Reasonably priced combat-explorer vessel you say...

[puca]

What do you suppose that means? Between asp and adder in price? I was hoping for something in the premium price range for exploration from the diamondback
.

It would be kind of silly to waste a ship on bridging the gap between the adder and the asp for exploration that the cobra and t6 fill so well. What we really need is a ship that costs about what the python/fdl costs (or maybe in the clipper/dropship/t7 range), can't trade, but has really good jump range and combat ability (python being a trader/combat hybrid, and fdl being pure combat specialist).

 

[concolor]

I hope it will have at least 40LY jump. Because we already have dedicated traders, dedicated combat ships, but don't have dedicated explorers.

 

[mossfoot]

My personal guess (reposted from Diamondback thread):


500,000 or so credits (halfway between Cobra and T6)
4 combat hard points - 2 medium, 2 small.
at least 2 other external points (for heat sink and/or shield cell)
32 ton fuel tank (same as Asp)
30LY jump range (better than Cobra, on par with T6)
Internal components will NOT go very high in size, except for one which would be for the fuel scoop - making it not terribly useful for trading.


But I'd also say keep an eye on how MANY internal components there are. Consider - currently you only NEED three things for exploring - fuel scoop, a Discovery Scanner and a Detailed Surface Scanner. Auto-repair is useful, but not mandatory.


So, if the Diamondback has, say, 7 internal slots (like the Asp) that to me might indicate that they've got future plans for new kinds of explorer kit (different scanners, or stuff for planetary landings, etc). But if it's only got, say, 5, then not so much.

 

[Varrag]

I'm not sure what to make of it, to be honest. "Reasonable priced" definitely sounds like "considerably cheaper than Asp". Concepts look great, that's for sure.

 

[puca]

I hope it will have at least 40LY jump. Because we already have dedicated traders, dedicated combat ships, but don't have dedicated explorers.

Yeah, I am with you. The anaconda is sort of a poor fit for exploration, it turns like a cow and has horrendous repair bills. And is out of reach of most people on an explorer salary .

 

[Tuub t Tute]

I hope we can get people like Isinona, Derath, Angel Rose, Trogg the BH and others to do a lap out to Sag A and back in it... "Star in a reasonably priced Combat-Explorer" has a nice ring to it!

 

[Kancro Vantas]

What do you suppose that means? Between asp and adder in price? I was hoping for something in the premium price range for exploration from the diamondback
.

It would be kind of silly to waste a ship on bridging the gap between the adder and the asp for exploration that the cobra and t6 fill so well. What we really need is a ship that costs about what the python/fdl costs (or maybe in the clipper/dropship/t7 range), can't trade, but has really good jump range and combat ability (python being a trader/combat hybrid, and fdl being pure combat specialist).

I totally agree with you. Conda shouldn't be the only ship with 40ly jump. Is just not an explorer oriented ship. I've always thought that jump range is more a byproduct of its massive FSD than an actual feature thought through to appeal explorers.

A ship that can jump 50 or 60ly -massive FSD-, medium shield, 2 small hardpoints, medium scoop, 16 tons cargo, small sized. 8 MM. This would be a dream for explorers.

Why do I think the DB is small? That picture of the cockpit, side to side with the previous concept picture. Seems the whole ship is about same size as Vulture.

 

[Starender]

i'd like it be Medium size, 260T.

i want a deep space mining ship ><

 

[puca]

Not going to have that kind of tonnage, most likely, if it's a combat/exploration hybrid. I expect a lot of low numbered utility slots in this ship, a light hull, and a fairly high class FSD slot.

 

[Jaden]

...

It would be kind of silly to waste a ship on bridging the gap between the adder and the asp for exploration that the cobra and t6 fill so well. What we really need is a ship that costs about what the python/fdl costs (or maybe in the clipper/dropship/t7 range), can't trade, but has really good jump range and combat ability (python being a trader/combat hybrid, and fdl being pure combat specialist).

...

A ship that can jump 50 or 60ly -massive FSD-, medium shield, 2 small hardpoints, medium scoop, 16 tons cargo, small sized. 8 MM. This would be a dream for explorers.
...

AMEN, guys!!

 

[Ian Doncaster]

Internal components will NOT go very high in size, except for one which would be for the fuel scoop - making it not terribly useful for trading.

If it's a combat-explorer, then it needs a second decent slot for the shield generator, unless they're expecting you do one or the other and either make do with docking shields only or try to fill up that huge tank with a class 2 scoop. (Conversely if the fuel scoop slot is actually bigger than class 4, you could not fit a scoop to it and still trade as well as a Cobra does)

Combat + explorer gives very few options for which subsystems to undersize, too. Combat needs power plant, thruster and distributor to be big; explorer needs FSD to be big (and though there's no obvious use yet, the two ships currently sold as explorers have large Sensor subsystems compared with the rest of the ship). Life support seems mainly to depend on the ship's physical size. You also need at least two decent size internal compartments for the scoop and shield, and two more small ones for the scanners.

I'm finding it very difficult to design a combat-explorer around the Viper/Cobra/Asp size and price range that doesn't either end up looking very much like an Asp or Cobra on the internals - with maybe the power distributor upgraded a step and a couple of the compartments downgraded. I'm wondering if my impression of the size of this thing is completely wrong and it's actually bigger than an Asp - or maybe smaller and more like an Adder crossed with a mini-Vulture.

 

[Chrisfs]

I like the full view outside the cockpit with just one pilot. The "shifted" view on the Hauler and Adder really annoyed me.

 

[Dommarraa]

Got to say I am a little disappointed. I was hoping for an unreasonably priced Explorer. I want something better than an Asp, and I don't see how that can be done a lot cheaper.

 

[Alex J]

It should be better than the ASP, and it looks tougher as well. Let's face it: the gap to get to 10 M and more has become very short now thanks to the upvised bounty hunting .... even with a sidewinder one can make a lot of profits per hour .... no need for too many small, inexpensive ships anymore.

 

[xondk]

Personally I think people are misunderstanding, "reasonably priced" does not mean cheap, it could be reasonable compared to anaconda which some consider the ultimate ship for exploration, even though I don't get that.
Personally looking at the early preview picture, cockpit scale seems to indicate a medium sized ship, so I think it might be an upgrade from asp, though what specifically I cannot say.

 

[Alex J]

That FDL must be the Federal Corvette.

 

[Varrag]

Personally looking at the early preview picture, cockpit scale seems to indicate a medium sized ship, so I think it might be an upgrade from asp, though what specifically I cannot say.

Cockpit looks like a single seater to me, and relatively cramped compared to Asp, so the ship may be smaller than the Asp. But it's just a concept art... who knows what we're really going to get.

 

[puca]

Cockpit looks like a single seater to me, and relatively cramped compared to Asp, so the ship may be smaller than the Asp. But it's just a concept art... who knows what we're really going to get.

It's hard to tell from one picture. Some ships have more seats behind the pilot's seat, etc. Also, if you didn't know about the asp's "over/under" canopy you would think it was a single-seater too.

 

[Kyokushin]

I am still waiting for luxury, good looking (like a sport car) exploration vessel with huge FSD range and fast in normal speed. I though Courier will be that one.. but combat/exploration role is assigned to Diamondback.

Diamondback have nice x-wing cockpit, but outside it looks like another worker-lakon (i do not like lakon canopies on front in ship, i prefere bridges like in FDL or Anaconda).

I cant wait 1.3 and both, new interesting ships.

 

[Dommarraa]

1.2 had 2 combat ships. Chances of 1.3 having 2 explorers? I would normally say 'no chance', but seeing as I would love it, let's just hope so