[Guide Request]: In depth guide for Ship Roles and Responsibilities

[Svarthrafn]

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Ship: Quell/pike (T2 Strike Fighter)

Key Component: Heavy Lasers, Proton Torpedoes, Cluster Missiles, Power Thrusters

Strength: Range, Accuracy, Shield and Armor Penetration

Weakness: Reliance on missiles and range equates to poor performance in high LOS-able environments, struggles close to satellites and will need to redeploy above or below satellite to maximize effectiveness. Should avoid close-range engagements if possible.

 

TDM Role:

• Long-Range Fire Support
  
• Anti-Armor
  
• Sweeping Gunships
  

 

Dom Role:

• Long-Range Fire Support
  
• Anti-Armor
  
• Sweeping Gunships
  
• Defense Turret Neutralization
  
• Satellite Defense
  

 

Responibility: Providing long-range missile support to allies. Assisting dogfighters in neutralizing heavily-armored/shielded targets, or targets with high evasion and additional missile breaks from long range.

 

When to use: May be used any time so long as team acts in fairly coordinated manner. Do not use to engage in solo dogfights. Focus on remaining behind main battle line and providing support fire.

 

Solo Fitness: Can be an effective craft, but must remain flexible. Requires above-average situational awareness to remain out of trouble and may find it difficult to support teams who spread out too far. Will service well enough as an objective guard when no bombers are available due to long range and anti-scout weaponry, but may not survive a sustained assault by multiple opponents. Can provide long-range support to nearby objectives without straying too far from own objective.

 

Group Fitness: Experiences greater effectiveness as part of a balanced team and excels in coordinated environments. Does not provide bulk of killing power in these situations, but rather acts as a force multiplier.

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[Archonitek]

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Ship: Quell/pike (T2 Strike Fighter)

Key Component: Heavy Lasers, Proton Torpedoes, Cluster Missiles, Power Thrusters

Strength: Range, Accuracy, Shield and Armor Penetration

Weakness: Reliance on missiles and range equates to poor performance in high LOS-able environments, struggles close to satellites and will need to redeploy above or below satellite to maximize effectiveness. Should avoid close-range engagements if possible.

____________________

 

Personally I would go conc missiles rather than protons, the conc missile t5 right option actually does give you armour ignore and the missile itself is easier to lock on and shoot.

 

EDIT: Actually, I went and checked on the dulfy GSF calculator about protons, and the flavour text says that it ignores armour and shields. Do protons have inbuilt armour penetration?

[Danalon]

EDIT: Actually, I went and checked on the dulfy GSF calculator about protons, and the flavour text says that it ignores armour and shields. Do protons have inbuilt armour penetration?

 

Protons have 100% shield and armor piercing.

[Svarthrafn]

Protons have 100% shield and armor piercing.

 

And 3-4k more range. Once you're in conc range, you're one quick burn from getting eaten alive by a scout. If they have to burn in from 11k you have a good shot at dragging him backwards towards a ship that can actually dogfight him, or to a gunship, before he can start chewing you up.

Edited September 21, 2015 by Svarthrafn

[Ramalina]

Proton torpedoes do have more range and piercing than concussions do, but Archonitek is correct that a T2 strike with concussions is a much stronger build than one with torpedoes.

 

Even in the event that you are farming noobs, which is the only realistic situation for proton torpedoes hitting consistently, concussion missiles are going to do more damage and more piercing damage than torps would over the course of a match just by virtue of firing and hitting so much more frequently.

 

Using concussion missiles also makes your damage a bit more bursty in practice, because you're starting your longer range missile lock at about the same time you reach range for HLCs with range capacitors. It's a little almost guaranteed blaster damage and a decent prospect of a missile shot, vs warning an enemy early enough that they can avoid both missile and blasters quite easily. With a torpedo, in many cases what you do by exploiting its range "advantage" is very efficiently reduce your damage done for that encounter to zero.

 

If you're particularly fond of dropping a large chunk of missile damage through undamaged shields you can pair upgraded concussion missiles with the Bypass crew active. It's more than 400 shield and armor piercing damage per hit, and you should be able to get off at least two shots before Bypass wears off. Wingman with upgraded HLCs is more piercing damage overall if you're a good pilot, but if you want to make your missiles more potent/scary concussions + Bypass is the way to go.

