Pilot Archive
Thread: Importance of upgrading ships
Haven't aced yet, nor gotten very far into 4, so I don't know what else is really great, but I do know that I'm starting to get into mass problems and squeezing everything in is getting quite difficult.
Currently, I've got lvl7 guns, lvl3 reactor, lvl2 engine, lvl2 booster, lvl2 cap, proto armor, lvl7 shields, lvl 7 di, and I've got about 22k mass left. Wanting to add missles and cm now too, but that will require a new reactor, and it's going to be very very tight. New engine would be nice too.
Luckily, I found a great chassis at a bit over 86k mass.
I don't have RotW so I can't use those ships, though that may change.
Read the F.A.Q as in the 2nd or 3rd message down there is a listing of all the ships and their close to max mass, and all the other stats like guns, missles, etc.
It really depends on what you like, and how you fly.
Personally, just looking at the stats, I'd get a heavy 95 then an X, though I don't have RotW, so the Y might be a requirement, as getting any good parts into 12k mass is rather difficult, but doable if you can find/buy/re some good stuff.
Find a decent shield and drop the armor maybe, and find a weapon overload 1/2 and cap overload 1/2 chips with some decent tier 1 weapons may get you though till the X.
Find a shield shunt also, especially if you are going to drop the armor.
Message Edited by Stawei_Idow on 10-16-2005 10:40 AM
Just my opinion. But going from the Z to Y was a step down. Sure you have alot more mass but you can't do anything with it. You have 2 guns but 1 is controlled by the gunner. You also get an additional missile slot. It's a pig with alot of mass and less manuverablity. The ship after that is the Y-Longprobe. Same ship except that the pilot can control both guns. My advice is stick with the Z. Or find a Heavy Z and use that all the way till you can get an X-Wing or even an A-Wing. If you can't find a Heavy Z, see if you can find a player made Z. I've seen them with mass over 12K.
tenspeed
I would have to disagree. The standard Y-Wing, if you understand how to fly it, is a monster in space, especially against NPCs.
That's the better answer for you. You shouldn't always upgrade (well, with the exception perhaps of the Imperial lines) so much as try to understand the difference in ships. Buy a Y-Wing - if you search the bazaar under Misc you should be able to find used chassis cheap. Give it a try. You might find that heavy ships suit your flying style better, especially since at Tier 2 you can fit whatever you want into a Y-Wing and never run out of mass.
If you buy a Heavy Z-95 you will miss out on a lot of what JTL is about, and will have a lot of catch up to play if you ever want to use a different style ship.
I see so many master pilots that have gone the easy way... and well.. they may have the best ships and pretty good equipment... they're pretty ordinary when it comes to actual piloting skills, because they've constantly taken the easy road.
Play the game it's meant to be played! It's challenging! If you can become a killer in a Y-Wing or a Longprobe.. then the day you get an X-Wing,is the day you become very, very dangerous.
I became the loveable A-wing wh*re I am today by taking this route.
I started off with a start Z-95 (almost a year ago) with the intention of hopping into an X-wing a.s.a.p. So I skipped the Y-wing part which was actually innefficient since I did all of tier 1 and 2 with the starter ship with no droid programs until I got the x-wing which I had set up with horrible crafted gear. I kept this ship for a number of months, only discovering droid commands like EO3 etc after I mastered (which took quite a while due to my singleminded wanting to solo everything with no help etc'ness). I then after master took a look at the Y-wing (I still, to this day even though I've mastered all three Alliance squadrons have never touched a Y-wing longprobe even though I know how good they could be) and the A-wing.
Initially, I hate the A-wing with a ferverent passion. The mass was far too low and I couldn't see how it could kill a tier 2 ship let alone a tier 5. So I stuck with the X-wing even though for a long time I truly sucked with it and I had people telling me to try an A-wing if I wanted to pvp.
So about four months prior to ROTW release (might have been less even), I try out an A-wing, my ideas and knowledge a little sharper when it came to reverse engineering etc now. The first setup was awful and so was the second though since I was using EO3 at the time and knew my equipment wasn't the best it could be, I kept working at it slowly unlocking the ships potential.
About a month or two prior to ROTW, I'd figured out how to get EO4 working along with some other better commands and was flying the A-wing soley for pvp and the X-wing for pve/pvp. Just before ROTW came out, I decided to focus soley on the A-wing and havn't looked back.
In this time I've completed all three Imperial squadrons on my alt (oh going Imp helped me get in the mood for an A-wing due to Imperial ship's lesser masses until the T/A) and I've done RSF too and the other two Rebel squadrons. My favourite experience will always be my first mastery (Havoc sqdrn) and oh I tried a B-wing for ten minutes too. The chemistry wasn't there though so I ditched it even though I know some people, those who like slower, 'tank' ships can be awesome with them.
I know this all sounds alittle off topic, but the point is, if you experiment and learn through experience while heading for ships which you're interested in performance wise, you'll eventually find the right ship for you and if you learn your ships right, you'll become a much better pilot.
I love the A-wing and even though I have a nice setup on it currently, I strive to improve it still.