Avast Me Hearties! - Ship Talk #5 - Cutlass

[Black Sunder]

Avast Me Hearties! - Ship Talk #5

Blimey another one! Ok I'll stop now. Welcome to Ship Talk #5! Ship Talk is where I take the current on paper stats for a group of ships similar in either role or hull, analyzing them, and giving my own thoughts on how they compare to each other. Below you can find links to previous Ship Talks and Ship Talk Commentary:

Ship Talk #1 - Exploring the Unknown: The top 4 Exploration Ships
Ship Talk #2 - Aurora Rain: All about the MVP of TEST, the Aurora + Variants
Ship Talk #3 - Squadron Reporting - Ship Talk #3 'Fighters' Part 1
Ship Talk #3 - Squadron Reporting - Ship Talk #3 'Fighters' Part 2
Ship Talk #4 - Cargo Cult, The Hauler Ships

The Aegis Vanguard - Ship Talk Commentary #1

I need to ask Montoya for a sticky index thread if I make it to #10. This 5th Edition is about the Cutlass Black and its variants the Red and Blue. This Talk will be shorter than the last one primarily because we're only talking about 3 ships today and they share the same basic hull. Like the Aurora this means they share many of the same attributes so talking about one will apply to the others in most cases. Today's title for the thread is in reference to the nature of the Drake Interplanetary ships having a reputation of being the go-to ships for pirating. Without further comment lets get to this Talk!

My Thoughts on the Ships(Cutlass Black, Cutlass Red, Cutlass Blue)

General Thoughts on Stats

First let me acknowledge again that these stats and listed equipment are all subject to change. However, unless something drastic occurs in testing I would expect these stats to still give a good overall direction and capability for each ship. Below is a link to a composite picture I made with all the stats listed from the RSI site and ordered by null-cargo mass:

All Cutlass Stats

Descriptions and Roles

Before I start I know that the Cutlass is undergoing a refactor and rework of its interior after problems were found after the relaunch of the Black and the 2 Variants. Until we get new information, these numbers and information is all we have. I hope that the rework will be a success and the internals will be up to the standard of the other ships when it comes to proper dimensions of objects.

The Cutlass Black thinks itself as a legitimate ship of the line useful for local militias that may need something larger than an Aurora LN or Gladius while maintaining a low investment cost. It can also be used for deep space search and rescue with its larger than average cargo hold and tractor beam. Drake Interplanetary insists that this ship is for legitimate purposes only. Is there such a thing as a legitimate pirate? Hmmm.....

The Cutlass Red is stated to be search and rescue and I believe it fits this ship to a T. The Red takes the cargo space of the Black and gives itself a well equipped medical facility that includes an Autodoc. The ship features several items that make S&R viable such as a Nav-E7 Echo Transponder long range scanner usually only found on exploration ships. A Secure Docking Collar makes docking a breeze to get people to safety inside its facilities and patch them up before sending them out again. Finally the ship features a red paint job which as we all know makes something go faster.

The Cutlass Blue is....blue. Ok it is really used primarily as a planetary police vehicle. It takes some of the cargo space from the Black and coverts it into holding cells for prisoners. The description mentions it mounts a better engine and missiles but I'll get to that further down.

Structural and Propulsion

Lets start with the obvious numbers. These ships are bigger than your normal fighter by a fair margin. It is quite thin when viewed from the front but from the side and above it presents a large profile for attack. Remember this and use it to your advantage both on offense and defense.

For cargo capacity we see that the Cutlass and variants maintain a nominal amount of cargo for small loads. For asset redistribution specialists the cutlass Black offers the most at 150 Units while the others only offer 120. This fits in line with their descriptions with the Red having a well equipped medical bay and the Blue having holding cells. I was expecting the Red to have much less cargo capacity though due to the medical bay. It is good to note that the cargo bay of the Cutlass may be able to hold several people. Hmm.....

