Rocket Pods or Cluster Missiles for Domination?

[Nemarus]

It might seem strange hearing a veteran ask such a fundamental question, but honestly I've always been more of a LC/Quads + Pods guy (initially driven by the fact that BLC's on a Sting look Stupid). It was only recently, for Super Serious Bastion Solo Queue, that I gave BLC's on a Flashfire another try, and I was amazed at how easy-mode the game was--especially in Domination.

 

Anyway, I've got a new baby pub alt, and he's going to use a Flashfire in Domination only (in Deathmatch I'll still be using my NovaDive with S2E, purely because I enjoy the speed and playstyle).

 

On my NovaDive, I use Rockets obviously. But on my Domination Flashfire, I'm honestly not sure between Cluster Missiles and Rockets, and I'm curious what others recommend.

 

Rockets are nice, especially early game, because you can get Armor Piercing on them cheap, which is good for taking out turrets from range.

 

But once my BLC's have Armor Piercing, are Rockets still that good in Domination? I feel like most Domination combat is close range and high deflection. Even hitting a slippery Bomber with Rockets is tricky--let alone hitting another Battlescout. Clusters seem better in that situation, as you get a base increase to your DPS or, at the very least, force a Scout to burn cooldowns.

 

On the other hand, Rockets seem better for burning down stationary targets (Gunships, tick Bombers), or for winning jousts.

 

I come to you now like the gentle newb, seeking your gracious wisdom.

Edited March 3, 2015 by Nemarus

[Verain]

I recommend clusters for general purpose.

 

There's a few reasons:

 

1- You can rig your clusters so you don't go out of ammo very easily, and domination doesn't give you yellows. A single game with rockets and no one running a damned ammo replenish and you'll want to bash your head into the table. If you expect to have a competent Clarion or Warcarrier, then forget this point- and it's overall the biggest.

 

2- Nothing you do will give you absolute dominion over bombers. Clusters DO hurt gunships and enemy scouts badly. If you want that anti bomber tech, burst laser cannon / rocket pod is your closest, and you wouldn't have made the thread. Clusters are very reasonable for all bombers except charged plating, and even versus them they aren't trash, as they can strip the shields and allow your bursts to hit home.

 

3- Gunships can be popped by rockets- this is their most famous use- but overall I'd prefer that a few decentish gunships get away in exchange for a solid and largely endless harass on the better ones.

 

4- Enemy scouts and strikes get torn up by clusters and they can't just ignore them, the scouts especially.

 

5- Distortion means that rocket pods mostly need TT to be solid, which, I mean, you can and should get, but clusters bait distortion on YOUR schedule.

 

6- Clusters can actually peel. Rockets can only peel if your opponent has to choose between a straight flight and changing his target, which is only some of the time.

 

I really think clusters are the overall best. You won't deal the same ludicrous damage pods will, and you can't burst down enemies with as much satisfaction, but you are able to screw with all enemies with them except charged plating, and you have Bacon Lettuce Cantaloupes for that.

[Drakkolich]

Absolutely clusters, especially with Burst lasers. The early armor pen is nice on rockets but clusters get targets moving. On satelites you can get players to use engine maneuvers which either gets self destructs or get them off the node for you to capture.

 

There is also the ridiculous ammo problems that come with rockets in domination, it's not like you can just go find a yellow when you're out. If however you have a dedicated reloader pods can definitely work.

 

If you do pick rocket pods your role changes a lot. You actually shouldn't be on nodes very much. Your job becomes pay attention to whose playing bomber when they die head to the enemy spawn point and camp the living hell out of him. When not doing that kill gunships. If both of these jobs are done then you just kill whoever is out in the open. Your job isn't to take nodes or hold them it's to relieve pressure for your team that's doing that.

 

If you pick Clusters you still do the things I described above however as your third task you just on the node and help since your weapons are also useful there. This is why especially for solo queueing I suggest clusters, because you can actually do everything your team needs to win and don't have to rely on anyone.

 

Edit: I'd like to add to Verains note on clusters not being bad on charged plating. One of the things you can do is just hold the lock on the Bomber this masks all other missiles locking on him so he won't know that your team is locking protons or thermites on him.

Edited March 3, 2015 by Drakkolich

[caederon]

I've actually been struggling with the same decision lately, and haven't come up with a conclusive answer. Part of the problem for me may be that most of the ships I'm running clusters on don't have them fully upgraded, so I am always leaving someone with a sliver of health and thinking 'if I had rockets now, they'd be dead'. Intercepting bombers is so much easier with rockets, and I'd argue that taking one out under a satellite is quite a bit easier with rockets, too.

