I would really like to see the old lesser used ships fixed before any new ships developed. For instance, they should add either a class 2 or 3 military slot to the Keelback (it was the first warship built for the Alliance). Make the DBS and Asp scouts more useful. Fix the Type 9 and Type 10 beam in areas (should be by lower front hatch). And several other things.
DB scout is a great ship. Asp Scout is useless I'll agree.
yup the dbs is a very underrated ship. had a cmdr tease me for being in an invasion system with it. using it regularly in ax cz to pop cyclops and 1 very cheap rebuy thus far. my piloting & gunnery skills are somewhat average only
Hi All 
The Cutter needs some work with the various thrusters, Auto launch from stations, Auto landing on Carriers too. Terrible, I've almost given up on the Auto Launch, preferring to disable the Auto Launch and manually leave the station.
Picked up various fines for loitering, and in a lot of cases having to go manual as the ship gets stuck in the stations framework!. Definitely a bug since the 14 patch. Didn't have this problem in the 3.8 legacy version.
Jack
The Cutter needs some work with the various thrusters, Auto launch from stations, Auto landing on Carriers too. Terrible, I've almost given up on the Auto Launch, preferring to disable the Auto Launch and manually leave the station.
Picked up various fines for loitering, and in a lot of cases having to go manual as the ship gets stuck in the stations framework!. Definitely a bug since the 14 patch. Didn't have this problem in the 3.8 legacy version.
Jack
The Asp Scout, T-7, FAS, FGS are all largely redundant and need tuning. The Asp Scout needs the most love.
I think a very small change could make the FAS extremely relevant for AX combat: namely splitting the top C3 hardpoint into two closely mounted C2s. This would allow for two pairs of C2 Guardian weapons (one pair underneath, one pair up top) alongside a single TV beam or Flak in the under-nose C3. This would make it far more comparable to the Krait or Chieftain for AX combat.
A couple of extra Utility slots wouldn't go amiss either since carrying a Xeno Scanner and a Field Neutralizer only leaves space for two heatsinks which - even with the Sirius ones - is somewhat of an ammo issue when fighting waves of Interceptors in an AX CZ. Personally I don't find synthesis (and the associated material collection required) exciting "gameplay".
TBH - that last one is equally relevant to any ship with only 4 utilities. A better solution might be for some other heatsink technology that increases ammo significantly as otherwise we'll just get a load of ships in standard play with a stupid number of shield boosters ... perhaps a new Heatsink that recovers spent ammunition from your guns to use as it's own ammo (at least in terms of the explanation in "lore", actually implementing that mechanic might be too complex!) but comes with something like a 5x reload time penalty as a trade off?
I'd have to disagree a bit, mainly because you are then just replicating the Alliance Chieftain as well as having to rework the model itself (which I think would put FD off more). The FAS (like its brethren) need to stand out more and not just 'be' other ships (not to say your reasoning is wrong).
You can (?) more easily tweak its agility, hardness and hull HP to keep its 'character' of a turbo nutter Rottweiler, so if you want something rounded you opt for the Chief, for a more hardcore ship you go FAS. That or make the Chiefs engines more brittle (since they are so exposed).
For the FGS its a matter of adding more seats to bring it in line with the Alliance counterpart, and the T-7 revert the last changes (longer jumps, faster) and add back the 'missing' small (which is still on the model).
Asp Scout needs something like:
Lower the cost significantly- at least 1/3 to 1/4 of what it is now - it has to be cheaper than a Keelback but more expensive than a CM 3 and DB S (and on par with DB E)
Up its speed (+ 50 m/s faster cruise, 100 m/s boost) - still slightly slower than a Cobra Mk 3 but has better utility (see below)
Base range upped slightly (so its slightly better than a DB Scout, but more expensive) but below a DB E.
Add a size 1 2 slot (so superior/ on par to CM3 but inferior to T-6 / Keelback)
Add 2 more utility slots (so its back to the 4 the Explorer has) - this is a direct upgrade to the CM3 and the 3 utils on T-6, Keelback - is on par with DB S and X
This makes it a halfway house between the T-6 / Keelback and Cobra Mk 3- a fast, roomy ship thats an alternative to the CM3, has decent range and utility.
Completely appreciate - and agree with - the desire to keep ships diverse and interesting.
