M3s

[Blackswimmer]

I recall hearing that it can be good fun to set your capitals up to attack enemy capitals, and then go hunt fighters in an M3. This sounds like a fun game, however I don't use fighters that much. So, what is the best M3 to do this type of thing?

[highflier]

it all depends... use the search engine, there are several threads about fighters... i like falcon sentinels, tenjins and spitfires....

[Catra]

the best m3 is the one you are comfortable fighting in.

[delray]

Most non-terran M3/M3+ faster than 160 with a rear turret are fit for the job. My favourite setup is PBG or EBC (or a mix of them) up front, a fast long-range PRG turret on missile defence and a cargo hold full of Tornados and Wasps (and maybe some medium missiles, like Thunderbolt/Tempest, but those aren't all that much needed).

EBC is ammo-based HEPT, so you can shoot it as long as you need without worrying about energy, if you have enough crates loaded and you steer right, you sink even very big ships using multiple batteries of those. This is the best forward gun for a fighter in the game. Build a factory for ammo.

PBG is a bit trickier, it's this crazy flamethrower thing pirates designed. You need to get it from their sectors, but when you do, you discover it's like PSG used to be in Reunion (read: OP :-p), it can shoot down smaller fighters easily without much need for aiming, but it can also deal a great deal of damage to a big ship (since they get the entire cone of flame at their side).

PRG is PRG, quick, proper range, perfect for missile turrets, and you need a missile turret in AP more than anything else.

Wasp is yet another way of dealing with smaller fighters so you don't have to chase them around, it's a quick swarm missile. Some people prefer Hurricane or Dragonfly to do the job, I find Wasps more universal as they can cause havoc among enemy AA turrets when they try to shoot the swarm of Wasps down.

Tornado is the heaviest missile your fighter can carry. It's dumbfire and there are no factories unless you build them, so dumbpeople often overlook them. The fun part is that you don't even need nor want tracking on this, you just need to find the right approach vector and start pumping all Tornados you have, since you use it against barn-sized ships, you hit anyway (unless you suck, but that can be fixed by training more).

Good fighters for the job? My fav. is Tenjin, but Venti, Notus, Chimera, Aamon, Skate (sadly no Skate Proto in AP) can all do the job as well.

Terran/ATF ships have Spectres (their Hornets) instead of Tornados, but you can't produce them for yourself, so they cost a lot more effort (read: supplying AI factory) to produce and that's why I find it more convenient to suggest Commonwealth solutions first.

[Ripskar]

Spitfyre, Fenrir, Mamba Raider/Vanguard/Prototype, Venti.

[The X-Plorer]

Spitfyre, Thor, Mamba Advanced/Raider, Venti, Tenjin are my suggestions. Although the Split Chimera is a very versatile and balanced M3, plus it looks like the X-wing fighter from star wars.

If you're looking for solid M4s, The Pirate argon elite is one to watch out for, theres an abandoned one In Gaian Star, right behind the only gate in the sector just as you go in.

Even though I have never owned one, The Eurus is a pretty good OTAS M4, plus it performs and looks better than the Solano. (To me at least).

The Asp and Scorpion M4s are surprisingly efficient. You can equip HEPTs on the Scorpion, not sure about the Asp though.

[Triaxx2]

Asp mounts HEPT in TC. Probably does in AP as well.

I have only one thing to say about the Elite: IT'S A TRAP. Thank you.

I like the Pike. It's a fast, agile M4+ with very short front to back distance, meaning can dodge a lot of fire. Only mounts IRE and PAC, but it's got a more powerful weapon generator than the Asp.

For M3, I recommend the Tenjin, Mamba Vanguard, and Falcon Sentinel. The Tenjin has tremendous forward firepower, and two side turrets which can fire nearly forward. The Mamba Vanguard is a good balance of speed, firepower and shields. Not as fast as the Raider, but better shielded. The Falcon Sentinel is slow, but it's incredibly hardy. Of course acquiring one is not easy in the slightest.

