As Requested: A Review of Firelance v3.5.9

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Preface/Disclaimer:

It's been many years since I've played X2. The best explanation for what the mod does can be found in SteelRush's thread, this is simply my opinion of them. As with all things, your mileage may vary.

Pros:

The title "As Requested" may as well apply to the Firelance mod, as it addresses several issues I had with the core gameplay of X2; namely, that many ships were mostly useless, fulfilling niche roles if any, and had virtually no place in a living universe. In sharp contrast to before, the benefits and drawbacks of every ship appear to have been made on a one-to-one basis, ensuring balance across virtually all species and classes. because there is no comprehensive explanation of what this means, I will summarize below. Note that most ships, but especially M4s and M3s, have received a massive speed boost; by my estimates, M3s now average 350 m/s, M4s 500 m/s, and M5s 650 m/s. Also, the "rudder tuning" upgrade is now non-existent; the turning radius of every ship has been permanently set and balanced with the ships of other classes.

The M4 is now worthy of its Interceptor title, boasting more firepower than the M3 or M5; typically faster and equipping weapons one level higher than their M3 counterparts or equipping the same level with more mounts (in the case of the Pirate Bayamon) in exchange for a less powerful generator and half as much shield capacity. As such, they are an excellent, excellent player ship, and NPC wise can be expected to deliver more damage more quickly, but are also more likely to be destroyed than the M3.

The M3 is now more of a "Heavy Fighter" than simply a fighter; as mentioned, they are typically twice(!) as durable as the M4, have modestly more powerful generators, and only modestly less firepower. It is now more of a workhorse class, forming the backbone of a fleet, but is worth much less on its own; the M3 being destroyed by the far less expensive M4 in a duel is far more likely, as they are on more equal footing. The M3's comparative sluggishness, with less speed and turning capability, is more pronounced in the Firelance mod.

The M5, still a very effective Scout ship, now has one-third the shielding and firepower of an M3 (unthinkable in vanilla!) and is roughly twice as fast and agile. Note that if an M5 is three times more accurate in a duel with an M3, the M5 can destroy the M3. This was unfathomable in vanilla. Expect to cap many an M4 and M3 in your M5 when starting out, if you are a skilled pilot.

The massive gap between M3/M4/M5 and M1/M2/M6, however, is still alive and well; both in terms of price and performance. By my estimates, M6s typically have six times more shielding (and much more firepower) than M3s, and M2s have ten times more shielding (and even more firepower) than an M6.

As far as the difference between races goes, it does add another (very plausible!) dimension of variety in the X Universe, making the universe more immersive and adding more distinction between different ships of the same class, but it also creates some drawbacks.

Cons:

Above, I described the benefits of this mod. The drawbacks can roughly be described as "everything else." Because the fighters are on closer footing, capping is much easier; millions of credits can be made in hours, if not minutes, through capturing Pirate Orinocos, Pirate Falcons, and Khaak Kyon Emitters. Because of this, there's virtually no incentive to Police, Trade, or build an empire (though it's worth saying that the added speed all ships have make fighters much more attractive as carriers between owned stations).

Never is this more apparent than when selling captured fighters. Pirate, Xenon and Khaak ships have 25MW shields - Argon equivalent - and they also pack Argon equivalent missiles. That means that only Argon Equipment Stations are willing to pay you for them. You could carry them to an Argon Equipment dock, but why bother? Any race's shipyard will pay roughly 2/3rds the worth of equipment; a difference you could easily make up and more by simply capturing more ships in the time it would take you to sell the equipment.

Destroying pirates is so unworthy of time it's laughable. You receive as many credits for destroying a Pirate TS as you do for destroying an enemy Fighter Drone. X2 is reduced to a game of capturing enemy ships for profit.

Conclusion:

I have no problem with that. To me, the benefit of having a varied roster of fighters, all worth flying in, is easily worth the price of admission - namely, the financial incentive for trading, mining, and empire building. Even in vanilla X2, the glitch allowing Khaak captures means that you can earn millions in a few hours of capping anyway, so this isn't anything new.

In fact, the biggest annoyances I experience in this mod are all native to vanilla X2. Pirates still suicide run along M2s patrolled routes with no real explanation as to why, or how they can afford to lose so many fighters. Local military stays hostile towards your captured fighters for no real reason. The strafe drive is still wildly out of place in that you cannot steer while using it and the autoaim of enemy fighters doesn't compensate for it.

All of these are rather immersion-breaking. However, the many changes brought about by the Firelance mod still make the X2 universe more immersive, not less.

TL;DR - Recommended. It has its flaws but it's a labor of love. Big thanks to SteelRush for creating Firelance.