Good setups for Hover

I just got mine and I'm much lower level than you - I've put Tarans/Magnums on mine --> which I think will be suicide ? But it's the best I have at the moment!
Can I hijack your thread a little to ask people to comment on
1) Best setup for mid-level/occasional minor Au "purchaser":
2) High level/Top-end:
At my lower league: Gold, lvl 7-9 bots I did wonder about Hydra/Spiral and keeping at 600m.....but the damage will be too low right?

My setup is ork/pinatas, I use It mostly for center beacons so I need as much power as possible

I've been using it as a troll bot. With RDBs. hide in the Shenzhen buildings and annoy people.

THIS gives me some evil ideas. I like it.

I'm hoping that even if Tarans don't work out - there's no downside to leveling 2 of them to lvl 9 --> I can always move them to a Rog or Griffin ?
What would you recommend putting on at lvl 7-9 (Gold League)?

How long before I get trusted btw ?

The medium aphid, vortex, might be interesting. Fired from up high, they would be hard to see coming and would go right over obstacles. Time will tell.

I've ran into a Hover that would use Scourges while in mid-air. Was pretty impressive on Moon but I would probably run Tarans and a Magnum on it if I had one. Then again, I don't think I would use it as part of my main hangar.

Does this mean that even if I fly up very high and the distance (diagonally) from my target would be 450m, but the distance on the ground would be 300m I can still hit him (or be hit) with Orkans or Pinatas?

Don't over think the ability.

I use a DB Hover, and this what I do. I like to approach a target from behind a building. I activate the ability, glide past the building, and just before the red comes into view, I let go, and turn the bot to face the red and then fire. If I need it, I'll hit the ability button again to stay in the air, but it's usually not a good idea to stay in the air that long. Besides, this action usually results in me doing a sideways strafe move because your momentum keeps you moving in your original direction for a bit. Use the momentum so that you're firing and moving at the same time.

Two best setups I have played or seen for hover -- this is playing D1/E3 -- are shocktrain-spiral and spydra. It is super effective with guided missiles b/c bots cannot effectively hug walls if you are shooting from above. Third choice would be a long range suppression/support bot using maybe MolotT and gekko, but in that case you would be hosing, probably from rooftops or while hovering instead of sniping and I am not wild about MolotT given that shocktrains, tempests and other harder-hitting stuff are in the field. Given its relative fragility and speed but lack of burst, I think it works best at sniping and best at longer ranges.  Orkans?  Probably.  But I only have a few orkans and I'd rather put them on other stuff.

I've tried many different setups on the Hover, and I find it is about a versatile as a Griffin. In no particular order, my favorite load outs are:

(1) Tarans + Magnum;
(2) Tulumbas + Pin; and
(3) Punisher T + Punisher.

I tried Orkans + Piñata, but found I liked it less than a DB Griffin. The Hover ability didn't really work for me with this load out. I also tried Molots, but it just didn't do enough damage.

That was my impression too, but after I read this topic I did some testing on Yamantau and to my surprise I was able to increase my distance to >100m by doing a very high jump directly above my opponent. 

BTW - for my orkan+pinata combo works best. When you jump you have just enough time to unload your orkans before you land. Of course one have to be careful with jumping - especially on open maps like Canyon. 

I use the jump immediately when the battle starts - to capture a beacon or to get into a good position (or both). Then after the first 30 seconds jumping is a bad idea - this is the time when everyone is looking for a target, so...It's also never safe to jump when you get cought by a group of reds, unless there is a good (big and tall) cover where you can quickly hide from the reds.

It's much safer to use the jump later on, when reds are scattered and engaged in their own affairs  

Jump and glide let you travel about 300m in a little over 10 seconds. Usually when you see that the closest red is 600-700m away and there are buildings, rocks and other things between you and that red you can feel safe right? But Hover can quickly get within 300m (from unexpected direction) and unload orkans before you even realize what's happening.

Another situation where I'm finding his jump usefull is hunting for aphid pattons. You can jump higher than Griffin - high enough to fire orkans on Patton's head even when he's behind a cover.

For me, both setup below works well
1) Aphid + Taran
2) Pinata + Orkan

I think when Vortex available, it will be another deadly combination for Hover.

I'm slowly getting better with mine, takes a while and I still stuff up often. One hint I read was only fire at the last second when he is on the way down so you are heading for shelter. Firing on the way up attracts attention and you will be fired upon.