Fun Fact-Buying advise for Polaris

[NEWater]

I'm not impressed by the Polaris at all. Look at how many manned turrets it has, then realize that manned turrets aren't effective in real gameplay terms. How many of us can genuinely say we've scored good and reliable kills with manned turrets at the back of a Freelancer, or on the Connie? This ship is going to be extremely limited in its effectiveness of fending off fighters, and the torpedo bombing role has already been filled by Retaliator and Gladiator.

Suppose this Polaris can deploy a single F7C-M. A single Hornet won't be able to fend off a wing of fighters even in tandem with the Polaris, as advertised. This ship doesn't make sense to me. If mobile suits ever come to Star Citizen, then the Polaris would make a great Gundam carrier or something. Sieg Zeon.

 

[marcsand2]

1: Melt Polaris
2: Buy Game Package
3: Upgrade ship in package to Polaris for the difference between the costs of the two ships.

Seems like the safest and cheapest way to do what you're trying to. $60 for Starter combo pack w/ all that crap you mentioned, $25 of which will go towards the cost of the Polaris when you upgrade.

Unless your game package has LTI, you will lose LTI on the Polaris.

 

[marcsand2]

Look at how many manned turrets it has, then realize that manned turrets aren't effective in real gameplay terms. How many of us can genuinely say we've scored good and reliable kills with manned turrets at the back of a Freelancer, or on the Connie? This ship is going to be extremely limited in its effectiveness of fending off fighters

I totally agree with the effectiveness of a manned turret. Most players are used to dogfight instead of being a turret gunner, which means that the pilot of the Polaris must fly steady enough to allow the turret gunner to hit target and the turret gunner must pick his target depending hit opportunity. Is a fighter almost downed but also almost out of reach, pick a better target instead of trying to kill it.
Kill rate of a single turret gunner doesn't count, survival and keeping damage to a minimum of the Polaris counts and that can only be accomplished with teamwork.

Suppose this Polaris can deploy a single F7C-M. A single Hornet won't be able to fend off a wing of fighters

The single Hornet doesn't has to fend off a wing off fighters, it just has to give the Polaris enough slack to fend off all fighters together. When all fighters can concentrate their fire on a single target, then it will be a hard time for this target. When the fighters must spread their fire, then their effectiveness is lowered and the Polaris - Hornet team have a fighting chance.

 

[Blind Owl]

I totally agree with the effectiveness of a manned turret. Most players are used to dogfight instead of being a turret gunner, which means that the pilot of the Polaris must fly steady enough to allow the turret gunner to hit target and the turret gunner must pick his target depending hit opportunity. Is a fighter almost downed but also almost out of reach, pick a better target instead of trying to kill it.
Kill rate of a single turret gunner doesn't count, survival and keeping damage to a minimum of the Polaris counts and that can only be accomplished with teamwork.


The single Hornet doesn't has to fend off a wing off fighters, it just has to give the Polaris enough slack to fend off all fighters together. When all fighters can concentrate their fire on a single target, then it will be a hard time for this target. When the fighters must spread their fire, then their effectiveness is lowered and the Polaris - Hornet team have a fighting chance.

You're so wise @marcsand2

 

[marcsand2]

You're so wise @marcsand2

I see it happen all the time in Vanduul swarm, everybody tries to get as much kills as possible and in the meantime losing. Everybody focuses on the nearest target, forgetting about the closing in Vanduuls and getting overwhelmed. If you are flying a tank then you can afford this, but with lighter fighters you will get shot down.
I prefer to take on a closing in group of Vanduuls, let the other pilots take care of the closest targets while I keep the distant targets busy. It gives the other pilots enough slack to kill the Vanduuls without being swarmed.

 

[BUTUZ]

Thing is with the turrets, yes they are useless, but they're in a pre alpha state - there will be plenty of improvements with them over the next two years. You're not gonna get your Polaris for two years so give them time to make the improvements! I am expecting them to implement a cut down version of the "head bob/pidgeon head" stabilisation onto turrets to make things more effective. I said cut down, as turrets should not be 100% gyro stabilised, the pilot should still have to work hard in order to make their turret gunners more effective, i.e gentle movements, orienting the ship towards the target, etc.

