What is the point of frigate class ships?

[Mish101]

I don't really understand what your supposed to do with this class of ship. Its build around a small dock but it can only carry on s ship. I mostly use mine for marine transport. Like I suppose they are fairly durable for an M ship but why not use a Gunboat instead? They also kinda suck in fleets especially as fleet leader because it insists on trying to dock small ships even though it only has 1 fighter slot.

Edit:
I suppose they can also carry drones in a small capacity. So maybe act a drone carrier? But maybe loose the fighter dock and put small entry point for drones instead?

[HoloByteus]

Originally posted by hurepoix:

I use frigate as personal taxi. I tried to use frigates to make torpedo squad task force but with poor results and rather high casualties.

Same, I see them fly to slow acting like gunboats and a ship like the Dragon needs to use it's speed like a fighter or actually like it's namesake, a dragon, swooping in raining death and destruction, never stopping. I imagine there's one AI for corvettes that leads to it not being used to it's full potential.

[wtiger27]

Originally posted by WarCrime:

Originally posted by hurepoix:

I use frigate as personal taxi. I tried to use frigates to make torpedo squad task force but with poor results and rather high casualties.

Same, I see them fly to slow acting like gunboats and a ship like the Dragon needs to use it's speed like a fighter or actually like it's namesake, a dragon, swooping in raining death and destruction, never stopping. I imagine there's one AI for corvettes that leads to it not being used to it's full potential.

The Cerberus, equipped with Ion blasters ( for the shield damage ) and plasma turrets on the front and/or torpedos, are excellent to use docked on a carrier, then sent out to attack a Enemy L or XL ship after the carrier has got the attention of the target.

Sending them out at the right time is important. Do not send them out to attack the target right away.

I took out a Xenon I with my Rattlesnake unsupported by allies, using that tactic. Of course I was using small ships, but they where also equipped likewise. The Antegone Pulsar small fighter, with it's 6 guns, are excellent ships to have docked on your Rattlesnake.

I mean a Rattlesnake can take out a I by itself if they are careful and take out one of the engines first and then stay out of range and pick it apart. But with the attacking smaller ships, they go down faster, I actually watched one of my small ships equipped with a torpedo, reduce the I's hull down a lot. Instantly.

[BlackRainGER *THC*]

dont look at them as you would look at a ship.

Frigates are M Class Turret Carriers, and by the point you exploited your way up the econemie chain, they specifically carry Rockets. some of them even over a hundred
combine this with an auxillary ship wich creates free rockets and you have the perfect anti fighter vessel for sector securitie. they just look bad, because it takes so long before you realize the buty of homing rockets and usually 70 % of all m class frigates you'll be seeing till that point are equiped with some sort of pew pew guns wich are utterly garbage on them.

when you're setting up a sector defense point, they have one more support usage wich gets used rather rare.

Instead of using 100 rockets, you could also add a couple Laser turrets, i wouldnt reccomend more than ten, as they tent to only drop them when their health bar is critical and if that is the case, chances are they wo'nt even drop more than 5 before getting destroyed.

but if you are setting up this gate defense, and you have access to an auxillary ship, the longer they will defend that gate, the more turrets will automatically be placed arround that place.

and these turrets dont despawn over time, they only loose hp by getting attacked so you are not loosing value with them

however this method is more interresting if you are planning to lvl up your pilot skills,
if its about the Blockade usage, you're better off with defens stations cause you can combine them with salvage trade, setted up propperly, you have a free source of Xenon dropables (fighter on repeat orders with the "pick up cargo command"and wreckages

[BurlsoL]

Frigates are mostly useful as a support ship. Give them some repair drones and set them with a handful of fighter subordinates, and the fighters will usually get repaired between fights. This is useful for patrol groups.

Additionally I think you can set a small transport ship as a resupply to a frigate and use the frigate to re-arm missile carrying fighters... Provided your missile part economy hasn't gone bust.

[Sir Snuffles]

the issue comes really because egosoft decided to call them frigates, in reality they're more like gunships/corvettes

[zpc]

Originally posted by Sir Snuffles:

the issue comes really because egosoft decided to call them frigates, in reality they're more like gunships/corvettes

Yip, there are no frigates in X4. The closest thing you have to frigates are the Split Buffalo or the Split Wyvvern (excellent flak frigate)

[BurlsoL]

Originally posted by Sir Snuffles:

the issue comes really because egosoft decided to call them frigates, in reality they're more like gunships/corvettes

Different class of things.

