Favorite team...

[Temet]

In W3O, I always use AG System (once I get all the gold medals with all the ships).

The ships had a real better looking in WO2097... and I also used AG system on WO2097.

As I recently bought a PSP with WO pure and pulse, I'm now racing again, after years away from video games.
I don't know yet my favorite ship on these ones...

[willsgb13]

i like the spread of ships in wip3out; there's no poor ships - even feisar and goteki are fun due to their slower speeds making a good racing line on the boost pads, wall grind boosting and aggressive weapon wielding important in order to compete in and win races, and unlike wipeout, 2097 or pure, the other games i've played extensively so far (i also own fusion and pulse but have not given them due time and attention - yet) in 3 you must master all the ships in order to unlock everything and achieve a full set of golds in the single races, thus garnering an appreciation for the spread of qualities and the quirks of each ship. this is something i love about 3. anyway, here's my rundown; i skimmed this thread an saw a good spread of opinions. i have more then one favourite of my own, but no exclusions. anyway >

feisar - great handling and a good shield make racing this one all about the track and taking out your opponents. there's something very 'wipeout' about feisar; their ships always look like the model for wipeout craft, and despite the slow speed the favourable statistics in the other fields, and their everprescence in the other games, make them a team wipeout cannot really do without. bringing up the rear with style. they're kind of like what the grunts are to halo. i never mind a spin in a feisar. 8/10

goteki45 - they look great, very industrial and yet sleek for a horseshoe craft, and the speed often seems better then it is because of the decent handling and acceleration. not a front runner in 3 and yet not out of place in wipeout. the shield's a solid 4 and it is a cynical ram to be fair, but it's fun to bash around in 7/10

auricom - dependable, familiar and competitive. this ship is an all rounder, from what i remember. it's great for getting to know the tracks, although it's not what it was in the predecessor games, it should be noted. still, a worthy competitor. 7/10

qirex - these guys up the ante considerably. the beast of 3, it can take a lot of punishment and blast through the opposition. it's weighty, leading to the challenge of controlling tight turns and 180s and spirals and uneven ground and handling the weight at the high speeds it can get to so quickly with its acceleration. the russians build them tough and aggressive and it's one of the best again in 3. changing my score now after playing a little for kicks, not sure why i only gave it 8 before, it's outstanding, speed and thrust 4 each? the handling is poor but that just makes it so satisfying to pilot successfully. 9/10

piranha - it's not a supership anymore, but it's still shithot, decent, not so high speed but brilliant manouverability and it looks fantastic, like a shark. one of my favourites in this iteration of the tournament, because it's a nippy, vicious challenge to zoom through to victory in. 9/10

ag systems - the best all rounder in the game. for comfortable handling and speed, i can't get enough of these guys. honestly my favourite team just to cruise around the tracks in this year's event. in wipeout and 2097, they brought up the rear with feisar as auricom and qirex forged ahead with their now legendary rivalry but ag systems just about supplants them both this year for overall win IMO. just about. but the medium handling, thrust and the speed of 4 make for a great combination of agility and swiftness, and it also looks fantastic 10/10

assegai - a brilliant newcomer, made of win for one reason - the phenomenal handling, that's almost too responsive occasionally. the low shield and the good but not outstanding speed make it a fun craft to ruckus with in the packed tracks too, with weapons and collisions with other craft jostling for position. this is one of the two best craft in 3 for one reason - there are four attributes these craft all have a proficiency in, but shield strength rarely causes too many problems for the skilled driver, especially with an assegai whose great manouvering means usage of the pitlanes without too much time lost in the race - edit not to mention dodging rockets and mines -, and a good acceleration can help a poorer craft but on the top end of business on the track the faster speeds the crafts can reach however quickly or slowly invariably win out. speed and handling are the more important qualities over shield and acceleration, hence assegai 9/10

