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The new "support" ships are pointless right now.


Devrius

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Yeah, I can't find much use for the spearpoint and as a rule I try to fly unpopular ships to see if i can't make them work. Tensor field can be fun to fly with but I don't find it really useful as a combat skill. Targeting Telemetry will do more for you so what do I give up clusters or rockets and distortion field just so I can have shield projector? Then there's those minor components. I'd like someone to find a good use for this ship and share with the rest of us.

I'm actually trying Combat Command.

 

At least i can use it for myself when stuck in a turning fight and it allows me to withstand a bit better my weapon energy cost induced by my stock Frquency Capacitor (planning to keep Frequency as I can't rely on secondary to improve my damage). If it helps others at the same time, that's a bonus.

 

I'm thinking going for EMP missile and shield projector (maybe repair drone) to try to be a jack of all trades of support. I don't have any hopes for being uber powerful but at least it may allow me to not have too much support ships in my hangar.

Edited by Altheran
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The main drawback to the community at large is the lack of feedback. Based on my stats alone it was hard to tell the impact I was having. I got no real feedback and my stats were a bit low. After the match they both confirmed they could feel the difference and the stats were there to back up the perception.

 

The game also doesn't help since you can't target a friendly. I had to go by feel on when to hit my shields/probes. I did my best to keep on the tail of one or the other the entire match.

 

This is exactly how I feel when I play one of those ships. For instance, before using repair probes, I have to guess whether anybody needs hull repair or ammo; once I decide to use it, I have to guess whether I am in range of my allies; and after I use it, I get no feedback as to whether it did any good to anybody. Also, the main scoreboard doesn't give any info on support. Yes, there is a way to see how much repair I did, by going to the performance tab, but I can't see how much repair other players did, and other buffs do not show up at all on the scoreboard.

 

The support strike is actually fairly fun to play. Usually, I'll be enjoying myself during the game, until the scoreboard pops up at the end and my kill number is barely above the 2-ship newbies, while the value of the support I provided is pretty much unknown. It hits me like a cold shower and all of a sudden I feel useless, or rather I have no idea how useful I actually was, and whether any of the stuff I did had any impact on the outcome of the game. Playing support seems very unrewarding in GSF, due to the lack of feedback.

 

On the other end, I love it when a friend of mine plays his support scout with Combat Command or his strike with repair probes, because I can definitely see the positive impact of his buffs on my own performance. I don't know why so many people think Combat Command is not good. I really love getting buffed by it in a big dogfight: the increase in accuracy and crit is amazing and transforms my ship into a killing machine. The funny thing is that my friend would most likely be at the top of the scoreboard if he played a different ship, but by playing a support ship and buffing me, he propels me to the top instead (at least some times... other times, he still manages to top the scoreboard even in his support ship). Combat Command is good at making your allies better.

 

I like the repair probes on the T3 strike. I sometimes use that ship in Domination, to "heal" people who are fighting enemy bombers at nodes. I'll come in and use the probes right after a bunch of mines went off. In TDM, I prefer to play a T2 scout, and I aggressively go after enemy gunships who are standing in the back near their cap ship (where they keep getting reinforcement from people on their team who just respawned). As a result, I often end up with 3-4 people targetting me. If my friend is playing his T3 strike, he'll wait until I draw enemy fire, then come in and repair my hull and help me take some targets down. It is very effective, even without VOIP.

 

As for Tensor Field, I only use it on the Denon map. It is nice at the start, and also when the enemies we just wiped at one satellite switch to attack another one and we have to get there fast to defend.

 

Of all the new systems abilities, Remote Slicing seems the most underwhelming. I see no reason to fly a strike with Remote Slicing over a T1 scout with EMP field. EMP field does a similar job but it is an AOE and has some additional functionality (disabling mines and drones, missile lock break). And the scout has more mobility, better secondary weapons, access to distorsion field and barrel roll, etc... The shield drain on Remote Slicing really doesn't make up for all that.

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I fully admit after looking at the quell it would probly be better for this but i am having some success using my Imperium as a bomber/gunship hunter using photons. The its a great ship as well to assit a bomber in holding taking a a nod also. Edited by Applejacxs
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I fully admit after looking at the quell it would probly be better for this but i am having some success using my Imperium as a bomber/gunship hunter using photons. The its a great ship as well to assit a bomber in holding taking a a nod also.

