[Commander Zane]

This is just for people to give their favored combat style, pre-Great War era, without shielding or targeting, early Great War era, (before shielding is aquired) with targeting, and late Great War / post-Great War era, with shielding and targeting.

It doesn't really matter for me, a dogfight is a dogfight but all-in-all, without shielding whatever mission you play has to have small numbers of ships or else nothing has a chance of surviving.

Like imagine Dilmah G's High Noon if it was set up to be fought as a Terran Vs. Vasudan mission before shielding was implemented, I think it would end up being extremely difficult.

Now if I could figure out how to make a poll...

[General Battuta]

Snail loves combat without shields!

*is not Snail*

[Narvi]

The TVWP needs to have stripes added to your enemies.

Because shooting at your friends is not fun, man.

[Commander Zane]

I also use Fast Mod to make dogfighting more fun, but one thing I want to know is if there's any way to make aspect missiles not lose its lock on a target when it's been fired, the Crossbow's the closest thing to doing that but it's still possible to dodge it and force it to lose track of you.
Something like the QMAAM on AC4 where you're forced to endure 20 entire seconds of dodging that damn missile as it constantly turns back to try to hit you again and again.

[Woolie Wool]

I refuse to acknowledge the lack of targeting in TVWP. I even hacked the missions to put it back.

I personally like the no-shields fighting, especially the more elaborate missions I've made using it for Twist of Fate. I have a campaign idea I might work on, set in the late 2320s, where your radar range is set to 6000-10000 meters, which would allow Vasudan ships to appear without jumping in (by closing into sensor range) and make combat more tactical.

[azile0]

I like fighting with shields, because then you can actually survive a few Horus on your tail.

[Woolie Wool]

You're a careless pilot who needs to learn evasive maneuvers and/or wingman management, then. An Apollo might not be able to outrun a Horus, but you definitely can out-turn a Horus. Make some sharp turns and the Horus will go wide and lose track of you, and you can use friendly ships to distract or destroy them. Many people have trouble with no-shields combat because they have poor situational awareness, tactics, and flight skills, and expect their shields, which are greatly boosted by lower difficulties, to bail them out. No shields means you actually have to pay attention to enemies. The way shields recharge faster on lower difficulties is a big crutch.

[Solatar]

I quite liked the no-targeting style of combat in TVWP. It took a bit to get used to it, and you really had to pay attention to who was who (it helped when the two sides flew different ships in the mission). With the maneuverability, it really felt like a dogfight; I had to jockey for position before firing instead of just launching off a volley at range and destroying enemies left and right.

[Polpolion]

Second-Great-War era intercept is where it's at. Suicide Kings, FTW!

[Commander Zane]

I refuse to acknowledge the lack of targeting in TVWP. I even hacked the missions to put it back.

I personally like the no-shields fighting, especially the more elaborate missions I've made using it for Twist of Fate. I have a campaign idea I might work on, set in the late 2320s, where your radar range is set to 6000-10000 meters, which would allow Vasudan ships to appear without jumping in (by closing into sensor range) and make combat more tactical.

I have TVWPD and targeting only becomes available when the "subspace sensors" are developed.

Plus an FS1 Fast Mod would be interesting, if not very difficult.

[Woolie Wool]

I quite liked the no-targeting style of combat in TVWP. It took a bit to get used to it, and you really had to pay attention to who was who (it helped when the two sides flew different ships in the mission). With the maneuverability, it really felt like a dogfight; I had to jockey for position before firing instead of just launching off a volley at range and destroying enemies left and right.

T-V war combat with targeting isn't that easy either, especially since the lack of shields makes ship's target profiles smalle rand the increased engine power makes them go faster and use AB more. Once you shake that Horus I mentioned earlier and the tables are turned, it's quite challenging to shoot one down because it can pretty much escape the effective range of your weapons at will, missiles are slower and track less effectively than in FS2 (compare Twist of Fate's Cobra missile to the Harpoon--you'll never hit an enemy with Cobras with a side-on shot at 400 meters) and hitting enemies is harder in general. TVWP combat is just plain irritating. Even modern jets have targeting computers and lead indicators (called "pippers" in real life).

I refuse to acknowledge the lack of targeting in TVWP. I even hacked the missions to put it back.

I personally like the no-shields fighting, especially the more elaborate missions I've made using it for Twist of Fate. I have a campaign idea I might work on, set in the late 2320s, where your radar range is set to 6000-10000 meters, which would allow Vasudan ships to appear without jumping in (by closing into sensor range) and make combat more tactical.

