Star Citizen 3.17.2 - Esperia Blade bounties, review, and light fighter comparisons

[@MrBiglig]

I was just thinking of giving this ship another try since the rework. Looks like you have fun with it, I’m in! Great video as always

[@WingZeroType]

Thank you so much! And yeah if you've got the money and like light fighter combat this ship is incredible. If light fighters aren't really your thing I'm not sure it's worth the investment though, because to get the most out of this ship you need to use it's agility, but hot dang is it agile lol

[@jwonyoutube]

I absolutely had that capacitor-not-recharging problem in a Sentinel repeater loadout while slowly soloing an ERT hammerhead. It only happened once and eventually righted itself after a minute or two like u described. I was super confused and wondered if the HH had somehow disabled a component temporarily or smth. Awesome vid btw you’re my #1 guy for fighter picks and education.

[@WingZeroType]

Thanks so much for the kind words! And thanks for letting me know you're seeing this with other ships as well. I haven't really seen it with other ships but I'll try to keep an eye out now. I've had it happened to me a bunch of times in the Blade though so it seems to be more common there... or maybe that's just because i flew the blade A LOT recently in preparation for this video lol. Thanks again for the encouragement, I really appreciate it!

[@joelizon7759]

If you look down in free look and open the mobi-glass it will let you see the UI you need to set paths for jumps

[@WingZeroType]

that's amazing!!! I'm going to test this out next time I log in, thank you!!!

[@joelizon7759]

@@WingZeroType No problem. I tap Z look down as much as the camera will let me and then open mobi-glass. Don't hold freelook key down or it will not work. The UI will not be all on screen but the two buttons on the top will be usable.

[@WingZeroType]

@@joelizon7759 ok got it, thank you!

[@emanuelferrenti7720]

Hello sir! Love ur vids. Are u playing with mouse and keyboard or another Setup? Could u maybe do a video about controls/keys and maybe individual keybindings for dogfights? Would love that!

[@WingZeroType]

Hey thank you! I'm using a dual-joystick setup. I have considered a video about my bindings, but I wasn't sure if anyone would like it! For now, you can take a look at this chart that I've made of my bindings if that helps you: i.imgur.com/KPIBpAm.png I did use mouse and keyboard for about a year before I got joysticks though, and the main things that I found useful to re-bind were: 1. I wanted an easy way to change between coupled and decoupled, I made 1, 2, and 3 the buttons to max power for weapons, thrusters, and shields respectively 2. I wanted to easily set my speed limit back to the SCM speed for combat (I made that the X key) 3. I changed my missile operator mode bindings so that right click changed the number of missiles that I'm locking up, and G changed the missile type (basically swap those two bindings for missile operator mode) 4. I put the binding for firing a decoy on my mouse button #4 so that I could very easily fire decoys since hitting the H or J key is not easy to do with your hand on WASD and a mouse.

[@0Metatron]

So many people now using the Blade after the buff. It’s the reason I had to reluctantly swap from the Arrow back to the Gladius because the blade strips the Arrow’s shields in a second but with the Gladius I can usually smoke most of my bladed opponents in the PU because I can tank way more of those insanely high powered shots

[@WingZeroType]

Yeah the blade is really good now, just matching up the projectile velocities of the blade's weapons has done so much for it, and its agility is out of this world. Its firepower is really good but it's not that much higher than the arrow. But yea double the shields of the arrow while not being THAT much larger than the arrow does make the arrow a little bit weaker IMO.

[@jimc7022]

Are there ever Redeemers in with bounties? If there were would you think they’d be HRT or VHRT? Would you like to see them added to bounties? They have Meh maneuverability but great acceleration, firepower, hull, and shields.

[@WingZeroType]

I haven't seen redeemers with any bounties, but they would be ERT if they were there due to their tankiness. ERTs sometimes contain retaliators and I consider redeemers in a similar class thanks to their multiple turrets and heavy shields and hull

[@jimc7022]

@@WingZeroType makes sense

[@stoneguard]

Great breakdown, thanks!

