Finalising my Ship Lineup... your opinions please ?

[AndyBee]

So after literally years of reading stats, playing in AC, buying/melting ships to test them or walk around them, with the advent of 2.1 i'm finally set on how i want to start this damn game !

I will have 3 "starter ships", in 3 distinct roles, a dedicated small Combat ship, a small multi crew (but still solo capable), multi function ship & a dedicated Cargo ship, this i feel covers all my bases for starters, giving me something to hunt bounties with and use when i'm required as an escort, something to haul cargo and something to do a bit of everything with when multi-crewing with mates. I will likely add a dedicated exploration ship with in game credits as soon as i can, but i think hauling cargo and trying to collect bounties will possibly be quicker money makers than exploration initially.

And here is where i'd like your opinions ! Having played in 2.1 quiet a lot over last few days i've pinned down 1 ship in my lineup for sure, the Cutlass will 100% be my small multicrew/multi function ship, it's a nice size, well armed, fantastic visibility, can carry a reasonable cargo load (or a team of FPS ready boarders ! :boxing:) & seems like it will be ok solo and even better with a crew. The other 2 ships i'd like your input !

My combat ship of choice for a while has been my Super Hornet, it's quiet a beast and i love it, however it seems to have 1 competitor in the Vangaurd Warden, both 2 seaters but on paper weirdly varying stats, e.g. SH has a size 4 power plant compared to the VW size 2 even though the VW is considerably bigger/heavier, but the SH has 1 x TR4 compared to the VW 2 x TR4, also the SH has max size 4 shields but VW only max size 2, these odd discrepancies carry through pretty much the entire specs, so i suppose my question is to those of you who have flown both, how does the VW actually shape up in combat currently in 2.1 ? And does the turret operate like the SH turret when not manned ? or is a co-pilot a necessity ?

Lastly my cargo ship..... i have nothing here yet, but again i want to keep something that's at least feasible to solo pilot, i'm not remotely fussed about it's combat ability as i envisage i will probably only use this for safe cargo runs or with an escort, so i think realistically i'm looking at either a Freelancer Max or Constellation Taurus...... or possibly a Misc Hull B.... this is the choice i'm struggling with the most.

So, what have you guys chosen if you have similar roles in mind ? and why have you chosen what you have ? Looking forward to some input from the dMw crew

[smilodon]

Cargo - I've defiantely gone for the Freelancer as a cargo ship. My reasoning is that going with a Constellation or larger will almost certainly require either an NPC crew (expensive) or other dMw players (possibly no guarantee they'll be available when you want to fly cargo runs). You can in theory fly a Constellation solo but I'd imagine with issues around control and protection. One of the dedicated cargo ships might be an option but they are still way back in development, expensive, big, probably also require crew members to run effectively and until they are at least hangar ready and their specs are locked down I'd just watch and wait.

The Freelancer is very usable as a single player ship, can carry a decent cargo haul and can look after itself in a fight. There's also the fact that I think they look gorgeous in a quirky way and seem like a real home in space, but that's just my opinion. Finally they are the largest ship that can fit through the smallest Jump Points. Bigger cargo ships will be limited to the bigger jump points. I'm not sure exactly how this will play out in game but it' worth considering. The Freelancer for me is going to be what your Cutlass is to you, my go too ship. I have the DUR as I'm more about exploring than hauling but the MAX does seem like a compelling choice if you want to be effective but not have to rely on other players/NPC to get stuff done.

There's a nice video that broadly matches my thoughts here

Fighter - I've no experience of either ship. Another video from STLY Youngblood dscusses all the combat ship and compares the Vanguard to the Super Hornet at about 13 minutes in

[AndyBee]

Thanks for the input... i'm actually STILL torn between the Freelancer Max and the Connie Taurus, the Max is edging it due to jump point accessibility though, i didn't know that, being away from the community for 9 months or so has it's drawbacks ! On that note, and the NPC crew issue, last i heard (9 months ago !) we were going to be able to create NPC's in our spare character slots that come with extra game packages, has something changed there ? As if not, creating a couple of NPC's to crew a Taurus shouldn't be a big deal ?

The combat video is useful too, just need to know how that turret works i guess & see if there's any actual Vanguard owners on here with in game experience !

[Kal-Nor]

Combat - Having flown both the SH and Warden my preference in the SH. But they're two completely different ships used in different ways. The SH is a hard hitting heavy fighter, it doesn't need two players as losing the turret takes something away from the pilot. But it's great having a spare seat as you can pickup downed pilots or handcuff a bounty in the back.

The Warden is more boom and zoom rather than a dog fighter. If your flying single player then the turret is no good. All its firepower is forward facing, and as such should do a lot of damage to the ship in front of it. It's also a long range ship so I'd imagine it could be outfitted with a exploration mod. I do like it but Id prefer to use it for long distant missions.

Cargo - this is a easy one to answer. I went for the Hull B, it has three times the cargo of the FL MAX and holds more than the Taurus and it's a dedicated one man ship. It's not as sexy or as versatile as the freelancer and if you were to only have one ship then the freelancer is the better choice. But if it's pure cargo ship you want then choose the Hull B, it's all about the profit. Also it half the price of Taurus and a lot less than the Freelancer.

[Kal-Nor]

If you want to try the Warden out I'll be online around 7  uk time.

[suicidal_monkey]

The Freelancer is very usable as a single player ship, can carry a decent cargo haul and can look after itself in a fight.

This is v.interesting take as I'm sure there was another thread lamenting the need for 2 or 3 crew to be effective in a freelancer?

