Planning to update this Saturday with more info and stat pics. This is first pass.
Trying something new here to see if it'll work. Right now we have a good set of ships that are flyable. We have others that are in the Hangar and almost ready to go while we have even more in concept or design. All of these ships have vital roles in our org's rise to the top but today lets talk about one of the most anticipated aspects of Star Citizen and how it relates to ships and our own success. That is exploration.
Currently there are 7 ships designated as exploration focused and they are the Aurora ES and LX, Mustang Beta, 315P, Freelancer DUR, Constellation Aquila and the Carrack. I want to focus on the top 4 here as the most likely candidates we will use to explore the galaxy. The reason I disregard the first 3 is because I believe the 315P beats them all in capability just out of the box.
My thoughts on the ships:
315P - This ship only seats 1 TEST pilot but that’s all we need. I believe the 315P will turn into a cheap disposable ship to 'thread the needle' as it were when we find a jump point before the larger ships try navigating them. the 315P will also make a good ship to send on solo assignments around the area we are currently focusing on and outfitted with different equipment each a team of these may be able to swarm an area to get a soft initial read. Overall it will be a ship the solo person can use at any time and not have much to lose regardless of upgrades that have been added to it. I also see the 315P being good for asteroid field survey work due to size and maneuverability.
Freelancer DUR - A large step up from the 315P. The DUR(lol) allows 2 people to hop in and start exploring. Features an expanded fuel tank for long range flights and some actual cargo space. Though it doesn't have the tractor beam the of the 315p it can compensate in having stronger shields and weapons making it less vulnerable. The DUR's increased size will allow for more customization options leading to a better explorer over the 315P. I see the DUR being the concrete foundation of any exploration scout force we send out primarily because of manpower and cost. The DUR will be cheap enough that a loss won't be too big but has enough scanning power to find some interesting things for the Aquila and Carrack to take a closer look.
Constellation Aquila - Much larger, more weapons, better shield and better equipment the Aquila will serve us well. I see the Aquila as being a something of a command and control ship for an exploration scout force. The Aquila is certainly capable as an explorer no doubt but they will almost certainly be fewer in number in most ops as opposed to 315Ps and DURs. Again this comes down to cost and manpower. If a 315P or DUR finds something but can't lock onto it then it would be natural for the Aquila to step up to take that on while the other ship is reassigned to another area to find more things. The ship itself will be the first exploration ship with a large crew and will be useful for training in other more specialized crew positions. The Aquila seems to occupy this awkward spot between a lower end but certainly capable exploration ship(DUR) and an even more advanced and fully dedicated exploration ship(Carrack) which is why I would label it as a command ship for an exploration force while remaining more capable than a DUR in some situations.
Carrack - The big daddy explorer. The silent cartographer that makes engine noise. The final level. The most advanced explorer at our disposal and will be used on the largest ops to sweep entire swaths of space to discover what we want. The Carrack will function as our most specialized explorer capable of handling anything from large to small. Physically large it will have the most upgrade potential of any exploration ship. The spec page states a dedicated computer for jump charting which may make the Carrack the go-to for charting the most complex jump points. The Carrack also features a dedicated mapping sensor suite making it a great candidate for asteroid field mapping along with any number of other points of interest. Manpower I see is the only large drawback at 5 crew members it may just be better to take a Carrack over an Aquila every time but that is a question to be answered in game. This will probably be THE primary ship to be on when we explore what we want to call our home base.
So there we have it, the top 4 exploration ships. Exploration will play a critical role in any endeavor we attempt in Star Citizen. No doubt there are just as many riches waiting to be found as there were in Eve Online exploration. For those of you unfamiliar with Eve, exploration was the only way to acquire the higher tier modules you could fit to your ship by looting destroyed officer and named npc pirate wrecks. It was also the only want to acquire other higher tier items and essential industry items for invention and Tech 2 manufacturing. If we want to acquire the same sort of things on the fringe as Chris has hinted at being exclusive to the uncharted and lawless space then we'll need these ships front and center.
Discuss away. What do YOU think will be the most useful exploration ship? What roles do you see each fulfilling? I'm going to try and do something like this once a week, theorycraft a bit(not as good as NKato unfortunately) and see what everyone thinks so we can be better prepared for the verse and our eventual rise to greatness.
