Medium-sized ships discussion

[Dirtbag_Leader]

Hey Testers, seeking a bit of open discussion and opinions here. I'm trying to plan out my ultimate Polaris upgrade path and well, I've bogged myself down as to which of the medium sized ships I want to keep in the fleet vs. which can be can be sacrificed for the Polaris. Here's my current thoughts so far:

- With the well-known CIG rate of progress and changes, I don't want to worry much about final 'released' game what-ifs; I prefer to focus on playing the game for what it is right now, plus *maybe* what's at least visible on the roadmap. (So I have some time before really bothering with applying that Polaris CCU!)
- Most my gaming sessions tend to be with a smallish group, maybe 2-4 people, hence my keen interest in the medium sized ships.
- (Any) Vanguard is my daily driver, for 1-2 people I can't imagine being stuck in the Verse without one!
- I wish they'd 'finish' it, but I'm still deeply in love with my Phoenix. Though a bit dev-neglected, the forward firepower, decent turrets, planetary landing, mid-sized cargo, rover, and P-72 parasite. Such a great multi-role for 2-3 people when you're not sure what the heck you want to do that session.
- Cutlass is similarly versatile, but recently I've been thinking I don't really *need* it there between the Vanguard (better solo) and the Connie (better crewed). Then again, it was such a clutch ship during Xenothreat. . .
- Tali torps is fun, but diminished by no pilot guns and if the longer plan is a Polaris, maybe no that useful? While you can solo a Tali, it kinda sucks that way. That's what a Harbinger is for, right?
- MSR seems so good on paper, but I'm having a hard time loving mine. Damn slow doors, finicky lights, takes a while to get in/out of, and I'll admit I have a hard time with landing/terrain since the darn this is actually so much bigger than it feels. And the weapons are kinda meh. I totally expected to like it much more than the Connie, but so far, I'm not.
- MIS is sorta the opposite, I WANT to hate it (cause Freelancers are dumb looking with shit-for-visibility), but damn if it ain't useful! Pilot guns and missiles are great, but on the other hand cargo is small enough I hardly ever use it for that and the rear turret firing arc sucks so really only a solo ship, again bringing me back to finding the Warden 'better' for solo non-cargo stuff.
- Herc/Cat/Hulls are not really for me as I don't really like to *just* haul cargo. Too much risk for any real reward, so I'd probably rather just mine.
- Redeemer is on the roadmap now, and sure SEEMS like it'll be fun for 3ish people to go do a lot of pew-pew!
- BMM seems like an awesome ship but still rather cargo-centric for me, however holds more appeal than the Herc/Cat/Hull options. Probably best used as CCU upgrade paths once the price increases though! Guessing it'll be tough to run with only 2-3 people.
- Endeavor: who the fuck knows at this point! Too far out with too little gameplay ATM to worry about much yet.
- Carrack is Life! Soloable, great with 2-4, can even haul some cargo if/when I want, and can get it in the air faster than my MSR. This one I'll keep forever for sure; like the Vanguard it's hard for me to imagine having much fun in the Verse without it!

So there's my rambling thoughts recently whilst I've tried to figure out what to squeeze out to fit in a Polaris. Relevant or irrelevant additional thoughts and speculations welcome! Fly safe out there!

 

[Shadow Reaper]

You didn't say what you intend to do, but from what you did say it sounds like you can keep the Carrack and Vanguard and be happy with just those two ships.

I would recommend you pick up a Razor EX. Put it in the Carrack bay and go to space. Cut the wings off and see how well it flies in space with no wings. If it does not lose any mobility, then that is probably your best spotting scout for the Polaris and you can begin to train in that for how you'll point the big S10 torps. Just I would not suggest flying a wingless Razor in atmo.

As per stealth recon scouts, in order to keep a subject lit for the Polaris, you need to keep a small ship within about 50 km. The big ships emit more EM than IR, and often way over 100k. Conversely, the little Razor should only be putting out about 6k IR, and can't bee seen by Cap radar past 9km. You want a ship that is fast enough to dodge Vanduul fighters while staying in the 9-50km range of the ship you're lighting for the Polaris.

If you cut the wings off the Razor you should be astonished how many will fit in the Carrack bay, and the Polaris bay later on. Let us know how that works out if you try it.

That's all as per your direction with the Polaris. If you're looking at future medium ships, I would keep an eye out for the Vulcan as that's the perfect fit for the Vanguards.

 

[Dirtbag_Leader]

Yeah I intentionally left roles a bit vague since I'm a jack-of-all-trades type guy; I kinda want to be able to dabble in whatever I feel like and not focusing on any specific specialized role. Xenothreat was by FAR the most fun I've had in the Verse, mostly because it involved a bit of everything. Flying, dogfighting, FPS, and then capital fighting. Man that was fun! Hope it comes back again soon. . .
But yes if I had to choose favorites, Carrack and Vanguard would be at the top of the list, Phoenix probably second. From there is where it starts to get more nebulous (pun intended!) though! ;D

 

[atpbx]

Too much rambling for me to plough through, because like a lot of people you are thinking about this far too much.

Pick your absolute favourite ship, your dream ship that you simply have to have, secure that, put it to one side then dont over think things after that.

I found the easiest way to sort my fleet was to do that, and then liquidate everything else and then just get stuff I just….like.

So I ended up this, as opposed to worrying about min maxing, bang for buck and getting ships I dont really want because of it and ending up with stuff I will never use, its the most satisfied I have I been with my fleet, ever.

(My dream ship was the Carrack, everything else I have simply because I like it)

 

[Dirtbag_Leader]

everything else I have simply because I like it

I'm all for this approach. Let me ask you then though, what is it about the Crusader ships that make you like them enough to have them in your fleet?

