I totally agree with you on this one more ships needed to be added before release and something should of be done but its too late now to be honest because like me most people have got to the cobra point so well its kind of less meaningful now but in comparison to x3 ablion prelude the x series ablion prelude being the best bar none being my favorite space sim game thingy although as you guys might know for some reason decided to commit suicide in front of me with rebirth i dont know why that game exists but here is a list (link below) of some of the interceptor class ships and you know like all of these were available on release not months down the line but eve is not a good comparison i think overall the better one is x3 ablion prelude which as it stands is still the best game for this kind of thing and elite and and possible star citizen having to replace my lost love who didnt want to live anymore.
roguey.co.uk/x3ap/ships/
The X-Series was frankly terrible, don't get me wrong I have all of them because; well it was the closest thing to Elite in the 22 years I was waiting for a REAL sequel (First Encounters doesn't count, it was rushed, buggy and a step backwards in many respects) ... one of the biggest flaws with X-Series was literally the fact it confused Complexity with Depth, not surprising as it is standard 'par for the course' that is to be expected from most Mid-European Developers; where they lap up their Simulation games, but they're rarely actually Simulations of something.
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The progression itself in Elite isn't bad really, it does need a balance pass and honestly the low-end ships need to be A LOT more expensive.
See what bothers me is there are clearly far more Low-End (Small) Ships than Medium-Large Ships, with most the Large ships actually being Luxury more than much else (Orca/Dolphin/Imperial Clipper instantly spring to mind), which isn't a bad thing; but when you consider that you only spend as much time in Small Ships as you want to, where-as the leap to Medium-Large requires a considerable amount of income grinding in order to acquire just the base Hull. This is well where things begin to break down a bit in terms of Cost Balance.
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Don't get me wrong here, obviously the bigger and more luxurious ships need to be more expensive sure. The thing is as it stands we mainly have Ford Fiesta, Renault Clio, Peugeot C4, etc... then a Ford Transit, Volvo Trucks, a Coach, a Porsche Boxster and 2 variants of Challenger 2 / Leopard Tanks... this lends itself to the issue that the selection is just really weird and eclectic without the large variety in-between; or gameplay mechanics that make them worthwhile.
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Take the Orca for example, it's a pretty ship to be sure; but it's literally a Coach in Space, almost no Weaponry, a reasonable Tank but not much... it's absolute Passenger Luxury Liner, right? Only as every ship can happily transport Passengers (like Slaves) because there is no Cargo Modules with Life Support required to transport them; which it would make sense if these had less space with things like the Clipper, Orca and Dolphin providing this as 'built-in' feature so you could use Standard Cargo Modules and automatically have Life Support for Livestock, Slaves, Passengers, etc... then there would be a gameplay element to it.
As it stands they're just prettier, but less efficient Cargo Transporters which are exceptionally more expensive than the Class they replace.
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Having Status Symbol Ships is great and all, but if there is no reason to actually buy them past the looks; then almost no one will, making them basically pointless.
Heck the ONLY reason I have an Imperial Clipper is because it is the ONLY Imperial Ship in the game; the second they release the Courier, Trader and Explorer variants (that FF2/FFE) had then I will be instantly swapping, in the mean time I'm debating about getting a Python as it is a good blend of Cargo, Manoeuvrability and Weaponry (unlike the Anaconda) similar to an oversized Cobra MK III that is also just a bit TOO good at being Multi-Role.
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See I have no issues again with the Differences of Kind over Power Scale approach to ship design. That is great and it makes each ship end up feeling more unique, but the unfortunate thing is certain ships are just simply better on the whole because the drawback from them being 'Multi-Role' is actually so minor that it isn't that outside of the clutch gameplay against other players who are as-skilled or more so; just isn't going to make any real difference having a few degrees better turning or 10-20m/s more base speed when boost is +30m/s more.
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When we also get into the situation where, you blast through whatever low-end ships in a matter of a few hours of actual gameplay while Medium+ results in days to weeks of work; there is a definitive inconsistency that could be easily resolved by increasing the base price of the ships so that they provide a better stepping stone in terms of cost. I'm not saying that they should be exceptionally expensive, merely that as it stands the gap is silly.
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I'd probably instead suggest:
Sidewinder - 85,000 Cr
Eagle MK II - 92,000 Cr
Hauler - 115,000 Cr
Adder - 148,000 Cr
Viper MK III - 680,000 Cr
Cobra MK III - 1,365,000 Cr
Type-6 Transport - 2,115,000 Cr
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Now I still think that the Eagle should have 2 more variants (MK I and MK III), Sidewinder also should have 2 variants (Krait and Gecko) finally the Viper another 2 variants (Defence Craft [MK I], MK II); these would help to buff out the lines and price points while providing Multi-Role, Combat, Trade / Exploration / Speed versions of these ships that differ slightly in external visual with internal visuals being more materials (for now).
The on top of this certain other ships could get 'Luxury' or 'Sports Car' type variants that are well not exactly good, but more expensive and are a case of showing off that you're a Rich with more money than sense... So for example the Adder MK II (Luxury) would look like the X-33 Space Shuttle (similar to the look in the intro to Enterprise); and the Cobra MK II (infamous as it is) that is not only luxurious but could have the awesome aspect that Hyper-Space has a habit of 'Miss-Firing' randomly sending you to a different system but has exceptional range for it's class.
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I mean really when you think about it the Imperial Clipper as it stands is a great 'Luxury/Sports Car' version of the Courier, with the Trader being a Courier with another Nacelle above; these could all easily utilise the Clipper Hull, with minor visual variations. Drastically reducing the time to put them out, something I hope that Frontier is considering doing right now.
