What is your current in game red headed stepchild fleet ship?

[AntiSqueaker]

Sadly the Herald. Love the dank utilitarian interior, love how zyooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom drag racer it feels to just open up the throttle and let her rip.


But unfortunately there is quite literally nothing to do with it now, or for the foreseeable future. Info Running and Hacking is not even on the Roadmap to be delayed 3-4x like Salvage. Even a tier 0 "hey we beamed you an info packet, go take it to this station/outpost" info running would be something. Or let a Herald remotely hack Comm Arrays and Kareah as a niche.

You can't even run mission boxes with it since you can't carry them up ladders any more. 0 cargo space.

It's a cool ship but right now there's no use to it whatsoever.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

Those guns make me look forward to the Idris and Polaris.

Most of the Polaris guns are S4. I think it's just the chin mount is S5, but that design goes back to the time where ships weapons only ranged to S6. That's out the window now, so I'm hoping they put twin S7s on the Polaris chin mount.

I was amazed when I saw it had S7 guns. But other than that I really have no interest in the ship. I feel like the S2s on the mine are useless.

I know a lot of people are questioning the whole mine gameplay, I personally find it pretty cool and very niche, I am really debating on that ship being my main as few people will do it. . .

Imagine you drop 8 mines each with a single Suckerpunch for a sustained 5,440 dps distortion damage. Now imagine you drop your prey out of jump with a Mantis, directly into the minefield. Your prey will be disoriented, so probably won't even target the mines for ten seconds. In that time you have enough juice to knock out most medium class ships, and even the puny guns on the Mantis are now enough to finish them off.

That's just one player. Suppose you have a friend along in a Hoplite filled with NPCs. Now you are in position to board.

Mines are a game changer. I'm looking forward to crushing Vanduul supply lines and bringing the filthy bastards to their knees, and I think the Nautilus is key for that. It literally makes 5 men worth 10, and because you lay mines in advance, it provides huge gameplay flexibility. I don't think players yet appreciate how important they will be. The mere fact you can immobilize an opponent on the battlefield without even one player there, impacts everything about the way people will play. You can literally go and "check your traps" to see what fortune has brought you while you were hanging in the pub.

Suppose you otherwise know where an engagement is going to happen. Could occur any number of ways. Best is always you choose the battlefield. Suppose you expect an enguagement of many small craft, so decide you want a Lancer MIS in fire support, back about 20 km, raining S3 missiles down on opponents. Thing is, as soon as you do that the MIS will be targeted. So how many ships do you need to leave to defend your artillery?

None, if it's surrounded by mines.

Your Tally's want to get in and hurt an Idris, but you need almost all bomber pilots in your group and anyone flying a skirmisher is one less bomber. You know you need to remove the fighter screen, so you put a single fighter amidst a minefield and let your opponents come to you, across the battlefield and away from your target so the bombers can get in and out. Again, 1 man made like 5.

Anyone who studies battlefield tactics from Ceasar to Patton knows these are an incredible game changer. Anywhere a fleet stops, it should put up mines for defense, just like Roman troops digging fortifications on a daily basis. Every real "fleet" will want several Nautilii to keep it safe. Every system you mine in, every system you harvest gas, every system you're exploring, etc.

Mines are frigging awesome!

 

[Phil]

Most of the Polaris guns are S4. I think it's just the chin mount is S5, but that design goes back to the time where ships weapons only ranged to S6. That's out the window now, so I'm hoping they put twin S7s on the Polaris chin mount.

Imagine you drop 8 mines each with a single Suckerpunch for a sustained 5,440 dps distortion damage. Now imagine you drop your prey out of jump with a Mantis, directly into the minefield. Your prey will be disoriented, so probably won't even target the mines for ten seconds. In that time you have enough juice to knock out most medium class ships, and even the puny guns on the Mantis are now enough to finish them off.

That's just one player. Suppose you have a friend along in a Hoplite filled with NPCs. Now you are in position to board.

Mines are a game changer. I'm looking forward to crushing Vanduul supply lines and bringing the filthy bastards to their knees, and I think the Nautilus is key for that. It literally makes 5 men worth 10, and because you lay mines in advance, it provides huge gameplay flexibility. I don't think players yet appreciate how important they will be. The mere fact you can immobilize an opponent on the battlefield without even one player there, impacts everything about the way people will play. You can literally go and "check your traps" to see what fortune has brought you while you were hanging in the pub.

