Can Gutamaya please make some new combat oriented imperial ships in preparation of Thargoids return?
I know this is likely to start a flamewar between Federation and Empire fanboys , but please, hear me out....
In comparison to their federal counterparts, the imperial ships are fragile and toothless. I've even seen another imperial player saying that "Imperial ships are made of wet paper".
Take our first rank lock ship, the Courier, 3xM hardpoints class 3 distributor, good shields for its size to be fair, having twice the shields of its fed counterpart, but only a quarter of the armour. The courier is outgunned by a viper mk3 which costs a twelfth of the price and has no rank lock in front of it. Being unlocked at rank 3 I am going to compare the courier to the federation Rank 3 ship, the Dropship, which has 4x Medium hardpoints and 1x Large hardpoint. Even with unengineered pulse lasers in all hardpoints, the FDS has twice the firepower in Damage Per Second and has a suitably large distributor to keep firing for roughly the same amount of time as a courier can keep its guns blazing if not longer. Granted the FDS's jump range and speed are weak points compared to the courier which can jump ten light years more and boost to higher speeds but the FDS can boost more often because of that distributor .
The next imperial rank locked ship is the Clipper, which comes at rank 7, the same rank as the Federal Gunship. However there in lies a problem, in between the FDS & FGS the feds have the Federal Assault Ship unlocked at Rank 5. On paper, stats wise, the FAS and Clipper are comparable and in my opinion fairly balanced against each other. However the clipper is the weaker of the two as it has poor weapons placement/convergence, can only land on large pads, has a very poor base shield modifier. The base shield modifier on a clipper is so woefully low that in straight MJ's a vulture can make a 30% stronger shield than a clipper, and the clippers shields and boosters making that weaker shield costs more than twice what a combat fit vulture costs, and the vultures ratio of distributor size to shield power demands is also more favourable.
The Clipper is not even in the same league as a FGS. It is in the same league as a FAS, empire rank 7 ship comparable to federation rank 5 ship no less. But given how much money combat fitting the Clipper costs, it should have similar performance to an Fer De Lance, which out guns and outspecs it in shields when in combat fit. What imperial ship should we compare against the Federal Gunship? There is nothing to compare it to, if we go for clipper then obviously the clipper is at a strong disadvantage not being able to launch fighters unlike the FGS, and the FGS having about 30% more firepower and one size larger of distributor to keep those guns blazing.
The empire has nothing comparable to the FGS.
Since the Cutter is obviously our equivalent to a Corvette, highlighted by both being unlocked at Rank 12, I'll compare them directly. Corvette/Cutter are both in lore their respective navy's frigates. The imperial one is seemingly for soft power while the federal one for naked force. The imperial cutter has the worst yaw pitch and roll rates of any ship in the game, even if the owner lavishes >365Million credits on 8A thrusters and 8A powerplant to keep them going. Some might argue that the cutters prodigious boost speed is a counter the the corvettes agility and its own lack thereof. However, please remember that the Cutter has class 7 distributor feeding class 8 thrusters, so boost turning with those hungry class 8 thrusters will rapidly deplete that meagre class 7 distributor, which, unlike the corvettes pairing of class 7 thrusters and class 8 distributor, simply struggles. Furthermore Weapons placement on a cutter is simply abysmal compared to a corvette's placement and convergence. I accept that is the payback for our Cutters greater jump range and speed. However its manoeuvrability and power distributor need a serious rethink, the cutter, simply because it is so heavy it needs class 8 thrusters needs a class 8 distributor.
My suggestions?
To fill the gunship shaped gap in her fleet I'd suggest that the emperor follow the example of the British Empire's Royal Navy during World War 2 and commission an emergency order for a new class of ships from Gutamaya.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Emergency_Programme_destroyers
I'd anticipate the new class of ships arising from that emergency purchase order getting a name like "Imperial Carrack" or "Imperial Corsair" or "Imperial Caravel". I'd also suggest that in the interest of expediency (both for FD and Gutamaya depending on how strong your immersion is) that these new ships be based on an Imperial Clipper and adapting it to become a gunship by applying modifications to the hull to accommodate:
The ship that would be built from the above design brief would be hampered by:
To make the "Imperial Cutter" frigate class more effective, I'd suggest a class eight distributor be shoehorned in like a class 7 fuel tank was shoehorned into a Beluga during 2.2 beta. I'd also suggest that we increase the size of its manoeuvring thruster nozzles to give it a healthy boost to its yaw pitch and roll stats to bring a cutter with class 8A thrusters agility comparable to that of an anaconda when it has class 7A thrusters installed. In the interests of balance make sure the revised cutter is still less agile than a corvette, but more agile than it is currently.
TL
R War is coming, imperial ships are lame, so lets slightly buff the cutter by giving it a bigger distributor and a slight buff to its agility, and make a new ship class (effectively an imperial gunship) out of a modified clipper hull with less internal slots and more hardpoints.
I know this is likely to start a flamewar between Federation and Empire fanboys , but please, hear me out....
In comparison to their federal counterparts, the imperial ships are fragile and toothless. I've even seen another imperial player saying that "Imperial ships are made of wet paper".
