Looking into an M7

DarkKlown77 · Post by **DarkKlown77** » Thu, 27. Sep 12, 07:23

Ok, so I need some advice, I'm looking at buying an M7 class ship, was hoping for some general input, so far my favorite is between the Cerberus, the Griffon, and the Panther. Let me know what you think, and any loadouts would be much appreciated!

D.K.

(edit: The ship will be used as a player ship, and as anti-fighter support while I pilot my Nova wing.)

lyndonguitar · Post by **lyndonguitar** » Thu, 27. Sep 12, 10:06

Griffon Sentinel is the best.

Fast, Good Weapon Recharge and Slim Build(to avoid most fires) Can also dock up to 9 Fighters

Good weapon loadouts that I've tried, currently used and seen to be effective are equipping the first 8 slots with CIGs, then the last 6 with HEPTs or FAA/CFA. you don't also wanna put different weapons on the same turrets.

I don't use missiles, I'm just lazy to equip them all lol. they are still great without the missiles.
But if you are into missiles, I think the Hornet is good?

Downsides of an M7s is that they can't dock everywhere.

my advice for a player ship would be an M6+ Heavy Centaur or M6 Centaur, Small, hard to hit but powerful. I once travelled to a Xenon Sector because of a mission to get a xenon ship, with just a M6+ equipped with CIG/HEPTs, I destroyed everyone and got a xenon ship on the first try

SilusCrow · Post by **SilusCrow** » Thu, 27. Sep 12, 11:06

If you're looking for an anti-fighter platform, I've gotta suggest the Cerberus. Get your hands on some Flak Artillery Arrays and (if you're playing AP) some Plasma Beam Cannons* and you can take on just about anything if you know how to move the ship right. Tallied up three Q kills and a handful of P and PX kills in mine with just that and a wing of ten M3s. Hell, took on a Shuri with it. Only reason I broke off the fight was that I was just aiming to destroy all its fighters.

Basically, what you're looking at is this:

Cerberus: Flying fortress of death, but the slowest of the three you mentioned (101m/s). Has space for 10 fighters and 4200 cargo space.

Griffon: Fastest of the three (124m/s), same durability as the Cerberus, but with 14 guns to the Cerberus' 24. Has space for 9 fighters and 4800 cargo space (useful if you're gonna be using missiles on either your fighters or your M7).

Panther: A glass cannon. Second fastest speed (121m/s), 22 gun ports and space for a good 20 ships. Downside is that it only has 480,000 hull strength to the Agron M7's 600k.

*

Spoiler

Show

To get yourself a Plasma Beam Cannon, you need a freight drone and a laser tower. Drop the tower, go to your ship's command menu and go under Trade. Click the bit that says something about freight drones. Select the laser tower, then click the bit that asks what you want to retrieve from the target. Select the PBC, select 1 (-100 may work too to get 100 of them. Never tried). Then just transfer the weapon via freight drone. Make sure this is done while the lasertower is still setting up (when there's a timer going).

Can only be put on a Cerberus, a Carrack, or a Mammoth.

jack775544 · Post by **jack775544** » Thu, 27. Sep 12, 11:23

For an AI controlled ship go with the Panther as is it has no real weaknesses and a big hanger as well.
For a player controlled ship the Griffon is the best as it has a tiny size (barely any bigger than a corvette) and it has a decent sized hanger.

Triaxx2 · Post by **Triaxx2** » Thu, 27. Sep 12, 13:21

All three of those are awful.

Seriously though, the Cerberus is pretty much the single best anti-fighter M7 around. It mounts Flak all around, which also makes it generally immune to missiles as well. On top of that, it also mounts IonD in quite a few places, which can bounce off Flak for missile defense.

The Griffon also mounts this and is generally a smaller target.

The Panther is quite a beast, mounting considerable Flak.

They all carry fighters, and are all capable combat ships.

My personal preference is the Shrike, it's a little slower, but it has both FAA for anti-fighter work, and mounts GC for anti-capital.

EmperorJon · Post by **EmperorJon** » Thu, 27. Sep 12, 13:45

I prefer a Q, it's hilariously fun.

Girlinhat · Post by **Girlinhat** » Thu, 27. Sep 12, 15:39

I've been meaning to try the Teladi Shrike, myself. Gauss Cannons are anti-capital weapons, and while it's inherently difficult for an M7 to take on an M2, some GC would give it very decent punch, and make it more effective at fighting other M7.

The Split Tiger is a beast, though it's not amazing at anti-fighter, it does have significant shields to withstand fighters while it takes them out, and it's also very fast. It'll also face off against pretty much any other ship in the galaxy and have a fair chance of coming out alive.

Split Panther is good too, mainly because it has a hangar bay. Believe it's 35 in TC and 20 in AP? If you're hopping between your M7 and your Nova, and you're using other fighters for support, or you just like capping enemy fighters and storing them onto your own ship to sell easily, then it's a solid choice.

A small note as well, for what it's worth: Freight Drones do not occupy a docking port, though they do use one to shut down. Most M7 don't have a docking port, so they can't use freight drones effectively, and they're Huge size so that can't dock at most places, making it sometimes rather annoying to get them stocked. Those M7 that do have docking ports are rather convenient.

