M6's useless

[Mercenary]

The only reason I would want to buy an M6 is as a serious contender to the big lads, i.e. M1, M2's. So far I've bought a dragon and packed it full of Alpha PPC's. Taken on a Khaak Carrier, 1 on 1 with drones as decoys and been toasted. Strafe is useless.

Trouble is this ship only has one turret and it's useless when taking on a Khaak cluster. I have to ask why was this ship built? The X2 M6 had turrets on all sides, this one only has front and rear. This one gets ripped apart by M5's and yet it makes bugger all impression on M2, M1.

I've found that APSG are also useless against anything big. Also Ion D's are also useless against anything bigger than a M4, M3 (that's with 4 of each being used at a time) when faced with a Khaak M1 / M2.

Mass Drivers you need a shed load of luck and 8 up front in a Nova to even dream of making an impression.

Now in my current game which is less than 3 game days old, I have the standing with the races to buy an M6 but I'm a long way short of an M1 or M2.

When using a pre 1.3 save game, only 1 game day passed the Khaak have invaded Empires End and Brennan's Triumph (The Pirate base is gone).

Now the question is how do I obtain a ship, without cheats or scripts, that can a destroy a Khaak invasions when after 2 game days when the Paranid are are incapable of ridding themselves of the same invasion.

Now this might sound like a complaint....

[kurush]

Dragon is the only M6 that can take care of Xenons easily. All you need to do is to figure out the proper range that happens to be

Spoiler

Show

4.42-4.29 km

from the target.

[BlackRain]

I modded the centaurs to be faster and more maneuverable.

[General Dave]

I have to ask why was this ship built?

This ship was built for me......

I can take out anything less than a Khaak M1/M2 with a combo of Mass Drivers and APPC's.......

Maybe you would be better off in a different kind of ship......

The M6's are good for sector patrols as they are invulnerable to everything except a Xenon raiding party (and the Khaak raiding parties)

[kurush]

I can take out anything less than a Khaak M1/M2 with a combo of Mass Drivers and APPC's.......

C'mon. Khaak M1/M2 seems to be the only thing Dragon is good for

[Serial Kicked]

In fact, M6 now need escort ships. Usually 2 M3 or M4 class ships are enough. They'll distract the enemy ships allowing you to take out the enemy ships one by one.

btw, M6 are still very effective at OOS defence. They can fly solo when OOS, but i usually also use an escort, mainly because most of my empire is located in the border and pirate sectors.

[General Dave]

I Haven't been brave enough to try a Khaak M1/M2, but if you steer the dragon properly you can take out everything else...

M5's, you need to get them roughly on the screen, then cut speed to zero, reverse thrust and strafe the opposite way to the way your turning, if your within 1.00 KM use MD's to annihalate every M5 in seconds....

M4's are exactly the same, but if you have spare laser enery you can let off a burst of APPC fire and you might hit them (the trick is to come to a dead stop and really lead your target from up close)

M3's are a joke, slow to about 90, fire off a burst of APPC fie, and the shields are gone.....Repeat or fire a Thunderbolt missile and the M3 is gone......

I've clocked up well over a thousand L's in my Dragon in XI missions, all around Black hole sun........

K's and J's are just sit at an oblique angle and dodge GPPC fire (strafe left, up, right, down etc).......

[kurush]

M3's are a joke, slow to about 90, fire off a burst of APPC fie, and the shields are gone.....Repeat or fire a Thunderbolt missile and the M3 is gone......

APPC seems to be extremely inaccurate for me. What patch you are on? I had to switch back to my Nova Raider after 1.3 as I do not seem to hit anything except captials with APPCS. Sure, they have a better range. But they miss all the time (verified a couple of times on a pirate falcon, flying staight). But AI seems to implement more complex steering algorithm now.

[General Dave]

I'm on 1.3.....

The trick is to close to about 300 metres, nudge your nose just above the auto targetting retticle and then squeeze the trigger, if you do it right you never miss.....

i only use the full range of the APPC's against stationary targets, and use the Dragons speed and the PPCs considerable firepower for everything that moves.....

[illum_inati]

The Dragon has an awesome inittial punch. Especially when you close in first run and just let loose with 6 HEPTs or something. After that first swoop, you better hope you killed them all because if not, you're generally toast.

All M6 ships need turrets. Either that or better turning. I can take several times as many enemies in a Nova than in a Dragon. Centaur works ok but it's slow beyond sanity.

[Sirocco]

The dragon works fine for me, just remember to have escorts and always keep a few (I keep 24) drones in the cargo hold for the time when you get surrounded by Pirate M4s armed with HEPTs or PACs.

[Sandalpocalypse]

You guys can also try the M6 upgrade mod.

