[Commander Zane]

Well I didn't get beam ganked on Blue Planet at all so I can't say for myself, though as you're part of the Blue Planet team itself, but I don't think it was yet done for MediaVPs.

I've seen it happen on every build since I started playing FSO, the earliest one I don't remember.

Probably, I am playing Second Great War Part II after all.

[General Battuta]

The issue had to do (as I understand it) with the expanded size of many of the MediaVPs beams effect, including a sometimes-invisible 'fringe' that could still damage.

A new table entry sets the beam's radius, preventing this.

[Vrets]

I wouldn't get into a furball with any vasudan fighter.
They're made of paper.

No, no, I won't hear it!

The Tauret has more armour than the Herc II.

As to its other qualities, The Herc II has superior shields but the Tauret is faster, has more guns, and has a slightly superior missile capacity.

[Commander Zane]

The Herc II has better maneuverability in the X and Z axis and has vastly greater energy reserves.

Not to mention Maxim compatability, which better gives the Herc II its assault edge.

[Timerlane]

But leaves it incapable of pulling its weight against fighters without relying on secondaries. Admittedly, you need to divert some power to guns to do any sustained firing of 6 Prom-S, but the Tauret's still probably better for "Terran" tastes than any other Vasudan fighter(other than maybe the Seth).

Really, for me, anything that can carry the Prom-S can still outrange all relevant non-beam turret guns, and the Tauret can carry up to 26 Trebs to do nearly all of what you would want to do with Maxims. I'd still generally prefer a Myrm, Erinyes or Ares, but it's certainly quite serviceable.

[Commander Zane]

Tempests with a Kayser or Prometheus bank goes a long way, I don't need to worry about sacrificing primary combat capability (Actually a playthrough of the FreeSpace 2 campaign using a bank of Tempests on every mission minus bombing missions reusulted in getting an additional 166 kills).

Plus the Maxim compliments the Trebuchet very well actually, rather than waste them all on one target's subsystem I can whittle it down to enough integrity that I only need one or two missiles to finally destroy the weapon or subsystem.

[Timerlane]

Sacrificing half your sizable secondary payload just to cover fighters, and considering they only reach out to 650m? Certainly not optimal, IMO; with half your missiles dedicated there, you're only got about as much 'mission' payload left as a Myrm, Erinyes or Perseus(and you're slower, to boot).

If you have no other choice, sure, but personally, I'd take almost anything else first(I'd also note the Loki's there if one needs a really fast pair of Maxims on a moderately durable frame, and still with the energy output to back it up).

[General Battuta]

Sacrificing half your sizable secondary payload just to cover fighters, and considering they only reach out to 650m?

Are we talking Tempests here? Because they're pretty much the best secondary out there.

[Commander Zane]

Sacrificing half your sizable secondary payload just to cover fighters, and considering they only reach out to 650m? Certainly not optimal, IMO; with half your missiles dedicated there, you're only got about as much 'mission' payload left as a Myrm, Erinyes or Perseus(and you're slower, to boot).

If you have no other choice, sure, but personally, I'd take almost anything else first(I'd also note the Loki's there if one needs a really fast pair of Maxims on a moderately durable frame, and still with the energy output to back it up).

You must not be all that good at flying then, since I obliterated Fighters, Bombers, and Cruisers alike regardless of what I flew with a bank of Tempests with my other slot fitting whatever else I deemed would be most necessary for specalized combat occurances. I'm not exactly the greatest either, but I've never got little more than 500 kills on Very Easy, then I play Medium, slap Fury's AI on the game, toss Tempests on my ship and suddenly I have 662 kills at the end of a single playthrough.

All in all, I blame Inferno and those blasted Hurricanes. So much spammy awesomeness.
**** I think that espresso is taking full effect...

[Droid803]

If you think tempests are bad, you don't know how to aim

They have a higher DPS and damage per unit size against armor of any secondary Helios save the Helios (yes, a bank of Tempests deals more damage than a bank of Cyclops, and does it faster!), and a higher DPS and damage per unit size against shields of all secondaries.

[Timerlane]

For a light or mid fighter? Yes. But not what I'd put on something as slow as a Herc-series craft.

