Centurions vs Dreadnaught, hmm...

[Aeonic]

Why are there all these missions that send you out with a fleet of centurions against a vastly superior enemy and actually expect you to keep the centurions alive? I mean, there are some clever strategies that you can pull do achieve this, such as distracting your wing men with a weak enemy while you go off to deal with the nasty, or luring the enemy to a friendly base to deal with them for you, but still, if you just went to confront the enemy, those centurions would get mauled in moments. Why do they bother sending them with you? I mean, if they were centurion/x class, that might be something, but those centurions are a liability, not an asset...

[Atarlost]

That's why everyone sets a crate on a planet where it cannot be hit and orders the wingmen to attack it.

[Aury]

That's why everyone sets a crate on a planet where it cannot be hit and orders the wingmen to attack it.

QFT! (or a find a wreck or something they can use as target practice)

[Aeonic]

That only works if you have a targeting ROM, and annoyingly I keep not finding those. Be nice if targeting were built into all ships.

But it still doesn't answer the question as to why they bother sending them with you in the first place. It would be nice if you had some allies that were actually worth the trouble of having around once in a while. Rama might be if he weren't constantly getting killed by Sung fortresses. A wing of 5-6 Ramas wouldn't be bad.

(And why is it those Centurions don't even have missiles? They get seriously mauled out there when everything is resistant to particle. You'd think ships backed by military funding could do a little better.)

[Aury]

maybe toss in a couple of your praetorians?

[Aeonic]

That's what they're designed for. Praetorians make quick work of Ares' Sandstorm-class.

[Periculi]

Didn't someone make a mod that allowed you to upgrade your wingmen armor and weapons? They would work great with better-than-common armor, shields and weapons.

[Bobby]

that only works with named wingmen like rama, the fleet assigned ones are left as-is, except maybe an order to make them stay there.

[Sponge]

I've always really hated this about fleet missions. If the Commonwealth can't muster up some sort of respectable fleet, then they should just send you by yourself. It's really disappointing to see your wingmen shredded so handily.

Wingmen need considerably better shields and armor. That way they won't get destroyed immediately, but their limited weaponry won't be too big a help so as to make the battle unnecessarily easy. On a related note, the whole Korolev (sp?)/Charon deal is really tough. I can't remember the last time I was able to gun down Drakes in a timely manner by Charon. It's a very tall order, and you miss out on a good deal of content if the cards dealt don't allow you to singlehandedly destroy the pirate fleet. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but it seems like the station's escorts could stand a sizable buff.

[Atarlost]

You don't really miss any content by failing to save the Charon Korolev. It can be done if you're lucky with weapons. A Lancer+fast and a hundred Stilettos can be enough in the Wolfen with some luck. As for the fleet missions escorts are only useful in convoy escort.

[hex]

On a related note, the whole Korolev (sp?)/Charon deal is really tough. I can't remember the last time I was able to gun down Drakes in a timely manner by Charon. It's a very tall order, and you miss out on a good deal of content if the cards dealt don't allow you to singlehandedly destroy the pirate fleet. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but it seems like the station's escorts could stand a sizable buff.

I remember when nothing happened if you saved the station because you weren't expected to be able too! It seems easier recently however, as Atarlost says if you get lucky and a Lancer you can make short work of the frigates.

[Aury]

you mean the drake missile ships. Yeah, a particle weapon will work wonders on them.

[schilcote]

Or you could use a Stephinian weapon. I just had an idea for a neat new missile (terribly unbalanced of course) that might be fun to try out in Charon.

[Atarlost]

Yes. Then you blow up the station yourself in the ensuing explosion.

[schilcote]

No, just set "ignoreFriendlies= "true" or something like that. Anyway, this new missile dosn't explode.