As a new vendetta player, I've received the impression that there really is only one or two viable configurations in PvP. From what I've understood from the few I've discussed it with, if you want to be good in PvP, you equip a cent, vulture or valkyrie with blasters (neutron mk3, or axia positron, right?), a fast charge battery, and that's about it. Well, of course you need heaps of skill as well ;-) , but that's about it for ships and equipment.

I really hope that I'm wrong, that there's tens, or perhaps even hundreds, of possible (and still PvP-viable) configurations, and that a pilot in a behemoth with rockets, another heavy ship with mines, or light fighters with railguns (and etc ec etc) can contend with the light fighters with blasters and guns. That while there might perhaps be some configurations that benefit some styles the most (i.e. light fighters for fellas who like dodging and fast aiming), two *really* good players could still offer each other a challenge, even if one is in a valk, and the other in a heavy ship...

Well, say that I'm wrong!

Thanks for the info. Wonderful thread!

However, it seems only to confirm my fears. Most configuratons are light fighers, and in the ones that aren't, the poster often writes stuff such as 'none of these are any good versus a light fighter, though'.

It seems nothing can contend with light fighter manuvearability and dodging. I really hope that I'm wrong, and that in a battle between two pilots of overall equal skill, there can be more ways to win than by flying light fighters with blasters.

Hey, you PvP giants of VO, please, use your experience to prove me wrong! :-D

Jona, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Wait until cap ships are introduced and the heavies have something to bomb. Rock-paper-scissors.

And there are some weapons which are quite effective against light fighters... rockets, the AGT, swarms, and l-mines.

You might be right. But I've always hated the rock-paper-scissor PvP model. I prefer that most batttles are determined by skill and clever configurations (or, in the case of more traditional MMORPGs, what little skill there is, and good character builds).

I prefer it when most (combat-intended) ships can beat each other, with the right configs. But it seems there's some hope. But would you say light fighters are still markedly superior?

No.

The Serco Skycommand Prometheus kicks the crap out of most light fighters in a 1v1 situation. Put it up against a tooled-up ragIII and it has a problem, though.

There is a rock-paper-scissors system already.

The Rev C and IBG get pounded by the skycommand. The skycommand gets beat up by the aggresso centaur and ragIII, which in turn can't really stand up to a valkyrie or even orion hornet. The valk can tackle a territorial defender hog, but the hornet can't. However put a corvus vult or rev C against a valk, and the valk won't fare particularly well. Its always possible to beat an opponent with near equal skill no matter what ship and config theyre using.

As for future bombers... if there is a way to convert cargo space to accomodate extra ammo, the mkII prom will become VERY nice when it comes to assaulting bigger ships. The ragnarok family have excellent firepower but will get gunned down without escort. The aggresso will probably be the best bomber due to its decent acceleration (for a heavy), cargo space, and 2 L ports.

Jona, if all you see is light fighters, learn the nuances of sunflares. The AGT territorial defender is also a nice choice, as is the prom family (if you can get hold of them.)

Ah, UncleDave, you give me hope. Particularily this line:

'Its always possible to beat an opponent with near equal skill no matter what ship and config theyre using.'

This means there are reasons to experiment with different configurations and ships. I actually thought, from what I've heard and been taught, that the *only* way to go in PvP was light fighters with blasters. Didn't want to believe VO was that badly balanced, but everything seemed to point in that direction...

Still, it's a shame even VO suffers from the rock-paper-scissors curse. Ah, well, it seems there are ways around that limitation. Wonderful. I am actually a light fighter pilot myself, but I wanted to know if it was worth my while (I'm heavily PvP-focused) to experiment...

the idea that every ship should be balanced 1v1 against every other ship is insane rediculous, and actually impossible if you want any actual variety.

Rock - paper - scissors balance works best, and will work even better as vendetta moves from a 1v1 towards more group oriented content.

Rock-paper-scissors and every-ship-evenly-matched-and-balances are only two extremes on a large scale. I've never wished for a game where every ship is balanced 1v1. What I sought was to move as far away from r-p-s as possible, while still maintaining variety. If it can be done in a game such as VO, I've no idea, but for other working experiments, try Shadowbane. For all it's faults, most classes can go up against most other classes, if they are built correctly.

This is what I asked for. That it would be possible to use most (combat-oriented) ships in vendetta, provided you equipped them right, and still be evenly matched against someone of similar skill (a very abstract concept, 'similar skill', but I think you get my drift). And this seems to be the case, except for that some ships and configs work better against some other ships and configs, which is only natural.

The bottom line: that skill (both in piloting and equipping your ship right) should be far more important than ship class.

The Ultimate ship configuration is the Atlas of DOOOOOOOM!! TPG Atlas X with a flare and an AGT, decimaties light fighters and does a number on most heavies too.

Dude, are you serious? The Atlas?

I really hope that you are, even though it kinda feels like in-game humour :-D Because if you are, you've proven to me that there *really* is variation in VO, if a ship I thought was just for trading can be used effectively fer fighting...

The TPG Atlas X is better than the Mk I version, kinda like a Warthog with more armor.
http://www.vo-wiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Atlas

Wonderful. The more I explore this game, the more it proves that it is going to be a serious threat to my abstaining from getting hooked on an online game.

And it seems there *really* is a great deal of variation in ship configurations, even in 1v1 PvP (are you sure the Atlas thing isn't just a joke?). Anyways, thanks people. I'm off trying to hunt down that guy in the Vulture who has already pk'ed me twice... And this time, perhaps I'll use an Atlas X, just to see if yer kidding me or not :-D

(Off-topic rant: From what I've seen, he never speaks in the forums, never communicates in-game, and you only see him the few dilluted seconds before he overtakes and destroys yer ship. His only function seems to be to be the nastiest and best PvP pilot in the game. Ghost in the machine kinda thing. Wonder if he's a rogue A.I....)