Suppose you otherwise know where an engagement is going to happen. Could occur any number of ways. Best is always you choose the battlefield. Suppose you expect an enguagement of many small craft, so decide you want a Lancer MIS in fire support, back about 20 km, raining S3 missiles down on opponents. Thing is, as soon as you do that the MIS will be targeted. So how many ships do you need to leave to defend your artillery?

None, if it's surrounded by mines.

Your Tally's want to get in and hurt an Idris, but you need almost all bomber pilots in your group and anyone flying a skirmisher is one less bomber. You know you need to remove the fighter screen, so you put a single fighter amidst a minefield and let your opponents come to you, across the battlefield and away from your target so the bombers can get in and out. Again, 1 man made like 5.

Anyone who studies battlefield tactics from Ceasar to Patton knows these are an incredible game changer. Anywhere a fleet stops, it should put up mines for defense, just like Roman troops digging fortifications on a daily basis. Every real "fleet" will want several Nautilii to keep it safe. Every system you mine in, every system you harvest gas, every system you're exploring, etc.

Mines are frigging awesome!

Yes! This is exactly what I am referring to, the missions generated by the A.I. and fleet battles would be awesome, again I know many people were not impressed with this ship or playstyle but I bought one right away just imagining all the cool stuff it can do that NO other ship in the game will be able to do (so far).

 

[Shadow Reaper]

Yes! This is exactly what I am referring to, the missions generated by the A.I. and fleet battles would be awesome, again I know many people were not impressed with this ship or playstyle but I bought one right away just imagining all the cool stuff it can do that NO other ship in the game will be able to do (so far).

I know people are tempted to think this will be tame or boring gameplay, but I doubt that is true. Most places you'd want a minefield are dangerous places, and laying mines without detection is going to be a specialty skill. Then there is all the repair/replace dynamics to consider. It remains to be seen how many mines a single Nautilus can manage. Just because it only holds X amount, doesn't mean it can't maintain 3X or 4X number of mines. Given they're in the same area, could be quite a lot. So if you're going out to the field to tend/extend it regularly, you've got all kinds of work and real effort to provide a real benefit to a fleet.

There is real strategy here too. Suppose you're laying mines in Vanduul space. If you're detected, the minefield is worthless. My guess is, you'll want decoys many km away, just in case something enters the area while you're working. To do this best probably will require some group effort, even if your minelayer is filled with NPCs.

It gets even more complex. There is a HUGE difference between the Nautilus standard and Solstice editions. The latter has a large jump drive instead of a small one. This changes everything about how they can be used. Large jumps and Quantums make sending small birds with a poor option. If you want to sneak minefields into enemy space, you probably need to send several Solstice Nautilii at once, escorted by an HH or better, a Polaris; so you can have stealth recon fighters in theater before you commit to minelaying. A small patrol of EX about 40 km away would make it very hard for enemy combatants to know about your activities before you knew about theirs. Note too, stealth leaves you with the option of when and where to be detected. A Razor EX can be invisible right up until it lights up its afterburners, and invisible again a few seconds later, so they make perfect decoys.

OTOH, if you're flying the small jump Nautilus, having small escorts around is much easier, but you won't be doing the very high risk, deep penetration missions.

 

[Phil]

And imagine fleet encounters, stations, planets etc.. now you are going to need a bunch of Nautilus's to maintain an even larger field. And this is where I really find it cool, especially if you are on the outer rim where Vanduul are on edge, there are countless missions and activities a mine layer could be doing even as a solo ship or lone wolf as they say. I was really hyped when this ship came out, I am not a dogfighter by any means but want to be active in military or fleet activities so this to me is very appealing.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

There will be half dozen systems around Leir that should make perfect Vanduul hunting, and at least as many around Orion. On top of that are all the adjacent Vanduul systems, which is where I really want to go. I totally have a hankerin' to develop a secret base inside Vanduul space from which to launch very deep incursions. Sneak a base into Caliban complete with refuel, repair and refit facilites and you can crush your enemies, see them flee before you and rejoice at the lamentations of their women!

 

[Talonsbane]

Most of the Polaris guns are S4. I think it's just the chin mount is S5, but that design goes back to the time where ships weapons only ranged to S6. That's out the window now, so I'm hoping they put twin S7s on the Polaris chin mount.

