SCO optimization module?

[S0rkvild]

Recently we have received wonderful ships that are fully adapted for SCO mode. The result is smooth, often undisturbed flight, which allows you to reach very distant targets very quick.

Is it only in my fleet that Python collects dust in the hangar? You know what I mean.

As for Python, that is why I abandoned it in favor of Type 8, but I still prefer Python, which sacrifices cargo space for more combat features, which allows you to carry out combat missions, during which Type 8 comes up short. Flying Python in SCO is totally hectic with terrible fuel consumption and thermal problems. The port I serve is 300k ly, no ship covers this distance like Cobra or Type 8. We need a module that would stabilize flight in SCO for ships that came out before the SCO revolution. We are talking about an optional module here, class 2 most likely, because every ship has a class 2 slot. This module would not necessarily equalize flight parameters to new sco ships, but would make flight a bit more enjoyable, less nervous, more economical, that would give us the ability to handle longer distances in ships that we like. Something for something and it is fair.

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[Kissamies]

I think it should probably be in the armour slot. Should weight about the same as Reinforced Alloy, but provide little or no hull boost compared to Lightweight Alloy.

 

[aRJay]

Just to add to the woes of mark 1 Python fans the next new ship is to be a medium multi-role ship designed to be good in all three roles, a combat/hauler/explorer.

 

[space voyager]

I came to the forum to post a thread with this exact title...

It is understood that nothing prevents us from using the non-SCO-optimized ships but the difference in handling and fuel consumption is so huge - and SCO so game-changing - that not using an SCO optimised ship is simply not a real option. I went exploring with my Krait mk. II (love having SLF out there) with a new SCO drive and it was great, but I had to watch that fuel gauge like a madman. Also, heats up like a lit match. So currently I am using a Cobra mk. V.

But the main problem is just how all pre-SCO-optimization ships became obsolete instantly. I understand development and breakthroughs, still we poured tens of hours into each ship and see them turn into scrap is... well, disheartening. IMO a module for SCO optimization would be a great solution. You want to use an outdated ship? Sacrifice a slot...

 

[Dillon Fallon]

Not sure about an additional module as I wouldn't use it. I mean if that's what the decision is, fine, but I wouldn't be using it because the older ships work fine for me with the SCO drives, so it's not really worth compromising any of my builds for.

A CG or multiple CGs to do stuff to allow SCO optimisation of older ships as a technology update would probably be fun and there's no way that wouldn't get a ton of interest. Although that's probably one for a year or two.

Either way, I'd be surprised if FDev did anything about this while there's seemingly so many new ships in the pipeline. It doesn't seem sensible to give older ships SCO optimisation in any form when there's early access Arx payments making them money that they'd surely impact with this.

 

[PilotB]

Once they stop milking the prereleases they just need to hold a CG and have someone "develop" a software update/ patch/ reinforcement that can be retrofitted to make all ships handle SCO. Don't make it a new module. In the intervening time if you need generalist the Corsair is now in shipyards and it's just a better python if you can stand the cockpit.

 

[space voyager]

Not sure about an additional module as I wouldn't use it. I mean if that's what the decision is, fine, but I wouldn't be using it because the older ships work fine for me with the SCO drives, so it's not really worth compromising any of my builds for.

"To work fine" is a relative statement. They are working fine for say short mission trips in the bubble, yes. But when you want to get to a 400 kLs secondary star you see that for that goal they are useless. First of all in most cases you'll need to do 15 kLs hops if you don't want to melt the ship and your fuel (if you don't bring an extra fuel tank) will only last you to say 150 kLs - if the secondary star is scoopable. Otherwise you're in a 100 kLs range.

Those numbers aren't exact, but they are definitely my experience with an exploration built Krait mk. II during a 20 kLYs Celebration of Early Astronomy 7 expedition.

With a Cobra mk. V her jump range is practically the same 65-68 LYs as Krait mk. II, but she can take me to a distance of 400 kLs in a matter of a minute, while she burns cca. 1/4 to max 1/3 of the tank.

