The Lightning - The Best Ship?

Well? Do you all agree with me that the Lightning fighter is the best ship in the
game?

Look at it. It's fast, has decent shielding, incredible weapons range and so on.

People have made plug-ins - I remember one that had a heavy fighter, heavier than
a Rapier, and he said this, or something close:

"It can destroy all other fighters and do serious damage to anything else"

Uh huh. I watched a Lightning crush it with that amazing laser cannon - javelin
rockets - heavy rockets combination.

I made a plugin with a fighter that cost 10m. It could destroy a Confed Cruiser
without getting hurt, and I watched 2 Lightnings make short work of it.

Just so you know, it had 60 shields and a long ranged laser beam that worked as
a tractor beam, so it could drag a cruiser around, while out of range, and destroy
it quickly. And I watched it - my beautiful fighter ship that had just left my
beautiful 40m credits warships - get torn apart.

Well? Lightnings are the best ship in the game! Costwise, 10 of them equals one
Kestrel, and yet are worth MUCH more.

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Don't play with changing names:
Esponer - 130 posts
Paladin - Nearly 100 posts
Sylver - 1 posts

Chuckle ... Giggle ... Snicker ... Snort! ... Guffaw! ... Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-hee-hee-snck-gasp! (KK catches his breath.)

That was a good one, SilverDragon. I have about as much trouble with Lightings as I do with Clippers. (I am sure I am not alone, too.)

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ย“You will find that our crew will be either the most valuable, loyal, and trustworthy of allies, or ... if you insist on trying to swallow us up -- the worst of enemies. The choice is yours. And should you choose to fight us ... donย’t bring a knife to a gunfight!ย”

You're an experienced pilot, Karl. And you're fighting AI.

I don't know what ship you're in, but even in a Kestrel I'm careful around Lightnings,
because I know that their firepower is MUCH greater than you might think.

Let's see...... Is it four, or five cannons? Five would be the equivalent of three
turrets taking range into account, and isn't that how many the KESTREL has? And the
Lightning also has two types of rockets, both of which are incredibly powerful.

If you would gather your brain cells, Karl, you'd realise that there's a little thing
called cost as well. The Lightning is cheap at 1m credits considering what it can do.

PS: Yes, yes, you could have 10 Defenders for one Lightning, but I still think the
Lightning is better, and perhaps it would win, too.

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Don't play with changing names:
Esponer - 130 posts
Paladin - Nearly 100 posts
Sylver - 1 post

hahahahahahahahahahahaha.......HA!!!! Lightings suck! and they cost 900k not 1m. anyways i took out a lightning in a clipper, with no secondary weapons. i take out dozens of them in my Reb cruiser with no problem, and i didn't use any secondaries or escorts! I've seen two or three mantas waste a couple lightnings in seconds! And the game says that the Rapier is the most heavily armed ship below the 'vette. and besides, they have three laser cannons, equivalent to one and half laser turrets, or two proton cannons( in power).The only ship i have trouble destroying is Matt Burch, and that is because he is invinceable.no matter what others say, he is invinceable(unless MBurch says he isn't), even with my escorts he is.The best ship is my Cruiser,discussion closed.

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You, my dear friend, are equally dumb.

I've taken down Lightnings in freighters, and can do it in scoutships with little
trouble either.

About the Mantas - I would call that a fluke. I have seen Lightnings waste extremely
large ships quickly.

And they have four lasers, don't they? It says so on all the ship descriptions I've
seen on the internet today.

It's easy to say you destroyed it in this ship or that ship, but in my Lightning I
can destroy a force of 8 or so Kestrels easily, or destroy a couple of government
cruisers and frigates/destroyers. That's with the secondaries out and upgraded systems,
but they are also quite incredible with secondaries.

I can't count how many so-called superships in plug-ins I've seen destroyed by a
small pack of Lightnings.

PS: Stop boasting about not using secondary weapons. For the human player, secondaries
are a waste of time and space and no intelligent pilot has them for anything other than
show.

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Don't play with changing names:
Esponer - 130 posts
Paladin - Nearly 100 posts
Sylver - 1 post

(This message has been edited by SilverDragon (edited 04-05-2001).)

Wow. This is almost worse than the Rebel vs. Confed debate. ๐Ÿ˜‰ ๐Ÿ™‚

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"English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England!"-Homer Simpson

WOW WOW WOW! whear are you going, a Lightning destroying a Krestel. Do you have a plug that makes them super strong or were you a little"light headed"(no offence).Any ship with at least 2 heave rockets or 3 misseles can smash your pitiful Lightning. They might be fast BUT they are not strong, with a small emount of ammo and weak shealds,THEY SUCKS!!!
And you deing scared by Lightnings in a Krestel,ether you are trying to emphasize(oh god)
how good they are or you are just a big chiken(no joke).

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if it dosent doesn't
squiel its not worth
killing

Oh ya, and the only reason they are in the game is to send them out to get killed so you get enogh time to the ---- out ot there.

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if it dosent doesn't
squiel its not worth
killing

I'm not scared of Lightnings in a Kestrel, but when there are 6 of them, and I know
there are also Kestrels to follow up, I'm careful.

After all, what's the fun in a game if you have to rely on shields? When I take a
fighter down I like to do it without losing shields.

And it was me personally, in MY Lightning with normal upgrades, that took them the
army of Kestrels. It's easy enough, especially since Kestrels don't have heavy
rockets, with simple Spearheads.

