First off, this is NOT a thread about whether ship transfer instant, or have a timed delay, or whether ships should be transferable. That issue is besides the point, once transfers are allowed the jump range balance meta will be forever changed. This thread takes a look at some of the current popular and niche ships that will most impacted by the change in balance of power:
SHORT RANGE COMBAT SHIPS:
The Fer de Lance,
Granted this ship is AWESOME. So awesome in fact that they nuked its jump range as a balancing factor. However, now you can simply take a shuttle move it from A to B for a fee. So what is the point in keeping the range short at this point? As a pretend balancing factor? So that you can't explore in it? Hmph. Do we really need fewer options for explorers to enjoy the drudgery that is exploration? It's not like combat is a crucial feature of deep space exploration. And any attacks are likely to be much closer to home anyway. So really the short range just becomes a "cool ship tax" in the form of ship transfer fees.
Federal Corvette,
This ship is not widely used because it requires hard to attain Federal ranks. However it is essentially in the same boat with the FDL in terms of Jump Range. It is designed to be a more agile version of the Anaconda/Cutter with larger hardpoints that make it adept at picking apart larger prey. Again, the jump range limitation will now be removable by a sum of Credits, but unlike the FDL, the Corvette is an extremely PRICEY ship. So Federal aligned players may end up with significantly less money in their pocket given that large expensive ships will cost a pretty penny to move from A to B.
Viper Mk III,
Oh man, does this ship ever need some love. Heaviest of the small ships, twice as heavy as a Courier (even though it has 2 fewer internal compartments!) and about as agile as a ship 4 times it's size. It is also very weight dependant so it can be among the slowest of the small ships with enhanced/modded drives. The short range on this ship will now be meaningless, and it should be fairly cheap to move around. So all told, 2.2 will be a slight boon to Viper pilots, but not enough to make it stack up against even an Imperial Eagle, let alone a Courier. But definitely enough that people will fly it once or twice into a combat zone, until they get bored by the "big clunky ship" flight model, power issues, and lack of durability or killing power. The ship will remain a pile of downsides.
LONGER RANGE FIGHTER:
Courier,
This will continue to be used as a racer, a defensive explorer, and even as an all-round multipurpose ship. It has 6 slots decent range, amazing shields, and enough firepower to be vaguely useful in a fight. Nothing can dethrone this overpowered small ship.
Diamondback Scout,
While classed as a fighter, post engineers this ship doesn't do so hot in that role anymore (see below).
COMPROMISE EXPLORER SHIPS:
Diamonback Scout,
This ship may see use as a fun offbrand shuttle craft, but let's remember, the major reason that has such limited compartment space compared to a Cobra is because it has a slightly longer jump range. Despite popular opinion that this is a "combat" oriented ship, it is actually not better than the Cobra or the Courier at combat post-engineers. And now that the jump range is irrelevant? Well, what is the point of a DBS for any practical gameplay purpose? A change of scenery? A larger hitbox than the Cobra to give the NPCs a fighting chance... ? Hmmm. Needs a 2nd look. This ship doesn't seem to respond to engineering in the same that others do, since it loses agility in the boosts, is quite easy to hit from a distance, and can't drain speed quickly enough to recover, or build or maintain speed in boosts quickly enough to get away properly.
One way to fix this ship? Make it capable of reaching top speed in a single boost from 0. Just like the Cobra/FDL. Also, let it speed up and slow down quickly sans boost, like the Viper (that ships one redeeming feature).
Diamondback Explorer,
This is a crap ship by any metric other than jump range. It has horrible agility, abysmal speed, undersized compartments, weak shields, and is somewhat flimsy to top it all off. If it wasn't for jump range this ship would be a Cobra Mk IV with crappy hauling capabilities. In 2.2, this ship may see a resurgence as the cheapest >45LY range taxi available. But beyond that, it will continue to be useless as all but a niche explorer ship for people who don't mind stiffing compromises (just to escape the Asp cockpit for a change).
EXPLORER TAXIS:
Asp Explorer,
The Asp Explorer will be the goto taxi for many since it fits the price point to range ratio for a convenience ship. Other that the increased popularity of this already overly used ship, the Asp will be largely unaffected by 2.2 shipping meta.