 

It's also worth noting that if you're not finding ways to close and use cluster missiles then you're basically unequipping an entire component slot.

Edited September 21, 2015 by Ramalina

[RickDagles]

Strikes with range capacitor HLC and conc missile with armor piercing is actually a pretty decent counter to charged plating ramparts. It is possible to land conc missiles on good bomber pilots. Audson actually did this very well against me the other day on Harbinger. Mind you, if our team had a ion railgun and/or a BLC scout we could have completely shut him down.

 

 

In response to Sriia, I think some pilots actually overuse ion railgun. If your enemy has power dive or booster recharge you are almost always better of shooting a slug railgun at them because it lets you do some serious hull damage before they flee out of your range. Ion railgun is ridiculously good against bombers and strikes. As such it is pretty much a mandatory first shot on them. And its weapon draining in gunship duels can save your life. But I think a first shot slug is always a great option against scouts. Even without the crit talent. Most good scouts using barrel or retro thrusters will pop DF/running interference when you hit them with ion. As a result they can easily avoid your followup slug and limp away to safety. If you had chosen a slug instead, they would save some cooldowns but they'd be down to red hull. If they come try to attack you then a railgun drone will probably take them out.

Edited September 21, 2015 by RickDagles

[Svarthrafn]

Proton torpedoes do have more range and piercing than concussions do, but Archonitek is correct that a T2 strike with concussions is a much stronger build than one with torpedoes.

 

Even in the event that you are farming noobs, which is the only realistic situation for proton torpedoes hitting consistently, concussion missiles are going to do more damage and more piercing damage than torps would over the course of a match just by virtue of firing and hitting so much more frequently.

 

Using concussion missiles also makes your damage a bit more bursty in practice, because you're starting your longer range missile lock at about the same time you reach range for HLCs with range capacitors. It's a little almost guaranteed blaster damage and a decent prospect of a missile shot, vs warning an enemy early enough that they can avoid both missile and blasters quite easily. With a torpedo, in many cases what you do by exploiting its range "advantage" is very efficiently reduce your damage done for that encounter to zero.

 

If you're particularly fond of dropping a large chunk of missile damage through undamaged shields you can pair upgraded concussion missiles with the Bypass crew active. It's more than 400 shield and armor piercing damage per hit, and you should be able to get off at least two shots before Bypass wears off. Wingman with upgraded HLCs is more piercing damage overall if you're a good pilot, but if you want to make your missiles more potent/scary concussions + Bypass is the way to go.

 

It's also worth noting that if you're not finding ways to close and use cluster missiles then you're basically unequipping an entire component slot.

 

I fly the **** out of the T2 strike. I fly in a long range support role, which is how I wrote my role guide. I am not solo farming noobs. I am flinging long range support fire at guys that used their missile breaks while dogfighting my teammates. Using the increased missile speed upgrade, my protons more often than not hit. I honestly don't understand why people say that protons never hit, because I have never had a problem with it. Though it has become obvious over the time this game has been out that I don't fly like other people seem to fly. If you want to brawl, which is what your post seems to imply, then yes you will need a different build. However, if you want to brawl, you are better off doing it in a different ship. The clusters are there to help finish dudes off if you decide you want to close in. Concussions can work in that situation as well, and I would like to equip them as well, but I've found the clusters are a little more useful if you have to go into a cramped area for an objective.

 

If people find that concussion works better for them, fine. But what you're doing is done better in a T2 scout. But thank you for your input.

Edited September 21, 2015 by Svarthrafn

[nyghtrunner]

I was thinking about this thread and I think there's a reason there haven't been any T2 scout guides posted yet. That ship has a handful of different viable builds, and each one has a different role. I can try to write one up for quads/pods, but I don't play it enough to feel like I can write a good guide for it. The same's true of the other potential builds: I understand them, but I am by no means an expert. I'd miss something.

I actually had one started (I think I killed it in Notepad, but I might still have it around), and ended up stopping just because it got a bit too unwieldy, and SUPER long.

 

As near as I can see it, there are effectively 3 viable builds that, while often sharing components, are distinctly different in playstyles. I call them the Dogfighter, the Hunter, and the Bomber Buster myself, and it's largely dependent on the weapon loadout.