And would the next person who slags the Lightning off have the intelligence to
mention cost? There's a few awfully good arguments you could come up with, you know.

Because I'm not saying that a Lightning can take on a Confed Cruiser. I'm saying 15
Lightnings, at less cost than the cruiser, can do it with incredible ease.

If I had 50m credits to spend on a defence force, I'd spend it on Lightnings. 50
Lightnings is a better force than 3 Rebel Cruisers, or 5 Kestrels.

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Don't play with changing names:
Esponer - 130 posts
Paladin - Nearly 100 posts
Sylver - 1 post

I COMPLETELY AGREE SILVER...LIGHTNINGS ARE THE BEST DEFINATELY....ive taken down countless kestrals in my good ol' lightning and ive got a friend who taken down a confed crusier in one.....you just have to be good...takes a little skill and some cleverness and you can take down anything in a lightning....but i usually sell the heavy rockets and get all the sheild upgrades and stuff...still keep my normal missiles though...lightnings are the best ship without any consent...

ยงhakbo!

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Nadir We,
Youth Born,
Blood Letters,
Axe Wielders,

I love Lightnings, but I definately don't think they are the best ship in the game. I like to use them as escorts or ship-based fighters because they can get the job done in such a small matter of time. But using the Lightning as my own ship? Nope, I don't like that all that much. Usually the only fighter I'll fly is a Manta (for speed), and most often the Rapier (for firepower). As for the best ship, the Rebel Destroyer. ๐Ÿ™‚

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~Captain Skyblade

The new Corsair Development team: Devoted to bringing you the best plugins for the Escape Velocity games. (url="http://"http://artworks.tmgmedia.net")http://artworks.tmgmedia.net(/url)

Bah, the Rebel Destroyer can almost fly circles around it if properly upgraded, and it's easy meat for a good pilot in a Manta. But certainly better than the Confed Gunboat or Patrol Ship.

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To Escape Velocity: Nova and Beyond!
--------------
Millennium. Its coming, prepare for it.
Coming to the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiaSW.com/games/ev/chronicles.html")EV Chronicles(/url).

Quote

Originally posted by Captain Carnotaur:
**...But certainly better than the Confed Gunboat or Patrol Ship.

**

Anything is better then those two, especially the junkboat. ๐Ÿ™‚

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~Captain Skyblade

The new Corsair Development team: Devoted to bringing you the best plugins for the Escape Velocity games. (url="http://"http://artworks.tmgmedia.net")http://artworks.tmgmedia.net(/url)

The Lightning is the best FIGHTER yes, but any large ship can take down a Lightning easy with either heavy turret fire when the Lightning tries to get in range for launching rockets, or with simply shooting houndred missiles. How much afterburner you have (I'm talking of player vs player, not AI) you can't get away from that, as you will be stuck in the "galactic corner" sooner or later.

But, if I'm driving the Lightning, then it's the best ship in the game... ๐Ÿ™‚

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Though when used by the AI I don't think of lightnings as very tough. But they're a very fun fighter thats not too expensive. When I make a pilot I want to use just fighters, I always go for the lightning. Definitely the best fighter.

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Knowledge is power, but ignorance is bliss.

Well, I'm a fighter freak, so to me the Lightning is the best ship.

And what I really mean is the design of it. It crams a lot of power in there, at
a remarkable cost.

Right behind it come the Rebel Destroyer and the Corvette, I think.

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Don't play with changing names:
Esponer - 130 posts
Paladin - Nearly 100 posts
Sylver - 1 post

Quote

Originally posted by Captain Skyblade:
**Anything is better then those two, especially the junkboat.:)

**

Hehe, lol! Well said Captain Skyblade.

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To Escape Velocity: Nova and Beyond!
--------------
Millennium. Its coming, prepare for it.
Coming to the (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiaSW.com/games/ev/chronicles.html")EV Chronicles(/url).

Comparing ships isn't doable when you bring up any player modified ship vs a computer controlled ship, so saying an upgraded destroyer can fly circles around a Lightning is a bit flimsy.

The likely scenario of a player vs player involving Lightning vs Destroyer would not be 1 on 1 for starters, it's just ridiculous to think someone in a Lightning would do it alone. Considering the differences in shield strength, armor, and turrets, the only way to make it a good comparison is to have a minimum of 2 vs 1, fighter vs capital ship is not going to be 1 vs 1, and more likely 3 or 4 vs 1.

The Lightning is a great fighter, far superior to anything either the Confeds or the Rebels have, the Manta's only advantage is speed, but doesn't have the firepower, or the upgrade capacity, to handle a Lightning. This is player vs player, not player vs computer, so the afterburner wouldn't last long either in the manta, as the fuel capacity is atrocious. The Lightning also makes a great ship carried fighter.

Personally, in stock EV I never bother using it as my own ship, as I like the survivability and firepower of the Rapier better. Corvette's even better.

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I'd love to love the Rapier, but it's too sluggish for me. I adore the graphics
for it, and I suppose with speed upgrades...... The problem is I've never even
tried it <except in a certain plugin that gave it Heavy Rockets II :)>

And the Gunboat - yuck! It's a horrible ship! Bad bad bad bad bad bad slow slow
slow slow slow slow weak weak weak weak weak weak.

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Don't play with changing names:
Esponer - 130 posts
Paladin - Nearly 100 posts
Sylver - 1 post

Well, my view on the subject is..............

buy a kestrel. ๐Ÿ™‚

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"I ate a bug once..."
-Shabbabaram!