Pilot Archive
Thread: Should I get an A-Wing?
Bkiddin wrote:
right now im just beginning tier 4, im wondering if i should get the a-wing. alot of people say that it has too low mass.
Depends on your piloting style, if you like to hit and run and dodge and weave then the Awing is for you. If your looking to put massive firepower downrange in the form of 3 blaster then the Xwing is for you. The Xwing is a ver capable craft even on tier 5 things. The Awing takes a little more finesse to kill things because you need to do alot of zigging and zagging. Plus the 1 blaster hardpoint is a factor. I managed to cram a 3200 damage cannon in my Awing but it still didnt feel as effective in combat as my Xwing. Its all your preference, I would get one and try it out.
IMO the awing is THE ultimate ship in the game. it may not pack a huge punch, but you fly literaly right on your enemy's tail so while your not firing as many shots at your target, you are getting almost the same number of hits since your accuracy goes way up.
you also cant mount a huge shield but thats not really needed since you dont take as much fire, and if you do start getting lit up, you can run away easily and come back after you recharge.
the real trick to using an awing right (or any ship really) is to know what parts to use.
my loadout consists of:
lvl3 reactor, really nice 14k output for its mass (i could go smaller here but i would have to use reactor overload)
lvl6 engine, prenerf 92.2 re'd to 95.9 and 10k mass
lvl7 shield, crafted
lvl2 cap, re'd, 39 recharge 919 energy
lvl3 armor, crafted, two sheets at 2k mass each
lvl1 droid interface, 500 mass, 14 speed
lvl1 booster, 700 mass, 15 speed, exists only by name
lvl8 gun, its the tier4 exit reward re'd to 25.5k mass
chaff launcher, 1k mass
also make sure you run droid commands, one thing you can do that REALLY makes the awing shine is to use cap overload and cap to shield shunt 3 with a low speed interface. combining the low profile of the awing with the ability to recharge shields often using your cap you become more or less invulnerable vs npcs. with my 14 speed D.I. i can run the command every 14 seconds which will recharge around 300 front and 300 back, effectivly multiplying my shield recharge rate. i can go straight into a group of 15 tier5 ties and start wailing on them while i recharge as fast as they hit me. this is something i have have never seen done in any other ship. its almost like i can tank in my awing, not because it can absorb huge ammounts of damage, but because it can get shot at and not get hit too much and the hits it does take it can recharge since i only have one gun and im not stressing my cap.
basicly you have to thing in terms of what you can and cannot do with the ship you are considering flying. there are only a few things you really need to be able to do that are vastly different roles.
1. kill NPC fighters
2. kill NPC tie agressors (i consider these little $#!%s to be in a class of their own)
3. kill NPC gunboats
4. kill NPC capital ships
5. PVP
for killing ai fighters, nothing else compares, there is no question here the awing in king. when it comes to the tie-ag, other ships like the longprobe might be a better choice since you can joust and just pound em with sheer firepower, but the awing with a nice lvl8 gun, a pilot that can aim, and the CtSS3 command can eat agressors alive. gunboats might take longer in an awing, but you are better able to get into the blindspots and evade if it starts manuvering; the awing is no worse off your just gonna be there a bit longer. agianst capital ships the awing is king, you dont have to do much dmg to take out components so all that matters here is your survivabilty and your manuverability, nothing else can match the awing in those departments. pvp is another no brainer, i almost feel sorry for the poor little imps (well, mabee not).
i suggest you learn to fly the awing, since the awing can do it all. it may not be the best ship for everything, but it is the best ship for most things and comes in at a close second for the rest. the sacrifices of flying a low mass ship are far outweighed by the advantages imo. but still in the end it depends on your style. if all you want to do is sit still and turret NPCs as they fly past you, look no further than the longprobe (my choise for this), or the bwing. but if you like to FLY than the awing is for you.
when i take my awing up i dont feel like im climbing into a ship, its more like strapping it onto my back. the other ships you climb aboard and control, whereas the awing becomes an extension of your body
Message Edited by S-1-l2-H-C on 12-23-2004 10:42 PM
S-1-l2-H-C wrote:
i was like most of you the first time i took my awing out, i prompty de-equiped it and flew my xwing agian for a while. i started the rest of my tier4 missions in my xwing and got to one where i was swarmed by fighters and kept getting killed (i was a noobie back then). then one of my guildies said to try it in my awing and i thought you have to be joking? 1/3 the firepower and im gonna do better? i tried it agian and went through the mission like it was nothing, they just werent hitting me anywhere near as much.
IMO the awing is THE ultimate ship in the game. it may not pack a huge punch, but you fly literaly right on your enemy's tail so while your not firing as many shots at your target, you are getting almost the same number of hits since your accuracy goes way up.
you also cant mount a huge shield but thats not really needed since you dont take as much fire, and if you do start getting lit up, you can run away easily and come back after you recharge.
the real trick to using an awing right (or any ship really) is to know what parts to use.