Imagine you drop 8 mines each with a single Suckerpunch for a sustained 5,440 dps distortion damage. Now imagine you drop your prey out of jump with a Mantis, directly into the minefield. Your prey will be disoriented, so probably won't even target the mines for ten seconds. In that time you have enough juice to knock out most medium class ships, and even the puny guns on the Mantis are now enough to finish them off.

That's just one player. Suppose you have a friend along in a Hoplite filled with NPCs. Now you are in position to board.

Mines are a game changer. I'm looking forward to crushing Vanduul supply lines and bringing the filthy bastards to their knees, and I think the Nautilus is key for that. It literally makes 5 men worth 10, and because you lay mines in advance, it provides huge gameplay flexibility. I don't think players yet appreciate how important they will be. The mere fact you can immobilize an opponent on the battlefield without even one player there, impacts everything about the way people will play. You can literally go and "check your traps" to see what fortune has brought you while you were hanging in the pub.

Suppose you otherwise know where an engagement is going to happen. Could occur any number of ways. Best is always you choose the battlefield. Suppose you expect an enguagement of many small craft, so decide you want a Lancer MIS in fire support, back about 20 km, raining S3 missiles down on opponents. Thing is, as soon as you do that the MIS will be targeted. So how many ships do you need to leave to defend your artillery?

None, if it's surrounded by mines.

Your Tally's want to get in and hurt an Idris, but you need almost all bomber pilots in your group and anyone flying a skirmisher is one less bomber. You know you need to remove the fighter screen, so you put a single fighter amidst a minefield and let your opponents come to you, across the battlefield and away from your target so the bombers can get in and out. Again, 1 man made like 5.

Anyone who studies battlefield tactics from Ceasar to Patton knows these are an incredible game changer. Anywhere a fleet stops, it should put up mines for defense, just like Roman troops digging fortifications on a daily basis. Every real "fleet" will want several Nautilii to keep it safe. Every system you mine in, every system you harvest gas, every system you're exploring, etc.

Mines are frigging awesome!

To those that have not seen the movie Wing Commander, here is the ending confrontation trimmed down. Now instead of a fleet having to be moved into position, imagine a swarm of drones with many of them firing distortion weapons at anything not designated as friendly to shut down their ships as they exit the jump between systems.

Use this method around each of a system's jump gates & you can potentially control who enters or leaves the system. Game changer indeed.

 

[Bambooza]

Imagine you drop 8 mines each with a single Suckerpunch for a sustained 5,440 dps distortion damage. Now imagine you drop your prey out of jump with a Mantis, directly into the minefield. Your prey will be disoriented, so probably won't even target the mines for ten seconds. In that time you have enough juice to knock out most medium class ships, and even the puny guns on the Mantis are now enough to finish them off.

You sure its 8 and not 6? The other thing is they talked about when players get dropped out of warp they want them to be randomly dropped inside a 10k x 10k or larger area so that both the hunter and hunted have a chance. Not sure how effective you will be able to get multiple mine hits in a box that large.

That's just one player. Suppose you have a friend along in a Hoplite filled with NPCs. Now you are in position to board.

Mines are a game changer. I'm looking forward to crushing Vanduul supply lines and bringing the filthy bastards to their knees, and I think the Nautilus is key for that. It literally makes 5 men worth 10, and because you lay mines in advance, it provides huge gameplay flexibility. I don't think players yet appreciate how important they will be. The mere fact you can immobilize an opponent on the battlefield without even one player there, impacts everything about the way people will play. You can literally go and "check your traps" to see what fortune has brought you while you were hanging in the pub.

Suppose you otherwise know where an engagement is going to happen. Could occur any number of ways. Best is always you choose the battlefield. Suppose you expect an enguagement of many small craft, so decide you want a Lancer MIS in fire support, back about 20 km, raining S3 missiles down on opponents. Thing is, as soon as you do that the MIS will be targeted. So how many ships do you need to leave to defend your artillery?

None, if it's surrounded by mines.

Your Tally's want to get in and hurt an Idris, but you need almost all bomber pilots in your group and anyone flying a skirmisher is one less bomber. You know you need to remove the fighter screen, so you put a single fighter amidst a minefield and let your opponents come to you, across the battlefield and away from your target so the bombers can get in and out. Again, 1 man made like 5.

