what is the role of the M7

[crawlerw]

I have been thinking about this for a while now.
The M7 is to big and cumbersome to capture other vessels/figthers, you keep ramming them.
It forward weapons kills fighters in an instant, A M6 will do the same.
It got a low amount of gun points 2 gun a turret, you get that in a heavy M6.
It doesn't have to fire power to be a real threat to M1 or M2's

All it really got going for it is its powerful shields and possibly hangar.

so what is the meaning behind this ship class

[Triaxx2]

It's a gap filler. I can take on a dozen fighters in my fighter, but it's hard. I can do it in a Corvette, but it's not that much easier. But M1's and M2's don't have forward guns.

[wathman00]

Which M7 are you talking about, Any M7 that can mount at least 8 IBLs is a serious threat to any capital ship if you pilot it correctly. Panther, Tiger, Agamemnon, Demios, Shrike, are all very deadly. The Boron Thresher is a "cap ship sniper" with 10 PPCs up front in the main battery, and these can be used as charged shots easily to up the damage of the initial volley.

Any of the M7s that have fighter bays can be used as light carriers, the Panther with it's 32 fighter bays actually beats out some of the M1s out there.

I'm not sure where you are getting this 2 guns to a turret idea either. I know the agamemnon can mount much more than that in all turrets except the kind of sucky rear one that is only 2.

[Triaxx2]

Plus we can't forget that the Shrike also mounts GC's in either turret which have the same final range as IBL's. Even before you count the fact that you'll be moving towards the target.

[Ripskar]

Most of my Xenon fighters were capped after being hit by Flak from one of my M7s.
As for not being a threat to M1/2 Tell it to the drifting wreckage that used to be a J right next to the gate in TUS3... That's with 6 IBLs on the front of my Panther, though I'll grant you it was rather hard to avoid collision as I exited the gate.

[A5PECT]

I have been thinking about this for a while now.
The M7 is to big and cumbersome to capture other vessels/figthers, you keep ramming them.
It forward weapons kills fighters in an instant, A M6 will do the same.

Capturing fighters is a delicate operation. M7's have too much firepower to be any good at it.

It got a low amount of gun points 2 gun a turret, you get that in a heavy M6.

Let's see an M6 mount FAA's.

It doesn't have to fire power to be a real threat to M1 or M2's

As stated above, the right M7 with the right weapons can take down multiple capital ships for half the cost of a destroyer or carrier.

[crawlerw]

if I remember correctly the IBL's are not standard issue, you need criminal connections to get them.
I wanted to add the Thresher is anti capital ship(with standard weapons), as the only one

[pjknibbs]

There are plenty of normal race ships that somehow manage to be flying around with IBLs. As for the Thresher having the only "normal" anti-cap-ship weaponry, you might want to take a somewhat closer look at the Teladi Shrike than you apparently have so far!

Anyway, the purpose of an M7 is the same as any other warship--to destroy your enemy and hear the wailing of his women.

[eldyranx3]

Anyway, the purpose of an M7 is the same as any other warship--to destroy your enemy and hear the wailing of his women.

I wail anytime my M7 takes a shot up its bastu. No women required

[deca.death]

.
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i believe OP here is mixing up M7M as classical warship.

in that case there are several existing threads already on the subject.

in this case i recommend this thread as a good reference point.

[Technojerk36]

If we're talking regular M7s, they will eat fighters for breakfast, lunch and dinner with FAAs/CFAs. Also, depending on the M7 (as mentioned in above posts) you can easily take out other capital ships if you use the right weapons.

If we're talking M7Ms, they will eat anything anytime as long as you supply the missiles. The "I Win" button of the game IMO

[Ripskar]

if I remember correctly the IBL's are not standard issue, you need criminal connections to get them.

Criminal you say, really? <Takes swig of Space Fuel> Imagine that...

[Progress-M]

*leisurely sits back and blows space weed smoke on crawlerw's face*

Criminal, huh. Dunno what you talkin' about.