[@WingZeroType]

Thanks for checking out the video! I love flying the ship in-game right now, love the agility and the weapons :)

[@stoneguard]

@@WingZeroType Looking forward to trying it this evening for alien day! I guess with it being like it is, no worries about rentals being component locked, lol!

[@WingZeroType]

@@stoneguard right??? these vanduul replications are the few ships where it being a rental isn't *that* much of a pain, other than not being able to swap the quantum drive to fly around a bit further lol

[@Volf1916]

Thanks for this review, this is one of the ships I was not considering due to cost to value. Finding it is functional means I am likely going to join the game.for the free fly IAE event.

[@WingZeroType]

That's great to hear! Yeah you should be able to fly it for free during the free-fly event and you should be able to rent this ship during the alien day. The star map is zoomed in so you can't set a route like i mentioned but there are other ways around that issue. But the ship does shine quite well in combat, IMO :)

[@adilazimdegilx]

Great review, I was really looking for this. Blade was on the top of my list after wipe and I was curious about its performance this patch. I always have a high opinion of your take on fighters since you also value the joy of flying them regularly in your reviews which is really important for me to choose a ship. Blade seems like in a great place between other fighters this patch which gets me excited. I always loved its design but it wasn't bringing enough fighting prowess to table. And with that high price tag I just had to pass on that. Starmap bug looks very annoying though. I don't really use it myself to travel around but there was a specific case which I used to have to resort the Starmap in group bounty missions. ( It's when you can't lock up to QT target because quest markers are on top of each other and you have to wiggle around to lock which is really tedious. But you could directly set route from Starmap.) I don't know how common this bug on 3.17.2 since I was away and couldn't play after last wipe. Still, I'm willing to take the Blade to rip hulls if it's finally in a good place amongst the competition. Thank you for this very detailed review.

[@WingZeroType]

Thank you for the lovely feedback and kind words! It means a lot to me, and yes I really try to fly the ships a lot before talking about them. I'm glad it comes through :D About the quantum locking issue, it's still happening with overlapping targets but you can get it to lock by moving forward at your scm speed and then pointing just slightly to the side of your target and above it. Check out the first minute of my Gladius review if you want to see what I mean, I've never had to set the route in the mobiglass thanks to this trick :) And yeah the blade is awesome now! Still a couple bugs and it's a bit more fragile than the arrow and Gladius but it's sooo agile and it's high dps really helps. I'm loving this ship right now :D

[@adilazimdegilx]

@@WingZeroType I really mean those words. Whenever a new balance patch or ship drops I come to check your videos on it. Well I also like to check it myself in game but it's not always possible for me. Thanks for QT workaround, I'll definetely check it.

[@WingZeroType]

@@adilazimdegilx Thanks, that's awesome to hear, I appreciate the encouragement!

[@Yamuyo]

11:40 you can press U to shut down everything and then turn it on. It fixes the weapon bug and you wont be that long in risk of not having shields

[@Yamuyo]

I meant, its quite quick to fully turn on systems so no need to be afraid of not having shields or falling on the ground

[@WingZeroType]

Thanks! Yeah I did find out that power cycling the weapons often lets the bug resolve, so I've been doing that some but it doesnt *always* work. I'll try a full power cycle next time to see if that's more consistent. Thank you!

[@karmabad6287]

Isn't this ship supposed to be able to ram with the blades on the wing tips eventually? Or am I thinking of something else.. anyway good vid.

[@WingZeroType]

omg I have the same exact question. I have tried to find official information about it but haven't been successful. I think the glaive and scythe are supposed to be able to do that because they have a "ramming blade" equipped, while the Blade does not. But the blade is literally called a blade, and it's wingtips are essentially swords, so it REALLY gives off that vibe. But honestly I think based on the size and weight of the ship I don't think it'd be particularly adept at that, so I'm going to venture that it's not supposed to.

[@karmabad6287]

@@WingZeroType I swear I heard it somewhere. How I think it would work is, push the ship up to a target slowly then drive the blades in. And I figured they would be like a jack hammer.