 

To get the most ammo out of double-volley clusters, you have to take the offensive crew that has +25% ammo, and of course you want +6% accuracy... which means you can't take my preferred choice of +6% acc / +2 deg. firing arc. I don't know, maybe that's not the best choice, I haven't done any math, but I really like the extra arc with BLC in tight spaces. I'd not opt for the extra ammo crewman with rockets, which I'm sure leads you to ask why I'm not worried about running out of rockets since it is easy to empty your magazine. I guess the answer is...

 

If the opposition is a team of good pilots, I'll probably die at some point and get a refill.

 

If the opposition is a team of moderate to bad pilots, I will run out of rockets, but can just kill them with guns anyway so it's not a huge deal.

 

And of course, if someone on your side is running ammo refill, I think that tilts the decision pretty strongly in favor of rockets.

 

- Despon

[Nemarus]

I've actually been struggling with the same decision lately, and haven't come up with a conclusive answer. Part of the problem for me may be that most of the ships I'm running clusters on don't have them fully upgraded, so I am always leaving someone with a sliver of health and thinking 'if I had rockets now, they'd be dead'. Intercepting bombers is so much easier with rockets, and I'd argue that taking one out under a satellite is quite a bit easier with rockets, too.

 

To get the most ammo out of double-volley clusters, you have to take the offensive crew that has +25% ammo, and of course you want +6% accuracy... which means you can't take my preferred choice of +6% acc / +2 deg. firing arc. I don't know, maybe that's not the best choice, I haven't done any math, but I really like the extra arc with BLC in tight spaces. I'd not opt for the extra ammo crewman with rockets, which I'm sure leads you to ask why I'm not worried about running out of rockets since it is easy to empty your magazine. I guess the answer is...

 

If the opposition is a team of good pilots, I'll probably die at some point and get a refill.

 

If the opposition is a team of moderate to bad pilots, I will run out of rockets, but can just kill them with guns anyway so it's not a huge deal.

 

And of course, if someone on your side is running ammo refill, I think that tilts the decision pretty strongly in favor of rockets.

 

- Despon

 

Actually, if you're using Clusters (or any missile, really), I'd always go for the wider arc. Missiles benefit hugely from wider arc, because they get the benefit without having to pay extra tracking penalty.

 

I tend to fly rather self-sacrificially in Domination. If I start to run low on ammo, I'll just throw myself at an enemy node. Seeing NEMARUS DESTROYED A TURRET usually causes some redistribution of enemy forces on my server. Even if I can't take the satellite by myself, and I die, I've potentially swung the balance of the match and may allow my team to accomplish something while I'm flying back from respawn with a new set of ammo.

 

Now, I'm sure I'll get some lern2play heat on this ... I'm thinking about running Directional / Turbo on this Flashfire. Why? Well, I have tons of alts that have run DF/Large Scouts, and I want to try something a bit different--especially for a Flashfire which will be used exclusively for Domination.

 

In Domination, a lot of what I'm going to be doing (since I solo queue a lot and don't rely on others to win satellites) is charging a satellite. That means that being able to withstand the alpha strike of a satellite's defenses (drones, mines, satellites) is important. Being able to angle shield arcs is important for that--at least for drones and seeker mines.

 

For the purpose of this discussion, let's set aside Minelayer mines for the moment (Interdiction, Concussion, Seismic). Those are always going to be hard for a Scout, and there's not a ton that any Scout build can do about them.

 

But I believe a Scout can build against Seeker Mines and Drones. I want to see if I can make a Scout that eats them and lives to tell about it.

 

My theory is this: With Directional + Turbo, my shields can eat an upgraded Seeker Mine's damage (882) and recharge that much damage before 15 seconds pass and another Seeker Mine is dropped. With a shield recharge rate of 65, it takes 13.7 seconds to recharge 882 damage. Add in the recharge delay of 1.2 seconds, and you're at 14.9 seconds. Just barely made it!

 

Of course, this speeds up if I F2, or if I maneuver my arcs correctly.

 

In fact, approaching a satellite with power to shields and shields angled forward, I can basically eat all three Seeker Mines a single Dronecarrier has out. Not that I would ever purposefully do so. And that would leave me vulnerable to turrets and drones. But either way, I'll fare much better than Distortion + Large Scout would in an equivalent situation, and it should give me extra time to burn down the Bomber(s) on the node.

