[Snail]

I like taking Kaysers and Maxims.  I never use them both at the same time though.  Plus, this strategy only works on lower difficulties.  When I do this, I like loading out my secondaries with Trebuchets and/or Tempests (I find that I can kill most things with kaysers before harpoons could even lock on).

No, what you do is fire Kaysers first, then switch to Maxim + Tempest.

[CP5670]

Maxim/Tempest is much better than Maxim/Circe and can be used in place of a Kayser, especially at close range. It's easy to hit shield meshes with the Tempests and the Maxim tears through hull very quickly. I sometimes use this combo in multiplayer instead of a Kayser or Prometheus.

As for the Herc I, many people like it for its quad gun bank, but the gun hardpoints are placed further apart than most other fighters with the quad banks. If you're fighting small, agile ships at close range, especially the thin Vasudan ones, you'll frequently only get two shots to actually hit. The Herc II lacks a quad primary mount but has much tighter hardpoint placements, both primary and secondary (which are equally important if you're using tempests).

[Gamma_Draconis]

If only the Herc II carried on the original Herc's design of having 6 gun hardpoints.

[blowfish]

certainly did a good job of making sure that there is not one ship that you can use for every job.  The Perseus is fast, but doesn't have that much firepower.  The Herc2 has lots of seconaries and armor, but is slow and only has 4 gunpoints.  The Erinyes has 8 gunpoints and reasonable speed, but can't carry a large amount of missiles.  The Ares has 6 guns and lots of seconaries, but is as slow as a slug and maneuvers like a potato (the list goes on).  Nothing really stands out.

[Sandwich]

certainly did a good job of making sure that there is not one ship that you can use for every job.  The Perseus is fast, but doesn't have that much firepower.  The Herc2 has lots of seconaries and armor, but is slow and only has 4 gunpoints.  The Erinyes has 8 gunpoints and reasonable speed, but can't carry a large amount of missiles.  The Ares has 6 guns and lots of seconaries, but is as slow as a slug and maneuvers like a potato (the list goes on).  Nothing really stands out.

Erinyes FTW. I could use that ship in every mission without any problem (aside from specialty, stealth missions or what have you). Give it a loadout of Kaysers and Maxims and you're set.

[blowfish]

I would take the Erinyes for any mission where I don't need a sh*tload of missiles.  Although, when there are a lot of bombers, sometimes it is just easier to sit back and lob trebuchets at them (I would take the Ares in this case).

[Droid803]

8 Kaysers = Rape Everything (provided you have enough weapons energy, and that you can hit them).
Although it IS a whole lot easier to be a missile turret.

[Polpolion]

I would take the Erinyes for any mission where I don't need a sh*tload of missiles.  Although, when there are a lot of bombers, sometimes it is just easier to sit back and lob trebuchets at them (I would take the Ares in this case).

The Enrinyes has a perfectly satisfactory amount of missiles, assuming you don't just waste them frivolously.

[CP5670]

The Enrinyes has a perfectly satisfactory amount of missiles

That is generally not true if you're mainly using Trebuchets as he says. It only carries 11 total. The Erinyes also has its weapon subsystem in a highly vulnerable location and it gets knocked out frequently when you play on higher difficulties, especially if you get hit by enemy fire head on.

Although it's still one of my favorite ships anyway.

[FreeSpaceFreak]

The average Terran fighter (Myrm., Perseus) has a total sec. capacity of only 80 Hornets. The Erinyes can carry 90.

But hell, if you have 8 gunpoints on a fairly maneuverable fighter, what do you need missiles for? The Eri is my favourite too.

[Thanatos45]

If only the Herc II carried on the original Herc's design of having 6 gun hardpoints.

Fly an Ares?

[castor]

Yea, that'd make Herc2 seriously overpowered. I think it could be a bit faster though, without ruining the balance.

[Excalibur]

The Terran Mara is by far the best at fast missile turrets - but I supposed if this was available in the later missions it would make them too easy...