However, I don't think having 4xC2 and 1xC3 in any way duplicates either the Chief or Krait - or indeed any ship - in terms of hardpoint selection. In fact, I think that would be pretty unique? The Krait would still out-gun it and the Chief would "out-versatile" it.
I guess it comes down to why people want to fly particular ships and for me a lot of that is how the ship and it's cockpit look and feel:
- The Chieftain flies great but the cockpit looks like a bus. I also think it looks pretty awful externally but at least I don't have to look at that all day whilst flying it!
- The Krait, on the other hand, has a cockpit which feels flimsy with thin support struts and lots of glass. Doesn't inspire any confidence in lasting more than 5 minutes in a fight.
- The FAS - however - looks, to me, as a military combat vessel should: both inside and out: solid and a little stark
* EDIT *
Final thought on the FAS ... if it's supposed to be a "Rottweiler" of a hull-tank ... it's hull hardness should be upped to the same as the Corvette. It's madness that the Alliance ships have better hull.
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Not saying it isn't. Just think needs a little beefier hull armor and maybe 1 more C2 internal slot. It is supposed to be a "Scout ship " after all.
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FAS, 4 large and give it some more shields.
Asp Scout - morph the V4 into the Asp Scout, the V4 is more of a mini-Asp than the scout will ever be. Turn the V4 into a proper heavy viper.
Asp Scout - morph the V4 into the Asp Scout, the V4 is more of a mini-Asp than the scout will ever be. Turn the V4 into a proper heavy viper.
I've been thinking about this a lot myself recently!
A few things I'd love to see:
Ground Attack Fighters
It's such a shame that iconic OG ships like the Sidewinder and Eagle so quickly become redundant. Sure, Elite Dangerous is a game where you can do whatever you want in whatever you want, but the Sidewinder and Eagle don't really have a (conventional) niche in which they excel above everything else. I think Odyssey offers a really good opportunity for a new lease of life though, as the "air support" component of the whole on foot sphere of combat thing. Providing the Eagle/Sidewinder with access to bombs that deal AOE damage, or maybe even laser-guided weapons that require the assistance of a player somehow (some kind of grenade/item for the on foot player that provides an object an airborne player can target with missiles/bombs/gimballed/etc) could add a fun new twist to combat, and by limiting them to ships like the Eagle or Sidewinder, you build in a little bit of automatic balance by restricting them to smaller/squishier ships. Maybe it would only be useful as a gimmick, but having someone lob a sticky grenade at an SRV, and then an Eagle swoop in to shoot off a couple of missiles at it feels like something that would open up some fun shenanigans.
Player-Deployed Soldiers
On foot combat zones already give us Vultures showing up and deploying soldiers. It doesn't seem like it would be much of a stretch for a similar functionality to become available to players: a module that lets you launch/spawn NPC soldiers to help out in a combat zone. Maybe it's a reskinned Planetary Vehicle Bay: the door opens up, and folks jump out of the bottom. Maybe it is more of a "bomb bay": an object is launched from your ship, and soldiers spawn from the location where it impacts. Maybe it works a bit like a limpet controller, and your ship needs to have passenger cabins (or a new "barracks" module, or whatever) instead of cargo to accomodate the "ammo" for your dropship module, adding a bit of build flexibility and creating a bit of a restock/resupply loop so that players can't spam reinforcements infinitely, but can also configure their ship to maximise the amount of cavalry they can send in. Limiting which ships can fit this module would be the way this brings new life to old/niche ships: the Federal Dropship, obviously, the Vulture, whichever of the Alliance C's gets the least love, etc. Paired with Ground Attack Fighters, it starts creating roles for spacecraft in Odyssey combat too, which I think would be a fun/needed incentive for players to bring ships along to that fight - and perhaps for NPCs to do the same, creating a need for things an anti-aircraft SRV and what-not in the future.
