Finalising my Ship Lineup... your opinions please ?

[smilodon]

Ha, this is what happens when you start a reply and then leave the post to go have a cup of coffee before coming back to hit the post button, someone posts a much more comprehensive reply than mine....

[AndyBee]

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.

It's hard work isn't it ! They've just added the "unmelt with store credits option" too (1 buyback every 3 months with store credit I think) so that's just sealed the Freelancer Max for me as I can buyback one of my old LTI Freelancer packages then CCU it to a Max for only marginally more than Ccuing from my spare LTI Aurora ! Meaning I have 4 game packages and still a spare LTI Aurora for .... Who knows what in the future ?

I'm also intrigued to see what happens after the 14th Feb when SQ42 and SC actually split, at some point I'm guessing we will get some UEC for our extras like we did for Alpha, the forums will explode if they just merge 4 copies of SQ42 into 1 with no compensation :ranting2:

[smilodon]

I've copied the rest of this thread over to the Multi Crew Ships Thread.

[AndyBee]

Just a note anyone with ships to unmelt, now we have a single use token to use store credits to unmelt 1 item, it's really worth taking a look at your unmelt list if you have store credit hanging about, if you use store credits you do not pay VAT (in the UK) so the prices at checkout are actually minus 20% of what it says under Buyback in your Hangar section, they are non giftable if bought with credit so you can't give to friends, but I unmelted my Freelancer LTI Package that was listed as $132 for $110 store credit then CCU'd it to a Max for $30 which was listed at $36.... Quiet a decent saving and worth a look in your list I'd say !

[Kal-Nor]

For my fleet I can say that im generally happy with how it's set out. It's well rounded and has a good mixture of multicrew and Solo ships. It brakes down most of the key roles and has a gradual increase in cargo space.

I would love to fit the Endeavor in there but I would need to melt and it messes with my balance. But again it's in the melt store if I change my mind. But for me, I'm more about how comfortable I feel in the PU with the ships. Yes the PU will change over time but some of those changes may not be how we envisioned them when we first thought about how the ship would work. Turrets and the importance of having crew members is a big one in the PU presently. Also, having a ship watch your back helps for things like landing to refuel. I thought that bigger ships would dominate play but I can still see the importance of small ships in this game. Which is great for new players entering the game or backers that don't want to spend a fortune.

I can't 'finalise my ship line up' but I can say where I am now. But it's still going to be a ongoing, trial and error mismatch of ships until I at least fly them all. And only then will I decide, so here's where I am:

Hull B (Hauler) Misc (384) 1 crew
Starfarer  (Industry) Misc (3321) (or 2488) 8 crew
BMM (Trader) Banu (5018) 8 crew
Super Hornet - (Military) Anvil (0) 1 crew
Carrack (Group Exploration) - Anvil (1058) 6 crew
DUR (Solo Exploration) - Misc (52) 1/2 crew

Possibly a Sabre, Warden or Xi'an scout to finish up 1 crew, but I night sacrifice one of the above ships.

PS, I've forgot about the Mustang Beta.... This little ship really impressed me while flying it and I may swap it out to being my solo explorer.. See what I mean.

[TeaLeaf]

Super Hornet - (Military) Anvil (0) 1 crew

I'm sure you already know this, but the Super Hornet is a 2 person ship, although likely very flyable with 1 person.

[AndyBee]

I know it's each to his own etc, but that's just too many ships for me.... it's not a money thing, i just feel i personally want to have something to aim for in the PU, i will absolutely want to buy an exploration ship and some type of luxury yacht in game, plus probably trade in my "starter" ships for better versions, or possibly due to the way the game is being designed it's more likely my Super Hornet, Cutlass and Lancer Max will not get replaced, just upgraded with high quality components. At the end of the day, whichever gameplay style you choose, ultimately won't we be doing whatever we're doing to earn credits to buy and upgrade ships & equipment ?

[Kal-Nor]

I'm sure you already know this, but the Super Hornet is a 2 person ship, although likely very flyable with 1 person.

True but it seems to make it less of a ship with two players. Maybe in the future the second seat will be a benefit but until then it's a one man crew and the other seat is for a passenger.

I know it's each to his own etc, but that's just too many ships for me.... it's not a money thing, i just feel i personally want to have something to aim for in the PU, i will absolutely want to buy an exploration ship and some type of luxury yacht in game, plus probably trade in my "starter" ships for better versions, or possibly due to the way the game is being designed it's more likely my Super Hornet, Cutlass and Lancer Max will not get replaced, just upgraded with high quality components. At the end of the day, whichever gameplay style you choose, ultimately won't we be doing whatever we're doing to earn credits to buy and upgrade ships & equipment ?

Totally agree, I wanted to start with less ships and I still may. The Carrack is my main ship and I'd happily melt a few ships if it turns out that the carrack has modules that can replace the roles of the other ships. Personally I wanted to focus on Exploration but until I see some idea of how credits are earned then I'll keep my trading ships and Fuel ship.

It also depends on the organisation and how that plays out. Some are very communal and encourage group play meaning that the need for many ships is minimal but others are very solo focused and information or knowledge is the only shared asset. Im new here so I'm yet to decide.

Lastly, I don't want to spend my SC game grinding and trying to rush for the ship I really want. I want to take my time and relish the story behind every adventure I have. Having a primary ship in each role helps me experience this at a slower pace. I've played to many mmo at a pace I don't feel I've experienced the story. I still have goals like the Reclaimer, Endeavor or even upgrading my present ships, but I don't have the need to rush towards them. Enjoying the game is at my own pace is going to be my goal.

