Here we go again: Mercury vs. Cutlass vs. Terrapin

[War Pig]

Hello everyone. You may all know me as the guy who always posts these types of inquiries whenever a concept sale occurs. Here we are again but with a twist:

What I want:
Crusader Mercury Star Runner
- Datarunner (which sounds better than inforunner IMHO)
- Cargo
- Racer/Blockade runner
- Scanning ship??

Up on the chopping/upgrade block:
Drake Cutlass
- General cargo
- Small vehicle carrier
- Blockade runner
- Light Gunship

Anvil Terrapin
- Picket / Scanning / light Exploration ship
- No cargo cap but has a ramp meaning can be used to haul things
- Barely any armament but (supposedly) a "tough nut to crack"
- Stealthy due to armor-based IR masking

I feel like I could place one or the other but possibly not both. Both are part of a package which means I need to be creative so that I am not putting in anymore fresh cash (too deep already). If I upgrade the Cutlass, (not much) fresh cash will be needed. If I upgrade the Terrapin, I can get away with credits.

Putting aside the financials, which ship would you sacrifice? I feel like many will say Terrapin but I am also keeping future game mechanics in mind. Scanning may be a thing that is necessary for the type of gameplay I am considering but the lack of cargo usefulness makes the Terrapin pretty much a 1.5 trick pony. The Cutty is the classic JOATMON but may be more redundant than it needs to be in my fleet (I have a Hull B for cargo, an Avenger for combat). The Q&A will help me make my final decision but this is the lead up to that event.

-WP

 

[Zookajoe]

Here are my thoughts on it, pros and cons:

Drake vs Mercury:
Pros:
Heavier armament, six size 3's vs two size 3's and 4 size 2's. Six size 4 missile racks vs 2 size 2's.
Faster, 220 SCM vs 215 SCM, and 1,115 AFB vs 1,050 AFB
Smaller target: 29x26x10 Meters vs 40x38x11 Meters

Cons:
Smaller cargo capacity 46 vs 96 SCU
Less shielding, Single M shields vs 2 M shields
Less power, Single M powerplant vs 2 M powerplants
No data storage
Shorter range, Single M Quantum fuel tank vs 2 M Quantum fuel tanks

Both have a max crew of 3.

I feel that the Terrapin really does not compare, as each are vastly different job types. For it's role, the Terrapin is hard to beat as a single seat Scout/Exploration vessel.

 

[Montoya]

Its really a tough call to make these decisions without a game to play.

I suggest you stick with what ever you think looks prettiest and just borrow what ever you need from the TEST hangars.

 

[CMDR Prophet]

melt the cutlass for the mercury. looks cooler imho

 

[Sraika]

as much as i like the terrapin (yay turtles!), it's probably the one you're gonna want to get rid of.
on the other hand, scouting ship+data runner seems like it'd be a great combo.

 

[Mich Angel]

I would keep Cutlass and get rid of Terrapin for a Mercury easy... cause Cutlass have many functions so does Mercury bet you can have small vehicle ( Cyclone, Nox, Dragonfly..etc..) in Mercury too..
Terrapin on the other hand only have one thing you can do with it which limit your option to do different things in the verse... :D
just my two cents.. :beers:

 

[Printimus]

BUY ALL THE THINGS!

 

[War Pig]

I suggest you stick with what ever you think looks prettiest and just borrow what ever you need from the TEST hangars.

Haha. I am an OG Herald owner so that asymmetry is calling me once again! It is sooo pretty...

 

[War Pig]

BUY ALL THE THINGS!

Dude,

I am trying to maintain a somewhat healthy relationship with my GF/CFO. You're killing me.

 

[Beerjerker]

Asymmetry is Best Symmetry.
I'm doing the melt shuffle to get stocked up on upgrades to Baby Herc in my buyback. Terrapin to Mercury upgrade is only $5, so you could have a few in reserve in case you want to make your final call when the boats are in game along with their gameplay mechanics. You could do that with Cutlass too, but the upgrades would run you $100+ I think.