icaras - and this beast, which is the best craft in the game. ag may be my favourite to cruise but this is a joint favourite for sheer outstanding competition and awesome speed. tearing breakneck through tracks on phantom with these guys is an exhiliration no other ship in this game can achieve. it's simply the best. the poor handling simply means more practice and more skill required. the poor shield is meaningless once you become skillful enough to shoot out in front of the rest. it's simply thrilling annihilating a track, blitzing through it so quickly you can barely see what's going on around the ship and the track itself, it's superb.
edit - i forgot to add this, some reasoning for why speed wins in 3; in wipeout, 2097 and pure, collision physics stop you and slow you down significantly, thus requiring you to perfect a collision-free racing line to do well. in wipeout 3, you can grind the walls which actually increases you speed, which you all know anyway. and of course this can be detrimental if you're not great at it, like me, and you manage to do it mainly before a turn thus flinging you into a wall and stopping you dead anyway, but it increases the speed in this game. and of course, 3 had the option to boost in exchange for shield energy, in addition to the boost powerup and the boost pads the other games also have. therefore, speeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed. 3 is geared to speed. and icaras is simply the fastest. win 10/10

a great tournament all round. wip3out ftw

[SonicChaos]

I love Assegai for the great handling it has. I can make do with low shields and so-so speed. Even on my friend's copy of HD it's awesome. I've been playing this game since I was 10 and always used Assegai when given a choice.

[willsgb13]

great here on 3, not too memorable in pure when i tend to use piranha or zone, and not that great on pulse either, for me anyway, more comfortable with ag-sys, eg-x or piranha on that one. not sure why i've not really gotten to grips with it yet. great team though and essential to wipeout now

[SonicChaos]

It seems so. I used to use AG Systems back in the first one, though I rarely play it due to the "you simply touch a wall and come to a dead stop" collisions of the game.

As far as WO3 Icaras reigns supreme for the sheer fact that it's the fastest for times. It's what team your comfortable with vs. what team will get the best times.

[willsgb13]

that unforgiving crash physics aspect frustrated me too initially, but then i got to grips with the racing lines and the controls for the different teams, particularly auricom and qirex; ag-sys and feisar were good challenges for their lack of speed but generally it was better to use one of the former for beating the tournaments and getting impressive times

as for wip3out, ag-systems is the most comfortable, and to be perfectly honest the most enjoyable and ship for me, and obviously icaras gets the best times and is the most exhilirating ship to fly in. arguments can be made for piranha, assegai and qirex too. auricom are a distant shot at best, goteki and feisar are championed with great courage IMO. there wasn't that same sense of balance that you get in pulse back then

[SonicChaos]

True. Balance isn't perfect, still there's always a team you'll play just for the sheer fun you get out of it.

[willsgb13]

of course, so your favourites, sonicchaos, are assegai and icaras? what are other people's favourites? don't let us monopolise the thread hey!

there is of course personal, aesthetic and historical favouritism to consider. woops you got me going again, aaaaaaaaaaaaaa essaygarble - - - >

