Why isn't there a big call for use cases for all ships?

[Crook]

I see that a lot of commanders go for the progression route of bigger and bigger ships. The Python seems to be a decent stop off point as it can access the medium pad max outposts, but without that, I'm sure a Conda or bigger would be a better choice.

Why aren't there a lot of situations where smaller ships, or even specific ships are required? What about an outpost that will only allow Sidewinders or Vipers in - anything else can't dock?

With a large spread of these specific outposts, and missions that require small ships, wouldn't that allow for specialisation that doesn't just work up the scale of ships? If someone wanted to run a Cobra, there is a specific path for them that REQUIRES a cobra. Likewise, specific situations where a Conda or larger is needed - not just 'more' (cargo / firepower), but actually the physical size is required, like a variable magnetic field from a landing site / asteroid base that will scramble the electronics in anything smaller than a python.

For the future, if they allow more landable planets and gas giant play, I hope this kind of mechanism is employed to enrich the spread of ships. I don't see many commanders flying a sidewinder, but with the right outposts and missions, maybe a sidewinder is what's required.

This would also bring up the idea that you should be able to upgrade a sidey to compete with a cutter, on maneuverability grounds, or hard to 'get a lock' grounds for beams and whatnot. I don't think anyone is surprised that a modern fighter can take down a battleship in the right conditions.

 

[Friedenreich Xante]

Outfitting enables me to specialize my ships as I wish. I don't Need frontier to tell me which ship exactly I Need to use for a specific Mission. Those outposts are enough Limitation. I will take my mining ship (whatever it is) for mining, my combat ship for pew pew etc... I don't want anyone to tell me which brand of ship that has to be. Good Thing frontier wants me to blaze my own trail.

 

[Vardaugas]

You're not enriching anything by putting arbitrary and rather specific restrictions on the player.

 

[Stealthie]

People have been saying the same thing for years.

I'd like to see surface outposts, platforms and asteroid bases which can ONLY accommodate small ships, based on the economy and tech-level of the system.
Basically, certain systems would be "backwaters".
There could even be CGs with the goal of upgrading some outposts/stations with bigger pads periodically.

I'd also like to see systems which have "banned" specific types of ship - either common combat ships or, perhaps, large ships.
You could enter these systems but the cops would instruct you to leave or incur a bounty.

 

[jasonbirder]

wouldn't that allow for specialisation that doesn't just work up the scale of ships?

WHAT...don't consider the game a painful cr/hr grind directly towards the big 3 ships? Have commanders enjoying a variety of activities rather than maximising their Cr/Rank progression whilst moaning on the forums about how "grindy" it is? Get people doing something a little more skill-based rather than rinse and repeat passenger missions or Res Zone "farming" in a shield tank ???

Nah...that'll never catch on

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

WHAT...don't consider the game a painful cr/hr grind directly towards the big 3 ships? Have commanders enjoying a variety of activities rather than maximising their Cr/Rank progression whilst moaning on the forums about how "grindy" it is? Get people doing something a little more skill-based rather than rinse and repeat passenger missions or Res Zone "farming" in a shield tank ???

Nah...that'll never catch on

The thing is, I am sure there will be some people that will still do that regardless. But yeah I would like to see some specific roles for all the ships. At the moment I am happy just sitting in the medium ship range. I have no reason to get an Anaconda/Corvette/Cutter/Type 9-10. All I would do is the same stuff I am doing in my medium sized ships except it being easier to make more credits.

If they make the experience different, for example having a full NPC ships crew that you need to manage to run these ships, then the experience would be much different and I may think about getting one.

They should add missions that are small ship recommended such as needing to use silent running to scan/hack things without anyone noticing. The bigger the ship the more likely you will be noticed.

 

[Red Fox Four]

I've said it for a long time that smaller ships need to have some advantages.

Example: An Eagle could work as an interceptor by having faster supercruise acceleration and top speed. This would also make smaller ships more capable of escaping larger ships in supercruise, e.g. a smaller cargo ship like Hauler, Cobra Mk III, Type6 could then more easily avoid being attacked by someone in a Cutter.

Right now a vast majority of ships are just stepping stones towards the bigger ones and consequently gets sold off or collect dust ever after.