[@WingZeroType]

@@karmabad6287 oh interesting so you mean as a way to breach ships, not as a way to destroy them? i could see that, but i still can't find any information supporting that lol

[@karmabad6287]

@@WingZeroType yeah breach or even just eat holes through capital ships. Imagine 10 of these things tearing your hull up lol.

[@WingZeroType]

@@karmabad6287 that sounds like a freaking nightmare! lol

[@ThePandachoww]

It's on my list....slowly working my way through it lol, good video though :) see them all the time ingame so it's nice to have some decent gameplay footage of it

[@WingZeroType]

yeah it's a fantastic ship!! you should definitely check it out if you get the chance :D

[@ThePandachoww]

@@WingZeroType last xeno ship i got was the talon and it was a total bust sad to say :(

[@WingZeroType]

@@ThePandachoww i'd say the ship is fun to fly, but with the ram-happy AI and the current state of weapons balance I agree it's not in a great spot. Once armor is implemented, the fact that the talon has s4 hardpoints could end up meaning a lot though, since they'll be able to punch through some of the heavier armor perhaps.

[@ThePandachoww]

@@WingZeroType bane of my existence right now in that game is them ram happy valkyries....literally what brings my vhrt group speed down, I feel like 10-15 mins in an arrow is decent though :p to be honest next on my list is the eclipse so I can just earn big cash with ERT and critical beacons

[@WingZeroType]

@@ThePandachoww yeahhhh eclipse and retaliator have a good feeling lol. even a gladiator can be fun for 1-shotting VHRT-level targets with the s5 torps.

[@mmmdawe]

it's offtopic but do you have any advice on how to deal with hurricanes? i encountered some pirate trying to ruing lockdown for everyone while i was in my vanguard sentinel, i approached him like 3 times and felt absolutely hopeless, turret was just obliterating me and i couldnt position myself to avoid it. running away wasn't an option too because hurricane is for some reason faster

[@WingZeroType]

Ah sorry the hurricane is totally OP in pvp if it's got two people in it. The turret DPS is insanity and the smaller size of the hurricane combined with it's excellent acceleration let's it control engagements against any ships that have more dps or tank than it, so if you're in a vanguard the best you can hope for is you adjust your path so that you make it hard for them to predict your pip as you land your fire on it, but just know that you're fighting uphill. Another thing you could do is have more people engage them and just missile spam them so that they run out of decoys or are forced to constantly run from the missiles.

[@mmmdawe]

@@WingZeroType well time to buy hurricane myself then 😅

[@WingZeroType]

@@mmmdawe haha yeah basically, as long as you're able to keep someone in the gunnery seat it's a pretty ridiculous ship :) there are other youtubers that are better-versed in pvp tactics than I am but the one thing I do know is hurricane is king of the hill for a 2-man ship

[@tehtehkhantengames8580]

what do you think of the talon vs blade? especially with the buff to ballistics in 3.18. I find my talon to be just as agile if not slightly more vs the blade and I can change the weapons. Not to mention unless erkul is bugged the talon has way more hull health as well.

[@WingZeroType]

The talon's hull health is deceptive b/c it's adding in all the health for the wing and "tail" pieces as well. And unfortunately the talon loses a lot of flight capability if one of its wings gets knocked off whereas the blade can take some pretty bad damage to it's "wings" without being impacted. That said, the Talon *does* have more hull hp in the critical section that would trigger ship death, but it remains to be seen how that will all change in 3.18 when ballistics are going to mostly pierce shields. I don't know where the blade "components" are located but the talon components are located around the exterior of the ship, and are therefore somewhat "vulnerable". I think the ability of the talon to equip ballistics is pretty good, but unless you're going to be able to kill a VHRT-level enemy in 3.18 with ballistics before you take their shields down it won't make a difference, since you'll have spent a bunch of dps taking the shields down anyway. I'm inclined to prefer the blade right now, but I haven't had any experience on the 3.18 PTU yet, so that's just my speculation. The blade feels tougher to kill than the talon IMO, although I do like the Talon's cockpit *a lot* more.