Anaconda,
This will be the premiere space taxi of the super rich. It will also continue to be a workhorse among wealthy explorers and non-imperial merchants. There is simply no faster way to get around the galaxy. Also, ship launched fighters won't hurt the king of ships one bit either.
Hauler,
This will continue to be the cheapest space taxi, but instead of being bought and sold at every station when transferring ships, you will buy one ONCE. It will be cheap enough to move anywhere you are, much cheaper than buying a new ship, unless selling your old one and buying a new one where you are is cheaper than transferring it.
MULTIROLE SHIPS:
Cobra IV
Cobra III
Courier
Viper IV
KeelBack
Orca
FAS
FGS
FDS
Sidewinder
All of these ships will be for flavor purposes only. There is no longer any reason to fly them (if there ever was) because there will always be a better ship for the purpose that you can simply pay to have moved to your current location. Some ships like the Cobra III will retain their fans because of sentimentality and maybe a little bit because of the speed (which several of the ships above can beat with engineering anyway). But the common thing about all of these ships is that they can all be boosted to roughly the same middling range. That range may be enough to keep people in these ships, but that really depends on how much it costs to shave off 30% of the jumps between stations. Forget realism, this is a cold hard cash calculation here.
The Keelback may get some play among newer/poorer players since it is the smallest ship to use ship launched fighters.
TRADER SHIPS:
T6
T7
T9
Cutter
Unless moving ships is so cheap that a single trade run would still be profitable after moving them, these ships will maintain their spot in the ecosystem. With the noted exception of the T9 and Cutter which will have ship launched fighters.
CONCLUSION:
So here we see, the only ships that will be cheating/exploiting the ship transfer mechanc to get across the galaxy faster will be the short range fighters. The mid class multirole ships will become even more irrelevant, but they already kind were. So this raises the question: If the purpose of the patch is largely to make it easier for fighters to get around the bubble, then why keep the fighters with a short range? Making the transfers instant isn't for any one else. Let's be honest, no one is in a hurry to trade or mine, and explorers can already get from A to B just fine. Making the transfers for fighters is clearly the reason for this change. So why not just give fighter ships longer range? Why all of this mucking about with a new taxi system that already topples any semblance of "jump-range based balance"???
SHORT RANGE COMBAT SHIPS:
The Fer de Lance,
Granted this ship is AWESOME. So awesome in fact that they nuked its jump range as a balancing factor. However, now you can simply take a shuttle move it from A to B for a fee. So what is the point in keeping the range short at this point? As a pretend balancing factor? So that you can't explore in it? Hmph. Do we really need fewer options for explorers to enjoy the drudgery that is exploration? It's not like combat is a crucial feature of deep space exploration. And any attacks are likely to be much closer to home anyway. So really the short range just becomes a "cool ship tax" in the form of ship transfer fees.
Federal Corvette,
This ship is not widely used because it requires hard to attain Federal ranks. However it is essentially in the same boat with the FDL in terms of Jump Range. It is designed to be a more agile version of the Anaconda/Cutter with larger hardpoints that make it adept at picking apart larger prey. Again, the jump range limitation will now be removable by a sum of Credits, but unlike the FDL, the Corvette is an extremely PRICEY ship. So Federal aligned players may end up with significantly less money in their pocket given that large expensive ships will cost a pretty penny to move from A to B.
Viper Mk III,
Oh man, does this ship ever need some love. Heaviest of the small ships, twice as heavy as a Courier (even though it has 2 fewer internal compartments!) and about as agile as a ship 4 times it's size. It is also very weight dependant so it can be among the slowest of the small ships with enhanced/modded drives. The short range on this ship will now be meaningless, and it should be fairly cheap to move around. So all told, 2.2 will be a slight boon to Viper pilots, but not enough to make it stack up against even an Imperial Eagle, let alone a Courier. But definitely enough that people will fly it once or twice into a combat zone, until they get bored by the "big clunky ship" flight model, power issues, and lack of durability or killing power. The ship will remain a pile of downsides.
LONGER RANGE FIGHTER:
Courier,
This will continue to be used as a racer, a defensive explorer, and even as an all-round multipurpose ship. It has 6 slots decent range, amazing shields, and enough firepower to be vaguely useful in a fight. Nothing can dethrone this overpowered small ship.
