The power finally came back up on our favorite game and we were rewarded with a new weapons class offering, the E-41 Cobalt.
A snazzy looking aircraft with yellow flames on a blue background. This looks like a re-skinned Viper (F-18 Hornet). Lets take a look at the stats:
Damage: 2nd in class (and fleet), tied with the black eagle. This is a big hitter, with only the Sentinel able to apply more damage.
Agility: BEST IN CLASS, tied with the Hawken and Red Widow.
Evasion: BEST IN CLASS and first plane in weapons class to have an evasion boost.
Lock Speed: 2nd in class (and fleet), tied with Palladin and behind Liberty
This plane combines more damage with great agility and throws in some evasion and lock speed. This looks like a lethal combination and will vault the Cobalt as one of the best in the weapons class. The only negative that I see is no boost in missile reload speed (you can't have it all!). This is following Z2's trend of continually releasing planes that push the envelope with better and better performance.
Of note, I will not be able to add the Cobalt to the plane comparison table for a couple weeks, as I am on travel and do not have access to the files, but will update all when I return.
Glad to see that Z2 has sorted out their power failure - must have been a whopper.
I hear this thing has blue exhaust flames?? Pretty cool. But I am more of an agility class guy, so I probably won't get this plane. Btw; I tried the Eagle-X in an Apple store yesterday. It's maneuverability was way more than any of my top tier agility class planes (after fully upgraded). Is the Eagle-X more maneuverable and agile than, let's say the spectre; when fully upgraded??
ReplyDeleteNowhere near. Probably just your feel of the device or something.
DeleteAlthough I'd have to say I turn much more easily with it compared with my Dragon despite having less agility.
The game version in Apple Store is usually trial version, not our version. Maybe the stats are all different from what we've had. Therefore you feel the Eagle-X more agile than your top agility plane. Have you tried an agility plane with that device too?
DeleteIn our version, a fully upgraded Spectre is definitely more agile than a fully upgraded Eagle-X.
PS. The Cobalt still has normal white and red exhaust flame, only with a blue root, because of the blue exhaust nozzle.
I just got the cobalt today. It's a good plane but not very good for campaign or survival I would prefer the Hawken over this plane. Really it's actually a good deal for only 160 coins. I like it.
DeleteI personally think extra missile reload speed is mainly useful in survival and campaign modes. Missile spamming becomes a decreasingly reliable method of fighting in versus mode as you face better and better opponents, especially if you use sidewinders.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, the lock speed on my Red Widow is good enough for me so I'll give this one a pass. My next weapons class plane will be one that has agility, speed and DMG resistance bonuses.
I reccomend to use your blue coins for something else or buy a different plane its really not that good and I wasted 10 bucks on it. DON'T GET THIS PLANE! SAVE UP YOUR BLUE COINS!!!!!!!
DeleteGuys, some advise please. I've always been an agilty pilot. Saving for either a hawken or reaper. Now with this plane, I'm not sure if it's worth it. Can more ppl comment this plane?
ReplyDeleteCan you tell us, which agility planes you've already had? Are they all fully upgraded?
DeleteI have a nearly fully upgraded d21-falcon. Love the speed and agility. But the damage is some what poor. Still new to the game. So I've not tried the hawken which many are using. I haven't got enough for a hawken but enough for both the reaper / cobalt. I understand the weapon / defense class are better for the campaign mode. But I'm more interested in the dogfights and survival.
DeletePlease share your thoughts don't want to regret getting the cobalt now that I have enough coins for the much spoke about reaper which is probaby one of the few that can participate in dogfights with highly skilled weapon class pilots
First of all, do you have enough coins for buying and UPGRADING new aircraft? Full upgrade is very important.
DeleteIf you have enough coins only for buying the Reaper or Cobalt, then go for the Hawken, because it costs green credits and you can use your saved coins to upgrade it fully. A fully upgraded Hawken is not bad in dogfight and survival at all. You'll have a much more robust aircraft (more armor) than your Falcon. Of course it lacks Speed and Agility in comparison to your Falcon.
If you have enough coins for buying and upgrading, then go for Reaper, or wait for the coming Saratoga. Because you love the speed and agility, you will miss them when you fly a weapon plane (e.g. Cobalt, Hawken), even if it's fully upgraded! A top agility plane + full upgrade will satisfy you in speed and agility. It's much faster and more agile than your Falcon.
