The Hornet Missile...absolute sh....

[BrokenGame]

Does anyone else remember reading this in the manual and scrambling around trying to capture pirate ships to get one? :

Hornet Missile ("Station/Factory Killers")
The most powerful weapon known today. The gigantic resources needed to produce this monster also make it expensive. The Missile works by setting off a small nuclear charge causing a reaction between three differing elements that are then combined on impact to create a large explosion powerful enough to disrupt even the largest shields. The hornet is however the slowest of the known missiles and is best used against immobile of slow moving objects.

Yeah??? My eyes jumped out my head too

But anyone who has used these will find that most of the above is about as accurate as a blind man playing darts.

"Station/Factory Killers" - Definition of killing for is "the act of causing death" not the act of causing death with 27 missiles....
If I wanted to kill someone I wouldn't pick up 'the most powerful weapon', i.e something like a Pen where upon if I stab the poor bugger 27 times in the right place it probably would kill him

Ok so thats one misguided fact but what about:
"...best used against immobile of slow moving objects" - Uh, yeah ok how many objects in the X universe are immobile?? (Stations maybe? thats not effective as you can see above...)
Slow moving objects???? Slow relative to everything else??? Maybe an M1?
But can you picture one of these taking out an M1 class Battleship? I didn't think so. You'd need a ton making an attack on it with these impossible.

All in all the Hornet is hyped up.....its not even that, its something that is uneffective in tactical operations. It simply has no practical use

Don't get me wrong, i'm not digging at X here , i'm not digging at the diversity and options of the game. I'm just digging at an innacurate discription of an object that just wastes time and space.

That's my view/rant anyway whats everyone elses view on this deeply over-exagerated weapon? If it does have good tactical use can anyone point one out???

[The_Abyss]

It's quite handy on asteroids...

[dode74]

I like it.

Use the ID to kill off the shields of, for example, a pirate base, and it takes as few as 6 hornets to kill off the hull. Instant credo

Dode

[BrokenGame]

true....but then why not dedicate its name and function to roids??
Why all the overhype and "Station/Factory Killers'......

Not to mention

powerful enough to disrupt even the largest shields

Does this guy who wrote the manual play in a simplified X universe where shields are 0.25Mw?

[duriel]

The number needed to take out a factory in XT was about 10 which is alot lower than the 27 you listed.

Compared to the cost of the other missiles they are very powerful indeed. In fact compared to almost all other weapons in the game (except a couple) they are one of the most powerful aswell.

They are mainly used to take out larger ships m1 and stations like pirate bases. Hornets are great at the job they do as far as i'm concerned.

Neil

[RustiSwordz]

I a way i understand his frustration. It would be nice to have say an X2 equivalent of the modern say Exoset or Harpoon missiles.

Take out a corvette in one shot, destroyer in 2 or 3 hits and stations in 5-6 hits.

downside they are large easy to spot cant turn well, but fast and with 2x1mw shields.

also cost 100,000 credits a piece and have a BIG bang radius, like the PSG dont use one with friendlies about.

[The_Abyss]

IIRC there was a Thorn missile mod for X-Tension, more powerful than the Hornet. Shouldn't be too tricky to do the same or power up the hornets....

[duriel]

From what i gather the popluar opinion was that the hornet was too string in XT and it does the same damage now.

It used to be really easy to take out a large ship like m1's or Tl's with Hornets. It still will be easy to do this and in fact probably too easy.

Neil

[RustiSwordz]

IIRC there was a Thorn missile mod for X-Tension, more powerful than the Hornet. Shouldn't be too tricky to do the same or power up the hornets....

The Thorn is the khaak version isnt it.

Dont you mean the Baluga dude? In XT the Xenon used alpha and Balugas on their Capital Ships.

[The_Abyss]

It's also important to remember that lots of ships in X² carry and will use hornets. Making them stronger for the player makes them stronger for the other ships too. If a one shot kill missile is devised for a station, there will be a lot of unhappy M6 owners out there real quick...

