I am rather curious to learn more on what they really intend by long range and short range ships. I get that it probably is a mirror to WW2 short range (mono engine) vs long range fighters (dual engine), but in terms of SC gameplay ? What will be their strenghts and weaknesses ? How do they differenciate over their short range cousins ? On which kind of situations will short range be better if they can't travel far ?
I'd imagine short range fighters are better defenders and dogfighters. More armor and shields, more weapons at the cost of needing to refuel frequently. The idea being that you can't bring your SuperHornet on a long range roam. Imagine if your battleships could only go 10 or so systems before they needed to refuel, so instead you take battlecruisers or cruisers on a long distance gank gang.
And if you can anyway travel through stargates and find a spaceport, then what is the utility of long range fighters ? Is there a fuel story somewhere hidden there, where you can't fly for long with short range fighters ? Can long range fighters actually use hyperspace without gates ?
Jump points for extra system travel and .2c for inter system travel, if I recall correctly. An eve example would be jumping into your t2 cruiser (long range fighter) because your corp is going on a roam through low/null sec, following the example in my previous paragraph, you can't bring your battleship (short range fighter) with you on your roam. However, if some other corp decides to attack your POS (or whatever) you pull out your battleship and defend with superior offense and defense.
On the arena commander thing, maybe i'll try it someday, though I heared that if you don't have a hornet you are pretty much screwed or at a disadvantage ... ?
Nope.
I caught the bug and have a small fleet. My mustang delta chews up SuperHornets pretty well. Assuming, of course, the pilot of the SH wasn't paying attention, or wants to actually dogfight instead of sit stationary and shoot. In fact, there is so much power on demand in my delta, that if someone isn't paying attention to me, I'll win the fight. However, if someone glares at me sternly, I'll pop. So, you trade off abilities.
Given time, CIG will do a pretty good job of balancing the ships, and it'll come down to personal skill of the pilot over equipment and wallet. Silas and I were talking last night about the promise the cutlas has. I genuinely feel that it will be a monster once multicrew comes out. If a pilot does his job and keeps the top or flanks of the vessel towards the enemy, and the gunner has some mouse talent, I don't think many of the ships in the 'verse could stand against it. Sure, it has a low top speed, but it has some of the greatest maneuverability, shields, armor, and weapon mounts in the game.
Is the i300 a viable ship now ?
Yes.
Well, it was when I was playing with it during the free fly weekend last month. The 325 is nasty and the 350 is insanely fast (and can fit all the equipment of the 325)
Is the Avenger faring any good ?
I have one. I don't like it much. The main gun, the Tigerstrike is a bit underpowered in my mind. Of course, I use a HOTAS, and that ship was really built for mouse/keyboard.
How about the mustang ?
I fly a fruitbat and love the hell out of it. My only issue is that its made out of saran wrap. I had a collision with someone yesterday while dogfighting. I died, my ship got fowled into my target's ship, and he too zero damage from it.
I also was not convinced by the weapon and targeting combat gameplay I saw, but I will not judge too quickly and will have to give it a serious try besides doing it in my own corner (and find a decent joystick, because my current hotas has shit egonomics and no throttle :/).
What do you mean by weapon and targeting combat? Personally, I find its nuances shallow enough to enjoy and deep enough to keep me pushing myself to the limit. I fly an extremely agile fighter, and find myself using the 6df often. If I get into a circle strafe with an enemy, I roll my ship as I'm strafing, as I'm keeping my pips on the hostile ship. Other times, I get enemies to chase me, decouple, pull a Starbuck and fly backwards while putting rounds on them. When they disengage, I recouple, chase them and take them out.
As far as a multiplayer game goes, its a blast... well, when it works. As a single player game, its well worth the money I've put into it. Vanduul swarm (horde mode) is great and it makes you feel pretty epic as you dodge missiles, rocks, and enemy fighters. Murry Cup (racing) is what causes me to boot up the game once a day. I strive harder and harder to shave a few milliseconds off each turn.
Lastly, before anyone gets all pay to win, they just implemented the rental equipment credit system. Each race nets you 2k, each vanduul swarm nets you 15k, and the big money is in pvp in squadron battle and free for all (depending on your kills of course)
If I had the ability to loan you a ship, I'd do it in a heart beat. Let you play a bit, get use to it, earn some REC, then go and rent some other ships. Once you figure out what you like to fly, pledge for it. If you want to drive a slow tanky high dps ship, then get a SuperHornet. If you wanna struggle keeping your pilot conscious from all the insane Gs you pull, get a Mustang or 300 series. If you wanna trade freight, get an Aurora. The options seem endless.
Edit:
Buy a 5 dollar arena commander pass off the store so you can fly during free fly weekends. The gladious starts tomorrow. (the obvious counter to the super hornet. Fast, maneuverable, and still heavily armed)