The Reaper will give you extra armor to survive the first wave of missile from your opponent, but it lacks energy. The Saratoga will give you extra energy, which is very useful, when you're still new to the game and learning to dodge missiles. For extra damage you can mount credit missiles and you'll get +30% or +50% Damage. Or use the coin missiles :)
There are a lot of top agility planes, e.g. Spectre, Rath, but they are currently not available. Zephyr is now available and not bad at all, if you like to gun down your enemy (+15% Overheat limit).
I have around 150k credits and 205 coins.
DeleteI can either get the cobalt and upgrade it or trade some coins to get the hawken and upgrade it. Do u know when will the Saratoga be out and how much will it be? Thanks for your feedback
In answer to the question, I get far more kills and less getting killed with my Hawken than with my Reaper. I'm sure a better skilled pilot than me would do better with a Reaper or other top agility plane, but with medium skills, the Hawken is better. I also have a Red Widow that seems to be more distructive than the Hawken but of my slow connection I haven't been able to use it much in Versus. I must say that if I did not already have a Hawken and a Red Widow I would seriously consider the Cobalt.
DeleteThanks for your input randy. But as vinh said, the Saratoga might be an alternative. I guess the cobalt is a hybrid between an agility and a weapons class. Argh!!! So frustrating. I was really considering between the hawken and reaper and this plane came up. I missed out on the red widow I don't want to regret another mistake. So I really hope you guys can help me with more input. Just some input bout how good i am as an agi pilot, I can last survival mode up to wave 11 but standard weapons. Should I get this plane?
DeleteIf you consider yourself as an agility pilot, I think you should get a top agility plane and fully upgrade it in the first place, before thinking about a weapon plane. The Cobalt might be a hybrid between agility and weapon class, its maneuverability is never as good as an agility plane. You'll feel it sluggish ans slow-moving in versus matches.
DeleteYou have 205 coins, I think you should buy the Hawken, if you want a weapon plane so much (It costs 20k credits right? And you have 150k or 15k credits?). DON'T trade coins for credits, play survival mode with standard weapon instead. The Hawken still stays there, so no rush.
The Hawken and Red Widow both have bonus on Reload speed, the Cobalt doesn't. In the other hand the Cobalt looks much more beautiful and costs only 160 coins. So the question: Can you live with a weapon plane without extra Reload speed? If yes, then buy the Cobalt, temporarily forget the full upgrade and save your coins from scratch. You can save the credits for the Dragon, it's a good plane to get you to Wave 20 (with full upgrade, of course).
The Saratoga (agility) is an incarnation of F-15, just like the Hawken (weapon). It's coming in next week, after the Cobalt, maybe in the weekend only? According to the leaked picture, it costs 180 coins (http://db.tt/6Bu9y10g).
PS. Do you know how to get free coins from Tapjoy? Maybe you'll get enough coins for both Reaper and Cobalt, but not enough for upgrading I think. And if you don't live in the USA, change your Region to USA + restart the app, you can get extra 30~40 free coins from the offers in game (for viewing videos, registering or visiting Facebook...)
Hi Vinh, thank u once again for your reply. The saratoga sounds move like a better option. Still an agility plane and I hope with more weapon damage. Whether I get the cobalt or hawken, I'm still considering. At the moment I can still get either and do upgrades, but if I get a reaper. I'll have to stay stock for awhile. My region is Singapore so I don't get 20 - 30 coins offer but a mere 1 - 10 coins offer from tapjoy. Any last min advice for me? Still got a couple of hours before the cobalt offer ends. Really just want to get one plane and focus fully on it. Thanks.
DeleteBtws, tried the change region setting and it still does work. :(
DeleteCobalt or reaper..... Hmmm
How good is the saratoga as compared to the reaper? Does it have missle reload? Need more inputs. This hybrid cobalt is something I'm really hoping for since weapon class are have better armour and I would last longer in dogfights and survival mode. But if the Saratoga is going to be better I rather wait for that.
should i? a couple of hours left...
Deletesigh...
Looks like you really want it, than buy it, you've already thought twice :) It's not bad, just less Reload speed than Hawken (36% compared to 46%). The Reaper is always there, you can buy it in the future.
