Everyone loves diversity, but does this game have it?

[hanks01]

Don't think I agree that the FDL is by default the best for PVP, it's a matter of taste. In fact I imagine a wing of 4 FDLs vs a wing of FDL, Anaconda, Python and Clipper would favour the mixed wing. Heck even swap the Clipper for a Vulture, FDLs are slow turners and the Vulture can deal damage and take an FDL time to engage. FDLs also can't tank damage and can't carry many shield cells (and the A4s only give 1 shield bar to the A5 shield... and you only get 4.) A Python can potentially stay in combat much longer than an FDL.

They all have advantages and disadvantages so a game of just Anacondas and FDLs is a total myth. Plenty of people who can afford them aren't flying them as they don't suit their personal preference or particular style of play.

When I was going for the Unknown artifact I used an A6 shielded Asp for the mix of smuggling benefit, maneouvering, scoopability (that's a new word) ability to tank damage and simply that I wanted cargo, not to blow the Type9 out of the sky.

 

[stoicfury]

Makes me wonder why the OP started this thread other than to put in the passive/aggressive fanboy line (just to make it absolutely clear that if we disagree with their assertion we may actually be fanboys.

I'm not sure you mean what you intend to mean when you use the term passive aggressive. The act of calling someone a fanboy is very actively aggressive. Nevertheless, I invite you to show me any post where I directly or indirectly called someone a fanboy. The only place it might seem I did is when I referred to a person (777Driver) "and a handful of fanboys" as sharing a particular belief; sharing a belief however doesn't imply the person shares a particular personality profile.

So yeah, to the OP's proposition, there is plenty of diversity in the ships. You may now call me a fanboy and dismiss my entire post.

Your sensitivity to being called a fanboy suggests to me the strength of the agreement you may have with the design decisions of this game. Rest assured however that if the term did not carry the negative connotation it does today, then it would only appropriately be used (in my mind) to describe someone who blindly supports a position without any explanation or reasoning to back it up. Your arguments make sense, are very reasonable, and I completely respect that (seriously). I really hope you are right. I will certainly keep your position in mind as I further analyze traffic data (if you are correct, then eventually Anaconda usage for trading should significantly (as in, statistical significance) differ in number than Anaconda usage for combat during Community Goals. Such a finding would strongly support your argument.).

Cheers

 

[stoicfury]

Just come from another thread, (lost it now or I would post a link), where the OP was saying how he had upgraded his ship, but was going back to his old one because it was more fun. The whole tread was full of people telling us what there favorite ship was and why they were sticking to it. There were fans of almost all types (even dropships ). Anacondas didn't feature much at all.

Hello, I am the OP. I don't know what you are talking about with regard to me going back to my old ship. I mentioned once that I use an Anaconda as my primary although aesthetically I like my python the most. Regardless, it doesn't really mean much if a handful of people in this thread say they have different favorite ships, because such a sample would not be in any way representative of the game population. As much as you and I do not like it, the statistics I provide are difficult to refute. To be clear: I want to be wrong, but dismissing the facts simply because we wish they weren't so is intellectually dishonest.

@OP, sounds like you have earnt more money then I have, maybe 3 times more.
I haven't owned a type 9 or Anaconda, so I can't comment from experience of flying them.

I have seen many of them in action though, and I like a fast ship. One of the things I hate about the Vulture is how slow it is, to be honest I'm not all that thrilled about the 406 "speed" of the FDL.

I was perfectly happy playing this game in my viper. I had no aspiration of ever owning a 150 million cr ship. With the change in income I could get there fairly easily now though.

I agree that more ship variety would be good. There are too many ships right now that are just better than the cheaper ones, making the cheaper ships stepping stones while you earn more credits.

More ships are going to be added to the game, I hope they don't just make more ships stepping stones.

You raise a good point in that many people will be happy with settling for less. The question is, in time, maybe 3 years from now, when you have plenty of money, would you switch to an Anaconda then? The problem with diversity isn't necessarily an immediate one; it may get worse over time (that's what I predict). It is because of exactly what you say -- too many ships are "stepping stones" to other ships. In the end, maybe everyone won't be in an anaconda, but they will be in a small handful of "best ships" which is still not very diverse.

 

[hanks01]

I'm not sure you mean what you intend to mean when you use the term passive aggressive. The act of calling someone a fanboy is very actively aggressive. Nevertheless, I invite you to show me any post where I directly or indirectly called someone a fanboy. The only place it might seem I did is when I referred to a person (777Driver) "and a handful of fanboys" as sharing a particular belief; sharing a belief however doesn't imply the person shares a particular personality profile.

I originally took it from this:

"Some people might be skeptical. I've seen them referred to as "fanboys" in a few posts, which is amusingly appropriate from a psychological perspective."

To me I (possibly wrongly) took this to suggest that anyone skeptical of the proposed issue of everyone flying Anacondas would by default be implicated as a fanboy. My "you may now dismiss me as a fanboy" post was just a facetious post closer. I agree with your term of fanboy as in blindly supporting a position against all reason and without explanation.

Not sure how easy it is to get data on who flies what and how often, but it should be a case of what is most flown and for what purpose rather than who owns a particular ship. I'm sure I'll eventually buy an Anaconda but the key question would be how often I use it as to whether we'd see everyone just flying them all the time. Outside of trading they wouldn't fill any particular role better than some of the other ships at which it becomes a point of personal preference.

 

[CMDR Hagglebeard]

I agree. One example I can give for this (I don't have time to read past the fifth paragraph) is to change the Vulture from being OP against everything, to a large-ship assault craft. I.e, strip that mobility away! Otherwise, give it a weaker range of hardpoints. The thing is OP right now.