[TC] Need advice on which M7 to get.

[Aeshi]

After a lot of grinding (and a few captured M8's) I finally have enough money for an M7 but am not sure what one to get. The forums "M7 guide" tells me a lot about their stats but not much about how they perform in combat.

Here is roughly what I am looking for:

- Ideally I would like this ship to have a fighter bay, as this will let me scrap my old TM so I can keep my fleet compact.

- The main purpose of this ship in combat will probably be to kill other M7s (or to be specific the Pirate Carrack and the Xenon Q, and probably the Yaki M7s if there are any) as my M6 and fighters can kill anything smaller just fine.

- I have neither marines nor an idea of how to capture anything larger than a fighter so I'd rather not do that.

- I don't really want to have to do a plot for it either, as I find the plots in this game can charitably be called "Tedious" and honestly called "Nightmarishly Tedious"

The three I am currently considering are the Cerberus, the Panther and/or the Deimos.

[klingens]

Get a Panther. It's the only one with a decent amount of firepower aka IBLs.
Deims can work as a anti fighter platform but as you said that's not what you want.

[Coupaholic]

I'd have said that the Shrike is a decent choice here, it checks all the requirements - but it's full potential needs ammo based weapons, and it is quite slow.

However the Panther (and the Tiger) are among the best M7's in the game, so if you're thinking of having one I would just get it since nothing else really compares.

[Triaxx2]

Personally, my suggestion is as always, the Shrike. Mounted with 4x Gauss Cannon and 2-4 IBL, it's able to quickly and efficiently crush all other M7's and most M1's. It has an eight fighter hangar bay and is thus the equivalent of two TM's and so you can have assisting fighters and room for a personal scout ship if you like.

Most of the other slots on board the ship will mount FAA, so it doesn't lack for anti-fighter firepower either. The only downside is that it's a bit slow, so if that bothers you, you might look elsewhere.

The Tiger is also a good ship, though you want a hangar which it lacks. That said, the Tiger also has the advantage being able to swat fighters literally from the sky. The nose on a Tiger is almost hilariously long. I've often found myself swinging around to bring a Corvette into firing solution only to see a sharp flash and shield fluxuation and poof, no more Corvette. 12x forward IBL also make a big mess of most M7's.

---

That all said? Give boarding a try. It's not nearly as hard as it seems at first. If you're fighting the Yaki, the Ryu is an excellent target to practice on, because there are a LOT of them, and they respawn very quickly. They also have a big blind spot beneath the engines where you can put a corvette.

[EspritFort]

Play the

Spoiler

Show

Final Fury plotline and get a nice little M7, the Griffon, as a reward.

It's not very powerful in terms of firepower but has great shielding, is small and has a decent hangar. As a player ship it's able to take out Qs and Carracks just by ramming

Also you get to invest your money in more UTs and factories ^

[Aeshi]

Play the

Spoiler

Show

Final Fury plotline and get a nice little M7, the Griffon, as a reward.

It's not very powerful in terms of firepower but has great shielding, is small and has a decent hangar. As a player ship it's able to take out Qs and Carracks just by ramming

Also you get to invest your money in more UTs and factories ^

I considered it, but I'm pretty sure that requires an M7 to complete anyway, which kind of defeats the point.

So the best two would either be the Shrike or the Panther? thanks guys.

Also if I can't get any IBLs (on account of the Pirates hating me and me blowing up a good number of their stations) what would be the next best thing?

[Vim Razz]

You can manage the last two OFF missions in a heavy M6 if you focus on protecting the NPC capitals. It makes the Griffon that cheapest and easiest M7 to get. If you let them die, then yeah, you need to bring your own firepower.

And shrike ftw. Not sure how you can live without IBLs though...

Edit: next best thing would be hacking their factory.

[deca.death]

.

Panther is best ship hands down, so perhaps best left for later just because of that. Shrike is well rounded all-arounder. Speed is not that important with M7 as is for fighter. Important thing is that you cannot freely buy IBLs so equipping Panther can be a problem, and just a half of problem for shrike, cause he mounts capital grade gauss cannons /still performs better with 4 IBLs in nose.

Here is my old article about shrike gun setup:

Field test: Shrike weapon loadout

[jlehtone]

Panther is best ship hands down, so perhaps best left for later just because of that.

Very true. Clearing Xenon sectors solo with it is quite trivial.

[EspritFort]

I'd also consider it to be one of the best-looking (which, at least to me, carries a certain amount of importance).

Also it can mount the Phased Laser Array, which - I've come to understand - looks pwetty.

[Jumee]

panther is the best ship but (IMO) not very interesting to pilot (I dont like ships without main guns) and regarding IBL's try to build up rep with yaki and then you can buy IBL's from them

[NeverSnake]

The Shrike and the Panther are the only two that easily meet your criteria. As only they have both a hanger and big ship killing weapons (Gauss Cannons, PPCs, Ion Cannons and IBLs).

The Deimos might be worth considering, but it's got limited traditional anti-capital ship weapons and the PSGs it has instead are sufficiently strong but area-of-effect weapons so can't be used with any friendlies nearby.

As to the Shrike vs. Panther. The Shrike does more damage to big ships (8 IBLs and 4 unstoppable gauss cannons) while the Panther defends itself against the rest of the fleet better (flaks in five turrets) and has a bigger hanger. One downside to the Panther not obvious from the stats is that it's off-centre, it pivots around the back rather than the middle like most ships so it's effectively twice as long when manoeuvring it (and it's a big frigate to start with).