On the subject of required manpower we can see a small difference. The Black and Blue versions only require 3 while the Red will need 4. This discrepancy may be explained as the 4th person operating some of the medical equipment but this is just a wild guess however logical it may be. Moving on to power plants they can each have a maximum Size 4 which is the same as the Super Hornet. Further down for main engine capacity they have 2 TR4 engines. In the description of the Blue it mentions more aggressive engines which I take to mean a bit more power. Lets put a 'wait-and-see' on that.

All Variants come with 8 TR1 and 4 TR3 thrusters. On the surface these seem to be enough to move the ship around as you please but we'll get to this in the summaries. Lastly the shields. The Cutlass Black and Red can both be outfitted with a class 4 Shield while the Blue police boat can be fitted with a Class 5 giving it better staying power in a fight against similar or multiple ships.

Weapons

This section will be rather short I'm afraid. Starting from the left on the Cutlass Black we see it has 2 forward facing size 3 weapons while it has a gimbal mount that can carry another Size 3 weapon. These 3 weapons together give the Cutlass a good deterrent against fighters but don't count on them doing much against anything larger than the ship itself. The pylons mount 2 Size 2 missile racks which can be used for targets that are out of range or to destroy smaller fighters that you cannot bring your weapons to bear on. Finally the Black features a manned turret with small size 1 weapons. Pew pew pew!

The Cutlass Blue mirrors the armament of the Black. The description of the Blue mentions that it adds missiles to the armament but both the Black and Blue come with missiles. I'm thinking this just means that it adds more ammunition for the missile racks and not the racks themselves which would make sense as it is supposed to be a bit more heavily armed Cutlass Black. The Red lacks several weapon systems the other two feature but again this makes sense given its role.

Equipment

Standard across all Cutlass models is the tractor beam mounted inside the ship but facing the main cargo door and the secure docking collar. There isn't any actual information on the docking collar yet so this is up for speculation on how it will function. It is interesting to me because I had believed that any of the larger ships could dock with another as a standard function. As an example the Redeemer has an exit in the marine area specifically mentioned to be for breaching/boarding but it doesn't have a docking collar listed as equipment for this purpose. This has left me a but confused and if you have any info on this please reply and enlighten me on this issue.

The tractor beam itself can be used for bringing in any cargo to the cargo bay and for rescuing people in escape pods if you can lock on to them. Although not specifically equipment but listed in the description the Cutlass Blue maintains some holding cells for prisoners should you disable someone and need a place to put them.

The Cutlass Red comes with two additional items that make it unique. First it comes with a long range scanner that you usually only find on the more exploration oriented ships. This is to aid in its mission of Search & Rescue. Also on board but not listed due to the coding are the Autodoc medical facilities for diagnosing and treating injuries. To me this is one of the most interesting aspects of the game so far when it comes to first person.

Continued Below....

 

[Black Sunder]

The Long and the Short

Cutlass Black - Overall the Cutlass Black is an ok ship. It has a good blend of weapons, shields, cargo and can hold a couple friends so you can all go pillage around the galaxy. If you're looking for a ship that is a sidestep up from a fighter the Cutlass may be a good choice before you go for something like a Freelancer. It is a relatively cheap no frills ship. It does not maneuver as well as it probably should though with the TR1 thrusters trying to move 36K null mass. We've seen the commercial and the loops and maneuvers such shown but it is a commercial. If it can actually move like that in a good pilot's hands then I'd be impressed but I don't think the thrusters do it justice. The Drake Interplanetary reputation for pirate ships is worth it here. This ship can easily be a good boarding vessel provided you have friends and can get to an unprotected section. If the Docking Collar allows breaching at any area with open space then great! If it is limited to specific areas then you'll need to be more careful. Get a couple of these full of people and go take on something like an Orion or Carrack. Little risk for a large reward if you can capture them. Maybe repaint the hull to be Red? While this isn't a ship I myself would get I can see it having a variety of uses from the above mentioned pirate vessel, search and rescue, small cargo runner, and even a mission running ship it can do many things but is good at none of them without specific upgrades toward your desired role.