[Lone Jedi]

The best one is an overtuned Enhanced Kea from Tormented Teladi start and/or with pandora. 8 x EBCs up front, PRGs for turrets, and loads of Hurricanes and Tornados would make this a superb fighter.

You can win solo in most situation. Call in your carrier (and her escort if any) and wingmen in case you need some fire support. I usually have a wing consists of 4 Solanos and another wing of 4 Falcon Haulers. Ask the wing to dock if any ship in that wing loses more than half of the shields. If you manage carefully your wingmen are very durable.

Edit: For soloing a capital ship, let her chase you. At around 9 km distance turn back and fight her head to head. Firing around 30 Tornados would make the job done (depends on the shields of your target.).

[DnBrn47]

I use the Aamon Prototype for my personal fighter. Before that I was in a Notus. Seems to me most people fly M6s or M7s personally. I'm pretty partial to M7s myself. Factor in high combat rank with the fact that the AI will almost always target you over anything else, fighters are going to be tough to fly in combat with a bunch of capitals around since the closer you are to the capital the higher chance one of those cap weapons are going to ruin your day.

PBGs seem to do the most damage to cap ships if you have the pirate rep for them. The bad thing about them is they are prone to friendly fire, which can make your life hell if you aren't careful and you need to be close to use them.

[Reimu Hakurei]

Mamba Raider

I never really followed the logic behind this particular choice. Perhaps someone could explain what about it makes it worth the lack of shielding; but from what I can tell it isn't fast enough to outrun every missile that can threaten it nor does it have a turret to defend itself against them. I'm sure the fastest buyable Commonwealth M3 has its merits but none of them are geared toward a prolonged fight, nor a fight of any duration against the PBG and PBE wielders among the Pirates and Xenon, neither of which can be avoided without considerable skill. The Mamba Raider comes across to me as, ultimately, an overpriced Asp; but as I said I'd welcome an explanation of the choice.

[Lone Jedi]

Mamba Raider

I never really followed the logic behind this particular choice. Perhaps someone could explain what about it makes it worth the lack of shielding; but from what I can tell it isn't fast enough to outrun every missile that can threaten it nor does it have a turret to defend itself against them. I'm sure the fastest buyable Commonwealth M3 has its merits but none of them are geared toward a prolonged fight, nor a fight of any duration against the PBG and PBE wielders among the Pirates and Xenon, neither of which can be avoided without considerable skill. The Mamba Raider comes across to me as, ultimately, an overpriced Asp; but as I said I'd welcome an explanation of the choice.

Mamba raider was a competent ship back in X3:R when flak and fire power of enemy fighters were much weaker.

Since X3:TC it has become very useless. I bet someone would die 90% of time using this ship in heavy combat involving enemy capital ships.

[Ripskar]

As a player ship it's incredibly fun.
PBGs and PBEs are weapons invariably fielded in the main battery of enemy fighters and thus they have a vast blindspot of around 345 degrees.
As such it's ludicrously easy to sit on the target's tail and *NEVER* get hit.
Can't outrun a missile - add turbo booster Mk1, and fly though gaps no missile is going to be able to follow you through.
The AI is hardly the best fighter pilot going, and it doesn't even get interesting unless there's at least 3 good enemy ships against you.
It'll wipe the floor with just about any combo of AI fighters you care to name.

[Nanook]

...but from what I can tell it isn't fast enough to outrun every missile that can threaten it nor does it have a turret to defend itself against them.....

Ah, you might want to check your encyclopedia on that last bit I bolded.

[Lone Jedi]

As a player ship it's incredibly fun.
PBGs and PBEs are weapons invariably fielded in the main battery of enemy fighters and thus they have a vast blindspot of around 345 degrees.
As such it's ludicrously easy to sit on the target's tail and *NEVER* get hit.
Can't outrun a missile - add turbo booster Mk1, and fly though gaps no missile is going to be able to follow you through.
The AI is hardly the best fighter pilot going, and it doesn't even get interesting unless there's at least 3 good enemy ships against you.
It'll wipe the floor with just about any combo of AI fighters you care to name.