[Mercenary]

Yes the Dragon has awesome punch, but I can take out Xenon invasion fleets far more easily in a standard Nova fully kitted than I can with the Dragon I can also wipe out Khaak clusters with my M3 (the big ones using a traditional hit (eliminate the M3) and jump, traditionally if I'm really close when opening fire some of the small ships let rip with a couple of proximity missiles and wipe themselves out).

I'm using a different flying technique with the Dragon, I will have to experiment further to see what's best. My assumption before buying was it would have the weapons range and fire power for a Khaak M1/M2.

Trouble is I don't have enough credits to surround an M6 with kitted up M3's. Until I have money to burn I don't want to be throwing away millions of credits worth of hardware just to kill a single M1/M2 Khaak destroyer.

The Khaak will rampage through the Universe unopposed for sometime before the races will sell me an M2 to deal with the problem...

[spacebasterd]

Why is everybody complaining about m6 planes. It's another class ship than an M4, so you need to fly in another way with it.

[Augustini]

I havn't got the required level for optaining a Dragon yet, but i have a Centaur, which i pilot myself.

Although diffucult to turn, it rips through a squadron of Pirate Nova's without a scratch and shields only damaged 50%!

So far i have equipped only AHEPT on all hardpoints as i have yet to come by BHEPT.

The great thing about the Centaur is, that it has 3 turrets and can defend itself from any angle!

[illum_inati]

Why is everybody complaining about m6 planes.

Do you want to know why?

Anything you can kill in an M6 can be killed in an M3 with the only exception of some M1/M2 tactics that are very ship specific. The pricetag on it would suggest it to be more dangerous than a Nova, but it isn't.

You need to have support M3s to be able to use it as efficiently as just ONE M3. Think about that. You need an M6 and 2-3 M3 to be as dangerous as you were in just your M3. Please read this as many times as needed to realise that the M6 is a waste of credits. WHY should the only good purpose with a ship be OOS patrol?

You see people writing that they can equip their M6 and fly it to take out several ships and that it works very well, oh yeah, but I can do that IN MY M3 TOO at 75% less cost! Also, I'd like to see the bastard who can fly their Centaur into a cloud of 10 Xenon L and 10 Xenon M and take them out. I can with my Nova but in an M6 I see my hull flashing a bit and then I die.

[spacebasterd]

Why is everybody complaining about m6 planes.

Do you want to know why?

Anything you can kill in an M6 can be killed in an M3 with the only exception of some M1/M2 tactics that are very ship specific. The pricetag on it would suggest it to be more dangerous than a Nova, but it isn't.

You need to have support M3s to be able to use it as efficiently as just ONE M3. Think about that. You need an M6 and 2-3 M3 to be as dangerous as you were in just your M3. Please read this as many times as needed to realise that the M6 is a waste of credits. WHY should the only good purpose with a ship be OOS patrol?

You see people writing that they can equip their M6 and fly it to take out several ships and that it works very well, oh yeah, but I can do that IN MY M3 TOO at 25% less cost! Also, I'd like to see the bastard who can fly their Centaur into a cloud of 10 Xenon L and 10 Xenon M and take them out. I can with my Nova but in an M6 I see my hull flashing a bit and then I die.

Than you keep flying in your M3!! I really have no problem with 10 Xenon L and 10 Xenon M. I eat them for breakfast!!!

[RagX]

Script and Modding section, M6 Upgrad Mod

[illum_inati]

Than you keep flying in your M3!! I really have no problem with 10 Xenon L and 10 Xenon M. I eat them for breakfast!!!

I guess you missed this, the most crucial part of the whole post:

You need to have support M3s to be able to use it as efficiently as just ONE M3. Think about that. You need an M6 and 2-3 M3 to be as dangerous as you were in just your M3. Please read this as many times as needed to realise that the M6 is a waste of credits.

The fact that you can use an M6 doesn't negate the fact that if you and I fought a battle with you in your Centaur and me in my Nova, I would hand your ass to you in 98 out of every 100 fights. At five times the cost, an M6 delivers half as good at best.

Once again, the fact that an M6 can be used is actually already covered in my post, along with the fact that it needs M3 support to fly as good as a solo M3. Keep smiling...

[Willem Haven]

At least the dragon is fast.
I wanted the shields and could not afford an M6, so I tried the Falcon.
But I was toasted in no time. That thing is to slow. I am far better in a 200 m/s Mamba with only 25 MJ's of Shield. I can outrun every missile, break/turn at it and waste it. While in a Falcon, they hit. Turret? Crap.

So, as I am a speed/split-pilot, I was trying to raise my skills with the dragon ever since. Shure, you have to hit the cluster right. First the swarm, then the M3. Manual aiming, close range. Works for me.

BTW: The slower vessels need the bigger shields. M5 -> M4 -> M3 And class internally it is perfect. But the TS could use some 125 class shields. Esspecially if you are in the same sector!

I still vote for M6 with higher turn rates.