re: Polaris Update Video

[Leofev]

You know, they say the ship got bigger, but it looks like the guns got scaled up even more than the rest of the ship from the original concept images. Not that I'm complaining.

Bigger hangar, larger components. About what was expected, I think. Wonder if they will scale up the price further.

View: https://youtu.be/n1Fjctpk2qU?t=357

 

[vahadar]

I was waiting for this update since the shiptalk during citcon 2021
So cool !

Only downside for me is that the side turrets are now totally different. The concept pictures were showing a 360° turret on each side (presumably) when right now the turret axis is transformed by 90° and the cover and elevation seems to be poor.

On the plus side, seems most turrets got upgraded to S5. It was expected as they said in 2021 to completely rework the weapon loadout.

 

[Garonman]

Well.. that's made my decision on which big boy to get from buy backs even more difficult. But yay

 

[Shadow Reaper]

These things were all expected save the removal of the vehicle bay. There is a large space between the cargo hold and torp room that is unmarked. Is this perhaps the new vehicle bay? It used to be aft. They did not mention removing it but it seems this is what they did. I'm not happy. OTOH, the cargo bay is certainly larger. That is way more than 200 SCU. There is an unidentified area fore of the cargo hold, inside that U shaped structure. So maybe they'll add an elevator and put the vehicle bay back in. This ship should have a vehicle bay large enough for two Ursas.

I do not like the new bridge treatment, but it doesn't mean anything yet. However, note there is no tactical holo-display. There was a viewer in the aft of the bridge and it is gone (see my sig line). Even if it never functions, it was an important part of making the bridge what it was, so why is it missing? Count me offended, that what they said is the bridge has been "opened up to give a bit more space and visibility" when what they mean is they took out the holo-display. Please--don't bullshit us. Take out the stupid large workstations and put the display back. There is no reason for any workstation to be this kind of big in the future. The SpaceX Dragon workstations are 3 inches wide and 40" across. This kind of thing pisses me off.

Just makes sense to give it cap shields and coolers. The chin and stern turrets were made like the others. I think originally, the chin was a size larger, and they were both remote. Now the stern turret is manned. Makes sense to standardize them all but I still think a single or twin S6 on the chin in would have been better. When this concept was new, there were still S6 guns in game, and it made sense to have a canister-launching flack cannon here, specifically to knock down incoming torps. The turrets seem to have more restricted field of fire compared to what they did. Not sure what to make of this. The turrets themselves seem too large for what they are.

Still want to see numbers for the escape pods and bunks. Still see a lot of wasted space. Not enough heads for this size crew--there needsto be a head aft in engineering. And to be frank, this is far too little work to show for something waiting this long. It's been half decade. BMM, Idris and Javelin have all been waiting a decade. CIG needs to hire another dozen ship design people and take the money out of Chris Roberts' pay.

 

[White Lando]

I think they did a decent job of cramming a lot in without bloating it. Kept the original concept exterior pretty close.

 

[Leofev]

These things were all expected save the removal of the vehicle bay. There is a large space between the cargo hold and torp room that is unmarked. Is this perhaps the new vehicle bay? It used to be aft. They did not mention removing it but it seems this is what they did. I'm not happy. OTOH, the cargo bay is certainly larger. That is way more than 200 SCU. There is an unidentified area fore of the cargo hold, inside that U shaped structure. So maybe they'll add an elevator and put the vehicle bay back in. This ship should have a vehicle bay large enough for two Ursas.

I think what they did here was add all the room from the vehicle bay to the cargo bay, which is why we now have the large cargo ramp exterior access point. Overall, this would mean no real space lost, in fact it just gives more flexibility in options of what we can throw in there. If you want, you could still have all the space you originally had for cargo plus two Ursas in there.

 

[Richard Bong]

I like it, because my Tali can now pop it without it being able to shoot down my torps.

The offensive power was supposed to be the Torps, the turrets were supposed to be, primarily, defensive. Size 5 are not defensive turrets unless we are going with another round of power creep.

 

[Dirtbag_Leader]

Glad I finally locked in my CCU chain for this bad boy; now worrying about future price increases or going back now! :D

 

[Shadow Reaper]

I think the turrets are all S5, meaning twin S4 guns, so these all fire 1400 mps.

 

[vahadar]

I think the turrets are all S5, meaning twin S4 guns, so these all fire 1400 mps.

The turrets were S4 twin guns already before, except the one under the cockpit which was a twin S5 gun pilot controlled.
From the old Q&A it used to be :
• 4x S10 Torpedo Launch tubes
• 5x Manned Turrets (Twin S4 Weapons)
• 1x Remote Manned Turret (Twin S5 Weapons)
• 1x Automated Turret (Twin S4 Weapons)
• 2x Anti-Fighter Missile Racks, each carrying 16x S3 Missiles

Q&A: RSI Polaris - Part II - Roberts Space Industries | Follow the development of Star Citizen and Squadron 42

Roberts Space Industries is the official go-to website for all news about Star Citizen and Squadron 42. It also hosts the online store for game items and merch, as well as all the community tools used by our fans.

robertsspaceindustries.com

From the look of the guns, it seems that they are all twin S5 guns now (so at least S6 turrets, like the redeemer), since all the guns are now the same as the belly gun.