Cutlass Red - This is a ship I'm excited about. Heres the reason though: the Red is so far outside the normal of any ships I've covered so far, so niche in its use, but so intricate to the function of any large org that wll inevitably run boarding ops that it puts itself above many other ships. We have ships that can haul, fight, explore etc etc but this is the first one that can really heal people and that's something special. Until we get to the floating hospital ship at least. :) First of all you're not going to see this ship too often unless you're deliberately going off on rescue missions or on a boarding op. Cutlass Red crews will be the guys that have to be at the top of their game when it comes to healing people brought back from boarding so they can continue the fight.

You can even use it as something of an explorer with the long range scanner but I wouldn't recommend it. What I would recommend is that any op that takes people into a derelict keep a Red around for emergency evac in case something goes wrong. Chris Roberts has said in the past that derelicts may have aliens of creatures aboard so this is a good opportunity to train people who want to fly a Red just like the Incursions in Eve Online were a great way to train Logistics pilots in shield and armor repair. The ship has no weapons so to speak and an ok shield so it can't withstand much punishment and it can't speed off to safety so keep it protected. If you want to be a medic have one of these available. Your skills may be called upon to save us all one day.

Cutlass Blue - The Cutlass Blue feels like they were running low on ideas so someone said they needed to make another police boat for policing things that the Aurora LN, Gladius and whatever else makes up the UEE Advocacy fleet apparently can't or doesn't do well. It has the same weapons as the Black but more missiles. It does have a better shield which gives it more staying power but it doesn't get much else but the holding cells. Unless its equipment and modules are somehow much better than the Black in output then I see this remaining a very specialty ship for bounty hunting and that's it. Everything it can do though can be done by something else and probably done better. I'm thinking of a Redeemer here.

Now its Your Turn

I've heard about the Cutlass in AC not being very maneuverable and want to know if this is true? If it is then do you feel this way because you've only flown fighters up to this point or is is something else that feels off? Post it below. Those of you that have the Cutlass, what made you get it?

Closing Thoughts

This time for closing thoughts I have very few. I see these ships getting a lot of use as people start earning money in the PU and want upgrade to a larger ship from the fighter or cargo hauler they started with. If you wanted to mix people up then paint a Cutlass Blue as a Cutlass Red or a Black as a Blue etc to throw people off. Sure that Red is coming to help.....take your ship and run off with it. This ship is very multifunctional but it does nothing truly well. It is also a cheap ship that is simple in construction and operation but is a good trainer for multi-crew functionality.

Aside from the Red I have a hard time liking the ship and that's ok. I don't have to like every ship in the 'Verse but I will respect their various strengths and abilities. If you like the Cutlass, no matter what color, thats cool and good for you seeing something in it that I can't. This won't be a ship I get except for collection purposes or I need to buy something to help out on that one op before I throw it away.

Ship Talk will be taking a week break next week so I can play the DoW Soulstorm campaigns and finish those up. The next Ship Talk will either be the Freelancer and variants or the Hull Series. Definitely want to do the Hull series the weekend it comes out.

 

[Black Sunder]

Added a poll, forgot to put one up lol.

 

[CrimsonCyclist]

I have the Red and I'm very excited to use it for all the reasons you've mentioned. It's gonna be a much needed part any fleet operation and bring a unique support role that sounds like it's gonna be fun as hell. As soon as the rework is done I'm gonna be flying it nearly all the time so when PU comes around I'll hopefully be able to evade fire and most crucially NOT crash into the pods and people I'm trying to rescue >_>

 

[Feral Oxide]

I rented one this week and I can fly it fer shite. Wallows around like a sloppy sow in my hands. It's VERY possible that's just in my hands, however. I've only been flying in SC like 2 weeks, mostly in my 315p. I'm also certainly at a disadvantage with the Cutlass as it seems set up for the gimbeled weapon and I fly a stick, so locked to my nose with slow tuning and sweeping through and past my turns with thrusters means I can't hit a barn unless it's full daylight and I'm 3 feet away.

 

[Annitias]

I rock the Cutlass Platinum. Luxury edition.

