[Excalibur]

Very Easy is the level to do all your ram attacks in - very funny to see the enemy go spiraling off into the distance after being hit by a ship with 5 times the amount of hit points it should have...

[Droid803]

I play on the default, whatever it is, since I never figured out how to change the difficulty. 

[blowfish]

I play on the default, whatever it is, since I never figured out how to change the difficulty. 

Its not that hard   Go to options (in the default main hall click on the guy sitting near you with his back turned).  Its near the top right corner of the screen, under "Skill Level"

Anyway, I play on Easy.  Its fun to do insane suicide stunts and come out alive.

[Droid803]

Yes. Now to play on insane to feed my masochistic tendencies!

[Cobra]

You've never played on Insane before, have you? The enemy is deadly accurate. They manage to shoot me while I'm trying to evade them.

[Gamma_Draconis]

You've never played on Insane before, have you? The enemy is deadly accurate. They manage to shoot me while I'm trying to evade them.

Scratch that. The enemy can sometimes shoot better than I on Insane. Not to mention your AI wingmen have a tendency to get owned by supposity "inferior spacecrafts." I mean come on, I lose 2-3 wingmen against a wing of enemy Hercs despite the fact that I had nearly twice their number. It takes of dedication to play the game on insane or just the skills of a real ace pilot.

[Cobra]

I actually used to play FS1 on Insane all the time. Got up to the rank of Commodore, too. But then I quit playing it for a while and now I suck.

[Mustang19]

Scratch that. The enemy can sometimes shoot better than I on Insane. Not to mention your AI wingmen have a tendency to get owned by supposity "inferior spacecrafts." I mean come on, I lose 2-3 wingmen against a wing of enemy Hercs despite the fact that I had nearly twice their number. It takes of dedication to play the game on insane or just the skills of a real ace pilot.

The Herc I is not an obsolete spacecraft, in fact it's better than the Herc II in a head-on pass. It sucks when the NTF uses it because the NTF fighters are forced to carry crappy Prometheus R's for play balance (in the Volition missions).

[Admiral_Stones]

Herc I FTW.
IMO, for a newer model to replace an older one, it has to be superior in every aspect.  Now, even the Perseus has the same offensive capabilities (when you always go after HL-7 or Kayser like me).
This is why I never do Herc MK II.

[Snail]

You're only looking on the surface. The Herc2 can carry Maxims and Kaysers, the Perseus can't, and the Herc2 has far more missile capacity than either the Perseus or the original Herc. Plus the Herc2 is faster.

[Cobra]

Only faster by 10 m/s, but you are right.

[blowfish]

Actually just by 5 m/s (I don't know about afterburner).  And the Perseus can carry Kaysers.  The thing that annoyed me about the Herc 2 was its lack of serious primary firepower.

[Cobra]

Fire rate, dude. Fire rate.

[Admiral_Stones]

You're only looking on the surface. The Herc2 can carry Maxims and Kaysers, the Perseus can't, and the Herc2 has far more missile capacity than either the Perseus or the original Herc. Plus the Herc2 is faster.

Why would anyone want to use Maxims.

/EDIT: Well ok, if one want to rape capships at tremondous range, but it hasn't much use elsewhere. And a circe-maxim combo seems jumpy, with all this shuddering it's hard to keep aim on swift shivan fighters.

[Snail]

So you've never used the Maxim in your life?

[blowfish]

The Maxim is for sniping capships.  I'd have to agree about a circe/maxim combo being difficult to use.  Another use I find for the maxim is when you are trying to take out bombers like Seraphims at long range, but dual trebs aren't enough to kill them.  After the missiles hit, the shields are usually weak enough for maxims to get through and to the hull.

[Admiral_Stones]

I tried. Well, maybe I should give it another chance on another craft than this crappy Serapis I was given in the mission where you have to destroy these shivan gas miners.
They really did perform well in that, though.

[Snail]

I use the Maxim a lot. I mean, Kayser + Maxim = Win.

[blowfish]

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).

[FreeSpaceFreak]

I use the Maxim a lot. I mean, Kayser + Maxim = Win.

QFT. Or Kaysers and Subachs, if you don't meet capships. You can use them all at the same time