Star Citizen - F8C Lightning Not Best Solo Ship for VHRT/ERT - Ares Ion Is!

[@squirrellordsgaming2772]

Funny enough, the cutlass black has become an excellent choice for these sort of missions. Bring a friend and a turret and scoop up all the cargo afterword, quick and efficiently.

[@wardawgSC]

sweet jesus porkchop... power to weapons! lol am in agreement though, for pve bounty hunting i'd personally take either ares over the F8C

[@UnclePorkchop]

Short mag with power management issues 😁

[@watermelon58]

Sustained dps vs burst simple as that

[@Biggiejohn]

People are delusional if they think an f8c is dropping larger size ships like the ion. The dps between the 2 is like night and day. Capacitors people. The F8c has garbage capacitors. Having 8 hard points only goes as far as how much energy you can output. A full repeater loadout spends more time recharging than actually shooting.

[@UnclePorkchop]

Yep!

[@toastertoast4763]

Where is the eclipse or tali in this?

[@ROrneli]

the exlipse or tali are money makers that is for sure. that is until they fix target and escort AI. Once the main target learns to target torps and use Counter messure then eclipse days are over as far as soloing everything

[@mjlee8013]

Done several Pirate and Vanduul Swarms during last weekend with Inferno and F8C. Ares was always on the top, but don't tell it anyone and laugh at F8C dramma! xD

[@Stranger_Dang3r]

Great video and info brother. Spot on!!

[@UnclePorkchop]

Well thank you sir!

[@srenflorian3532]

dunno man, i have a much easier time to kill all ships in a grp. ERT with an F8 than i do with an Ion. Time 2 kill is almost the same but the F8 is way more tanky. Im running 6 FL22, 2 FL33. HH's are realy no problem at all for a F8. Trying to do ERT with repeaters is a bad idea imo.

[@UnclePorkchop]

I haven't tried the F8 on the group ERT .. i do know the Ion, you can pop the hammerhead by keeping distance. also with 7's on A2 can keep distance without hammer head firing.. good to know! I'll try your load out!

[@MakimKii]

What do you think of the inferno instead. I much prefer the look, weapon, BRRRRRT that the inferno have. I only have a caterpillar atm and wanted to start making big bucks and having fun doing vhrt/ert. Can it do the same job like the ion? Im waiting for iae to buy a fighter ship!

[@UnclePorkchop]

The inferno it great! It just runs out of ammo too fast. They may be reworking a lot of ships soon. I'm holding till next patch,( which could be soon) to see if they improve ballistic damage. I too love the inferno because of Gatlin gun, the sound and spawling damage is so amazing!

[@NozomuYume]

It's not the size of the gun that's the problem. The size 7 cannon on the Ion actually has some of the worst damage-to-mass ratio in the game (It's 169X the mass of a size 1 but only does about 10X the damage of a size 1). The F8C and Ion are absolutely comparable in burst dps, with the Ion having only slightly better What's different are the nerf capacitors. In 3.14 they removed the power plant from providing weapons charge, and replaced them with magic capacitors that generate power from nothing, but with a crippling limitation on the power they provide. They did this so that they could nerf the vast majority of ships to having the same potential sustained damage, with their difference only being in a relatively narrow band based on how fast they can empty their load. These ships are all nerfed to 3000 charge/sec. That's right, a Starfarer, Glaive, Prowler, F8C, etc. can only put as much power to weapons as an Aurora, Dragonfly, or Nox. This means that having a ton of guns (F8C) or big guns (Prowler, Glaive) just means you can empty your charge faster, but you still have the same trickle 3000 charge to replace it. Coupled with the low damage-to-size progression, (going up a size does not add much damage, except size 4 -> size 5) this is why an Aurora can still fight most ships in the game and win instead of being hopelessly outmatched. Having a big power plant does nothing to help your weapons because the capacitors don't actually use the power plant (power plant still provides standby power to guns but does not actually charge the wapons). The 600i, Hercules, Corsair, Constellation, and Ares Ion are the notable exceptions, they were allowed by CIG to have 15,000/sec charge instead of 3,000, because they are heavily nerfed in other ways (chiefly maneuverability and shield recharge). These 5 ships will be consistently better at killing larger ships with pilot weapons than all the others, because energy charge == damage == the ability to continuously send more damage downrange.