Hauler, useful for 1 day until you move on to Cobra 3.
Optionally use Adder for 1 day, and then Cobra 3.

Use Cobra 3 for awhile until you ditch it and use Type 6 for cargo.

Alternatively you use Eagle for 1 day, ditch it and move to Viper Mk 3, then play with that for a short while and ditch that too for a Vulture or similar combat ship.

Put simple... the majority of ships below FdL (combat), Python (multirole/trading) and Asp Explorer (exploration) are stepping stones and gets ditched soon after, never to be used again.

 

[GJ51]

Because you can use any ship for anything you want to do with it.

 

[Factabulous]

People always go for the big ships, small ships are best for some things, but many never realise because they have 'size issues' .

DBX is best explorer, iEagle / iCourier are great for surface scans due to speed (apparently adder as well, I need to try that), python is best BGS worker, FdL / Chieftain for pew-pew. While y'all big shippers are waiting for yours to turn around I'm in the next system already

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Because you can use any ship for anything you want to do with it.

No reason why that still wouldn't be the case. It may not be the best ship for the job though, but there would be no reason why you couldn't give it a shot.

 

[Bob McBobblehead]

People always go for the big ships, small ships are best for some things, but many never realise because they have 'size issues' .

DBX is best explorer, iEagle / iCourier are great for surface scans due to speed (apparently adder as well, I need to try that), python is best BGS worker, FdL / Chieftain for pew-pew. While y'all big shippers are waiting for yours to turn around I'm in the next system already

I think the ASPx is the best explorer at the moment, DBx suffers from poor fuel scooping speeds and the ASPx also has a better cockpit view.

 

[jasonbirder]

At the moment I am happy just sitting in the medium ship range

Why use anything else? Show me something in game I can't do in one of my Mediums/Smalls (except maybe Solo a Medusa/Basilisk) Combat for Fun (Viper 3) Combat - if you absolutely HAVE to be OP (FDL) Thargoid Combat (FGS) Trade (Python) Exploration/Mat Gethering/Mission Running (AspX)
Can't see how getting into an Anaconda/Corvette would enhance any of my activities...

 

[Vorxian]

Whoa, Vorxian... there's a tree stump we wish to remove... That one is going to be a challenge! Will be fun! Will you help? ....

Hmm, how much will I be paid?

Nothing!

What, nothing? No chance.

OK OK OK OK If you get it done in 3 days we'll give you a billion credits.

A billion credits, fine ok... but I'm King in the Empire... Normally I wouldn't get out of bed for less than a billion an hour...

It's all the credits we have...

FINE OK OK OK, I'll accept the challenge and remove that tree stump.

There... Tree stump gone. Give me my billion credits.


OP is OP.

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

Why use anything else? Show me something in game I can't do in one of my Mediums/Smalls (except maybe Solo a Medusa/Basilisk) Combat for Fun (Viper 3) Combat - if you absolutely HAVE to be OP (FDL) Thargoid Combat (FGS) Trade (Python) Exploration/Mat Gethering/Mission Running (AspX)
Can't see how getting into an Anaconda/Corvette would enhance any of my activities...

I agree. The only reason to use them is because you want to, a personal choice. It's pretty much why I say ship progression comes to a halt at the Cobra Mk3/Viper Mk4 area as those ship can do nearly everything reasonably well.

Everything after that is all personal choice.

 

[graeme.firth]

People have been saying the same thing for years.

I'd like to see surface outposts, platforms and asteroid bases which can ONLY accommodate small ships, based on the economy and tech-level of the system.
Basically, certain systems would be "backwaters".
There could even be CGs with the goal of upgrading some outposts/stations with bigger pads periodically.

I'd also like to see systems which have "banned" specific types of ship - either common combat ships or, perhaps, large ships.
You could enter these systems but the cops would instruct you to leave or incur a bounty.

I doubt many will agree with you, but I think this would add some nice variety.

I've never owned (although I've tried them in beta's) any of the big 3 - They don't suit my playing style, but that's a personal choice. I find them too damn expensive and slow. I've configured/engineered a variety of small ships for some niche roles - it's quite fun to do and to use them.

