MISC Starlite

[Shadow Reaper]

So I was ready to like this ship and the game loop it embraces. Unfortunately, I do not.

Coincidentally I had just checked the scoop refill times for the Polaris and Retaliator. They’re 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours for a complete refill. When I thought of this small refueler I pondered “if it is stealthy it could fly full time in Vanduul space just to refill small battle groups. Unfortunately that’s not the case. It’s signature is three times what it ought to be, so there is really no advantage to flying this over the Star G. It is slow, poorly armed, and gives zero detail concerning its scoop rate in glide through a gas giant. Any fighter that finds one of these scooping could force it to refuel them for free, so why would anyone fly this?

I don’t think CIG thought this one through. They’re just going through the paces. How could you release this without a scoop rate and such a hot signature?

It’s purtiful inside but that’s not enough. CIG needs to do better, IMHO. This feels like CIG going through the motions and no one paying attention. Bad mojo.

 

[Vavrik]

I think you're correct. You wouldn't want to be using this ship in Vanduul space for sure, and even in systems like Standin, there isn't much in the way of care bare protection going on. CIG is trying to get players to play thee game as more of a team, part of a fleet... I'm not quite sure how this one fits in.

 

[BUTUZ]

Hm. to be honest I think it is really for filling up fighters, miners, salvagers, and other small to medium ships who are to dull to keep an eye on their fuel - or at a pinch getting large ships going far enough to properly fuel in a station, fuel rat style. Not sure why you'd be expecting a small ship to be able to refuel a capital ship?

 

[Shadow Reaper]

It uses an S1 reactor. If CIG had gone with their standard of making bigger ships with smaller components stealthier, one could expect this with an EM of about 2, which is stealthy indeed. Given this, it could operate with some exciting risk, but able to fill its tanks and dump into a battle group daily. They can make it scoop at whatever rate they like and this would have made an exciting game loop, that enables the kind of play they have pitched.

So yeah, I think they just bungled this one for lack of attention. Maybe they’ll fix it the way they did the Firebird.

 

[Sky Captain]

I like the look of the ship for its role, I want to like the role, and I can see how refueling will be meaningful. But will it be fun? CIG, in their DefenseCon ship video, described the refueling role as a non-wealth-generating support role akin to being a medic. Since they equated it to a medical role, let's then think of refueling as being a ship 'medic' or 'buffing' role. In other online games, playing as a 'healer' or 'buffer' isn't necessarily a sacrificial role. Those roles are still highly engaged in group play and generally are equally rewarded for it. But in Star Citizen, it sounded like the devs see refueling (and medical) as taking a wealth generation back seat to other roles? How do we see this really playing out?

 

[Shadow Reaper]

For big missions like the Sons of Orion storyline fighting the Vanduul, the primary reward will likely be reputation. It’s easy to see how refuel, refit, repair, etc. will all get rewards similar to actual combatants.

For large actions like mining protection and thieving drugs from Jumptown, the reward is financial and set by the group, so they can just as easily reward support people.

 

[Lorddarthvik]

TEST flight went perfect, love it, 10 out of 10, will buy again!

tbh I really do like it, it's a nice shape, feels like no space is wasted on the inside but it is very much task focused with zero space to dump loot. Or I just haven't found the button that opens a cargo space yet... The elevator built into the floor like on the conni is a nice touch, works and fits better than on that one.
I am actually considering picking up a warbond of this for the LTI token at least, and until it gets turned into something else, it may serve as a distraction into doing fueling missions.

ps: I was trying to bin it on purpose, as I loaded up both tanks with quant instead of H+Q fuel, which I think makes it impossible to complete any refueling missions lol

 

[Shadow Reaper]

But. . .doesn’t it have a disturbing resemblance to a stool sample? I could swear I passed one of these a few weeks ago after what seems now was too much cheese.

 

[BUTUZ]

Picked one up as only 60 bux store credit aint flown it yet.

 

[Lorddarthvik]

But. . .doesn’t it have a disturbing resemblance to a stool sample? I could swear I passed one of these a few weeks ago after what seems now was too much cheese.

Yes, it's a MISC ship shaped like all MISC ships. AKA Mon Calamari cruiser shaped if ordered on TEMU. It's fine.... it's shiny... its... dammit! Why you had to ruin it, now I can't unsee it lol

 

[Lorddarthvik]

SO I bought one with the triple skin pack to boot.

First thoughts: Angry. Very.
The ship flies slow but maneuverable, the inside is nice, the elevator entry is fast, the boom arm unfolding is cool, the refueling interface monitor comes down from above in the cockpit which is also a nice touch and works well.

BUT. It currently has 2x20SCU fuel tanks. You can start out with the shiny new much advertised refueling missions, where your targets are typically avengers or 100i-s, both requiring 8 SCU of H fuel and less then a 1 SCU of Q fuel. So, in order to complete a mission you MUST carry H fuel in one tank and Q in the other.