 

I actually view Directional + Turbo as favorable--in the purpose of satellite assault--to Distortion + Large. Distortion + Large requires me to burn an important defensive cooldown to dodge a Seeker Mine, and its cooldown isn't short enough to let me dodge a second. It also doesn't help me with turret or drone damage (they seem to LOL at Evasion).

 

Yes, I'll be more vulnerable to Gunships and other Battlescouts. But at the end of the day, I outfly most of them on my server and rarely need the Evasion to beat them. But I can't outfly Seeker Mines.

 

I'll let you all know how the experiment goes! Rest assured that if it doesn't work out, I'll get back in line and equip DF + Large.

Edited March 3, 2015 by Nemarus

[Drakkolich]

Look forward to hearing about how you like that build Nem. Any thoughts on swaping armor to reinforced for that build, give you a bit more mine protection if you really want to be on the satelites that much?

[nyghtrunner]

To look at the original question, I typically prefer Pods in Doms. The reason really is because so much of a DOM is going from place to place as a scout, and shooting things. Longer dogfights don't happen as often in a DOM between good pilots because it's not helpful to the overall goal of taking satellites.

 

And I really, REALLY love being able to "one shot" turrets, and melt bombers of all sizes. I often will run out of pods, and that's put me in some awkward situations before, but in general, I'm pretty happy with my BLC aim, even with the tighter firing arc. And I definitely agree with you that if it's really relevant, it's usually not, because I'll die a few times. If I run out, the game is usually already won.

 

The biggest thing I like about the build, though, is that it's quiet. Granted, they're usually not upper crust pilots, but a lot of people won't notice BLCs+Pods until it's too late to run (mainly gunships, but also bombers on occasion). I like the relative stealth.

 

Now, with all of that said, my prototypical build is BLCs and Clusters. It's largely streamlined for edges in dogfighting (not jousting, which the BLC+Pods variant is amazing for), but in general, it performs quite well in a DOM. Turrets still die quickly, and I will often burn my Disto to keep my shields up as I do a quick circle and take out the turrets. Usually, at worst, the front arcs are gone, but if I time everything correctly, it's not uncommon for me to take all 3 turrets down all while Disto is up, and keep a majority of both arcs.

 

And Drako + Verain are absolutely correct about CP w/regards to bombers and Clusters. Clusters aren't amazing there, but they're far from worthless, just because of how much shield there is to chew through on a bomber, and if you loose, clusters are a guaranteed hit v any bomber-pants.

 

Anyway, I think I fly a little differently than most scout pilots, and my typical build is probably quite a bit different in a few fundamental ways. To start:

1) Retros. I think using Pods on a T2 with Retros is a LOT better than using them on one with PD or BR, because you can often guarantee a good line on a bomber. Even a circling one.

2) All the turning I can throw on it. I use Turning Thrusters and the extra turning off of Retro. It gives me the edge in a lot of dogfights, and combined with Retros has allowed me to pull some sick stunts in my time.

3) Because I give up so much mobility with Retro and Turning Thrusters, TT isn't an option for me. I have to run Booster Recharge.

4) This necessitates Wingman as my co-pilot, because I absolutely need some kind of offensive CD.

 

Anyway, as I say, I assume that my build is different than most. I like this build on DOMs, but it's more geared towards TDM. And there are a lot of gunners on my server who are in love with Ion Rail, and this build I think gives me an edge there. I can actually take a full ion by surprise from my 6, hit Booster Charge, and take off after the GS that just shot me after a wide arcing turn at full burn. This has surprised a LOT of people, and the moment's indecision between fight or flight often means they're space dust.

 

The build I prefer on DOMs is much more of a "standard" build, with TT, Retros, Regen Thrusters, BLCs, Pods, Wingman, and the extra engine pool from T3 Retro. I'm far more dead to an Ion Rail with this build, but if I'm careful, 1 shot usually won't TOTALLY drain me. The trade off is that anything I can catch a line and tee-off on pretty much just dies. There's not usually a lot of "I had him at 2% before X happened!" As Drako (or Verain?) said above, this build's target priority is Bomber, Turret, Gunship in most cases. If you can fool people into jousting, you can win dogfights, but that's not the strength. It just wants to go in a line from place to place to place and try to dust anything that gets in front. That's often what a DOM match is all about to me, which is why I prefer that build.

