EBC's in Thresher Turrets a bad idea?

[cyrusdm]

Hey hey. So I'm buying my first M6 (Dragon) which means i've started to plan for my next upgrade to an m7

in previous games i've used a Shrike, but I'm looking for a change. I was thinking of using a Thresher as I'd really like a capital ship killer without going the M7M route. I know the common complaint with this ship is the size and the energy problems it has...but I was thinking, would mounting full Ion D's or PPC's up front be doable if I were to mount 100% ebc's in all the turrets, and would those turrets provide adequate fighter defense for most situations?

If I don't go the Thresher route I'll likely be getting a tiger though I'm not thrilled with how it looks on paper vs capitals without IBL's. I like IBL's but they seem to take far far far to long to aquire for someone still early in the game.

[pjknibbs]

A Thresher is not really capable of handling large swarms of fighters even with FAA in the turrets--with EBC it will be worse. The ship is just too large and unwieldy; the wings might as well be gunfire magnets for anything the enemy want to throw at you, and 3GJ of shielding disappears quickly when you have several fighters attacking you at once.

As for energy, it only takes a couple of fully charged PPC barrages up front to completely drain a Thresher's batteries, so even using non-energy weapons in the turrets won't help you much. The ship still won't have enough energy to take down an enemy capital ship without having to run away and recharge for a while.

[EDIT] Don't get me wrong here--a Thresher is an OK ship, but you need to take account of the low energy and large size when flying it, there isn't any way round it!

[SIMON POPPLEWELL]

The Thresher is generally not a great player ship, it's big and can be a hazzard when turning. You are better off getting a Tiger or even a Panther.

[Nightwatch]

This is where I have to respectlullydisagree, the first time I took down a Khaak M2 was with a Thresher.

For the curious, it was heading for me, so I opened up at 12Kms eiththe PPcs and the Khaak M2 momentum carried it right into the range of the PPCs as they reached 10kms. Blew it up quite handily after that with hardly any damage to my ship. Now I agree that it might not have the ability to handle 2 of them like that but hey handling one is an achievement. All it requires is a little thought. And its amazing what doing a barrel roll will do for your survivability against fighters, as you are able to bring your guns continuously into arc, and occasionally you will splat a fighter off the wings which counts as a kill in my book.

I loved my Threasher. I had PACs all over mine. I also didn't fire the main guns rapid fire as it drained the battery too fast. One every 3/4 second or so was fine and it allowed you to get more shots in the air. Occasionally splatted M3s with the main guns too.

[garv222]

I'd say the thresher is a powerful but immensely flawed ship. It has a very specific focus on anti capital ship combat. Getting attacked by more then a handful of fighters could put you in serious trouble if you still insist on engaging. Sporting FAA can be used as a defensive measure, but should never let you think you can engage a cloud of fighters with just the thresher. To be honest I wouldn't do it with any m7 except possibly a Deimos or an Aggy.

[pjknibbs]

Shrike can handle fighter swarms just fine, but that's because it's much smaller than most M7s and avoids fire easier!

And Nightwatch, it doesn't seem that you're disagreeing with me--I said the Thresher was OK but you have to think about what you're doing when flying it.

[Nightwatch]

Yeah we largely agree I think.