So, it seems on literally every major or even semi-major patch, Lakon has put out new ships, or new variants of ships, with the Taipan Fighter being the next great thing to come from them (opinions may vary).
I'd like to offer my own suggestion to this to keep this pattern rolling, and, while this idea started off as a complete joke, I think I may actually be onto something here.
Basically, it'd be a combat-oriented version of the Type-9 Heavy. Maybe it's in-game description could involve it starting as a modification by an individual owner, and Lakon liked it so much, they bought the rights from the guy to actually manufacture it.
It would have fifteen small hardpoints for weapons (there's a reason for that), eight utility mounts, and, the core internals would be one-upped in class, the power plant a class 7, thrusters would go up to class 8 (once again, reason) the FSD would bump up to a class 7, life support would remain a class 5, and the power distributor would be jumped two classes to a class 8. Sensors and fuel tank would remain the same. It would also be fighter-capable, as the standard Type-9 is now.
For optional internals, it would simply have two class 8's, two class 6's, and three class 4 slots. This being a true combat-focused ship, it's not going to focus a lot on having flexibility or sheer space, and while yes, on paper, you could still trade a lot with this thing, there's a few notes to be had about this...
This ship *should*, given all the supposed bonuses I just gave, be absolutely HEAVY. Heavy enough that the only shields it could possibly fit, are class 8 shields. This would mean mass trading in it, while still possible, would be a huge risk. The maneuverability and speed should remain roughly the same as the standard T9 due to upgraded thrusters being able to handle the extra weight, and it's jump range should also reflect this, being about the same as an A-rated T9 without cargo.
The other thing, is this ship *should* be done up as the 'flagship design' for the multi-crew update. If the rumors/leaks/whatever have any merit, a ship with this setup would fly at it's best with a crew of four, having a helmsman focus purely on actually flying, a gunnery chief being in charge of the multitude of turrets, a dedicated fighter-class pilot, and, a flight engineer in charge of power distribution and countermeasures management.
This whole setup hinges on that multi-crew layout, but it also gives a unique ship fighting style that would absolutely depend on having a good crew. Will it be game breakingly awesome in combat, like the Anaconda or Federal Corvette? Probably not, but I can bet good money that it'd be a hell of a lot of fun to see something like this implemented, just purely as a 'make the most of multi-crew' ship.
I'd like to offer my own suggestion to this to keep this pattern rolling, and, while this idea started off as a complete joke, I think I may actually be onto something here.
Basically, it'd be a combat-oriented version of the Type-9 Heavy. Maybe it's in-game description could involve it starting as a modification by an individual owner, and Lakon liked it so much, they bought the rights from the guy to actually manufacture it.
It would have fifteen small hardpoints for weapons (there's a reason for that), eight utility mounts, and, the core internals would be one-upped in class, the power plant a class 7, thrusters would go up to class 8 (once again, reason) the FSD would bump up to a class 7, life support would remain a class 5, and the power distributor would be jumped two classes to a class 8. Sensors and fuel tank would remain the same. It would also be fighter-capable, as the standard Type-9 is now.
For optional internals, it would simply have two class 8's, two class 6's, and three class 4 slots. This being a true combat-focused ship, it's not going to focus a lot on having flexibility or sheer space, and while yes, on paper, you could still trade a lot with this thing, there's a few notes to be had about this...
This ship *should*, given all the supposed bonuses I just gave, be absolutely HEAVY. Heavy enough that the only shields it could possibly fit, are class 8 shields. This would mean mass trading in it, while still possible, would be a huge risk. The maneuverability and speed should remain roughly the same as the standard T9 due to upgraded thrusters being able to handle the extra weight, and it's jump range should also reflect this, being about the same as an A-rated T9 without cargo.
The other thing, is this ship *should* be done up as the 'flagship design' for the multi-crew update. If the rumors/leaks/whatever have any merit, a ship with this setup would fly at it's best with a crew of four, having a helmsman focus purely on actually flying, a gunnery chief being in charge of the multitude of turrets, a dedicated fighter-class pilot, and, a flight engineer in charge of power distribution and countermeasures management.
This whole setup hinges on that multi-crew layout, but it also gives a unique ship fighting style that would absolutely depend on having a good crew. Will it be game breakingly awesome in combat, like the Anaconda or Federal Corvette? Probably not, but I can bet good money that it'd be a hell of a lot of fun to see something like this implemented, just purely as a 'make the most of multi-crew' ship.