What is the best ship for Freelancer?

You know I'm really running out of ideas for new blog posts, especially when you have ten different things on your mind with regards to your own work schedule, your game schedule (cause I want to try every new Doom release ASAP these days and get secret descriptions done soonafter), having to budget time to playing the latest Pokemon ROM hack that I wanted to try as well as going through the Shin Megami Tensei saga of games (oh yeah, I'm on the title game this time, by the way). It got to the point where I ended up doing two things. One is to actually play these games during downtimes at work or when no one else is looking. And the other is to revisit Freelancer, a PC game that more or less is now abandonware at this point and I unfortunately have to do the abandonware download (but relax, I still have the CD-ROM of the game itself, it's just that my current machine doesn't have a disk drive anymore). So I did, and I'm currently rolling through the campaign as per usual and it got me thinking, what really is the best ship to use in the games?

Sure enough, you're gonna see the Eagle, Sabre, and Titan compete for the top spot, something that people on GameFAQs or other boards probably did some things on. But we will expand this to other ships and during the course of the actual game, so here we go.

You start off with the Starflier, of course this ship will NOT be the absolute best at anything other than turning speed and small frame, of which it's undeniably the best. But it gets blown up super quickly otherwise. Obviously, you want something better by the time Mission 1 is over. So here are your choices:

Rhino (Liberty Freighter)
Patriot (Liberty Light Fighter)
Startracker (Civilian Light Fighter)
Defender (Liberty Heavy Fighter)
Bloodhound (Pirate Heavy Fighter)

So you have five ships available, the first three on Manhattan (with the Rhino also on Pittsburgh), the Defender on the Missouri, and the Bloodhound on Rochester. The Dagger can be seen on Buffalo Base if you are friendly with Outcasts and Rogues, but you need to complete Mission 2 to have a chance to purchase it, so we're skipping it for now.

The first three ships on the planet, well, they won't be the winners here. The Rhino is the closest due to all the guns, but being a freighter, it's a huge target and its turning speed is of course gonna be what you would expect for a freighter. Nevertheless, it somehow is the best ship for the Liberty portion of the Freelancer speedrun, oddly enough. Still, you'll die quickly in that thing, so it loses in a normal playthrough. The Startracker and Patriot seem like logical steps up from the Starflier, the Patriot basically being a sleeker-framed ship with similar turning speed, while the Startracker is slightly more armored. But neither of them compensate well enough for the tougher missions ahead, so they're also out. That leaves the Defender and the Bloodhound, and you want to know the consensus?

Winner: Defender

Yes, the Defender is just better. The advantage both ships have over the planetside ships is a forward-firing turret, but the Defender is better to obtain without too much trouble and has more guns overall. The Bloodhound is a wide target from the sides, as you probably already gathered from fighting Rogues, so it's just really only better than the ships on Manhattan. With that said, we'll hold on to the Defender, and after Mission 2 finishes, you can access Liberty's other sectors and two more ships are now available:

Dagger (Borderworld Light Fighter)
Mule (Pirate Freighter)

I already said the Dagger was on Buffalo, a Rogue's base, but the Mule is also on a Rogues base, Alcatraz in California. If you like playing as a pseudo-tank that doesn't move well but has good turrets, the Mule is the next step up from the Rhino. But how would they hold against the current best ship?

Winner: Defender

Nope, the Defender still wins. It can get you through the Liberty portion without too much fuss, while the Mule is difficult to handle aside from having the guns. The Dagger is a light fighter meaning it doesn't have the best of weaponry compared to heavy fighters, although it too has a nice forward-firing turret, making the Dagger have five guns pointing forward; the Defender still outshines it. Plus being friendly with the Rogues is a problem.