Larger Fighter Bay
While the Eagle and Imperial Eagle are quite big, the Sidewinder and the Hauler are not that much bigger than the Ship-Launched Fighters we already have. Since the Condor and Imperial Fighter from CQC are already among the SLF options, having a version of the Sidewinder there would be a nice bit of parity if nothing else. But, if FDev were to add in a dismiss/recall feature similar to what we get in an SRV, that suddenly opens up a whole new functionality for "auxiliary" ships. Currently, the game can cope with your SRV having its own inventory, separate from the inventory of your ship, and you can transfer items in and out of that inventory using the existing UI. Add the same functionality to a Ship-Launched Hauler, paired with the ability to dismiss/recall your ship while in space, and you've unlocked a transfer vehicle. You've unlocked the ability to fly from A to B in a fully loaded Type 9, and then ferry the contents of your ship back and forth using a Hauler - similar to what commanders do already with Fleet Carriers. Is it a min/maxed way of doing it? Nah, grind for a Fleet Carrier or whatever. But it's cool, and suddenly you've got a reason to use a (ship-launched version of a) Hauler, to use/buy Hauler skins from the ARX store, etc.
It wouldn't necessarily just be helpful for cargo, either. In exchange for whatever tonnage the larger "Shuttlebay" occupies, you get the ability to use the (generally speaking) longer jump range of a bigger ship to get you to where you need to go, but then when you get there you've got access to something that can land on a small pad, or something small that can get closer to the ground to make finding Exobiology targets easier. Heck, even the sheer convenience of having a small/nimble ship with a cargo scoop that you can deploy to gather up salvage could be a nice thing to have. I'm sure there's more options that could be opened up by this framework as well - maybe some sort of deployable mining ship that does the lasering/abrasioning while the parent vessel does the limpeting? - and in the future, if we start getting planets where the atmosphere is significant enough for aerodynamics to start coming into play, the option to bring something like a Hauler or Sidewinder with you so that you can leave your Type 9 up in space feels like a good functionality for the game to have.
Asp Mk II (or Mk III)
Part of the lore with the Asp Explorer is that it's based on the Asp Mk II. This was designed for military/police work, and is basically the version of the Asp that appeared in the older games. The Asp Scout pretty heavily echoes the shape of that OG wireframe Asp from the original game, so my headcanon has always been that the Asp Scout is basically the Asp Mk II, but it's ex-military, stripped-down, nerfed for civilian consumption, etc - unlike the Asp Explorer, which was specifically designed as something changed/enhanced for the civilian market. This feels like a really good narrative excuse to buff the Asp Scout, because if it is the stripped-down version of the Mk II, presumably it can be "stripped up" and restored to military specs without needing to add a new ship/model to the game. FDev would probably need to be careful not to compromise the obscure niche that the Scout does occupy (it has it's fans, and IIRC it's not bad for cold running if you configure it right) - or add a new ship with an identical or subtly tweaked model, which I'm sure will make some folks cranky but w/e - but it feels like a really easy excuse, using that existing lore/history and the fact that there's a war going on to justify any tweaks. Cold running is pretty useful for AX combat as I understand it, so that seems like a pretty good niche/role to aim for with an improved "AspAX" as well.
Edit to add:
Fully agreed on the Type 7 needing some love. I know a few people stubbornly/defiantly use it for station rescue (it isn't the best for the job, but it's just begging to be a space ambulance), and I feel like that opens up an interesting point: could/should FDev be tweaking some of the less loved ships so they're better suited to these newer niche situations? Right now the smart move for station rescue seems to be "use the Python", and I'm wondering if/how things like the Type 7 could be tweaked to better suit roles that didn't exist when all these ships were initially created.
A few things I'd love to see:
Ground Attack Fighters
It's such a shame that iconic OG ships like the Sidewinder and Eagle so quickly become redundant. Sure, Elite Dangerous is a game where you can do whatever you want in whatever you want, but the Sidewinder and Eagle don't really have a (conventional) niche in which they excel above everything else. I think Odyssey offers a really good opportunity for a new lease of life though, as the "air support" component of the whole on foot sphere of combat thing. Providing the Eagle/Sidewinder with access to bombs that deal AOE damage, or maybe even laser-guided weapons that require the assistance of a player somehow (some kind of grenade/item for the on foot player that provides an object an airborne player can target with missiles/bombs/gimballed/etc) could add a fun new twist to combat, and by limiting them to ships like the Eagle or Sidewinder, you build in a little bit of automatic balance by restricting them to smaller/squishier ships. Maybe it would only be useful as a gimmick, but having someone lob a sticky grenade at an SRV, and then an Eagle swoop in to shoot off a couple of missiles at it feels like something that would open up some fun shenanigans.
