She's a beauty! (New ship revealed--Mandalay)

My Phantom jumps around 50 LY (everything on it is G5 engineered), I wonder if the Mandalay will be able to carry the same amount of weapons and armour?
As it is designed for explorers, I wouldn't be surprised if it only had a single C1 hardpoint and paper thin shield ability... After all, guns and armour are not needed out in the black, are they?
Ah well, if that thing comes with some decent internals and a combination of viable hardpoints (i.e. like 1L 2M, 3M, 2M 2S) it can be also viable for long-range piracy (taking over the Phantom spot).
 
Ah well, if that thing comes with some decent internals and a combination of viable hardpoints (i.e. like 1L 2M, 3M, 2M 2S) it can be also viable for long-range piracy (taking over the Phantom spot).
I wonder what a pirate can take away from an explorer ?
 
I would say that if you're putting a new Medium Exploration ship into the game then the benchmark should be the other medium exploration ship the Asp Explorer. Why would we want to choose this over the Asp. Obviously we need more details on this, but the cockpit alone is concerning. A long jump range and better manoeuvrability on atmospheric planets isn't going to cut it, as manageability means nothing if you can't see where you're aiming to land 😅

I completely agree that the Anaconda is not the benchmark, and hearing that the thinking was this way saddened me quite a lot. Jump Range is probably the least important consideration if you're going to do an exploration trip.
Valid point about staying within the medium ship class for comparison, but I was thinking of the possibly smaller landing footprint, if true. This would be of great importance to me. Also in regards to jump range since they made it such a strong point, DBX would be the nearest dedicated exploration ship.
 
I'm not complaining it's unfair. Everyone has that option, so in a sense it is fair, but it's the attitude* Frontier now seem to have towards us players I don't like.
Interesting...
It's changed from making a game we will enjoy playing and want to play to how much money can they get us to part with.
It has taken them almost 10 years to realise that in order to continue developing a game indefinitely that it needs financing. This move should have happened around the time EDO released, so better late than no game, I suppose.
* = the attitude is 100% how I perceive it to be, and if you consider it to have no basis in fact, that's your choice, I don't care, just like how Frontier don't seem to care what you and I think any more. And no, I'm not complaining about that either, but I don't have to be happy about it.
Until an 'attitude' perception can be proven... But I am fine with you having your own perception, it is like opinion, isn't it?
EDIT: and yes I will keep bringing it up, because I'm not the only one not happy about the way Frontier have gone, and it would be wrong for everyone (incl Frontier) to think people are ok with it now and will just forgive and forget.
No worries, it wil meet the same counter argument, if not from me then by another enlightened soul.
would you prefer they had slid gracefully into bankruptcy instead?
Being a medium I'm thinking (hoping) two.
The T-8 only has a single seat, which I though odd...
 
My Phantom jumps around 50 LY (everything on it is G5 engineered), I wonder if the Mandalay will be able to carry the same amount of weapons and armour?
As it is designed for explorers, I wouldn't be surprised if it only had a single C1 hardpoint and paper thin shield ability... After all, guns and armour are not needed out in the black, are they?
Armour is definitely a concern. Otherwise there is no room for mistakes or uncertainties with gravity. Alternatively raw shield strength, but hull is preferred.
 
Armour is definitely a concern. Otherwise there is no room for mistakes or uncertainties with gravity. Alternatively raw shield strength, but hull is preferred.
I prefer shield, then hull. Reason being that shield regenerates for free, but to repair hull you either need limpets (costs added mass and synth materials) or to visit a carrier (costs a detour).

Also, if the hull is thin even after engineering it, one class 1 HRP engineered to heavy duty, deep plating will add, depending on ship, 30% to 100% hull strength for just 1.4 extra tons. Most of my travel ships have one, the only exception is my exobiology Viper IV which is a tank as-is🙂
 
Surprised no one is talking more about this (shamelessly ripped from Pit's video):

Medium pad.jpg
 
I prefer shield, then hull. Reason being that shield regenerates for free, but to repair hull you either need limpets (costs added mass and synth materials) or to visit a carrier (costs a detour).

Also, if the hull is thin even after engineering it, one class 1 HRP engineered to heavy duty, deep plating will add, depending on ship, 30% to 100% hull strength for just 1.4 extra tons. Most of my travel ships have one, the only exception is my exobiology Viper IV which is a tank as-is🙂
This is true of course, I expressed it badly. What I meant was it shouldn't be an either-or thing, ideally you should have both. But a paper ship out of the box doesn't make a robust explorer to begin with. Of course you can, but it's always a compromise.
 
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