Excited for the Ares?

[Montoya]

Latest images from the ISC this week:

I cant imagine there is too much to do. There is no interior other than the cockpit and all they need to do is stick a big gun on the side!

This is going to be an awesome fighter!

 

[Bambooza]

I am excited. Just not sure what I will target with it.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

I think when players see the rotation and acceleration numbers they're going to be disappointed. I suspect they'll be about the same as the Connie--no good for dogfighting. However, for its intended role of attacking cap ships it will indeed be an awesome ship. For once I'm onboard with the laser version rather than ballistics, since attacking cap ships can be a very long battle where you'd run out of ammo, and because the Ion has a third shield generator (as well as a second powerplant and third cooler). If you put an FR-76 and a pair of Sukoran in the Ion, it could concievably stay in constant combat for hours. That is a LOT of damage dealt. Just I doubt it can hit much smaller than a Connie.

 

[Montoya]

Shooting large ships from 8km away does not require much rotation and acceleration!

 

[Bambooza]

I think when players see the rotation and acceleration numbers they're going to be disappointed. I suspect they'll be about the same as the Connie--no good for dogfighting. However, for its intended role of attacking cap ships it will indeed be an awesome ship. For once I'm onboard with the laser version rather than ballistics, since attacking cap ships can be a very long battle where you'd run out of ammo, and because the Ion has a third shield generator (as well as a second powerplant and third cooler). If you put an FR-76 and a pair of Sukoran in the Ion, it could concievably stay in constant combat for hours. That is a LOT of damage dealt. Just I doubt it can hit much smaller than a Connie.

Ya I agree with you its not going to be a dog fighter but it should great at ripping into Hercules and Caterpillars.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

I think it will be great for ripping into Vanduul Kingships! I can't think of a better cap ship attack platform, as they're going to be very hard to hit from distance. The current stats for the Behring M9A laser cannon are 4583 dps, and even if that changes, this is a ship meant for just one thing, and one thing only. We should expect it will be better at it than any other option.

 

[Cugino83]

I think when players see the rotation and acceleration numbers they're going to be disappointed. I suspect they'll be about the same as the Connie--no good for dogfighting. However, for its intended role of attacking cap ships it will indeed be an awesome ship. For once I'm onboard with the laser version rather than ballistics, since attacking cap ships can be a very long battle where you'd run out of ammo, and because the Ion has a third shield generator (as well as a second powerplant and third cooler). If you put an FR-76 and a pair of Sukoran in the Ion, it could concievably stay in constant combat for hours. That is a LOT of damage dealt. Just I doubt it can hit much smaller than a Connie.

Consiering how disappointed is the playerbase with the actual Crusader ship agility, for both the MSR and the Hercules no, they won't.
The MSR already have a manuvrability that is more in line with an Avenger then with a Conny for example.
Very likely Ares' agility will be a compromise beteween the Eclipse and the MSR, not a dogfigher but a fairly agile ship.

Concerning accuracy you can already hit a Buccaneer at 6km with a M7A with not much of an issue.... I don't see much of a problem hitting a Cuttlass at 8-10Km... at least with the ION variant, for the Infermo range will be much shorter but I'll still expect around 4-5Km

 

[Shadow Reaper]

Concerning accuracy you can already hit a Buccaneer at 6km with a M7A with not much of an issue....

Yes but keep in mind the issue is not can you hit a distant target, but how often can you hit a distant target. An Ion with an FR-76 and two Sukoran has a shield refresh of 1,148/s and a total shield strength of 101,713 pts, and the shield blocks all incoming ballistic damage, so there's no way to bypass the shields. To even injure the ship you need to hit way above 1,200/s for a LONG TIME, whereas a Bucky is out in a just a few shots.

Imagine an Ion pairing off against a UEE or Vanduul turret with a pair of S5 guns. Be they UEE Galdereens doing 1,980 dps, or Vanduul Neutrons doing 1,992 dps, they would need to hit every round for 2 minutes before they would start to do damage to the Ion. Fat bloody chance of that.

Big difference. The Ion is going to be a formidable opponent.

 

[Montoya]

I don't see much of a problem hitting a Cuttlass at 8-10Km... at least with the ION variant,

Thats really the only purpose the Ares Ion will have, so they better give it good range otherwise there ships like the Saber that can do the job just as well.

