Good evening fellow GSF players and aces. I'm not one to really do much more than lurk and read forums and play but I felt that I needed to say a few things.

First off I love my little Blackbolt to pieces... Often literally... (Thank you Pubs) The speed and control and lack of killing power makes me have to work hard to down opponents and makes it fun to try and avoid getting turned into tiny bits of shrapnel. Slowly I have learned from my mistakes and worked at being a better player while upgrading my little scout and slowly I have seen some improvement. (Again thank you Pubs on Harbinger for that.) I do have a Sting and I do play it from time to time and yes I find it easier to make things go boom but, well, there is just something about the Blackbolt that I just like more. So I am surprised by how little talk there is about the starting scouts on the boards and things other pilots do to make them work well. Or maybe I am just odd for not jumping on the Sting/Flashfire bandwagon. Anywho I like my little rockets and zippy "I ping you for damage and then try to outrun the return fire" scout.

So I invite anyone who wants to say something about the starting scout to post it here.

This leads into my next bit and that is a question for those I fight against on the Harbinger server. My pilot character is Valeira (on the Imp side). I know I don't play a lot and my times are erratic but I do see a few familiar names crop up from time to time and was wondering a few things. (In an effort to provide more than a mediocre challenge to you) First, am I enough of a nuisance that you notice when I show up? And secondly for those I fight, what can I do to be more of a challenge? I want to be a better pilot so I can push the other team and though I learn from most deaths, sometimes a different perspective helps.

And finally, for the Imps... I am getting tired of the lousy and lazy people who farm the dailies and do nothing more than possibly accidentally blow up and cost a roster spot to our side. (I am really hoping the Devs stop rewarding them for milking the system soon) But that is not in my control. What is in my control is trying to team up with other active players and try to take the fight to the Republic. So I am hoping that there are those on the Harbinger server who would like an extra ACTIVE pilot to help out and work at taking objectives and invite me to their teams. I don't guarantee big numbers but I can and have worked well with other pilots. (I'm just tired of joining as a solo pilot and would rather work with a small unit through the matches than not.) I will even fly the other ships if needed.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

My main ship is a Blackbolt, built for speed (Booster Recharge) and using Light Laser Cannon and Rocket Pods. Some perceptions from me:

1) Initial capping. At the start of the game, I'll be the first at a satellite. Which means I either outright cap it, or prevent/delay the enemy cap - until reinforcements arrive, or until we cap the other two satellites due to superior numbers there. The latter means that I can generally hold my own against the enemy's superiority, thanks to great maneuverability of the Blackbolt.

2) "Ninja" capping. An unguarded red satellite with three turrets is an ideal target for me. I can quickly reach it, strip all the turrets in literally ~5 seconds (Rocked Pods!) and the situation from 1) ensues - I either cap, or draw the enemies to it, relieving the situation elsewhere.

3) Gunships. Again, speed allows me to reach them quickly, and again, Rocket Pods work great against the stationary target they are. I may not be able to kill them (if they are upgraded enough) but I will be able to put them out of combat for a while.

4) Satellite dogfighting. The Sting/Flashfire is the current top dog there. Against an equal opposition, I will never be the ace, but I make a good wingman. I either focus enemies who are already fighting someone else, or play the mouse in a cat & mouse game with them and count (hope) that my teammates will pick the cat sooner or later. My speed also means that once I spot a satellite blinking, I can reach it very quickly to help whoever is fighting there.

<3 my Blackbolt/Novadive.

fast, simple and brutal for capping nodes.

So I am hoping that there are those on the Harbinger server who would like an extra ACTIVE pilot to help out and work at taking objectives and invite me to their teams.

Was just listening to Ootinicast, they're on Harbinger and play GS a lot. Though they may well be Rep side. Server forums might be your friend if you're looking to hook up.

Flashfire/Sting outclasses my Novadive in a dogfight, but the latter's my favourite. Danylia up above gives a good rundown on its strengths.

I love my Blackbolt !!! Its my main class ship and I can go Toe to Toe with any other ship out there, its all in how you set it up.

The only times that I cant down a Gunship is if they hit me with that ION crap and leave me as a sitting duck.