Baby endangered animals leather, massage seats, 60 zone climate control, top secret 90MW sound system

 

[Maxgerber5250]

I rented one this week and I can fly it fer shite. Wallows around like a sloppy sow in my hands. It's VERY possible that's just in my hands, however. I've only been flying in SC like 2 weeks, mostly in my 315p. I'm also certainly at a disadvantage with the Cutlass as it seems set up for the gimbeled weapon and I fly a stick, so locked to my nose with slow tuning and sweeping through and past my turns with thrusters means I can't hit a barn unless it's full daylight and I'm 3 feet away.

The cutlass is heavy. you cant turn her like a fighter, keep up your speed by making wide turns. orbit your target, or slide. let your gimbaled weapons work them over.

 

[thanatos73]

So, I currently have a Cutlass Red and a Cutlass Black in my hanger, and I miss my Blue. According to the model there are 2 racks of 4x missiles above the rear nacelles, close to the fuselage.

Ok, not posting from my phone now.

As for the rest of your post, I think you're right on. I fly the Cutlass in AC to get used to the way it handles, and I am getting pretty good at it, the key to keeping your guns on target with the Gimbal Lock on is BOOSTING. This beast Will turn on a dime if you can time your boost right, I can keep a Vanduul under the guns as it flies in front of me for most of the time(until it changes direction). Most ships, boost is used after the turn, to correct your direction of travel, or to get up to max speed. In the Cutlass, you use the boost to get up to max speed, and to swing around to the direction you want to fly. And the sliding of the ship when you do turn is like a short press of the decoupled mode. If you have an enemy attacking you from the left, boost turn to face him, and let the ship slide, now all 5 of your guns are on him, and you're still moving, and now with a smaller cross section.

Sorry if this is a bit long, but I do SO love the Cutlass, and I hope this helps some of the other Testies who own and/or fly them.

 

[Groundstain]

Yup, I just broke down and bought a Cutlas Red... "Kevorkian's Hug"

 

[PhosphorusForFun]

I was originally enamored with the idea of making a cutlass explorer and would still like to, but with the upscaling of my pledge limit I decided to get the ships I was more interested in (Redeemer and then Vanguard) and use a 315p as my black-romper. I'm sure I'll end up with a cutlass explorer purchased and equipped in the PU but think I'm happier this way since I'm sure the Cutlass Black will be something like a Toyota Camry; mass produced and ubiquitous.

I would love to get a Red and use it for the ambulance role but doubt I'll have the sort of dedicated, uninterrupted playtimes to make it worthwhile (can see it now... "Hubris, we need pickup at the port airlock... Hubris?" 5 minutes later I get back to the game from a kids' midnight potty break and find a bunch of corpses and pretend to have a timout-logoff)

 

[AntiSqueaker]

My list of Cutlass pros and cons:


PROS:

-Sexy looking ship, omg. Favorite looking hull in the game.

-One of the best ships for your money IMO. Can be fitted out for almost anything, from dogfighting, to light hauling, to SAR, bounty hunting, etc etc etc. Obvious pirate ship of choice thanks to combat capability + cargo space.

-Apparently very quick to replace in game, Ben described it as a "burner ship"

-Well armed for price point. Currently the 2nd most armed ship in Arena Commander after the Super Hornet. 3 fixed S3 guns or gimbaled S2s, plus the S2s on the turret is a nasty punch combined with the 2 S2 missile racks. S4 shield is nothing to sneeze at as well.

CONS:

- Cutlass Red lacking Class 3 Hardpoints. No extra scanners, drop tanks, ECM, chaff/flare launchers, additional ammo, etc etc because, in the words of Ben "We reduced the weapons on the Cutlass Red to best fit its role as an ambulance." I really want a Cutlass Red, but I don't want to pay 20 bucks to reduce the utility of my ship when I can probably get the Autodoc, big radar dish, and all the other bells and whistles fitted on a Black/Blue and then have 2 extra class 3 hardpoints to do whatever with. And it seems like extra fuel tanks for longer distances would be a really great thing to have on an ambulance.