[@tehtehkhantengames8580]

@@WingZeroType yeah you pretty much nailed down my feelings on it too. I say all this and end up flying my warden anyway because of the quantum fuel and shield health making it easy instead of stressful lol. Looking forward to testing everything when 3.18 launches. If you wanna test anything out lemme know, I have all those ships pledged.

[@WingZeroType]

@@tehtehkhantengames8580 thanks a bunch! I'm waiting for Open PTU access for now and once I get that I'll get to work :D lol I'll let you know if I could use your help with any of those ships, thank you!

[@shawnc5188]

Have you tried the service beacons? I found flying a Scorpius solo doesn’t have enough DPS to fight Hammerheads and Reclaimers in High Risk - I usually take too long and the mission times out. No issue with a Connie.

[@WingZeroType]

Yep Ive found the same thing. For high threat beacons you need a Connie, 600i, or some other ultra-high DPS ship like a multi-crew reclaimer. Basically something ERT-capable. The one caveat is the 200k+ high risk missions can have lots of VHRT and medium/light fighters, which many other ships can complete in time. But yeah for the most part I just go for low and moderate if I'm not in an ERT-capable ship

[@shawnc5188]

@@WingZeroType just saw Kate’s video where they used two Retailators with single gunner to take out three Hammerheads and an Idris in Critical beacon

[@WingZeroType]

@@shawnc5188 ah yeah but that's still four people. But yeah 12 s9 torps and gunners would do the trick. 3 torps for 3 hammerheads, which leaves 9 torps and 4xs3 guns to finish off the idris

[@nex9388]

I've downed the Idris with 4 then 2 torps. Almost cleaned up the rest by climbing into turret and sitting near the NPC fighters. The last hammerhead got me. I know by going back and trying again that was the perfect storm. The issue is I've gone back with inexperienced players that want to take control yet do not account shields. Like, we had two retailors. I planned to try to take Idris down. We get there and they change the plan on the spot. Let's fire two at a time. I fire. They decide to wait. Why wait? Do you not see their shields went up? Them 'your idea isn't working.' -.- I find myself more and more just going out on my own these days. I make way more money solo, especially since everything seems to break in multiplayer anyways. Mining is boring. Beacons come whenever you are not doing them. ERTs pay dog shit. Great game if it worked..

[@WingZeroType]

@@nex9388 bounty hunting usually works pretty well, so I'm a fan of that part of the game. Agree that pretty much every other part of the game breaks consistently though lol.

[@ripcord_z9928]

Thanks so much for this review, I had this ship before but hated the 2 different speed weapons and was hoping when I return that this would have been changed. I like the Gladius but love this one, might not be that much better that the Gladius but man she just have something special that I love. I am over the moon to see that they have changed the weapons to be the same so you can now actually use all 4 at the same time 😃

[@WingZeroType]

Oh yeah the maneuverability of this ship is ludicrous. They've updated the handling and hp in addition to changing the weapons, so the ship is a beast now. It's just.... very expensive lol. But yeah totally worth it if you enjoy light-fighter gameplay because it's just so fun to use as long as you can get past the fully-red HUD :D

[@ripcord_z9928]

@@WingZeroType I love light fighter gameplay - man you dont know how happy this reply has made me 😆 Them just fixing the weapons is awesome, updating the handling and HP man that sounds like a X-Mas present from me to me 🤣😂 Last time I played the Red HUD was something that bothered me the least and I got used to it fairly quickly

[@WingZeroType]

@@ripcord_z9928 Oh yeah it's so ridiculously agile, you can just throw it around your enemy and immediately get into the position you want to be in, and the guns just sound SO SATISFYING lol. If they gave the HUD more contrast I'd be all over it. That said... I am upgrading my Retaliator to a Glaive this IAE.... so I guess I'm going to have a lot of red HUD in my life lol

[@ripcord_z9928]

@@WingZeroType does Stealth components actually do anything like lower your EM or IR signatures? I looked on erkul but doesn't seem to change it in any way or I am just dumb and don't know how to read the figures.

[@WingZeroType]

@@ripcord_z9928 right now they don't. They used to but then they flattened the values for everything to be the same until they rebalanced everything. It's unclear when they're going to rebalance things though, so for now stealth effectively doesn't do much.