I'm primarily a FT-8 pilot, but I do like my Novadive. Rocket pods are the underappreciated strength of the fast scouts. They're hard to land on a moving target, but they don't give a lock on tone and combined with any of the available blasters they can take a ship apart almost as fast as a Flashfire that's popping cooldowns.

Favorite targets are gunships, turrets, people flying in straight lines, and those silly pilots stationary under or over a satellite.

I went with rapidfire for blasters, because with a mobility setup on my build I got tired of running out of blaster power quickly. Also gives a nice option, I fire the rockets when I have a good shot lined up, but with rapid fire there's enough blaster power available that you're ok just hosing down a target area where there's a low hit probability.

I was an avid Sting pilot, but once I got it mastered, I decided to go ahead and try using my Blackbolt as a main. Once I figured out a good build for it, I found myself actually doing better in it than my Sting!

However, then I realized that the vast majority of components I really liked on my Blackbolt are also available on the Sting. Once I switched my Sting to using those, I did better in it again.

Unfortunately, I do think the Blackbolt is inherently less useful than the Sting. First, you have to acknowledge that the Blackbolt and Sting, with no components equipped, are the exact same ship. They have the same base speed, hull, shields, turning rate, etc. The only differences between them are from their choices of components. People like to claim the Blackbolt is inherently faster and more maneuverable, but if considering just the base ship, that is not true.

Now let's have a look at the components they can choose and see where the Blackbolt has an advantage or the Sting has an advantage.

Primary Weapon: I really do like the Laser Cannons on the Blackbolt, but they are very similar to Quad Cannons (Quads do more damage but have slightly less accuracy and higher power draw). Sting also has access to Burst Laser Cannons, which are very powerful in Domination. If given the choice, I'd probably use Laser Cannons on my Sting, but as it stands I'm fine using Quads.

Advantage: If you want to do long range combat, it's a tie. If you want to do short range combat, the Sting wins here because of its access to Burst Laser Cannons.

Secondary Weapon: We can all agree the Thermite Torpedo is garbage. Sabotage Probe is okay, but is available to both Scouts so it's a wash. Using my Blackbolt forced me to learn how awesome Rocket Pods really are. They are essentially a second set of lasers you can fire at the same time as your primary lasers. If only the Blackbolt had access to them, I'd choose the Blackbolt every time. But the Sting can use them too--I now load them out instead of Cluster Missiles.

Advantage: Tie. And some, who still enjoy Cluster Missiles, would say the Sting has the advantage.

Scout System: Both Scouts get Targeting Telemetry, which is good. Both get Booster Recharge, which is also good. The Blackbolt gets Sensor Beacon which is ... meh. The Sting gets Blaster Overcharge, which is very powerful.

Advantage: Tie if you like Targeting Telemetry. Sting wins if you like Blaster Overcharge better.

Engine: Both ships get the same choices, except that the Sting gets Retro Thrusters instead of Snap Turn. I think we can all agree Retro Thrusters is more useful than Snap Turn.

Advantage: Tie most likely, since both will take Barrel Roll. Sting wins if you like Retro Thrusters.

Shield: Both ships get Quick Charge. Both ships get Distortion Field. Blackbolt gets Shield-to-Engine Converter, while Sting gets Directional Shield. Now, S-to-E Converter is nice to have, especially if you don't take Booster Recharge as your Scout system, and it can get you up to 125% Shield capacity compared to Directional Shield's 110%. However, Directional Shield's upgrades allow faster regen. And Directional Shield, if used properly, will yield a lot more survivability. Putting shields to front lets you win a lot more jousts against Strikes and Gunships as well.

And in the end, most people just use Distortion Field anyway, which both Scouts have.

Advantage: Tie if you like Distortion Field. If you like a more shieldy build, then Sting gets the advantage I think.

Minor Components:

Both Scouts get Capacitor.

Both Scouts get Armor.

Both Scouts get Thrusters.

Blackbolt gets Sensors.

Sting gets Reactor.

I don't know about you, but for me, the benefits of Reactor (higher shield capacity or regen) far outweigh the benefits of a few more km of sensor range--especially since the base Scout already has considerable sensor and comm range, well beyond the range of its own weapons and of other ships.

Advantage: Strong advantage to Sting.