[InvrSmall]

Hmmm, Station killing missiles. "Baluga's"

These babies were activated by M.Kessel in his mods for Xt. They were Earth Force missles that the Xenon M1's used. They were also activated for the Pirates and one of their freighters used them.

In my last game of Xt, I lost 1 Spacefuel Distillery and 2 Wheatfarms to these "Torpedos". And I was Soooo close to taking out the one that ate my Distillery.

Still it was a bit of a rush trying to get to it before by station went *pop*

[The_Abyss]

IIRC there was a Thorn missile mod for X-Tension, more powerful than the Hornet. Shouldn't be too tricky to do the same or power up the hornets....

The Thorn is the khaak version isnt it.

Dont you mean the Baluga dude? In XT the Xenon used alpha and Balugas on their Capital Ships.

Yep - you're right.

[Hendar23]

Is it me are -all- the missiles a bit cack? I mean you really have to use them in volleys to get any kind of effect. The combat is pretty easy from
what I've seen, I gave up using missiles since I went from my Disco to a Nova and I havn't missed them. I thought I was being foolish taking on ten or so Khaak ship on my own the first time, but when I creamed them all in about five mins I thought who needs missiles??? Just a drain on my profit from what I see.

[littlej999]

i think they are quite entertainig... launch them at an unsuspecting priate or transporter and watch them explode...

i seem to remember launching a hornet once and flying into it... ouch

[BrokenGame]

Well it seems if the missile was made more powerful, it would probably upset the balance of the game (as abyss said) as well as a few players , so that's obviously something that wouldn't make sense to be put into action.

If the missile was made less effective....well that defies the point.

However if they would have never included the Hornet, that would have been a poor idea because it cuts down the options players have for weapons and that defies the gameplay Diversity in the X universe.

I still think the description does 'sex up' (that word got your attention back didn't it? ) the attributes of the Hornet.
I can see it does have its uses from your posts, but do those uses really proove cost-effiecent in asteroid or destroying items situations?

Think of all the other ways of using force for personal gain (be that capturing/destroying for rewards/being an arse)....using the hornet really can't be effective in the long run.

On a lighter note....its just no fun to use when you have to launch 10 (someone quoted) at a time..... 10 times its cost... is it really worth it??

[imrtl]

missiles on stations after their shields are down, are quite effective, IMO.

And the hornet is great for taking out laser towers.

I think each missile has its own practical application.

If your firing hornets in a dogfight, well your gonna be unhappy with its performance.

[BrokenGame]

With shields down yes, still, then it takes more than one Hornet....

But why describe it as powerful enough to disrupt even the largest shields.....

I'm not doubting it has some small use as you say....but that doesn't justify it in my view.
It still conflicts and prooves right my points on my previous post........

[esd]

Hornets are also quite useful when you really need to get that Khaak M3 down quickly. Hit the shields with a couple of shots, then let loose a Hornet at zero range

[Aureus the Golden]

Hornets are overhyped.
Tried to destroy a pirate base with them. Launched 12, yes, 12, which all hit. The base shields were barely at half their power.
Reloaded, destroyed the base with my Dragon's GHEPT's and dumped my hornets into space. It made room for 12 more energy cells which are much more useful in any case.

[Nanook]

On a lighter note....its just no fun to use when you have to launch 10 (someone quoted) at a time..... 10 times its cost... is it really worth it??

I thought it was worth it when I took out the spacefuel distillery in Herron's Nebula. Set price in mine to 1000 and raked in the credits.

It also helps save your rep when attacking a race's factory. Dropping the shields with Ions and then applying 6-8 hornets drains your rep a lot less than attacking with conventional lasers, even GHEPTS. Each hit drops your rep, so the fewer hits the better.

Hornets are a special use weapon, that can be very effective in the right circumstances.