The Imperial Courier - fastest ship when 2.1 hits?!

[AreZee]

It's mentioned in the latest newsletter:

For those using smaller ships, in particular the Sidewinder, Faulcon de Lacey have introduced performance enhanced size 2 and 3 drives. Incredible fun for racing, they also give Commanders an extra bit of zip that can make all the difference in a dangerous encounter.

Now when we compare the hull mass, speed and boost of the fastest ships around now:

Ship	Speed	Boost	Hull Mass
Viper MK III	350 m/s	438 m/s	60t
Imperial Eagle	340 m/s	454 m/s	50t
Imperial Courier	325 m/s	441 m/s	35t

What do you think? All of these ships use class 3 Thrusters. Will the Imperial Courier be the fastest ship then? It has the lowest mass of all of them. The siderwinder is mentioned in the newsletter in particular, but it has class 3 Thrusters with a hull mass of 25t, which is very close to a Courier. Will this be restricted to Faulcon de Lacey ships? I hope not and it's a general Engineer modifcation

 

[Zeta Legion]

The Cobra 3 is currently the fastest ship though.

 

[WreckWren]

"performance enhanced size 2 and 3 drives"

 

[bladebss]

When I read this it exited me greatly I hope the new drives are for any ship.. or that the imperials do eaven better ones

 

[Chris Simon]

Yup. I hope so! [yesnod]

 

[Deleted member 38366]

Sidey is using Class 2 Thrusters (= Drives).

From the sound of it, it indeed applies only to small Faulcon DeLacey Ships.

Sidewinder and Viper MK.III would seem the only that will benefit then...
(Poor Viper Mk.IV will then look even worse than it already does )

 

[Goose4291]

#ProperAdder

 

[DragoonKnight]

It's mentioned in the latest newsletter:



Now when we compare the hull mass, speed and boost of the fastest ships around now:

Ship	Speed	Boost	Hull Mass
Viper MK III	350 m/s	438 m/s	60t
Imperial Eagle	340 m/s	454 m/s	50t
Imperial Courier	325 m/s	441 m/s	35t

What do you think? All of these ships use class 3 Thrusters. Will the Imperial Courier be the fastest ship then? It has the lowest mass of all of them. The siderwinder is mentioned in the newsletter in particular, but it has class 3 Thrusters with a hull mass of 25t, which is very close to a Courier. Will this be restricted to Faulcon de Lacey ships? I hope not and it's a general Engineer modifcation

Ships have an internal stat modifier which controls their top speed and acceleration. So I do not think that a Courier will be the fastest. I think that Honor will go to the Imperial Eagle and it will become the new Speed Demon. It kind of makes sense for a military / combat ship to be faster than a civilian multipurpose ship.

 

[Derthek]

could this simply be a hint at a Sidey MK2? Who says its for all ships?

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ah, never mind. I understand now. Like the difference between Bi-weave and normal shields. But only available for size 2 and 3 drives. Makes sense.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

I believe this is a balance change to make smaller ships more viable in combat later in the game and also eventually making turrets more useful to larger ships again.

On topic I think the courier speed may equal that of a Cobra III but I don't think we will be seeing much better.

 

[Scal]

Possibly even more important for the courier is the optimal mass of the improved drives. Currently the courier pilot has to be really careful not to make their ride to heavy, or it loses its agility. If the courier would be able to pile on a few more pounds whilst still maintaining its agility, that would be a great buff.

 

[AreZee]

Possibly even more important for the courier is the optimal mass of the improved drives. Currently the courier pilot has to be really careful not to make their ride to heavy, or it loses its agility. If the courier would be able to pile on a few more pounds whilst still maintaining its agility, that would be a great buff.

that's true. I really like a stripped down Courier to blaze around in canyons.

 

[TheGrimCorsair]

Fastest in terms of maximum top speed? Seems unlikely. Fastest acceleration and deceleration in all directions to the point that you can dance around Vultures like they're sitting still? Well, fingers crossed on that one, as they'll still have the advantage in blue-zone pitch speed.

 

[AhabTheBad]

Possibly even more important for the courier is the optimal mass of the improved drives. Currently the courier pilot has to be really careful not to make their ride to heavy, or it loses its agility. If the courier would be able to pile on a few more pounds whilst still maintaining its agility, that would be a great buff.

