[Javito1986]

Yea, I just got mauled by a lone Dragon fighter on the final mission of FS1. Playing the port version. God I'm so frustrated and angry at the moment. That Dragon literally had me screaming at the computer and flicking him off. I hate him, hate him, hate him. YOU JUST CAN'T SHOOT THE *******'S DOWN! He swoops in, fires, damages me a little, and I have no hope of chasing him down in a Hercules. I shoot at him from a distance and miss, I fire missiles he evades them... finally I tried to hide somewhere around the Lucifer and he came and found me, shot once, and killed me. I hate them, hate them, hate them.

The worst part is that I almost beat the mission too. At least the first try. wingmen disabled the Lucifer's weapon systems, we had the -final reactor- down to 4% when the Lucy jumped out. Then on the second try, when I got mauled by the Dragon, for some reason our bombers were much less effective and did a really crappy job. That kind of inconsistancy was frustrating, doubly so because I had that infernal Dragon CONSTANTLY shooting at me. You'd think he'd be trying to shoot down the bombers, but noooo he was chasing ME down.

And this isn't the only occurrance of this. -EVERYTIME- I fight Dragons they do this. In either Freespace game. It just never ends. Can anyone shoot these things down consistantly? Because I find it utterly impossible without significant wingmen support. I play on Hard - Insane difficulty by the way, generally. Although I've already lost this mission several times on those difficulty levels so just now I was playing on medium when that Dragon mauled me.

[Polpolion]

~-K

[Skimmer]

Really new here...but REALLY glad I stumbled across this website. Havnt played FS2 in 6 long years. Good to know its still alive!!!!!!!!

And yes, though my memory is a lil worn I remember the dragons as being particularly irritating. The way I usually nailed the little bastages though was by grabbing some distance then heading straight for them. They'd usually head at me headfirst to fire or turn and then I'd wear down their shields.

Typical weapons makeup for me btw was the cannon that wears shields rapidly and does little hull damage (The name eludes me) and an assload of Dumbfires. Those always did me well. Please correct me if im wrong about somethin I'll be playin the ol' prog again once the package is done downloading!

[Javito1986]

Well I'm a long time fan of Freespace, I've owned FS2 for many years now. I only recently played FS1 for the first time last spring though and loved it. Since I was already familiar with the story from playing FS2 it felt like reading through a history book of The Great War. Anyway, recently discovered that my FS2 discs aren't working right anymore so I downloaded the SCP pack (a great d/l) and played through the FS port. Finally just finished it this evening about an hour after starting this thread. Just played the first mission of FS2.


Anyway, the common motif of the series for me is this. I -hate- the Dragons. I mean, I don't know how the heck anyone stands against them. Whenever they show up I think Cypher from the Matrix telling Neo to run when he sees an agent... that's exactly how I feel about the Dragons. That jerk that frustrated me so much I had to start this thread to vent about it, he just flew circles around me and withered me down bit by bit. I landed maybe one shot on him and that was it. On the few occassions that I see Dragons in FS2 I generally run like hell. Given enough support from my wingmen I can generally take on anything the Shivans have on Insane difficulty... except Dragons. Even in FS1 when you encounter them and outnumber them, they manage to kill two of my guys for every Dragon that goes down.

I hate Dragons so much. I'll be shocked if somebody comes on here and says they have no problem shooting them down.

[Turey]

@Skimmer

COMMAND: INCOMING JUMP SIGNATURE! NEW USER CONFIGURATION!

Helm! Ready all beam cannons!
Lock Beam Cannons and fire on my command!
FIRE!


NO, YOU IDIOT! USE THE BIG BEAM CANNON!
FIRE!


Welcome to HLP! Exits are to the right and left. In the event of a landing of any kind, you can and will be used as a flotation device. Flamethrowers are conviniently located under your seats, however, due to the recent funding cuts, a $3.5 million donation is required to obtain a flamethrower with a full load of napalm in it. If you do not wish to make a donation, your flamethrower will remain filled with water. If you don't wish to donate and still want a working weapon, you'd have to try the weapons locker. However, only HLP Admins, a God, or a Hyperintelligent shade of Blue can open the lock, so you'd have to break in. If you find yourself inside a ventilation shaft and you catch a glimpse of a Shivan, you don't need to worry... much. It's just Carl, and you have two choices with how you want to deal with him:
    1. The first possible course of action is getting one of the weapons from the afore-mentioned weapons locker, and trying to ward off Carl by threatening him with the weapon. Be advised that many of the weapons in the weapons locker are covered with the blood of people who thought it a good idea to break into the weapons locker and use the procured weapon to ward off Carl. So, please, if you decide you want to choose this course of action, choose one of the already-bloody weapons, so you don't get blood all over one of the clean ones.
   2. Your second course of action when you see Carl is to throw your lunch to him and hope he isn't hungry. This is the better option.
   As a final note, please remember that any attempt to use the ASCII characters 0046h, 0053h, and 0033h in sequential order will result in you being trampled by Freespace Fanboys. Your trampled remains will be fed to Carl so that the rest of us don't have to carry around so much food for lunch.

