And my point in addition to that was that if we can't trust the devs to properly load them out to begin with, how do we trust them to make correct choices with a complicated tuning component? And even those are subjective. There are few 'wrong' ways to play the game, and everyone has different opinions about what is wrong with their ship and needs buffed.

You still have not addressed WHY it needs to be done this way. I can't think of a single ship that can't shred a target with burst lasers at close range. So unless you're going to remove them completely from ships that are good at getting in close it doesn't change the fact it's a better idea to adjust the burst lasers. Shield piercing too strong accross the board? Then they adjusted it. You point out that some ships in a class overclass the others. Yes, that's right. That's a problem with their component loadouts to begin with. The answer isn't to introduce a convoluted component that creates an entirely new ship 'spec' per ship. The answer is to more thoroughly try to balance component loadouts and get full feedback before launch. It isn't the Dustmaker's fault it is a crap gunship. It's the fault of the developers that it was introduced for a niche that doesn't practically exist, or one that can be fulfilled as well by a normal gunship or a missile boat strike.... In spite of me not seeing a single positive feedback on the thing before it was sent out. The current system in spite of all the numbers involved is relatively elegant and simple when you get down to it. You're trying to solve a problem that could just as well be remedied by a better loadout design. So tell me if you can WHY you need a convoluted solution for a problem that was created by already existing components. And I think you're focusing too much on straight up firefights without looking at the whole package. Is the flashfire better than a novadive in a dogfight? Almost certainly. The flashfire doesn't come with anywhere near the utility (sensor beacon, sensors) or debuffs the novadive can. In most games the flashfire comes out on top, but in team games the utility is hard to give up. I just can't see how introducing a component to fix a problem created by already existing components will fix anything - and the more complicated something is, the more skilled players will just find a way to exploit it. Edit: I suppose the better argument is: If we can't trust the developers to come up with intelligent component loadout design (such as not giving a bursty close range weapon to a ship that is good at getting in close and staying with their target, or not giving a high powered artillery platform near inexhaustible ways to escape their opponents) how can we trust them with making the correct buff options for these ship talent trees? And what about the new ships that come out? If the problem is already recognized, there really won't be any need for them to have the new component at all if the problems are already considered as part of the design.

I think we get it fine. It's just largely unnecessary or unnecessarily complicated. The only ship class I think could really use this is the strike fighter. It suffers from RPG Main Character syndrome (Or The Mario, if you follow tvtropes at all). It's so average at everything it is good at nothing. So if it were a strike specific thing then maybe. Gunships and scouts already have their role and do well at them. Any adjustment to be made to them can already be done with alternate components or a different ship in their class. And it might make more sense to have good baseline stats and have offsetting penalty instead of just flat bonuses. For example +speed/-turning or the inverse. Or +shields/-hull as another option in the component tree. A flat bonus, would be largely meaningless unless it is of significant magnitude. As I mentioned earlier adding the component isn't going to help if: A) The bonuses are so small they are negligible or B) the bonuses are so necessary there's only a few rational possible choices at which point it may have well just been part of baseline stats to begin with Introduce the component as a method to insert specialization that doesn't exist, not to fix a something that is not yet broken.

First of all related to the post: I'm not really sure there's any way to really implement that with either the change to be so small as to be unnoticable, or to some degree that there is no other option but to select a specific loadout, which defeats the purpose of the idea. As to ions? Yeah, they could use something. But very useful if you aren't using a strike as an assault platform. It makes the perfect dedicated wingman. Chew off opponent shields/engines/weapons and let the scouts and gunships flatten them. Use missile locks not necessarily to hit an opponent but make them bug out of a fight or freak out and possibly hit something.

Are you talking about some cartel item, or the complimentary sets provided for you? They're the same as any moddable adaptive armor - they're only as good as your mods allow. And the only thing the ground game influences in GSF are which crew members you have initially unlocked. There might be some other tie-ins later, but I suspect those will be largely cosmetic in nature.