DeleteAfter changing to the USA, you must double click Home button to open up the multitasking bar, delete the MSW app there, before run it again. You'll see the offers for USA, not Singapore anymore, but not much, just around 30 coins.
It's gone... I was too late... Sigh... Maybe it's meant for me to get a reaper... Or a hawken...
Deletehere,s my advice to you anonymous! spend your coins and creds to the c101 annihilator upgrade it to the max and you won't regret it. If you want to become an agility ace that's the plane you want. Some ace pilot say's the c101 has a hidden abilities compared to other agility planes. I for one flies the c101 when i started until now. It's my primary plane in VS. mode although ive owned almost agility plane of msw. The bonus stats of the c101 might discourage you but when it's fully upgraded, youve just unleash the true power of that plane. And top off that you'll get a full respect from your opponent if you beat them! But if you really want a fancy agility plane get the upcoming saratoga, i think that plane is lethal coz of the combination of bunos agility, speed, energy and evasion!
DeleteIt's a pity that you didn't buy the Cobalt in time, Anonymous! My advice to you, don't buy the Reaper or Hawken now, just wait for the Saratoga to come out, then buy which one you like most and concentrate on it.
DeleteYou should know that a fully upgraded plane is very different from a non-upgraded or even nearly full upgraded one!
@wrx: Does the C-101 really have hidden stats? I prefer the Falcon to C-101 as my no-frills agility plane. I own both, but none of them is fully upgraded.
It's ok. I'll just practice more with my falcon. What do you guys think of the Saratoga ? Better then a reaper? Did a dog fight with a zephyr just now. And I won 3-1 either he was a rich dude or my skills have gotten better. He was dying to get me off his tail. Haha. Hopefully the cobalt will be back again.
DeleteFirst of all, is it clear that differentiates planes with regards to their stats is 1/ their class and 2/ the extra-stats (four for top planes) indicated for every plane.
DeleteAndy is absolutely right when saying that you might get far more kills and less getting killed with a Hawken than any agility plane including the Reaper. Eventually, if you get very skilled you may do better with an Agility plane than with an Weapon plane. But speaking from experience, only a few guys are really able to take advantage of an agility plane until they reach SR above 10k.
In my opinion, it is important to own and FULLY UPGRADE a weapon plane at first, because it is the most polyvalent class and these planes are the best for campaign (a good way to earn credits and bonus), and they are much better for survival than agility planes (another way to make credits and also to improve your skills). If your style is dogfighting, don't worry and pick a weapon plane with extra agility (the Hawken is the only available for now, it's a great choice). I must say that my style is rather dogfighting and my plane of choice is the Red Widow (which is close to the Hawken in stats) although I also have a Zephyr, and my SR is 8500.
Once you will have bought and uprgraded your Hawken, you will have played a lot of matchs with it and then you will have earned many coins and credits and will have become skilled enough to really take advantage of an agility plane like the Reaper.
I'm sure a better skilled pilot than me would do better with a Reaper or other top agility plane, but with medium skills, the Hawken is better. I also have a Red Widow that seems to be more distructive than the Hawken but of my slow connection I haven't been able to use it much in Versus. I must say that if I did not already have a Hawken and a Red Widow I would seriously consider the Cobalt.
all the replies are too long so i didn't read them. in other words, what i'll say might be a repeat.
Deleteif you've owned Agi planes for most of your piloting career, this will disappoint you. mind you, i LOVE my cobalt, but i can't stand it when i can't turn as fast. i also have the C101, Dynasty, and the Wasp, all Agi planes that pale in comparison to the damage that the Cobalt does. but since getting to 3k SR, i've been fighting pilots with SR's WAAAAAAAAAAAY bigger than mine, and i've lost by an average of about 4 kills with my cobalt. my Agi planes are usually wins or draws, and if i lose, it's by 1.
I'm not sure if it is worth it from other people's view, but I think it is a pretty good plane. If anyone disagree's, speak now.
ReplyDeleteThe price for this plane us very good
ReplyDeleteStrongly strongly agree
Deletepls released the full pic of the "saratoga"
ReplyDeletecmo'n man don't tease us!
http://db.tt/6Bu9y10g
Why do I keep getting tricked into buying new planes, spending a fortune to upgrade them only to find out that they are not as good as the one I have used for months -- the F51 Hawken. Based on this article I bought the E-41 Cobalt, upgraded it completely and the same thing happened. It doesn't match up to the Hawken. It is nor bad but the reload is terrible. While you are busy waiting fro the stupid thing to reload you are getting blasted into oblivion!! Never again.