What about JUST 3 large Kha'ak Clusters?

[jkjklkl]

What about JUST 3 large Kha'ak Clusters?

PBGs will fry em all in that moment after they've broken up but before they start actually moving.

[Ripskar]

Hurricanes also work, though I haven't seen a large Kha'ak cluster since early TC.

[Triaxx2]

Mamba Raider mounts Remote Guided Warheads. 100k warhead trumps all clusters. Thunderbolts too.

The thing about the Mamba Raider is that it has the ability to duck in behind most targets, dump fire, and then turn away before most fighters can turn around to engage it.

It's a very useful skill. Plus the turret allows you to hit them as you turn away.

[Ripskar]

When I was having to deal with Kha'ak in an M3 I found that the most effective method was to make passes picking off a scout each time.
The Kha'ak were usually fixated on some target or other and if you could kill the scout in a single pass they wouldn't notice you.
If the scout survived they would come after you, and you you couldn't do that to the last scout without the Fighter coming after you and hitting the fighter first would result in the scouts going after you even if you killed it.
So I just picked off all but one scout, then the fighter, then the last scout.

[Reimu Hakurei]

As a player ship it's incredibly fun.
PBGs and PBEs are weapons invariably fielded in the main battery of enemy fighters and thus they have a vast blindspot of around 345 degrees.
As such it's ludicrously easy to sit on the target's tail and *NEVER* get hit.
Can't outrun a missile - add turbo booster Mk1, and fly though gaps no missile is going to be able to follow you through.
The AI is hardly the best fighter pilot going, and it doesn't even get interesting unless there's at least 3 good enemy ships against you.
It'll wipe the floor with just about any combo of AI fighters you care to name.

Staying in an opponent's blind spot isn't too difficult, granted, but just how do you get in that position to begin with when fighting multiple opponents all headed toward you? That is assuming one doesn't use drones and/or missiles of course — any ship can do that (but if that is what you do, I guess that's that). Nothing can completely evade PBGs in an initial pass, unless I'm missing something.

...but from what I can tell it isn't fast enough to outrun every missile that can threaten it nor does it have a turret to defend itself against them.....

Ah, you might want to check your encyclopedia on that last bit I bolded.

I see... Still, that certainly raises another question — of why the Raider is the only variant with a turret. Certainly, say, at least the Sentinel should have one, since it's supposed to be more defensively-aligned.

[The X-Plorer]

Staying in an opponent's blind spot isn't too difficult, granted, but just how do you get in that position to begin with when fighting multiple opponents all headed toward you? That is assuming one doesn't use drones and/or missiles of course — any ship can do that (but if that is what you do, I guess that's that). Nothing can completely evade PBGs in an initial pass, unless I'm missing something.

The PBG is somewhat crappy in a long range fight, However the Mamba raider fits with the PBG like PB&J in a sandwich, since the Mamba Raider can actually go even faster than the regular Scorpion, the fact that It can mount PBG's litterally makes it a speeding fireball. I've used the PBG's to excellent effect against pirate fighters in close quarters using a mix of PBG's and HEPT's while in a Mamba Raider, It may have crappy shields but it's speed and rear turret make up for it.

Dividing up your laser bays in groups allows you to better manage combat in a fighter, as well as allowing you to eat away as much of the hull of an enemy fighter as possible before destroying them if you're trying to get a bunch of bails. It's also good for gauging firepower, if your facing a bunch of M5's and want to avoid collateral damage as much as possible, you can switch to a weapon group that consists of weapons such as the PBE or PRG.

I see... Still, that certainly raises another question — of why the Raider is the only variant with a turret. Certainly, say, at least the Sentinel should have one, since it's supposed to be more defensively-aligned.

I Think the Mamba Sentinel AND the Advanced Mamba have a rear turret model on them. Can anyone confirm that?