Topic: Observations on flying a fed ship from a NON fed pilot

[FPF-Tobin Dax]

F torp, no holding cost. 2 more photons? Forget doing speed 31 in your BCJ with 6 normals armed.

[GDA-S'Cipio]

F torp, no holding cost.

You get what you pay for.   

-S'Cipio

[Corbomite]

Who'd trade a photon for an F torp?  Personally, I think you guys are just jealous of my big plasma launcher.

-S'Cipio

Lets see, at range 5 it does more than an OL Photon, at range 10 it does one less than an OL Photon (and can hit at range 10), always hits, has a better firing arc, holds for nothing, charges for cheaper than a normal Photon and has Pseudo Torps. The only advantage to the Photon is faster arming and range on the Proxies.

I think the question is who wouldn't trade a Photon for a Plasma F.

[Nemesis]

                                                         
*lashes out with Force lightning*  KZZOT!  Get back in that CC+ and move that phaser capacitor like your life depended on it!!

CC+?  I'm in a F-DDL+ you insensitive clod!


                           

I knew there was a real pilot out there somewhere. Flown correctly the DDL+ is one of the best Fed buddy ships in the early Mid Era.

I just like the small ships .  Mostly I fly alone.

Link to F-DDL vs K-CC+ fight

[GDA-S'Cipio]

Who'd trade a photon for an F torp?  Personally, I think you guys are just jealous of my big plasma launcher.

-S'Cipio

Lets see, at range 5 it does more than an OL Photon,

Only on a stationary target.  At range 5, it often ends up doing zero damage to target.

at range 10 it does one less than an OL Photon (and can hit at range 10),

See notes on range 5.  At range 10, you aren't going to hit anything that hasn't decided it wants to be hit.  (Which can happen, since the target knows you are going to take a while in reloading.)  And if he really has decided he wants to be hit, maybe you should wait for him to finish closing to a lot less than 10.

The only advantage to the Photon is faster arming and range on the Proxies.

And the ability to hit a departing target, and the ability to hit a target regardless of his speed, and the ability to hit when a weasel is out.  And the ability to (seldom) hit without a lock.

-S'Cipio

[Julin Eurthyr]

Observations of the Froggy...

Phasers:  What's with all this funky LS / RS stuff?  Why is it that I need to centerline a target to get most of my phasers to fire?  As an ISC captain, I'm used to having my 8 Ph-1s available throughout the entire forward arc.  Nothing like taking an oblique approach (D7-school saberdance) and watching all the Ph-1s fire...  Granted, the extra Ph-1s to the rear are useful for drone evasion etc., but Feds typically have AMD to cover that issue...
By the way, what's so wrong with the Ph-3?  I like 3 on each side, I can typically snuff a released scatterpack on the centerline with the wing Ph-3s and maybe a couple of Ph-1s...

Photons:  They'd probably be niftier if the Federation adapted ISC phaser-arcs or got better hit ratios.  I've found that my photon usage is more as an accelerator than anything.  Getting into a fight, I fire photons at every good opportunity (ie, when I get the enemy in arc and a decent range bracket).  It's nice when I land 3 of 4 or 4 of 4, but sucks when I land 0 or 1, even on a 0-shift at range 4...  Therefore, I find my primary method of combat to be the saber-dance-esque phaser-boat maneuver, and then I wonder why I can't get my starboard phasers to fire through the front of my #6...

Drones / Scatterpacks:  I really need to learn the timing of these things, most of the time they either wouid have deployed too close (cause they were destroyed en-route), or I don't get a chance to tractor the enemy and therefore they weasel once it pops.  Once I sucked the phaser fire out of the target, dropped a scatter at close range, and it popped right on the enemy's shield line causing lots of instant damage...

Did I mention I really miss the fact that all my Ph-1s work in the FA arc... ???

[Father Ted]

Master Julin, welcome to the wonderful world of the Federation. And their ships. These are not the easiest ships in the Alpha Quadrant to fly, but when you do fly them right, whoa Nelly! They'll unleash a 55 gallon drum of industrial strength Whoop-Ass on whoever is flying against them.

