I've been fiddling around with the Guardian Fighters, and I've come to the conclusion that the Trident is easily the worst fighter in the game.
Compare it to other similar fighters. The most obvious comparison is to other ships with Plasma Repeaters; the Rogue F subtype. Inexplicably, the Guardian Fighter does just 21 DPS, compared to the human fighters doing 36 DPS. Human fighters do 71% more damage!
Of course, you could say that the Trident is more durable, but that's not true either. Even ignoring the superior raw durability on 2/3 human fighters, both human fighters have something to offer that makes them superior; a utility. The simple presence of Chaff makes two of the three substantially superior in terms of survival.
So the Trident is significantly worse than human fighters both in terms of damage and survival.
But what about the 'worst' fighters in the game? The Rogue G subtype is basically made for low-level NPC pilots, with gimballed pulse lasers allowing for constant and consistent fire. Even these, however, are functionally superior to the Trident, with superior range, time on target, heat, and power usage.
For all these deficits, the Trident doesn't even get the principal benefit of most Plasma weapons; unlike standard plasma weaponry, the SLF plasma weapons do not do absolute damage, instead using a 50/50 split of thermal and kinetic damage.
The Trident combines fixed weapons with poor damage with poor heat management and power usage, mediocre durability, and no utility, to create a fighter that does practically nothing well. It can't survive, and it can't deal particularly good amounts of damage.
It is, in my opinion, without question the worst SLF in the game.
Compare it to other similar fighters. The most obvious comparison is to other ships with Plasma Repeaters; the Rogue F subtype. Inexplicably, the Guardian Fighter does just 21 DPS, compared to the human fighters doing 36 DPS. Human fighters do 71% more damage!
Of course, you could say that the Trident is more durable, but that's not true either. Even ignoring the superior raw durability on 2/3 human fighters, both human fighters have something to offer that makes them superior; a utility. The simple presence of Chaff makes two of the three substantially superior in terms of survival.
So the Trident is significantly worse than human fighters both in terms of damage and survival.
But what about the 'worst' fighters in the game? The Rogue G subtype is basically made for low-level NPC pilots, with gimballed pulse lasers allowing for constant and consistent fire. Even these, however, are functionally superior to the Trident, with superior range, time on target, heat, and power usage.
For all these deficits, the Trident doesn't even get the principal benefit of most Plasma weapons; unlike standard plasma weaponry, the SLF plasma weapons do not do absolute damage, instead using a 50/50 split of thermal and kinetic damage.
The Trident combines fixed weapons with poor damage with poor heat management and power usage, mediocre durability, and no utility, to create a fighter that does practically nothing well. It can't survive, and it can't deal particularly good amounts of damage.
It is, in my opinion, without question the worst SLF in the game.