- feisar belong in wipeout, but they also represent the squabbling of the EU and the high quality yet flawed, stuttering finished product that lack of consensus among an affluent and well developed set of countries can produce.
- goteki are very likeable, almost a brightly coloured, positive qirex pretender. good thrust and handling make them fun to drive through tracks. they remind me of harimau from pure - likeable but not a great ship. nice guys come last?
- auricom were one of the front runners alongside qirex in the earlier games, but the americans tried a more balanced approach in 3, and as such don't blow minds as much. still, another essential wipeout team, and quite american, discounted at peril and always prepared, better then they look normally.
- qirex meanwhile are very russian and soviet, bullish and powerful and competitive and aggressive. they can take more **** then anyone and are one of the fastest ships, poor handling and a fat arse just makes for more satisfyingly observed racing lines and more thrilling weapon battles. fun to get stuck into the field of opponents and rip the track up with.
- piranha started out as shady chinese developers who built parts for pre-2097 ships and then of course rolled out the supership in that one, which completely owned; they then became a brazilian ship. i don't know their stats in fusion, but in 2097, pure, pulse and i'm assuming HD, they're always the fastest. i like the samba and the zipping bite and the ferrari drive of the piranha
- ag-systems are the dilligently produced, sleek and standard bearing japanese team, pioneers of the sport and essential to it. glad that g-tech rubbish from fusion wasn't perpetuated. love ag-systems.
- assegai are the african equivalent of feisar, except the outstanding handling makes for an overall better ship. i suppose that they're african in the sense that the ship is very agile and athletic with the uber responsive steering; you'd want a more colourful and extravagant african ship then assegai i'd have thought. still enjoyable to weave expertly around. probably the only ship you can really relax with on manor top.
- icaras started out as owned by various people as stated by the manual of 3, but are since confirmed as the british team. streamlined, sleek, like a blade slicing through the air, the sheer speed that this team embodies makes them awesome. looks great too. best of british.

blah blah blah. i love ag-systems, piranha and icaras, and don't really dislike any of them.

[SonicChaos]

I don't dislike any, and My Favorite is Assegai and AG Systems. Icaras I only use for getting fast times because I don't really like it that much.

In Assegai you can zip around Manortop on Vector if you anticipate the turns.

[willsgb13]

agreed

i don't really enjoy vector or venom once i've started mastering phantom on 3, though, but that's just me. it - the first 2 speed classes - just seems too pedestrian by that point.

anyway, favourites, anyone else?

[SonicChaos]

I think we're the only ones here, unfortunately.

[willsgb13]

favourite team for different modes? favourite team for eliminator? also, i'll post points totals for the different teams' attributes next time, could be interesting, i know that ag-systems and feisar actually have the highest totals in pulse for example, while triakis, piranha and eg-x i think have slightly lower totals then the others

[Amorbis]

In Wip3out my favourite team is Piranha-A and is my favourite Piranha in WipEout, hence my avatar. The statistics of the ship work very well for me, very agile and quite fast. The handling just gives it the edge over Auricom for me; Piranha's four handling makes a big difference in the faster speed modes and is enough to stop me from banging into the walls too much. The shield is an issue, though. If I find myself on the wrong end of a quake it doesn't do too much for me if I'm far from the pits. Luckily that doesn't happen too much .

Apart from Piranha I'm quite fond of FEISAR and Assegai. FEISAR is great for thrusting like a lunatic and has a great combination of handling and shields. Assegai might be a paper plane but handles so well that you don't plant yourself in the wall too often to care.

[SonicChaos]

YAY for someone else posting besides me an will! I race Pirhana first until i unlock Assegai. It's a pretty nice craft, but I like a bit more handling. Still it's a fine craft.

[willsgb13]

In Wip3out my favourite team is Piranha-A and is my favourite Piranha in WipEout, hence my avatar. The statistics of the ship work very well for me, very agile and quite fast. The handling just gives it the edge over Auricom for me; Piranha's four handling makes a big difference in the faster speed modes and is enough to stop me from banging into the walls too much. The shield is an issue, though. If I find myself on the wrong end of a quake it doesn't do too much for me if I'm far from the pits. Luckily that doesn't happen too much .

Apart from Piranha I'm quite fond of FEISAR and Assegai. FEISAR is great for thrusting like a lunatic and has a great combination of handling and shields. Assegai might be a paper plane but handles so well that you don't plant yourself in the wall too often to care.

hi amorbis! it is interesting to see you pick piranha from 3 as your absolute favourite; for comfortable yet competitive driving, they are a very close second alongside assegai and just behind ag-systems for me; their iteration in 3 does look fantastic, admittedly. of course they are the best in 2097 in every way - look great too - and in pure and pulse have top speed, and i usually gravitate towards the higher speed craft, qirex and auricom in the first, and not sure about fusion yet - what are piranha like in fusion, anybody? - and i'm assuming the stats in HD are identical to pulse, but this remains an interesting choice. perhaps it's the balance which demands that extra bit of skill to best the playing field, especially with the low shield and the sputtering thrust? i salute you then, sir. a truly aggressive shark of wipeout.