[@UnclePorkchop]

Have you checked out its buff this patch? It's pretty strong now 😃

[@NozomuYume]

@@UnclePorkchop The Ion you mean? It didn't get any buff to its damage, it just got autoaim turned on again, so you can hit things more accurately. Burst dps on the gun unchanged. Remember though ultimately sustained energy damage is limited by the power supply, which means that for pilot weapons all ships are either 3000 (almost but not quiet enough to fully power two size 1 lasers), or 15,000 (exactly enough to power three size 5 repeaters, but not quite enough for two size 5 cannons). Once you reach those thresholds, your weapons don't get any more energy, instead they just try to empty themselves faster so that more time can be spent recharging at 3,000 or 15,000. None of this uses the power plant. So when I say the Ion is more powerful, it's because it has 15,000 charge (the size 7 cannon needs 19,000 for full power, so it's pretty close) vs. the F8C's 3000. To fully power the F8C with laser repeaters would require 17,000 charge (6X2000 for the size 2s, plus 2X2500 for the size 3s). It only has 3000.

[@UnclePorkchop]

@@NozomuYume great response! 👍

[@hellgeist_]

Except that neither the F8C or Ares Ion can pick up the cargo you will get from a bounty. If you don't have somebody in a cargo ship who is escorting you to this loot, then it doesn't matter. If you are solo and want to take both the VHRT targets and their loot, you need a Corsair, or something with those features. If you are skilled, you could even do it in a Freelancer, but cargo space is a MUST. I won't even go into the problems of fuel/range, or interiors as future hard necessities, but they should also be considered.

[@ilemas79]

I have been doing bounties and combat assist beacons with the Ion for a while now and I must say I love flying it. The light fighters, especially the small fast ones are usually the biggest challenge if I fail to take them out with missiles.

[@UnclePorkchop]

Yep! The Cutlass are so tanky now.. got to peel off those engines fast.. the Ion is tricky smaller fighters for sure!

[@ro0140]

At this moment in time with the current flight model you might be right but strafing and dancing around ships is probably a thing of the past with Master Mode. We will have to see all the drama about ships being as they are now in this point of time is useless. CIG has decided to go for a new Flight Model that will change everything we know and ships will be re-tuned after the new Flight Model.

[@UnclePorkchop]

That's so true! Strafing around npc ships is so cheesy right now.. im actually excited for new flight models to arrive in PU.

[@kalikiller1771]

​@@UnclePorkchopit's not cheesy it's what you'd expect in a zero g vacuum. Fastest ship runs circles around the slower ship

[@UnclePorkchop]

@kalikiller1771 that's true! .. I was more knocking the NPC arnt fully developed to attack properly yet.. sometimes they are incredibly difficult, most times they are easy to avoid.

[@KarlKaput]

If only we could put a distortion cannon on that thing haha

[@UnclePorkchop]

🤪 dropping 890s in atmosphere all day long lol!

[@marcuswynn89]

i was literally about to make this same video

[@zaindin1933]

I love the ion doing vhrts and erts however I wish it had cargo to take the loot. Looking for something with cargo. A mate of mine likes using the corsair but I hate its handling

[@UnclePorkchop]

Yeah.. the C2 is pretty cheap in game I believe. A Crewed A2 running ERT is pretty much the greatest game loop to be experienced with others. Come fly with the STAARS org! You don't have to register, or anything. We all have cargo ships and a good time! 👍

[@squirrellordsgaming2772]

I found a gold ticket last night while I was goofing off around the area where you buy Gold at microtech. I finally got to take the F8 for a test drive last night. It was very fun very good looking ship.CIG really did screw over the Aries owners with the initial Nerf that they did. I’m pretty sure CIG is going to Nerf the F8 as well.

[@UnclePorkchop]

Oh yeah... the ship is very op.. especially with the 10 gun group that can be added.. CIG sure ticked off a lot of OG backers..

[@sebastienjonas4984]

Obviously, the F8C is capped at size 3 weapons, no wonder it's not ideal for big ship hunting.

[@UnclePorkchop]

Good point!