 

[CosmicTrader]

Stick with the ship(s) that will fulfill your game play style.

 

[Zookajoe]

Then again, the Mercury is so sexy, so alluring, so SHINY! I had to have the pixels, even though the real pixels are not in game.
So, I bought the electronic representation of the yet to be presented electronic representation of the non existent spacecraft representation.
All because, ya gotta represent!
Yoh!

 

[Printimus]

Dude,

I am trying to maintain a somewhat healthy relationship with my GF/CFO. You're killing me.

Oh I'm sorry, I thought you had joined TEST.

 

[Mastersan]

IMHO, you can't just compare ships on the face value of their stats, otherwise you'll get Javelin beating every other thing due to better shields, more armor, bigger guns, etc., which actually doesn't mean you should get nothing else but a Javelin (or a Bengal, or Vanduul Mothership, or another beer, no that counts...).

It's what you do with the ship (you can always crash your Aurora for instance). It's the gameplay that the ship offers.
Unfortunately, a lot of gameplay is just not there.

If you take a closer look at Cutlass for example, from memory, you will see a tractor beam (or extendable arm) sign on the inner side of front vertical "panels", which suggests, together with side doors, you could grab cargo frou space and throw it into your cargo bay. Maybe that's when you take down a cargo ship. But cutlass appears somewhat underpowered. Maybe there is a future mechanic that will balance it. See, we don't know.

If you look at Star Runner, it a concept and can change a couple (or 25) times. So we are comparing somewhat known to totally unknown.

Still, the most important part that is missing from your question is: what do you want to do in the game?
I.e. "which ship should I get?" >> for doing what?

If you don't know, maybe melt all and get a Constellation Aquila, which can do pretty much anything: exploration, cargo, combat, multi-crew, mini-carrier, smuggling, etc. It's medium in size, reasonably fast and nimble, well protected, so sitting right in the middle of everything.

If you want more info on Constellation, you can check this post, which I've posted a while ago:
https://testsquadron.com/threads/should-i-get-a-constellation.12001/page-2#post-219224


There are alternatives, though, which could make you even more happy than a new ship. For example, you could by more beer. Or get your GF something nice, then you will also end up being happy as a result. :grinning::beers:

 

[Shadow Reaper]

I would melt the Terrapin to buy the Mercury, and then if you like switch it back. IIUC the purchasing dynamic, by the time either of them enter game you'll be earning cash in game and can buy whatever you like. Keep what you can fly now, and keep some to buy stuff as it comes on Concept if that's what you want access to later.

 

[BUTUZ]

I upgraded from the Terrapin to the Mecury for $4 as a) it was cheap b) the terrapin just seem to have nothing really going for it c) the mercury is deffo a jack of all trades kinda ship, cargo, small vehicle transport, smuggling, data running, data espionage, scanning of sorts, exploration probably.

Terrapin is a small fat slow blob with crap armour crap shields and crap weapons.

Things maybe different for the terrapin when the game launches, but I am not waiting till 2032 to find out! :D

 

[Blind Owl]

Upgrade the Doomturtle (Terrapin) to the Mercury, keep a Cutlass, and buy a Dragonfly.

Then we can have matching fleets.

I would keep Cutlass and get rid of Terrapin for a Mercury easy... cause Cutlass have many functions so does Mercury bet you can have small vehicle ( Cyclone, Nox, Dragonfly..etc..) in Mercury too..
Terrapin on the other hand only have one thing you can do with it which limit your option to do different things in the verse... :smile:
just my two cents.. :beers:

Yeah, what he ^^ said.

 

[Black Sunder]

Put all your ships to the torch.

 

[Blind Owl]

Put all your ships to the torch.

Burn all the things?

BURN ALL THE THINGS!!!!

 

[Shadow Reaper]

Terrapin is a small fat slow blob with crap armour crap shields and crap weapons.

I saw a vid where it appeared pretty quick given the original expectation. It's actually faster than the Mercury. Definitely undergunned and no missiles.

I thought it has "double armor" so that you could go sans shields on those covert spy missions. So what's with that?