Shadow Reaper
Space Marshal
As much as i prefer grav bikes to the Ursa, both is far better than no rover. You can't haul cool lootz on a grav bike.
Opinions: 400i vs DUR
- Thread starter Harkonan
- Start date
Shadow Reaper
Space Marshal
If you intend to use it for missiles out of the dark, rent a Shrike first. It's cheaper, needs far fewer upgrades and kills just as mercilessly as the MIS.
That's exactly why I love it as well. And I still have a suspicion that for pure exploration, it might have a slightly higher utility value. Where as the 400i seems more of a high end daily driver that will have best in class electronics all around. As much as I love my DUR .... I don't think I could ever use it as a daily driver. More just ... unironically ... for longer expeditions where you plan to spend significant time in deep space.
Since I'm upgrading to the MSR, I'll prob hold off on this one unless those systems and ships change functions in the next few years. Plus earning the luxury ships in-game doesn't sound like a bad plan for me.
I personally feel that the best choice on which ship to choose at the moment is as you used. Does it look good?
I love my Freelancer MIS, throw someone in the turret and even those pesky Arrow and Gladius pilots go up in flames.
Here is how I see the various "explorer" ships currently in-game:
315/Hornet tracker - single seat recon ship. Designed to look at specific areas, maybe as a fast overhead flight on a planet to get an idea of where the various defenses are while being minimally exposed to return fire, or will be able to outrun pursuit. With the small quantum tank, these are designed for local use.
Terrapin - stealth scout. Designed to go in and make longer term observations of an area. Who goes in, who goes out, which direction do they head to, etc. Won't outrun anything, so it relies on the ability to remain concealed while gathering data.
DUR - the first (and smallest) of the "all rounder" explorer ships. I would call this one of the "big three Explorers" Designed to take a small crew of 1-4 people on longer duration missions. Will need more frequent re-supply and not as long range, but an ideal explorer for smaller moons. This is a local use vehicle, but can do the traversal between one system and the next to see what's through that new jump point you just found. Think of it as a rigid Inflatable boat. Perfect for lakes, river and ponds, it can also be used on the high seas, but you won't be taking it across the ocean
400i - The smallest "glamper" While containing a fancy scanning table that may or may not be useful, this is the airstream of the glampers. Designed for the amateur rather than the professional explorer, it will let you take you and two friends to the local campground and feel good about "getting back to nature"
Aquila - The mid-range all rounder. Dedicated scanning turret, large amounts of storage, the ability to have both a flying scout ship and a wheeled APV, and a crew of 4, this ship is ideal for exploration on your own. It has enough shield and weapons to defend itself when needed, and decent speed to run away when needed. It also has a good fuel tank for getting around those large systems. This is the small trawler that can handle the high seas with ease, but may not have all the toys available to make sense of everything it finds
600i(e) - the mid-sized glamper van. This is the large Motorhome with 3 slides and hauls a toy chest. Mostly used for the national parks exploreres and athletes/entertainers who want a flying home away from home.
Carrack - The biggest all-rounder. This is the dedicated science/survey vessel on the high seas. Long duration, good defensive capabilities, room to spare, and can do every job that an explorer needs to do.
315/Hornet tracker - single seat recon ship. Designed to look at specific areas, maybe as a fast overhead flight on a planet to get an idea of where the various defenses are while being minimally exposed to return fire, or will be able to outrun pursuit. With the small quantum tank, these are designed for local use.
Terrapin - stealth scout. Designed to go in and make longer term observations of an area. Who goes in, who goes out, which direction do they head to, etc. Won't outrun anything, so it relies on the ability to remain concealed while gathering data.
DUR - the first (and smallest) of the "all rounder" explorer ships. I would call this one of the "big three Explorers" Designed to take a small crew of 1-4 people on longer duration missions. Will need more frequent re-supply and not as long range, but an ideal explorer for smaller moons. This is a local use vehicle, but can do the traversal between one system and the next to see what's through that new jump point you just found. Think of it as a rigid Inflatable boat. Perfect for lakes, river and ponds, it can also be used on the high seas, but you won't be taking it across the ocean
400i - The smallest "glamper" While containing a fancy scanning table that may or may not be useful, this is the airstream of the glampers. Designed for the amateur rather than the professional explorer, it will let you take you and two friends to the local campground and feel good about "getting back to nature"
Aquila - The mid-range all rounder. Dedicated scanning turret, large amounts of storage, the ability to have both a flying scout ship and a wheeled APV, and a crew of 4, this ship is ideal for exploration on your own. It has enough shield and weapons to defend itself when needed, and decent speed to run away when needed. It also has a good fuel tank for getting around those large systems. This is the small trawler that can handle the high seas with ease, but may not have all the toys available to make sense of everything it finds
600i(e) - the mid-sized glamper van. This is the large Motorhome with 3 slides and hauls a toy chest. Mostly used for the national parks exploreres and athletes/entertainers who want a flying home away from home.
Carrack - The biggest all-rounder. This is the dedicated science/survey vessel on the high seas. Long duration, good defensive capabilities, room to spare, and can do every job that an explorer needs to do.
If I had to choose, I'd pick the 400i for its looks. Its utility vs. the DUR is otherwise similar enough.
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Solid write-up.
Now if only its main elevator went to the ground it would be such a great ship. So tired of having to use the ramp to get in and out and with equipment lockers becoming a thing and not being able to sit in a seat with armor on it's going to be even more of a headache.
Shadow Reaper
Space Marshal
Great summary. Just to add a couple/three things. . .
