The question that the devs actually care about here is: Did the lack of capital turrets affect the outcome of the game towards either side? If the answer is no, which in this case it was, they don't care about your, my, or anyone else's feelings on the matter. It's morally depressing, and quite horrible to be spawn camped, but turrets were affecting the outcome of games by earning kills for a team just by them parking on their gunships near it. (I may be smart enough not to bum rush that, but pugs who just followed the red markers were getting unfairly killed) So, the dev team removed them. The lack of turrets doesn't affect the winner of the match, it just makes people sad and the game go quicker towards the side that was so much stronger that they pushed the losing team back to the spawn. It's well established that they don't care about our feelings, only numbers.

My apologies, I don't mean to say that these policies don't make it harder on the losing team, they do. I'm just a bit perturbed by the community here treating pre-mades like they haven't been around for millennia. Also, all this policy seems to do is favor the winning team. This is going to be a premade most of the time, but it's you folk who are saying premades will always win. That's bad for morale and probably a decent reason why pugs don't do as well as premades. (Also, most of the time, I solo que, on the side of my server with the worse players, but I've yet to be personally camped because... well there are already two spawns, yes? [also, a starting barrel roll does wonders for breaking walls])

Sir, every game, in all of history, and in all of the future, will favor premades. Working together is what made humanity the best invasive species on the planet. Don't fight your instincts, play nice with others.

Quite a bit of speculation. Let's see if the third spawn makes it work (although players don't seem to understand that there are two to start with). Either way, let's wait to call it a horrible decision until tomorrow?

ill give you the victory on their marketing and possibly their intentions, but the gameplay I still believe discourages it.

I like it more, and I WAS a battle scout in 2.6 I like to have my strike fighter friends be more useful, as well as the slowing of gameplay that a bomber represents. Also, I'm tired of all the bullscat about losing "dogfighting" it was never supposed to be about dogfighting, and if you thought it was, then what the hell do you think gunships exist for? or for that matter, lock on missiles?

ah, seems that was changed from the pts, never really checked it in detail since. How about a total amount of mines+drones? If you have the drone out, you can use less mines, but the CD on the drone is set so that it would be 45 seconds after upgrades? would that be a fairer exchange?

Thought about it a bit and I might have an idea. Something that might make us both happy might be a slight reduction in cooldown in exchange for only being able to have 1 out at a time? Points with a bomber alone for 2 minutes would be less invincible and you'd be more able to handle attackers or attacking with a quicker cooldown. And you'd be more powerful in team deathmatch overall, without letting a team create a bramble wall for their enemy.

oh, graventhal and friends made a guild? Cool. On pub side if you see a <Freaks of Legend> member, feel free to ask for advice or a friendly grouping. (though the guild is split between pvp and space, so they may not know what you're talking about)

A buffed up drone takes me about 2 seconds to kill, that's only a little less than most ships, so their health isn't a problem, the reason you're losing them so fast is because they are an instant target because if left alone they're as dangerous as a gunship. A single drone won't be any problem in a 1v1 situation, but in a large dogfight or group battle, people can't pay attention to everything. That's where a drone that always hits comes in handy, and, some would say, might be a little overpowered, rather than the contrast. Drone carriers aren't overpowered by any means, but they certainly aren't less powerful than any other class, it's just a matter of rock paper scissors. (Basically, I understand your lust for power, I miss my OP rocket pods, but the game seems balanced enough as it is and a boost to drone health or drone laying time would upset the balance horribly) also, if you approach a mine in your flashfire and slow down for the time to fire those shots, a good player will kill you. So feel free to consider yourself a dispenser of distractions of deadly design.

Yes, the difference is only EMP, but that single component makes you use the Nova/Bolt entirely differently in this new bomber and gunship infested era. Pre-2.6 I would agree with you that there was no compelling reason to be on a Nova, but with the addition of that single ability, along with the new class, the Nova has become a MORE versitile tool than the Flashfire, whose only merits are in dogfighting or killing careless pilots.

But that's the problem. Dogfighting is a waste of time in a team game like GSF. (just leaves you open to gunships, and then the fools complain about how OP gunships are...)

I feel as though the nova dive gets a bad rap by the community as something inherently inferior to the flashfire, but I believe it is better in most situations if you know how to use it. Are there any among you who agree and pilot the nova dive in favor of the other variant?

You, sirs, have not been introduced to a proper Nova Dive player. Most players try to play a Nova Dive the way they play a Flash Fire, (dogfighting with other scouts) when in reality, it is the best guerrilla fighter in the game. Sure the rocket pods got a hit, but against gunships they're still superior to clusters, by not letting them hear a loud beeping sound while still pushing out high dps with lasers and rockets firing together. This allows me to kill most gunships before they move, unless they are either an ace in their own respect, or see me coming. Having 3 separate missile breaks (2 being stationary) makes a decent Nova Dive player nearly un-killable by any Strike Fighter (hasn't happened to me once since 2.6), which makes a head on fight with even a great pike player possible to win in a scout. On top of that, the Nova Dive's EMP field is an AMAZING support tool when running in a premade with a Pike behind me. I simply call out who i hit with it, then their nearly inescapable torpedoes do the rest. (Anastasie can back me up on the easy kills he got from this)

as Stasie says, the aces are all very nice on Bastion, though people who like to go "lone wolf" who hate premades with a passion may not like it there.

killing enemy gunships, bombers, and strikes?

for me it was on the PTS on the Starguard with clusters and heavy lasers, the range on the lasers made it easier to hit with.

What probably makes an ace an ace is specialization Choose your adventure: Gunship Hunting Node Capping Node Holding Bomber Counter Team Support Sniper Front Line Fighter Jack of all Trades (not to be chosen until you're super confident) Anti-Scout Speed Demon Tank (Some more people suggest other roles) Start by picking a few that appeal to you as a person, then narrow it down to ONE that you're competent at and only do that one thing for a few dozen matches, even if it costs you the game. Once you get really good at one of these specializations, try to add another, then another to your repertoire until you're a master at a few of them. (For example, I started with Speed Demon, then Node Capping, then Gunship Hunting, and finally, Node Holding)

bypass/burst is so pre-2.6

some Bastion Pub good fliers (Can't say they're all aces, but they all get between 30k and 70k damage average) Wiz Spacepuppy Xanckef (hasn't been on in a while though) Sinshen Nitram Viisas Verain Sindress Phytia (anastasie's pub) Frenchfries (not sure if he still plays) Aquilon-Tune Bluerae Wreath

Assuming x1 or x2 is how many upgrades you have right now, i'd make sure to get your shield and engine up to tier 2 before anything else. Also, I would highly recommend Distortion field, It's been nerfed, but not so nerfed that it isn't better than every other option.

if you, or anyone is on the bastion, i'm always happy to take someone under my wing, I've managed to get a few folks to 3 kills, 10k damage regularly, which was a damn sight better than they were before.

For Builds, I suppose the best way to do the builds section is to post our own, and have others critique them, so here we go

Well, the best way I've seen intermediate players move up to advanced status is to find a really consistently good player and to get to know them. Talk with them about what they do and ask for ideas. I've yet to find a skilled player in this game that's mean. It's all about who you know and who you get to know better.

i'm hoping for something in the range of 30,000 or more m range on a ship (something like a field command ship)