OOS fighters for a Panther

[StarSword]

Just bought myself another Panther, Dreadnought, because I've got 1.8 billion credits burning a hole in my pocket. (Far cry from when I bought Voyager. )

Just wondering what kind of fighters I should fit her with, since I'll mainly be using her OOS. At the moment, I'm considering Eclipses and Falcon Haulers, with HEPT main and PAC turrets in either case.

[brucewarren]

How many plots done? Do they have to be stock ships. or can you RE
and churn out some of the rather nice hard to obtain ships?

[StarSword]

How many plots done? Do they have to be stock ships. or can you RE and churn out some of the rather nice hard to obtain ships?

I've finished all the plots except HQ and Balance of Power. (Yes, I finally beat the Hub plot last week.) So, no, I can't RE the hard-to-finds.

[kurush]

I'd go for Falcon Haulers. They are almost 4 time cheaper and OOS they should have comparable stopping power.

[deca.death]

.

You've could of steal the damn thing. Heh, you are really into that Panther totally. It's damn mighty ship but sometimes is fun to use something new ; )

For OOS fighter choice, more or less irrelevant cause almost anything will suffice. Something that you could buy and equip en masse, like nova raiders/sentinels. Buy "L" clone in HEPTs, equip 10 at a time and deploy. Biggest issue will be in renaming them all. More shielding means less replacing but ultimately you will have to have few dozen of ready ships stashed somewhere to replace the fallen if you are well organized.

[MarvinTheMartian]

So, no, I can't RE the hard-to-finds.

That rules out a few choices, if you'e planning on producing/replacing a large no. of fighters then the HQ plot is worth cracking on with

As for buyable ships, I go for a balance of shielding, speed and damage per second (dps). I've not been overly scientific about it as I've never got my head around OOS combat but have mapped out the dps of the main weapons.

My theory is at M3 class weaponry your looking at loading as many HEPT as possible with at least 75MJ of shields with best speed for that mix. With this in mind, the extra cost of M3+ adds no real benefit for OOS IMHO.

At one end of the spectrum you have the Nova Raider 75MJ with 8 HEPT @ 190m/s and at the other end the Falcon Hauler 200MJ with 8 HEPT (or 9 FBL*) @ 132m/s

The reason I've ignored the turret it that unless you're using the same laser in every slot in the ship it's a pain to equip several at a time.

* FBL performs only slightly worse than HEPT OOS but overall dps can be improved by having an extra one in the turret.

There are a couple of M4s worth a mention, the Kite (100MJ, 6xFBL @ 140m/s) & Solano (75MJ, 6 PAC @ 210m/s)

Personally, my HQ spits out Ls, they're quick to produce and equip with 3x25MJ, 6xHEPT (upgrading the speed is a chore tough but I don't replace too many these days)

[Geek]

I agree with the above except the following :

* FBL performs only slightly worse than HEPT OOS but overall dps can be improved by having an extra one in the turret.

FBL is significantly better (+ 72 % avg) than HEPT OOS.
However, it is up to you to decide if the extra cost/research of FBL is worth it.

[MarvinTheMartian]

FBL is significantly better (+ 72 % avg) than HEPT OOS.
However, it is up to you to decide if the extra cost/research of FBL is worth it.

Interesting, like I said I don't fully understand laser power OOS except that generator and range (I think) don't come into it.

The game tells me that the damage per second is Shield: 9.4k HEPT v 8.8k FBL; Hull: 1.5k HEPT v 1.4k FBL
Damage per shot is much higher for FBL over HEPT so is this the figure used for OOS then? or have I worked it out all wrong?

[Geek]

Damage per shot is much higher for FBL over HEPT so is this the figure used for OOS then? or have I worked it out all wrong?

OOS damage has it own values, but tests show that the rate of fire is not properly taken into account. As a result, slow firing guns do much better OOS than you would expect from their IS damage per second.

[StarSword]

You've could of steal the damn thing.

When you've got 1.8 billion in the bank, you don't really need to steal anything.

Heh, you are really into that Panther totally. It's damn mighty ship but sometimes is fun to use something new ; )

I take other ships for test drives fairly frequently, actually. (I just don't talk about it very much.) But I always end up coming back to the Panther. It's really the closest thing in X3 to a Star Destroyer.


Aaaand I just got the mission offer for the HQ plot. Time to get my Sirokos out of storage, it seems.

[SIMON POPPLEWELL]

I use my Panther to deal with pirate raiders that attack my complexes, so I use a combination of Asps and Nova Raiders. The Asps are not that great IS, but OOS they kick butt armed with HEPTs.

[deca.death]

You've could of steal the damn thing.

When you've got 1.8 billion in the bank, you don't really need to steal anything.

Oh it just isn't the same. I'm always too cheap to buy new corvette for example even in later game stages. But I'll steal anything.... !

[StarSword]

I decided to go with the Falcon Haulers mainly because of their cavernous cargo bays (lets me put a full 30 jumps of fuel aboard, more than enough to keep up with the mothership in emergencies). In all other respects, they're basically the same ship as the standard Eclipse. USS Dreadnought now has a full complement of 32 Falcon Haulers (8xHEPT, 1xPAC) designated Dancer and Fireblue Squadrons. (Names came out of the Star Wars EU.)

Don't think I'll be using them again, though, as batch-equipping them with HEPTs and other equipment was problematic (none of the shipyards that stock Falcon Haulers stock HEPTs in the EQ docks). So I cloned a freighter-load of HEPTs at another shipyard and delivered them to Dreadnought.

[Rhox]

I know you've decided now but a nice spam fighter for OOS in medium-endangered sectors for me is the Asp. In the L version it already comes with 4 of 6 HEPTs. Of course the shielding is quite low, but in masses those fighters quickly chew up anything.

best regards,
Rhox

[Triaxx2]

Even if you don't like CODEA's combat capabilities, or the way it arranges it's fighters, or sends them out, it does have one boon for anyone trying to equip masses of ships, and that's it's Armament and Equipment menus. Dock one ship full of fighters, and you can quickly and easily supply them with all the necessary software, even if they aren't assigned to a hangar, and at the same time, equip them all with the weapons in your hold. It can even mass arm the turrets.