What's the point of Light Corvettes?

[Weylin]

I never could figure this one out.
All of the units remain useful for various situations, but the Light Corvette is simply outclassed by the Heavy Corvette in every way that matters for that class of ship.

+The HC has a burst attack that does AoE damage, effective against tight formations.
+The HC has better weaponry, over twice as much firepower.
+The HC has better armor, over twice as much.
+A single HC costs less than 2 LC's and can defeat both.
-The HC is 25m/s slower (Hardly ever makes a difference)
-The HC is a bit more sluggish (Same as above, but it matters very little, not like either can evade anything but a volley of plasma bombs fired from max range)

The only use I ever saw for Light Corvettes was an early solution to being rushed by fighters, and for extra production if you had the resources to build HC and LC at the same time.

I made a mod for them years ago that gave them weak missile launchers to turn them into a hit-and-run raider type ship, much like the ones that the Turanics get, but lesser armored.

[Quirriff]

They're a rush unit you use to harrass resourcers.

Multi-guns aren't useless some say they're better than heavys but I like 50% multi 50% heavy.

[Weylin]

I forgot to mention, the real crowning ability of the Heavy Corvette is that burst attack...
Watching a wing of 30 incoming bombers instantly explode into a burst of fireballs? Priceless.

Even if your HCs are below critical mass to get off a 1 shot kill like that, they can just quickly clean up the rest of the heavily damaged fighters, which I suppose is where the MGCs come into play?

[Mr.Masakari]

Multiguns were pretty incredible actually, could decimate fighters but light corvettes I never had a love for. A lot used them in MP as a cheap wall of just general usefulness because they were cheap, somewhat tanky, fast, easy to research (compared to scouts/inties not other corvettes) i.e. harrasing and rushing tactics, but obviously when you have HC and MGC researched they are superior

Try to think of the light corvette as a heavy interceptor, it definitly is outclassed as a corvette.

[BoKiana3397]

Multis are better at fighting groups of fighters than the same number of Heavies are, but that's almost it. Use Multis to escort larger craft to keep them safe from fighters. As for Light Corvette? Yeah, I got nothing. They're only useful before you get Heavies, and just replace them with Heavies and Multis as they die once you have the tech for them.

[The Haney]

Exceedingly effective meatshield. Useful for situations when you need a strike craft screen for your bombers, but the defense is too heavy for scouts/interceptors.

[Honelith]

I just used them for scouting or harassing harvesters. But they're quickly replaced, shame they didn't have something else up their sleeves.

[Weylin]

Originally posted by The Haney:

Exceedingly effective meatshield. Useful for situations when you need a strike craft screen for your bombers, but the defense is too heavy for scouts/interceptors.

Were they any better at a meat shield than Heavies, though?
The HC had a better cost to armor ratio, and also that very useful burst attack.

Early game, sure, but then it's rendered obsolete, which nothing else in the game really gets.

[NixBoxDone]

If they were cheaper, I'd say they are throwaway ships - for missions where you needed a certain ship or installation to die, but didn't have the manpower or free units to destroy the covering force.

Throw in a bunch of cheap ships just large enough to destroy the target and do some damage before they go. They'd need to be fast, tanky enough to be able to deliver a few salvos under fire, but not something you needed desperately for your main fleet.

Just my 2 c.

[The Haney]

Well it's been over a decade since I've played, lol. But if I recall correctly (and I may not), their weaker armor was neutralized by their slightly faster manueverability (they definitely avoid fire the HC's cant). That plus build time/cost made them a slightly more cost effective bomber escort.

I'd agree that generally they are overshadowed in fast-paced games, but if it's the type of grueling, drawn out multiplayer extravaganza where every RU is bitterly fought over, they have a useful enough role.

[Lora Grim]

Originally posted by PonySlaystation:

If they were cheaper, I'd say they are throwaway ships - for missions where you needed a certain ship or installation to die, but didn't have the manpower or free units to destroy the covering force.

Throw in a bunch of cheap ships just large enough to destroy the target and do some damage before they go. They'd need to be fast, tanky enough to be able to deliver a few salvos under fire, but not something you needed desperately for your main fleet.

Just my 2 c.

Ponyslaystation... with a picture of zone-tan. What exactly does that imply?

[Mr.Masakari]

Light corvettes were definitly more evasive than the other corvettes in Evasive which may be the reason? Fast enough to avoid a plasma bomb but strong enough to take some shots from intys etc

Edit: I do remember my HCs could still get hit by plasma bombs and large projectiles even while in evasive.

[Lone Wolf]

When you have very limited resources, you will know the importance of these garbage. Also, light corvettes are highly recommended to sabotage enemy resource harvest operation while your main fleet is hiding and seeking the enemy main shipyard. You see, it's a cheap and effective bait.

[NixBoxDone]

Originally posted by Lora Grim:

Ponyslaystation... with a picture of zone-tan. What exactly does that imply?

Wouldn't you like to know!

[Tomato Juice]

They are a unit in the old Sea battle tradition.

They can defeat any ships that's fast enough to catch them and outrun everything that can defeat them.

A they are nice as light raiding force to annoy the enemy mining.

[Botji]

I think Tomato Juice hit it right in the head, I also think the "supposed" use for them is to strike the enemy mining operations. Fast enough to be able to get there and out, armored enough to take a hit and a big enough gun to actually hurt the miners without having to use a large force.

Still, If I had heavies I would probably use them instead anyway.