Says the one who spends the majority of his time in-station waiting for more beer to be loaded so he can go back out?
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Favorite Exploration Ship ? Hauler For Me
- Thread starter nvchad2
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Says the one who spends the majority of his time in-station waiting for more beer to be loaded so he can go back out?
+rep for 242
Judging from the screenshots released today, it's relatively small ship just as I suspected - roughly a Viper size. Most likely with two small and two medium hardpoints. Basically, a Viper which can jump further. This could also mean that she won't be very expensive: I was speculating about the 1-2 million price range before, and I still stand by that.
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Unfortunately, the latest pics of the Diamondback are not much like the amazing initial artwork. I think I hate the new version of the Diamondback more than the Asp. The cockpit looks like a mini van, and the tail looks like caricature of a pimp in a purple tuxedo. I am calling bait and switch. Very disappointed.
UGH I came in from the black for this?
Wheres my explorer between ASP and Anaconda? Why do we need ANOTHER light fighter/multirole/thing? Vipers Cobras and Vultures have this arena well taken care of. Explorers are stuck at ASP until they get to conda/clipper and many people who have that kind of cash still stay with the ASP.
I guess on the bright side, I didnt waste my money buying a paint job for my ASP, it seems I will be stuck in it for a very very long time.
Well Vipers and Cobras are pretty underwhelming compared to any ship above them, so I there is a need for something small that can actually put up a fight. I think we'll have to wait to see the specs. Maybe it will have an awesome jump range by way of an apology for the fugly square nose and bizarrely extravagant exterior. I was really hoping from the cockpit view that this would look like a science ship (with guns). But it look like it was welded together with odds and ends by Dr Frankenstein (pronounced "Frahn-ken ShtEEn").
Yeah it looks like we're gonna wait for serious, dedicated explorer for quite some time. Fortunately, I am not disappointed by Diamondback because I wasn't expecting that she will be "it": she was always appearing as rather small ship to me.
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@Ziljan: well, if it turns out that DB can jump 40 LYs without weapons and other crap (which I doubt), she might be useful. Max size of fuel tank is also a question, though.
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@Ziljan: well, if it turns out that DB can jump 40 LYs without weapons and other crap (which I doubt), she might be useful. Max size of fuel tank is also a question, though.
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If they somehow manage to give this thing an amazing jump range, it wont be a total wash, but I'm not holding my breath anymore. I suspect I will buy one, try and fit it, fail/be dissapointed, take the 10% loss on the ship when I sell it back, slap a paint job on the ASP and go back out.
And if I was just starting out in the game I'd be asking you "Why do we need more ships that are 10+ million?" They gave us two expensive ships last update (then knocked down the prices). This time they're giving some love to the low-to-mid game ships. That seems fair. New people are joining all the time (Steam for example, Mac users now... eventually XBone), it can't be all about early starters with fat wallets.
And there's no guarantee the Diamondback will be multirole (at least not in the fighter/explorer/trader/miner sense). It was described as an explorer/fighter and it doesn't look like it'll have much cargo capacity. This'll probably be something that can fight like a Cobra and explore like an Asp, for a reasonable price (between the two)
That also suggests to me that maybe Thargoids aren't too far away, and that the end of the T6 as a jury-rigged explorer vessel is upon us. Soon it might not be safe to sacrifice your weapons for greater LY range.
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Basically, we are looking at long-range Viper I think: same firepower, better jump range, small cargo space. Probably weaker shields to counter increased jump range - this depends on the price.
It certainly looks like what they said it would be: a Combat-Explorer ship. On the plus column, the blockiness and back plating makes it look like it will be well shielded, like the Vulture. I suspect that it may slot an A5 Frameshift, which could give it a huge jump range compared to any other ship in that weight class. I am guessing that it will have a similar loadout to the Viper, Cobra, but with better weapon placement, and maybe one extra hard point slot. So it won't necessarily shine in PvP, but it may just be able to take on AI aliens, which is all it really needs to do.
I doubt it's going to be too cheap - I'm guessing around 2 mill and with good shield upgradability. Weaker shields do not make for a combat ship. Given how cheap a Viper is, that seems reasonable.
I quite like the look of the Diamondback; I'm not speculating on its stats. I think FD are in a bind due to the multiple-use nature of the cargo slots - a ship that can fit a big fuel scoop can fit a big shield or a lot of cargo, and so on - which makes it harder for them to restrict ships to a narrow use. (In a similar vein, SC may have interesting times if they're making any attempt at balance because they're using an even more modular system for cargo space!)
I still feel that my choice of ships is massively constrained by the need to survive PVP encounters; these days I don't fly anything that can't escape or outfight opponents unless I'm messing around. And that's not right, or at least not conducive to fun.
Which feeds into my current favourite choice of explorer: a Cobra, stripped of weapons but with good shields and speed to escape, with decent jump range, fairly nippy in supercruise, versatile and especially its big fuel tank making it a carefree traveller - I don't have to watch where I'm jumping so closely.
I still feel that my choice of ships is massively constrained by the need to survive PVP encounters; these days I don't fly anything that can't escape or outfight opponents unless I'm messing around. And that's not right, or at least not conducive to fun.
Which feeds into my current favourite choice of explorer: a Cobra, stripped of weapons but with good shields and speed to escape, with decent jump range, fairly nippy in supercruise, versatile and especially its big fuel tank making it a carefree traveller - I don't have to watch where I'm jumping so closely.
Well to be fair, I AM one of those steam players, and Im already looking at the space between ASP and anaconda and I dont really care for the anaconda. Im facing the realisation that I already have the ship that is best suited to what I want to do and thats a little dissapointing. I understand what youre saying and Ill concede the point, I just think that the diamondback as an inexpensive fighter/something feels too "samey" to what weve already got. What we are clearly missing is something to close the gaps at the higher end.
If its got a very good jump range for its weight class, like I said it wont be a total wash, Im just dissapointed that I still have nothing to expand into.
I am still rocking my Freagle, all fitted out to the gills. Just not feeling the adder or asp. Hopefully this one will get me out of the Eagle.
This is the fundamental flaw with games where the fun in designed around progression rather than compelling gameplay. Ideally, the most compelling growth would happen inside your brain as your skill at a fun task increased. But thanks to modern MMOs, we are stuck with games that tap into the dopamine response to "upgrading" some external stats that are inherently arbitrary and therefore ultimately meaningless. The addiction to the Dopamine release is the only driving force that keeps you glued to your chair.
Notice how in the Newsletter they upgraded the level up sound and graphic. This is exactly how casino slot machines enhance dopamine release to strengthen addiction.
I don't claim to be above this kind of addiction. But being aware of it just make me loath myself a little for falling for it every time.
Btw, not all games are like this. Wizard Wars is a good example of progressionless compelling gameplay that is entirely player skill based.
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Fair play then, I'm probably wrong, I hope the diamondback is a good ship candidate for you.
I think the solution to this is to balance the ships better across the board and introduce more content in general to experience. I love this game dearly but it feels like its trying to be two different things. It has this progression based "bigger is better" ship mechanic, in a huge sandbox world full of content that can be explored or ignored at will. It feels (to me) that lighter fighters need to be as viable as heavy ships and the concept of "progression" removed entirely. Every ship should have its place depending on the commander flying it and its role, but that is not the situation we have now where the Anaconda basically gets top marks in everything, with everything under it being a stepping stone in a gradual progression of "better" ships.
Except that they fly like a... thing that doesn't fly very well. I wouldn't want to explore in an Anaconda unless I really needed the jump range.