Recent buyer of a Type 9; some thoughts on its base weight and how to improve its immersive properties.
Right, so for the fun of it, I decided to get a Type 9. I got tired of flying super agile ships and even my Python since they all felt very similar. The type 9 feels wonderful to fly, being bulky and all but it simply has too many drawbacks for what little it's capable of.
Everything I've seen suggestions an Anaconda is a better ship in every single manner. The reduced space of less than 9% is greatly made up for by 50% more speed, greater agility, and much higher jump range, armor, and less weight, and horrible mass lock (which again, seems to be badly designed for "balance" because it weighs more than an Anaconda but has drastically worse Mass Lock for no real reason.)
Most of the above I'm alright with, for at twice the price, it should definitely be better in a lot of respects, and it's fairly immersive. However, what isn't immersive is the T9's base hull weight. At a thousand tons, this simply doesn't compare to an Anaconda's mere 400 (which is actually less than a Federal Assault Ship's strangely enough.) This base hull weight only seems to serve as an arbitrary limiting factor to balance the ship. However, I argue that 1000 tons is simply ridiculous in contrast to pretty much every other ship. As it serves primarily as a cargo ship, support structures are likely built to be light and durable with vast spaces inside to accomodate a much larger load.
It appears to me that the 1000 ton base hull weight was lazily slapped on to make it slower without actually looking at how it affects the rest of the ship. It has less armor than a Python, less shields than a Cobra, and is the slowest ship in the game, while having one of the worst jump ranges to begin with. It makes for a one trick pony in regards to trading bulk commodities, but that's it.
For a base cost of around 70-80 million, you're better off with a Python. My suggestion is to *lower the base hull weight to around 600 tons.* The ship would still be extremely heavy relative to other ships, but it would have a drastically better jump range to compensate for having a pathetically weak hull, dedicated to sheer space within the ship. The weight and size scale with the relative progression of the game while still offering plenty of utility; something that the vast majority of all ships have been able to do past the 50 million price range.
It's a fun ship, but the 1000 ton weight is extremely unimmersive for a cargo ship and frankly deserves to be changed. It won't hurt anyone and gives it a lot more utility. Reworking the modules to compensate for this might be more difficult, but it would be better in the long run.
For example, take a look between the Type 6 versus the Cobra MK3. The Type 6 holds more but has less base hull weight, but is still decently quick to get away and avoid danger. The type 7 begins to step away from this design by weighing a whopping 420 tons; 20 more than an anaconda for no real discernible reason.
I love the T9's design, but I do think it needs a change for the sake of immersion and frankly, overall fun. I don't think it would hurt anybody to give the trade ship a little more trade ability.
Right, so for the fun of it, I decided to get a Type 9. I got tired of flying super agile ships and even my Python since they all felt very similar. The type 9 feels wonderful to fly, being bulky and all but it simply has too many drawbacks for what little it's capable of.
Everything I've seen suggestions an Anaconda is a better ship in every single manner. The reduced space of less than 9% is greatly made up for by 50% more speed, greater agility, and much higher jump range, armor, and less weight, and horrible mass lock (which again, seems to be badly designed for "balance" because it weighs more than an Anaconda but has drastically worse Mass Lock for no real reason.)
Most of the above I'm alright with, for at twice the price, it should definitely be better in a lot of respects, and it's fairly immersive. However, what isn't immersive is the T9's base hull weight. At a thousand tons, this simply doesn't compare to an Anaconda's mere 400 (which is actually less than a Federal Assault Ship's strangely enough.) This base hull weight only seems to serve as an arbitrary limiting factor to balance the ship. However, I argue that 1000 tons is simply ridiculous in contrast to pretty much every other ship. As it serves primarily as a cargo ship, support structures are likely built to be light and durable with vast spaces inside to accomodate a much larger load.
It appears to me that the 1000 ton base hull weight was lazily slapped on to make it slower without actually looking at how it affects the rest of the ship. It has less armor than a Python, less shields than a Cobra, and is the slowest ship in the game, while having one of the worst jump ranges to begin with. It makes for a one trick pony in regards to trading bulk commodities, but that's it.
For a base cost of around 70-80 million, you're better off with a Python. My suggestion is to *lower the base hull weight to around 600 tons.* The ship would still be extremely heavy relative to other ships, but it would have a drastically better jump range to compensate for having a pathetically weak hull, dedicated to sheer space within the ship. The weight and size scale with the relative progression of the game while still offering plenty of utility; something that the vast majority of all ships have been able to do past the 50 million price range.
It's a fun ship, but the 1000 ton weight is extremely unimmersive for a cargo ship and frankly deserves to be changed. It won't hurt anyone and gives it a lot more utility. Reworking the modules to compensate for this might be more difficult, but it would be better in the long run.
For example, take a look between the Type 6 versus the Cobra MK3. The Type 6 holds more but has less base hull weight, but is still decently quick to get away and avoid danger. The type 7 begins to step away from this design by weighing a whopping 420 tons; 20 more than an anaconda for no real discernible reason.
I love the T9's design, but I do think it needs a change for the sake of immersion and frankly, overall fun. I don't think it would hurt anybody to give the trade ship a little more trade ability.
The T9 is good as it is. I love him