If you would like some time look me up in-game. My user name is "Faceless" I like to CtC most of the time, and while waiting for the convoys to run I have time to give combat pointers if you would like.

And yes the TPG Atlas X (Or ATX) is a very good combat ship when used right. I've seen it take out proms before.

My PvP experience:

A great pilot will always beat an average pilot(except in extreme circumstances, as in a behemoth vs. anything) in a 1v1 duel.

-In 1v1 duels the SkyCommand Prometheus equipped with an AGT and two sunflare rockets is the most powerful and most likely to win a 1v1 duel when pilots are of equal skill. It is also more expensive than many other PvP ships. With that said I have had some close calls with Centurion Rev Cs against my SCP, and I have killed a number of SCPs with a valkerie. The ship does not make the pilot.

-In sheer firepower the ragnarok is the best out there, as it has nearly twice the number of weapon slots as the a centaur or prometheus. In the right hands it can be the sneak attack barrage of missles and advanced rails that kills you in under a nanosecond while you're not expecting to be attacked. In the wrong hands it can be a minor annoyance that shoots easily dodged heat seeking missles at you and then runs away. Unfortunatly it is not so great in duels, but when fighting leviathans or taking out turrets of a capital ship, it is the number one bomber. I've also been hurt real bad when fighting one of these and accidentally running into some lightning mines it dropped and I didn't see.

-The valkerie is my favorite fighter because it is just so variable. Anything from blasters to rails to sunflares to gauss cannons(my favorite small port weapons) or any other things you want to try out are always good on a valk. You can really surprise someone by shooting at them with two neutron blastes for a minute or two and then catching them off guard with a sunflare or a rail MK II. Or simply use 3 railgun mk IIs, the fastest travelling weapon at 400 m/s, and have a nearly inexhaustable 90 shots to pound away at the bulkier dueling ships. Also because of its turbo max of 240 with a drain of only 55, it makes for a great pirate ship.

-the warthog is like a baby prometheus. Equip it with one sunflare and one gattling turret and you're good to go. I've had some luck using blasters(megapositron blasters are mean!) or having a surprise barrage of chaos swarms to hit someone with tucked away in that one large port. Definetly a fast enough ship try try out some different combinations.

-the centurion and vultures are very similar, being the smallest and quickest(although not for long range travelling) and hardest to hit ships both with only 2 small weapon slots. You'll probably want to stick with non-ammo weapons for PvP. Personally I love gauss cannons on cents and neuts on vultures. The cent is better at evading rockets but when firing head on at a vulture it is slightly harder to hit with blasters(its long wings make it more vulnerable to area effect rockets).

-the hornets are interesting to play with but are too bulky for my liking. The prometheus has better dodging than this ship. However it is not a bad anti-bot ship with 4 small ports allowing for a variety of weapons suited for killing NPCs. Also once you get 500 playerkills it is fun to equip advanced railguns(10 ammo each, 100(?) energy per shot, 2500 damage per shot) and a heavy battery(for the large energy storage) and shoot unexpecting people just sitting stopped with 10,000 damage all at once, destroying all your light fighters with one shot except for the valk. Not a great dueling ship.

-your trading vessels, centaur/behemoth*/wraiths/atlas have faction variants which make them PvP-able. Though much less common than your light fighters, there is definite possibilty to kill other PvPers, especially those who are overconfident enough to get too close and are hit by a barrage of missle/rocket fire. I don't use them but have been killed once or twice by some of the better pilots using these.

*the only time I was killed by a behemoth was when I was afk taking a leak and got rammed by one at full speed. Don't consider them useful for PvP really.

*********

Anyways something I also wanted to talk about but have had too little experience with is the multi-person PvP battles. That is where you find where your varieties of ships come in handy. Equipping specifically to come in and shoot someone from behind may not be the best equipment for a 1v1 head-to-head battle but may finish the job your friend started. Just play around with everything and see what you like, you'll probably find something you use most of the time and it may or may not be a common PvP ship.

Also, TRUST ME when I say that Corbin was not kidding about the atlas being PvPable. Of all the trader vessels I would want one of those for a duel against your usual suspects.

Mostly I agree w/ everything mainbutter said, but IMO the Ragnarok can be excellent in 1v1 duels, against anything except IBG or Rev. C Cents. A good pilot in a Rag can take on just about anything except the special Cents, and even with the Cents it stands a chance, if the pilot in the Cent isn't as good as the pilot in the Rag.

And the Atlas of doom isn't a joke.

i finde that the best thing to do against experienced players is use the forgotten configurations. it realy only works once or twice but the element of suprise often outweighs the actual weapons or ships involved.

for example i've seen flechet cannons used more effectively than neuts, and no one ever expects a valk to have 3 gemini launchers.

anyway, rock paper scissors balance is the only way to prevent some ships from becomming competely unused. (except for crazys like me who use things just because no one else does). and the closer we come to 1 v1 balance the less RPG like the game will feal. i mean why bother getting combat 9 for that prom, when a cent at level 2 is just as good?

hey Jona, what's you're in-game name? I'll show you just how effecteve my l337 skills are. (yessir, I AM bragging. but, when was the last time someone killed niki while in a rag, em' in a vult, and niki also had a friend in a rev c)

Blackhole Goldclaw

Hmmm, now that I think of it, I've never PvP'ed with either a cent, vult, or valk.