Well for the most part i think the multipurpose ships are too multipurpose. That they end doing things better than their specialized counterpart. Which should not be the case, imo. There are two ships that i feel do need to be reworked though.
The viper firstly. Everything equal or below it except the hauler can out maneuver the Viper. I guess this isn't that big of a deal as for balance the smaller ships need to be able to survive somehow. In this regard the viper has more firepower so it makes sense for them to be more maneuverable. The bigger issue i have is with the Cobra (which is multipurpose). It is about on par with the Viper in combat strength. It can equip a better power plant (class 4 vs 3) a better power distributor (class 4 vs 3) and it can equip a better shield (again class 4 vs 3). It has the same size and number of hardpoints. Not only this but it is also just as maneuverable as the Viper. This is also just from a combat stand point, the Cobra is better in every other situation (cargo, jump range, etc) since it is considered multipurpose.
What can be done about the Viper? I think making the 2 small hardpoints into medium might do it. Doing this will also put it up against the ASP (which i've been hearing a lot of people have been making it a pure combat ship rather than for exploration). This will also make the classes need a bump for power plant and power distributor. Having it cheaper than a Cobra now wouldn't make much sense, so maybe putting it around 500k. Now having the Cobra as maneuverable as the Viper makes sense as it can out power it with weapons. That's one solution i've come up with, and it is by no means perfect, but i feel it makes the rather useless Viper (compared to Cobra) a bit more useful.
Next is the Type 9. There is only really one thing wrong with it. It's mass. It isn't as armoured, it isn't as fast, it isn't as anything as the Anaconda (multipurpose again) but it weighs twice as much as the Anaconda. This results in some pretty pathetic jump ranges. The upgrade from B -> A FSD only results in a gain of 1 Ly (laden) but costs 15 million dollars (B costs 5 million). All this extra mass and it can only hold less than 100 more cargo than the Anaconda. It needs it's weight reduced, to be less than the Anaconda's, or simply increase the Anaconda's mass to be more than Type-9's to balance it out. It also needs more cargo space as well. Yes the Anaconda is multipurpose, the 400+ cargo it can hold is more than enough for being multipurpose. The cargo space of the Anaconda already beats out everything but the Type 9. An additional class 8 internal component, with 256 more cargo and less mass would make the Type 9 more reasonable i think with a base mass reduction.
Of course this is just my opinion, i feel these two ships are really useless in comparison to their multipurpose brethren when that shouldn't be the case as these are more specialized ships. I doubt this will be considered at least fixing the Type 9 breaks the current scaling in the game.
There is actually a similar problem with the Type 7 and Python. Python can actually hold more than the Type 7 but the bigger issue is the Type 7 is a large ship and requires a large pad. While the Python can land on a medium pad. This makes no sense to me, again considering the Type 7 is specialized for trading again showing how broken "multipurpose" balance is.
As a side note i would like to see the cost of selling a ship go to 100%, as with outfitting. I'm glad the outfitting is 100% resell, i hate games where they half the value, it really inhibits customization. Still I feel losing close to 10 million just selling my Type-9 is just heart breaking. I can see why they would include the 10% loss. You can just sell your slow ship Type-9, move 100 Ly with a faster cheaper ship to a new location and repurchase a Type-9 for no loss. I think a better solution to this problem is that you can only sell your ship for full price the farther you go from the system it was purchased in. That way you have to through the trouble of moving it. At least that's the only problem i see that prevents ships from being sold at full price. I really regret buying my Type-9, i can't find any good trade routes with it's awful jump range.
The viper firstly. Everything equal or below it except the hauler can out maneuver the Viper. I guess this isn't that big of a deal as for balance the smaller ships need to be able to survive somehow. In this regard the viper has more firepower so it makes sense for them to be more maneuverable. The bigger issue i have is with the Cobra (which is multipurpose). It is about on par with the Viper in combat strength. It can equip a better power plant (class 4 vs 3) a better power distributor (class 4 vs 3) and it can equip a better shield (again class 4 vs 3). It has the same size and number of hardpoints. Not only this but it is also just as maneuverable as the Viper. This is also just from a combat stand point, the Cobra is better in every other situation (cargo, jump range, etc) since it is considered multipurpose.
What can be done about the Viper? I think making the 2 small hardpoints into medium might do it. Doing this will also put it up against the ASP (which i've been hearing a lot of people have been making it a pure combat ship rather than for exploration). This will also make the classes need a bump for power plant and power distributor. Having it cheaper than a Cobra now wouldn't make much sense, so maybe putting it around 500k. Now having the Cobra as maneuverable as the Viper makes sense as it can out power it with weapons. That's one solution i've come up with, and it is by no means perfect, but i feel it makes the rather useless Viper (compared to Cobra) a bit more useful.
Next is the Type 9. There is only really one thing wrong with it. It's mass. It isn't as armoured, it isn't as fast, it isn't as anything as the Anaconda (multipurpose again) but it weighs twice as much as the Anaconda. This results in some pretty pathetic jump ranges. The upgrade from B -> A FSD only results in a gain of 1 Ly (laden) but costs 15 million dollars (B costs 5 million). All this extra mass and it can only hold less than 100 more cargo than the Anaconda. It needs it's weight reduced, to be less than the Anaconda's, or simply increase the Anaconda's mass to be more than Type-9's to balance it out. It also needs more cargo space as well. Yes the Anaconda is multipurpose, the 400+ cargo it can hold is more than enough for being multipurpose. The cargo space of the Anaconda already beats out everything but the Type 9. An additional class 8 internal component, with 256 more cargo and less mass would make the Type 9 more reasonable i think with a base mass reduction.
Of course this is just my opinion, i feel these two ships are really useless in comparison to their multipurpose brethren when that shouldn't be the case as these are more specialized ships. I doubt this will be considered at least fixing the Type 9 breaks the current scaling in the game.
There is actually a similar problem with the Type 7 and Python. Python can actually hold more than the Type 7 but the bigger issue is the Type 7 is a large ship and requires a large pad. While the Python can land on a medium pad. This makes no sense to me, again considering the Type 7 is specialized for trading again showing how broken "multipurpose" balance is.
As a side note i would like to see the cost of selling a ship go to 100%, as with outfitting. I'm glad the outfitting is 100% resell, i hate games where they half the value, it really inhibits customization. Still I feel losing close to 10 million just selling my Type-9 is just heart breaking. I can see why they would include the 10% loss. You can just sell your slow ship Type-9, move 100 Ly with a faster cheaper ship to a new location and repurchase a Type-9 for no loss. I think a better solution to this problem is that you can only sell your ship for full price the farther you go from the system it was purchased in. That way you have to through the trouble of moving it. At least that's the only problem i see that prevents ships from being sold at full price. I really regret buying my Type-9, i can't find any good trade routes with it's awful jump range.
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