TLDR: New ships that are well suited for pirating are available only from anarchic / independent system shipyards. While cheap to maintain, upgrade options are limited as „respectable“ shipyards will not service them.
Benefits: Improves diversity of game, makes getting some ships and equipment more immersive and challenging, makes pirate career more interesting.
Problems with game currently from a pirates perspective:
New ships proposal: Two new ships, designed specifically for piracy: Krait, and Constrictor. They are only available in Anarchy (or perhaps also some Independent e.g. on "Clan" stations) systems. These are small to medium sized vessels, as I think there is plenty of choice on the higher end already for more „professional“ pirates. In Elite the Krait was a very common low end pirate ship, and the Constrictor was basically an upgraded Cobra that according to lore was originally a military ship but then superseded by newer models.
In ED these ships are not from the standard manufacturers, or at least are not made any more by them. Rather, these ships are made by individual „knock-off“ shipyards based on older "open-source" designs who want to service the pirate demand for affordable but capable ships. Capable in this context means enough utility mounts for cargo scanners etc, and enough internal compartments for interdictors and limpets as well as shields and cargo.
Exact imagined specs follow, but obviously could be changed if too powerful etc.
The Krait is an upgraded Sidewinder. It's a multirole ship that does not have the agility and firepower of the Eagle or the Adder, but is designed to be a light pirate ship with a reasonable cargo hold.
Specs:
The Constrictor is approximately the „pirate upgrade“ from the Cobra Mk3, but below the Asp. It's comparable in terms of armament but designed to be slightly more flexible, harder hitting, and with a higher jump range, as it is a „long range“ pirate ship with a large fuel tank.
Specs:
OK, so far so good.
Outfitting: The idea is that the shipyards do not have the benefit of a vast standardized ships part building program as with the larger manufactuers, and so the upgrade range of these ships is more limited than regular ones, while the repair cost is generally lower.
However – this comes with a caveat. Only anarchic station shipyards will repair and outfit these ships. Regular Empire/Federation shipyards take a dim view of piracy and will not allow you to upgrade your ship there for regulatory reasons. (You might make an exception for standard modules like fuel scoops and cargo compartments).
So, basically, you would upgrade these ships in anarchic systems only, and instead of „E-D-C-B-A“ class upgrades you would have „PE-PD-PC“ instead. So if you want to spend all the moneyz then you would want a ship from an established maker.
Thoughts?
Also, links to original ships:
http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Krait
http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Constrictor
EDIT: As a ship between Krait and Constrictor, they could even bring back the Cobra Mk.1 ...
Benefits: Improves diversity of game, makes getting some ships and equipment more immersive and challenging, makes pirate career more interesting.
Problems with game currently from a pirates perspective:
- Shipyards are too generic. There is no need to go anywhere in particular to get specific types or classes of ships, except for Empire/Federation for Clipper/Dropship. Outfitting is simply „pay more money, +7 to shields“ and is the same everywhere.
- There is very little differentiating Anarchy systems from others apart from the label.
- Piracy as a career seems very limited with lower profits than all other careers for higher risk and more skill to do properly (with limpets). It would be nice to have some additional flavour to it considering it plays suge a huge part in player/NPC interaction.
- Pirate NPCs are limited to 3 ship types (Sidewinder, Eagle, Cobra) of which two are originally military ships. To me this feels a bit like Jack Sparrow sailing a Royal Navy frigate. And only the Cobra is well suited to the task. You often see NPC pirates without shields for example, because of the low amount of compartments available in a Sidewinder...
New ships proposal: Two new ships, designed specifically for piracy: Krait, and Constrictor. They are only available in Anarchy (or perhaps also some Independent e.g. on "Clan" stations) systems. These are small to medium sized vessels, as I think there is plenty of choice on the higher end already for more „professional“ pirates. In Elite the Krait was a very common low end pirate ship, and the Constrictor was basically an upgraded Cobra that according to lore was originally a military ship but then superseded by newer models.
In ED these ships are not from the standard manufacturers, or at least are not made any more by them. Rather, these ships are made by individual „knock-off“ shipyards based on older "open-source" designs who want to service the pirate demand for affordable but capable ships. Capable in this context means enough utility mounts for cargo scanners etc, and enough internal compartments for interdictors and limpets as well as shields and cargo.
Exact imagined specs follow, but obviously could be changed if too powerful etc.
The Krait is an upgraded Sidewinder. It's a multirole ship that does not have the agility and firepower of the Eagle or the Adder, but is designed to be a light pirate ship with a reasonable cargo hold.
Specs:
- Manuverability: 7
- Speed: 220
- Shield: 50
- Hull Mass: 30
- Jump Range (A): 16.65LY
- 2x Small Hardpoints
- 3x Utility Mounts
- 1x Class 3 Internal Compartment
- 2x Class 2 Internal Compartments
- 1x Class 1 Internal Compartment
- Price: 35,000 CR
- Avg repair costs: Cheap as chips
The Constrictor is approximately the „pirate upgrade“ from the Cobra Mk3, but below the Asp. It's comparable in terms of armament but designed to be slightly more flexible, harder hitting, and with a higher jump range, as it is a „long range“ pirate ship with a large fuel tank.
Specs:
- Manuverability: 6
- Speed: 280
- Shield: 80
- Hull Mass: 200
- Jump Range (A): 22.05LY
- 3x Medium Hardpoints
- 3x Utility Mounts
- 3 Class 4 Internal Compartments
- 4 Class 2 Internal Compartments
- Price: 420,000
- Avg repair costs: Cheaper than Cobra
OK, so far so good.
Outfitting: The idea is that the shipyards do not have the benefit of a vast standardized ships part building program as with the larger manufactuers, and so the upgrade range of these ships is more limited than regular ones, while the repair cost is generally lower.
However – this comes with a caveat. Only anarchic station shipyards will repair and outfit these ships. Regular Empire/Federation shipyards take a dim view of piracy and will not allow you to upgrade your ship there for regulatory reasons. (You might make an exception for standard modules like fuel scoops and cargo compartments).
So, basically, you would upgrade these ships in anarchic systems only, and instead of „E-D-C-B-A“ class upgrades you would have „PE-PD-PC“ instead. So if you want to spend all the moneyz then you would want a ship from an established maker.
Thoughts?
Also, links to original ships:
http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Krait
http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Constrictor
EDIT: As a ship between Krait and Constrictor, they could even bring back the Cobra Mk.1 ...
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