[Colonol Dekker]

The stolen Dragon won it in that it was a unique irreplaceable asset.

[InsaneBaron]

Athena: Your first bomber, and not a bad one. Without it the Taranis could not have been captured. Remains useful later on too- I use it as late as ST:R mission 13.

Oh yeah, it's my favourite for both Good Luck & Last Stand

Really? I use an Ursa on both of those missions- A target that big needs Harbingers if you ask me. I guess it comes down to playstyle though. The Athena's a good ship for a number of missions, particularly First Strike, Forced Hand... capture missions in general. Works pretty well on The Wait too.

[niffiwan]

Well, I figure in both those missions you only really need to disable stuff, either the Lucifers reactors or the Hades beam turrets, so Stilettos work well. And there's lots of enemy fighter craft in both, and the Athena is a good dogfighter.  I find it much easier to survive in it than in the Ursa (damn slow bomb truck )

[Mongoose]

I usually stick to the default Herc myself.  Unshielded Shivan fighters are incredibly easy to pewpew with four primary shots.

[niffiwan]

true, but I also find that Delta wing kinda suck with their Harbinger delivery, and 2 banks of Stilettos lets me take down two reactors by myself

[InsaneBaron]

Stilettos work I guess, but I find I can do it faster with Harbingers. I've found that the Athena DOES work pretty well on Good Luck though.

Last Stand is my Number 1 Must Fly Ursa mission, because A. I need harbingers to take down those beams in time to save the Soyakaze  B. It takes way to long if I let my wingmen do the heavy bombing themselves C. I want the Hades kill

Anyway, that's not to say I don't like the Athena. I just prefer the Ursa when I'm fighting the Big Bad capships.

@Mongoose: I'm a Herc guy too. If I don't know what's coming on a mission, I fly the Herc. The Athena can carry more missiles, but 4 Promethei plus two S-Breakers gives me guaranteed satisfactory hull and shield power against anything Cruiser or smaller, even if I run out of secondaries.

[niffiwan]

Last Stand is my Number 1 Must Fly Ursa mission, because A. I need harbingers to take down those beams in time to save the Soyakaze  B. It takes way to long if I let my wingmen do the heavy bombing themselves C. I want the Hades kill

I should try the Ursa on Last stand then and see how it turns out (although I'm anticipating being shot to pieces by Loki's )

[Mongoose]

At least from my experience on retail FS1, Delta Wing usually managed to get the Lucifer's reactors down to the single digits with one salvo if they didn't destroy them outright, so then I could plink away the rest with whatever I had on my Herc.  I don't remember how it usually plays out on the Port though.

[Mad Bomber]

I prefer the Athena over the Apollo or Herc; I've always loved it, despite the fact that it really isn't a bomber. It has all the hallmarks of an older prototype rushed out in haste to fight the Shivans, which explains its lack of actual bombing capability and terrible compatibility. That said, it turned out pretty good all things considered.

Ok, it's only got four guns, and the compatibility's pitiful, but the Avenger is more than sufficient for most uses (I actually greatly prefer it to the Prometheus). It's faster than the Herc, and has more missiles! And it's moderately tanky as well. If you think of it as a heavy assault fighter and missile boat (compare Herc-II), it's actually surprisingly good.


In terms of which one actually won the Great War, tho, I'd have to go with the Herc. Nothing against the Apollo, it's a surprisingly capable medium fighter given it's a tech-generation or so behind, but AI pilots survive longer in Hercs.

[InsaneBaron]

I prefer the Athena over the Apollo or Herc; I've always loved it, despite the fact that it really isn't a bomber. It has all the hallmarks of an older prototype rushed out in haste to fight the Shivans, which explains its lack of actual bombing capability and terrible compatibility. That said, it turned out pretty good all things considered.

Ok, it's only got four guns, and the compatibility's pitiful, but the Avenger is more than sufficient for most uses (I actually greatly prefer it to the Prometheus). It's faster than the Herc, and has more missiles! And it's moderately tanky as well. If you think of it as a heavy assault fighter and missile boat (compare Herc-II), it's actually surprisingly good.


In terms of which one actually won the Great War, tho, I'd have to go with the Herc. Nothing against the Apollo, it's a surprisingly capable medium fighter given it's a tech-generation or so behind, but AI pilots survive longer in Hercs.

I agree about the Avenger. If I have to use one cannon for dogfighting, I'll take the Avenger: Less hull power than the Prometheus, but better shield power, velocity, and fire rate. However, on a Herc I've found that the Prometheus and Banshee or S-Breaker makes for a great combo.

Too bad there are no combos like that in FS2. Banshee-like weapons are unneeded because normal primaries have sufficient shield power. Compared the the S-Breaker, the Circe is a weak let-down. The Circe-Maxim combo isn't that great because you have to switch between them, and neither is effective against fighters on its own.

On the flip side, in FS2 you have the Prom S and Kayser, so maybe you don't need combos that much. Oh well.

EDIT: I do wish there was an Athena Mk. II or something like that in FS2. Like you said, it's a great missile boat if you load it up with Interceptors of Pheonix Vs. Imagine an advanced version with trebuchets or tornadoes!

EDIT OF EDIT: Now that I think of it, the Tauret is almost an Athena II with a Vasudan skin...

[Droid803]

The stolen Dragon won it in that it was a unique irreplaceable asset.

So irreplaceable command wanted it flown into the Lucifer's hangar!

[An4ximandros]

At least they didn't preemptively ask the Mara riders to fly into a Sathanas' Hangar Bay or to another Knossos, should they find any of those!

[karajorma]

I suspect they would have asked had they been in contact.