Listen kid, this part of town might not be safe for yer kind...better hop back into that pretty clean ship of yours, there's nice cafes in Argon Prime I hear. Too many steep staircases here, accidents happen, y'know.

[KillingMonkey]

M7s are, basically, mini-capitals (M2s)... Called Frigates, usually they scale about a third of a capital ship to half the M2s size, depending on their intended purpose (M7Ms tend to be a tad larger, though not that much to be aesthetically noticeable). Even so, a well-piloted M7 can easily (relatively) deal with a well-armed M2, when the M7 is also well-armed. The M7 is a good weapons platform- capable of equipping even some of the most powerful capital weapons, and, although cumbersome and really boring to pilot, can make a good flagship; once you get used to piloting without the cursor (instead using the WASD, Q-E and arrow controls). M7s usually have a spacious (relatively) cargohold and can carry at least one fighter (usually). Even though they cannot dock with Trading Stations (or factories, or other smaller stations), they can dock (externally) transporter ships (TL) which can supply them with needed goods.

An M7 can also easily deal with masses of fighters, something M6s (i.e- Corvettes) might struggle to do, even if they are the anti-fighter role.

M7s are best used for Capital Ship Task Force escorts, especially where the Capital Ship in question is an M1 and would therefore (usually) need a fire-power boost to spar with a larger force (say two M2s).

M7s can also be used alongside M6s in larger formations to provide support for the leading ships against their enemy counterparts.

A Task Force of M7s (usually a compliment of three ships) is a formidable force not to be looked upon lightly by one less experienced in dealing with Frigates.

[Progress-M]

M7's can also be quite a nice combination of firepower, mobility and hangar+cargo space to be a player ship(Shrike, for example), compared to less versatile and slower M1's and M2's.

[Triaxx2]

The size thing is kind of weird though. The Tiger is possibly bigger than the Python, and the Shrike is much less than a third of the size of the Phoenix, and the Gannet is even smaller. But then again, there are moons which are smaller than the Phoenix.

[A5PECT]

We need a new ship size comparison chart for TC ships.

[N3rull]

Down to the core, the roles are:

- scouts/interceptors/fighters/heavy fighters/bombers - pretty obvious.

- corvettes - apart from having enough cargo space to be self sufficient when it comes to jumping around (don't need carriers to supply them like fighters) those serve two roles:
1. against frigates , they're meant to overwhelm them with numbers and maneuverability
2. against heavy fighters , corvettes abuse the heavy fighters' loss of speed and maneuverability to pick them off with their bigger guns. They are the barrier that puts an end to the trend of making increasingly heavier and slower fighters. Unlike heavy fighters, they can pack better guns, they can shoot more (better weapon energy generators) and have more cargo space to use missiles.

- frigates:
1. fighter shields for capital ships, not meant to chase them all over the universe but to create an area of denial to fighters.
2. small-scale all-round capital ships in their own right, wielding guns heavy enough to damage any target as well as to protect themselves against small strikecraft.

- M2 - obvious - meant to deliver the heavy punch.

- M1 - dead obvious.

-------------
Now, that was the theory. In truth however, X3TC (maybe the other games too, I don't know, never played them) has it a little messed up. For one, corvettes don't really work against frigates like they should, because FAAs ruin corvettes just as well as they ruin fighters.

[KongRudi]

if I remember correctly the IBL's are not standard issue, you need criminal connections to get them.
I wanted to add the Thresher is anti capital ship(with standard weapons), as the only one

Only Yaki sell them at their factories, but if you're not friendly with them, it's not that hard to get, since most Xenon Q's also seems to be outfitted with them.

[Catra]

We need a new ship size comparison chart for TC ships.

There's like, 3 different ones floating about someplace =P

Only Yaki sell them at their factories,

Actually, the pirates sell them as well. You have to bring in your military to save theirs.

t's not that hard to get, since most Xenon Q's also seems to be outfitted with them.

Going after pirate/yaki capitals is a better idea:

They're (extremely) much easier/safer to capture.
They carry tons more IBL.
There's more of them than there are Qs.