 

Granted, on my server, there are... Let's see, Keenz, I'sys, Buggles, Choque... I think that's largely it... So something like 4 other scout pilots on the server who can truly pressure me Scout v Scout. So that absolutely changes the way I play. In most DOMs, I rely pretty heavily on just being able to outfly enemy melee gunning for me. I can often largely ignore them. It's the gunners and bombers I'm more wary of.

 

The only real downside of a DOM other than the ammo of the pod build, is trying to take out those annoying sat-humpers, but outside of 2-3, possibly another 4 pilots on the serve, most of them aren't that good at the evasive flying on a sat, and with Retros and experience, I can often set up positive interaction ending in my favor with them. The ones I listed above, while capable, rarely really do it, and would prefer to actually fight me. For Keenz, that's often a loss for me, but with the other 3, it's usually a toss up, and largely determined by RNG or who goes in with fewer resources.

 

Anyway, hope this at least gives you something else to think about. Cheers, Nemsy!

[Nemarus]

Look forward to hearing about how you like that build Nem. Any thoughts on swaping armor to reinforced for that build, give you a bit more mine protection if you really want to be on the satelites that much?

 

I considered it, yeah. Unfortunately, the thing about changing up the armor is that neither going Deflection (+ crew DR) or Reinforced (+crew DR) can change the number of Seismic mines it takes to kill me. The answer is pretty much always two. And that's without considering potential bleedthrough from Concussion Mines or Cluster Missiles, which would further lower the bar.

 

So in the end I think I might as well take Evasion, and then I'll probably use Running Interference (since I'm not using Pods, I don't need Wingman). That'll give me passive Evasion of 24% and 39% with RI up. That's still going to frustrate a lot of people shooting at me.

[Verain]

We're, uh, pretty far from the original question.

 

I always go extra arc crewman, and I'm willing to run plasma dot instead of double volley if i think I'll run out. If I really want double volley I normally just take it instead of roping the accuracy/ammo guy into things.

 

The reason that you CAN force it, of course, is that if you take a scout with no ammo options you'll run around with 10 clusters. Sacrifice the range to add 4, sacrifice double volley to add 10, sacrifice the extra arc to add 5. This means that your clusters can range from 10 to 30, but pods don't have anywhere close to that kind of trickery.

 

If you will definitely not have any ammo reload, then I just recommend the plasma dot. It's really a huge boost. The range is pretty much always a reasonable sacrifice on a scout, and that's just a ton right there.

 

 

 

As for directionals versus distortion, distortion is better. Directionals are great versus turrets, but so is distortion, and distortion rocks any joust. If slug didn't ignore 28% of shields and get hard countered by evasion, well, you know all this. It's worth running directionals for the experience of playing them on a scout, but you know it isn't that great.

[RickDagles]

To quote Scrab and Otoshi, "Pods are love, pods are life".

 

Quads/Pods are best against charged plating bombers. Strip the shields with quads and then land 6-7 pods to finish him off. Easy kills at a safe distance from mines. You can kill even faster if you get lucky with TT crits. Using BLC usually sucks here because you will die to mines or get slowed to frig by interdiction.

 

BLC/pod is best vs. gunships. BLCs and pods fire around the same rate, and you can usually get 2-3 of them off before the GS peels. If you get even 1 BLC crit that means 1300(ish) damage and usually insta-kill. If you're using clusters then it's not insta-kill, it's more like early warning for insta-peel. This doesn't matter much if you have damage overcharge, which is why Drak would disagree with me . BLC/clusters is probably a lot better with damage overcharge pickups because you can insta-kill with the BLCs alone, and the clusters are obviously much better at hitting a moving gunship. You can also hold the missile tone locked to control when he uses DF and when you should pop your cooldowns and land BLC shots, etc etc.

 

BLC/cluster is best vs scouts. You won't land many pods vs scouts unless you catch them by surprise or they foolishly choose to joust with you. You can land some Quad shots but the tracking penalty is too unforgiving imo. Novadive regular laser/pods is actually a bit better than Quad/Pod, but then you don't get retro thrusters. And that eliminates most of your jousting ability. BLC/cluster is also the best at protecting your own Gunships.

 

BLC/pods is best vs T2 bombers. Use DF to break a seeker mine, eat the other one, kill the bomber in 4-5 hits from 500-1000m(ish) range.

