Heavy Fighter Dilemma.

[Hemmington]

Being a fresh newbie with the Freelancer game, I started playing some days ago on the Discovery server(as it was the mod having the most players, 100+ at almost any given time, wonderful!).

Was breaking the rules at first sporting a BHG Manta with a Mercenary ID, but after having been notified of this I changed my ship to an Eagle(thanks for your help Cannon). Anyways, I'm not planning on RP'ing tech. from a player faction, hence why I have a very limited heavy/very heavy fighter choice.

As I said, I'm currently flying an Eagle, however after having conducted a search I found some old topics about which fighter is better. Looking at the stats, it seems like the Sabre is in fact a preferred choice;

Eagle;

2 Class 9 Guns
4 Class 10 Guns
1 Class 5 Turret
1 Cruise Disruptor OR Fighter Torpedo
+
Hull strength 9,200
Max. shield class 10
Cargo space 70 units
Nanobots/Batteries 63/63
Max. impulse speed 80 m/s
Max. thrust speed 199 m/s
Power output 10,400 u
Power recharge 1,100 u/s

Sabre;

2 Class 9 Guns
4 Class 10 Guns
1 Class 5 Turret
1 Cruise Disruptor OR Fighter Torpedo
+
Guns/Turrets 6 / 1
Opt. weapon class 8
Max. weapon class 10
Additional equipment
1xCD/T
1xCM
1xM
Hull strength 11,200
Max. shield class 10
Cargo space 70 units
Nanobots/Batteries 66/66
Max. impulse speed 80 m/s
Max. thrust speed 199 m/s
Power output 11,400 u
Power recharge 1,160 u/s

So basically, the Sabre wins when it comes to; It has a forward turret(Eagle's is backward, almost never use it) Hull Strength, Power output, Power recharge, it has more nano bots/batteries slots and as for the rest it has the same gun-class options as the Eagle.

I saw people write how fast and agile the Sabre is, and looking at these stats it looks like the Sabre blows the Eagle away in terms of numbers too.

Judging from the images on the Wiki it has about the same stats(perhaps a bit less cargo space and a LITTLE less energy regen) than even the Raven's Talon(which looks much larger, bigger hitbox, less agile I guess) and the Wasupu.

Final question; Is the Sabre really that good? Thanks in advance for the answers!

[Not Espi]

its not the ship. its the pilot.

but yeah the sabre is a tad overpowered in terms of agility, i'd say.

[Hemmington]

its not the ship. its the pilot.

but yeah the sabre is a tad overpowered in terms of agility, i'd say.

Ofcourse it's the pilot, but that's not what I'm interested in. Given two pilots of exactly the same skill, you'd say the Sabre > Eagle in general?

[Not Espi]

saying its the pilot, i mean everyone has a different style.

for example one could be a pvp-god in the eagle and get utterly bashed in the sabre and vice versa.

[Ice-H]

I had basically the same decision to make a week ago... I was looking for a good non-faction VHF, but I didn't just want to take the Sabre right away so I tried the Raven's Talon for example. I liked it very much, good plant, weapons mount points all in the middle you hit very good if your aim is good. But then I noticed that when I aimed at the top corners of the screen, only two of the class 10 guns would fire, at the bottom corners only one. So I scrapped that idea. I would really like to fly an Eagle, I had by far the most PVP fights in it (coming from Vanilla or almost Vanilla servers). I eventually took the Sabre for now... had two fights in it (against an Eagle by the way), it went well, although I still find this ship too big and it should turn a little slower in my opinion. The flying styles I use (practiced with the Eagle) look kind of odd with the Sabre, because it's bigger and turns slower.

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[Seth Karlo]

Hey!

I have flown both Sabre's and Eagles, and I must say the Sabre is a little better in my opinion, but it's not as overpowered as it seems.

The forward firing turret means your energy will drop like a stone, and the Eagle has a tighter turning circle. I've been flying a Sabre before and taken out very quickly by a Xeno in an Eagle one time...

Anyway, Sabre's can get you into trouble with quick firing LPI and there's no way you could get into Gamma or any other Corsair areas with a Sabre, while you can with the Eagle:)

If I can help in any other way, just give me a yell.

-Seth

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Signature by Sleipnir.

[Hemmington]

The forward firing turret means your energy will drop like a stone, and the Eagle has a tighter turning circle. I've been flying a Sabre before and taken out very quickly by a Xeno in an Eagle one time...

Anyway, Sabre's can get you into trouble with quick firing LPI and there's no way you could get into Gamma or any other Corsair areas with a Sabre, while you can with the Eagle:)

If I can help in any other way, just give me a yell.

-Seth

Thanks everyone for the comments so far, really interesting to read all the PoV's:)

And Seth, understand about the energy trouble you'll get with a turret, however can be turned off too ofcourse, think the fact that it's POSSIBLE is pretty nice already(in fighter vs fighter it seems like you have limited on-target shooting time anyway).

The small turning circle is very important in my opinion, so that's where my doubt starts in the Sabre vs Eagle...:P

Also what do you mean with 'there's no way you could get into gamma/corsair areas with a Sabre' ?

[bobby]

It's like the Icon of the Outcasts.

EDIT: Like Flying up to New Berlin with Blood Diamonds glued to your hull.

[Seth Karlo]

Well, I don't think the Corsairs would appreciate the Outcasts primary fighter waltzing in... technically I know it's a 'Border Worlds' ship, but maybe the Corsairs would be itchy with their trigger fingers...

Maybe I'm just being paranoid:P

(I seriously need to stop putting apostrophes where they're not needed >.<)

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Signature by Sleipnir.

[Hemmington]

Hehe well then it's no big problem as I'm on VERY good relations with the Corsairs and absolutely dreadful relations with the Outcasts(Newcastle BH missions hehe).

Good thing Sabre's are also sold by the Rheinland. Anyhow, I'm going to think about it, taking in consideration everything that has been said so far Thanks again.