Player-Deployed Soldiers
On foot combat zones already give us Vultures showing up and deploying soldiers. It doesn't seem like it would be much of a stretch for a similar functionality to become available to players: a module that lets you launch/spawn NPC soldiers to help out in a combat zone. Maybe it's a reskinned Planetary Vehicle Bay: the door opens up, and folks jump out of the bottom. Maybe it is more of a "bomb bay": an object is launched from your ship, and soldiers spawn from the location where it impacts. Maybe it works a bit like a limpet controller, and your ship needs to have passenger cabins (or a new "barracks" module, or whatever) instead of cargo to accomodate the "ammo" for your dropship module, adding a bit of build flexibility and creating a bit of a restock/resupply loop so that players can't spam reinforcements infinitely, but can also configure their ship to maximise the amount of cavalry they can send in. Limiting which ships can fit this module would be the way this brings new life to old/niche ships: the Federal Dropship, obviously, the Vulture, whichever of the Alliance C's gets the least love, etc. Paired with Ground Attack Fighters, it starts creating roles for spacecraft in Odyssey combat too, which I think would be a fun/needed incentive for players to bring ships along to that fight - and perhaps for NPCs to do the same, creating a need for things an anti-aircraft SRV and what-not in the future.
Larger Fighter Bay
While the Eagle and Imperial Eagle are quite big, the Sidewinder and the Hauler are not that much bigger than the Ship-Launched Fighters we already have. Since the Condor and Imperial Fighter from CQC are already among the SLF options, having a version of the Sidewinder there would be a nice bit of parity if nothing else. But, if FDev were to add in a dismiss/recall feature similar to what we get in an SRV, that suddenly opens up a whole new functionality for "auxiliary" ships. Currently, the game can cope with your SRV having its own inventory, separate from the inventory of your ship, and you can transfer items in and out of that inventory using the existing UI. Add the same functionality to a Ship-Launched Hauler, paired with the ability to dismiss/recall your ship while in space, and you've unlocked a transfer vehicle. You've unlocked the ability to fly from A to B in a fully loaded Type 9, and then ferry the contents of your ship back and forth using a Hauler - similar to what commanders do already with Fleet Carriers. Is it a min/maxed way of doing it? Nah, grind for a Fleet Carrier or whatever. But it's cool, and suddenly you've got a reason to use a (ship-launched version of a) Hauler, to use/buy Hauler skins from the ARX store, etc.
It wouldn't necessarily just be helpful for cargo, either. In exchange for whatever tonnage the larger "Shuttlebay" occupies, you get the ability to use the (generally speaking) longer jump range of a bigger ship to get you to where you need to go, but then when you get there you've got access to something that can land on a small pad, or something small that can get closer to the ground to make finding Exobiology targets easier. Heck, even the sheer convenience of having a small/nimble ship with a cargo scoop that you can deploy to gather up salvage could be a nice thing to have. I'm sure there's more options that could be opened up by this framework as well - maybe some sort of deployable mining ship that does the lasering/abrasioning while the parent vessel does the limpeting? - and in the future, if we start getting planets where the atmosphere is significant enough for aerodynamics to start coming into play, the option to bring something like a Hauler or Sidewinder with you so that you can leave your Type 9 up in space feels like a good functionality for the game to have.
Asp Mk II (or Mk III)
Part of the lore with the Asp Explorer is that it's based on the Asp Mk II. This was designed for military/police work, and is basically the version of the Asp that appeared in the older games. The Asp Scout pretty heavily echoes the shape of that OG wireframe Asp from the original game, so my headcanon has always been that the Asp Scout is basically the Asp Mk II, but it's ex-military, stripped-down, nerfed for civilian consumption, etc - unlike the Asp Explorer, which was specifically designed as something changed/enhanced for the civilian market. This feels like a really good narrative excuse to buff the Asp Scout, because if it is the stripped-down version of the Mk II, presumably it can be "stripped up" and restored to military specs without needing to add a new ship/model to the game. FDev would probably need to be careful not to compromise the obscure niche that the Scout does occupy (it has it's fans, and IIRC it's not bad for cold running if you configure it right) - or add a new ship with an identical or subtly tweaked model, which I'm sure will make some folks cranky but w/e - but it feels like a really easy excuse, using that existing lore/history and the fact that there's a war going on to justify any tweaks. Cold running is pretty useful for AX combat as I understand it, so that seems like a pretty good niche/role to aim for with an improved "AspAX" as well.