It takes patience and practice to learn the art of flying any race's ship. That goes for Feds as well as Klink, or Hydran or Rom or anybody else. Feds have a lousy turn rate, slow recharge, and some of their best ships can't HET. But next to a Gorn, they can take a lickin' and keep on tickin' with any ship out there. 

[Julin Eurthyr]

Here's some shockers:

The Fed ships, for the most part, turn identically to ISC ships.  F-CA (and variants) all have the same turn mode as the I-CA/CC lines, that of Turn Mode D.  The CL / NCL family shares the I-CL / CM's turn mode, C.

Of course, ISC ships are in much higher BPV brackets (ie, the Turn Mode D I-CCZ is a 229 BPV ship while the Turn Mode D I-CB is a 175-ish ship...) but the actual rate of turn is not a tremendous issue to me, I'm accustomed to those turn rates...

As S'cippy so elequently pointed out, Photon charge times are faster than the Plasma Torpedoes, and are identical to that of the PPD.  So charge time isn't an issue.

Obviously, compared to the power hungry (and with engines to supply them) plasma ships, the lower power (I'm used to 40-44 power on a CA hull, not 36-38) shocks me occasionally, but I'm also not used to flying 31 all the time (I-CCZ can barely make .6 loading all weapons with ECM 4...), so the speeds attainable under various loads are comprable...

I thought this thread was a nifty place to point out what people are noticing while flying "foreign" ships, and since we've had Klink and Gorn, I figured the ISC viewpoint would be helpful...

(And it proves that I do fly other than cheese every chance I get... )

[Father Ted]

Oh baby, don't give me those negative waves! ;P

It requires timing in a Fed ship to do the nasty things you need to do. If you want, log on to the server, and run a wing with me. I'll show you how a Fed kills those simps...

[Corbomite]

Who'd trade a photon for an F torp?  Personally, I think you guys are just jealous of my big plasma launcher.

-S'Cipio

Lets see, at range 5 it does more than an OL Photon,

Only on a stationary target.  At range 5, it often ends up doing zero damage to target.

at range 10 it does one less than an OL Photon (and can hit at range 10),

See notes on range 5.  At range 10, you aren't going to hit anything that hasn't decided it wants to be hit.  (Which can happen, since the target knows you are going to take a while in reloading.)  And if he really has decided he wants to be hit, maybe you should wait for him to finish closing to a lot less than 10.

The only advantage to the Photon is faster arming and range on the Proxies.

And the ability to hit a departing target, and the ability to hit a target regardless of his speed, and the ability to hit when a weasel is out.  And the ability to (seldom) hit without a lock.

-S'Cipio

Sounds to me like you're not using it right.

[762_XC]

If you already have 4 photons, you'd be happy to take the F-torps.

If all you have is plasma, you'd kill for some photons.

Seems simple enough to me.

[Corbomite]

If you already have 4 photons, you'd be happy to take the F-torps.

If all you have is plasma, you'd kill for some photons.

Seems simple enough to me.

Well thank you Darth Obvious. I don't think anyone realized we were talking about the merits of different loadouts on Federation BCH's in a thread about the merits and demerits of Federation ships. 

[FPF-DieHard]

Darth Obvious!!!! 

[Capt_Bearslayer_XC]

*snicker*

[GDA-Agave]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

I'm going nuts.   Man do I suck in Fed ships in PvP missions.  (as DH can surely attest to)

The only time I have fought effectively was in the nebula, or against a opponent with a smaller ship!  (or both)   Imagine that!   

Sheesh...........this is so frustrating!!   

Oh well, I'll just keep trying.   At least I'm good for placing bases.   


DarthSalacious

[el-Karnak]

Messa muy, muy  likes the F-BCF. 

It even won't break down when I hit the HET button.

[Barack Beard]

Well thank you Darth Obvious.

+1 Karma for that one