[TC] The M8 Docking realization...

[RandomBandit]

I am one of those people that likes to mention how M8s docking like M3s would be super groovy. I never saw why they couldn't...before.

They always looked to be about the size of an M3 and they could stand to save the sad cargo-space for missiles, and not for ECells for jumping...so I thought docking would be neat (Whine about the missile spam this could lead to and I will show you a single M7M, lol).

Well, I just did a comparison...they are more like huge M3+s. The Peregrine is about twice the size of a Nova. So, while not really M6 in size they ARE kinda large for docking bays (though the model COULD get smaller...nudge nudge LoL!).

A sad realization, but one that might put the topic to rest.

[AgamemnonArgon]

The M8 is a useful tool, for a surgical strike. Any troublesome Capital ship - M1, M2, M7, can easily be despatched with the minimum ordnance from one of these babes....they have the cargo ability for a hundred plus Tomahawks and jump energy.
I will buy another soon.

[silenced]

Imagine a Split Raptor, filled with M8's. Uhm, yes, that might be fun.

[Biroboy]

Are M8's actually that useful? In my experience nothing but a swarm missile will get past a cap ships turrets, so the idea of launching these Tomahawk missiles seems like a minor waste of time. Sure a carrier full of M8's would be impressive on paper, but you actually need some of those missiles to get past an enemy's turrets.

What am I missing? They seem to be slow, much weaker than a Firestorm, and realtively easy to shoot down.

-- Biro

[Kryten]

Stations don't have missile defence and I waisted my m7ms complete ordinance once and still couldn't destroy a station, that was a few hundred missiles, with an m8 bomber with fighter support I'd have done the job a lot cheaper.

I now keep an M8 on standby just in case I get another mission to blow a station

[hedge0035]

you missing the barrage command, with the stock vanilla scripts at capitol ship will shot down the first and probably the second missile comming its way, but it would have to be lucky to get the third, after that the turrets are trying to kill the missiles that have passed its arc. so then it will never kill another missile after the first 3-4 so long as you barrage them in.

[AL'42]

Are M8's actually that useful? In my experience nothing but a swarm missile will get past a cap ships turrets, so the idea of launching these Tomahawk missiles seems like a minor waste of time

You’d think so, but quite a few do get through and very effective they are too.

In earlier versions of the game V1.21 when you used to get 2 or 3 pages of khaak / xenon on a patrol mission, I used two M8 bombers, each filled with 100 tomahawks running circles around them (the split M8 does 175m/s), with the enemy ships forming a nice solid block centre of sector I’d spam them with of the first M8, jump into the other M8 and finish most of them off.

Surprisingly they worked very well against the Khaak with their instant-hit kyons, probably something to do with the blast radius, at 625K damage this is a powerful missile.

[Bobucles]

M8's are closer to corvettes than they are to fighters..

If anything, M8's should be just a bit bigger, and fully upgraded to corvette class.

[RandomBandit]

Are M8's actually that useful? In my experience nothing but a swarm missile will get past a cap ships turrets...

What am I missing? They seem to be slow, much weaker than a Firestorm, and realtively easy to shoot down.

They are anti-structure ships, the M7M is your anti-cap missile ship. Hop into Duke's place with a small wing of bombers and their escorts, you can have Duke's HQ down before anything big can get to you, with the escorts taking out any fighters. Then just hop out like nothing happened.