 

Honestly all 3 builds are extremely good and you can't go wrong. They're all a bit better in different situations and I think personal preference also plays a big factor. Quad/cluster/retro, although now underused, is also very good. Booster recharge and StE is awesome too (as you know).

 

 

They really did a fantastic job with the Scout components. There really are so many viable choices.

 

Barrel roll, power dive, and retro are all great in different ways

TT is generally the best but booster recharge and blaster overcharge are awesome too

BLC is better than Quads overall, but the range of Quads matches nicely with pods

Pods are awesome for burst damage and jousting, but clusters have more utility and are better for team peels

Distortion field is usually the best, but there are purposes for Directionals and StE

 

I wish the would hurry up and sell the Skybolt/Ocula on the cartel market for $5 like the Firehauler

 

 

 

Now, I'm sure I'll get some lern2play heat on this ... I'm thinking about running Directional / Turbo on this Flashfire. Why? Well, I have tons of alts that have run DF/Large Scouts, and I want to try something a bit different--especially for a Flashfire which will be used exclusively for Domination.

P

 

Actually I've been running directionals with large reactor on my Quad/Pod/Retro scout for about a month or so now and it's been extremely effective. It's much better at jousting because there is no cooldown required. Every 15 seconds I can joust someone with retros and get a good chance for a kill. The risk of getting killed by lucky shots through my evasion isn't there because I have some 4000+ hitpoints to get through. The evasion is obviously still super high through the retro too. I'll never go back to DF on that build. As Verain stated, it sucks against Gunships, so I don't usually bring it out in Deathmatch games. I still run DF on the BLC/pod/powerdive scout for that purpose.

Edited March 4, 2015 by RickDagles

[MiaowZedong]

Personnally, I'd chose pods. The biggest factor IMO should be player "profile". While there are clear benefits to forcing yourself to learn tactics that don't appeal to you and you are not naturally talented at, for "serious" play you should play up your strengths as a player. Personally, I don't think I'm at my best in the situations that favour clusters over rocket pods, so in a close match I'll avoid them in favour of situations that favour me, and coincidentally favour pods.

 

Player skills aside, the biggest issue is refills for the rockets. Verain is absolutely correct that having refills is a huge issue for rockets in domination. It's not just a matter of running out eventually: if you know you'll have regular refills you can use your rockets far less conservatively, and add them to your fire on less perfectly centered shots, when you have say 40 or 50% chance of hitting with them. We're talking about far from negligible hit probabilities, but that you couldn't reasonably chance without refills.

Edited March 4, 2015 by MiaowZedong

[Yojiro]

I would say pods but I have been struggling with the quad and pods lately due to the fact that the pods just disappear from my ammo magazine under 2/3m.

 

Can I ask if anyone has tried Quads/Clusters on the FF and, if so, what is your feedback on the combo? I know the optimal build is BLC/Clusters but there's something in BLC's that makes me dislike using them... call me weird.

 

I apologize if this has been mentioned on the thread and I missed it but I was up most of the night because of my kid and I am a tad tired.

Edited March 4, 2015 by Yojiro

[nyghtrunner]

I would say pods but I have been struggling with the quad and pods lately due to the fact that the pods just disappear from my ammo magazine under 2/3m.

 

Can I ask if anyone has tried Quads/Clusters on the FF and, if so, what is your feedback on the combo? I know the optimal build is BLC/Clusters but there's something in BLC's that makes me dislike using them... call me weird.

 

I apologize if this has been mentioned on the thread and I missed it but I was up most of the night because of my kid and I am a tad tired.

You're not weird. Look at Nemarus's reason for not liking/using BLCs for such a long time!

 

Quads and Clusters can be viable, but I think you lose a little power using Quads and Clusters over Quads and Pods or BLCs and Clusters. Clusters are usually better for dogfighting, but Quads are a little better for straight shooting at stationary targets, or targets that are largely flying in a line. The existence of the Clusters means you will be much better at peeling for friendlies, but you're going to lose out on the high deflection and snapshooting possibilities that BLCs provide, so in true turning wars you'll be at a disadvantage against other scouts who are using BLCs/Clusters.

 

The output really can be solid if you know what you're doing, though. Have you flown Strikes much? Because a Quads and Clusters build is a lot like an Ion/Quad/Cluster T1 Strike build, but with a much more mobile and maneuverable platform. I think losing Ions hurts a bit in the dogfighting department, but it can still be a solid build.

