Thank God for the Beta

[znôrt]

It would be really nice to have a "try before buy" feature in Elite Dangerous. Something like a simulator at every station that sells ships that would allow a potential buyer to try out the ships available at that station.

if you are curious about a ship just go ahead and buy it, if you don't like it just sell it off, it's peanuts. a 'test ride' is actually available for more than half of the ships for well under 1m. even the most expensive cutter you can buy, test and sell for 20mill total cost. it's not a fortune. that would be stock, but modules you can resell for 100% their value, so no cost incurred either. you only need to amass a little capital first to test the big ones, but not really much.

Maybe even with engineering (obviously just selecting the desired mod and special effect - as it is only a simulation)

engineering is a different matter. ships are pretty unique and there are just so many of them. engineering mods and effects are a lot of combinations, and an entire ship is far easier to get than most of those, which is just perverse. engineering should be available for credits just like ships, and cheap. but then all the mats and exciting(tm) grind would suddenly be irrelevant, bummer.

and then some test scenarios to try out the ship with.

a bit of overkill. why waste dev time with that if you can just fly around the station or head to the nav beacon.

 

[Red Anders]

I hardly ever fly my Cutter. The Corvette is awesome though, none of the handling problems the Cutter presents, manoeverable in a fight, decent supercruise handling and enough internals that you don't have to use it just as a combat ship, you can do pretty much anything in it. Also with a Guardian FSD booster the one thing that held it back (jump range) is now resolved. I have a general purpose mission-runner that jumps about 30LY.

 

[dm06]

...it is good that in ED you can't fly cutter as sidewinder... well, at least effectively. This provides different experiences. One always can change ship to try something new.

 

[Krash]

As others have said, flying big ships takes different skills and more patience. I fly and enjoy the Viper, Courier, Vulture, DBX. I also enjoy flying the T10, Conda, Vette and Cutter; which are different flight models and experiences as it should be. If you are stuck in a small ship mindset and can't compartmentalize your flight model when you sit in the cutter then obviously you'll hate it.

 

[Screemonster]

As others have said, flying big ships takes different skills and more patience. I fly and enjoy the Viper, Courier, Vulture, DBX. I also enjoy flying the T10, Conda, Vette and Cutter; which are different flight models and experiences as it should be. If you are stuck in a small ship mindset and can't compartmentalize your flight model when you sit in the cutter then obviously you'll hate it.

I remember the time I was doing Ceos/Sothis to grind fed rank back in the day. Flew out there in my DBX, ran a bunch of missions while I waited for my python to be shipped over. When it got there, I took off, pointed at the slot, and forgot that unlike the DBX, the python doesn't fit through it sideways...

 

[Tifu]

Tested the big three when they first came out (in that beta) not for me either.

Nor me. The Beluga looks tempting though

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

I flew a Anaconda (in game) and a Corvette (in beta)... But not for long. Okay 100m hood in front of the cockpit is impressive, especially in VR, but honestly, those ships are not my style. I returned to the Asp and now the Krait, which are the ships i like best. I would even consider a Cobra Mk. IV if it would not lack a utility mount for my type of setup.

The smaller ships just feel more like home.

This is how I feel too. I would consider one of the bigger ships when there is NPC crew mates on the bridge as it would give a different experience then the smaller ships.

 

[CMDR-AD]

I tend to enjoy both worlds. My daily driver is a Cobra Mk3, it can get anywhere and has thus far been able to survive it. The Asp Explorer is my prime Exploration ship, and the Keelback a favorite for mission running and mining, and even surface exploration.

But then in other hangers, far away... The Beluga. What a ride, better comfort and visuals (IMO) than all other large ships. The Type-9. My super freighter, I love the heavy slow handling. And the Corvette, which is almost like a large pad Cobra. Does anything from cargo to mining to AX combat. And fun, too.

It's almost like a day/night change for me, when after a session in my large ships... I load the Cobra. Looking around the small Cockpit, it's like I'm back home from work!

 

[Factabulous]

For heavy combat and missions my Battleconda "Pancake" does all the hard work, with super shields and hull(soon™), and all the tools I need.

But mostly I just fly my Krait Mk2. Lol

Woah! Someone call the naming-police stat!

I thought it was a rule that Kraits are called Pancake, not 'condas. Conda = fatboi, krait is flat as a ....

 

[BaddMongo]

Then the vagrancies of ED came to bit me, as soon as I would low wake out, 10 seconds later the Anaconda would be back to start the interdiction process again so I would repeat the act again. This happened a total of 3 times, the fourth interdiction started when I was between the planet and the station and this one I finally won.

Looks like FDev have still not fixed that annoying bug yet then if still happening in the Beta. Exact same been happening to me in game on multiple occasions, I submitted a bug report here about it the other week, feel free to add your voice to it if you want to.

 

[Valorin]

Yep, the Beta just saved me a lot of money! On a whim this afternoon I decided to get a Cutter. I will be honest I have never been a fan of the large ships, never really wanted one, never saw the need of one (for me at least). But I also thought that is being a little narrow minded if I have never tried one out, so I took the opportunity Beta provided and got myself one. Fitted it out for maximum cargo whilst keeping some of the goodies I like, ended up with a nice capacity of 704T, way more than the 248T my Python can carry.