So in conclusion, unless your Blackbolt makes heavy use of Snap Turn, Thermite Torpedo (ha!), Sensor Beacon, Shield-to-Engine Converter, and/or slightly-longer-range sensors/comms, then you could fly the same exact ship as a Sting, and you would do just as well if not better. In particular because of the Sting having access to Reactor.

I say all this not to dig at those who love their Blackbolts, but hopefully to call to attention that Blackbolts could use a small buff to one of their unique component options, which are:

* Snap Turn

* Thermite Torpedo

* Sensor Beacon

* Shield-to-Engine Converter

* Sensor Minor Component

If these were all buffed a little bit, then there would be more likelihood that one or more of them would offer enough benefit for someone to justify flying a Blackbolt over a Sting. But right now it's just not the case (in my opinion).

NovaDive diehard here. All my other ships have only as much flytime as it took enemy to destroy them.

Mastered my NovaDive with the top priority at engine power. Booster Recharge, Quick Charge shield, I can boost for more than 40 seconds consecutively. Sure, some Sting/Flashfire can do that too, but honestly, the person who would build their Sting/Flashfire that way deserves to be called dumb.

I quickly learned to not dogfight people. What I love on my ship is that if someone makes an attempt to dogfight me, I just say kthxbai and am 7k away in split second. Then I am back when they are doing something else, and they generally die.

Hit and run tactics, satellite ninja capping, gunship ownage and the ability to be anywhere I want anytime I want made me able to score several MVP's in single game.

NovaDive/Blackbolt get no love because they aren't FotM. Sadly, they probably will never be. They are just these beginning ships people will use to save req for something with more firepower.

Anytime I see someone using a NovaDive or Blackbolt in game and making decent performance against those burst cannon Flashfires, I make a mental note: respect this fella.

NovaDive diehard here. All my other ships have only as much flytime as it took enemy to destroy them.

 

Mastered my NovaDive with the top priority at engine power. Booster Recharge, Quick Charge shield, I can boost for more than 40 seconds consecutively.

 

I quickly learned to not dogfight people. What I love on my ship is that if someone makes an attempt to dogfight me, I just say kthxbai and am 7k away in split second. Then I am back when they are doing something else, and they generally die.

 

Hit and run tactics, satellite ninja capping, gunship ownage and the ability to be anywhere I want anytime I want made me able to score several MVP's in single game.

 

NovaDive/Blackbolt get no love because they aren't FotM. Sadly, they probably will never be. They are just these beginning ships people will use to save req for something with more firepower.

 

Anytime I see someone using a NovaDive or Blackbolt in game and making decent performance against those burst cannon Flashfires, I make a mental note: respect this fella.

All of the components you listed are also on the Flashfire. You could do the same exact thing in a Flashfire, except you'd have stronger Shields.

And if you really wanted to maximize boosting duration on your NovaDrive, you should take Shield-to-Engine Converter for your engine component. It really uses barely any shield at all once upgraded, it gives you much higher overall shield capacity, and it'll let you boost pretty much indefinitely.

Also it's unique to the Blackbolt/NovaDrive, so it'd justify your ship choice

All of the components you listed are also on the Flashfire. You could do the same exact thing in a Flashfire, except you'd have stronger Shields.

 

And if you really wanted to maximize boosting duration on your NovaDrive, you should take Shield-to-Engine Converter for your engine component. It really uses barely any shield at all once upgraded, it gives you much higher overall shield capacity, and it'll let you boost pretty much indefinitely.

 

1) Yes, but who would build a Sting or Flashfire tha tway, with access to booster overcharge? I don't think there will be many people.

2) I only put the boost duration as what I can do. Of course, raw booster would be even longer with that converter, but using Barrel Roll at cooldown while traveling will probably cover even longer distance even faster. Also, missile lock nullification needed here, as these missiles deal a ton of damage to the little ship, you know

1) Yes, but who would build a Sting or Flashfire tha tway, with access to booster overcharge? I don't think there will be many people.

 

2) I only put the boost duration as what I can do. Of course, raw booster would be even longer with that converter, but using Barrel Roll at cooldown while traveling will probably cover even longer distance even faster. Also, missile lock nullification needed here, as these missiles deal a ton of damage to the little ship, you know

1) You could. Unless you are effectively saying that Blaster Overcharge is just better than Booster Recharge. If you ARE saying that, then it's clear you should be flying a Flashfire.

