well, I still think the new hornet is fine. with quad flare you don't have to target as much either, and you strafe to aim with it, you don't spin. and if a quad flare hornet becomes better ship, I don't want to think about lighter loads. the hornet isn't a fast dogfighter and shouldn't be moved towards being one either.

Well not everyone uses quad-flares. And I can tell you from a fact that the thrust is horrid even with light loadouts. But whatever, it's just a suggestion. I don't see how it would hurt to at least give it a slight boost. Because like I said I doubt it'll be an uber ship. Hardly anyone even flies it today. That can't be a good sign.

I fly the Hornet regularly with a lighter load than quad flares, and I don't find the behaviour to be that bad at all. against most things it's okay, against a Rev c pilot that goes close, you're screwed. I don't see this as a problem.

the problem with balancing it is always the "worst case" loadout we'll have to balance, the 640N SCP was probably doable to fight if it had mounted a gatling cannon and two flechettes. =)

hardly anyone flies it, yeah. I think a good bit of that is a holdover from people thinking "death coffin" and people fearing Rev cs. the Hornet requires a fair amount of skill to fly well if you're not planning on using it as a spam platform, and I think that's pretty okay. it holds 4 s-ports, it packs a mighty whallop, and that should hold a major drawback somewhere.

I have personally taken several 535N SCPs and misc ships down to a Vult with a quad rail Hornet MkII. no, I probably can't do that against really good pilots, but the fact that it's doable against a prom jock today means something with regards to the dodging capabilities of the Hornet.

or the dodging capabilities of the prom jocks.

I've fought the same people with the old and new ships, the difference is noticable. yes, they shouldn't get hit like that, but the point is, I can get away from AGT now. rockets are still a nightmare if used well, but that's okay.