For my money, a heavy fighter had better be prepared to fight at long/long-ish range, or be ready to give a serious beatdown at point blank, but the latter can certainly be avoided if your more-mobile opponent doesn't want to go there.

My point, though, is that you're basically undermining one of the main reasons to pick a heavy assault fighter(huge missile capacity), by compensating for the primary firepower lackings of that heavy assault fighter.

[General Battuta]

For a light or mid fighter? Yes. But not what I'd put on something as slow as a Herc-series craft.

For my money, a heavy fighter had better be prepared to fight at long/long-ish range, or be ready to give a serious beatdown at point blank, but the latter can certainly be avoided if your more-mobile opponent doesn't want to go there.

My point, though, is that you're basically undermining one of the main reasons to pick a heavy assault fighter(huge missile capacity), by compensating for the primary firepower lackings of that heavy assault fighter.

Yeah, but if you put Tempests on a heavy assault, you get more Tempests, which means more ass-kicking.

There are times for Trebs or Tornadoes or Harpoons, but the Tempest is never a bad choice and is arguably better than all of them in most situations.

[Commander Zane]

Unless you're playing Forced Entry...

[Klaustrophobia]

i believe one of their points is that the tempest CAN fill the heavy assault role in that it lays waste to cruisers.  

personally i rarely use them.  i find that if i'm in the range where they would be useful, i don't need them.  i can usually kill fighters faster with guns only than try to do the aiming balance between the guns and missiles.  for some reason i start aiming like a retard when i use tempest.  maybe it's the extra button press making stick motion more awkward.  anyway, i prefer extra of the longer range harpoons or tornados so i can still get them when they are out of guns range.  or i want a fast OHK with a double shot in say a head-on swarm.

[CP5670]

Tempests are excellent. I use them in almost every mission. They are like a primary weapon and can be used alongside a primary, but without the fire rate penalty you get by linking two primaries.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

And don't forget that, because they're small, they can be refilled very quickly.

Ever since I learned how useful the Tempest is, I've taken a liking to short-range dumbfire missiles in any mod.

[Mongoose]

If you think tempests are bad, you don't know how to aim

Which is exactly why I never use them.

[Timerlane]

They are pretty much essential to the Pegasus(and the firing points are probably the best of any canon ship for them). I tend to use them to boost the firepower of quick four-gun fighters, though I find it a little annoying when the missile firing ports are A. all on one side for a single bank(Erinyes, Herc I, Seth, Horus, etc), or B. otherwise not set up to fire from both sides at once in double-fire mode(Perseus being a notable example; Loki, too, but it has only six ports, so it'll cycle through quickly enough).

That is at least one thing the Herc II and Ares do have right for Tempest usage.

[Commander Zane]

...or i want a fast OHK with a double shot in say a head-on swarm.

But...that's a Two-Hit Kill.

[Marcov]

Also, I really don't like the Boanerges. Given a choice between that and an Ursa, I'll take an Ursa every time. The capability to carry a couple more bombs and a somewhat higher top speed does not excuse the other weaknesses of the design, namely the pathetic gun banks and Mayflower-esque handling. [Edit]: How could I forget the lack of a turret!?

Hey, you reminded me, for some reason I was allowed to use an URSA in the "Slaying Ravana" mission.

Don't know why, but this time I feel it's extremely hard to destroy the Ravana with all those Shivan fighters pestering you while you try to target one of the Ravana's turrets just to fire a friggin' Cyclops (hey, why not just fire it DIRECTLY where you want it, instead of wasting time trying to target?), and I just realized that flying an Ursa can rid those pests with the TURRET  
Well, as for the complaints, one would be: Why no Hull-repairs, at least like the one in Procyon Insurgency? I could handle the campaign, but I can get very frustrated whenever I die!!! Second, the Shivan Basilisk fighter seems to slow and unmanuverable....they are the easiest fighters to destroy in the whole FreeSpace universe. Third, the Dragon is too badass....one time it took me like 10 minutes of dogfighting (until I actually CHEATED) just to rid a Dragon. Fourth, and finally (at least for this comment), the targetting problems. I wish you could choose an option to fire "Tempest syle" or "Helios style". LIke I said, I wasted too much time just trying to target a capital's turrets just to fire a missile.