Thoughts on the Terrapin?

Blind Owl

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Floating Cloud

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Is the Terrapin going to be able to go thru small jump points?
Do we have any information on how jump point limits will work?

We know that the Freelancer DUR will not fit through small jump points. The Terrapin is much shorter, but also much wider - are jump points like doors, with fixed widths? The other factor is that the Terrapin, whilst shorter, does mass more than a Freelancer DUR (30,000kg to the Freelancer's 28,000kg) so if mass is the deciding factor then no, it won't be able to pass through.

Personally though, I think that CIG will target this as the go-anywhere explorer (hence the high price), and that the answer will be yes. Fingers crossed.
 

Shadow Reaper

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Do we have any information on how jump point limits will work?

We know that the Freelancer DUR will not fit through small jump points. The Terrapin is much shorter, but also much wider - are jump points like doors, with fixed widths?
I believe the official word is that the Lancers are the largest ships that can fit through the smallest wormholes.
 

Shadow Reaper

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Depends...
Do you want to fire torpedoes?

Or

Do you want to BE the torpedo?
Do keep in mind that these are probably the easiest ships to immobilize and board. Any ship sporting even one Joker can shut down the shields in just a few seconds, and the armor works against since it protects the ship as the Joker shuts down the computer. Lightly armored ships like the Reliant will be easy to blow up by mistake while trying to shut down their computers, and indeed may require spike missiles so as not to blow them up.

Given the Terrapin is slow, has poor maneuverability, and can have its shields pulled down with little risk to the rest of the ship, these should be easy targets even for Auroras. Beware buying them. I might sell you twelve cheap on discount and throw in a bakers dozen just 'cause I'm all nice like that.

IMHO, it matters very, very much what sort of stealth the Terrapin can be set up with, whether it will be the really great ship so many are hoping for.
 

AstroSam

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Adiran

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Do keep in mind that these are probably the easiest ships to immobilize and board. Any ship sporting even one Joker can shut down the shields in just a few seconds, and the armor works against since it protects the ship as the Joker shuts down the computer. Lightly armored ships like the Reliant will be easy to blow up by mistake while trying to shut down their computers, and indeed may require spike missiles so as not to blow them up.

Given the Terrapin is slow, has poor maneuverability, and can have its shields pulled down with little risk to the rest of the ship, these should be easy targets even for Auroras. Beware buying them. I might sell you twelve cheap on discount and throw in a bakers dozen just 'cause I'm all nice like that.

IMHO, it matters very, very much what sort of stealth the Terrapin can be set up with, whether it will be the really great ship so many are hoping for.
any good pilot can shut down any ship. it matters not if it's slow or fast. Missiles can be dodged by anyone if you know what you are doing. In a fight i expect it to be like the Hornet. Slow and hard to kill but able to keep its nose pointed at you the whole time. only instead of 6 or more guns size 1-2 it will have 2 size 4 twin linked and maybe 2 size 1 guns to go with it. it ain't gonna be able to run so it won't try, and as a missile i'm afraid it's going to be one that is easy to dodge.

The ship is not designed to fight. Remember that when you compare it to any other ship or try to find out its gameplay style. The ship is designed to take a hit and keep on going. Meaning it will take longer to kill it allowing it to get help or finally get its guns pointed at you to shoot back. It is going to be a small version of the Carrack. Designed to take a hit and keep on flying with just enough guns to deter all but the most determined enemies.

It is not designed to dogfight, it is not designed to prevent 100% of pirate boarders, it's not designed to be a fast moving missile. It is designed as they say to be the premier exploration ship on the smallest scale. Designed to survive in the harsh conditions of space out on its own and bring you back alive. Yes the ship has had other roles in the UEE Navy. Yes i have no doubt there will be at least a couple different uses for the ship once it is released. However this particular civilian model is set up with the scanning equipment and being marketed as a exploration focused ship.

With the longer range more precise sensors it stays stealthy by being well outside every other ships sensor range. Avoiding fights all together. With the extra armor and larger power plant to keep the 1 size 2 shield up longer it is able to take damage for a sustained amount of time. With the size 5 turret it is able to defend itself (however limitedly) from attacks by other ships.

I believe the official word is that the Lancers are the largest ships that can fit through the smallest wormholes.
Last I heard you are correct. They have said both that the freelancer is the largest ship to fit in small jump points and that it is too big to fit in small jump points. The most recent of the 2 is that the freelancer will fit in small jump points. So as of right now that is what we are going off of.

