First, I'll say that I don't really like gunships. They make the field more interesting, and they're fun to take down. But I personally find them rather boring to play, and on the occasions I have used them, they seem to be "EZ-mode" and even without much practice/upgrades I find I can pretty easily do a lot of damage and get kills without even much danger. I know lots of people disagree, and I'm not trying to argue the point here, but I do think that Gunships are a bit OP, at least as far as the amount of skill required to do well in one goes.

That said, I think everyone should have default access to one, and here's why:

Occasionally---not that often, but occasionally--I find myself in a deathmatch against a team with practically 100% bombers and gunships. This strategy is quite viable. The bombers make a big impenetrable minefield, the gunships sit in it and blast anyone who comes close. Anyone who even approaches the gunships or bombers gets smacked down instantly by one or more of the 5+ gunships watching the area.

The only way to counter this is (boring as it may be, IMO...) to bring out your own gunships. And if this happens when your team has a bunch of newer players who don't own gunships, you just lose. Badly.

Whether the all-GS/Bomber strategy SHOULD be viable is another topic that should certainly be up for debate, but as long as it is viable, it seems only fair to at least give everyone the OPTION of being able to counter it.

us early access subscribers got gunships by default.

preferred & f2p can pay.

That doesn't help the fact that many of YOUR TEAMMATES will not have access to a gunship in the matches where you really, really wish they did.

Also, I subbed but in January so I didn't get one. Why should everyone who had a sub by a certain date have an inherent, potentially uncounterable advantage?

It's not inherent or uncounterable. You pay 2500 fleet req and get yours. It's really no big deal.

That being said, it wouldn't make the game worse to hand out these ships somehow via quests. I think it would be nicer of people could get a free ship of their choice, etc.

us early access subscribers got gunships by default.

 

preferred & f2p can pay.

You see the flaw in that logic, right?

It's not inherent or uncounterable. You pay 2500 fleet req and get yours. It's really no big deal.

This is proper logic. 2500 fleet req is not a huge deal, especially if you have some CCs lying around (you get 100 CCs/mo with an authenticator, and that's enough for a gunship). You get 1500 fleet req from your "welcome to GSF" quest and the first weekly, plus maybe another 300ish from the matches themselves, which puts you well on your way to getting the gunship on its own.

That being said, it wouldn't make the game worse to hand out these ships somehow via quests. I think it would be nicer of people could get a free ship of their choice, etc.

I also totally agree with this, because I dislike artificial gating.

Besides you really should learn to fly on one of the real fighters first anyway. It will improve your evading as abilities dramatically.

Also the bomber GS scenario is basically the same as camping out your mother ships.

I agree that 2500 isn't that big a deal, but 5k kind of takes awhile, so if the ship you REALLY want to buy is a Pike or Sting, but you're forced to spend your first 2500 req on a Gunship you may or may not even really want because it's required to be situationally competitive, that's kinda wack IMO. Then you end up having to get 7500 to buy the ship you really want, not to mention being able to get additional crew members.

Honestly, even though I'm primarily a scout pilot, I'd almost think Striker/Gunship would be a better first pair if the devs don't want fresh toons to have 3 ships. You could at least be viable in any situation, and scouts are pretty tough going for brand new players anyhow IMO.

I agree that 2500 isn't that big a deal, but 5k kind of takes awhile, so if the ship you REALLY want to buy is a Pike or Sting, but you're forced to spend your first 2500 req on a Gunship you may or may not even really want because it's required to be situationally competitive, that's kinda wack IMO.

GOOD GRIEF

We all had to buy a pike and a sting bro. You got the gunship if you were subscribed in November. It's 2500. The fact that something UNRELATED costs 5000 is SILLY.

"It's only 2500 but what if you want to unlock every ship first then it's like thirty dollars and 20,000 requisition!"

It.

Is.

2500

Req.

Just go earn it, like, right now.

I don't think you understood the point of the post; I wouldn't feel it was an issue AT ALL if it wasn't required to be competitive against bomber/gunship heavy comps.

Moreover, 2500 is actually kind of a lot to a new player who earns 50-100 req in their first match, gets owned by gunships, and says, "Holy mackerel, I have to get owned 25-50 more times before I can buy a gunship???" and then quits. Which is not what GSF needs right now, considering the serious lack of players.

First, I'll say that I don't really like gunships. They make the field more interesting, and they're fun to take down. But I personally find them rather boring to play....

Here I fixed this. You say "no I don't like them", then say "but I like to blow them up", then say "no I don't like them".

What?

To counter bombers, use lasers on the mines, emp burst from scout. Gunships, make a bee line. Don't fire missiles until you can fire lasers or they get spooked. Bombers take tag teaming to take down if you have stock missiles.

I don't think you understood the point of the post; I wouldn't feel it was an issue AT ALL if it wasn't required to be competitive against bomber/gunship heavy comps.

Yeah, well, it's not. Problem solved! L2P.

All that aside, I thought you got one if you were subscribed, not if you were suscribed by Nov...

I would agree that any subsrcibers should get the Gunship, though we already do get a bonus to Requistion... so it should not take that long to unlock.

And more importantly as the others mentioned, you should be mastering a strike or scout while you wait to unlock the other ships anyway.