[QuantumDelta]

I just said GTA bomber launched bombs.

The absolute lack of bomber employment in any fashion against any capital ship you see in the game up to the point where you get the Tsunami, other than a capture mission (Taranis) would suggest.
The Zods show up with the Osiris in the early missions.. they seem pretty common, but the GTA never even mention it.

[Hades]

I just said GTA bomber launched bombs.

The absolute lack of bomber employment in any fashion against any capital ship you see in the game up to the point where you get the Tsunami, other than a capture mission (Taranis) would suggest.
The Zods show up with the Osiris in the early missions.. they seem pretty common, but the GTA never even mention it.

You never really go on any missions that'd require bombers up to the point of the Tsunami introduction.

[Insomniac34]

The Myrmidon is the ultimate multirole fighter. It doesn't excel at any one thing, but it can carry a good primary loadout of Prom S/UD-8s, can carry Helios torpedoes, and tornadoes. A wing or 2 of Myrmidons can shred an enemy CAP and proceed to bring down capital ships with its Helios torpedoes.

That said, nothing is better then the Herc II.

[Marcov]

Carrying Helii on a Myrmidon is about as unrealistic as fitting a Boeing 747 in a jeep.

That said, on Insane it's a nightmare to fly on a Myrm; the only flaw (and it's a major one) is the large target profile. Anything else, it actually excels at, with decent firepower (more than Herc II/Ulysses), average speed, okay hitpoints, fine secondary loadout.

Terran Mara of course, hands down. Super-Fighter. Period.

[Commander Zane]

I'll bite.

The Apollo and Athena. They both have amazing aesthetics (They're beautiful ships, simple as that), very good primary shot groups (The Apollo is like the Pyro GX's Quad Lasers, who wouldn't like that?), have good performance, and they're pretty damn tough. While the Apollo's secondary placement is less than favorable the Athena has a tighter placement of secondaries and has a good missile capacity for prolonged rocket strikes. As mentioned it is a bomber fast enough to effectively dogfight, which is true to the point where the Athena is closer to a multirole vessel than most other fighters and bombers.

[Hades]

The Athena has terrible maneuverability, gun placement doesn't mean **** when you can't turn fast enough to hit what you're trying to kill.

The Apollo, however, is a wonderful ship. It even turns faster than the Valk.

[Commander Zane]

I don't have too many problems hitting stuff with an Athena, in fact I tend to make it a practice to take out fighters even in heavier bombers since they'll simply slaughter all the allied bombers before whatever capital ship needing to be destroyed is even touched.

[Enigmatic Entity]

Same, it's good that the AI isn't smart enough to figure out which guy is trying to be a fighter while flying a bomber, otherwise the entire escort wing would just sit there and blast you without trying to get right behind you first...

[Thaeris]

Herc II.

Give me 400 Tempests, a load of Harpoons, a set of Kaysers and a set of Maxims, and your Shivan problem will be solved.

[Pred the Penguin]

Apollo, just cause I like how it looks. I even fly it late in to the vanilla campaign.

[Black Wolf]

I'm going to throw some love to the Myrmidon. It's stats are middle of the road, sure, and it can't take the Harpoon, but with the correct loadout, it's a potent machine when your tech level is limited (i.e. early in campaigns). That third bank is what makes the difference - with 160 Tempests to pump out damage on smaller caps (and for dogfighting), 5 rockeyes for long range sniping and 16 Tornadoes for dogfighting peskier opponents, the Myrmy can do a little of everything with one loadout, which is something that no other fighter can do - at least, until you get access to some late game weapons like the Maxim. I like that.

My favourite, though, is either the Sekhmet or the Ares, because I'm bomber jock at heart, and I just love solving problems by throwing high explosives at them.

[EDIT]Oh, almost forgot - where firepower isn;t an option (dogfighting, I guess) then I love the handling on the Thoth. It's the perfect balance of rot/damp, turning peed and acceleration that it feels like it goes exactly where you point it - no sluggishness, no jerkiness, no overshoot.

[Thaeris]

As an attack pilot, I give my respects to yonder bomber scruffs.

[Hades]

Herc II.

Give me 400 Tempests, a load of Harpoons, a set of Kaysers and a set of Maxims, and your Shivan problem will be solved.

Except when something faster than an assault fighter comes in, then you're ****ed. Same for a Myrm pilot.

[Snail]

Or even someone with Lampreys.

No weapons energy + Kayser/Maxim = Sad Panda

[Destiny]

Hey, an Ares can outlast most canon fighters in ramming competitions with max impulse!






...probably.

[Hades]

Hey, an Ares can outlast most canon fighters in ramming competitions with max impulse!






...probably.

Doesn't matter when you're not fast enough to ram them.

[Commander Zane]

Three posts on the same page whining about slowness from the same person.

[MatthTheGeek]

Doesn't matter when you're not fast enough to ram them.

Your speed doesn't matter. The speed of the poor enemy AI failing to evade does

[Pred the Penguin]

Unless you're trying to ram a Dragon...

[NGTM-1R]

Unless you're trying to ram a Dragon...

Not terribly difficult, it will usually ram you.