[smilodon]

Not at the moment. It's billed as a two crew ship but has always been pitched as a decent solo ship. Like the Cutlass it is probably more effective with a second crew member manning the turret or working the shields but I have no issue with it in the PU. It's telling that both the Freelancer and Cutlass have commercials and both show them with one crew member. Not definitive I agree, but worth noting.
The Constellation, Retaliator, Carrack etc are billed as a true multi crew ships. I think as the game develops flying them solo will be possible but extremely inefficient and dangerous. As always though things change and when the game is complete we might all be thinking very differently. Thank goodness for having melting

[Galatoni]

Aye. All ships will be soloable until you get to the likes of the Idris. Soloable but deeply inefficient.

[AndyBee]

Has there been any further word on using your extra character slots to create NPC's ? I know it's not the real answer to multi crew but if we can rustle up a cheap NPC for the Freelancer/Cutlass turret that's even better...

[Galatoni]

This is speculation at this point, not only has nothing been finalised, but its based on a few pieces of information that I've come across in passing:
1. Originally people were told that having 'another game based pledge' on your account would give you an NPC slot - effectively a slave you could use. This has since been thrown out.
2. While having another pledge does give you another slot to play with, that slot, if used as a custom (appearance) NPC would still need to be paid.
3. This is to encourage people with larger ships to team play and 'spread the wealth' as it were.

Now I have a few multi crew ships, but nothing hitting the scale where it'd be impossible to fly solo in some way. I want crew members to be real PC's rather than NPC's and i've no problem with sharing whatever bounties (after repairs and consumables of course!) become available. This, to me, highlights that we will have to work together quite closely to make this work out financially. While I know some people prefer solo play, there would be nothing stopping you flying without a turret. In all honesty, the turrets aren't that effective anyway. One of the reasons why I dropped the 'Tali (beautiful though it is). Its already been said that while the AI will be pretty good, it won't be a scratch on real experience of almost any level. Take from this what you will, but I don't think you're going to get free NPC's.

There is nothing to suggest that there won't be upgrades for automated turrets though. I mean class 9 (Phoenix owners confirmed ) slots are considered point-defence for shooting down missiles. So the idea of weapon automation is there.

[Kal-Nor]

I've not really read much on the extra character slots lately. The rumour that has been floating around for a while now is that:

1. You will be able to buy extra character slots to create NPC players. Est. $10
2. You can convert your own present character slot to a NPC.
3. These NPCs will vary from hired NPCs in game. Personal NPC will be low level and not cross or desert you. You could train them up as you gain experience.
4. In gamed hired NPC skill level will be based on price and will be subject to being kept happy. IE Salary being paid, good accommodation facilities etc.

BAsed on this speculation!! I believe the crew facilities on ships now make sense. For example why would any player choose a crews social module on the Retailiator over a missile bay unless they liked a bit of RP? I believe this is how the will nerf players with crewed NPC ships. If you have NPC then you need to keep them satisfied. Having crew facilities on ships will do this allowing them to eat, drink...bla bla... But all player ships won't need that. A all player taili will be able to go long distances with two torpedo bays. A NPC ship will need to keep the NPC happy and replace one torpedo bay with a social module giving the player ship the advantage and in doing so forcing players to play the way the game was intended ... With Multiplayers and if your going to take the game on at a PVP level you need a dedicated org.

This is only my theory remember and I could be way out !!

EDIT:Haha..Galatoni must have posted at the same time ...

[smilodon]

Great write up Galatoni. There's so much info coming out of CIG at the moment that I have absolutely no idea where this came from but I understood that a player could staff their ship with NPC's who would cost more the better their 'stats' were and who could be hired as a one off or taken as a permanent crew member and levelled like a game asset owned by the player. A ship crewed with NPC's would be fine if the player was marked as non PVP and was up against player generated pirates or Vandul. But if the player took an NPC crewed ship into a PVP session it would probably end badly for them. That's my understanding anyway.

[Kal-Nor]

There is no non PVP areas really, there is a slider to decide on how much PVP you would prefer high or low, but once you go into unsafe non UEE zones you can still get attacked by PVP players just less often if your slider is PVE.

But again this may change.

[AndyBee]

Yeah i'm not expecting a Turret-God from my NPC slot, or for it to be free (in game credits), but as per all the rumors, NPC's, how ever they finally get implemented, will it seems vary in skill level and cost and i'd put good money on our NPC slot from extra game packages will start out with an uber low skilled and cheap grease monkey NPC... but never the less, if i pop online and there's no one about, i'd rather have random bullets/lazers firing from my turret so at least anyone attacking me THINKS i'm not solo, than a clearly unmanned turret

Back on my ship topic, if the Wardens turret is player only operated, then i'll stick with my Super Hornet as my small combat ship ! I'm still unsure on cargo ship, i'm edging to Freelancer Max though, i'm off the Hull B idea from my experience in E: D ... running a ton of cargo to a destination, collecting your creds, then finding a hugely profitable, time gated mission, that requires at least some fire power, but you're in a ship with zero maneuverability and a pea shooter is not fun !

[Galatoni]

I must admit. I thought I was happy with my little fleet but it seems I'm not as confident as I was. Some of my ships I've basically bought for org use. Carrack and the Gemini. Others I've got (or are waiting for) are for exploration and such like. The tana (waiting for upgrade now the science variant if it comes out again) and a cutlass which i may be upgrading to a red or use it to explore hulks. My military ship is the warden. But I've realised I'm not a trader by heart and I dot want my starting lineup to have any.

Aside from my phoenix (which is my limo ) I've got a spare lti ship (thanks Andybee) which I'm uncertain what to do with. I might grab a civvie hornet, a tracker or ghost. Not sure yet.