 

I've been using thermites and they seem to be pretty good too. The shield/armor penetration effects plus DOT seems to be pretty powerful since they help you chew through their hull. IMO the shield/armor penetration are really big pluses since the Type 3s lack heavy cannons (while you can do serious damage to a bomber's hull with a proton you'll still need to bring down their shields before you can hurt them with quads so the shield penetration helps start damaging their hull why you bring down what remains of the shields, it also seems to stack well with co-pilot bypass; the armor penetration helps mitigate how much of your quad damage is absorbed by armor). The DOT seems to help counter any healing they attempt while you're still going through their shields.

 

They also function as a "support" missile since it helps increase the damage allied fighters do to the target's hull.

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I fear it would be redundant with Combat Command, actually. So at the moment I trying it with Running Interferences

 

So who says you have to run the system ability and the copilot ability at the same time? Stagger them and get a VERY long AOE buff.

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So who says you have to run the system ability and the copilot ability at the same time? Stagger them and get a VERY long AOE buff.

 

Nope. Just that I'm not seeing much interest to have two buttons for the same purpose.

I don't really like to limit my capacities.

Edited by Altheran
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I fear it would be redundant with Combat Command, actually. So at the moment I trying it with Running Interferences

 

I tried it out yesterday (combat command + wingman) 40% accuracy buff on light lasers is pretty intense. I now realize just how big an effect evasion is having. I actually enjoyed the spearpoint for the first time.

Edited by -Streven-
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Nope. Just that I'm not seeing much interest to have two buttons for the same purpose.

I don't really like to limit my capacities.

 

o.O

 

...um, if you have a choice between two short-term buffs (the second of which is of unknown effectiveness) and combining two abilities to get one really long and useful buff?

 

The choice is pretty damned obvious, mang. -bp

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o.O

 

...um, if you have a choice between two short-term buffs (the second of which is of unknown effectiveness) and combining two abilities to get one really long and useful buff?

 

The choice is pretty damned obvious, mang. -bp

 

Or you can have two buffs that do different things that you can fire at different times depending on the situation you are facing... both are pretty viable.

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Or you can have two buffs that do different things that you can fire at different times depending on the situation you are facing... both are pretty viable.

 

While I am a big fan of being as prepared as one can be, that doesn't always mean diversification. Accuracy is a highly important buff, and would be if all it did was help counter evasion builds. But more Accuracy means more damage, and more damage means more blowed-up piles of pilot. More blowed-up piles of pilot GENERALLY (but not always in Domination) translates to a team win.

 

Take, for example, a healbomber with Repair Drone and Hydrospanner. Sure, they're not killing much. But they just became ridiculously difficult to kill without a proper loadout, and even WITH a proper loadout (read: something to shut down that Drone) you've still got to contend with the Hydrospanner ability. In this instance, stacking is strategically important.

 

Fly how you want - I'm not here to tell you what to do by any means - but keep in mind that being ready for anything doesn't have to mean a crazy utility belt full of esoteric gadgets. Sometimes, it's just as simple as packin' two guns. -bp

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Fly how you want - I'm not here to tell you what to do by any means - but keep in mind that being ready for anything doesn't have to mean a crazy utility belt full of esoteric gadgets. Sometimes, it's just as simple as packin' two guns. -bp

 

The point was that you can build for other things and that can be an obvious choice, too. Your earlier post made it sound like it was the only obvious choice, when there are other viable things to aim for as well. As Altheran said, having two different tools for different situations can be nice. Build how you want (as you said), but if you're going to go for Combat Command, you might as well get a different ability to help you out in other situations as well.

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Another option that would go nice with combat command is concentrated fire. I believe the end result when combined is 20% accuracy and 50% critical chance assuming light lasers and combat command are maxed. But seriously, 40% accuracy buff is awesome.
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Another option that would go nice with combat command is concentrated fire. I believe the end result when combined is 20% accuracy and 50% critical chance assuming light lasers and combat command are maxed. But seriously, 40% accuracy buff is awesome.

 

*whistles* That's putting all your eggs in one basket, but man, what a basket of burst damage you could do with that. Ouch. Reminds me of the couple times I got too involved shooting someone in front of me and didn't notice the type 2 scout getting on my tail for BLC and bypass, etc., at close range on a satellite. :(

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