The F7C-M Hornet Heartseeker Mk II is a beast (SC 4.0)

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It's Coramor 2955 - also known as Valentine's Week - in Star Citizen.. And with that, this year, comes a new ship: the F7C-M Hornet Heartseeker Mk II.

On a whim, I decided to melt my extra ship package and upgrade my Nomad package to this: I have plans to later upgrade to an F8C Lightning after finally getting a golden ticket at the tail end of last year, but I've gotten a good harem of ships I've earned in game and figured I might as well give it a shot.

Let me tell you.. I do NOT regret doing it. This ship is an absolute beast of a fighter, especially with the Heartseeker upgrade.

A medium fighter with heavy firepower in 4.0

A lot of ships have been nerfed over the years; I mentioned the F8C earlier, and even it hasn't escaped the nerfhammer, becoming a bit more sluggish overall (which is in-line with it's heavy fighter status).

The F7C-M Hornet Heartseeker Mk II actually matches up pretty well against the F8C for firepower, and is VERY maneuverable. It is a little softer, having about half the shield capacity and durability, but if you're someone who's handy with the boost and comfortable with your controls, that's less of an issue.

The Heartseeker upgrade package itself replaces the top turret on your Hornet Mk. II with a unique ballistic gatling turret, which adds a not insignificant amount of firepower (oh, and you also get the cool little paint job as a bonus).

Fully kitted out, I was able to drop HRTs with little to no effort, and VHRTs are also soloable as long as you're good at keeping yourself in motion and not taking too many risks while in the thick of it. You can see my loadout for the Heartseeker here for folks just looking for equipment that doesn't require farming for loot in Pyro.

Competition shields offer the best HP when power is available, and stealth components help reduce your overall signature as well as power draw. If you want to be able to max your thrusters to recover boost faster, feel free to keep the default military power plant; You'll glow like the sun on IR, however, so keep that in mind. Additionally, I didn't have any issues maintaining enough boost to keep fighting with just 2 pips in thrusters.. And I'm not even the best dogfighter in general (especially right now with new issues with alternating numbness and severe nerve pain in my hands).

If you're in the market for a fighter, the F7C-M Hornet Heartseeker Mk II is definitely worth your consideration given it's limited availability.