 

[Richard Bong]

The turrets were S4 twin guns already before, except the one under the cockpit which was a twin S5 gun pilot controlled.
From the old Q&A it used to be :
• 4x S10 Torpedo Launch tubes
• 5x Manned Turrets (Twin S4 Weapons)
• 1x Remote Manned Turret (Twin S5 Weapons)
• 1x Automated Turret (Twin S4 Weapons)
• 2x Anti-Fighter Missile Racks, each carrying 16x S3 Missiles

Q&A: RSI Polaris - Part II - Roberts Space Industries | Follow the development of Star Citizen and Squadron 42

Roberts Space Industries is the official go-to website for all news about Star Citizen and Squadron 42. It also hosts the online store for game items and merch, as well as all the community tools used by our fans.

robertsspaceindustries.com

From the look of the guns, it seems that they are all twin S5 guns now (so at least S6 turrets, like the redeemer), since all the guns are now the same as the belly gun.

That is what it looks like to me too.

 

[Richard Bong]

I think the turrets are all S5, meaning twin S4 guns, so these all fire 1400 mps.

The guns look like they got upsized, hence my comment.

 

[Leofev]

The guns look like they got upsized, hence my comment.

It's possible, but all we had before was just original concept images and models that may not have been to scale.

I always thought the guns before looked super-tiny for their size.

 

[Pricey6381]

I don't own one but they have done a pretty decent job.

 

[Garonman]

I don't own one but they have done a pretty decent job.

If you don't captain your own there will be plenty of them in the org to help crew. I maybe on the lookout for a crew-chief for my own. No better than a fellow Brit to whip the crew into shape

 

[Ayeteeone]

It's obvious they've learned a tremendous amount both about building their ships, and what we want in them. Plenty of turret coverage, lots of hangar space, more cargo/garage space, medical support, holding cells, capital class radar, everything a crew needs. I'm sure there will be some drawbacks but overall this thing is gorgeous as internet spaceships go.

Except.

Weapons are the question. The size of the weapons on the turrets matter, but we don't know how much until the upcoming flight tuning/master modes/weapons/components changes come into place. Size 5's seem to be showing up on a lot of larger ships, and these need to be viable in the defensive role.

The reliance on Torpedoes as it's primary damage source has always brought me up short. Again, lots of changes coming to the game but as it sits they are expensive and unreliable, especially if the target knows you are launching them. Tactically, they *should* provide the burst damage that allows a Polaris crew to win against shit odds, as long as they connect.

I'd still trade them for one of the Perseus turrets mounted under the chin.. more reliable damage on target, even if the fight takes longer overall. Just upsize the listed size 6's to size 7

Maybe the Anvil cap that was teased will do something like that? A couple of big turrets instead of torps, and otherwise kitted out like the Polaris. CIG, pay attention and take even more of my $$$.

 

[Richard Bong]

Looking at the video again, it looks like the crew size is 10 including the aircrew and ground crew for the carried craft. That seems, like the Carrack, short handed.

Commander, Pilot, 1xEngineer, 6 turrets, torpedo room operator, subcraft pilot, EW (it is a Capital Warship), Corpsman, Tactical Officer/sensors, etc.

 

[Leofev]

Looking at the video again, it looks like the crew size is 10 including the aircrew and ground crew for the carried craft. That seems, like the Carrack, short handed.

Commander, Pilot, 1xEngineer, 6 turrets, torpedo room operator, subcraft pilot, EW (it is a Capital Warship), Corpsman, Tactical Officer/sensors, etc.

I was thinking up to 14 total. In the walkthrough of the bunkroom, we can see 8 bunks as we walk in, but in the far wall we see 4 of them embedded in the far wall. If the same holds true to the inside of the wall we can't see (as we are looking away), that would bring us to 12. Add in the CO and XO rooms, and that would bring us up to 14. Some of those could be medical staff, or extra engineers for a ship this size. Or the extra bunks could be to support a higher headcount for multiple work shifts.

10 or 14, either way it is a vast reduction in the max of 24 in the original concept brochure.

 

[vahadar]

They have always said that the max capacity of 24 was not reflective of the needed crew, because that number included crew working in shifts (see Polaris old q&a).

So reducing that number is probably not a surprise.

 

[Mudhawk]

Well, since we do the counting game, I count 12 escape pods. Might that give us a hint about the average crew size? Though they might be 2-seaters. Who knows..?

10 or 14, either way it is a vast reduction in the max of 24 in the original concept brochure.

True that. Probably the reason why they had to increase the size. Can you imagine the amount of coffee they need to bring along on a long term indipendent mission with a crew that tiny?
Forget about watches. These guys have to go at it 24/7.
It's not that I don't get that players will not actually stay on a ship THAT long.
But kinda breaks the immersion to think that after a couple of day being on battlestation thanks to running behind enemy lines the hole crew will consist of sleep-deprived overdosed maniacs.
Oh well, nothing unusual in this Org i presume.