So no, as an explorer I don't find the old ships to work just fine, compared to new ships the old ones are practically useless.

 

[Dillon Fallon]

"To work fine" is a relative statement. They are working fine for say short mission trips in the bubble, yes. But when you want to get to a 400 kLs secondary star you see that for that goal they are useless. First of all in most cases you'll need to do 15 kLs hops if you don't want to melt the ship and your fuel (if you don't bring an extra fuel tank) will only last you to say 150 kLs - if the secondary star is scoopable. Otherwise you're in a 100 kLs range.

Those numbers aren't exact, but they are definitely my experience with an exploration built Krait mk. II during a 20 kLYs Celebration of Early Astronomy 7 expedition.

With a Cobra mk. V her jump range is practically the same 65-68 LYs as Krait mk. II, but she can take me to a distance of 400 kLs in a matter of a minute, while she burns cca. 1/4 to max 1/3 of the tank.

So no, as an explorer I don't find the old ships to work just fine, compared to new ships the old ones are practically useless.

Absolutely do not get this argument from the point of view of exploring. You have the Mandalay, Corsair and Cobra mkV for that. There's literally no benefit to using any other ship and it's the one profession that has been absolutely well catered for here.

You also haven't addressed the point that there is zero benefit for FDev to create any form of SCO optimisation for old ships given that they're making money off the new ones right now.

 

[Cmdr. Numa]

Absolutely do not get this argument from the point of view of exploring. You have the Mandalay, Corsair and Cobra mkV for that. There's literally no benefit to using any other ship and it's the one profession that has been absolutely well catered for here.

My Krait Phantom would like to have a word with you. Nothing compares to that cockpit view. The Cobra V comes close, but can't fully compete in the jump range department. And Corsair and Mandalay have combat ship cockpits, fully out of the question for exploration. Also both happen to be pretty good at combat.

 

[Dillon Fallon]

My Krait Phantom would like to have a word with you. Nothing compares to that cockpit view. The Cobra V comes close, but can't fully compete in the jump range department. And Corsair and Mandalay have combat ship cockpits, fully out of the question for exploration. Also both happen to be pretty good at combat.

The ship FDev explicitly released for exploration is fully out of the question for exploration?

Whoops, probably better not asking them for anything else at all if they don't understand their own game to that extent!

 

[Cmdr. Numa]

The ship FDev explicitly released for exploration is fully out of the question for exploration?

For me it is. Nevertheless it has found it's place in my fleet as bubble taxi and ground operations ship. It's tanky enough to survive when a ground mission goes wrong, so I can park it close by, and the clearance to drop a Scorpion is really good. It would make a nice ground CZ dropship too, if it wasn't so big.

 

[Dillon Fallon]

For me it is. Nevertheless it has found it's place in my fleet as bubble taxi and ground operations ship. It's tanky enough to survive when a ground mission goes wrong, so I can park it close by, and the clearance to drop a Scorpion is really good. It would make a nice ground CZ dropship too, if it wasn't so big.

Thing is, the fact that there's some overlap in players still preferring the older ships isn't really encouragement for FDev to give them a performance boost to rival the Arx store bought ones they have coming up.

We have the Panther coming up, then there's likely replacements for the Corvette, Cutter and maybe even the Vulture (small heavy fighter), iCourier (small fast shield tank), DBX (small explorer) and perhaps even T-10 to consider. Then if FDev might decide to redo a 2-3 more medium ships as SCO optimised variants (Alliance Chieftain/Challenger and Krait mk2 spring to mind as candidates). Even just looking at my list though, that puts us well into 2027 before even begining to consider it.

 

[PilotB]

Thing is, the fact that there's some overlap in players still preferring the older ships isn't really encouragement for FDev to give them a performance boost to rival the Arx store bought ones they have coming up.

Eventually that'll stop being a selling point. It seems like it should probably already have stopped being one. So they get to decide if they're going to permanently keep old ships obnoxious or elevate them. Keeping them obnoxious is going to impact their player retention and thus bottom line. Micro transactions are a numbers game only a small % pay.

