Pilot Archive
Thread: Dogfighting in a B-Wing...insane or brilliant?
I'd like to point out that if the DEVs EVER DECIDE to give the pilots the option of a weapon convergence distance...
the Bwing will be nerfed... BIG TIME. 
I have no experience with the BWing yet... (my 2nd acct is 4433 reb pilot) but I do have experience with the TIE Bomber which is similair in the way it flys.
I have noticed that at around 75% throttle I get the best turning radius (still huge!) but this actually fits perfectly for a bomber. We went out and beat Lord Cyssk last night. I was flying my bomber and noticed that for PvE missions at least there's some classic manuevors that made the TIE Bomber quite effective.
"Boom and Zoom": At around 1500m from the target I get lined up and cycle to the component I want to hit. Then it's full throttle straight towards them. Of course be sure to spiral and jink on your way in. At about 750m from the target decrease speed to around 650-700 to allow your missles a good lock. As soon as you hear tone let a missle loose, pull hard back to around 75degree's and fire off the booster. Your front shields take a beating with this method but if you have Cap to Shield shunt 4 you should be fine.
Bonuses to using a BWing/TIE Bomber: You get more armor, better shieldsand can carry at least 2 spacebomb II launchers. So after putting 8 Spacebombs into the gunboats it was time to switch to guns.
"BlitzKreig": So out of missles and shields blinking in and out it was time to get a bit closer to the target. Same as before I would line up and select my component. Then it was time for ramming speed! Due to increased mass I was carrying two guns with 3800pts of damage or higher each. Throw on Weap overload 3/cap overload three... very nasty! So, I would set my path a bit below the target similair to the way the Germans targetted B-17's. At max speed I would get to about 1000m below the target before making a hard turn into a climb below their belly. Soon as I got within 700m I open fire.
Cruising straight at the targte is going to get you hurt though because you can't just fly through corvettes and Cyssk like you cab a gunboat. So I would actually climb straight at them and exit from one of their sides instead of directly in front or behind. Of course soon as you get past the target boost out and avoid incoming fire.
These two methods work extremely well for Capital ships and "big nasties". In terms of Fighters and PvP, your missles are your life. Especially since many pilots forget to load counter-measures or don't have the mass for it. Also your increased armor/shield help alot. You will survive a head on engagement 75% of the time where as a snub-fighter will survive maybe 10-15% of the time. Remember many pilots have to skimp on either guns, missles, shields or countermeasures in their JSF/AWing/Intercepter. So one of the best ways to take them down is by taking advantage of that.
/bowRespectfully
(Personally, one of the few reasons I got a 2nd account is just to fly the BWing. Another way to reduce the over-turning is to roll the opposite direction at the end of each turn. Can't wait to get one for my Reb.. but for now I'll stick to Classic TIE's)
PD i use (and allways will use) an X Wing (and not the advanced) so i´m not whining
psikobunny wrote:
I've been refusing to unpack my Bwing until the wing bug is fixed.
Yup.
Saying that though, I know two pilots on Bria, one of which I think has left though 
, who were awesome in B-wings. If they're flown right, they're good for pvp too from what I've seen. Personally, I'm too scared to touch one with a bargepole..but I've seen good results with them.
The Adv X-Wing is better overall, no doubt. But that's because it's an unbalanced ROTW ship. Either remove the 3rd weapon slot on it or lower the mass to 140-150.
ROTW ships ruinspace
The other thing about the B-Wing is mass...
250k seems like a lot. A LOT. Right? But truth is, I've had as much trouble filling up my B-Wing with components as I have with any other ship.
It needs good protection since it's so large and slow. That means heavy shields and potentially armor.
Gonna need a decent sized reactor for such a large ship too.
Worst of all though, is weapons. 4 weapon slots?! It sounds great, but that easily eats up most of the mass (if you were to use all level 8's it would be around 120k mass, if you were to use all level 10's it'd be around 160k). Add in two more ordnance slots for another 30-40k.
Gonna need a nice capacitor too, since all those weapons are gonna drain the capacitor very fast (though no with CO running), but more importantly gonna need high energy to refill those shields with Shunt.
The kicker is the engine. You need an engine with good Y/P and, surprisingly, R (the B-Wing rolls so slow innately that it's useless, so it's nice to have a decent R value). If you can manage this with a low-mass engine, such as an RE'd Nyms reward engine, then you're set, but otherwise the engine is gonna take up a big chunk of mass too.
I haven't tweaked it in a while, and I'm still working on RE'ing a couple of top-of-the-line parts, but I usually only fly with 3 weapons (the 4th, and bottom, weapon is further out compared to the other 3, so it has the greatest chance to miss too) at 4200, 3600, 3000, and no ordnance, or for Corvette runs I load up two spacebomb launchers and stick with 4200, 3000.
RE a few weapons though, RE shields, RE an awesome engine, RE a nice capacitor, get some low-mass ordnance in there and wow, you've got yourself one killer machine.
I'm glad to see that the thread I started has inspired so many. I agree though that the Adv X-Wing is a little too powerful, but like the pilot before me just said, ya just gotta study it for flaws. Everything has a flaw, ya just gotta find it. Keep the ideas coming ya'all. I'm taking notes.....are you?
Joshua Stormlighter
Enclave
Chilastra Server
Feynan wrote:
The Adv X-Wing is better overall, no doubt. But that's because it's an unbalanced ROTW ship. Either remove the 3rd weapon slot on it or lower the mass to 140-150.
ROTW ships ruinspace
How can you possibly remove the 3rd weapon slot on a Heavy X-wing, when the basic model has a 3rd weapon slot? If it was to be nerfed, then it's a drop in mass to bring it in line. I own both ships, and they both have their roles. I tend to use my B-wing for hard missions like the Lord Cyssk Mission. I can lay down some serious fire on the cruisers, and can even manage the ARC/B-22's with my 79.2, 81.1, 85.5 PYR 91.2 engine
and at 40k mass it leaves me room for 1900 shields and 2k armour with planty of firepower in my cannons to put the willies up any pilot who think they can have a go
Kirkmeister wrote:
Feynan wrote:
The Adv X-Wing is better overall, no doubt. But that's because it's an unbalanced ROTW ship. Either remove the 3rd weapon slot on it or lower the mass to 140-150.
ROTW ships ruinspace
How can you possibly remove the 3rd weapon slot on a Heavy X-wing, when the basic model has a 3rd weapon slot? If it was to be nerfed, then it's a drop in mass to bring it in line. I own both ships, and they both have their roles. I tend to use my B-wing for hard missions like the Lord Cyssk Mission. I can lay down some serious fire on the cruisers, and can even manage the ARC/B-22's with my 79.2, 81.1, 85.5 PYR 91.2 engine
Does the basic model also have sidestrakes and extra mass? The Adv. X-Wing is supposed to be different.
I'm not saying it's the best option, but it's an option.