[@lunamaria1048]

I think this deserves a share! The "haves vs have nots" mentality, over the F8C (in the community) is very unnecessary, and this short, but to the point video, could help put things into some type of perspective for a lot of disgruntled backers. Good video ☺️

[@UnclePorkchop]

Thank you! 😊

[@MR_E-00]

I never did get to try the Ion. Spot on the F8 and Im glad "Capital Killers" still have a place. The F8 seems capable of taking larger ships, just like any other ships. But it seems geared towards combating Fighter Class ships. Awesome footage man. o7

[@UnclePorkchop]

Yep! Although both are in same heavy fighter class.. the Ion goes way beyond when ships get larger than a connie.. it was actually difficult finding a flaw with F8 except the upper tier of bounty hunting. Thanks for watching brah! We need to get together soon and get into some shenanigans 🤪

[@MR_E-00]

@@UnclePorkchop oh absofuklutely. Im down bro. Always looking to have some fun.

[@ROrneli]

I say bring in a 600i with fixed 5s and a friend to gun down fast moving ships while you work the main target and then have your friend bring in all the boxes.

[@UnclePorkchop]

yep! I've done that just recently actually! Battle, Load riches in style!

[@Bugsygb1]

Can't be the best at everything eh xD Just everything else but this lool, What a ship the F8c is :D

[@UnclePorkchop]

I just had to find a fault with F8C.. it was thin pickings 🤣

[@muhlaka123]

Cargo 0 = no sell (without another player)

[@UnclePorkchop]

So, you leave the main target almost dead, go to station call a cargo ship and return to mission marker. Kill last guy amd harvest is what I do 😁

[@BaldVulture87]

while this was informative, making money in SC atm is kinda pointless. until they stop wiping my shit every couple of months grinding Auec is a pointless endeavour.

[@UnclePorkchop]

Taking advantage of maze cargo during jump town and selling then still makes instant millionaires.. but yeah... they neefed cargo substantially over the past couple of weeks.

[@citizenjags1309]

Dude. Put Pips to weapons when in the F8C. You'll get better result, and focus on one side of a ship, dont just spread your shots out ALL around the target. Just some advice

[@UnclePorkchop]

Thanks! 🙂

[@pi-halves]

More to the point: fully scan the ship and then use sub-component targeting (or lag pips) to take out the engines.

[@wraith511802003]

1# Ares is not a heavy fighter. it is a anti capital ship. 2# F8c is a heavy fighter.

[@UnclePorkchop]

Still classed as heavy fighter, but wiki titles it a anti capital class. Then says it's heavy fighter because it's DPS and size compared to other places it in the roll of heavy fighter.. its mission is obviously anti capital ship..

[@wraith511802003]

@@UnclePorkchop CIG 100% says it is a ANIT CAPITAL SHIP> Matter not what some one else says. OR the sales media says.

[@mjlee8013]

Anti-capital is a role, heavy fighter is a ship class (category).

[@wraith511802003]

@@mjlee8013 and, still does not change that they are apple to oranges.

[@M3SA-gaming]

Any time i can be salty and shit on the F8 I will. With no stats to back up my statement, the F8C is doo doo, and I am immune to all youtube comments. The Cutter could slap the F8C any day of the week. I support this video.

[@UnclePorkchop]

🤣 Brother... I felt your heart break when CIG pulled the golden ticket BS. ..

[@danford6678]

Dude trying to make the F8 look much worse than it actually is. Not shifting cap to guns, intentionally stopping shooting at 1-2 shots left in cap before waiting till just when the cap would begin to recharge guns to fire the last few shots then again not swapping cap to guns for fast recharge. Waiting for multiple seconds to begin firing only to spray half a cap then wait multiple seconds to acquire target before spraying the rest of the cap.

[@UnclePorkchop]

😂

[@iranouspolaris2035]

Your completly WRONG, put all distortion or all cannons proven by other Utubers F8C Lightning is a ship which is better in every way!😊😊😊😊

[@UnclePorkchop]

Yeah! it's pretty awesome! I own one and and tried all 10 gun group combinations. it doesn't kill a capital ship as fast. But would absolutly love to try the two side by side to see officially what the difference in time is.. I accumulated about 20 recorded hours in both ships. it took me 10 mins to kill all the enemies in an ERT with F8C, and about 5 mins with Ares Ion. but im an average pilot too.