There isn't a large difference in their speed between rocket pods and lasers that I've ever noticed. Though the short effective range may make it hard to tell. So long as you're aiming at their lead it should be on target. Whether it will hit or not is still a matter of the RNG. So the advice still stands that they are best used on targets that are immobile... or dead ahead of you. I still find them a little more effective than cluster missiles in close quarters fights, though you chew through ammunition a fair amount quicker.

Yes, but my point was that proton torpedoes and heavy lasers are ineffective at close range dogfighting , and the ship isn't even given anything back for their stripped shield and thruster options. So there's no way the new gunship was even slightly intended to dogfight at all when the old one outclasses them in every manner for close quarter fighting while still retaining most of the long range artillery as well as keeping the long range utility. After all, how long have you ever been able to maintain a medium range dogfight as even a strike fighter, much less a gunship (which tends to have a big 'shoot me' sign pasted on them)? Now if they had replaced the distortion field with a quick charge shield, and the rotational thrusters with retro thrusters and had concussion or cluster missile options, I would agree it was intended to be a hybrid sniper/dogfighter. As it is now? Anti-bomber artillery without ion rail gun utility.

Except the new one isn't meant to be a dogfighter. Stripping it of distortion field and rotational thrusters makes that point pretty clear. It's some kind of heavy weapons platform... except that its other heavy weapons are outclassed by a railgun. The overall design doesn't make sense except perhaps as anti-bomber artillery in a team game.

Yes, this is the one area the Blackbolt/Novadive takes a superior position over Flashfire/Sting. Unfortunately it's kind of hard to see if it has any notable advantage unless you're in a premade group - probably facing off against another premade. Have even one communications scout puttering around at B with maxed comm, and you can relay information to the entire fleet. Possible bonus if you put sensor beacons down in non visible locations so even out of the way places get caught to watch for incoming attacks well ahead of time.

Perhaps. But the four second lock a proton torpedo takes means you don't lose the tunnel vision all that much. All while sitting at least 4km closer and likely more visible to everyone in the area. Most experienced players know very well that gunship = primary target unless you are in a well shielded area. The only advantage I can see to this gunship is they can shoot people with lasers and missles while skirting the battlefield on the way to their next snipe point without giving them away the way a glowing ball o' doom tends to.

I would personally amend that to 'more useful' rather than 'somewhat useful'. GSF has a learning curve, it's just really steep. And the upgrades on components don't matter anywhere near as much as favored components to match your style. I just started some new characters on another server today. My performance isn't anywhere what it could be, but that's because I'm using weapon and ability components I'm not that used to. I'm still doing pretty well with a non-upgraded ship and contributing. Just not as much as I feel I could since I have to adjust my tactics to a manner I'm not as familiar with.

250 points? Do your teams constantly lose or something? Ouch. I'll see if I can find a post renegadeimp made once. Renegade plays mostly gunship from the sound of it, and rarely makes less than 1k on a match. Long range support is one thing, but gunships make decent sat defenders and cappers. You really could use a wingman, but you can see almost anyone coming at you if you are sitting on a satellite. And an upgraded slug is very good at neutralizing turrets. Snipe the turrets quickly, then barrel roll in to start capping the sat. You might be surprised how often opponents leave a sat unguarded.

No, no they don't. They lose distortion field, armor component, and rotational thrusters. That on top of losing burst lasers means they are pretty much hosed at close range. The heavy lasers and proton torpedo gives an interesting mid range option... but it has limited use when you already have a railgun. And there aren't too many targets that will sit at medium range for long. Once they get in close the gunship pretty much only has the option to run or stick around and get shot - about the only defensive option the Dustmaker kept was barrel roll. So they trade all that defense for a questionably useful medium range offense.

