General FreeSpace > FreeSpace Discussion

What kinds of Fighters and Bombers is Freespace missing?

(1/8) > >>

mosshadow:
Currently replaying FS2 Open for probably the 5th time after a 2 year break. Having played games like Warthunder and Starsector in the meantime I've realized there's some gaps in the playable ship rosters that I think could be filled.

In the Terran fleet you have the Loki and Pegasus interceptors which are both fast and have great agility but poor firepower. The Vasudans have the Serapis which feels quite like a Japanese Zero.  In real life we've had a variety of twin engine bomber interceptors like the P-38 Lightning that had poor agility but very good firepower and engines. A wide heavy fighter with engine speed and afterburners with similar performance to a Horus but the maneuverability of a Medusa bomber. Similar amount of firepower to an Ursa or Hercules (2 nose, 4 offset wing). It would be good at bomber fighting but poor at dogfighting, thought with enough speed to escape by hitting the after burners and then turning around later instead of turning within a furball.

For the Vasudans, I was wondering what they would bring as an equivalent to the Ares and Eriynes late game elite fighters? I suppose the Tauret might count since its got similar stats to the Ares, although its presented as a standard heavy fighter thats been in service while the Ares is just off the production line.

X3N0-Life-Form:
One of my ideas for a late-game elite zod fighter would be something that's quite agile and resilient, but doesn't have the raw firepower that the Ares & Erinyes have, sort of like a souped-up Perseus or maybe a Serapis with actual armor. It would fit in the trend of Vasudan fighter being lighter than their Terran counterparts, while offering a different type of "super-fighter" experience.

Either that or the late-game elite fighter was actually the Sekhmet all along. :)


Regarding other potential roles, I do feel like there would be a niche for a fighter-bomber, something that'd be the size of a Herc 2, but with one secondary bank capable of carrying a small number of bombs. Something half-way between heavy fighters and light bombers.

manwiththemachinegun:
The Erinyes is is the Terran agile heavy gunner fighter while the Ares is its high end missile truck. Especially with a maxim or kayser loadout, there's not much the Shivans can throw at them other than overwhelming numbers.

In terms of true gaps, the Terrans lack an interceptor with the firepower to burn down bombers fast enough to avoid convoy damage. The Perseus is an amazing dogfighter, but is undergunned.

Vasudans tend to overspecialize their fighters traits to the exclusion of the others. What they're truly missing is a fighter as annoying agile, armored, and persistent as the Seth was in the FS1 campaign.

Nyctaeus:
- Both GTVA member species lacks Apollo. Myrmidon is not Apollo. Myrmidon is more like attack fighter perfect for raiding convoys and supply depots, but due to large profile, bad positioning of primary firepoints and lack of access to Harpoon, it's pretty mediocre dogfighter.

- Vasudans are in even worse spot. Serapis sucks. It's armed and armored like interceptor, but it's slow. In fact there is nothing that Horus and even Tauret can't do better then Serapis. Tauret is excellent and very versatile craft, but it's not answer for every situation. The only saving graces of Serapis are it's handling and access to Maxim, but still not really worth it.

Like c'mon, Apollo is awesome. Despite being start fighter, it's very versatile nature makes it very effective in lategame. It's excellent dogfighter unlike Hercules. In FS1, I prefer dogfighting only with Valkyrie and Athena.

- Both factions lacks Athena-like craft, tho Myrmidon can do the same thing as Athena. Athena is one of my very favorite crafts in FS1, and would be useful against ships equipped with beam cannons.

- Terrans lacks real interceptor in FS2. Perseus is without doubt, an outstanding craft but it's slow for interceptor standards. Perseus is more like successor of Apollo.

- And finally, a good terran heavy bomber. I love Artemis, but it's too light to engage destroyers and it's bad dogfighter. Boa sucks sucks sucks in every aspect. In FS1 all 3 terran bombers are very good, but in FS2... Well, enough said. I'm glad that GTVA still uses Medusa and Ursa.

ShivanSlayer:
One thing I think could be neat is an experimental superfighter which can fill all fighter based roles and act as a bomber.  Maybe it could be a player exclusive ship that is only available after completing a certain number of bonus objectives to really give that Alpha 1 feel, although its use should result in being targeted more heavily by the enemy.  The closest I have seen to that is the special interceptor exclusive to the player character in the Freespace 2 The Aftermath Reboot (albeit only in a few missions) which cannot carry bombs but has insane missile capacity and near 100% weapons compatibility.  Enemies should also have their own equivalent superfighters which could work as boss battles

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page