Hey guys, I’m just looking for some other opinions on which ship I should get. Right now I have the Avenger Stalker, it’s a nice little ship but I don’t think it cuts it for the amount of PVP I plan on doing in game. I want to be a part of the fleet security or private contractor division which is why I picked up the Avenger in the first place thinking it’d be a good start especially considering I plan on doing some bounty hunting and security work. But to be honest it’s not really up to par with what I was hoping it would be as a fighter, so basically I’m just looking for opinions on other ships I should look at. I only plan on buying 1 ship so whatever I get kinda needs to be somewhat well rounded but still have a fairly big lean to the fighting side. I don’t have infinite money either so I think the most I would put up is a little over $100 but you never know so I’d be happy to hear any and all suggestions at any price level. I’ve heard some good things about the cutlass but I really don’t know. Thanks everyone.
Ugh that is a difficult equation. You basically want an upgraded Avenger? I think Super Hornet and Sabre are too fighters and Cutlass is not fighter enough. Does it need to have cargo capacity? If yes, then it restricts the options a lot. Hornet series and Vanguard series have a lot of variation with combat roles and they all are on the better side in combat abilities.
If you want a rounded ship, you cant have it be good at anything specific. At least that is what the ships in SC look like to me so far.
From what you said, you should look at the Cutlass and Freelancer, they might be the best bets for you. However as Siitosori was asking, if you dont need cargo space, then your options open up a lot more, but cargo space is kind of required for a balanced ship and severely limits your options for dogfighting.
Honestly I’d say you’re already where you need to be if you want to do bounty hunting. Unless you want to dish out $150 for the cutlass blue.
I’m not planning on doing much in the way of bounty hunting, but if I were I would first ask myself "am I going solo or traveling as part of a wolf pack going for juicier targets. Considering you’re in one of the biggest org’s in all of star citizen and the structured nature of this org, I’d personally go for wolf pack. split payout but bigger payouts if you go for the real baddies. I could see the gameplay being much more interesting too. The first ship to roll in would probably be an avenger warlock or vanguard sentinel. Drop their EMP while the rest of the pack is back at a safe distance. Once the EMP is set off, then a few ships roll in with distortion cannons to permanently disable the ship. Once that is done You’d probably want a cutlass blue or avenger stalker to approach with their empty holding cells to take on the bounty. depending on the size of your target, you might need a dropship as well to carry more bodies than what a cutlass can.
I could see a strategy like that being very rewarding fun wise when it works well and would be a good test of ADI’s ability to orchestrate operations. You’ want to ask some of the military oriented people in the org, but if operations like this are planned, ask yourself what cog on the wheel you think you’d have the most fun doing. Being the first strike with an EMP? keeping the ship disabled once it’s down or maybe doing the boarding and capture? I’d say for ~$100 you’re EMP option would be the avenger warlock. for disabling ships and keeping them down, a $90 gladius might not be a bad idea. They fly really nice but don’t have much in the way of teeth. If you’re just equipping distortion cannons, that shouldn’t be an issue as you want to disable rather than destroy. They are supposed to have better shields and power plant than a buccaneer so while they might shot not as hard they should be able to shoot longer. The buccaneer could work quite nicely too with 6 distortion cannons on it. Although we’ll have to wait and see what something like that would do to the power plant and cooling system… For around $100 and doing boarding/prisoner transport… Your current stalker would be the lower end of the spectrum. Cutlass black would be solid as well, but the cutlass blue is purpose built with a holding cell. and if you’re doing any solo bounty hunting on the side, perhaps with a few npc’s, I think the cutlass blue would be again your best bet.
Also keep in mind that the current flight model has not been very friendly to ships and plenty of things will feel just as inferior as you avenger in their current forms. I’m currently flying a gladius and a vanguard. One is toothless and the other flies like a beached whale. I would be willing to bet all our ships will feel better once all the ships systems are implemented and balanced. It might be worth it to just sit tight with your current avenger.
Fair enough, the thing is I don’t know how the real game will work, if I can manage to get by just purely doing security and PVP then I would rather have little to no cargo space with a heavy emphasis on military instead. I just don’t know if I will need a ship that can hold cargo and such, I would prefer to do the bare minimum hauling in favor of much more fighting. Considering that I think I may look at the hornets or maybe a cutlass.
That might not be a bad idea… I plan on doing basically whatever contract comes to me, whether that is running security for a cargo haul, a bounty, fleet security, or anything of that nature. So far I’m really looking at the cutlass blue, it seems to fit my role pretty well but with the new rework coming in I’ve heard it’s becoming more and more of a cargo hauler rather than a fighter. I think I do need to make a post in the military channels to see exactly what kind of ops we plan on running. until then I think I’ll just hold on to my avenger to see how the cutlass comes out and get some info on the orgs ops in the future. Thank you for the help!
If I can manage to get by just purely doing security and PVP then I would rather have little to no cargo space with a heavy emphasis on military instead. I just don’t know if I will need a ship that can hold cargo and such, I would prefer to do the bare minimum hauling in favor of much more fighting. Considering that I think I may look at the hornets or maybe a cutlass. I still don’t know for sure though, I think I need to make a post as well to get some more info on the types of contracts/ops we will have in the org and kind of see how I would fit in to the equation.
The Cutlass is about to undergo a complete overhaul to the design. It is going to change quite a bit, while still maintaining its roles and general feel. I own a Cutlass Black and would be happy to let you give it a whirl sometime, tho I am out of town for about a week currently. There are others with many ships, they would be happy to help.
As for what types of contracts the org will have, its unclear how all of that will work right now. But ADI will have all the types, and the game mechanics will also provide all of the types to you as well. Some might need to be unlocked, and you will have to grind rep to get better contracts, but you will always be able to do all of the things if you want to.
