Ship upgrades that matter...

[Nethgilne]

as far as upgrades that i can see being frustrating for a new player to deal with: 10% shield pierce of heavy lasers, engine drain on ion cannons and double salvo on cluster missiles to be the most overwhelming.

 

But since these cost so many req points i would say that the player's actual experience would be, by and large, the be deciding factor against a fresher pilot

[Andryah]

Good Pilot > then everything else.

 

Get good or get dead.

[Vhaegrant]

The ship upgrade that matters the most to me is the 'Green' engine trail. Now at least my collar and cuffs match as I 'Self Destruct' aka 'Forgetting the big wall has right of way'

 

Modern fighter jets are more weapon delivery platforms for stand off long range missiles and high altitude bombs than they are the old guns blazing dogfighters of the WW2 era. If you get the advantage of position, a quick strafing run on an unaware target is the best solution for a plane with speed. If you get tangled up then maneuverability will come into play, much is made of nose canards, vectored thrust and fly by wire to allow a plane to reduce its speed as much as possible to get the tightest turning circle possible without stalling. But at the end of the day, given the very limited amount of ammo modern warplanes have I'd imagine their best bet is not to plan on engaging in a dog fight but to break off and hope your wingman has some missiles left

[GalacticKegger]

Sabotage probe. Give me a Strike wing man who can finish off a turret in one pass and we'll take a satellite in seconds. Edited December 7, 2013 by GalacticKegger