Triaxx2 · Post by **Triaxx2** » Thu, 27. Sep 12, 19:02

Panther has 32 in TC.

It's possible to kill M2's in TC with a Shrike, but in my experience, you'll need to have IBL's to help get through the shields in a timely fashion.

StarSword · Post by **StarSword** » Fri, 28. Sep 12, 17:11

DarkKlown77 wrote:Ok, so I need some advice, I'm looking at buying an M7 class ship, was hoping for some general input, so far my favorite is between the Cerberus, the Griffon, and the Panther. Let me know what you think, and any loadouts would be much appreciated!

Depends which game you're playing. I'm familiar with TC, and I find the Panther easily the best of the three. Average shields (the Cerb is below-average), good anticapital and antifighter coverage, great speed and maneuvering, and 32 fighter berths.

DarkKlown77 · Post by **DarkKlown77** » Sat, 29. Sep 12, 05:53

I'm playing X3:AP. Sorry everyone, I forgot to make that clear.

So ok, I choose the Panther because of it's anti fighter/capital capabilities, 20 hanger slots, and speed. but I'm wondering now, how to equip this for anti-fighter role, and which guns to equip for anti-capital warfare if it comes to it.
Thus far, I have max shields & 4 FAA right/left but nothing in the rest of the slots.

Sorry, I haven't had alot of frigate or capital warfare under my belt yet.

kurush · Post by **kurush** » Sat, 29. Sep 12, 09:59

DarkKlown77 wrote:how to equip this for anti-fighter role, and which guns to equip for anti-capital warfare if it comes to it.

You can't go wrong with FLAK all around and IBL on the front turret.

Girlinhat · Post by **Girlinhat** » Sat, 29. Sep 12, 17:20

I personally prefer HEPT, as they're easier to get and they work against M6 pretty well, which can sometimes be too quick for IBL to hit. But Panther has some speed and shields, so you can get up on an enemy M6 and pound it with IBL, or you can stay at range of an M7 or M1 and hit it with volleys of IBL.

DarkKlown77 · Post by **DarkKlown77** » Sat, 29. Sep 12, 18:09

Ok, so I've read about the IBL's before, but I cannot find any for sale anywhere.

Crezeh · Post by **Crezeh** » Sat, 29. Sep 12, 18:22

They're sold only by pirates and the Yaki.

Check Weaver's Tempest, Loomanckstrat's Legacy, and Maelstrom.

Girlinhat · Post by **Girlinhat** » Sat, 29. Sep 12, 18:34

Specifically, all the forges are hostile to you by default. You need to find a pirate base to hack them, or otherwise use a mod that lets you buy docking rights.

More likely though, you'll find them about the Yaki Ryu that's often loitering in Ocracoke's Storm. Either get very lucky when you destroy it, or get fairly lucky when you cap it, and it can have up to 28 IBL onboard.

IBL are unique in that they are underpowered anti-capital weapons, but they can be mounted on most M7 and I think a few M6 (probably not, I'm not sure). They're not as strong as PPC, but you can't mount a PPC, so IBL is stronger than nothing.

Triaxx2 · Post by **Triaxx2** » Sat, 29. Sep 12, 19:17

The only M6 that mounts IBL's is the Truelight Seeker. However, most military capitals, as well as Pirate Capitals and Yaki caps also carry IBL's, particularly instead of PPC's, for whatever reason.

The simplest way to get them is to make friends with the Yaki, and feed their fabs in Weaver's Tempest.

The easiest way is enmasse capping of capital ships.

PookyMacMan · Post by **PookyMacMan** » Sat, 29. Sep 12, 19:32

I'm kinda new to the M7 realm, but...

I initially bought a Teladi Shrike (in TC), because it was only 29M and could mount 4GJ of shielding to the Cerberus's 3GJ (the Cerb was the other M7 I was considering). On the Shrike I had 4 CIGs and 4 ISRs in the front, an FAA and a PBE on all but the rear turret, and two HEPTs on the back. Man, I tell you, those guns, the 4GJ of shielding, and the 8 ship hangar capacity was awesome, but the Shrike was lacking in one major area: weapon firepower. Yeah I had the shields, but with the FAAs and my front guns I would run out of energy pretty quick ("Attention, energy low," anyone?), although battles were still pretty easy b/c of the shields. But, just yesterday I traded in the Shrike for a Cerberus, and although I couldn't use all of the same weapons, right now I have 6 CIGs and 2 HEPTs in the front, an FAA on all turrets but the rear, and PACs on the rear turret and the second slot of the top and down turrets. I've gotten in several of the same battle skirmishes, and my laser energy hasn't dropped below 90%.

So I'm personally happy with the Cerb, although I can't offer personal experience with the other two.

Girlinhat · Post by **Girlinhat** » Sat, 29. Sep 12, 19:45

Get that chaingun whatsit. It's like an HEPT with ammo. Great for ships with low energy thresholds.

PookyMacMan · Post by **PookyMacMan** » Sat, 29. Sep 12, 19:48

Energy Bolt Chaingun.

Ion Shard Railguns work pretty well too. But they won't mount on a Cerberus, if that's what you're getting.

Girlinhat · Post by **Girlinhat** » Sat, 29. Sep 12, 19:52

ISR are also major energy hogs, correct?

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