 

I'd wager the biggest issue you would run into would be people who are running Charged Plating (Largely bombers), because you won't have a good way to really punch through the armor. The build is also a little weaker to turrets for the same reason.

 

So viable, yes. Optimal? I would argue it's not as optimal as the other 3 major offensive builds. As Rick Dagles noted, one of the things that is really nice with Quads and Pods is how well the ranges line up, and you really do just melt things that are in your line of fire. BLCs and Clusters have a similar synergy going in that they both are good at high deflection fighting because of the wide arcs, and the small tracking penalty on BLCs.

 

As for BLCs, they are a different kind of laser, and take some getting used to. For me, the trick is to take more "snap shots", rather than holding the LMB down and firing a "stream" at your target. The only times I really ever hold the mouse button down are when I'm shooting at a stationary target or in a joust. Otherwise, it's very much just working to line up the reticles, clicking when they line up, rinse, and repeat.

 

Another note... You may want to look at the Stacie-pedia, or search through Verain's posts, because I am almost positive that one or the other broke the math down on the components (or at least gone over the major differences between BLCs and Quads) somewhere on here. I don't believe Stacie is flying anymore, but when he was, he was one of the best, and at this point, I pretty much trust most of what Verain says when it comes to the math portion of the game.

 

You may also want to look some at tommsunb's posts, specifically his "learn to fly" posts/vids. He's got at least 1 really good video on aiming with BLCs, and he usually runs/ran Quads and Pods, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if you could pick up a few things on either weapon by watching his videos. I think in terms of raw offensive output combined with survivability, tommm might be the best Scout pilot I've run into.

[RickDagles]

Have you flown Strikes much? Because a Quads and Clusters build is a lot like an Ion/Quad/Cluster T1 Strike build, but with a much more mobile and maneuverable platform. I think losing Ions hurts a bit in the dogfighting department, but it can still be a solid build.

.

 

I dunno I'd rather have Target Telemetry or Blaster Overcharge than Ions. Actually that's one thing that's cool about the Quad/cluster build -- it's the one build where Blaster Overcharge may actually be better than Target Telemetry. TT is pretty much a necessity if you are using pods because you need that 10-15% accuracy boost. And without TT you can't get those huge 1300+ damage BLC shots. Since you don't have either of those weapons, it makes sense to buff up your Quads. They have plenty of accuracy with just wingman, and the Blaster Overcharge gives you much higher damage MOST of the time. I think TT still gives the maximum damage if you get pretty lucky with crits, but you can't depend on that.

Edited March 5, 2015 by RickDagles

[nyghtrunner]

I dunno I'd rather have Target Telemetry or Blaster Overcharge than Ions. Actually that's one thing that's cool about the Quad/cluster build -- it's the one build where Blaster Overcharge may actually be better than Target Telemetry. TT is pretty much a necessity if you are using pods because you need that 10-15% accuracy boost. And without TT you can't get those huge 1300+ damage BLC shots. Since you don't have either of those weapons, it makes sense to buff up your Quads. They have plenty of accuracy with just wingman, and the Blaster Overcharge gives you much higher damage MOST of the time. I think TT still gives the maximum damage if you get pretty lucky with crits, but you can't depend on that.

I was really more thinking that under a sat, or a tight turning battle, not having the Ions on the T2 Scout makes it a lot harder to use anything but clusters (Quads at high deflection aren't impressive). That's fine, but with the Ions, you can at least use the high ROF and the relatively light tracking penalty to strip down shields so your missiles are actually connecting with the hull, rather than just continuously stripping shields.

 

In a joust, or out in the open, the systems will absolutely push the scales in the scout's favor over a similar situation with the T1 Strike. And I can definitely see the appeal of BO there.

 

My biggest point with that was that it's a ship platform that often has Quads and Clusters together, so it's something of a parallel to the T2 Scout build he was referring to. If he's tried it with the striker and liked it, he's likely to have some success with the Quad/Cluster T2 Scout build. That's all. When it comes down to it, I'd absolutely rather have the systems ability over Ions as well.

 

EDIT - I'll also agree that BO is probably better than TT here, especially for targets dead center in front. I'm not totally convinced it would be better over all, because of the overall up-time difference between the two, but for burst damage, BO is probably much better sans lucky crits. Also to note for Yojiro, with BO and Quads, you're probably going to run out of energy in a hurry any time you truly open up.

Edited March 5, 2015 by nyghtrunner