 

[Blind Owl]

I'm all for this approach. Let me ask you then though, what is it about the Crusader ships that make you like them enough to have them in your fleet?

That is a personal preferenceb thing. I started likes MISC. Then Drake. Now it's all about Crusader.

It's about aesthetic. What do YOU like. All the ships . . .hear me, ALL the ships, will be getting a balance pass before launch. Thanks @Stevetank for this insight.

Pick what YOU like.

 

[atpbx]

I'm all for this approach. Let me ask you then though, what is it about the Crusader ships that make you like them enough to have them in your fleet?

I like the Hercules series, had a soft spot for them right since the concept, but I was always hung up about how expensive they were, and I could get more and better ships for the money, then I did what I said in the previous post, just fucked everything off apart from my $495 explorer pack and got stuff I just liked the look of or thought was was cool.

The Star Runner is a cool little ship, looks funky, its not a flying tube or box.

 

[Ayeteeone]

You asked for opinions.. probably a dangerous thing to do here :)

I'm going to second what @Blind Owl said, and third @Stevetank 's insight. Nothing is now, as it will be in the long run.

Personally, I hit a wall regarding anything ships. I have a core collection of career ships to cover some of the more unique game mechanics; unless and until something obviously better is announced, those will stay. What I want MOST out of gameplay is exploration and scanning, neither of which are beyond their infancy in development. So in that core group is an Explorer Pack, and I watch closely the development of this topic to see if something better/different/unique is presented.

Case in point, Friday's SCL where they talked about scanning anywhere in the solar system using probes. The concept as they discussed it sounded very much like EvE Online's system, but no details were offered as to how it would work, what ships could do it, what equipment would be involved...

In short, I'm waiting. At some point (claimed to be when we go to Beta) all of us will have to lock down the donated funds into a fleet of some kind, with everything else coming in game. Dunno if that will actually work out that way, but until we are close to that.. play with what looks interesting. Use the cash to try the different systems as they come online, and hold the hard decision until you have to.

Ayeteeone out.

 

[Bambooza]

Your right fridays SCL prob discussion was very much what Eve did, and I am not sure what ships would be capable of doing it.

 

[Thalstan]

Okay,

Find the ships you will make money with in every stage of the game lifecycle.

Starting out, you will need at least one ship that can make you money with only the little UEC you start out with. This is the ship that will be your jumping off point, that you an make money with even if you are broke, but have a little bit of fuel in the tanks. This can be done with ships from the Aurora to the Constellation/MSR range in size, but probably hits the sweet-spot right around the Cutlass-Freelancer MAX range . I would not recommend anything bigger than the MSR for your starting ship at this point.

It could be a:
Mining ship
Trading ship
Salvage ship
Courier ship
Event a combat ship - beware, if you are not very good at combat, you might be stuck doing lower level stuff for some time.

This is the ship (or two) that will let you earn all your upgrades, and give you enough UEC to purchase your next ship (in game) or give you enough capital to use the next ship (if you already purchased that next ship with real money), so make sure the income it can generate can grow over time as you invest in the ship.

Capital combat ships may very well be money sinks. They have already said that they expect any "wars" between orgs to be fairly short because it will be very draining on the resources for that org. Thus, if you want a Polaris, expect to spend a lot of time in other ships gathering resources to fuel and arm that Polaris.

So my advice is to find something you like to do to make money, and get the ships that support that. HOWEVER, I would not expect bounty hunting to remain and lucrative as it currently is. Eventually, they will get the server load right and you won't be able to do hammerhead missions solo anymore. I would also expect all professions to be balanced around how much time, effort, and risk there is to doing them. So what is meta today, probably won't be the meta at release, which won't the be the meta a year after release.

 

[Bambooza]

Okay,

Find the ships you will make money with in every stage of the game lifecycle.

Starting out, you will need at least one ship that can make you money with only the little UEC you start out with. This is the ship that will be your jumping off point, that you an make money with even if you are broke, but have a little bit of fuel in the tanks. This can be done with ships from the Aurora to the Constellation/MSR range in size, but probably hits the sweet-spot right around the Cutlass-Freelancer MAX range . I would not recommend anything bigger than the MSR for your starting ship at this point.

It could be a:
Mining ship
Trading ship
Salvage ship
Courier ship
Event a combat ship - beware, if you are not very good at combat, you might be stuck doing lower level stuff for some time.

This is the ship (or two) that will let you earn all your upgrades, and give you enough UEC to purchase your next ship (in game) or give you enough capital to use the next ship (if you already purchased that next ship with real money), so make sure the income it can generate can grow over time as you invest in the ship.

Capital combat ships may very well be money sinks. They have already said that they expect any "wars" between orgs to be fairly short because it will be very draining on the resources for that org. Thus, if you want a Polaris, expect to spend a lot of time in other ships gathering resources to fuel and arm that Polaris.

So my advice is to find something you like to do to make money, and get the ships that support that. HOWEVER, I would not expect bounty hunting to remain and lucrative as it currently is. Eventually, they will get the server load right and you won't be able to do hammerhead missions solo anymore. I would also expect all professions to be balanced around how much time, effort, and risk there is to doing them. So what is meta today, probably won't be the meta at release, which won't the be the meta a year after release.

Sound advice. The only two ships that might be an anomaly to this would be the Orion and Starfarer as both can harvest and process raw materials with out any real upfront cost or requiring reputation. The reclaimer might also fall into the same bucket but we don’t know hard it will be to find derelicts in game and thus it could be far more random requiring more capital to ride out the lean times.