If I understand the OP correctly, the provision of other niche roles where the big ships are unsuitable (not necessarily unusable) may make for some interesting diversity in gameplay. A couple more idea's (aside from the small outpost idea) might be:

Super dense asteroid field - very little space for large ships to manoeuvre, with riches in deeper down.
Facilities with scan data etc deep inside the facility.

07 Cmdrs

 

[Muetdhiver]

I agree. The only reason to use them is because you want to, a personal choice. It's pretty much why I say ship progression comes to a halt at the Cobra Mk3/Viper Mk4 area as those ship can do nearly everything reasonably well.

Everything after that is all personal choice.

I kinda agree.

Past the ASP things become rather matter of taste. Beyond Thrgoids there is no content in the game where the Big3 feel required.
More like easy mode. And even then, thargoids content can be done is rather small ships too, so really, it's a matter of taste.

Which is quite a shame, TBH. Getting and pimping a corvette only to find out that you bougth your way to easy mode or even "let the computer do it" mode
can be disapointing. (And FD should really get their act together and build full difficulty curve)

The one thing I really like my conda for is just go and do stuff without having to change loadout. It's not super good for combat, but way more than enough
to deal with any PvE situation, can pirate, run missions or trade. The versaltility is maximal (can't mine though). Jack of all trade, master of none. The python is
pretty much the same, and the Cobra IV/ASP can fill the same role.

There is a role for every ship. Especially with engineering that can amplify moderate advantage to major advantage. Like in a SR DBS or DBX, or the iEagle and iCourrier
that can be turned into speed deamons.

The only ship I can't see a use for is the ASP/S... If anyone does, let me know (beyond target practice)

 

[Cmdr-Wotherspoon]

I like the Asp Scout. Not for exploring, but as a general-purpose runabout.

It would be good to see more reasons for using small ships. Large ships are way too easy to manoeuvre, now we have supercharged power distributors, which takes away some of the advantage small ships ought to have.

And I hate using the Anaconda for exploration, but while it has a greater jump range, there are systems accessible only using that ship.

When almost everyone is flying around in a Cutter or a Corvette (which gives the "easy mode" unlock) a lot of the fun goes out of the game, in my opinion.

 

[Brrokk]

People always go for the big ships, small ships are best for some things, but many never realise because they have 'size issues' .

DBX is best explorer, iEagle / iCourier are great for surface scans due to speed (apparently adder as well, I need to try that), python is best BGS worker, FdL / Chieftain for pew-pew. While y'all big shippers are waiting for yours to turn around I'm in the next system already

Recently with some repeated ship switching, I realised how much faster small ships are to dock and undock. The elevator platform is really ponderous at a large pad. The docking computer makes full use of the small ship's manoeuvreability if you're using it too.

 

[Bob McBobblehead]

I like the big ships for trading and that is about it. I prefer medium ships because they are more enjoyable to fly with the exception of the iClipper as it's the only large ship with excellent normal and supercruise handling.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

Where I really see the breakdown in ships is a very decided lack of purpose.
The Saud Kruger line of ships are possibly the only near-exception, as they are the only ships able to use the Luxury Cabin.
No other ship can claim to be a "Luxury Liner", though nearly any ship can equip a cabin of some sort - even the lowly Sidewinder can manage a 2-person Economy cabin.

And I hate to say it, but it's pretty much too late at this stage to make the sort of sensible changes to ships that would improve their roles.
The only real "fix" for this would be new, specialized modules, designed to fit only certain ships.

For example:

High Capacity Cargo Racks (size 2-8) that could only be equipped to Lakon Type-X ships, and hold 25% more cargo that standard racks.
This would give a definitive edge to the Type-X freighters being Freighters

Military Composite Hull and Module Reinforcement Packages that could only be equipped to combat-role ships, such as the Corvette, Viper III and IV, Cobra III and IV, Vulture, Eagle and Imperial Eagle, marking their roles as Combat Ships

And so on, to flesh out the actual Roles these various ships were built to fill. Yes, this would mean some more re-re-(possibly)-re Engineering of modules for some of us, but it would address the lack of focus of ship roles.

As it stands right now pretty much any ship can take on any role, which makes all of them fairly meaningless.