The Hornet Tracker is really designed to scout the edges of a military fleet. No bed means no use for real exploration, unless you have a militrary version of exploration that supplies the Tracker with a place to sit down, like an Idris. Toilets matter. Also keep in mind the Tracker's scan is supposed to have the range of a medium ship, albeit in a specific direction instead of omni. We do not yet know if the ship oriented radar in the Tracker and Terrapin is similar or swapable with the scanners needed to spot anomalies like wormholes.
Also note the 315P has 50% greater range.
Finally, I keep bringing it up--the best small group explorer at present seems to be the ship that is not an explorer--the MSR. The dedicated scan station, incredible range, great speed, low signature, room for a rover, sneaky ass smuggler-type pilots, all make for a great explorer.
Lemming
Vice Admiral
Fully Agree with this except for the 600i. I fully expect the 600i to be a fully functional explorer with slightly less duration compaired to carrack and no jump point mapping
A quick point on the MSR - John Crewe has stated that the scanning array is *not* equivalent to that of the Aquila or DUR, intended for 'local' scanning only. Of course we lack any context for what those words mean to CIG... I do recall one of the senior game engineers talking about local scanning as being 10,000km to 50,000km, but that was some time ago and I've seen nothing since then.
MSR Q&A, first question:
What are the differences in scanning between a ship like the Terrapin and the Mercury? Are they similar enough that a Mercury can be fitted to perform a Terrapin’s role equally well, or better?
Dedicated scanning ships, or ships equipped with dedicated scanners are built around that gameplay, which is not what the Mercury is built for. The Mercury’s scanners are only good enough to intercept local communications, rather than scanning of unknown areas or picking up low signatures at distance like the Terrapin can. The Terrapin, when crewed effectively, will always surpass the Mercury in terms of scanning efficiency. Think of the Mercury as a hybrid cargo ship, between freight and data.
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The Starfarer may end up being converted into an explorer by many captains, as long as they can get their hands on some Quantanium they'll be able to sustain their journey for as long as the food, water, oxygen and toilet paper hold out. At some point even a Carrack will have to return to port for go-juice or call out a Starfarer to top them up. Why waste time with the middleman when you can just take the SF out for the ride instead?
Beer. Beer is the reason why my Carrack is going to need to return to port.. every few hours.
Of course if you are flying a Starfarer and willing to fill your tanks with beer then I am sure we can work together and explore further.
So, a Carrack, a couple Liberators carrying a pair of Prospectors each & a few Starfarers (1 filled with space beer) should be able to go a decent range exploring the Verse.
Shadow Reaper
Space Marshal
Since creating quantanium cut all the luvs for the Farers, CIG has talked about making it refine quantanium. If that happens they will again be the hot picks for exploration. Since they can land and have room for several ROCs, there all all sorts of mix-n-match options for mining.
Dirtbag_Leader
Admiral
I'll admit to NOT being a fan of the Freelancer lineup, and as such would vote for the 400i. My subjective complaints with the DUR are as follows, which you can either agree or disagree with:
- Cockpit view is terrible. If I'm out searching the stars, I want to be able to SEE those damn stars!
- Rear turret can't depress enough to fire forward; it's a true chaser-only, and I think that greatly limits its usefulness.
- I DEFINITELY want a vehicle to explore the surfaces of planets I land on, but stuffing even a small one in the 'Lancer takes up pretty much the entire cargo space.
- Building on the above, I find the ship in general cramped. It kinda does have all the basic 'needs', but its long and narrow design makes it feel small to me.
- Full disclosure: I have a Carrack. . .
- Cockpit view is terrible. If I'm out searching the stars, I want to be able to SEE those damn stars!
- Rear turret can't depress enough to fire forward; it's a true chaser-only, and I think that greatly limits its usefulness.
- I DEFINITELY want a vehicle to explore the surfaces of planets I land on, but stuffing even a small one in the 'Lancer takes up pretty much the entire cargo space.
- Building on the above, I find the ship in general cramped. It kinda does have all the basic 'needs', but its long and narrow design makes it feel small to me.
- Full disclosure: I have a Carrack. . .
Well, the Carrack is love.
And you are right on all the issues with the Freelancer, but at the same time, it's part of its charm. While the cockpit view is narrow it's still unobstructed in the area the pilot needs to be able to see and not covered by struts. I have found both the Starfarer and freelancer forward view to be adequate and while ships like the 600 have a far bigger viewing area I don't find myself missing it. Even ships like the Carrack while it's fun to walk out into the nose section and look all around, when you are in the pilot seat it's still rather obstructed and limited to a forward viewing area. (I'm also of the opinion that the pilot should have no weapons on multi-crew ships as it distracts from their primary responsibility of flying the ship and not acting like a fighter pilot).
Most of the explore class ships that can carry a ground vehicle make you choose to have a ground vehicle or cargo, not both. Given the limited internal room it's not really a ship I would bother attempting to carry a ground vehicle in and instead use it primarily for its small size and getting into places the other ships wouldn't fit or wouldn't be able to traverse as quickly. As for planet surface exploring, I would pick a ship that could carry a rover, and leave the lancer for poi's like wrecks, abandoned stations, and asteroid fields.
Agreed. I find the Freelancer cockpit differences to be the ship's charm, really. Not the best views, but different in a way that adds to the feel that the ship flies differently.
It's a ship that doesn't care about views ...
Just follow the scanners and systems and find the thing you're trying to find.
The cockpit will remind you of that instantly, that's for sure.
Just follow the scanners and systems and find the thing you're trying to find.
The cockpit will remind you of that instantly, that's for sure.