M6s or TM-M3+ and which ones?

[Abraxis86]

So I'm sitting at around 15m credits, I have a rastar refinery complex in split space, a universal trader, and some mining ships. Income is coming in pretty steadily so I'm looking into branching out on the combat side of things now.

Currently what I have is a Boa docked with an Asp and a Kestral.

This is kind of a multilayered question, and before I get into it let me say that I have looked at all the numbers and compared everything, what I'm looking at is more experienced advice, you can look at numbers all day but it doesn't always give you practical understanding of the ships.

So, that being said.

M6 or my Boa with an M3+? Which one is more versatile when it comes to accomplishing... general stuff. What would be the pros and conns of taking one over the other?

With that settled, I've been looking at the designs and I'm really lost, for M6, Ideally I'd want the Hyperion, but I need some combat power before I can capture that. With the Hyperion out of the way, it's a really hard choice (No Terran ships, I don't like them). The things I think I want (unless someone points out otherwise) are speed/maneuverability and at least 1 rear turret. The dragon would be ideal except for the fact it has no rear turret.

Again, this is why I'm asking, maybe the high maneuverability minimizes the need for a rear anti-missle turret to the point where it's not necessary. Can't really judge that with the numbers too well.

Another M6 I'm looking at is the Skiron. A touch slower, but more maneuverable and good turret coverage.

Any other suggestions welcome of course.

For M3+s I'm looking at the Split Chimera, the Boron Skate or the OTAS Notus.

I really like mass drivers and Ion disrupters would be handy for capturing my future Hyperion, Notus has them both while the others have only 1. Here to be honest I'm kinda leaning towards Notus, it's only real draw back is the cargo bay, but with a TM in system that shouldn't matter.

Any preferences from others who enjoy faster ships is welcome though.

I havn't flown anything bigger than an M3 (not counting transports) so It's really hard to put so much money down for a ships that doesn't work so well as a whole.

[Catra]

the dragon has a rear turret......

also, the skiron has terrible maneuvreability, and its turret coverage is about on par with every other heavy.

the boron H Hydra has awesome coverage, they can both point in virtually every direction.

get the notus, it atleast is worth the price tag, unlike the chimera.

[manole]

I'd start out with a TM and M3+ and you can add an M6 to escort you later. The TM is more versatile and you will learn how to micromanage a fleet for when you get an actual carrier.

My choices for M3+ would be Eclipse, but I'd also advice you to check out the Solano. It's cheap, it's fast. The AI handles it well and it's cheap, so it's easy to replace when it ultimately flies into a rotating trading dock .

[Sir Warwick]

You like MDs, you like IDs - I think you just answered you question - Notus Hauler - probably the best purchasable M3+.

try to get a couple of PBGs for it - blow up lots of pirates or makes friends with them.

Also get yourself a TP+ kitted out and get some marines trained if you havnt already. Teldi geochen would be good or similar - once you have a notus, then its time for some serious pirating

With MDs on the front - its a viscious fighter. For the ultimate in M3+ firepower - Ventii - just because it can mount 10 MDs on the front which quickly dispatches most pests, but I much prefer the notus as a general M3+ player fighter. I do use ventii for fleet fighters.

[Xander Cade]

Note that Mass Drivers have a pitiful range while Energy Bolt Chainguns have comparable, if not better, range to all other M3 weapons without the power cost and, unlike MD's, they don't ruin your chances of a ship bailing.

That said, I am going to give you some different advice. This may sound counter-productive, but you should buy a Split Elephant TL. It only costs 18 million credits so it's not far out of your price range, but the big thing is that it will pay for itself many times over in a fraction of the time it will take for you to reach that 18 million again with just a fighter. At low race rep you're only making a few hundred thousand credits per build mission, but this gets higher with your rep so that at max rep you will be getting build missions with 10+ miliion profit.

If you're dedicated enough (checking every sector you can for missions, concentrating on only one or two races for to get as much rep as possible), you could buy an Elephant and then get yourself the Corvette of your choice and a full fighter wing for the Elephant, which docks 14 fighters, within a couple of hours.