Trying something new here to see if it'll work. Right now we have a good set of ships that are flyable. We have others that are in the Hangar and almost ready to go while we have even more in concept or design. All of these ships have vital roles in our org's rise to the top but today lets talk about one of the most anticipated aspects of Star Citizen and how it relates to ships and our own success. That is exploration.
Currently there are 7 ships designated as exploration focused and they are the Aurora ES and LX, Mustang Beta, 315P, Freelancer DUR, Constellation Aquila and the Carrack. I want to focus on the top 4 here as the most likely candidates we will use to explore the galaxy. The reason I disregard the first 3 is because I believe the 315P beats them all in capability just out of the box.
My thoughts on the ships:
315P - This ship only seats 1 TEST pilot but that’s all we need. I believe the 315P will turn into a cheap disposable ship to 'thread the needle' as it were when we find a jump point before the larger ships try navigating them. the 315P will also make a good ship to send on solo assignments around the area we are currently focusing on and outfitted with different equipment each a team of these may be able to swarm an area to get a soft initial read. Overall it will be a ship the solo person can use at any time and not have much to lose regardless of upgrades that have been added to it. I also see the 315P being good for asteroid field survey work due to size and maneuverability.
Freelancer DUR - A large step up from the 315P. The DUR(lol) allows 2 people to hop in and start exploring. Features an expanded fuel tank for long range flights and some actual cargo space. Though it doesn't have the tractor beam the of the 315p it can compensate in having stronger shields and weapons making it less vulnerable. The DUR's increased size will allow for more customization options leading to a better explorer over the 315P. I see the DUR being the concrete foundation of any exploration scout force we send out primarily because of manpower and cost. The DUR will be cheap enough that a loss won't be too big but has enough scanning power to find some interesting things for the Aquila and Carrack to take a closer look.
Constellation Aquila - Much larger, more weapons, better shield and better equipment the Aquila will serve us well. I see the Aquila as being a something of a command and control ship for an exploration scout force. The Aquila is certainly capable as an explorer no doubt but they will almost certainly be fewer in number in most ops as opposed to 315Ps and DURs. Again this comes down to cost and manpower. If a 315P or DUR finds something but can't lock onto it then it would be natural for the Aquila to step up to take that on while the other ship is reassigned to another area to find more things. The ship itself will be the first exploration ship with a large crew and will be useful for training in other more specialized crew positions. The Aquila seems to occupy this awkward spot between a lower end but certainly capable exploration ship(DUR) and an even more advanced and fully dedicated exploration ship(Carrack) which is why I would label it as a command ship for an exploration force while remaining more capable than a DUR in some situations.
Carrack - The big daddy explorer. The silent cartographer that makes engine noise. The final level. The most advanced explorer at our disposal and will be used on the largest ops to sweep entire swaths of space to discover what we want. The Carrack will function as our most specialized explorer capable of handling anything from large to small. Physically large it will have the most upgrade potential of any exploration ship. The spec page states a dedicated computer for jump charting which may make the Carrack the go-to for charting the most complex jump points. The Carrack also features a dedicated mapping sensor suite making it a great candidate for asteroid field mapping along with any number of other points of interest. Manpower I see is the only large drawback at 5 crew members it may just be better to take a Carrack over an Aquila every time but that is a question to be answered in game. This will probably be THE primary ship to be on when we explore what we want to call our home base.
So there we have it, the top 4 exploration ships. Exploration will play a critical role in any endeavor we attempt in Star Citizen. No doubt there are just as many riches waiting to be found as there were in Eve Online exploration. For those of you unfamiliar with Eve, exploration was the only way to acquire the higher tier modules you could fit to your ship by looting destroyed officer and named npc pirate wrecks. It was also the only want to acquire other higher tier items and essential industry items for invention and Tech 2 manufacturing. If we want to acquire the same sort of things on the fringe as Chris has hinted at being exclusive to the uncharted and lawless space then we'll need these ships front and center.
Discuss away. What do YOU think will be the most useful exploration ship? What roles do you see each fulfilling? I'm going to try and do something like this once a week, theorycraft a bit(not as good as NKato unfortunately) and see what everyone thinks so we can be better prepared for the verse and our eventual rise to greatness.
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