Jumped it back from Jameson, did a little bit of Engineering cos I could, and took my first mission - a simple 1200T fetch mission. Knew where the commodities were located, one jump away, rechecked the firing groups to see if I had everything done right and requested a departure. That is when things started going bad. The thing wallowed like a brick, nearly didn't make it through the slot due to the drift. Eventually got out of the station without further incident, and whilst the speed was good, it was a bit of a chore just turning to align the jump but I managed. Did the first run, still not impressed with the SC handling and on the jump back home nearly melted the ship because I took going around the star too easy (forgot about the handling of the Cutter basically). Did the final run and as soon as I jumped back into my home system, got interdicted by an Anaconda. Normally I enjoy the mini-game, I like to beat the NPC as I know they won't bother me again due to the short SC to the station. But I couldn't shake the Anaconda during the mini-game, eventually submitted, and boosted (yes the Cutter is fast, I will give it that). Then the vagrancies of ED came to bit me, as soon as I would low wake out, 10 seconds later the Anaconda would be back to start the interdiction process again so I would repeat the act again. This happened a total of 3 times, the fourth interdiction started when I was between the planet and the station and this one I finally won.

Okay first mission down, did make some decent credits but the repair cost (for the emergency drop when I didn't clear the star - yes my fault, I admit it) chewed into the profits more than I thought. Then I did some checking and came to the conclusion that I would have made the same amount of credits doing a group smaller fetch mission in the Python and included outposts and I do like stacking those types of missions together.

I know some of you love your big ships, and I have nothing but admiration for you. But for me, I am happy I got to try out one of the 'big 3' and more happy to finally be able to confirm they aren't for me. I would hate to take one into combat as it would not suit the way I fly and fight. I will resign myself now to the only two large ships I will own, a Clipper and when 3.3 has dropped, an Orca for exploration (although that is still a toss up with the Phantom - love that ship in Beta).

Just to reiterate, I am not against the Big 3, just glad the Beta gave me the opportunity to try one out and finally confirm they aren't for me.

Whut? How dare you say the big 3 are bad ships?!? Oh, wait! ...
Actually I don't like to fly big ships either. I own an Anaconda, a T10 and a Beluga, and it's just not for me. Too bulky, too slow to react. The Anaconda was never a great exploration ship for me despíte all the stuff it can fit and the decent jumprange, so I am as well very much looking forward to the Krait Phantom. Perfect ship for me.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Woah! Someone call the naming-police stat!

I thought it was a rule that Kraits are called Pancake, not 'condas. Conda = fatboi, krait is flat as a ....

Lol

My Anaconda is named 'Pancake' after how I first lost it... and second... and third!
I landed on a sentry skimmer the first time. Silly 4g planet.
Krait didn't exist back then.

Pancake the only one of my ships, not named after a Megadrive (Genesis) game. Heh.

 

[pzykozomatik]

But getting interdicted by Anacondas is the best part of flying a trade Cutter! That's where its ability to equip seven Pack-Hound launchers comes in.

 

[dognosh]

I love the Cutter because it drifts...go figure

 

[Guest 161958]

Nothing can replace an anaconda. It is horribly unbalanced and overpowered. Hope it is fixed soon

 

[Hank]

Yes, Thanks for beta. I did the same thing and tested out a Mamba, a Type-10 and a Vette. Went back to RL and bought the T-10. Returned to Beta, sold the T-10 and promptly bought the Vette. As of yesterday, I'm a RL Vette owner. I'm not ranked for a Cutter by a long shot so that wasn't even an option for me.

It depends on how you look at it; did Beta save me money? Well, I was able to buy sell, outfit and test ships I was interested in w/o killing my RL Bank account. It still cost me a lot in my RL account, but I knew before hand what to expect due to Beta.
So thanks Beta.

Now I must return to RL ED and start making money with my new toys. GL HF

 

[moorison]

I do enjoy flying the T9 from time to time, but it is the only ship I got successfully interdicted (by NPCs) and that makes me much more attentive flying it. I tested the Beluga in a previous Beta and realised, that I would not like the manoeuvering at a space-station.

A simulator or test-drive-mode would be helpful even if the ship is E-rated. It might cost a few credits for specific scenarios.

 

[Montague]

The Cutter requires a lot of practice. I wasn't crazy about it at first, but it grew on me. Its speed is a great asset. You can equip long range turrets and kite any pesky npc Anacondas that interdict you.

 

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

The cutter is the only ship you need to learn how to fly to be able to use it. Sure its a subjective art and different for everyone but i think with the cutter it comes down to 2 general ideas:

Spoiler

- Basic FA off is required. Not an option to avoid this if you want to remove frustration.
- The lateral thrusters only appear to work at speeds no greater than 100.

Once you learn how to fly its so much fun and the mid range of ships are just boring mud nothing feedback (the agile ships still stand on their own).

 

[varonica]

Last beta (not the beyond beta) I tested out the Beluga Barge, got it out of the station with just a minor snag and took it planet side to do some testing. It seemed a bit awkward at first but you know I really came to enjoy how you could slide sideways around corners in canyons. I am not a passenger runner so I haven't used it since, but I think the racers are missing out on some good events if they don't schedule big ship specific races, sort of like truck racing.

Certainly each ship requires a certain piloting style that you never really appreciate unless you really try them for a while.