ReplyDeleteU lose reload speed but gain 3% in both lock on and damage compared to hawken. At long range this plane will obviously get bombarded more against a hawken. The evasion helps dodge missiles, so get into dogfighting. The higher damage and faster lock speed should make Cobalt the better plane. But the best plane is ultimately the one u'r best with.
DeleteAlright Guys here it is, the upcoming featured plane of msw: Say hello to AF-Y4 Saratoga
ReplyDeletehttp://db.tt/YMjj2Ia
http://db.tt/TUExMEP2
http://db.tt/Q9MYObKL
http://db.tt/VQStb93G
k the first and third link didn't work, try this one:
Deletehttp://db.tt/YMjj2HIa
http://db.tt/Q9MYObkl
http://db.tt/Q9MYObkL
DeleteThe paint job is appalling! Did some summer intern do that as an afterthought?
DeleteYou're right, it's ugly. I think the color Grey destroy the beauty of the paint scheme, it should be White. The color of cockpit should be White too. I don't believe Z2Live would change the color due to our comments in this blog, before introducing it.
Deletedarn where's florovic, hey better hurry up and save those pics and post it in his website metalstormapp.com before anonymous took it down!
DeleteThe released date will be 4th of july lol! Just a guess :)
ReplyDeleteThat makes sense, wrx! AF-Y4 perhaps means Air Force - julY 4 :)
Deletelol, hey vinh maybe your absolutely right! i wasn't paying attention to the abbrevation, i was just curious about the american flag decals on it since 4th of july is coming up! GOOD ONE though...
DeleteBased on the game file (checked using iFile), both Saratoga and Helix should be out from July 2nd until July 8th.
DeleteThe Saratoga pics confirm that a new international trick really exists!
ReplyDeleteNo one know it? thx
Swahili-Tanzania is the new international, but it doesn't work for me :(
DeleteSaratoga???
ReplyDeleteOh it's the news plane coming out
ReplyDeleteIt has rainbow flames!!!!! :) they are soo epic!!! It is worth it for those alone, yay!!!
ReplyDeleteI have found an international trick to successfully get the Saratoga. Though it is not like the trick where you can see practically all the planes, you can only see the Saratoga and Helix. I think I'll wait to see if I get some angry replies before I put up the location.
ReplyDeleteYou can now buy the Saratoga and Helix now in the U.S. without any tricks.
DeleteThanks for telling. I didn't know that. I switched my international to Vietnam and when I opened up MSW, they were there.
DeleteI think I'll stick to my Spectre/Stiletto instead of the Saratoga (I'm pretty sure the only thing that would compell me to buy this plane is none other than impulse. As for the Helix, I got the Red Widow/Cobalt/hawken
DeleteYeah, the planes just showed up at 3pm eastern time
DeleteYea Saratoga's officially out.
DeleteI personally don't like the paint job. The swaying USA flag doesn't do it for me.
It's very similar to Spectre's stats, except it loses 1% speed and switches damage for evasion (+1%).
In my opinion, Spectre seems better, because if you're going agility, you have to be good at dodging missiles and if you're already good at dodging missiles already, why need evasion? Just a thought.
BTW, Anyone know what's coming after Helix/Saratoga (next week)?
Checked the game files in iFile, so far found no other changes yet.
DeleteWill know more in next couple of days.
One interesting note, though, Z2Live is preparing for v5 release, based on the changes from last week.
The saratoga's got cool looking USA flames
ReplyDeletesure,the sratoga looks cool but 1. the stats are'nt great (i just got a reaper) 2.they have realsed WAY too many f-15's. why get if you can get the reaper and thresher (which are both better in my opinion) not in spiecal edition. by the way the international trick never seems to work for me why?
ReplyDeleteops dude
I find much better my Saratoga than my Reaper and Tresher. And head to head with Spectre. But like more the Saratoga because the 7% evasion, it's more difficult for others to hit me. I don't care about a lot F15 being released this planes is good looking and an agility beast!