Take our first rank lock ship, the Courier, 3xM hardpoints class 3 distributor, good shields for its size to be fair, having twice the shields of its fed counterpart, but only a quarter of the armour. The courier is outgunned by a viper mk3 which costs a twelfth of the price and has no rank lock in front of it. Being unlocked at rank 3 I am going to compare the courier to the federation Rank 3 ship, the Dropship, which has 4x Medium hardpoints and 1x Large hardpoint. Even with unengineered pulse lasers in all hardpoints, the FDS has twice the firepower in Damage Per Second and has a suitably large distributor to keep firing for roughly the same amount of time as a courier can keep its guns blazing if not longer. Granted the FDS's jump range and speed are weak points compared to the courier which can jump ten light years more and boost to higher speeds but the FDS can boost more often because of that distributor .
The next imperial rank locked ship is the Clipper, which comes at rank 7, the same rank as the Federal Gunship. However there in lies a problem, in between the FDS & FGS the feds have the Federal Assault Ship unlocked at Rank 5. On paper, stats wise, the FAS and Clipper are comparable and in my opinion fairly balanced against each other. However the clipper is the weaker of the two as it has poor weapons placement/convergence, can only land on large pads, has a very poor base shield modifier. The base shield modifier on a clipper is so woefully low that in straight MJ's a vulture can make a 30% stronger shield than a clipper, and the clippers shields and boosters making that weaker shield costs more than twice what a combat fit vulture costs, and the vultures ratio of distributor size to shield power demands is also more favourable.
The Clipper is not even in the same league as a FGS. It is in the same league as a FAS, empire rank 7 ship comparable to federation rank 5 ship no less. But given how much money combat fitting the Clipper costs, it should have similar performance to an Fer De Lance, which out guns and outspecs it in shields when in combat fit. What imperial ship should we compare against the Federal Gunship? There is nothing to compare it to, if we go for clipper then obviously the clipper is at a strong disadvantage not being able to launch fighters unlike the FGS, and the FGS having about 30% more firepower and one size larger of distributor to keep those guns blazing.
The empire has nothing comparable to the FGS.
Since the Cutter is obviously our equivalent to a Corvette, highlighted by both being unlocked at Rank 12, I'll compare them directly. Corvette/Cutter are both in lore their respective navy's frigates. The imperial one is seemingly for soft power while the federal one for naked force. The imperial cutter has the worst yaw pitch and roll rates of any ship in the game, even if the owner lavishes >365Million credits on 8A thrusters and 8A powerplant to keep them going. Some might argue that the cutters prodigious boost speed is a counter the the corvettes agility and its own lack thereof. However, please remember that the Cutter has class 7 distributor feeding class 8 thrusters, so boost turning with those hungry class 8 thrusters will rapidly deplete that meagre class 7 distributor, which, unlike the corvettes pairing of class 7 thrusters and class 8 distributor, simply struggles. Furthermore Weapons placement on a cutter is simply abysmal compared to a corvette's placement and convergence. I accept that is the payback for our Cutters greater jump range and speed. However its manoeuvrability and power distributor need a serious rethink, the cutter, simply because it is so heavy it needs class 8 thrusters needs a class 8 distributor.
My suggestions?
To fill the gunship shaped gap in her fleet I'd suggest that the emperor follow the example of the British Empire's Royal Navy during World War 2 and commission an emergency order for a new class of ships from Gutamaya.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Emergency_Programme_destroyers
I'd anticipate the new class of ships arising from that emergency purchase order getting a name like "Imperial Carrack" or "Imperial Corsair" or "Imperial Caravel". I'd also suggest that in the interest of expediency (both for FD and Gutamaya depending on how strong your immersion is) that these new ships be based on an Imperial Clipper and adapting it to become a gunship by applying modifications to the hull to accommodate:
- a class 4 hardpoint on the top aft section of the fuselage space to be made for this by removing one of the class 4 optional slots and moving machinery accordingly
- if possible relocate the 2x Medium hardpoints towards the centre line of the vessel
- either of these two options
- installing twin class 6 distributors in parallel having one in the current position and into the class 6 optional slot and
- a class 7 power distributor - by moving internal compartments or using the class 7 optional bay
- Find space for an additional two utility slots by converting one of the class two module bays
- retune the positioning and distribution of the shield emmiters on the resultant modified hull to give it a shield strength comparable to a Fer De Lance
The ship that would be built from the above design brief would be hampered by:
- a class 6 powerplant with a lot of power consuming weapons and utilities
- its inability to land on a medium pad restricting its options for repair rearm and refuelling
- a reduction in internal module slots limiting its versatility, it is now a gunship not a multipurpose vessel
- since we haven't upgraded the thrusters and Frame Shift Drive, we might see a slight drop in jump range manoeuvrability and speed
To make the "Imperial Cutter" frigate class more effective, I'd suggest a class eight distributor be shoehorned in like a class 7 fuel tank was shoehorned into a Beluga during 2.2 beta. I'd also suggest that we increase the size of its manoeuvring thruster nozzles to give it a healthy boost to its yaw pitch and roll stats to bring a cutter with class 8A thrusters agility comparable to that of an anaconda when it has class 7A thrusters installed. In the interests of balance make sure the revised cutter is still less agile than a corvette, but more agile than it is currently.
TL
R War is coming, imperial ships are lame, so lets slightly buff the cutter by giving it a bigger distributor and a slight buff to its agility, and make a new ship class (effectively an imperial gunship) out of a modified clipper hull with less internal slots and more hardpoints.
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