feisar are good but the base speed stat really kills the fun ultimately, for me anyway. fair play if you enjoy them, however. being almost maxed out in every other stat does make it a great kickstarter for anybody, and you can't really have wipeout without feisar. assegai meanwhile are simply outstanding. the handling is at times too good. once you master tracks, you don't even have to worry too much about enemy fire, you can evade most of it with skilled flight. it certainly helps that they don't use all the weapons at your disposal; i'm finding phantom on pulse much more aggressive and destructive right now :/

YAY for someone else posting besides me an will! I race Pirhana first until i unlock Assegai. It's a pretty nice craft, but I like a bit more handling. Still it's a fine craft.

handling on piranha is pretty decent, only feisar and assegai measure up to or best it in that department, perhaps the lack of thrust sullies it for you.

anyway, here are craft stats for wip3out; T = thrust, SP = speed, SH = shield, H = handling - - - >

feisar - T = 5, SP = 1, SH = 4, H = 4 total = 14
goteki45 - T = 3, SP = 2, SH = 4, H = 3 total = 12
auricom - T = 3, SP = 3, SH = 3, H = 3 total = 12
piranha-a - T = 2, SP = 3, SH = 2, H = 4 total = 11
qirex[rd] - T = 4, SP = 4, SH = 3, H = 2 total = 13
ag-systems - T = 3, SP = 4, SH = 2, H = 3 total = 12
assegai - T = 3, SP = 3, SH = 1, H = 5 total = 12
icaras - T = 1, SP = 5, SH = 2, H = 2 total = 10

right, so take a look at that. feisar lead the way with a total of 14 stats, always beefed up with quality and dependability at the expense of raw zip. qirex follow up with a proper beast as per usual worth 13 stats, the shield seems more then a 3 and it piles through the field on play and really blasts through tracks, great fun and challenging with that poor handling. goteki and auricom are the tentative intermediates of this edition with a conservative spread of 12 stats, while ag-systems and assegai use 12 stats each to sacrifice shield for better speed and streamlined flight, and outstanding handling, respectively. funny that piranha only use 11 stats and still have a competitive ship, while icaras only use 10 for arguably the best of the lot.

p.s. i just gave 3 a spin, icaras phantom on port kora, and holy ****, it took 4 attempts to finish the race :/ complacency is the mother of all f-ups hey.

[SonicChaos]

I heven't even attempted anything past the first 3 tracks on venom. I like to finish each class before I move to the next. I'll try it out sometime for fun though.

Nice List you compiled there. And it seems total points aren't a huge factor, it's where the points are distributed to that determines their usefulness.

[willsgb13]

yours is an advisable approach, as you learn each track with each craft on one speed class to the next, you learn the lines to an instinctive degree and the quirks of each craft and the various bits of shortcut and maneouvers and techniques to tear up the tracks and get around with minimum fuss and maximum exhiliration, and it makes for mass satisfaction when you can then shoot around any track in any craft on phantom, as i tried today. also, 256 golds to get, not including the 32 challenge golds which are tricky to say the least but thrilling to nail, and then try and beat the 4 prototype tracks, one unlocked for a full grid of golds on a speed class if i remember correctly, which are to all intents and purposes more difficult to navigate with victorious consequence then most of the regular ones.

my favourite team is a close tie between - ag-systems, which is so agile and easy to control and responsive and yet still has brilliant speed; assegai whose handling just makes it a ****ing joy explosion, i love it, and the paper shields make it nail biting to boot; and icaras. sheer velocity. sheer thrill. sheer speed. the final straight on sampa run, through the neon tunnel and out into the starting grid straight; coming out of the tunnel and onto the straight, the jump and then crossing the line on hi fumi; the big jump under the balloons before the final bend, tunnel and straight on p-mar project; the final 2 straights on terminal - any and all of these with a hyperthrusting icaras on phantom - it is ****ing worth maxing out the golds to be able to do these things. bliss. zoom zoom zoom!