2) Shield-to-Engine Converter is a shield ability, not an engine ability. You can have it AND Barrel Roll. You'd be losing Quick Charge shield for it.

Unlike Quick Charge and Distortion, it does not suffer a 30% penalty to shield capacity. It starts at 100% base shield. If fully upgraded, it adds another 25% to shield OR engine capacity. That means your shields can be at 125% instead of the 70% they're at with Quick-charge. It puts your shields around 1700 per arc instead of around 1000.

In fact, once I switched to S-to-E, I no longer needed Booster Recharge for my system, so I took Targeting Telemetry instead.

OP was right, Default Scout needs love. There is no reason to play this class. Yes, you have the longest sustained boosting ability in the game. But you aren't the quickest or best turner (you equal out with the sting/flashfire). . . .

What's the point of being able to boost all over the map if you can't do anything (damage) once you get there? I suppose you just hope that the node is unguarded and stays unguarded the entire time. . . . I suppose if an enemy shows up you can always just run away and not be caught.

But if all you are doing is running away. . . doesn't that mean you wasted time in a failed cap?

I can't see any situation where I'd pick a Blackbolt over a Flashfire. This is just for my playstyle though, I suppose if you just wanna be wingman it'd be useful. . . but I'd personally rather have another heavy hitter than a backup scout doing less damage.

1) You could. Unless you are effectively saying that Blaster Overcharge is just better than Booster Recharge. If you ARE saying that, then it's clear you should be flying a Flashfire.

 

2) Shield-to-Engine Converter is a shield ability, not an engine ability. You can have it AND Barrel Roll. You'd be losing Quick Charge shield for it.

1) Blaster Overcharge is better than Booster Overcharge, no doubt. When it comes to fighting, that is. And since I like to fly and do a guerrila a lot more than to dogfight, I prefer Booster Overcharge here.

Thing is to use what you like to use and are good with, not what is the strongest at the moment and everyone uses it.

Also, ion railgun - drains everyone, next slug kills them. Me? Booster overcharge (instant 20% engine energy + a lot more over time) - barrel roll, quick zig zag freak movement towards the now poor and scared gunship who is probably dead five seconds later.

2) Oh. Oooh. Hmm. Sorry, don't have tabs in front of me right now. Don't exactly know if I was ever thinking about putting this one in my build. Anyways, you just either reminded me of it or introduced me to a new possibility. Thanks!

Bottom line, to the sceptics here. I am regularly top in the scoreboard with my ND. Guerrilla hit and run works wonders. It's not just kill steals though. 10+ kills are regular, with 5 or so assists, 30k damage in the worse game, usually around 45k. NovaDive's speed gives me the possibility to achieve these combat stats and still get 100-ish objective points. Truth to the end is that I could of course do this with Flashfire too. But I won't. Because NovaDive.

1) Blaster Overcharge is better than Booster Overcharge, no doubt. When it comes to fighting, that is. And since I like to fly and do a guerrila a lot more than to dogfight, I prefer Booster Overcharge here.

Thing is to use what you like to use and are good with, not what is the strongest at the moment and everyone uses it.

Also, ion railgun - drains everyone, next slug kills them. Me? Booster overcharge (instant 20% engine energy + a lot more over time) - barrel roll, quick zig zag freak movement towards the now poor and scared gunship who is probably dead five seconds later.

Guerrila eh? I'd love to fight against you. You get my shields down and run off. . . . My shields regen. . . Plus it gives my friends time to come to my aide. You aren't really accomplishing much. . . It's better to kill your enemy fast

It's all about damage . . Kill your enemy as quickly as possible.

Guerrila eh? I'd love to fight against you. You get my shields down and run off. . . . My shields regen. . . Plus it gives my friends time to come to my aide. You aren't really accomplishing much. . . It's better to kill your enemy fast

 

It's all about damage . . Kill your enemy as quickly as possible.

You realize I also have friends, right? And who said I will just go through your shields? I won't attack you 1v1. Once you are shooting my turret or my friends, you can bet that unless you run fast, I will have enough time to strip at least 50% of your HP. You survive? I don't mind, you die later, thanks for assist.