There is no retries, no going away for a second round of fuel and then continuing the process. If you break up a successful docking AFTER you gave the target any amount of fuel, it breaks. This means you can usually do 2 starter ships and then have to refuel your own tanks. BTW this costs roughly 32K for a full fill of both tanks, you get payed out around 20-30K per mission including the price they pay for the fuel, I think. So running cost are high.

Now the real issue comes when you get into junior (second) rep rank missions. Those that show a payout of 43-49K + what you get payed for the fuel. Sounds great on paper until you realize that the ships you get to refuel in those mission, like the goddamn Vanguard has a 35 SCU HYDROGEN TANK! WHERE?? HOW?? Your telling me that the massive tank that is about the size of 2 vanguards is carrying less fuel than a single fighter??? Yeah, right.
Even if this is the case for "gameplay reasons", which is fine, then the huge ass bulk fuel tank should carry much much more. Which would make getting into Refueling very cost prohibitive for new players but there could be ways around that, to get them started out without breaking their bank... anyways. It's all fucked. You either own teh big expensive refueling ship, or you don't get to play the game with your tiny little starter ship...


TLDR is you CANNOT COMPLETE ANY MISSION ABOVE STARTER LEVEL! because remember, you cannot come back with a second load of fuel and most ships you have to refuel in junior rank have larger tanks than you!

DO NOT BUY THIS SHIP for the gameplay!
Buy it for the LTI token or wait 2 years until tier 1 of refueling is implemented...

Also dear CIG, where the fucks my paints??? I payed good money for those, the white yellow black combo looks real nice but it'"s just not in my inventory anywhere. I checked.
Are those getting released later and I just didn't read the fine print again?

 

[Shadow Reaper]

Those complaints sound serious enough to post on Spectrum, and maybe even write a bug ticket. Give CIG the chance to add a third tank for quantum fuel.

 

[BUTUZ]

This isn't really the Starlights fault, this is because the fuel size/scu/burn rate CIG has forced on us is totally retarded. Ships the size of a 24scu container seem to somehow have 20scu of hydrogen hidden in them somewhere. Cig messed up a long time ago on the hydrogen by making it too big/too much and never fixed it as usual.

/Edit also we were always supposed to be able to skim hydrogen fuel off stars or nebula etc to reduce our own fuelling costs - but cig hasnt bothered to put that in either

 

[Thalstan]

CIG has suffered a fuel crisis for years. No one wants to play the starfarer or they had no starfarer. They did not want people with just an aurora stuck in one spot. Especially as they had already established it in lore as a multi-star system vehicle used by couriers. What happened is that instead of making ships use less hydrogen/quantum fuel to achieve the desired effect, they instead boosted fuel capacity by a specified amount.

IMO...CIG needs to revisit the numbers and the best way to do that is...
Increase the efficiency of all fuel usage by a factor of 10 (one order of magnitude)
So if a ship took 10 SCU of quantum to travel from point A to point B, it now takes 1 SCU. The Same with hydrogen. If it takes 10 SCU of hydrogen fuel to fly over a planet for one hour, it now takes 1 SCU of fuel. This applies to any fuel usage, including startup, initial usage during jump, whatever.

Decrease the fuel capacity of each ship by a factor of 10. So if your ship had fuel capacity of 10 SCU of hydrogen and 5 SCU of Quantum, that now becomes 1 SCU of hydrogen and .5 SCU of quantum.

Increase the cost of fuel by 10x. This keeps the refueling costs the same, no matter if it is from a tanker or a ship services pad on a ship/station.

Take some of the space that was recovered and now that space holds reserve atmosphere/life support.
you should still be able to pump the ship down most of the way to vacuum, but if for some reason you vent your atmosphere (say, opening a cargo door without pumping down because it's an emergency), then that life support reserve can be used to re-pressurize the interior of the hull once you are sealed back up or repaired. Second, reserve life support can be used to support additional crew beyond max crew. If you have a max crew of 10 and 3 uses of reserve, when the air gets too bad to breathe because you are packing in 20 additional combat folks, you can flush the air and use one of your reserve uses.

Life support can/'should be able to take a 1 atmosphere ship and keep it clean for an indefinite period with proper servicing for a crew at or under the max crew level.

This way, refueling ships get back in the game, refueling ships now have 3-4 types of stuff they can haul...water, fuel, quantum fuel, life support, meaning they can make choices

 

[BUTUZ]

This way, refueling ships get back in the game, refueling ships now have 3-4 types of stuff they can haul...water, fuel, quantum fuel, life support, meaning they can make choices

And beer, don't forget hauling beer.

Yes I agree with all your points and CIG has buried their head in the sand with this "industry" for 5 years.