor-galactic-starfighter/?link=dGEAAAAPAAUDAxED8gHqA+AA7ALQAeAC4ALgAeA=

 

Quads are less versatile than BLC but they have a higher DPS, which means they can surprise and melt enemy gunships (even without damage overcharge). I chose barrel roll with 10% extra speed here because it allows me to grab a lot of damage overcharges and also because it lets me get out of a bad situation very fast. Wingman is used as the co-pilot because it allows you to shoot through DF as well as land a few extra shots on a gunship starting to flee. Running interference isn't a bad option here either, but I think you need a good team behind you for it to work. Regen thrusters are necessary here because you can't always rely on finding engine overcharges.

 

 

This build would be horrible in domination, but it works really well in TDM.

Edited May 13, 2016 by RickDagles

This build would be horrible in domination, but it works really well in TDM.

 

Why would it be horrible in Dom, aside from QLC instead of BLCs and pods instead of clusters? Yes, you lose armor pen from BLCs but you gain it in the pods. 10% extra speed and barrel roll would be equally as important to get to a sat as it is to grab DOs or escape pursuit. Ideally you'd have an ammo-refill T2 bomber in both game mods. So why "horrible?"

FYI if you didn't already know - you can save your cartel coins from the sub and buy a cartel ship every 4 months.

 

Really 3 months, since everyone should be using a security key anyway, so 600 x 3 = 1800.

Why would it be horrible in Dom, aside from QLC instead of BLCs and pods instead of clusters? Yes, you lose armor pen from BLCs but you gain it in the pods. 10% extra speed and barrel roll would be equally as important to get to a sat as it is to grab DOs or escape pursuit. Ideally you'd have an ammo-refill T2 bomber in both game mods. So why "horrible?"

 

Because fighting on nodes, speed is useless and quads are much worse at CQC than BLCs. Even with pods, you can't one-shot turrets (unless you're willing to sacrifice TT and hope for a lucky shot), and you're much less of a threat to CP bombers.

 

A scout can't hold a node for long in any case, so getting to a node isn't that important. In any case, BR + turning would be more effective. You can cover a lot of distance, and you can still kill stuff close-range... But with quads, that's a moot point.

 

I don't think ammo's the problem, but the abundance of CP will mean that even with pods you'll have a hard time.

 

The only use I can see for such a scout in DOM would be hunting down gunships, but BLC + clusters/pods does the job extremely well too. BLC + pods is also almost as efficient against armored targets from range, and much more effective against them from up close.

http://dulfy.net/2013/11/16/swtor-galactic-starfighter/?link=dGEAAAAPAAUDAxED8gHqA+AA7ALQAeAC4ALgAeA=

 

Why damage capacitor, out of interest?

too ugly, can not fly.

Why damage capacitor, out of interest?

 

Damage capacitor is the best capacitor that couples with Quads imo. You don't want frequency because Quads eat too much energy already and the build is looking for Burst damage kills so the extra 10% damage matters.

I consider the following battlescouts to all have a pretty solid role:

 

1)- The burst / clusters battlescout. This ship is probably the best dogfighter in GSF.

2)- The burst / pods battlescout. This ship forgot what armor was, and can meaningfully threaten bombers. With power dive, we saw this ship as quite a powerhouse in TDM versus nodes defended by a single bomber, especially given how scouts normally perform solo in that situation.

3)- The quads / pods gunship hunter. This ship has ludicrous raw damage during cooldowns.

 

I think a cartel type 2 scout is pretty easy to justify out of all the cartel ships, just for build diversity for pilots that really like the scout. Downsides: costs many coins, ship is shaped like gonad.

Damage capacitor is the best capacitor that couples with Quads imo. You don't want frequency because Quads eat too much energy already and the build is looking for Burst damage kills so the extra 10% damage matters.

 

That makes sense. I really like range, though.