Absolutely, I would go so far as saying the Courier is crippled by it's mass/thruster class relationship.

I don't mind if they cap the max potential speeds to pre-2.1 but just raise the optimum mass so we can have the maneuverability the courier should have with a decent shield/weapon loadout.

 

[joshman72nd]

Sidey is using Class 2 Thrusters (= Drives).

From the sound of it, it indeed applies only to small Faulcon DeLacey Ships.

Sidewinder and Viper MK.III would seem the only that will benefit then...
(Poor Viper Mk.IV will then look even worse than it already does )

fill it to the brim in hull reinforcements with its size and armor value its able to face tank against ferdilances and condas if it silent runs and uses rails.

 

[K-Rose]

Sidey is using Class 2 Thrusters (= Drives).

From the sound of it, it indeed applies only to small Faulcon DeLacey Ships.

Sidewinder and Viper MK.III would seem the only that will benefit then...
(Poor Viper Mk.IV will then look even worse than it already does )

I think Faulcon make all the engines?

From the sounds of the Twitch stream from last Thursday they are just introducing straight new class 2 & 3 engines that will cost a couple of million, quoted as the "ultimate upgrade for your small ship"

I personally think they'll keep the hard cap around 460 and just improve acceleration, speed & manoeuvrability in the "blue zone", stuff that's good for racing. Hopefully this will improve the "optimal weight" meaning the courier can be loaded up with gear & still fly like a dream.

 

[AreZee]

I think Faulcon make all the engines?

From the sounds of the Twitch stream from last Thursday they are just introducing straight new class 2 & 3 engines that will cost a couple of million, quoted as the "ultimate upgrade for your small ship"

I personally think they'll keep the hard cap around 460 and just improve acceleration, speed & manoeuvrability in the "blue zone", stuff that's good for racing. Hopefully this will improve the "optimal weight" meaning the courier can be loaded up with gear & still fly like a dream.

that makes sense. I really hope we are able to permaboost with a Courier like others ships, but that would mean we have to have a better power distributor and not just engines, right?

 

[Zelos1983]

What do you think? All of these ships use class 3 Thrusters. Will the Imperial Courier be the fastest ship then? It has the lowest mass of all of them. The siderwinder is mentioned in the newsletter in particular, but it has class 3 Thrusters with a hull mass of 25t, which is very close to a Courier. Will this be restricted to Faulcon de Lacey ships? I hope not and it's a general Engineer modifcation

The top speed is not limited by the thrusters, only by the flight computer. Hence, nothing will change according to the newsletter in this regard.

More powerful thrusters mean better acceleration, meaning that ships can successfully land/takeoff from High-G worlds. Also, they're easier to maneuver, e.g. in spacedock.
However, keep in mind that the maximum thrust is also limited by the flight computer (thrusters receive more power allowance in planetary mode), which also cuts off thrusters completely when turning, hence limiting the maximum rotational speed.

All in all, I don't expect much to change. Most noticeable differences will occur when docking/undocking where acceleration is key and not so much artificially limited.

 

[goemon]

The top speed is not limited by the thrusters, only by the flight computer.

true somehow: you gain top speed till 50% optimal thruster mass, behind that, you gain nothing from a better optimal thruster mass/actual mass of your ship. https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=164931

you already can outfit an courier for 50% optimal thruster mass, to get the top speed mentioned above - but not in any functional outfit.

and this is going to change!

same goes for the imperial eagle and viper. my bet is, the imperial eagle will be the fastest ship in combat outfit.

 

[K-Rose]

true somehow: you gain top speed till 50% optimal thruster mass, behind that, you gain nothing from a better optimal thruster mass/actual mass of your ship. https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=164931

you already can outfit an courier for 50% optimal thruster mass, to get the top speed mentioned above - but not in any functional outfit.

and this is going to change!

same goes for the imperial eagle and viper. my bet is, the imperial eagle will be the fastest ship in combat outfit.

Yeah I agree on the ImpEag, it's likely the order of speed won't change as every ship will get the same engine upgrade with the same stats. The way it was talked about was that you'd buy the upgraded engine, like a Rating A+, or R rated.. Courier Type-R

I just hope they've improved the efficiency, the best bonus would be better speed and more agility on lower pips. That's more of a combat change than racing though so we'll see what they do.