So the Defender is capable of dealing with the Liberty portion of Freelancer's campaign rather well, up until after Mission 4 where you are now in Bretonia and the ship's class 4 gun/shield status gets outshined soon enough. The entire Sirius sector completely opens up once you land on Leeds, but the only ships you can buy are in Bretonia proper (and Liberty I guess, but you're hostile with them right now). So here's what you can buy:

Clydesdale (Bretonia Freighter)
Cavalier (Bretonia Light Fighter)
Crusader (Bretonia Heavy Fighter)
Piranha (Bounty Hunter Light Fighter)
Legionnaire (Corsair Light Fighter)

The Bretonia planets have the Cavalier, Clydesdale, and Piranha, with the Piranha also being available on Sheffield Station and the Cavalier on Battleship Hood. Speaking of battleships, the Bretonia battleships are where the Crusader can be nabbed, and the Legionnaire is on the Junker base Trafalgar. Once again, the planetside ships are not gonna be winners. The Clydesdale is just a step up for freighters, nothing too spectacular. The Piranha loses to the Cavalier as far as gun/shield class goes, as it only goes up to 4 while the Cavalier goes up to 5. Incidentally the Legionnaire also has a gun/shield class of 5 as does the Crusader. The Legionnaire of course fairs better than the Cavalier armor-wise, but it's got a strange frame (as does the Piranha) overall. Bulky for a light fighter though.

Winner: Crusader

But of course, the heavy fighter is generally the choice here. Although the Crusader doesn't have a forward-firing turret, it's certainly important for this portion of the campaign, so you got that going for you. However, after mission 5, it's important to note that ships OUTSIDE of Bretonia are now available.

Drone (Kusari Freighter)
Dromedary (Borderworld Freighter)
Drake (Kusari Light Fighter)

As I said, the entire Sirius sector is open once you reach Bretonia for the first time, therefore going back to Mactan (assuming you are friendly enough with Outcasts and Hackers) for the Dromedary and going up to the Kusari planets for the Drake and Drone (which is actually only available on Junyo and New Tokyo) is actually an option to pick. But can they beat the Crusader?

Winner: Crusader

Mission 6 segues into Mission 7 and it can be a bit difficult to balance things out. Mission 6 of course has the race mission, so something with better turning speed is ideal, but you can manage it in a Crusader. Heck, the advanced walkthrough says you can do it in a Dromedary for that matter, but that's a story for another time. The reason the Crusader wins overall is because of how important firepower can be for Mission 7, since the combat has you battling several non-fighter craft Rheinland sends out, including a fleet in Tau-29. Though it was closer than it should be, honestly you can totally have fun in the racing part of Mission 6 in a Drake, and win super easily due to its perfect turning speed, it's not too necessary. The race is actually not that difficult overall. But now we reach Kusari proper, and these ships will more or less outclass the Crusader by this point.

Hawk (Civilian Light Fighter)
Barracuda (Bounty Hunter Heavy Fighter)
Dragon (Kusari Heavy Fighter)
Wolfhound (Pirate Heavy Fighter)

The Dragon is on Kusari battleships, and the Hawk and Barracuda are on the Kusari Planets (though New Tokyo has a Drone instead of a Hawk, the Hawk could also be purchased on Kyoto and the Barracuda can also be purchased on Planet Curacao). It's really odd that the Wolfhound could not be acquired until you reach Kusari proper, as it is on two pirate bases in previous locations: Montezuma in Cortez and Arranmore in Dublin; of course, you need some rephacking to get that and if I'm being frank the Wolfhound is honestly not too worth it. Better than the Mule, and got the firepower and armor, but it's a HUGE target for a heavy fighter. The Hawk is also not worth it considering the Barracuda is on the same planets usually.

Winner: Barracuda

The Dragon is almost at the Barracuda's level apart from cargo space and turning speed. Both unfortunately don't have forward-firing turrets (the Wolfhound has them though). But I remembered Starman Omega's ships FAQ about subgroups and noticed that the Dragon really suffers from having its parts blow off and extra damage from missiles, and this was more than enough to convince me that the Dragon, although cool, is an awful ship in missile dogfights. The Barracuda it is, and it will be serviceable until you get to the Osiris. But will it beat the cheap Anubis for the remainder of the singleplayer campaign?

Winner: Anubis (Order Very Heavy Fighter)

The key to the last few missions is that you'll eventually be dealing with some static (or really large) targets, so having all the firepower needed is important. The Barracuda and Anubis have six guns, one turret, and a torpedo slot (plus mines), and while the Barracuda has better maneuverability, the Anubis has the forward-firing turret for extra firepower. Therefore, even though it's more of a target, the Anubis will serve you good enough to beat the single-player campaign's last legs.

