I watch the videos to see the stuff Montoya keeps in the background.
Eclipse sale now on through June 2nd
- Thread starter Montoya
- Start date
Oh, it's a little more complex than that. I'm tailoring my fleet to loan out AND to have that fleet be made of the ships that people would be missing. Everyone has a fighter and maybe a good utility ship, but not everyone has those cool industrial ships. I am also going the distance to set up jobs for TESTies and get them to earn credits.
My goal is to take that idea that Montoya presented to the Star Citizen community, the one that TEST Squadron is a group of people who get together and do things to have fun, and run with it. TESTies will want to do things, but right now they may be limited on what they have access to. I want to eliminate that limit so that any TESTie can do anything. Want to do a fuel run? Need a Gemini? I got your back. Want to try out mining? Grab the Orion. Need to science something today? Come aboard the Endeavor.
Obviously, I'm going to gate some access to some of my ships. Trust is a big thing in communities, but I trust that people who are put into leadership positions in TEST are trustworthy enough to take my ships and return them safely. I will also be on a lot, and I have much experience in tracking inventory, so it's not like I'll never know where any of my ships are.
With bombers like the Eclipse and fighters like the Sabre, I can feel safe knowing that the ships I loan out can be escorted safely. I want people who can only afford Auroras to feel welcome and come on board to help earn them the credits they need to buy the ship that they want the most. I don't want them to feel like they can't do something just because they don't have a big awesome ship yet. If they want a Starfarer, I want them to utilize my Starfarer and become excellent captains so that one day when they get a Starfarer of their own, they will be an expert with that ship.
Due to wear and tear on ships and fuel costs, I will have to charge for loaning, though the idea is to just pay for the running costs and maintenance of the ship. I'm not charging to make money, I'm charging to make it so that my ship won't be run down to the point where no one can use it. Then no one would benefit from my ships. I want it as close to a 0% profit as I can get so that TESTies can keep the credits that they earn. It's for them. If the ship gets destroyed, crashes, explodes, boarded, whatever, that's what insurance is for. I think I'l be fine.
Some ships will be reserved for IRS, as that is our pirate squadron. Montoya really liked that Idris with the pirate skin, so I'm going to make him proud and paint my Idris up like that and proudly be the awesome pirates that we need in the verse. I feel like some attack oriented ships are better suited for our pirate operations anyways. It's not like we'll need to take the Endeavor into a pirate raid all of the time, but maybe the Polaris or Idris P would be better suited to hit and run patrols.
I think this bomber would be an excellent ship to scare some people into dropping their loot or providing a nice salvage field for my Reclaimer to come in and clean up :D
You've put quite a bit of thought into this I see. Again, kudos.
I'll be right there beside you for many of the IRS antics. In my yet undecided ships of reallocation. Or in yours. Haha.
I've been thinking.......
The Eclipse will make a GREAT Pirate ship.
Don't you think?
The Eclipse will make a GREAT Pirate ship.
Don't you think?
AntiSqueaker
Space Marshal
I can see it going either way tbh.
Pro: Nigh unparalleled scouting and first strike ability. Maybe a Sabre kitted out to the gills with above average stealth gear could beat it, but that's a big maybe. This thing is built from the ground up to be a fucking shadow.
Pro: 3 S9 surprise torpedoes will cripple a lot of big ships. Hypothetical EMP torpedoes could cripple a whole fleet long enough to get the rest of your gang in there and engaged.
Con: Holy glass cannon batman. If you get tackled by anything, I mean anything you are completely fucked unless the other pilot is an idiot. Assuming you gimbal the guns you have equal firepower to a Dragonfly. Actually, the Dragonfly can have more firepower because it can have someone on the back with a missile launcher or railgun! You can also bet this thing is not very heavily armored or shielded to boot for balance reasons.
Con: 1 trick pony. It's stealthy and launches torpedoes. It can't really lock down fleeing targets, is wholly useless for cargo hauling. Very tactically inflexible. You pretty much drop your fish and GTFO.
Con: Stealth opposed to group. We don't really have any long range scanners in SC or detailed stealth mechanics, so this is a bit of advanced theorycrafting. But for a pirate mission you need backup, especially in a one trick pony like the Eclipse. You will need some gunships, fighters, boarders, cargo ships, whatever. If they are wholly unstealthy (ie hot rod Buccaneer or Cutlass, or giant unstealthy box Caterpillar) then your backup may be too far away to get to you in time in case shit hits the fan, and you could lose a very expensive ship if you get caught.
