So, I got a 15,000 bv game in on Saturday - Word of Blake versus Ghost Bears, it went pretty well for my toaster worshipping loonies - and included in my opponents's force were a pair of Solitaire 1s supporting a couple of Dashers.
I have only once before encountered a Solitaire, and a good few years ago at that. That time I casually popped it's head off with a Ebon Jag Prime before it got to do anything so it didn't really get a chance to show me what it was made of.
This time, both Solitaires lasted the game and they did absolutely nothing for my opponent. They missed literally every shot they made and I started thinking, only some of this is bad luck - I'd intentionally got them tangled up with my lighter faster machines but even with 3/4 pilots driving them they've not had a target number lower than eight, and usually they've been forced to go for nines and tens.
Clearly the Solitaire is not suited for hunting lights or mediums that can generate a high target modifier (I was using a Mercury 99 and Lightray 4Y), but my friend was leery of sending them against my slower stuff too because he was conscious that if he closed to short range, he was moving into optimal range for my biggest guns and no matter how fast he moved he ran a significant risk of being obliterated by my Gauss Rifles, PPCs and Large Lasers without being likely to get a kill in exchange.
So I was wondering, what's your experience with the Solitaire? Is it basically a suicide machine where you get once chance to tear in and burn something big down before inevitably getting swatted in retaliation, or am I missing something?