[Pruvmerong]

Go with an M6. They make great all-round personal ships. Although, if it were me, I'd invest in a few more UT's.

[Abraxis86]

Thanks for your imput guys, really appreciate it, still havn't made up my mind but more information is definitely helping.

Go with an M6. They make great all-round personal ships. Although, if it were me, I'd invest in a few more UT's.

I thought about this briefly, but thought it might be too big of a jump, I didn't realize building missions made that much, i thought they only pulled in around 0.5m-1m.

Are you just suggesting the Elephant because of my other split ships? What do you think of the Albatross? I'm sitting here repairing my mining ship (for the 100th time) watching an Albatross scrape along side of an asteroid. The pilot is clearly drunk, was probably at the same party as my mining ship pilot... That being said it looks a lot cooler. The Elephant doesn't really look like a "homebase" ship, more like a bigger Tiger. The albatross looks more fitting for it's roll. Not that i'd ever choose a ships based solely off aesthetic of course

[Catra]

the elephant is the cheapest TL, and the one with the lowest cargobay. so this pretty much delegates it to build station missions, as every other TL is better suited to complex building.

[Vim Razz]

TM + M3 & M5 is the far more versatile option if your combat rank is still low-ish.

There's not much point to sticking yourself in an M6 until you actually need the firepower.

And +1 on Albatross being the best looking TL. Elephant is something a lot of people get into early in a game because it's quick, cheep, and has a lot of hangar bays.

[Lelouch]

M6 or my Boa with an M3+? Which one is more versatile when it comes to accomplishing... general stuff.

Considering versatility I'd go for the TM and a PBG-capable M3.

You can do
- combat missions (anything up to M6 is toast. M7 is possible but hard)
- pickup bailed/derelict ships (missions / spoils of war)
- handle cargo delivery / passenger transport missions (no luxury transport though)
- have a mobile base to store E-Cells / Missiles

Though going for more UTs is also a good idea. This helps in building your trade rank, which makes Station Build missions more lucrative later on.

Although if you want to raise your rank notorieties then I'd go for the TL first.


I advise against going for a M6. There are some gains (more combat capable) but there are also losses (mobile base more troublesome). On most M6 I find the cargo space pretty limited. Sure 1000 sounds nice, but it's eaten up by E-Cells (10 instead of 5 per jump) and weapons (bigger weapon sizes or spares for flexibility).

Edit: just 10 ecells instead of 20 per jump

[NeverSnake]

The Albatross is a nice ship, if a bit disappointing capacity wise.

Generally the difference between the two options is that TM/M3/M5 is nicer to fly because they're much faster than your average M6 while M6s are better in combat because they have more shielding and you don't need to worry about where your TM is.

Unfortunately M6 turning comes in two categories, slow and very slow, and all of the non-terran buyable ones are in the very slow category. 2-3rpm can have trouble tracking an M3 at close range (4rpm means it takes 15 seconds to turn a complete circle).

Do you have access to the Springblossom yet (check your encyclopedia)? If so that might be worth considering as it doesn't looks like either the ATF corvettes (Vidar, Vali) nor the USC corvette (Katana) and has better maneuverability than most (6rpm).

Although I often just skip corvettes altogether myself and go straight for an M7, they have barely less speed and turning so are just as nice to drive but are capital ships and far more powerful in combat, although you would need to do another couple of dozen missions to afford it.

EDIT: M6s are 10 ecells per jump, the same as TMs and TSs, only M7, M2, M1 and TL are 20.

Also, station build missions do not give 10mil profit per mission until your trade rank is very high. These days they're in-line with only missions in terms of payout (although they are nice missions because there's little effort and time involved).

[Xander Cade]

Pretty much what those two said.

At 17 million credits, it is almost half the price of other TLs.

With 132 speed, it is the fastest of the TLs, by a large margin, is faster than all other ships above M6 and is faster than a lot of M6s as well. Hell, you can even outrun some fighters in it.