The destructiveness of Kaysers + Tempests is cool, but has limited range. I like Kaysers + Harpoons - you can carry enough missile firepower with allright range and you have good primary firepower, especially if you have an Erinyes.

EDIT: but you need a stealth fighter for Dragons, especially while trying to evade the Basilisks, Ashema, Nahema, Maras and what other red hunks that are trying to kill you with 100 lasers a second following you around...not to mention all the hornets that circle around you all the time. or mabye I'm just crap at those last missions on hard/insane.

[Snail]

The Terran Mara is by far the best at fast missile turrets - but I supposed if this was available in the later missions it would make them too easy...

*cough*only available in one mission*cough*

[Polpolion]

The Enrinyes has a perfectly satisfactory amount of missiles

That is generally not true if you're mainly using Trebuchets as he says. It only carries 11 total. The Erinyes also has its weapon subsystem in a highly vulnerable location and it gets knocked out frequently when you play on higher difficulties, especially if you get hit by enemy fire head on.

He's talking about nonsensical tactics, though. He's just sitting there shooting missiles at things. That's like loading up an enrinyes with circes and going after capitol ships, then saying that the enrinyes sucks.

I can almost garuntee (how the hell do you spell that word?) that'd he'd have just as easy a time on an escort if he just casually strolled around with kaysers and morning stars blasting things (assuming he's a decent shot) if he used the enrinyes.

And most of the times when going after bombers like he described, you never go head on because the hostile bombers are after the ship you're escorting. Even on pure dogfight missions, I personally try to avoid head on combat regardless of what ship I'm in; you don't deal enough damage to make the damage that you suffer worth it. Just fly in the enemy's general direction and corckscrew around them till you get past them, then turn around, and give'm an ass full of laser.

[CP5670]

You obviously haven't played any tough missions if you think that is a "nonsensical tactic." Hitting well armed fighters or bombers with Trebuchets is the preferred strategy in many situations. The online missions STV Gauntlet or The Die is Cast are good examples of this.

Getting close in works well as long as you're facing a relatively weak enemy, and that's what I do most of the time. However, if you have a full wing of powerful enemy fighters (Erinyes with Kaysers for example, or Seraphims) going after you on hard or insane, they are always going to land some shots on you, and it's very common for them to take out the weapons subsystem even before they do any significant hull damage. You have to avoid getting close to them at all until you've reduced them down to one or two ships.

[Shade]

Yeah, the weakness of the weapons subsystem on the Erinyes is the cause for much shouting and swearing for me every time I pick it. It's still a very good ship, easily one of the best, but that weakness is a very serious one indeed when you play on harder difficulties.

[Vip]

The Erinyes has a bit too big butt for my taste, but it's a good ship nevertheless. A nice counterpart to the Ares with those eight primaries. Combo Maxims+Kaysers if you want to attack a capital ship (and you know how to conserve your energy ) or full banks of Subachs for pure dogfight. Full Kaysers configuration is getting quite hard to use even on Medium - no spamming, only short controlled bursts.

Ekhm, anyway, Very Easy is almost like playing with godmode on. Unless you're sitting like a duck, nothing short of a BFRed will kill you. Easy is similar. Medium is my choice at the moment. It is already challenging, but in a positive way. Though I'm thinking about moving to Hard, I guess that it can be quite entertaining to feel that survival isn't that easy there.

One more thing - some missions are actually easier on the higher levels. I guess that not only AI's, but also player's weapons are stronger. On (Very) Easy, I never managed to destroy all four turrets on the Sathanas, because the Helios always left them at like 15% and I had to destroy them via Trebuchets. Then, one day I turned on Medium and on the first try, I destroyed all of them.  Kaysers also seem to be even more deadlier.

[blowfish]

Player weapons don't get stronger with difficulty.

[Vip]

Then explain to me why are Helios dealing more damage on Medium than on Very Easy ?