 

[Talonsbane]

Yes but keep in mind the issue is not can you hit a distant target, but how often can you hit a distant target. An Ion with an FR-76 and two Sukoran has a shield refresh of 1,148/s and a total shield strength of 101,713 pts, and the shield blocks all incoming ballistic damage, so there's no way to bypass the shields. To even injure the ship you need to hit way above 1,200/s for a LONG TIME, whereas a Bucky is out in a just a few shots.

Imagine an Ion pairing off against a UEE or Vanduul turret with a pair of S5 guns. Be they UEE Galdereens doing 1,980 dps, or Vanduul Neutrons doing 1,992 dps, they would need to hit every round for 2 minutes before they would start to do damage to the Ion. Fat bloody chance of that.

Big difference. The Ion is going to be a formidable opponent.

If your ION is able to position itself close to or partially behind an asteroid from its target before it begins to snipe them, then that will make the target have an even greater amount of difficulty eliminating the ION before it is popped instead. Cheers!

 

[Lorddarthvik]

Love the design, not sure about the rest. Gotta see how it actually handles first.

Tbh, I feel like every ship is way too agile for its size. Nerfing the rotation speed on all of em to different degrees would make for a lot more interesting choices. Currently it's way to easy to point the nose of any ship smaller than a beerfarer at any other ship that's more then an arms length away...

Also, do we know if G force calculations on the pilot take into account the force generated by being away from the center of rotation?
Like look at a caterpillar: the ship basically rotates around its aft section, standing in the front container while it's rotating at full tilt looks like the acceleration should flatten you to the walls, but obviously it doesn't. Will this ever be a factor?

 

[Shadow Reaper]

If your ION is able to position itself close to or partially behind an asteroid from its target before it begins to snipe them, then that will make the target have an even greater amount of difficulty eliminating the ION before it is popped instead. Cheers!

Yes. The moment you introduce a "duty cycle" of any kind, the Ion suddenly towers. With such a high refresh rate, so long as it can retreat out of a fire arc or damage zone in any way, it can fight indefinitely.

 

[Montoya]

If your ION is able to position itself close to or partially behind an asteroid from its target before it begins to snipe them, then that will make the target have an even greater amount of difficulty eliminating the ION before it is popped instead. Cheers!

Hide behind your Javelin escort for additional fun.

 

[BUTUZ]

I used to be a total MISC fanboy but Crusader has really swept me off my f[l]eet. I love my Starrunner, I love love my Hercules, and all I really need is a smaller fighter to go along with those two.

I went with captain BRRRRRRRRT aries as I figured it would be easier to hit smaller to medium targets with the brrt guns than the super slow lasers. I mean size 7 brrt guns are gonna rip.

That being said it looks very much like a squished compacted Starrunner at the mo, I wanted a bit of ....i dunno.....difference?

 

[vahadar]

BbbbbrrrrrrRrrrrRRRrrrrrrt...

Out of ammo

 

[BUTUZ]

BbbbbrrrrrrRrrrrRRRrrrrrrt...

Out of ammo

I agree sir. But don't worry, I can simply rearm at port olisar whilst you respawn in kechler yellow suit appreciation facility ;)

 

[Aramsolari]

I think the Ares has more ammo than people think. Doesn’t it have one shield less than the Ion? Trade off for having ammo and the inherent advantages of ballistic weaponry over energy.

 

[Cugino83]

I think the Ares has more ammo than people think. Doesn’t it have one shield less than the Ion? Trade off for having ammo and the inherent advantages of ballistic weaponry over energy.

Hmm that will likely, and hopefully, depend on the fire rate.
GT-220 for example has 4000 round and a fire rate of 1000rpm, the Ravenant has a 5000 ammo count but a fire rate of 1300 rpm.... so basically little to no difference in how long the ammo will last.
Considering that the S7 is suppose to have much bigger projectile, I'll expect something that still sit around 4-5000 ammo, not much more, after all this is suppose to be a countercapital ship, so unlikely to be out in the void alone.

 

[Talonsbane]

Hide behind your Javelin escort for additional fun.

If possible, hide behind a Hammerhead & shoot the target on the other side through the gap.

 

[Blind Owl]

Brrrrrrrrrt and pew pew.

That is all.