Is it good for pirate?
-Not dying +1
-Solo-able +1
-Big gun in front +1 (space grog makes those other swivelly guns meh)
-Find Ppl for TEST PALs to go hang out with +1
-Cargo ???
-APC ???
-Expensive -1

Question is: "Do I melt Retaliator for it...?"
I would say it is good for a team of pirate ships sure. But a solo pirate ship? Not so much. Not enough fire power to disable enemy ships itself and only 1 other person to help you board and take out a crew on another ship. But definitely great at finding ships to do pirating on.
 

NEWater

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I'm personally not in favor of it. When I look at my current list of ships (Superhornet, Mustang Beta, Freelancer base model) I don't see how it's of any value to me. Already ticked off on the "kill all the things" box in the F7C-M, Mustang Beta is ticked off in "small, cheap and fucking around" box, and Freelancer lets me do plenty on the logistics front, and a lot more.

Where does that leave me? $195 is a crazy high asking price for what looks to be a narrowly-defined set of roles. I didn't mind paying $160 for the Freelancer because of its multi-role nature and I can see myself making use of the Freelancer a lot, so it provides a lot of value to me. Terrapin doesn't present that much utility and value to me for that price tag.
 

Floating Cloud

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I believe the official word is that the Lancers are the largest ships that can fit through the smallest wormholes.
That may well be the case. Certainly there has been conflicting information coming out of CIG in the past. The most recent line that I heard was the the refreshed Freelancer was going to be larger than originally specified, and classified as a medium ship, unable to pass through the smaller holes.

The good news is that the 28,000kg mass listed on the tech specs is probably now out of date, and the Terrapin's 30,000kg will probably not bar it from the smaller jump points.

Leaving the question of the freelancer aside, I am sure the the minimum jump point size will be one of the first Terrapin Q&A questions answered tomorrow.
 

Shadow Reaper

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$195 is a crazy high asking price for what looks to be a narrowly-defined set of roles.
What I don't get is why they are talking about it as a starter ship that lost in competition to the Reliant, when it costs 3X what a Reliant does. I think it is an interesting ship, but the Freelancer appears at this point to be a better choice in every way except that it cannot take the beating this can. Granted, the ability to take a beating is a big deal, and if you can run right through other ships with the Terrapin and still fly away, I'll be the first to call this cool, but no one has said this.

I still think the stealth issue is the key issue for how useful this will be.

BTW, ignore the nonsense about this having good shields. It does not. S2 is standard for small fighters and the like. It is the armor that will keep you safe in this, not the shields; which again suggests she could be optimized for stealth where little or no shield can be of great value.
 

Halesh

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Do keep in mind that these are probably the easiest ships to immobilize and board. Any ship sporting even one Joker can shut down the shields in just a few seconds, and the armor works against since it protects the ship as the Joker shuts down the computer.
If they make this game as realistic as they can, there will be a electronic hardening option. Since this is a former / current UEE military ship, there should be electronic hardening options already in place. Since there is no way any military would let there hardware be compromised by something so easily available to the public.
 

Adiran

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If they make this game as realistic as they can, there will be a electronic hardening option. Since this is a former / current UEE military ship, there should be electronic hardening options already in place. Since there is no way any military would let there hardware be compromised by something so easily available to the public.
I believe that is what the "large power plant" is for to make the size 2 shield work/regen/provide the hp of a larger shield.
 

Shadow Reaper

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I think you're both inventing a gaming dynamic in your minds that CIG has not suggested. There is one ship and one ship only, where they have said it comes with EMP hardening, and they have not suggested this will be an option for other ships. I think any argument that comes from silence is a weak argument. You may be correct, but there is no reason to think so.

EMP hardening is NOT a simple thing. It often requires building things out of vacuum tubes instead of the solid state transistors that have for the most part replaced them. To be "realistic" a hardened power system and computer would be many times more massive than one that has not been hardened, and would operate much slower, and require much more power to operate. As consequence, most military computers, even those in modern fighter aircraft, are not hardened against EMP. The thing that keeps most military targets safe from EMP is there is no effective way to generate one on a local basis and without using a nuclear weapon.

So just saying, the fact one can get an EMP generator is the real issue. No one has said they're easy to get hold of which is why I have suggested people buy up the Warlocks whenever they find them available. Likewise from what CIG has said on the matter, there will probably not be any defense against distortion cannons and spike missiles except your shields. If you lose your shields, you lose your protection.
 
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