Range is such a solid capacitor. It's especially amazing on burst laser cannon. The reason you should give damage a try with quads, however, is that almost every time you seriously use quads, you will have a target lined up with your nose, and damage helps a whole lot then. My reasoning for favoring damage over frequency is less the excessive power drain from frequency and more the fact that you deal your damage in small bursts where frequency is less likely to actually beat damage with time on target. Damage is ahead at the opening shot, roughly ties after a second and a half or so, and frequency has a narrow edge starting around 2.5 seconds of shooting. If you consider those 3+ second shot cycles to happen often enough, frequency is probably your guy, if not, damage will be ahead, and will leave you with more battery. Remember that these numbers are assuming all the shots are equally valuable: if your first second is spent firing at a target without cooldows and the rest has them popping defensives, then it will take even longer for frequency to catch up.

That makes sense. I really like range, though.

 

In my opinion only BLC really profits from range, because of the steep dropoff it has. If I understand the math correctly, the bonus from range is bigger when the dropoff is steeper.

 

In a Q&P build, additional range doesn't give a meaningful bonus on damage and accuracy as well as a bigger range on quads has almost no effect because a Q&P scout always tries to maximize burst by firing both weapons. Firing quads earlier only would give the target more time to react.

I love the capacitor discussion. Not to hijack Siraka's thread, though... I might try damage/TT with the range upgrade. I really like the idea of quads and poda having the exact same range. It's not a mathematical thing, though...

Yep Closeshave is right about the BLC question and I agree most with what Verain said about damage capacitors. The power draw is a nice bonus but honestly not that big of a deal if you use Yuun or 2V-R8.

 

I do like range capacitors on quads too. I feel like 5500m is kind of a sweet spot for hitting targets that are actually aware of your presence and make efforts to avoid getting hit. However, if you are using a scout to chase, you are probably better off with BLC/cluster or even MLC/pod novadive.

Does anyone have experience flying a 20% turning booster/BLC/cluster build? http://dulfy.net/2013/11/16/swtor-galactic-starfighter/?link=dGEAAAAPAAUDAxEA9ALsA9AC9ALQAeAC4APgAOA=

 

I think Scrab flew something similar to this. I've used it a quite a bit lately. It feels really strong against everything but it's quite bad at solo-taking a node held by a decent bomber.

Does anyone have experience flying a 20% turning booster/BLC/cluster build? http://dulfy.net/2013/11/16/swtor-galactic-starfighter/?link=dGEAAAAPAAUDAxEA9ALsA9AC9ALQAeAC4APgAOA=

 

I think Scrab flew something similar to this. I've used it a quite a bit lately. It feels really strong against everything but it's quite bad at solo-taking a node held by a decent bomber.

 

Almost exactly my build. I use Reactor Boost instead of Quick Boost on Booster Recharge T5 and I use Retro Thrusters instead of Barrel Roll. It trades burst damage for mobility.

 

There come some disadvantages with that.

- It's somewhat difficult to kill good Gunships before they run away.

- The lack of TT makes it weak against other Scouts.

- It takes some time to kill bombers.

 

The advantages all are related to the near infinite boost it has.

- A good good pilot almost always has initiative with it.

- It can boost to get in range and still has boost left to get away.

- Bombers can easily be intercepted before reaching a satellite.

- It usually is one of the first ships to reach a satellite and still has boost left.

- It only needs to slow down to fire, hard to hit by Gunships.

- It can chase down almost every other ship, if needed.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Danalon

Nice. I've found that the extra turning means it's actually easier to kill good gunships because they can't get away with their tight turn kiting tricks at all. And the extra turning really helps for landing glancing blows against other scouts. I avoid getting into any jousts with TT scouts. I just try to drop in behind their 6 instead.

Nice. I've found that the extra turning means it's actually easier to kill good gunships because they can't get away with their tight turn kiting tricks at all. And the extra turning really helps for landing glancing blows against other scouts. I avoid getting into any jousts with TT scouts. I just try to drop in behind their 6 instead.

 

I was referring to a situation where I attack a Gunship and it runs away with little hull left and would have died with just a little more damage. I can chase it down, but that costs time.

Getting behind other Scouts is the best strategy against them, however if they know how to use Retros, and have TT, it's still not a good idea to get into a turning fight with them.

 

The additional turning also helps in fights at satellites or other narrow areas.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Danalon

Good points, yep the extra turning around sats is prob my fav thing about going for 20% turning. Edited May 17, 2016 by RickDagles