Ship Fitting: Light Fighters

[masternerdguy]

Patriot, Pirahna, and Startracker oh my!
The light fighter is probably the best starting point imaginable for a player. This ship allows you to determine your path in the game and to begin exploring freelancer.

Overview of Your Fighter
Your light fire has the least armor of any group of fighters. Unlike heavy fighters and VHFs, your armor may only be 5400 or 6200. However, what you lack in sheer EHP* you make up for in turning rates. A LF is capable of turning nearly on a dime, and some ships such as the Arrow even take it a step further: sacrificing guns for even more maneuverability.

So, before we begin, remember you will have significantly less EHP than a HF/VHF at the gain of sheer turning ability. Despite your lower defenses, you can outmaneuver a VHF pilot any day. In addition, your defenses will be based very much on moving quickly.

Selecting Guns/Missiles
Guns and missiles exist and are an important aspect of your ship. Unless you want to be a completely pacifist trader, you want them.

Different guns work in different ways. When you read the description of the gun, it will say something such as "someone's weapons offer increased refire rate at a decreased range". This is vitally important! This lets you base guns around your flying style. For example, to destroy enemies head on, use more damaging and likely slower firing weapon. However to stay on a tail, fast firing weapons like the Eco Chain Gun are ideal**.

Another important facet is the energy usage. Every shot you fire consumes energy, and your ship has a limited amount. This is where optimal weapon class comes in. For a ship, you can see Maximum Weapon Class and Optimal Weapon Class. Maximum is the highest level guns it can support, and optimal is the best compromise between damage and sustained fire. You must decide whether this matters to you, since each side has its own advantages and disadvantages:

1. Maximum Damage -- You are choosing to max out your ship for the most salvo damage possible. However, you will deplete your energy very quickly.

2. Sustained Fire -- You sustain firing for longer at the expense if damage, which is good for laying down a firespray. This is also good if you are less accurate and need more possible hits.***

Roleplay is an important aspect as well, you may only use guns for your faction and allies. Even as a freelancer, carrying criminal weapons (at least in the minds of some people, whom are house police members) proves an association between you and them and labels you as a criminal. Also, carrying these weapons will be generally OORP, why would a junker use kusair police weapons?

Remember that some weapons may be anti shield weapons. "Pulse" guns are a good example, they can do thousands in shield damage but merely 100 in hull damage. Filling up with just these is not a good idea. In fact, it will make you extremely ineffective at killing. However, mixing such guns into a setup can increase your killing efficiency.

Then, different guns do different types of damage. In the description of the gun, it typically says "this weapons is strongest against ___ shields and weakest against ___ shields". Basically, choose guns for the shields you are fighting. For PVE this is a life saver as it can increase your killing efficiency. To determine the damage to deal, find the NPCs you want to kill and scan them and check their shield generator.

Finally, range is vital for aiming. Freelancer calculates a point for you to shoot at to hit the target, and this is more useful the more elegant your setup is. Simpler setups are better as they share similar ranges. Make sure that your guns shoot about the same range. More symmetrical setups are the best, filling as many slots as you can with the same gun can achieve this.

Now to missiles, there are essentially 3 types of missiles:

Stalking Missiles: Such as the windstalker and firestalker, these missiles have a greater chance to hit at a reduced damage output.
Damage: Such as the cannonball, these missiles track slower but deal much more damage on impact.
Cruise disruptors: These missiles deal very little damage and track extremely fast. They also disrupt the cruise engines of a ship on impact, these are great for holding a target in place****.

Missile choice once again reflects play style, it depends on your accuracy. However, a CD is important because it is a pvp staple. A seperate CD slots is included as well, so it does not take away damage. Finally, remember that missiles consume ammo and the same types of missile consume the same ammo supply.

Defense

As with all ships, you want an armor upgrade and a shield generator. Armor upgrades basically make your armor able to absorb more damage by multiplying it by a modifier. Shield generators are simpler, you want them to regenerate faster and be able to absorb more damage.

However, shields are not quite so simple. Different guns deal different damages remember? You are now on the side of the recipient of the damage, so you need to know what your fighting. Scan the NPCs' guns to determine the damage to defend against.

Also, remember EHP. Being able to repair yourself adds EHP and thus survivability, so be stocked up on bots and bats for your journey. They cost money, and that puts some people off, but they are much cheaper than say a lost mission or lost cargo or your life.

Now, light fighters are special. They move like there is no tommorow. You must keep moving at all times to survive, a still fighter is a dead fighter. The maneuvers you want to use evade incoming damage. This means you can dodge enemy fire and greatly extend EHP.

End Notes
The LF is an interesting ship. Like all ships it is better at one thing than another. LFs rely on evasion and turning as their primary defense, which allows time for shields to harden back up. Thank you for reading this guide, i believe it is a vast improvement on my first one.


*EHP is extended hit points, or the maximum static damage you can absorb.
**I have had much experience with the Eco Chain Gun, it is very reliable and got me interested in the rest of the series.
***In a more OORP context, this also helps deal with lag by throwing more potential hits at a target you do not always know is really there.
****If durring a pvp incident a player engages cruise engines they are running and must leave system for 4 hours, excepting traders whom can be pirated.

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Send the fat kid in to see if its a trap