Docking bay for 14 fighters. Once you can afford a "proper" TL, this makes the Elephant ideal as a fuel/arms depot for new fighters.

You're right about the .5-1m rewards for build missions, but that's only for low ranks. The higher your race rep the higher potential rewards you can get - Hard and Very Hard missions at the top two race rep ranks can have you delivering a 600k station for 10-15 million reward, while even the Average ones can bring in 5 mil. It's physically impossible to do most build missions at all unless you own a TL because the AI TLs don't use jumpdrives.

Another benefit that isn't particularly obvious is that buying a TL and using it for Build missions will give the economy a good kick. Your UTs will be lining up to supply those new stations with the resources the new station is buying at maximum price. Or, if you don't want to wait for the UTs you can have some freighters standing by with a full load of all the needed resources for the station you are building and have them all dock/unload as soon as you finish the mission.

[Ebonyfly]

In my opinion. the TM + Fighter option offers a lot more versatility. Something like a Zephyrus with Notus M3s sounds like it would suit you well. You could also stick an M5 in one the hangar bays for those times when you want to jump into a really fast ship. The Chokaro is another TM to consider if you have good reputation with the Yaki.

The choice of M3s is very much a personal one. I prefer something fast like the Split Mamba but i'd stick with what you like in this case. The Notus is a good ship.

Of course the Hyperion offers the best of all worlds so if you are close to having enough trained marines or are heavily into the combat side of the game anyway you should perhaps go for the M6 option. The Dragon and Skiron are both good. I prefer the Dragon because it is faster.

Buying an Elephant is also an excellent suggestion. I've never regretted buying my first TL because it makes lucrative build missions very easy and remains useful throughout the game.

[Lelouch]

It's physically impossible to do most build missions at all unless you own a TL because the AI TLs don't use jumpdrives.

Last time I did one the given time was still in the 1 to 2 hours range. Should be doable with hired TLs if the shipyard is less then let's say 5 sectors away.

Although manaeuvering the hired TL through each sector somewhat defeats the point of "easy and fast money". Especially at low trade ranks. 500k for 15 minutes work is just not worth it. Easier to make some pirates bail and sell their ships.

[Sir Warwick]

Note that Mass Drivers have a pitiful range while Energy Bolt Chainguns have comparable, if not better, range to all other M3 weapons without the power cost and, unlike MD's, they don't ruin your chances of a ship bailing.

Agree on range and pirating, but a ventii pumping with 10 MDs (or even the notus with at its max range is going to get a quick kill. Pumping at a target with slower projectiles over long range may actualkly take longer to get the kill - especially with a fast moving target. I just like MDs for quick killing

Same reason I have CFAs on the front of my griffon most of the time - they allways hit - whereas the CIGs/IPGs are less likely to - end result - much quicker kills on smaller targets, however something bigger at point blank range gets the CIGs in its face.

[Xander Cade]

The speed of the MD is a bit of an illusion.

MD only has 1km range, the EBC has 2.8km.

The MD bypasses shields altogether, which accounts for the majority of the MD's apparent speed, but only does 15 hull damage per hit. The EBC does around 1300 shield damage and 200 hull.

A Pirate Buster has 6300 hull and 10MJ shields. That's 420 hits with a MD at 1km range or 40 hits (actually around 38) with an EBC at nearly 3km.

Basically, even though the MD fires faster, you can kill something with an EBC long before it even comes into range of a MD.

As far as the build missions go, assuming everything runs smoothly, there are no issues with pathfinding and you can hire a TL that doesn't spend 20 minutes trying to dock at the SY, you usually only just scrape through even Easy missions. If you don't have your own TL with a jumpdrive, Build missions are simply not worth the time. With a jumpdrive, however, you can do multiple Very Hard missions simultaneously and have them all done in five minutes. Incidentally, you don't need to move your TL to near the Nav Beacon before dropping the station, you can drop a station anywhere in the sector once your TL arrives, so the only reason a Build mission should ever take longer than five minutes is if you have pathfinding issues landing in the SY because you are IS.