And that leads to the post-game, where we will do things interestingly. The idea is that I will go up a gun/shield class from the Anubis, whose highest class is 6, and go from there. Class 7 ships:

Banshee (Rheinland Light Fighter)
Humpback (Rheinland Freighter)
Stiletto (Borderworld Heavy Fighter)

Winner: Stiletto

None of these ships are really worth it since two more ships are available in Rheinland (Stiletto on Bruchsal, Banshee and Humpback on Rheinland planets, plus Holstein), but we'll go with the Heavy Fighter here due to it being the most logical step up from the Anubis. It even has the forward-firing turret! The Humpback has the worst maneuverability of all the freighters and isn't even better than the Dromedary in terms of cargo space, while the Banshee is okay, but only has four guns and no torpedoes or turrets. Now for the Class 8 ships:

Valkyrie (Rheinland Heavy Fighter)
Falcon (Civilian Heavy Fighter)

Winner: Falcon

I would prefer getting the Falcon after the Anubis instead of the Stiletto or Valkyrie after the single-player campaign to bridge into the better ships later on. The Valkyrie is cooler, but not only do you not get a cloaking Valkyrie, it is slightly weaker and turns slower than the Falcon. It's also only available on Battleship Westfalen, the only Rheinland battleship to land on, while the Falcon is sold on a whopping FIVE planets (New Berlin, Stuttgart, Baden Baden, Hamburg, and Kurile). It's like they were gonna lay it out to you there. Unfortunately neither the Valkyrie or Falcon have forward-firing turrets. Now to the Class 9 ships:

Centurion (Corsair Heavy Fighter)
Hammerhead (Bounty Hunter Very Heavy Fighter)

Winner: This is honestly a toss up.

The biggest problem is, do you want to keep using that Falcon until you get one of the better VHFs now? Or do you want the extra bridge ship? Because both of these two ships are expensive, yet you can save some extra credits to get one of the better VHFs. Nevertheless, both are decent steps up. The Centurion has decent forward firepower and armor but not-so-good maneuverability overall, plus you gotta be friendly with the Corsairs since it's on their Cadiz base. The Hammerhead despite being classified as a VHF is weaker in armor than the Centurion, with similar firepower, better maneuverability, and better availability on a corporate base (Freistadt). It's honestly a toss-up because you could, but you can do better. Not to mention both ships once again don't have a forward-firing turret. Now for the three best VHFs, the moment you have been waiting for.

Eagle (Civilian Very Heavy Fighter)
Titan (Corsair Very Heavy Fighter)
Sabre (Borderworld Very Heavy Fighter)

Winner: Toss-up between Eagle and Sabre
My personal pick: Sabre

First of all, the Titan loses out due to lacking manueverability, a forward-firing turret, and its cost being slightly higher than the Sabre and Eagle and needing to land on Leon base or Planet Crete to get. Sure it's got the best armor overall, but firepower is what a Very Heavy Fighter wants. That leaves the Eagle, the better ship for maneuverability, and the Sabre, the better one for firepower. The Eagle loses in my opinion due to lacking the forward-firing turret that the Sabre actually has. But many people do swear by it, it's probably the most popular of the VHFs cause of the nice balance overall. Also helps that it is available at any easy-enough location, you just need the Zoners to not be hostile and get it at Freeport 9. For the Sabre, you got to have the Hessians (at Vogtland) or the Outcasts (at Malta) friendly enough for getting it, nothing a bribe on a neutral base won't fix though. Again, my preference is the Sabre. You probably like the Eagle or are rogue enough to say the Titan trumps all. But to recap.

Missions 1-4: Defender
Missions 5-7: Crusader
Missions 6-10: Barracuda
Missions 11-13: Anubis
Best Class 7 ship: Stiletto
Best Class 8 ship: Falcon
Best Class 9 ship: Centurion or Hammerhead (toss up)
Best Class 10 ship: Eagle or Sabre (toss up)