I have TVWPD and targeting only becomes available when the "subspace sensors" are developed.

Plus an FS1 Fast Mod would be interesting, if not very difficult.

Yes, I know you get targeting once you get the "subspace sensors". It still sucks not having a feature which already exists in the 21st century three hundred years later.

[Commander Zane]

Not to mention either the weapons have horrendous shot convergence or the HUD reticle was accidently made off-center.

(compare Twist of Fate's Cobra missile to the Harpoon--you'll never hit an enemy with Cobras with a side-on shot at 400 meters)

Those damn missiles scream AIM-4 Falcon, out of the tens of thousands of Falcon missiles that were produced only FOUR have ever hit their target.

Yes, I know you get targeting once you get the "subspace sensors". It still sucks not having a feature which already exists in the 21st century three hundred years later.

That also brings up another question, we already have all-aspect heat seeking missiles that can aquire lock of a heat signature from an aircraft that's behind you, as well as active radar homing missiles, which basically fit the FreeSpace aspect missiles, why are heat seeking missiles on FreeSpace so poorly guided and aspect missiles are a "new" thing?

[Woolie Wool]

(compare Twist of Fate's Cobra missile to the Harpoon--you'll never hit an enemy with Cobras with a side-on shot at 400 meters)

Those damn missiles scream AIM-4 Falcon, out of the tens of thousands of Falcon missiles that were produced only FOUR have ever hit their target.

Have you actually fired Cobras, or are you talking about TVWP's completely useless missiles? Cobras are very effective when fired while on an enemy's six, and firing them at an Osiris or Amun means an almost guaranteed hit. Once you get a feel for the proper angle and range to fire them at, they're the ultimate Horus/Thoth removers. Now, MX-50s, on the other hand, are pretty much hopeless.

[Commander Zane]

Only when I'm behind something flying straight-and-level.

[Galemp]

My favorite combat comes from one mission, The Hammer and the Anvil, from FS1. It's the only mission where you fly unshielded, but have Avengers and you can target the Shivans. It feels like combat on the harder difficulties, but without the raping that happens when your wingmates die and you're totally outnumbered.
It's the perfect balance of firepower and dogfighting with the urgency that comes with unshielded combat. I like flying glass cannons.

[Commander Zane]

I found out that nothing happens if you save the Andromeda on that mission.

[Woolie Wool]

My favorite combat comes from one mission, The Hammer and the Anvil, from FS1. It's the only mission where you fly unshielded, but have Avengers and you can target the Shivans. It feels like combat on the harder difficulties, but without the raping that happens when your wingmates die and you're totally outnumbered.
It's the perfect balance of firepower and dogfighting with the urgency that comes with unshielded combat. I like flying glass cannons.

I imagine you also enjoy The Babylon Project, then?

[Galemp]

Never played the Babylon 5 or Battlestar Galactica TCs. I'm utterly unfamiliar with their universes.

[Lucika]

I am rather in the middle.
You see, my usual strategy is to get behind the enemy, press "M" and rape it to pieces. With shields, it is harder - but when I have no shields, then I am dying much more often.
After playing FS2, replaying FS1 became a lot harder.

[Herra Tohtori]

Well... I have a profound dislike of missions where I need to escort multiple weak targets, like convoys of freighters or science cruisers or escape pods... There's just too little margin of error and if the convoy is spread wide enough, you can't do everything yourself, and the wingmen require very specific management to be of any use. Sometimes it makes me wish I had a way to assign a wing to attack an enemy wing (like several waves of Seraphims called Aries wing or whatever).

Space superiority sorties and intercept missions to defend corvettes, destroyers or installations are usually great fun, though. Especially if you have several wings at your disposal; my favourite tactics is to give Subachs or Mekhu's or other rapid-fire weapons to wingmen, then in mission make them form on me, then I target the closest enemy and hit C-3-1... the enemy usually dies rather fast, and it's oddly satisfactory to do unto them as they would do to me... One-hit dual missile kills are quite satisfying, but so is ripping to the enemy with primary fire.

As far as flight model goes, I like BtRL and TBP models more than FS2's venerable but a bit boring railroad dogfighting. In fact in BtRL I preferred to use the glide mode almost exclusively in fights, controlling the vector of the ship with lateral thrusters and afterburner bursts.