[deca.death]

As to the Shrike vs. Panther. The Shrike does more damage to big ships (8 IBLs and 4 unstoppable gauss cannons) while the Panther defends itself against the rest of the fleet better (flaks in five turrets) and has a bigger hanger. One downside to the Panther not obvious from the stats is that it's off-centre, it pivots around the back rather than the middle like most ships so it's effectively twice as long when manoeuvring it (and it's a big frigate to start with).

When you comparing let's just throw in fact that panther is one of fastest and most maneuverable M7, it steers almost like M6, It attacks whole front hemisphere with forward turret (shrike needs target dead ahead to make 100% anti capital efficiency, spinal +both lateral) and it makes incoming fire evading really easy /you can look at ship from behind and steer away from bullet streams /shrike needs pilot in cabin - spinal guns, no forward turret. It can mount uncanny (and excessive) amount of 16(!!) FLAKs (shrike barely sufficient 4) which makes it by far most effective AA M7 platform in game /possible exceptions terran ships. In my extensive xenon war campaign (last link under my sig) split frigates proved absolute superiority to all other. Speed is crucial in a hands of skilled pilot. I love my shrike, I flew it for some time, but in a case of 2+ xenon capitals his survivability drops dramatically /he can't evade fire that well. 2-3 Qs might kill you : ( It's worse case scenario but something to consider.

[Gazz]

It's really a matter of style.
While fighting multiple capital ships may be easier in a Panther (it's better at running away), it's faster in a Shrike. (it has the highest sustained firepower of all M7)

[Aeshi]

Well I'd rather have "easy" than "fast" (plus I've yet to run into a situation where I'm up against several M7s) so I guess I'll go with the Panther (also I like being able to press a button and watch my enemy get mauled by fighters and I imagine that would work even better if I had 32 of the things)


I'm going to TRY and find an IBL Plant to buy some but if I can't what would the best alternative be? I'm kind of leaning towards Ion Shard Railguns because apparently they drain the enemies weapon energy.

[Triaxx2]

For a Shrike IBL's are very helpful, but not totally essential. The Gauss Cannon's will rip apart other M7's but they can take some time to do it. ISR's are an okay substitute, as are EBC's. They don't make up for the sheer forward firepower given by IBL's, but they do make an acceptable substitute.

PALC's from the Operation Final Fury Plot are one of the better alternate weapons for the Panther or Tiger, but again, they don't make up for a lack of IBL's.

Only the Deimos really can work without IBL's, using PSG's, but it's not a friendly fire capable ship in that case.

As noted, being friends with the Yaki can help, as can having the Loomanckstrat's IBL forge be hacked. They're very slow to be made and Loo's is prone to being destroyed by marauding police and military fleets. The Yaki Forges are completely safe because they have a very aggressive carrier in sector at all times. That said, befriending the Yaki is not easy.

Incidentally, no the Yaki do not have an M7. However their Ryu's are quite combat capable if you're intending on going in system. Not a threat to an M7 or better, but still nasty for anything smaller.

[deca.death]

It's really a matter of style.
While fighting multiple capital ships may be easier in a Panther (it's better at running away), it's faster in a Shrike. (it has the highest sustained firepower of all M7)

No my friend, firepower doesn't mean anything if you are dead. 2 Qs will tear your shields down to 20% in better scenarios. In worse - you're dead. Tested multiple times.

[Bill Huntington]

Aeshi, until you get IBL weapons, CIGs are the better choice.

You can get IBLs by feeding the IBL forges in Loom and Weaver's. If the one in Loom is still red, look for a hack nearby. If the Yaki are not your friends, that is a good project.

One of your criteria was a hangar bay. The Panther has that, and is not bad as a personal ship and not bad as an M7. But the Tiger is the best combat M7 in the game !! It has an open main bay, so you can see and control your main battery, and fly and shoot at the same time. It is the fastest M7 (along with the Panther). You can shoot overcharged blasts with this one. Keeping the TM is small annoyance compared to controlling the combat animal that is the Tiger !!

You'll probably get the Panthernow, but get the Tiger when you can.

[Dis Astranagant]

It's really a matter of style.
While fighting multiple capital ships may be easier in a Panther (it's better at running away), it's faster in a Shrike. (it has the highest sustained firepower of all M7)

No my friend, firepower doesn't mean anything if you are dead. 2 Qs will tear your shields down to 20% in better scenarios. In worse - you're dead. Tested multiple times.

Odd, I took 3 Q's and shields have never drooped below 25%

The thing with shrike is that It's not really an anti fighter M7, sure it can kill few of them, but when in capital ship combat those pesky fighters present more danger for me than actual destroyers or other M7.

Actually, the worst enemy for shrike seems to be a squadron of M6 which can kill it quickly if one does not pay attention (tho, this seems true for other M7 as well).

The best way to fight multiple Q's is actually quite simple: drop a few laser towers and hit reverse; the only thing you need to do is evade incoming fire and the GC turrets will do the rest (tho it helps if you also shoot something in main banks).

Panther is a superb ship, an excellent carrier and super anti fighter platform, but his biggest problem when facing multiple capital ships is that it runs out of juice fast which can be a problem if having a prolonged fight.

Both ships have good hangar bays, but Shrike has godly cargo space.

Shrike is cheaper and a whole lot easier to equip but Panther is faster and has better weapon generator (tho with GC it doesn't really matter much)
So, which ever ship should one choose It is simply a GOOD choice.

[NUKLEAR-SLUG]

Shrike is the best for a multi-purpose base-ship that can handle all situations. It has no weaknesses.

Panther is superior to the Shrike in certain areas but lacks in other areas as others have mentioned.

And it's fugly.