Also, once your friends come aid you with killing one NovaDive, they will: 1) laugh at you for needing help with something this ridiculous, 2) abandon their positions, making my friends' job easier, whatever their job is.

You can only kill enemy fast if you surprise them (or if they are incompetent), every other time it turns into shootout which usually generates two people busy with each other - perfect targets for NovaDives and Blackbolts.

You know, to win Domination, you don't need to just kill enemies. Hit right places, distract the enemy team as a whole, and your chances of victory are better than abandoning the satellite to "kill fast" that guy 7k away. Once they give us TDM, you might stand a fair point. But even after that I guarantee that I will be a pain in my NovaDive.

My main ship is a Blackbolt, built for speed (Booster Recharge) and using Light Laser Cannon and Rocket Pods. Some perceptions from me:

 

1) Initial capping. At the start of the game, I'll be the first at a satellite. Which means I either outright cap it, or prevent/delay the enemy cap - until reinforcements arrive, or until we cap the other two satellites due to superior numbers there. The latter means that I can generally hold my own against the enemy's superiority, thanks to great maneuverability of the Blackbolt.

 

2) "Ninja" capping. An unguarded red satellite with three turrets is an ideal target for me. I can quickly reach it, strip all the turrets in literally ~5 seconds (Rocked Pods!) and the situation from 1) ensues - I either cap, or draw the enemies to it, relieving the situation elsewhere.

 

3) Gunships. Again, speed allows me to reach them quickly, and again, Rocket Pods work great against the stationary target they are. I may not be able to kill them (if they are upgraded enough) but I will be able to put them out of combat for a while.

 

4) Satellite dogfighting. The Sting/Flashfire is the current top dog there. Against an equal opposition, I will never be the ace, but I make a good wingman. I either focus enemies who are already fighting someone else, or play the mouse in a cat & mouse game with them and count (hope) that my teammates will pick the cat sooner or later. My speed also means that once I spot a satellite blinking, I can reach it very quickly to help whoever is fighting there.

This guy gets it. Pretty much exactly what I do, minus #4. I don't dogfight, I escape and light you up from behind.

Starting Scout is the best Fighter in the game, IMO. NovaDive is always my first choice to fly. I only fly anything else to get the daily bonus reqs.

That is kinda strong statement nobody is gonna agree with. Only us ND pilots know better.

You realize I also have friends, right? And who said I will just go through your shields? I won't attack you 1v1. Once you are shooting my turret or my friends, you can bet that unless you run fast, I will have enough time to strip at least 50% of your HP. You survive? I don't mind, you die later, thanks for assist.

 

Also, once your friends come aid you with killing one NovaDive, they will: 1) laugh at you for needing help with something this ridiculous, 2) abandon their positions, making my friends' job easier, whatever their job is.

 

You can only kill enemy fast if you surprise them (or if they are incompetent), every other time it turns into shootout which usually generates two people busy with each other - perfect targets for NovaDives and Blackbolts.

 

You know, to win Domination, you don't need to just kill enemies. Hit right places, distract the enemy team as a whole, and your chances of victory are better than abandoning the satellite to "kill fast" that guy 7k away. Once they give us TDM, you might stand a fair point. But even after that I guarantee that I will be a pain in my NovaDive.

Heh, I don't have to run fast when defending a Sat that you came to attack. . . I just have to "Out turn" you. . which doesn't require the massive boosting capability given by the default scout. Plus when sat humping. . . you get brief windows in which to hit a target you are following. . .This is why Burst is better.

" Once you are shooting my turret or my friends, you can bet that unless you run fast, I will have enough time to strip at least 50% of your HP. You survive? I don't mind, you die later, thanks for assist."

Gotta love distortion field for those moments when I do have to focus on your friends instead of dodging you. Plus Turrets die in 1-2 shot for a burst cannon with armor ignore. If you try to get a cluster lock on me. . you will probably get it. . .but for what. . . 60-90 hull damage? 240-360 with Bypass?

Second. . "You die later, thanks for the assist". . . so this is what I meant. . . You can't really finish the job, Stings/Flashfires can.

i won't try to convince you further though, I suppose if you enjoy it that's all the really matters.

