Light Fighter Rework Suggestion

[Antonio]

I wouldn't be against turning bigger LFs into proper combat ships, but the question then arises what kind of changes are necessary, and if those changes in the end would make them very close to HFs or even VHFs, why keep them as LFs? I'm mostly advocating for the small obnoxious ones that'll always be problematic in PvP to be turned into something proposed in the OP. The exact list is: Hayabusa, Wyrm, Neko, Liberator, Decurion, Tanto, maybe Hussar and Onuris.

As I am probably the person here who is known for piloting LFs (while being average at most while doing so) I wouldn't want any of the suggestions. I fly them because they are incredibly fun to fly, basically the extreme opposite of battleships who are slow and tanky, while an LF can be mine-slapped instantly. That's a risk I take. I like being able to run away from fights while not being able to deal much damage. Basically, I only managed to kill stuff using HAMMERFALLs from FP11 or FEUERBALLs since they are available to LFs. To be honest, I avoid shieldrunning and died quickly in PvP, but always to mines only, and only in one single instance to the natural fisheye of Protege.

I guess if someone like Wesker would use an LF, especially with FEUERBALLs, that'd be frustrating, especilly if they are on a Liberator. I recall one instance of Kreuzberg using a Hussar with Hammerfalls to wreck five Corsairs. Would taking away their DPS fix it? I don't think so. A tiny barely unhittable ship with two HAMMERFALLs or FEUERBALLs can still deal a lot of damage while dodging. I think upscaling the ship hitboxes would only do so much, maybe adjusting all their sizes to a similar level. The Liberator is the extreme here as it is as tiny as the Hayabusa while the Liberator can mount more weapons. The Hayabusa only three.

Changing the class entirely? I think that'd go along well if there was a specific need for interceptors, and only then. Right now, any cruiser has the same CD-abilities as an LF. Why? If Cruisers, in my book, would have CDs at all, then only about 20 and only for torpedo-defense. Something like mini-flaks, guided but with huge AoE. Right now however cruisers are just as effective in CDing as LFs or anything else are - except battleships.

Creating a new class works only if there is a need for it. However with Cruisers being "omnipotent" in those regards, why would you need interceptors at all?

Understandable, those who enjoy using them won't like this and I acknowledge that there is no perfect solution to make everyone happy. In this particular example however, flying LFs being fun for you probably isn't fun for everyone else due to the nature of light fighters and their obnoxiousness, especially if you're flying one of the super small ones. It does feel good being unkillable in such a ship, especially if you use fireballs, but at the end of the day the interaction between a LF and other snubs isn't healthy for gameplay. There is no satisfaction in missing 99% of your guns until that 1 mine lands and the LF dies, or you just keep getting drained down slowly while you feel helpless. Sure, it feels good to mine it and get the kill, but that's 1 second of the fight while everything before that was either frustration or helplessness. You said it yourself, there is no middle ground in 99% of fights, it's either get instakilled or live forever.

Changing the class entirely? I think that'd go along well if there was a specific need for interceptors, and only then. Right now, any cruiser has the same CD-abilities as an LF. Why? If Cruisers, in my book, would have CDs at all, then only about 20 and only for torpedo-defense. Something like mini-flaks, guided but with huge AoE. Right now however cruisers are just as effective in CDing as LFs or anything else are - except battleships.

Creating a new class works only if there is a need for it. However with Cruisers being "omnipotent" in those regards, why would you need interceptors at all?

This is where I don't get you. Why pick Cruisers to demonstrate your point when they're one of the worst at doing that? Cruisers and battlecruisers have the ability to CD, but it's mostly offensive CDing. Sure, you can CD stuff behind you but it's not as easy as it looks and requires an incredible amount of concentration, awareness and effort if you're under fire. Your average pilot will most likely get himself killed in trying to CD behind him due to loss of range between the target. Even if they had a 360 arc CD, you can't realistically expect them to be able to overlook the fight and CD everything due to their size and low speed. They can't freely move around due to area-of-denial of bigger caps in the area, while moving around that area is very difficult (think of the area like a sun corona, it's a sphere so if you want to go from one place of the fight to the complete opposite one you have to go all the way around it) - they're big fat caps at the end of the day compared to a bomber or a gunboat.

A bomber would be a much better example because it can move around as freely as an LF and get from one place of the fight to the other. A better example would also be gunboats which are just cruisers but smaller and more nimble, which means they're automatically better suited for the interceptor role in every way. The main part here is that gunboats can't be effectively cruised on by bigger caps which means you have much more breathing room for error and the ability to overlook the fight and be an interceptor. But still, you're limited by that same area-of-denial except it's smaller due to the nature of a smaller and faster ship.

TL;DR Bombers and gunboats as interceptors sure, cruisers and battlecruisers definitely not. However, all these can be focused down and shot, while if we had LFs doing this you'd probably let both sides have utility ships and blow up those that are worth blowing up time-wise. It's less about other classes so let's not deviate off-topic, it's more about giving LFs a clear purpose.

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