Ship Breakdown
The Dreaded Black Pyro is the scourge of the mines! A development of the original Pyro-GX fighter, the "BP" wields an awesome arsenal of weapons and delivers them in massive quantities. With double pumped Plasma Cannon and Microwave being the choicest of the Primary weapons - the BP fires so much microwave that you will need to disable "weapons effects" in the D3 Configuration in order to see what you are shooting at! At close range, the TRIPLE Omega Cannon mounts will peel off enemy shields faster than you can say, "Holy Crap!, what was that?"
The BP retains the super-fast reloading Fusion Cannon of the Pyro-GL - but loses out heavily with the Mass Driver; although capable of holding 30 rounds of MD, the reload time is a huge 1.7 seconds per round! This is easily beaten by the tank which reloads a full half second quicker.
Kuman Technologies' Black Pyro - Side View Secondary weapons are also similarly boosted; the BP fires twin Homers, Concussions and Cyclones! The twin homers are lethal, and while twin Cyclones may seem redundant, they certainly clear a room quickly! The downside is that you need at least 2 of each of these missiles in order to fire - and if you miss, that's two missiles wasted.
The BP is a slug without the afterburner cooler however; the tank will just about chase it down and kill it! So, if the Afterburner Cooler is not available in a level - the BP is a very poor choice of craft.
With the AB cooler the BP is just 3% slower than the Pyro, however, it accelerates more quickly, and will clear its own "hit sphere" from a dead stop quicker than any other ship in D3. (But by less than 1% faster!)
It's a common misconception that the BP has much weaker shields than the Pyro-GL. It is true they are weaker, but by a factor of only 1% - which is negligible for all intents and purposes.
Good speed and amazing weapons mean that you will be able to make many pilots curse at you for owning a BP. Even Outrage admit that the BP has a distinct advantage in combat over the other Descent 3 ships. BUT, you will need all your skills and knowledge to pilot this craft into the winner's circle...
The Double Pumped and much hated Microwave sucks energy like there's no tomorrow - so bestest that you know exactly how far it is to the energy centers before blazing away. When you spawn, you have no AB cooler, and your speed is a virtual crawl until you locate one.
Capable of carrying 100 missiles (48 of them seeking weapons!) makes this craft wickedly armed. The twin homers will be your chocie of secondaries, but you will spend most of your time looking for more ammo! Even 20 Homers don't go far if you keep missing with them!
To sum up then; the BP should be deployed when missiles are abundant, the AB cooler is available, and either the Plasma Cannon or Microwave are easy to acquire. Now go get some!
