Ships Improving the Federal Gunship

[rajziel]

Started playing with the Federal Gunship yesterday.
While it is not as underwhelming as it is made out to be, it can stand to be buffed a little to make it more desirable in the short term.

I've seen suggestions to boost it's shield power but with it's armour capabilities as well as offensive utility I think that could be a little overpowering.

Also I have seen suggestions that it may prove itself with it's additional fighter bay and atmospheres, but they are not in the game and should not be considered at this point.

All I propose to make this ship more appealing is slight boosts to speed and jump range or a major boost to either one of those.

The FGS is significantly slower than a Python, I'm not saying give it Courier speed, but make it a bit more competitive with the Python so that it could get to the battles when it needs to and also give it a chance when retreating.

With the Jump range adding another 6ly to it's capability may make some people consider the ship more. right now there's no reason not to get a FDL over a FGS. While an increased jump range wont change that situation for some people, it may for others.

If these 2 are too much then i say give it either the speed of the Courier or the range of an Asp. just for fun.

Also the FGS deserves love as it isnt even in the list of ships for a prefix in these forums. Poor FGS, the forgotten ship of Elite

 

[Kaybe]

Hi Rajziel,

I have a great deal of experience with this ship as it's my primary High RES hunting beast. And it is very very good at it.

First off, while both it and the Python use a class 7 power distributor, the Federal Gunship has more hardpoints, meaning it is very efficient with it's firepower. I equip mine with 3 beam lasers and 4 multicannons, and with four pips into weapons, I can fire ALL my weapons for quite some time. Ships melt under it's firepower.

While it does not have a good jump range, it is currently the best supercruising ship in the game (as no doubt you've noticed if you've flown it). It can outmaneuver a Sidewinder in supercruise right now, making it the best ship in game for interdicting and fighting interdictions. And while it's normal space speed is slow, it's very energy efficient for boosting. With just two pips into engines, you can keep it at or close to it's max speed pretty much permanently.

Also note one very very important factor here: the Gunship is one of only one of two low to mid range ships with a fighter bay (the other being the Keelback). This means it is balanced with that fighter bay in mind, even if that feature isn't in game yet. It is slated for release in 2.2., which I guesstimate at around 3 months away or so. No one knows yet what that feature will bring, but you can certainly bet that it'll make this ship even stronger than it currently is.

As for the prefix ... I agree :/ I started the Federal Gunship Owners thread a few months back (which has since drifted far back) and had to label it as Meta.

 

[rajziel]

I agree with everything you say mate, the FGS is quite powerful, yet unappealing.

I'm not saying it is in dire need of a buff, but was trying to think of ways to boost the appeal without overpowering the ship.

I would happily settle for more range over speed, but a minor speed boost shouldnt make too much difference as most combat ships will still be faster.

Oh yeah, and also paint jobs! and paintjobs for the FAS too!