 

A quick sum is:

Hunter - QnP. Main job: Kill enemy Gunships. Typically the weakest T2 Scout at actual dogfighting unless in the hands of someone like Tommm. EDIT - This is also probably the best "jouster" in the game, so if you can get people trying to joust you a bunch, then it serves as a decent dogfighter, but to me, jousting isn't really dogfighting. In terms of pilots of equal skill going against each other in a 1v1 situation, the true "Dogfighter" builder should shred this one 9 times out of 10, due to the increased turning and the weapon loadout's superiority at shooting in high deflection conditions. To test the major difference, try providing friendly peels in a TDM in a QnP build v. a BLC/Cluster build. Using QnP to provide friendly peels is usually a waste of time.

 

Bomber Buster - BLC/Pods. Main job: Kill things with lots of armor. It's not great at killing bombers, but the pods and BLC armor ignore give you the burst the really punish bombers if you catch them before they're set up. Usually has more dogfighting game because BLC are the premiere dogfighting weapon. Also consistently "1-shots" (both weapons at the same time in a snap shot) turrets, so it's amazing at taking satellites. Personally think it's best in DOMs, but can fill the Hunter role in TDM. Or to a lesser degree, the Dogfighter. It's sort of an odd middle ground between the other two builds, but having BLCs forces you to want to engage at minimum range, rather than max like a QnP build.

 

Dogfighter (my preferred build) - BLC/Clusters. Main job: Air superiority, friendly peels. You can tinker with it, but I think the best build is with Booster Recharge, Turning Thrusters, and Retros (with turning). Drako disagrees, and runs a similar build, only with RI over Wingman, TT over Booster Recharge, and BR over Retro to keep the mobility alive. I think he uses Regen Thrusters too, but I'm not positive of this.

 

There's a TON more to this, and if I still have my original draft for it, I'll break it out and see about editing and posting (probably as 3 posts, 1 for each "role"), but I will also say that you can do hybrids. Honestly, the one I call the "Bomber Buster" is largely a hybrid between the Dogfighter and the Hunter. As you alluded to, the T2 Scout is I think by far the most versatile ship in the game, with the greatest allowable variation in builds. Most ships it's a personal choice between something like Disto or Feedback Shield. But that doesn't really change the role of the ship. It's the only ship type that I actively want 2 on my bar, and the 2 I opt for with Graendahl/Mierin are the Hunter and the Fighter.

Edited September 21, 2015 by nyghtrunner

[Ramalina]

I don't have a problem with people flying a proton-cluster T2 or even a proton-concussion T2. I have an awful lot of time on multiple mastered T2s, and in a lot of ways the Proton-Concussion-HLC builds are my favorites to fly.

 

However, in a guide for less experienced players on how to play more effectively where the following is presented:

 

 

TDM Role:

• Long-Range Fire Support
  
• Anti-Armor
  
• Sweeping Gunships
  

 

Dom Role:

• Long-Range Fire Support
  
• Anti-Armor
  
• Sweeping Gunships
  
• Defense Turret Neutralization
  
• Satellite Defense
  

 

Responibility: Providing long-range missile support to allies. Assisting dogfighters in neutralizing heavily-armored/shielded targets, or targets with high evasion and additional missile breaks from long range.

 

I do feel some responsibility to point out that a Concussion-Cluster- (HLC or Quad) build with a skilled pilot performs all of your listed roles and responsibilities significantly better than a Proton-Cluster or Proton-Concussion build is capable of doing.

 

I really wish that wasn't the case, as the design and flavor text for the T2 scream out, "mid-long range missile fighter." The T2 strike is also in strong competition with the T2 gunship as, "worst possible ship to fight in when at close range," which makes cluster missile as much a curse as a blessing for the T2 strike. Verain insists that the T2 strike in any build, is the weakest ship in GSF. He's probably right, though personally I'd be happier flying a T2 strike than a T2 gunship even in a serious match.

 

With respect to farming noobs, if you're relying on team support to farm noobs (and if your proton torpedoes are hitting more often than not you are definitely farming noobs), then that is a good thing, in the sense that any task accomplished with team cooperation is a higher level of GSF play than the same task accomplished purely through solo effort. You're doing it right! It's still farming noobs though. The people who have problems landing proton torpedoes are the ones who occasionally try firing them at pilots that know what they're doing. While p-torps are fine against lower skill players you're much better off equipping asteroids, space debris, or satellite fins against highly skilled pilots.