[SonicChaos]

Indeed. I have a full gris on Vector and mabye 40% gold on Venom. I am slowly learning how to handle each craft and see what I can and can't do. Still hate Qirex though, sure I get golds, but I hit every other wall doing so. The HUGE turning circle is proving difficult.

[willsgb13]

it is huge, but learn the lines, practice again and again, it's worth it, it's thrilling when you get them right, as you build up more and more speed, it can take a few big blows anyway with the medium shield, and it's a blast getting the lines right and bashing around the tracks. just got gold on stanza inter on phantom, exhilirating. took the tunnel on the right every time too, it's a bastard but a rush when you don't hit the walls. 4 for thrust and speed? brutal. the qirex in pure and pulse don't measure up to this one.

edit - forgot to elaborate, as you get faster, particularly on phantom, your craft will be zooming over many sections of track and if you get the curves and airbraking right you can avoid collisions, although on some parts where you're flying far above tracks you'll hit invisible walls to stop you dropping out. i believe that is removed in the SE though. anyway, practice! i mean, hell, it's only a game. but it's a beast to master. qirex is actually one of my favourites on 3, not sure why i didn't rate it higher before.

[Task]

anyway, here are craft stats for wip3out; T = thrust, SP = speed, SH = shield, H = handling - - - >

feisar - T = 5, SP = 1, SH = 4, H = 4 total = 14
goteki45 - T = 3, SP = 2, SH = 4, H = 3 total = 12
auricom - T = 3, SP = 3, SH = 3, H = 3 total = 12
piranha-a - T = 2, SP = 3, SH = 2, H = 4 total = 11
qirex[rd] - T = 4, SP = 4, SH = 3, H = 2 total = 13
ag-systems - T = 3, SP = 4, SH = 2, H = 3 total = 12
assegai - T = 3, SP = 3, SH = 1, H = 5 total = 12
icaras - T = 1, SP = 5, SH = 2, H = 2 total = 10

right, so take a look at that. feisar lead the way with a total of 14 stats...funny that piranha only use 11 stats and still have a competitive ship, while icaras only use 10 for arguably the best of the lot.

Indeed, those numbers are very interesting.
As you've pointed out, the lowest point ships seem to be better than the higher point ships. I've always preferred a layout like this:

 
Craft______T__SP__SH__H__Total
Feisar     5   1   4  4   14
Goteki45   3   2   4  3   12
Auricom    3   3   3  3   12
Piranha-A  2   3   2  4   11
Qirex[rd]  4   4   3  2   13
AG-Systems 3   4   2  3   12
Assegai    3   3   1  5   12
Icaras     1   5   2  2   10

And it seems total points aren't a huge factor, it's where the points are distributed to that determines their usefulness.

Yes, it seems like it doesn't it?
But, instead of looking at that table in the way we were, let's look at it differently. Since Top Speed is king, we'll value those points as being worth exactly twice as much as any other points:

 
Craft______T__SP__SH__H__Total
Feisar     5   2   4  4   15
Goteki45   3   4   4  3   14
Auricom    3   6   3  3   15
Piranha-A  2   6   2  4   14
Qirex[rd]  4   8   3  2   17
AG-Systems 3   8   2  3   16
Assegai    3   6   1  5   15
Icaras     1  10   2  2   15

And now the teams seem more balanced, with Qirex showing a definite lead. No surprise that that's the ship to be in for eliminator.
I believe that the "Total points" are best calculated differently for each race mode, but by counting Top Speed as worth more a truer vision of the team balance can be seen.