[@WhitefoxSpace]

Great video as always bud keep it up

[@WingZeroType]

Thanks a bunch for checking it out and letting me know

[@christophermontoya5995]

I found swaping to fill power to weapons and cycling them fully off then on real quick takes a second or 2 to be fully back up works. I got ot set to P key

[@WingZeroType]

Thank you! I did find that helped once but I only tried it once so I wasn't sure if it was a coincidence or not. It actually hasn't really happened to me much recently but when it does I'll give it another shot. I appreciate you sharing this workaround!

[@russ.t]

How can you tell the industrial shields absorb more ballistics?

[@WingZeroType]

Hey so you can see the statistics of the shields on erkul.games, but since 3.18 all the shields absorb the same amount of ballistics so industrial shields are no longer the go-to. Now you want to get Grade A civilian shields for pve or grade A military shields for pvp. The only advantage the military shields have over the civilian shields is that they have better distortion resistance, which is never a problem in pve but the military shields cost more.

[@Avoozl]

I bought the Blade in-game, but only used it for two days. Until you can change the UI colour I just feel limited, as I have much worse awareness in this ship. - Is my ship damaged? - No idea, everything is red anyway. - Where are the enemies? - Hard to tell, everything on the screen is red.

[@WingZeroType]

Yeah for sure, the cockpit UI definitely needs a bit more contrast. For pvp situations it's definitely a huge handicap. I feel like it's manageable for me in pve though so I still enjoy using it, but the ship isn't without its flaws for sure

[@crimsonskies391]

Simple solution make any damage lights/damage on UI a high contrast color like blue

[@WingZeroType]

@@crimsonskies391 yeah they gotta do something. The UI is all getting reworked though

[@fedakol7756]

Then capacitor recharge bug happens to me, i turn off and on specific weapons. Don’t know if it will be faster because i usually fly connies and they have weapons mfd and fast capacitor recharge

[@WingZeroType]

I haven't had it happen to me on other ships, only on the blade, which is really weird. I haven't tried specifically turning off individual weapons b/c like I mentioned it usually happens in combat and i'd probably take a ton of damage if i spent that much time fiddling with the MFDs :D

[@shoremane854]

@@WingZeroType when my weapons dont charge i turn the power of the weapon system on and off with the hotkey, default is P. that fixes it usually

[@WingZeroType]

@@shoremane854 Thanks, I had tried that sometimes but I'll make sure to try it again!

[@PinkTuskedMammoth]

those warlords are still cannons they just sped up its cannons to make the ship more effective

[@WingZeroType]

yeah I mean, technically the WASPs are also called cannons, but the main thing that separates cannons and repeaters are the projectile travel speed as well as the capacitor consumption, and in both of those categories the guns on the Blade match the values of repeaters, so even though I agree that the alpha and fire rate of the Warlords are still closer to those of cannons, the values that impact the dps capability are matched to repeaters :)

[@SolarWindsRider]

With new master mods the ship combat soon will be very different. Probably will need new tactics too.

[@WingZeroType]

yeah i'm pretty excited for it. I'm not sure how much will change for my tactics, other than it will make disengaging to recharge shields a much more time consuming thing. The idea behind getting in close and orbiting around the enemy will still be the same. I'm just a bit concerned about the lack of counter measures while outside of the SCM mode. We'll have to see how they solve that issue, and numerous others as they develop it more. I'm sort of not expecting that new combat mode for about a year though. We've still got major big things coming like 3.18, the stabilization that will be necessary after that, and then Pyro.

[@SolarWindsRider]

@@WingZeroType well, they said they are already testing it actively, my guess it will be part of 4.0. And as usual with SC, players will struggle with it for several patches until they get it right)

[@WingZeroType]

@@SolarWindsRider i hope so! But then that also begs the question... when is 4.0 going to happen? :D

[@davewills6121]

I have a Blade, but only for its esthetic value, have no idea about its capacities, just use it. Handles fine, its pretty decent.