This sort of came up in another thread, but I'd been planning to make a post addressing this point. Veterans and people who fly in coordinated groups: Please go easy on the newbies this week. Don't underestimate the value of first (and second and fifth) impressions. Don't make it easy on them, but give them something to practice against. Getting repeatedly blown up three seconds after you enter any engagement is one of the most frustrating things even for a veteran, and if it happens in more than one match it may just get new guys to wash their hands of GSF altogether. I might suggest staggering your queues so there are only two or three of you in an engagement at the same time. The best way to keep GSF going is to foster a good community. So make sure to support people with questions and back them up in a fight. Give newer opponents something to practice against and push them - while still crushing opponents that know what they are doing. And if you're of the inclination, adopt a newbie. Find someone asking questions, then send them whispers after the match giving them whispers with tips and suggestions. Next time you fly with them (or invite them to group and fly with you) have them act as your wingman or you as theirs. While some people enjoy curb stomping the opposition, I think most of us prefer it when the other side puts up a fight. So lets not make ghost towns on one side or the other and try to help this work. This will apply again next month when full lauch comes out.

Especially the new gunships. I'm not sure yet whether to call them 'target practice' or 'fish in a barrel'.

I didn't even realize the bundles had been removed until I decided to outfit one of my opposite faction characters with a set of the grade 7 components and couldn't find anything at reasonable price on the GTN. At the moment there is no word, and the only way to get them is the very slow grind for fleet comms or hope to find them at a reasonable price on the GTN. Don't see that happening since everything but the improved power converter costs 350 comms or a sizable amount of grade 8 crafting materials to make. Which is kind of annoying since you only stand about a snowball's chance in hell of completing some of the harder heroic space missions without at least the offensive upgrades.

Achievements tied to your class quests, space missions, and alignment/social/valour shoudl backfill. Sometimes there's some delay in that working. Anything that requires tracking a kill will not have progress, but you should have credit for completing planet class quests and chapters. My guess is that backfilling your achievements is very low priority for the server, so it may take some time before it processes and correctly awards credit.

Just keep in mind that only one companion per character class will actually have a quest you actually perform with them. (Kira in the Jedi Knight's case). All other companions merely have dialogue, or go off on their own for adventures you never actually see, and they will never have their quests show up in your log. And as already said, only way to advance their quests/conversation any more is to increase their affection and progress your class quests.

Cha Raaba/Thanium is the only one that makes me grit my teeth in frustration. "Great, you're almost done with the mission after getting the snot kicked out of you by mines. Whoops! You just nicked that asteroid and now you blew up and have to start all over!"

Only if you have a dedicated team or if you are flying permanent wingman for someone as I see it. That build has the problem of having massive penalties at short range (either due to difficulty with missile locks or the massive tracking penalty heavy lasers have). So you have to reliably be able to stay out at medium-long range to get effective use at it. In a death match, scouts and short range specialized strikes are actively going to be hunting you instead of trying to capture objectives, so unless you are good at keeping an opponent at range, they have an advantage over you. So unless you're working with a team that can cover you in short range, that loadout has problems. So probably better for domination than death match.

Not sure how that is a buff so much as a fix to an effect that should already have been present. Ion rails usually only can finish off a heavily damaged opponent, but no reason for the AoE not to trigger if the initial blast finished the target off.

I imagine they'll get used less than the missile boats do. It adds a medium range option that's not really very useful when they already have a railgun at the expense of almost all their short range defense and offense. I suggest treating all gunships you see as if they are Manglers/Quells... because quite frankly I can't see anyone liking the Dustmaker.

Yeah, pretty much that. The only way the ion would be worth using is if it completely hosed a target's engine and weapon power pools the way an ion rail cannon did. Though if you're going to waste a slot on ion missiles, you may as well just use a Rycer/Star Guard and get the same depletion effect from upgraded ion blasters while you are locking cluster/concussion missiles. Probably. Doesn't look like they care about its armor pen at the moment though. Not sure that is necessarily so effective given that mine range is about 4k meters. Heavy lasers, concussion/proton missiles, and railguns will be the anti-bomber weapons. Using a burst laser on a bomber is just asking to get a mine in the face.

The new gunship will turn that on its head. No burst laser, no distortion field, no armor component, and no rotational thrusters. Those guys won't be able to dogfight anything but a bomber.

Eh I suppose. I swap to clusters when I want to just dogfight. Still kind of prefer rocket pods for not giving a gunship a warning before you unload on them.