Deletealso i have the cobalt and it rocks, just wish i could trade the lock speed to missle reload. anyway, its a great plane.
ReplyDeleteops dude
Has anyone noticed Z2 has been bringing out good stat planes for a cheaper prices? I would have expected them to be 205 coins instead of 180.
ReplyDeleteI too got the Cobalt. It was worth it. Too bad it was only a weekend release.
DeleteThe Saratoga is a beast and I love it!! already have it fully upgraded and it's just awesome. I was saving my coins and credits for this one.
ReplyDeleteAfter playing several games with Cobalt, I went back to red widow lol.
ReplyDeleteRW's slight increase in missile reload and chance for crit has enough power to turn a match from a draw to a win (and what could have been a loss into a draw).
To me, every other weapons class plane other than RW doesn't have that special something to grasp that win. Well at least for me anyways.
I looked on my camera app and noticed I had screenshots of metalstorm on it. I figured out how to take screenshots. Btw does anyone know how to give people credits, or is it not possible?
ReplyDeleteCannon Ace ._.
It is only possible if one of your GC friends use you as a Wingman in Campaign and you will get half of the credits acquired normally from the mission. But if you're hoping to earn some really good credits, here's a method:
Delete1.Get your fastest agility plane.
2.Get your friend to do the same.
3.Keep crashing in versus mode but make sure you crash the same amount of times or someone will lose skill points.
4.Repeat this process and not only will you get heaps of credits, you can also get XP and Skill Rating very fast.
You don't want to get too much skill rating, because then you'll get put with opponents who are way out of your league. It's best to get your skill rating by playing vs mode normally, to keep you with pilots evenly matched to you. As for experience, I've found a lot of that in co-op survival mode. Once you get to those higher waves, you can really rake it in if you have a good plane. I'm open often if you want to play with me. :)
Delete-Sporillium
I'd love to play with you! But do you use stock/standard issue like me? I don't want to verse someone with bisnos, but the weapon selection for you is anything. I'll play with you later. I'd like to earn a lot of skill rating, as I have +42,800 SR and am hoping to raise that even more...
DeleteWth selena stan the man, the last time we played 3 weeks ago you were 26k now you were 42k+! too much crashing lol..
DeleteBoosting, wow... What a waste of time.
DeleteI got skill rating through hard work...Crashing seems boring now and I have enough credits. Almost 400,000 Green Credits and 1346 Blue Coins
DeleteProps on the blue coins, however, I got 522,000 credits. I just don't know what to spend them on, I calculated that I would have around 100,000 credit missiles but it seems like a big waste. Especially since you just fire them off. I'll probably end up saving them for a crazy plane that z2 will release when all their fans start demanding for more planes to be purchased with credits.
DeleteStan, any chance i can play against you? i'm at 3k and just wanna know how i compare to someone with a way higher SR like yours. i've gained a ton of skill getting my ass handed to me by everyone though and have managed to get more draws or 0-1 loses against higher skilled opponents. i wanna go up against better pilots to learn more.
DeleteThat plane is powerful.
ReplyDeleteCobalt pilots, watch and enjoy:
ReplyDeletehttp://vimeo.com/17497918
http://vimeo.com/44761481
If you want to see it live:
http://tinyurl.com/axalp12
get the hawken
ReplyDeleteThe cobalt sucks, bigtime! I just bought and fully upgraded this thing, only to find out it sucks! no wonder why it only costs 160 coins! things to know about this plane before you buy: 1. very slow reloading. 2. very sluggish in verses. 3. don't turn as well as other weapons class planes (like hawken, RW). - The ONLY good thing about this plane, is it's power! yeh, you'll get fuck'd up by this this if it hits you - IF it hits you. OH, and the paint job sucks too, impo.
ReplyDeleteEdit: I must say after spending an considerate amount of time with this "beast", i have learn to master it and appreciate it! - i thought i was getting more kills with my "quicksilver" BUT damn, this plane is something else. and is now my "primary plane". the power of this sucka is not to be taken lightly, understand your getting hit with +15 damage, and one hit or two from a bisno - and it's over! - if you're not a hacker with "invincibility" than that's different. but overall, if you learn to master this plane you should be able to give any player a good run! - most players will just disconnect when they see this "big blue beast" connecting!
DeleteThey disconnect cuz yur a bitchnovat user
Delete