What are you doing (ingame) now?

[tinnitus]

Yeah not the FDL 190-240+k Credits what it use to be, Python comes about quicker or I'm avoiding close a little too much since 2.1, Scotty the Miracle worker. May have to grind a Vulture over to an engineer.

[Loriath]

"We're not in Kansas anymore Tonto"

I think you meant TOTO. Tonto is another cliché and genre entirely. Right Kemosabe?

Its time to get fast, manoeuvrable, lean and mean. Oh, and did I mention Cheap?

Diamondback Scout:
Fast - Check
Manoeuvrable - Check
Lean - (it can Lean) Check
Mean - (Depends which way its pointed) Check
Cheap - Hell Yeah! (A Rated, less than 500K per pop, and I expect to go POP a lot)

[Xebeth]

"We're not in Kansas anymore Tonto"

I think you meant TOTO. Tonto is another cliché and genre entirely. Right Kemosabe?

LOL, didn't see that, in my defence I had been up since 4:00am

Its time to get fast, manoeuvrable, lean and mean. Oh, and did I mention Cheap?

Diamondback Scout:
Fast - Check
Manoeuvrable - Check
Lean - (it can Lean) Check
Mean - (Depends which way its pointed) Check
Cheap - Hell Yeah! (A Rated, less than 500K per pop, and I expect to go POP a lot)

I think it's now about having the right tool for the job, prior to the patch if you wanted to take on a Conda with an i-courier you could, because you stay on it's tail, however if you were in your Conda an NPC i-courier didn't stand a chance. Whilst this was great for credit farming, it lacked a certain realism.

Now however, if you want too hunt fast manoeuvrable ships, you need a fast manoeuvrable ship.

That's not too say I don't think there are a few balance tweaks needed, NPCs spamming SCBs without overheating for example, but on the whole it adds a tactical requirement to combat that was missing.

[Cmdr Kharma]

Yep......

Lost me fecking Asp last night.....

Mind you that was my AI that took a walk.......

Still don't get that they can blow your canopy even though you still have shields.....

Or is there a hole in the shields at that point so you can see out.....

Tried to line up on a planetary base with no HUD......

You can guess what happened there.......Instrument flying leaves a lot to be desired in ED.....

Especially when it says 8.2Km up and you're kissing the dirt.....

[Geopan]

Ok here is the question. Before you could go head to head against an Anaconda while flying an Imperial Courier, right? And of course you could take on anything the AI could throw against you in an Anaconda.
Right now I, personally, considering my maybe mediocre flying skills, can not better an Elite Anaconda in military, almost full shielded Fer de Lance. And from what I'm reading killing a Courier/DBS/Asp while in a Conda or Vette may be a handful.
It looks like loose-loose situation to me.

BTW I too lost my canopy against said Elite Anaconda while having 2 rings left in shields...

[Xebeth]

Ok here is the question. Before you could go head to head against an Anaconda while flying an Imperial Courier, right? And of course you could take on anything the AI could throw against you in an Anaconda.
Right now I, personally, considering my maybe mediocre flying skills, can not better an Elite Anaconda in military, almost full shielded Fer de Lance. And from what I'm reading killing a Courier/DBS/Asp while in a Conda or Vette may be a handful.
It looks like loose-loose situation to me.

BTW I too lost my canopy against said Elite Anaconda while having 2 rings left in shields...

It's just different really, last night I took the Vette to a HIRES, most of the AI was no issue. The only difficult situations I had was an i-courier which just kept circling faster than could, so I had to put some distance between us and then wasted it. There was a deadly FDL, and that basically turned into a jousting contest (which I won eventually), and a dangerous FAS which rammed me, and because I was down to one and a bit rings from the FDL joust, I lost my shields and took about 20% damage from the remainder of the fight.

I spent about 1/2 hour there, had about 70K in repairs, but made a smidge under 900K in bounties.

So far had no problems with DBS, Asps, FDS, etc... Don't get me wrong, they are harder, they take longer too kill in some cases, but so far it's just more challenging, not an insurmountable problem.

[Geopan]

Up to now I went bounty hunting in an FDL and defended myself in a non combat asp. So no experience in big ships.

[Cmdr Kharma]

Don't get me wrong, they are harder, they take longer too kill in some cases, but so far it's just more challenging, not an insurmountable problem.

Just about sums it up.....

Embrace the change and adapt......

People who did not use thrusters and FA off in combat are going to have to learn a little bit more than pilots that have always used them....

Tactics just changed......

Yep might cost you a few ships *Cough* (About 20 in beta)

That's why I have said buy a sidey and go learn.....

I personally think things just got real.......

Pain in the arse real......

I love it.......(With a little bit of hate)

[Geopan]

Personally again, I always used FA off turns and all thrusters, lateral included.

I was having fun in smaller ships and I used the Anaconda just for combat grind.

Small against large and one vs three was doable. For me at least it isn't right now. Maybe I will have to relearn, yes and probably is doable in a much harder way but for now I feel cheated when an Anaconda can keep up with me in a turning fight, FA off or not.
Also I don't like the fact that an NPC Asp, whatever its rank can outgun an A class Fer de Lance, while a player not A rated Asp is meat mince to a couple of competent Adders...

[Xebeth]

I have a mental combat checklist, before entering a fight I run through in my mind -

1) Am I up too this, am I too tired, too drunk, too distracted, am I making lots of silly mistakes?
2) What state is my ship in, are my shields charged enough to last the battle, do I have enough ammo, are my pips set correctly?
3) What is my targets capability, do I need to be further away to not get out turned, or do I need to be close in to stay on it's six?
4) What positon is my target in, which way is it facing, how far away is it, will I get a decent number of shots in before it returns fire?
5) Is it in a wing, if so with what, can I take down the smaller ships quickly enough?
6) Am I likely to get any help, how far away are security, what are they doing?

Now I can add to this

7) What is it carrying and is any of it modified?