- The handling. In a word: Garbage. Oh people like to say you "can't handle it like a fighter" (which is BS, CIG has been very adamant the Cutlass is a fighter), and it's "the first big ship, it's gonna handle differently" etc etc etc, and thats a load of crap too. Cutlass, from the very beginning has been touted as being VERY maneuverable. "The benefit of the Cutlass (something which isn’t reflected so well in the price!) is that it’s a maneuverable, hard-fighting ship", "Cutlass is supposed to be a 2-person dogfighter with unparalleled maneuverability", etc etc etc. Instead, half the thrusters don't work, and the ones that do work are pitifully underpowered.

- Top Speed. I honestly dunno who is in charge of the top speed, but they need a basic lesson in physics. Cutlass has 2 TR4 main engines. Plus the two TR3 engines under the main thrusters can assist with forward thrust. So, we have 2 TR4 + 2 TR3s pushing the Cutlass, right? And somehow it goes slower than everything else sans Aurora (even slower than a BOMBER) I've got the thrust of 2 Hornets and a Gladius + change pushing my Cutlass, and it's not that much heavier than a Hornet (roughly 50% heavier, but even 2x heavier than a Hornet should still even out) So why does it go 180 m/s again?

- Cockpit on the Blue is subjectively worse than the Black, IMO. I prefer the angled, apache like Black cockpit.



Cutlass is in an odd place right now. I'm hoping that the current AC handling is not indicative of the direction the cutlass will be taking, and that CIG is just having a "hands off" policy on the Cutlass until Foundry 42 finishes their rework of it. Which is sure to look great, but the Cutlass that I fly now is NOT the one I was promised when I bought mine. Cutlass, as is, handles more like a mini-gunship than a dogfighter.


Can you do well in a Cutlass right now? Yes, it's a decent ship if you want to act as a mobile turret. Is it the worst ship in the game? Not really, I'd rather be in a Cutlass than an Aurora or Mustang personally. But the Cutlass is in the awkward place of being shafted by the downsides of being a glass cannon, while getting very few upsides. A cargo hold is not enough of a benefit to be slower, less armed, less armored, and less maneuverable than the Cutlasses chief opponent, the Hornet, especially when it's defying physics to do so.


Just my 2 UEC, take it with a grain of salt from a flag waving member of the Cutlass Fanboy Club.

 

[WarrenPeace]

I do not currently own a Cutlass, nor do I plan on owning one until the PU. I like the design of the ship, but I just don't see myself getting another small ship like that at this point.

One usage I do foresee is as an entry level cargo hauler. Based on projected price point and available cargo space, I think this will probably offer the first stepping stone for a pilot interested in cargo hauling; the stock Black has over 4 times as much cargo space as the nearest competitor, the Avenger, and has almost as much as a stock Freelancer. This is one reason I think that pirates will actually have a good run with these, the Cutlass will be common enough with purely innocent motives that the only indicator of a pirate Cutlass would be when it hails you and tells you to open your cargo holds, or prepare to suck vacuum.

If they get the maneuverability adjusted to the advertised point, this will be an extremely competitive ship at the price point. Still, I'm probably going to hold off until the game actually launches.

 

[Zaraphandox]

I have a Red at the moment but depending on if the Endeavor Hospital variant is released before the PU, I plan on melting it down to get that.

 

[Argonot]

I'm not sure why rescue is so sexy. Is it because it is niche and new? Not so boring as armor repair in EVE I'm sure. I'm all into it anyway. Probably won't be buying one but I'd be a volunteer crew member. Plus it is such a sexy ship.

 

[Roflord]

But wasn't the cutlass already very maneuverable? IIRC turns can be extremely sharp using boost, and a quick tap of boost during turns can let you regain control in a pinch faster than you can say "mah booze is spilling!"
And regarding top speed, I believe it's like that at the game's current stage because they still wouldn't implement full inertia only having closed-map dogfighting, and the Cutlass' engines aren't made for speed anyway, they're made to keep a low signature.

 

[Huegpaynis]

I like my cutlass, and unlike squaker, I think the handling is off, but pointed at the right place for something of it's size and weight. I'd wager the thrusters are underperforming, which leads to the sluggish, boaty qualities, but you really see the maneuverability lying underneath when you hit the boosters. Suddenly, the cutlass turns on a dime and hits max speed very, very quickly.