my loadout consists of:
lvl3 reactor, really nice 14k output for its mass (i could go smaller here but i would have to use reactor overload)
lvl6 engine, prenerf 92.2 re'd to 95.9 and 10k mass
lvl7 shield, crafted
lvl2 cap, re'd, 39 recharge 919 energy
lvl3 armor, crafted, two sheets at 2k mass each
lvl1 droid interface, 500 mass, 14 speed
lvl1 booster, 700 mass, 15 speed, exists only by name
lvl8 gun, its the tier4 exit reward re'd to 25.5k mass
chaff launcher, 1k mass
also make sure you run droid commands, one thing you can do that REALLY makes the awing shine is to use cap overload and cap to shield shunt 3 with a low speed interface. combining the low profile of the awing with the ability to recharge shields often using your cap you become more or less invulnerable vs npcs. with my 14 speed D.I. i can run the command every 14 seconds which will recharge around 300 front and 300 back, effectivly multiplying my shield recharge rate. i can go straight into a group of 15 tier5 ties and start wailing on them while i recharge as fast as they hit me. this is something i have have never seen done in any other ship. its almost like i can tank in my awing, not because it can absorb huge ammounts of damage, but because it can get shot at and not get hit too much and the hits it does take it can recharge since i only have one gun and im not stressing my cap.
basicly you have to thing in terms of what you can and cannot do with the ship you are considering flying. there are only a few things you really need to be able to do that are vastly different roles.
1. kill NPC fighters
2. kill NPC tie agressors (i consider these little $#!%s to be in a class of their own)
3. kill NPC gunboats
4. kill NPC capital ships
5. PVP
for killing ai fighters, nothing else compares, there is no question here the awing in king. when it comes to the tie-ag, other ships like the longprobe might be a better choice since you can joust and just pound em with sheer firepower, but the awing with a nice lvl8 gun, a pilot that can aim, and the CtSS3 command can eat agressors alive. gunboats might take longer in an awing, but you are better able to get into the blindspots and evade if it starts manuvering; the awing is no worse off your just gonna be there a bit longer. agianst capital ships the awing is king, you dont have to do much dmg to take out components so all that matters here is your survivabilty and your manuverability, nothing else can match the awing in those departments. pvp is another no brainer, i almost feel sorry for the poor little imps (well, mabee not).
i suggest you learn to fly the awing, since the awing can do it all. it may not be the best ship for everything, but it is the best ship for most things and comes in at a close second for the rest. the sacrifices of flying a low mass ship are far outweighed by the advantages imo. but still in the end it depends on your style. if all you want to do is sit still and turret NPCs as they fly past you, look no further than the longprobe (my choise for this), or the bwing. but if you like to FLY than the awing is for you.
when i take my awing up i dont feel like im climbing into a ship, its more like strapping it onto my back. the other ships you climb aboard and control, whereas the awing becomes an extension of your body
Message Edited by S-1-l2-H-C on 12-23-2004 10:42 PM
what he said ^ and remember, npc fightersonly shoot at you when they are right behind you...
i havent been hit by an npc fighter in forever... ![]()
Bkiddin wrote:right now im just beginning tier 4, im wondering if i should get the a-wing. alot of people say that it has too low mass.
The short version:
A wing is good for:
- PvP
- Scouting or pulling (IE, going in to draw fighter escort away from corvette for the main group)
- Situations where survivablity is more desireable than firepower (IE, i dont have to kill the thing, just survive long enough to complete the mission).
Outside of those three reasons, ive never had a REAL use for an A wing. YMMV
If you have the time to gather lots of loot and then Reverse Engineer the best bits together to get low mass, high performance equipment, you'll love this thing.
The single gun point is a downfall, but you get used to it. Battles can last a little longer but you have a far greater chance of surviving.
I haven't touched my Firespray or X-wing since upgrading my loot.
alyris wrote:
I'm a little puzzled by this as well, when I got in my A-wing the first time, I got ate up, quickly. Those Tie aggressors are my worst fear in an A-wing. I have not given up on it though, I'm trying to equip it nicely, without taking stuff off, what I consider to be a nicely equiped X-wing. I have not reached lvl 8 componets yet, maybe with lvl 8 guns, I will like the A-wing better. As it is right now, I have 2800 damage gun on my A-wing, and 3 2500's on my X-wing, so obivously my X-wing deals way more damage. Also I'm undecided about the speed, my current style of fighting is to get behind a target, and modulate the throttle, to keep him in my sights, if I do this with my A-wing, I'm doing 300-400, and get ate up, so, maybe it is a different style of fighting that I have to get used to.
Kirsha - Kettemoor
Don't try and stay behind them. Do passes and use your maneuverability to line up the next shot before they do.
While in the middle of the swirl of incoming fighter for my Tier 4 exit mission, I never focused on a single target unless I was completely outside the sphere of attack they were setting up. I simply blew through the middle of the swarm, jinking to avoid headon shots, and fired at targets of opportunity. On the other side, I'd swing back around and start picking on stragglers from behind. When they started to swarm behind me again, I reversed course and repeated it.
PaladinX333 wrote:
Don't sell the old Y-WingLongprobe short. I did some mass calculations last night and I figured out that I can squeeze a level 9 shield and two level 9 blasters into it. I plan on riding this thing all the way to ace. I own 5 A-wings and3 X-wings that I may never use now.
The weapons on the longprobehit withmore consistantcy that the X-Wing because there are no convergence issues. The four beams shoot out in this tight little quad that makes it a breeze to hit with both weapons every time. With a high YPR engine it manuvers well enough to whack anything in PvE. Why drive a sports care into combat when what you really need is a tank.
If I do parttake in some PvP I will probably use a A-Wing. If it gets toasted I own plenty more.
i have not yet actually used my x-wing (tonight i will. stupid reward ship cant be redeeded, i need to get rid of another ship now) but in my longprobe with lvl 6-7 stuff, i was taking out tier IV ships pretty easy last night. i am using only 99k of the mass, so i can drop it all into the x-wing and btr compare it.
but having 28 protons is a nice thing ![]()