Cadet PRS The Stealth Fighter

Introduction

Stealth fighters are the paper ninjas of allegiance, you will often catch a glimpse of a stealth fighter on your hud or f3 view and it will disappear leaving you wondering what did I just see. Just like a sheet of paper they are weak and can get ripped in half or scrunched up and tossed aside but that same piece of paper can still cut you and that wound will feel deep and painfull, one stealth fighter can be dangerous but can be handled, get stealth fighters grouped like a stack of papers and it will be everything else that gets ripped to shreds.

Stealth fighters have low health, poor agility, and a long ripcord time which means they rely on remaining hidden to survive. Going toe-to-toe with an enemy ship is a poor choice, whereas sneaking around with missiles and shield unmounted is a good choice. These attributes make the stealth fighter poor at defense and if your commander goes Tac, then you need to maintain a good probe net and/or active pilots in enemy sectors in order to spot incoming threats.

Stealth Fighter Strengths

• Sig Cloak, your ship has the ability to lower its radar signature with a press of one button (default is K), making you undectable to bases and other ships so long as you don't get too close. even with shields and missiles loaded your signature will be reduced considerably.
• Weapon Range, out of all the basic small class ships yours has the longest weapon range, hitting things from far is how you will stay alive and decimate at the same time.
• Specialization, with the utillity cannon equipped and enough energy your stealth fighter will uterly destroy any utillity ship (miners,constructors and carriers) in under 15 seconds, no other basic ship comes close to being able to do this.
• Snipers, these guns do good damage to everything except utillity ships, you can take out other ships so long as they don't see you,if you see sniper 1 floating pick it up, you never know when you will get a tac.

Stealth Fighter Weaknessess

• Low hitpoints, your ship has less hitpoints than a scout, one dumbfire can pod you, an interceptor has to shoot you for three seconds and you pop. So just do not get into fights where the enemy can see you.
• Long ripcord, at almost 20 seconds there is no way in hell you are going to be ripping around the map in record time, it takes 20 secs to fly from one side of the sector to the other.
• Ship management, your ship relies on being stealthy, that means not being seen until it is time to strike, you have to be able to remain unseen and yet have enough energy to be able to shoot your guns and load and unload missiles at the right times.

Stealth Fighter vs.

Although the sf is a weak combat ship there are things you can do to improve your chances.

vs. Stealth Fighters

This is a cat and mouse game, with the first person being eyed dieing. Hope that your cloak lasts longer, you are pointing towards them so that your missiles lock faster, and your countermeasures work (for a change).

• If you have them load snipers.

vs. Interceptors

Interceptors have the worst scan range in the game but if they spot you they are the fastest to close with you. Hindering you even further is the pulse probe they can carry, which spells doom for any sf that can't run quickly. A smart int will either use his booster to ignore you and kill what you are defending, or to close with you before pulse probing you out.

This is where mastering your ability to unmount missiles and cloak and change direction to avoid detection is sorely tested. Or your ability to time your missile launches so they will actually hit - just because hunter has better tracking, agility and range than a dumbfire doesn't mean it's any better at hitting the enemy! Time your shots so they will actually hit, for instance when they are reloading fuel, or trying to change direction to chase your miner.

• Do not use your guns to finish him off until the last minute, as he will spot you and kill you that much quicker.

vs. Fighters

Early game the fig is an easy opponent. Relatively poor scan range, large model, and slow. As the game progresses their speed and scan range will increase making them a tougher opponent. Use your side thrust keys to avoid getting hit by dumbfires, stay out of their gatt range and you should be good.

• Get rid of their shields with hunters and finish with snipers.

vs. Scouts

Think of a scout as a crappier fighter, but which is more likely to see you. This means that sometimes you don't have the option of hiding and running but will be forced to kill the scout - which should be an easy matter with their low hull.

Because a sf has a poor turn rate any enemy that gets in your rear arc poses a serious problem. If a scout does start chasing you then use your high speed while your energy recharges, then cloak and hope to lose eye long enough to throw him off. If the scout is moving faster than you and closing the distance, that probably won't work so you're better off spinning around and lobbing hunters in his face before he gets any closer.

Take care if you see heavy scouts. They don't only have a bigger scanrange(3000m instead of 2400m), they have more hull and more missiles. Some have gunners too.

• Use your cloak.