*Edit*

I'm assuming we are still talking about the two ships usefulness in terms of the game objective. And not just wide open space dog fighting (more often than not, not helpful for Domination, just fun)

That is kinda strong statement nobody is gonna agree with. Only us ND pilots know better.

The people on Jedi Covenant are slowly learning to fear the Nova as I light their asses up. Although tbh they are probably convinced that I'm killing them as a Gunship, given how fast they die.

The people on Jedi Covenant are slowly learning to fear the Nova as I light their asses up. Although tbh they are probably convinced that I'm killing them as a Gunship, given how fast they die.

Allow me a question. You mentioned you use Laser Cannon. What capacitor you use with it? (also with some reasoning, if possible)

I use an apparent "gimp" loadout on mine, being the sab probe and the sensor beacon.

Those two features are arguably under-rated.

Let us also not forget the sensor dampening, making those speedy and stealthy escapes possible.

Sure, they will not make you climb the scoreboard any higher, and will actually cause the opposite to your personal score, however as far as your team is concerned, a well placed sensor beacon can cause a world of hurt to an ignorant team.

We can now see your gunships stocked with sensor dampening who believe they are under cover, any ships near our often ignored beacon get a debuff, and our team can see you on the approach, making planning your demise something that happens before you have even decided which node you are headed towards.

The sab probe, well it is not the greatest, but if you can creep up and smack it on that ace pilot griefing your team, aside from pi***** them right off, it for sure leaves them nice and ready to receive that payload from your players who previously were not having much luck with a lock on.

Is this better than rocket pods?

No, but I am not flying my scout to take out turrets or to be a dogfighting menace.

I use my build to be an all out scout ship, and if that is what you want to do with yours, try out the "gimp" build and let us know what you think, because in my opinion, the gimp build can turn the tide of a match, no question about it.

Allow me a question. You mentioned you use Laser Cannon. What capacitor you use with it? (also with some reasoning, if possible)

Fully upgraded Frequency for maximum burst damage. I don't need the extra range, because my mobility allows me to dictate this, and I personally felt that Frequency was more of a DPS increase than the Damage one.

I use an apparent "gimp" loadout on mine, being the sab probe and the sensor beacon.

 

Those two features are arguably under-rated.

Let us also not forget the sensor dampening, making those speedy and stealthy escapes possible.

 

Sure, they will not make you climb the scoreboard any higher, and will actually cause the opposite to your personal score, however as far as your team is concerned, a well placed sensor beacon can cause a world of hurt to an ignorant team.

 

We can now see your gunships stocked with sensor dampening who believe they are under cover, any ships near our often ignored beacon get a debuff, and our team can see you on the approach, making planning your demise something that happens before you have even decided which node you are headed towards.

 

The sab probe, well it is not the greatest, but if you can creep up and smack it on that ace pilot griefing your team, aside from pi***** them right off, it for sure leaves them nice and ready to receive that payload from your players who previously were not having much luck with a lock on.

 

Is this better than rocket pods?

 

No, but I am not flying my scout to take out turrets or to be a dogfighting menace.

 

I use my build to be an all out scout ship, and if that is what you want to do with yours, try out the "gimp" build and let us know what you think, because in my opinion, the gimp build can turn the tide of a match, no question about it.

Even though beacons haven't earned my trust from looking at their numbers in hangar, I always tend to shoot them when I see some in game.

The Sabotage Probe? That's one ugly mofo. You know how as a scout you often let the enemy long lock ons finish just so evade a second later, so the enemy has a rocket wasted? Well, if you try that against a Sabotage Probe, it just pops on you immediately and you can go punch a wall. Sadly I found myself unable to successfully land so long lock on (can't even do clusters), so it's a no no for me.

No doubt that your build can be highly underestimated by enemies and can give much profit to your team, but it sure requires some balls to go in there with these things!

Fully upgraded Frequency for maximum burst damage. I don't need the extra range, because my mobility allows me to dictate this, and I personally felt that Frequency was more of a DPS increase than the Damage one.

Yep, thanks. Got similar reasoning. Using Light laser ATM, with the Frequency capacitor, too.