Frigate is a valid term here since they have fewer directed weapons than corvettes (also being slower) and fewer turrets than gunships. They also have more cargo and crew space than either ship, making their role as a support craft more clear than just being turret platform. This is before accounting the docking bay that lets it actually work as a support and repair platform for fighters.

[tonechild]

Originally posted by BurlsoL:

Frigates are mostly useful as a support ship. Give them some repair drones and set them with a handful of fighter subordinates, and the fighters will usually get repaired between fights. This is useful for patrol groups.

Additionally I think you can set a small transport ship as a resupply to a frigate and use the frigate to re-arm missile carrying fighters... Provided your missile part economy hasn't gone bust.

Wait, frigates with repair drones will repair fighters??? :O :O I love how I still learn new things about this game even though I've pumped tons of hours into it.

How does this work? Do you have to do anything specific to make this happen? what kind of subordinates work? (defend, intercept, etc?) - also does that mean you can fly an S class ship and dock on a frigate and get repairs?

[KirBadrang]

Laser towers mk 2 are launched from small landing pads. (the mk 1's are just rolled out the airlock, ahaha!)

So, you can load up a frigate with a bunch of LT2's, tell it to go patrol an area. When it gets there, go to the wrench icon on its orders page, select the LT2's, and click deploy a bunch of times. It will deploy them one by one while it patrols around, a minute or two apart.

Just like that you have a loose or tight nest (depending what the patrol radius was) of laser towers, and very minimal micromanagement time.

I'm going to have to try the missile turrets, suggested above. And the repair drones too!

[ZeroAffex]

A bit of an old thread but I must say, I typically only use the Cobra/Falx/Cerberus/ect as my personal transports for my play throughs. I'll always choose a Frigate over a Corvette when it comes to my personal transportation needs because I think they are just more versatile and have more advantages. In terms of sheer strength or lethality however, Corvettes will likely come out on top but if we are just looking at how many task they can complete or excel at, Frigates are a no brainer.

For starters, one of my favorite advantages to Frigates is that they have their own S dock that you can store your favorite S fighter that you can hop into any given time, fly off, drop satellites, complete missions or whatever then fly back. It's really nice to have the ability to hop in a fighter at any given moment to deal with pressing things like stripping a K destroyer or whatever then when your done treat back to the safety of the Frigate when you're done.

Compare that to using a Destroyer which is probably the next best thing as your daily drive (fly?) if you want something with an S dock, Frigates give you a much bigger advantage in sheer speed and responsiveness thanks to being able to use MK3 Combat engines. Destroyers would be my 2nd pick but they're so slow and un-maneuverable that they're just not very practical to use at all times especially when you are trying to work around large areas of space.

Some other advantages are that by default, Frigates are just flat out tankier than Corvettes. They can take more of a beating which is perfect again for when you are using them as a personal transport to get you out of some bad situations unscathed. They also tend to be faster than corvettes but not always. For instance; Cobra's are faster than Dragons but the Katana is faster than the Falx. But that can all change if you swap some engines around so it's not really a big deal but still notable. Almost forgot but another HUGE advantage they have is they can carry nearly 3 times as many missiles as a corvette and if that's not enough, can even carry drones!

Not much more you can ask for in a ship to be honest. Frigates are probably the most well-rounded ships in the game if you'd ask me. If you want a ship that packs a punch, that is a perfect workhorse that can fill a variety of different roles there's no better choice in my opinion than using Frigates in this game.

TLDR: Frigates are awesome and if I had to choose, I'd go with them over Corvettes in a heartbeat.

Here's why;
*They have their own S dock to store your favorite fighter
*They are faster than other ships with S dock capabilities
*By default are tankier than Corvettes
*They are Faster than Corvettes (typically, not always)
*Carry nearly triple the amount of missiles than Corvettes (40 vs. 100)
*They can deploy drones!

Corvettes aren't bad in their own right and have their own positives but if it comes to myself using one or a Frigate, I'd go with a Frigate. Corvettes are great but I just find them to be a lot more situational, maybe more 1 dimensional where as a Frigate is more a 'jack of all trades' type of ship that can fill many different roles and situations better.

[VoiD]

I think my favorite personal ship was the Cobra, it was decently strong, had a hangar, and it was very fast so it could get me anywhere I needed to be quickly and safely.

Capital ships are fun and all but traveling around with them is just painful.

Small ships are fine but they aren't always faster than medium ships, and depending on what you find, you're toast.

[ayrtep]

I like them as the S ship they carry adds a lot of flexibility. Plus awesome to watch the universe from the flight deck.

My favourite is the Falx, looks slow but is extremely manoeuvrable.