Edit to add:
Fully agreed on the Type 7 needing some love. I know a few people stubbornly/defiantly use it for station rescue (it isn't the best for the job, but it's just begging to be a space ambulance), and I feel like that opens up an interesting point: could/should FDev be tweaking some of the less loved ships so they're better suited to these newer niche situations? Right now the smart move for station rescue seems to be "use the Python", and I'm wondering if/how things like the Type 7 could be tweaked to better suit roles that didn't exist when all these ships were initially created.
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Please don't change the FAS , mine was my first actual combat build and it is fun to fly and three plasma underneath and a cooling beam ontop . Yeah shields aren't great but it could outrun and recharge ... Sigh sooo much fun
Actually the Anaconda was supposed to be able to carry a Sidewinder as a fighter. It doesn't seem like must of a stretch to allow this, and the Eagle Mk 2 isn't much bigger. The other 3 big boys could also have this option. Would most likely need to have a Player character to operate these ships.
Having loadout options per ship would be nice - eg. on FAS can choose between 2xC3 and 2xC2 or can switch it to 1xC3 and 4xC2 as I suggested earlier.
Similarly, I would like to have the option to switch the Corvette from 2xC4, 1xC3, 2xC2, 2xC1 to 2xC4, 4xC2 for better performance with gimballed weapons by eliminating the under-nose HP and instead up-sizing the C1s.
I'm sure there are many other options ... but this is only what air forces do today: same basic hull / ship, tweaked for different theaters.
That way you can tailor your ship for the weapons and purpose you want to use it for.
A modest in-game credits charge every time you change from one HP layout to another would seem reasonable.
Actually, the Sidewinder (~15x21m) isn't too much bigger than the Taipan (14x17m), but the Eagle (~31x30m) is almost twice as big in both directions. I'm not super familiar with how big the hole for the hangar is on an Anaconda, but I imagine there's maybe a chance that the Sidewinder would fit in the space that's already there (especially if it being an option for the Anaconda was previously considered), whereas the Eagle seems like it would take some remodelling work to make it plausibly fit - it might literally be a stretch! Not sure how the modelling is done in Elite Dangerous, so I don't know how easy that would be.
I wouldn't want to see a Sidewinder be a "multiplayer only" addition, though. If it did require a player to operate, I would want that dismiss/recall functionality. A Sidewinder as an auxiliary craft becomes a lot less useful if you aren't able to use it in single player situations like exploration/etc.
Okay I see what you're saying so remove the "multiplayer" aspect.
I think an easy thing to do for the FDS and FAS would be to give them a size 7 distributor like the FGS. They're already based on the same space frame I can't think of a reason not to do this, and it fits their role of the Federation's workhorse combat ships. Iirc the Alliance ships are hull tankiee too and while the Federal ships are no slouch when it comes to armor maybe giving them some better shield modifiers to make them a middle ground between Alliance and Empire in terms of shieldiness.
Also speaking of ships that need a rework, the poor Clipper needs some love, but don't tell the Imperials I said that. Thing's a turd with the convergence of a hammerhead shark. Worse than the Cobra III in terms of shooting to both sides of whatever the hell you're trying to hit
Also speaking of ships that need a rework, the poor Clipper needs some love, but don't tell the Imperials I said that. Thing's a turd with the convergence of a hammerhead shark. Worse than the Cobra III in terms of shooting to both sides of whatever the hell you're trying to hit
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Based on my current experience fighting Thargoids in a FAS, the Distro size has not been a major issue rather the Power Plant presents more of a challenge. With a C7 Armoured or possibly even Low Emmissions would be an option whereas with the C6 it currently has, Armoured is okay if you don't have shields otherwise you have to go Overcharged which is less than ideal for heat.
But the same is true of the Chieftain and I'm not sure I'd want the PP size changed on either of these two ships: at the moment. The thing that the Kraits have going for them is the larger PP and PD but the trade-off is less agility. Giving the FAS and Chief the same size PP / PD as the Kraits means there's no (less) trade off for getting the extra agility.
That basicly what the FDS has , 4 medium, 1 large . It works surprising well again goits with ,large ax multi, 1 term vent laster, 3 shards