 

Farming noobs is a fundamental part of GSF play (even if we wish it weren't), and the practice and muscle memory built in farm games are part of the foundation of the piloting skill that makes a difference in competitive games. You don't need to get automatically bent out of shape about it if someone tells you you've been farming noobs. Every really good GSF player has farmed a lot of noobs in the course of getting good at GSF. Farming noobs is how the noobs eventually stop being noobs, if they stick with it long enough.

 

With respect to the build recommendations, it has nothing to do with pilot preference in terms of flight style. It's about what combination of hardware and technique consistently produce the best results. I don't like an in-your-face style of strike flying as there are a lot of disadvantages and weakness that any strike brings to that kind of fight, and the T2 has more weaknesses and disadvantages than either of the other types of strikes. In a case where the goal is to be maximally effective though, the T2 has to take every opportunity to do as much missile damage as possible.

 

That forces the choice of Clusters in combination with Concussions. Clusters are the highest DPS missile in the game and failing to use them extensively is a huge hit to the T2's offensive potential. Concussions are the next highest DPS missile, are practical to use against skilled defensive fliers, and have a lot of the utility, piercing, and range that is found on torpedoes. Again, not using them is a downgrade in potential performance.

 

The downside is that to get maximum performance out of the T2 you have to take the ship with the weakest defenses into the combat situation where those defenses are at their worst and still somehow manage to survive. It's not easy, and it can take a slightly twisted view of what constitutes fun in order to call it fun. If you can manage the defensive flying though, as a practical matter a Cluster-Concussion T2 that regularly lands Clusters is going to be doing maybe 3 to 4 times as much secondary weapon damage as a T2 using Proton in combination with any other missile. They'll also be doing more primary weapon damage as they'll be spending more time in primary weapon range.

 

I'll fly a T2 build with protons if I want to relax, but in terms of improving output proton torpedoes get dropped from the build right after LLCs.

 

The max performance T2 really isn't very new-pilot friendly, and can be pretty miserable if there are a lot of skilled scout and gunship pilots on the other team.

 

You're correct that the Cluster-Concussion T2 strike build gets left in the dust by the best scout close range build, but the worst gunship also leaves the proton torpedo build T2 strikes in the dust when it comes to long range support.

 

Given that you're pretty much screwed either way the rational method of picking a T2 build is to take whatever seems fun at the moment. Even if that means LLC-Ion-EMP.

 

 

Here's a more accurate review of the T2 strike, and note that you can sub in whatever missiles you prefer in the build. The cluster-concussion build is the most productive and deadly option, but all T2 builds are weak enough that, "significantly higher performance than the other options," is a pretty small difference compared to switching to a different type of ship entirely.

 

Ship: Pike/Quell (T2 Strike)

Key Components: HLCs or Quads, Cluster missiles, Concussion missiles, Barrel Roll

Strength: Secondary weapon swap system allows higher rate of missile fire.

Weaknesses: Weakest strike defensive setup, offense is dependent on missile damage that skilled opponents can avoid quite easily.

 

TDM Role:

• Be cautious and don't feed kills to the opposing team's scouts and gunships.
  
• Have fun.
  

 

Dom Role:

• Help capture satellites to the best of your ability.
  
• Have fun.
  

 

Responsibility: With essentially no significant utility role, very weak defenses, and offensive power that is both low output and unreliable the T2 strike is forced to be the ultimate opportunist. Watch for mistakes from opposing pilots and from the opposing team as a whole, and take advantage of them in any way you can think of. In TDM matches you also have to be very aware of enemy threats to avoid getting repeatedly killed. The T2 strike is the easiest ship in the game to kill with low risk to oneself, and enemy pilots that are aware of this will take advantage of this as much as they can.

 

When to use: For fun in matches where you don't care about winning or where what ship you choose to fly will not have a significant impact on the outcome of the match.

 

Solo Fitness: Can be a lot of fun to fly, and a good pilot can be quite effective against opponents of low skill and may even carry a team to victory against weak opposition. Such victories are entirely the fault of the pilot's skill advantage and the T2 strike takes no responsibility whatsoever for those games. Not at all suitable for games that you're trying to win hard enough that you're choosing your ship based on tactical considerations.