[@WingZeroType]

yeah its mobility is pretty bonkers, the mobility + the feel of the guns is what does it for me

[@davewills6121]

@@WingZeroType Has it had a 'Rework/Gold Standard' or something, looks that way?

[@WingZeroType]

@@davewills6121 no not yet, none of the alien ships have gone through that yet but it did have its guns adjusted to all be repeater-speed projectiles and to have some of its maneuverability and hull hp values changed

[@davewills6121]

@@WingZeroType Ah, that must be what i was referring to. I did CCU to a Glaive which was Ok, although was never keen on the ship in its current state, so melted, but will pick one up next IAE just to throw in buy back. I must admit, i must be the only person who enjoys the nerfs, far to many poorly skilled pilots rely on over powered weapons and shields, over improving their piloting skills. My prized ship out of my fleet though has to be the ''Saber Raven'', not because its rarish, but because its gorgeous, unique and not just a skin/paint job. Its not perfect, isn't a bruiser by any means, but it does stand out from the crowd. PS: Enjoy your content by the way. Regards

[@WingZeroType]

@@davewills6121 thank you so much! And I didn't think people could buy the scythe? Are you concierge? That might change things. I have a glaive which I enjoy but it's a bit tough to pilot. I still enjoy it though and I like that it's a dedicated single-seat fighter. And yeah I love talking to people about their "Heart over head" ships. It's a fun conversation about what about a specific ship speaks to people. It really makes me appreciate how much ship variety CIG already has in the game, and I'm excited to see more.

[@masokist5181]

no navigation bug on male toons changed from female and it works fine

[@WingZeroType]

ah its a zoom based thing i guess? the male head might be slightly higher up and can see the top buttons i'm guessing? That's good at least. Thanks for sharing that!

[@yobizzyb]

cool looking ship but dont like the red interior much. think its the best looking alien ship though or maybe talon definitely better looking than the flying crustacean and the prowler. it is a beast though.

[@WingZeroType]

Yeah i'm with you on that. Not a fan of the interior at all, but think it looks great from the outside and LOVE it's performance. love it a lot actually lol. So much that I was pondering pledging for it, until I remembered that there's still massive changes coming down the pipe that could up-end everything

[@straydogdaniel668]

I thought valks felt more tanky

[@WingZeroType]

They tanky AF right now lol. It's also because of hit registration issues I think, I'm really curious how this will all feel once that's solved. And dear god I hope that's solved for 3.18

[@viking_vibes]

It's a great preforming ship now, don't fly it at all because I hate the interior lol. Solid red everything isn't very effective at showing damage to targets or boost lol.

[@WingZeroType]

I COMPLETELY agree with your stance on the interior. It kills me, but I love the way it flies so much, and I love the way the weapons feel that I still fly it. I also like that I can see 4 MFDs whereas in the arrow and gladius you can only see 2 by default, so that helps take some of the edge off. But yeah... not being able to see damage states is a pain.

[@viking_vibes]

@@WingZeroType yeah all solid points. It's probably the best light fighter right now to be fair. I use trackir off a Webcam these days, definitely helps with the mfd issue.

[@claymoredog9338]

No talk about the bucc..

[@WingZeroType]

yeah even though they list the bucc as a "light fighter" it's actually a medium fighter based on it's hp, armnaments and (perhaps most importantly) capacitor regen pool size. So it wouldn't make sense in a light fighter comparison because it really fits in another class. That said, the bucc is a great ship and I love using it for VHRTs, it's got ridiculously good gimballed dps and they've solved some of the issues it used to have with the frosted front window and the really fragile engines

[@reginadea2821]

I want to love this plane, but the cockpit cutting off the map is a big turn off.

[@WingZeroType]

Yeah I hear you, there's a lot not to love for the cockpit but those guns and agility just get me lol

[@reginadea2821]

@@WingZeroType Not even that, I just love the exterior's design. Reminds me of eldar planes from 40k, one of my favourite races in scifi.

[@WingZeroType]

@@reginadea2821 oh yeah i thought it looked pretty much like a Raider from Battlestar Galactica :D

[@reginadea2821]

@@WingZeroType Oh yeah, I can see the resemblance!