Dauntless

Few craft have ever carried goods with such pride like the mighty Dauntless. Originally chartered as the backbone of the Commonwealth fleets, she has served proudly. Underestimate her at your peril.

The Dauntless is the lowest-tier plane to start employing Large weapon mounts, giving it a fairly respectable amount of firepower to offset its lower armor. Currently, as an "Upgrade" plane, the Dauntless is one of the worst (raw statistics-wise) in it's tier currently, but will (no doubt) become a lot more effective once upgrades are available to customize it. Despite it's statistical inferiority, it is a competent combatant capable of dealing out some serious hurt as well as hauling a respectable amount of cargo. Its Medium tail arc also helps deal with those pesky trailing planes.

Fighting in the Dauntless
Being the lowest Tier plane to sport a Large gun, the Dauntless is absolutely capable of dishing out the hurt. Keep in mind you have lower armor than most combat types, but your sil is low as well, on par with the low tier performance types.

Having both a front gun and a tail gun, the Dauntless' strength lies on its axis, and its lack of angled arcs means it doesn't have very wide coverage. Therefore, your best bet is to line up with the enemy, whether chasing it or letting it chase you.

Your best manuever is Loop, and with proper timing you can "dive" right on top of the slightly larger planes, and get both arcs on it at once. Don't forget to barrel roll whenever you come in contact with an arc, as it will drastically reduce your chances of being hit.

Whatever you do don't get in a slugfest, as you'll likely lose. Afterburn/loop away, and approach your target from another angle.

In Real Life
The Dauntless is clearly based off the P-61 Black Widow, a night-fighting aircraft with long-range radar and heavy firepower.

Fan Art