BUT on the other hand I am glad I did not melt everything and get the Polaris. I wanted a big fighting ship like this to be at least slightly soloable, as it is if you are piloting it all other systems are totally useless you can't even fire one bullet without 5 players/npcs. I don't want a shoip like that I want to be able to hop in and go if I need to.

I will be happy to crew/pilot other peoples polarisis - yes that's you guys!! :D

 

[Shadow Reaper]

Yeah... You'd think for 750 dollars they'd be like of course you can play.

Even if they had done that, you need to buy a ship that is already flying in order to play with it. The Polaris will probably not fly for at least another nine months.

 

[Liquor_and_ores]

i actually don't expect it to be out until game is released

unless it gets fast tracked for SQ 42

 

[MikeNificent]

Once they get their stuff together on the turrets, these big ships will be a force to be reckoned with, as they should be imo. You can't advertise a capital ship saying it can deal with "swarms" of fighters and subsequently give it turrets that can't hit the broad side of a barn if the ship isn't moving at a constant velocity. I'm quoting myself from RSI forums regarding the effectiveness of turrets and why I believe they will change:

As someone who has spent quite a bit of time in a M2A2/3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle turret, stabilization technology is something I've experienced first hand. In the Bradley (which had already been obsolete for quite some time during my tenure) You laser range the target (re-lasing as needed to keep range current) and center your crosshairs, and as long as you squeeze the palm grips (keeping the turret drive engaged) your target will stay in the crosshairs, independent of the movement of the vehicle. To take it a step further, if you maintain a correct range by re-lasing often and keep your crosshairs on target, the computer will even lead the target for you, so all you have to do is shoot and watch targets burn. The M1 Abrams variants have it too.

The point of this fun trip through a small slice of cold war US Army technology is two fold. 1: If every industrialized country in the world had the technology and was using it before the year 2000, it is very likely that space ships almost 1,000 years newer would have been able to come up with a way to replicate the technology in their ship turrets, and 2: even though it might seem "too easy" to some, unless you can read the mind of the pilot of the ship (who is busy positioning the ship or performing evasive maneuvers in a highly fluid environment) there is no way to effectively and consistently engage targets without a targeting system independent of the movement of the ship.

Example: You're gunning in one of the tail turrets on a Starfarer. Fighters are covering your escape by engaging a group of hostiles attacking your ship. One of the hostiles is in an advantageous position to the rear of one of the friendly fighters and you have an opportunity to kill the hostile ship, saving the friendly fighter. Right as you get ready to squeeze the trigger, the Starfarer pilot turns to avoid a collision or position for a jump. Without turret stab: the slight turn moves your turret enough so your first burst is thrown off target, penetrating the already weakened shields of the friendly fighter, destroying the ship and freeing up the hostile to focus on your ship. With turret stab: slight changes in movement of the ship are transparent to the turret gunner. Bursts are on target and the hostile fighter is destroyed or at least distracted long enough for the friendly fighter to change position and continue to cover your movement.

Anyway, rant over. I just hope this gets implemented. It will make being a gunner on a big ship more fun imho :)

 

[BUTUZ]

It's like having a rant about how poor FPS is right now - we know it is being worked on and improved. Turret stabilisation will be improved too it's just not a high priority and once it is fixed, it will totally destroy the current ship to ship balance so I can see why they are leaving it for now.

 

[GojiraSamurai]

So, if you want to buy the Polaris, say for example, buy one after melting ships. You lose your Star Citizen playing ability. Yeah. I traded in everything to get it. Which I learned was mistake. I cannot play Star Citizen. When you look what it comes with, Star Citizen access is not included.. soo.... RIP

you traded everything to get a ship that is not even hangar ready, so i ask, even if you did have the game available, what did you expect to Fly?

 

[LumpySkin]

Gojira, nicely said. +42

 

[Blind Owl]

@Hero9012, check your PM. I would be willing to sell this to you. Has game packages for both SC and SQ42. You helped me out before, so tit-for-tat, ;)

 

[marcsand2]

you traded everything to get a ship that is not even hangar ready, so i ask, even if you did have the game available, what did you expect to Fly?

You get a flight ready loaner, maybe an Andromeda or something similar.