So the question really is, what do you want to do?
Sounds like a single person fighter is going to be your best bet from what I have read, and remember, you will be able to save up and buy new/more ships when the game is live. So don’t think of this ship as the only ship you will have, it is just a stepping stone, and you should pick the ship that you think is most in line with your play style and desires. ADI will always have people for you to fly with to fill gaps in the capability of your ship.
That actually clears up a lot. I want to be pretty much exclusively fleet security/PSS division, mostly running escorts with some bounty hunting or any other pvp filling in the gaps. I would definitely prefer to be in a single person fighter with the largest I’d fly being a cutlass black, I just didn’t think I’d be able to survive in the verse with a ship with such limited capabilities as something like the gladius for example. But I think you’re right on the fact that the org will have people to fill those roles so I think I’m gonna stop trying to find a ship that is more well rounded and just look for a pure pvp ship that fits the role of the PSS/flight security better.
Just buy them all… problem solved?
lol rax, not everyone has … that kind of money,
The ship that comes to mind with your requirements is the avenger titan.
it is a small agile ship with decent firepower and decent survivorability, and you will be able to upgrade the interior equipment to the other models in the avenger series.
thoughts on this recommendation?
Apologies for not getting back sooner! I took a long look at the titan and did manage to give it a couple test flights in pirate swarm, I ended up going for the 325a though. When I took the 325a out I loved the energy weapons and I liked the type of flying/fighting more than the avenger, plus I figured when I go out for bounties I’ll either just have to call in support to transport prisoners or only take dead or alive contracts… Plus, I think I’ll end up doing a lot of escorting which I figured the 325a might be better suited for with its slightly more combat oriented design. To be completely honest though, I can’t imagine that I’m going to stop here, more than likely I’ll figure out a way to scrape together some money for a better ship lol… Thanks to everyone for the input! It was extremely helpful in testing/last second decisions!
I’m a little late to this, but a hornet definitely has the best dogfighting ability. its a purebred fighter ship. Heavily armed, very maneuverable. Superhornets even more so, but the regular hornet can be armed very similar to a super hornet. You can also buy the nose turret for the regular hornet just like the super has, and the specialty mount to throw a size 4 cannon on top in place of where a super would have the manned turret.
On the flip side, the cutlass black is getting a huge makeover to be bigger and badder than it already is. Ship will gain a bit of size, a lot of internal space, and a lot of firepower. They are nearly doubling the weaponry on the cutlass which will make it quite the force to be reckoned with. while a hornet may outmaneuver it still, it won’t outgun it anymore… plus it will get a bit larger cargo hold than it already has, living quarters, tractor beam, etc. great well rounded ship. I own both the hornet and the cutlass.
I do have to agree with the avenger stalker. It just sucks right now. the guns are horrid and that ballistic gatling gun on it is like a pea flicker. it does almost 0 dmg to enemy ships. You will nearly run out of ammo before killing anything with it. That gun desperately needs a huge buff. I upgraded my avenger to the cutlass.
great thing about buying a ship is if you don’t like it, you can upgrade it to a better ship for the cost difference 
I say take a serious look at the Cutlass Black. It is about to receive a major upgrade and will be much deadlier in a fight. You also get cargo space if you want to make some money on the side like a Freelancer. It might not be the best dog fighter in game, but I bet it will hold its own against 80% of the engagements you would be in. As far as security work goes, I doubt anyone would refuse your services if they were headed into a hostile area. You’ve got weapons, space for cargo or even Marines for a landing party. The new Cutlass Black is supposed to have space for a crew of 4. Pilot, co-pilot, turret gunner, and one more for internal systems monitoring, etc. Plus, if you buy it now its only $115 bucks, its less than a Freelancer, and once the version 2 upgrade hits the price could go up.
Also, you should keep in mind that you can earn all of these ships in game. If you bought the Cutlass Black now for $115 to get you started, and then you can earn in-game a dedicated dog fighter like a Gladius, Buccaneer, or Hornet. Then when you want to run a little cargo, jump in your Cutlass.
I would recommend a cutlass or superhornet. The cutlass is nice because it has some storage space and you can fit a nox or dragonfly in it. For combat, though, the superhornet is awesome. In the end it’s somewhat a matter of opinion, but that’s my opinion
Sorry leprechaun, I am not really much help with this, but am going to piggyback onto this. I recently was gifted a new ship - retaliator base, and wondered how you get the modules for it? was gonna do a living quarters and a cargo space, but cannot seem to locate any. Did I miss the sale? Just wondered, as it is kinda barren. Anyways hi guys, been a few months, but other than fruitlessly searching for my empty retaliator to have some rooms, Leprechaun, I love my super Hornet. Haven’t flown my freelancer yet, and seem to last longer against Pirates in my Merlin. For pure combat, the Sabre is pretty crazy too. Like to try an Avenger next
I bought a Cutlass Blue for that sort of thing myself with the thought of relying on a fighter Escort/E-Warfare stuff to companion ships. I figure any of the bounty stuff that’s in the ‘snatch and grab’ category would be more of a small strike team style raid than a solo mission, and theoretically I could outfit the Cutlass to haul a few troops as well as needed - though even that seems more like a Redeemer or Prowler job to me in that case.
I bought the Aiges Dynamic Avenger Stalker, and i actually kinda like it, how ever doing dog fighting yester day ( my first day in game.) i noticed that it seemed a bit cumbersom. Guessing its a good PVE, mission allaround, not master of anything kinda ship.
i invested in the gladius, and wow, was that an entirely diffrent feel! dedicated fighter ship, and it got me my first PVE kill.