What they've done is a short term mechanic but as more and more ships with SCO are available the motivation to spend on additional ones goes away you can already see with the panther clipper they're selling it on it's non SCO capabilities. They're aware it's not a big draw anymore if it was the panther clipper could have been a cutter with SCO it's not. Once that SCO is valuable for sales window closes it's probably more valuable to them to just remove the code that makes them shake than it is to double down and keep them all obnoxious forever.

 

[Dillon Fallon]

Eventually that'll stop being a selling point. It seems like it should probably already have stopped being one. So they get to decide if they're going to permanently keep old ships obnoxious or elevate them. Keeping them obnoxious is going to impact their player retention and thus bottom line. Micro transactions are a numbers game only a small % pay.

What they've done is a short term mechanic but as more and more ships with SCO are available the motivation to spend on additional ones goes away you can already see with the panther clipper they're selling it on it's non SCO capabilities. They're aware it's not a big draw anymore if it was the panther clipper could have been a cutter with SCO it's not. Once that SCO is valuable for sales window closes it's probably more valuable to them to just remove the code that makes them shake than it is to double down and keep them all obnoxious forever.

So is it important or not? Because if its not, they could just not bother. They've covered exploration, which is the area that most benefits, so maybe now leave it since there's not really a demand for more ships that need to travel that kind of distance anyway.

I'm just amazed people still struggle with it non-optimised. Surely that's not still a thing? I mean, the fuel consumption means I'm not willing to risk an 8t fuel tank in my DBX any more if I want to go more than 5000 ls, but for manoeuvring in supercruise I just move the controls to recentre. Just means you can't AFK.

 

[PilotB]

So is it important or not? Because if its not, they could just not bother.

If they don't bother then they lose a major strength of the game by going from a broad selection of viable ships to 5 ships. I'm not paying them to fix a problem they've caused and now that they've got most core roles covered there's little motivation for others to do so. I've been flying mostly non SCO optimised ships because they hadn't put the corsair in the shipyard yet and the others just aren't useful to me. It's not just the vomit comet aspect. Every single element is markably worse in SCO.


The power creep aspects are already an issue for that healthy selection of ships so maybe the damage is already permanently done. Not sure but they have shake and no shake so it wouldn't take them any development time to stop making their game annoying to try force sales, once the sales naturally slow down they could use the CGs to promote sales for new ships.

 

[DemiserofD]

I don't really mind the old school flight pattern myself, it's the fuel consumption that bothers me. My beluga, for example, is basically useless now because its one great upside, it's large fuel tank, is instead a liability because fuel consumption is based on the base fuel tank size.

I would be perfectly okay with only the new ships ever getting the new sco speed and control factors, as long as they fix the fuel consumption issue. An SCO optimized fuel tank would be an obvious avenue for this.

 

[space voyager]

You also haven't addressed the point that there is zero benefit for FDev to create any form of SCO optimisation for old ships given that they're making money off the new ones right now.

One would hope FDev does want to cater to players, too. The new ships are better anyway (jump range, weapons...) so at some point everybody will transit anyway, just with less heartache.

 

[Uthael]

A special fuel tank as a slight boost to SCO performance would be great.

 

[space voyager]

Absolutely do not get this argument from the point of view of exploring. You have the Mandalay, Corsair and Cobra mkV for that. There's literally no benefit to using any other ship and it's the one profession that has been absolutely well catered for here.

BTW, none of the SCO optimized ships are able to fit an SLF. And I love SLF racing through the canyons. That is why my main exporation ship is Krait mk. II. And I'd love to see it be SCO optimized.

 

[aRJay]

BTW, none of the SCO optimized ships are able to fit an SLF. And I love SLF racing through the canyons. That is why my main exporation ship is Krait mk. II. And I'd love to see it be SCO optimized.

I think someone said that the Panther will be SLF capable when it appears in 8 days.