As opposed to the Gladiator, which is:
-Cheaper, and more likely easier to repair (SUPER ADVANCED STEALTH PARTS vs off the wall Anvil parts)
-Heavier armor, shields, and gun firepower (2 S3 fixed/S2 gimbaled chin cannons + 2 S2 guns in rear turret)
-More tactically flexible (Gladiator has 4 S3 missile pylons in addition to the 4 S5 torpedoes it carries, which can fit S3 torpedoes, anti-fighter missiles, ECM pods, chaff/flares, etc etc)
I think it's an even toss-up to be honest. If I knew I was going into a fight, I would feel more comfortable in a Gladiator to be honest, but I can definitely see the Eclipse being used for that role as well.
Grimm_Reaper
Space Marshal
The Eclipse will be the first ship in game to employ the new stealth mechanics when it comes online. At the moment it carries three S9 torpedoes which is the second highest payload delivery after the polaris S10.
In terms of survivability and success of this ship, everything hinges on its stealth capability. Make it OP undetectable till about 1 Km and people with around 70m sized multi crew ships will cry as approximately 2 of these torps can nuke the ship before any counter measure can be mounted.
If stealth nerfed and on the other hand people can detect this ship at a S9 targeting range of around 16Km to not only be able to shoot down the torps but take down the ship then its utterly useless and a complete waste of money.
In every game cloaking and stealth technology brings the biggest e-tears. This is going to be the hardest thing CIG has ever balanced and going from their current record of ship balances, theres a good chance that they will fail at this ship miserably.
I took this into account and if the ship fails I'm going to melt it for the Origin 600 as I expect this ship to be out in 3.0
In terms of survivability and success of this ship, everything hinges on its stealth capability. Make it OP undetectable till about 1 Km and people with around 70m sized multi crew ships will cry as approximately 2 of these torps can nuke the ship before any counter measure can be mounted.
If stealth nerfed and on the other hand people can detect this ship at a S9 targeting range of around 16Km to not only be able to shoot down the torps but take down the ship then its utterly useless and a complete waste of money.
In every game cloaking and stealth technology brings the biggest e-tears. This is going to be the hardest thing CIG has ever balanced and going from their current record of ship balances, theres a good chance that they will fail at this ship miserably.
I took this into account and if the ship fails I'm going to melt it for the Origin 600 as I expect this ship to be out in 3.0
Depends on what you need it to do. If the objective is destroy, then yes. Defeat responding UEE patrols for more security for our piracy, destroy unwanted competition, or quickly exterminate escorts.
What it is not good at is carrying cargo or doing anything after the payload is launched.
Bring beer and song. I want to work my way into management so I'll need lots of people to help manage things. Maybe not upper management, but I plan on helping AntiSqueaker and our leaders assemble things quickly. We'll need guns, ammo, and fuel, so I'll likely be collecting that for the main raids. I'm not the best but I'm usually in the top 3rd. I'm a jack of trades and pretty good at figuring out NPCs, which will give us the upper hand in some cheap resources :)
I've got us an Idris we can use to carry 3. We'll have plenty of time to figure out what we need and which fighters and bombers we'll want.
I'm also working on a Hull D so we can steal everything feom any Hull D we find by transferring the boxes :)
AntiSqueaker
Space Marshal
YOU HAVE MY AX- I MEAN CUTLASS!
Assuming we can fit the Eclipse in an Idris I suppose, I don't think it's been confirmed one way or another.
But AntiSqueaker, you're my leader. I'm just the Tank with the tools. The Idris is for our pirate plans, so whatever you come up with for the ship will be things we do.
I'm ready to rock as a pirate as I have every Drake ship. I wanted all of the variants too but there's no way I'll get 10 RP for the pink dragonfly, ha.
We'll find out who is taking all the good mining spots from the Rock Raiders and then go bomb the Xi'an out of them.
Think about the team capabilities. Right now if you want to engage a group in PU, you must rely on sheer firepower or EMP. If you add some surprise missiles or scouting, the eclipse can come in very practical
OOOOOooooOOOoOo, you're talking all sexy now. Rawr.
This is why I'm wearing two hats. RR and IRS. For interagency cooperation.
We'll definitely ask you when the Rock Raiders get caught between a rock and a hard place, ha.
Haha, yeah you will. You'll hear from me directly actually. ;)
I didnt get the bomber but i did add another 45 to my account to bridge the gap to a harbinger ccu i had sitting around. Feeling good about this choice.