Does anyone actually use a Defender?

I mean, I've used one, just as a fun experiment, but does anyone out there actually by it and use it as their ship for any period of time?

------------------
We do not live to work, rather, we work to live.

Yes, I somtimes use a defender for doing piracy on people. You have to be a good pilot to be able to have any success at using one, though. 😉

------------------
Hornet
------------------
(url="http://"HTTP://WWW.v-west.in2home.co.uk/zac/zac.html")My cool EV/O website(/url)
Email:
(url="http://"mailto:zac@v-west.in2home.co.uk")mailto:zac@v-west.in2home.co.uk(/url)zac@v-west.in2home.co.uk

Yep, I use the defender.......AS TARGET PRACTICE! 😄
Seriously, I've quickly switched from shuttle to defender at the beginning of some games just for fun. It takes a lot of skill/luck to defeat ships, but you can make a lot o' credits if you pick on the merchants (of course, that's true with any ship). Luckily, with or without an afterburner you can outrun most of the Confed types if you make them angry. I either use the fabled Monty Python maneuver, or I use a combination of rotation (flying circles around them while occasionally firing shots), or offset strafing (doing a strafing run along one side, rather than the suicidal head on attack. With this you can build up speed and slide by firing your guns.) Defenders are OK for a bit of a challenge, but most fighter pilots would probably upgrade to something like a Lightning or Rapier.

------------------
Your blood freezes as you gaze at the creature on the viewscreen. Is it possible? After several painful attempts to pinch yourself awake you finally accept the reality of the heavily scaled monster rapidly approaching your tiny vessel.....

Actually, I have never really been that good with actual dogfighting...... I tend to use tracking weapons on agile targets and short range weapons coupled with a lot of running around on bigger ones. And you know what? In all of the years that I've played Escape Velocity I have never thought of a strafing run! What a great (And painfully obvious) idea! Just fly by sideways! Wow!

------------------
We do not live to work, rather, we work to live.

Can whales fly? Same answer, Are you crazy???

------------------
I acknowledge that my name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez alias Carlos, born in 1949 in Caracas in Venezuela. I am a international revolutionary.

-Qoute from The Jackal-