 

[UnderSc0re]

I'm not sure why this bothers me so much, but now that I know the Red doesn't have the top turret I'm significantly less interested. It seems like something you'd still want when swooping in and saving someone to watch your back while loading in wounded. I have two extra Omegas that I'm going to CCU here soon and was thinking of making one a Cutlass.

Also wasn't it discussed that ships that come from the same base hull can equip additional hardware from other models or remove some to gain extra cargo space once PU goes live? In that case I'd rather go with a Black and buy the medical equipment separate and paint it red with the blood of those I've pirated from. From the images it looks like the long range scanner is where the turret is normally located. Will they be swappable too? So I guess it's either go with a Red and request escort for dangerous rescue missions or go Modified Black and have a ship with long range feeding you information as you swoop in and save the day then GTFO. Either way it seems the game is definitely promoting co-op which could be a good thing. We don't need 800k heroes out there trying to save the day alone.

 

[Huegpaynis]

To an extent.
Variants can swap equipment provided A) the equipment does not require a hull modification (think the different bridge windows on the constellation aquila and taurus) and B) it has a module option in that area (like the 'tali with its modular bomb bay, or in the cutlass' case, the cargo area modules.)

Odds are good you'll be able to add some holding cells or medbay stuff to a cutlass model that doesn't have them, but the Blue will have some combat upgrades the black can't get, and the red will probably have the capability for higher-end medbay stuff than the black or blue can mount. In this case, it will basically boil down to "you can kind of do what you want with any model, but if you have a variant, it'll be pretty damn good at its intended purpose, so why muck about with it?", with the base Black being more of a jack of all trades hull, able to do most anything you equip it for.

In your case, you're probably going to be better served with a black equipped with a medbay. It might not be as good at medbay stuff as the red, but it should be able to get the job done.

 

[UnderSc0re]

Yeah that's what I was thinking. I'm curious if you're right on the possibility of it being a lesser medbay because the Red was designed to include it. It makes sense since the ship is tailored for search and rescue otherwise why not just get the lesser model and upgrade as you want. I just saw it that any of the additional parts that weren't predefined hardpoints could be swappable. The example I was going by is the Aurora CL comes with that cargo container, but it was stated that other models can also get it as an aftermarket part later. On the reverse the CL can't obtain the extra hardpoints or thrusters because they aren't their from the manufacturer and just can't get them. Maybe later in the game through hardcore modding something like that could be done, but in the long run would just be better to sell the CL and get the LN.

The only real life instance that comes to mind is taking a 2002 Honda Civic LX and converting it to an EX or Si. To get an EX muffler on an LX you need to get the full EX exhaust system from the header to the muffler, but gaining little in performance. To convert it fully to an EX you need to get the engine or head and computer from an EX on top of the exhaust. To go to a Si you need k20 engine, new motor mounts, transmission from an RSX, new computer, third party software to tune it, exhaust, turbo if you want it, a couple trips to the emergency room, garage for it to sit for a while, and a few mental break downs. Good thing I stopped at the muffler and just traded my Civic for a VW GTI.

Back on topic, I guess I'll really have to think about how bad I want to be a medic versus how much I'd like to pirate. At this point it seems like the Cutlass Black may be for me and look into how much a decrease in efficiency it would be closer to PU launch if I wanted to do any search and rescue. May be best to secure a spot on one our Red Guys' ships.

 

[Czechmate]

Sadly my Cutlass blue is my only LTI ship. I could upgrade to a super hornet but I would have no cargo. Kind of hoping for cross chassis upgrade to something else in the future but until one shows up I'm stuck. I also can't melt it to upgrade because Its part of a package I purchased just before they ended LTI. The Cutlass is a decent ship. They just need to buff the armor a bit. It would probably be better if they just reclassified it as a gunship than a fighter. Pirate groups could run around with mustangs and bring in a cutlass for the heavy blows and cargo liberation.