 

 

Group Fitness: Worst ship for team play in GSF. A few of the other low performing ships can be about as bad as a good T2 strike build if they use "fun" builds that equip the weakest components available to them. If GSF were gymn class or a playground the T2 strike would be the ship where the team captains get into a fight over who has to take the T2 strike after all the other ships have been picked. If you're attempting to give a much weaker opposing team a sporting chance in a match you could try talking your entire team into flying T2 strikes in order to give the opposing team the biggest possible gear advantage.

 

 

A note on technique: The T2 requires an exceptional distance related sense of situational awareness. It needs to get to the right range to use both missiles one after another when the target at its most vulnerable, but doing this puts the T2 in a position where it is likely to be in extreme danger, and thus needs to escape to a less dangerous position. It's a lot of maneuvering and requires good timing and management of a very limited energy pool. Learning this on a T2 takes a lot of practice and a lot of getting shot down. A slightly more fun way to learn this sort of awareness would be on a BLC scout without distortion field. You have the same sort of need to position well for good DPS and the same need to get out of the thick of the fight to manage risk, but it's a lot easier than if you're doing it in a strike. When you think you've got the hang of it hop into your T2 strike and find out how much more practice you could use.

 

 

 

 

An interesting thing about the T2 strike is how enjoyable it can be to fly for such a low performance ship. My personal theory on the reason is that even against a bunch of noobs in a farm game pulling off a perfect, "missile_1, blasters, missile_2," combo can present enough of a challenge to keep from being completely boring, and if you land such a combo on any ship other than a bomber there's a very high probability of being rewarded with a kill.

 

More than any other ship, in the T2 strike every kill made and every avoided death feel like reasons for celebration.

 

There are definitely pilots that fall in love with the T2, even when it's acting like the sum of its multitude of faults and weaknesses. It's completely irrational, and not at all competitive, but it can be unbeatable for fun at times.

 

 

If the strike buff thread ever actually produces results in terms of a patch that improves strikes in general and the T2 strike in particular, I will be thrilled to be able to rewrite this post.

Edited September 22, 2015 by Ramalina

[Linuxizer]

Here is a longer version of the T1 Strike. If anyone else wants to post another version, go ahead and don't mind me.

 

Ship: Star Guard / Rycer / TZ-24 (T1 Strike Fighter)

 

Key Components: Heavy Laser; Ion Cannon; Quad Laser; Cluster Missiles; Concussion Missiles

 

Strength: Shield strength

 

Weakness: Mainly, it deals less damage, as it lacks the Gunships' weapon range, the Scouts' weapon and system combinations, and the Bombers' mines and drones. Further weaknesses include below-average evasion and defence against missiles.

 

TDM Role: It's somewhat of a less effective Scout. It can attack Gunships, but T1/T2 Scouts and Gunships do that better. It can assist a Gunship to attack a nest of Bombers, but two Gunships or a Gunship and a Scout are better combinations. It can be part of a big furball and contribute, but all three other classes should contribute better if played to their strengths.

 

Dom Role: General purpose (attack satellites, hold satellites, interception). However, for attacking an undefended satellite, a Scout is faster. For attacking a lightly defended satellite, a T2 Scout, T1/T3 Gunship or any Bomber is better. For attacking a heavily defended satellite, most combinations without a Strike are better than most combinations with a Strike. For interception, a Gunship or Scout is better. For holding a satellite, a Bomber is the best.

 

Responsibility: With no specific role comes no specific responsibility. As a general purpose ship, the T1 Strike should (assist to) hit enemies, avoid death in TDM, capture and hold satellites in Dom. It should try to avoid direct Ion Railgun hits, especially when more evasive allies are nearby in TDM. (In Dom, the satellite turrets and drones are even easier targets for that.)

 

When to use: On a new character, since the T1 Strike is one of the starter ships (note that the introductory mission from the PVP Terminal lets you buy other ships after only one battle); in an uncompetitive match; or simply to fly something different for fun or variety.

 

Solo Fitness: Poor. A Scout, Gunship or Bomber is better for solo-carrying.

 

Group Fitness: Poor. If the group is really strong, then choice of ship is irrelevant. Otherwise taking a Strike is just weakening the group.