[AndyBee]

Weirdly having said that i may buy one more yet :yahoo:

Whilst looking at my "unmelts" now the 3 monthly token that allows you to use credits is here, as i pointed out below you don't pay VAT on store credit purchases, so that $300 Full Mill' Spec LTI Retaliator in my unmelt list is actually only $250 in credits, coupled with the fact i have 1 LTI Aurora package to sell on Reddit that for credits i can probably sell for $70+, and i have some credits over still, AND people are selling store credits at 75-85% of cost on Reddit, i can probably buy it for about $100 of my actual money.... which is very tempting as an Org ship !

I only recently melted the Talli', it was blindingly obvious within about 5 minutes of flying it, it NEEDS a full crew, but if i can pick it up cheap it's still tempting, especially with all the available, planned and rumored modules, it could fill a variety of roles for me personally, exploration, salvage, mining etc and still be useful for the Org' as a bad ass Torpedo boat or drop ship... Damn this game :blink:

[smilodon]

Chipping into the discussion - for me it's fight, fun and funds.

Fight - I currently have the Aegis Avenger Titan which is actually a blinding fighter. It suits my style of dog fighting which is fly in fast, unload everything and circle back round for another run. I was going to use the Origin 325a for this role but the Avenger for me is just a nicer ship.

Fun - Freelancer DUR. It's going to be my home in space and what I'll use to explore the galaxy. When the crew slot feature is fully sorted and the cost of extra crew slots is announced I might move up in size through the explorer ships. I'm also watching the Caterpillar closely as this looks like very modular fun ship. So I might go that route rather than Constellation and Carrack .

Funds - still to fill but probably a cargo hauler. At the moment it's looking like a Hull C which I'd like to fund with UEC as and when ships stop being purchasable with real money and move over to being bought in game with game currency. I have no clue how much work will be involved in raising the money in game to buy a Hull C so this all just so much theory at the moment. But it's my planned first in game ship

After that I have no idea. It really depends on how multiplayer pans out, how much we can earn crewing for other players etc etc.

[AndyBee]

It's nice to hear everyone else's plans aren't to dissimilar to mine !

On the funds issue i really hope things are bloody expensive and hard to find occasionally in game ! Maybe that's harsh as we sit here discussing which 2, 3 or 4, ££ bought ships we will start the game with, but if i go with my plan i outlined i want it to be a challenge to upgrade to the best armor and weapons on my SH, or to find the most fuel efficient engines for my Max, and it should cost a fortune and perhaps involve a ludicrously long convoluted trip to find that weird module i want for the Retaliator .... i'll be gutted if i can just throw my CC at the screen and still buy anything anywhere once we get whatever we are going to class as "launch day".

[smilodon]

I guess they will probably balance it so that progression is tough but not impossible. The game has to work for all the players who start post "launch" with an Aurora. They will want be able to earn money to start upgrading ships and should be able to make reasonable progress. If the Freelancer they want is going to take months and months of play time to get I image many will just give up and go play something else. Don't think anyone can realistically expect to be owning an 890 Jump in a few weeks but new players are going to want to enjoy the smaller to mid size ships without having to sink hundreds of hours into the game. The balance that CIG needs to hit is to make the big ships worth going for but keep them a real achievement to get. Exactly what that balances is I have no idea but CIG get paid the big bucks to work these things out.

I do think that those of us who bought or favourite ships will probably think the time frame too short and new players will moan that getting the Carrack takes far too long.

[AndyBee]

No I agree totally, I don't see a problem in "noobs" (for want of a much better word) being able to progress from an Aurora to a mid size ship in a reasonable time so they don't get scared off, but as you say at 890 jump should be a big step, I think the bigger juggling act is components, I think going from standard to top end components in any ship should be a big and expensive job ! When pilots are equally skilled, at combat or say mining, those really top end components are going to make a difference, and I hope will require some amount of dedication to acquire at least in some instances !

[AndyBee]

Ooops i tripped over and landed on an Kruger P72 Archimedes with LTI.... in case i ever fancy a race :doh: *cough*

[AndyBee]

Ohh thank god for Melting, Buybacks, AC and REC... I've been playing about this week with all sorts of stuff, and with a few mates, and soo glad I did !

As it turns out my plans were flawed :doh: .... even without a working HUD the Lancer and Cutlass are just two similar for me, I intended them filling different roles, but once you bring a friend to the (turret) party it just became apparent they are incredibly similar, except, in my opinion the Lancer was actually nicer to fly, it's forward firepower is currently awesome, it has more cargo space and according to my gunner the turret has a much better FOV.... assuming all things are equal when HUD's arrive and turret targeting etc is fixed the Lancer wins this dual in my book now i've flown both. So i did some juggling, melted my Lancer and upgraded my Cutlass Black to a Lancer DUR, which has left me with a weird "Pirate Pack" which now includes a docking collar, tractor beam, skull and crossbones skin and an exploration ship

Next week's plan is to use more REC to load out the Avenger and Hornet as they will be in the 'verse as i'm 100% my Super Hornet is going to be traded for one of those 2, i'm just not a full time combat/pvp/dogfighter type of player and to have $170 worth of dedicated combat ship that can fill virtually no other roles is a waste for me, both the Hornet and Avenger will provide me with still serious firepower for escort/combat duty etc but also some cargo capacity for solo play, whilst saving me $80-$100...

Then i just need to decide my final ship, which i definitely want to be something BIG, Multicrew and modular-ish, or at least versatile, that can be used with a few mates or re-speced for Org' use.... still thinking the Retaliator maybe, but if i can find a Pheonix upgrade that's tempting to, and oooooo that Carrack is HUGE and great value with its Rover and Snub ship also...

And i have that LTI P72 for racing... or "just incase" something pops up i can't resist in future concept sales i need to CCU to...

Again opinions and/or your experiences and thoughts welcomed