Diamondback Scout,
While classed as a fighter, post engineers this ship doesn't do so hot in that role anymore (see below).
COMPROMISE EXPLORER SHIPS:
Diamonback Scout,
This ship may see use as a fun offbrand shuttle craft, but let's remember, the major reason that has such limited compartment space compared to a Cobra is because it has a slightly longer jump range. Despite popular opinion that this is a "combat" oriented ship, it is actually not better than the Cobra or the Courier at combat post-engineers. And now that the jump range is irrelevant? Well, what is the point of a DBS for any practical gameplay purpose? A change of scenery? A larger hitbox than the Cobra to give the NPCs a fighting chance... ? Hmmm. Needs a 2nd look. This ship doesn't seem to respond to engineering in the same that others do, since it loses agility in the boosts, is quite easy to hit from a distance, and can't drain speed quickly enough to recover, or build or maintain speed in boosts quickly enough to get away properly.
One way to fix this ship? Make it capable of reaching top speed in a single boost from 0. Just like the Cobra/FDL. Also, let it speed up and slow down quickly sans boost, like the Viper (that ships one redeeming feature).
Diamondback Explorer,
This is a crap ship by any metric other than jump range. It has horrible agility, abysmal speed, undersized compartments, weak shields, and is somewhat flimsy to top it all off. If it wasn't for jump range this ship would be a Cobra Mk IV with crappy hauling capabilities. In 2.2, this ship may see a resurgence as the cheapest >45LY range taxi available. But beyond that, it will continue to be useless as all but a niche explorer ship for people who don't mind stiffing compromises (just to escape the Asp cockpit for a change).
EXPLORER TAXIS:
Asp Explorer,
The Asp Explorer will be the goto taxi for many since it fits the price point to range ratio for a convenience ship. Other that the increased popularity of this already overly used ship, the Asp will be largely unaffected by 2.2 shipping meta.
Anaconda,
This will be the premiere space taxi of the super rich. It will also continue to be a workhorse among wealthy explorers and non-imperial merchants. There is simply no faster way to get around the galaxy. Also, ship launched fighters won't hurt the king of ships one bit either.
Hauler,
This will continue to be the cheapest space taxi, but instead of being bought and sold at every station when transferring ships, you will buy one ONCE. It will be cheap enough to move anywhere you are, much cheaper than buying a new ship, unless selling your old one and buying a new one where you are is cheaper than transferring it.
MULTIROLE SHIPS:
Cobra IV
Cobra III
Courier
Viper IV
KeelBack
Orca
FAS
FGS
FDS
Sidewinder
All of these ships will be for flavor purposes only. There is no longer any reason to fly them (if there ever was) because there will always be a better ship for the purpose that you can simply pay to have moved to your current location. Some ships like the Cobra III will retain their fans because of sentimentality and maybe a little bit because of the speed (which several of the ships above can beat with engineering anyway). But the common thing about all of these ships is that they can all be boosted to roughly the same middling range. That range may be enough to keep people in these ships, but that really depends on how much it costs to shave off 30% of the jumps between stations. Forget realism, this is a cold hard cash calculation here.
The Keelback may get some play among newer/poorer players since it is the smallest ship to use ship launched fighters.
TRADER SHIPS:
T6
T7
T9
Cutter
Unless moving ships is so cheap that a single trade run would still be profitable after moving them, these ships will maintain their spot in the ecosystem. With the noted exception of the T9 and Cutter which will have ship launched fighters.
CONCLUSION:
So here we see, the only ships that will be cheating/exploiting the ship transfer mechanc to get across the galaxy faster will be the short range fighters. The mid class multirole ships will become even more irrelevant, but they already kind were. So this raises the question: If the purpose of the patch is largely to make it easier for fighters to get around the bubble, then why keep the fighters with a short range? Making the transfers instant isn't for any one else. Let's be honest, no one is in a hurry to trade or mine, and explorers can already get from A to B just fine. Making the transfers for fighters is clearly the reason for this change. So why not just give fighter ships longer range? Why all of this mucking about with a new taxi system that already topples any semblance of "jump-range based balance"???
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