Anyone who studies battlefield tactics from Ceasar to Patton knows these are an incredible game changer. Anywhere a fleet stops, it should put up mines for defense, just like Roman troops digging fortifications on a daily basis. Every real "fleet" will want several Nautilii to keep it safe. Every system you mine in, every system you harvest gas, every system you're exploring, etc.

Mines are frigging awesome!

Don't forget that mines will need to be maintained or they start to degrade and only exist while the player who placed them stays in-game. I'll have to find the link but they clearly stated they don't want lots of mines just existing.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

You sure its 8 and not 6? The other thing is they talked about when players get dropped out of warp they want them to be randomly dropped inside a 10k x 10k or larger area so that both the hunter and hunted have a chance. Not sure how effective you will be able to get multiple mine hits in a box that large.

Don't forget that mines will need to be maintained or they start to degrade and only exist while the player who placed them stays in-game. I'll have to find the link but they clearly stated they don't want lots of mines just existing.

These game dynamics are far from settled, but what I described is what CIG described when the Nautilus first came out. They also noted that fewer mines were needed because they are mobile and will migrate to attack nearby ships. They did stipulate mines last several days--probably about a week between maintenance cycles--and are not related to the player being in game.

You're not suggesting they'll put out all this effot and make a lame dynamic no one wants to use, are you?

 

[Talonsbane]

I would've stated that my ship that would apply to this was my Terrapin, but I upgraded that to a Polaris. So my snapping turtle now has a sharp bite. hehehe

 

[Grimbli]

The ship I'm most excited for that has let me down the most is the Starfarer Gemini. Not only because refueling has been put off SO much, but there is literally no difference between it and the base version right now. It's supposed to have heavier armor (not in game), bigger guns (not yet), less cargo space inside (I'm ok with that right now), and probably fly much worse (again, ok with that right now).

Although truthfully I think the Gemini should fly as it currently does and the regular Starfarer should be easier to handle, like a Freelancer MAX. But I'm am really hoping they up the size by 1 on all the gun mounts. Four 4xS5 guns on the front will just be stupidly scary. And the dual S6 turret on top would make it a dangerous escort ship to bring along. I feel most military excursions will have at least one Gemini along to refuel. I'm hoping they don't reduce the fuel it can carry compared to base. It's supposed to have lower space inside it, but the tanks are all the same size on the outside. I know a lot of people repeating that info but feel it's something the community just made up and ran with.

 

[Bambooza]

These game dynamics are far from settled, but what I described is what CIG described when the Nautilus first came out. They also noted that fewer mines were needed because they are mobile and will migrate to attack nearby ships. They did stipulate mines last several days--probably about a week between maintenance cycles--and are not related to the player being in game.

You're not suggesting they'll put out all this effot and make a lame dynamic no one wants to use, are you?

Its a good question.

Calling All Devs Interdiction

View: https://youtu.be/Jw2jS-fVT_0?t=235

When you release the charge it will be anywhere between 10,000 to 20,000 meters to start. It generates a sphere that will pull anyone that happens to be quantum traveling through the sphere out.

Still attempting to find the quote about the randomness within the bubble as to where you fall out as they want to make sure it gives both players a chance.



As for Mines

If live but untriggered, we envisage a mine’s lifespan to be measured in days rather than minutes.

The maximum detection range is another tricky statistic to quantify as it completely depends on both the components of the mine (they use regular adjustable ship items) and the emissions of the target. That said, we expect each mine to have at least a minimum engagement radius of between 5 and 10km. They will pursue targets a fair distance beyond that too to allow relatively small quantities of mines to cover a moderately large area.

Nautilus has 24 mines so even at only 5KM radius it seems they could cover the 20km bubble with overlapping fields.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

Point is, they'll find a dynamic that works.

It's the same with everything. Right now missiles and torp damage, tracking range and flight range are all screwed up. What we have to suppose is one day there will be some rhyme or reason to them. For now, missiles are so screwed up no one would buy a missile platform unless they had some faith that reason will one day win out.

 

[maynard]

It's the same with everything. Right now missiles and torp damage, tracking range and flight range are all screwed up. What we have to suppose is one day there will be some rhyme or reason to them. For now, missiles are so screwed up no one would buy a missile platform unless they had some faith that reason will one day win out.

I'm keeping the faith

I bought a Freelancer MIS early on, sure in the knowlege that it will be overpowerd AF when the game launches

Fire ze Missiles!