I hate Dragons so much. I'll be shocked if somebody comes on here and says they have no problem shooting them down.

It's not that hard for me.

However, that's in an interceptor or a Ulysses, not in a Herc. In a Herc it's nigh impossible.

IMO, the best way to kill the lucy is to grab a Ursa for yourself and help out.

[NGTM-1R]

There's a good reason why the Wiki says "Destroy via missiles at range if at all possible"...

[Prophet]

In FS1 I find the Dragons to be fairly efortless kills. Approach from > 5 km and use Phoenix. Works enevery time. One missile, one kill. That's a good tactic in the mission where Lucy destroyes that station and you have to cover the escpods.

And the last mission. Well grab Ursa and eat Lucy alive. Or grab Ulys and own everyone, and the wait that your wingmates get around killing the reactors.

FS2 is just pure missile genocide. Sit there and keep pumping out those missiles. No even Dragons can do **** about you.

[Mars]

In a Herc you do as much damage as possible on the dragons first pass, I've taken them out that way. If you do have one buzzing around you then don't try to dogfight. Think of yourself as a turret; keep the dragon dodging your shots so it can't shoot back: I find the Banshee is a good anti-dragon gun.

[BlackDove]

Dragon is by far the easiest fighter to kill considering the AI is predictable.

Dragon passes you, you're behind it, but instead of chasing it just stop your engines. He'll get to about 1k-1.5k away from you, then he'll turn to dogfight you again. Two ways of killing him. Primaries or secondaries. He won't evade either (unless you really suck). Dead Dragon without moving.

[asyikarea51]

Does Anyone Else HATE the Dragons?

*Raises hand

[TrashMan]

You jsut need a steady hand - one salvo from a Herc will kill the bugger.


I suggest you try flying an Athena - it's faster and you can help to destroy the reacotrs.. Stillettos rock!

[Bob-san]

Anything is good to destroy dragons! Theyre effortless kills if you are good with a Prometheus... 720degree turret = 0mps and just shooting around.

[asyikarea51]

I usually brought out the Ursa with a full deck of Harbingers. I have yet to play the last two missions in anything else.

Something about going for the big fish instead of the small fry...

The two Shivan fighters I really dislike the most are the Dragon and the non-canon Gorgon. Bangwal.

[Cobra]

Oh yeah. Dragons are a real ***** to fight up close. The easiest way is to put some distance between you and the Dragon, lock onto it with an aspect missile, and let loose.

I usually brought out the Ursa with a full deck of Harbingers. I have yet to play the last two missions in anything else.

Easiest way to beat the game. My first time through I played the last mission with a Ulysses and a pair of D-Advanceds. My GOD, I cut that one close.

Speaking of that mission, I remember losing that mission once. The Lucifer jumped out, and my wings and I just sat there like dopes.

[Blue Haired Maniac]

Don't try and dogfight a Dragon, you're just asking for trouble. Basically, the key is to keep him in your sights and make sure he stays out of guns range.  Easier said than done if you're in a slower fighter.

[Freespace Freak]

I ****ing hate Dragons.  The only approach that's ever worked for me is to have your wingmen help you.  They always attack you and only you, making them easy to kill by your squadmates.

[Snail]

A good way to kill them is with a fighter with a lot of firepower (Herc) and load up with Interceptors or Hornets, with primaries Banshee and Prometheus. Once the Dragon is in range of your missiles, fire a few to knock it off course and weaken its forward shields. While its still recovering, fire with all your primary firepower. This usually destroys them quickly.

Another way to fight them is when you're in a really annoying slow bomber that can't dogfight well and if you're tied up with Harbingers and Tsunamis. Allocate 75% of all energy to your shields and attack the Dragon head on. Fire your primaries at it, remembering to put the necessary energy onto your shields. If it breaks off to avoid collision, quickly press Q to equalize your shields. Keep it targetted. When you see in your targetting box it's coming in for a run, as quick as you can turn towards it and fire your primaries. Repeat as needed and that should kill it.

At least, that works on medium...

[Mars]

You jsut need a steady hand - one salvo from a Herc will kill the bugger.


I suggest you try flying an Athena - it's faster and you can help to destroy the reacotrs.. Stillettos rock!

The Stillettos barely do anything to the Luci's subsystems; screw it and bring a Bear.

The worst thing to fight a Dragon in is a Medusa

[Mathwiz6]

I usually brought out the Ursa with a full deck of Harbingers. I have yet to play the last two missions in anything else.

Something about going for the big fish instead of the small fry...

The two Shivan fighters I really dislike the most are the Dragon and the non-canon Gorgon. Bangwal.

I took out 3 or four reactors that way, the ursa's did nothing. K, they got one reactor, cause I didn't have enough harbingers.

Dragons... distract em  While they aren't looking, launch harpoons at them 

Other than that, I raise my hand 

[Aardwolf]

Dragons are teh uber!

but seriously, what is everyone complaining about?