F-dev - any plans to start dropping more ship variants? Feels like completely new ships, or variants of existing ones should be a regular (monthly?) feature of the game.
The ship lineup is stale
- Thread starter grumpsalot
- Start date
Why should they be? What role would you like to see filled?
Contant delivery of new models was never in the official plans.
They announced up to 30 playable ships. We got (correct me) currently 31 and Type-10 Defender
is anounced. So everything is fine with the plans.
to fill the shipyards by regular schedule I won't commit to.
Nevertheless filling up the lineup gaps of the manufacturerrs would be nice to come over time.
Deriving from that 2 ships in 3 months is the goal to achieve is simply wrong because desinging
a ship that looks good, works and is balanced into the game is an awful bunch of work.
Regards,
Miklos
They announced up to 30 playable ships. We got (correct me) currently 31 and Type-10 Defender
is anounced. So everything is fine with the plans.
to fill the shipyards by regular schedule I won't commit to.
Nevertheless filling up the lineup gaps of the manufacturerrs would be nice to come over time.
Deriving from that 2 ships in 3 months is the goal to achieve is simply wrong because desinging
a ship that looks good, works and is balanced into the game is an awful bunch of work.
Regards,
Miklos
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Game development. Realism. Variety.
The lineup is stale I agree... the selection of new ships in season 2 has been rather disappointing.
Personally I don't want to see any more variants - back in 1.5, the barrage of variants we got were obviously a quick way of getting the ship numbers up to the promised amount of 30 with minimum effort. Since then, in 2 years nearly we've only had the Beluga, Dolphin and Taipan fighter.
It would've been nice that instead of the Viper IV, Cobra IV, Asp Scout and Keelback - we got the Mamba, Krait, Gecko and Boa... oh well, more work for them I guess.
New ships were always one of the best parts of a new update.. I realise that a lot of work has to go into them, therefore requiring artist & dev resources, but I would have expected more than 3 new flyable ships in two years.
Edit: also it was pretty poor how they teased the Panther Clipper in Horizons concept art before 2.0 dropped and then never included it in the whole season...
Personally I don't want to see any more variants - back in 1.5, the barrage of variants we got were obviously a quick way of getting the ship numbers up to the promised amount of 30 with minimum effort. Since then, in 2 years nearly we've only had the Beluga, Dolphin and Taipan fighter.
It would've been nice that instead of the Viper IV, Cobra IV, Asp Scout and Keelback - we got the Mamba, Krait, Gecko and Boa... oh well, more work for them I guess.
New ships were always one of the best parts of a new update.. I realise that a lot of work has to go into them, therefore requiring artist & dev resources, but I would have expected more than 3 new flyable ships in two years.
Edit: also it was pretty poor how they teased the Panther Clipper in Horizons concept art before 2.0 dropped and then never included it in the whole season...
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All good points however we're >3 years down the road in a game that's still got a sizable development team. in the BGS we have a living breathing galaxy, the utter lack of commercial development is starting, to me, feel a little bit odd.
In a commercial sense and in a military sense it's flatly unrealistic to see so few developments.
We were never supposed to earn so much money we'd have no way to spend it on anything else after buying every ship we wanted, so no, it shouldn't. Of course more ships is always welcome, but remember we were supposed to spend a long time in each and every ship, to the point where the advertised limit of 30 ships would have offered more than enough progression for the average player.
But the fact Frontier has given in to the short attention span I-ve-got-a-job-already crowd doesn't change the fact ships take time and effort (and money) to develop and add to the amount of work Frontier will have to do when adding ship interiors. If we go back to 2015-levels of progression, those 30 ships will be more than enough for a year or two.
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I would rather see them rebalance the ship line with:
- Skip "base jump range and base shield value" since we apparently have magical shield rating as a minimum and another ship with the same weight class and the same shield generator or SMALLER shield generator have more shields...
- Proper mass to weight ratio (Anaconda weights almost nothing)
- Proper shield rating to mass ratio (the absurd iCourier shield is just silly)
- Proper jump range based on actual mass VS engine
THEN you change internal modules to make the ships function better.
Too many arbitrary values on ships.
- Skip "base jump range and base shield value" since we apparently have magical shield rating as a minimum and another ship with the same weight class and the same shield generator or SMALLER shield generator have more shields...
- Proper mass to weight ratio (Anaconda weights almost nothing)
- Proper shield rating to mass ratio (the absurd iCourier shield is just silly)
- Proper jump range based on actual mass VS engine
THEN you change internal modules to make the ships function better.
Too many arbitrary values on ships.
I agree with all your points, however I can understand if FDev have managed to tick a box in the kickstarter promise list they will be under little pressure to continue adding flyable ships.
We've also received the Thargoid variants & a bunch of other non-player-flyable assets that look awesome, so I'm happy enough with that.
In response to the original question - yes, there obviously are plans to drop new ships, as we know the Type-10 is coming at some point in 2.4 
It is possible that there are other smaller ships to come in 2.4 - we only know about the Type-10 because of its listing as multi-crew capable, single-person ships would not show up in the same way.
On the other point - new ships clearly require a fairly substantial amount of work (design, art, audio, just for starters), and personally I would prefer to see that effort applied to other areas rather than regular new ships. Occasional new ships are definitely attractive, but I think doing so as frequently as is suggested here would detract from other areas of the game.
It is possible that there are other smaller ships to come in 2.4 - we only know about the Type-10 because of its listing as multi-crew capable, single-person ships would not show up in the same way.
On the other point - new ships clearly require a fairly substantial amount of work (design, art, audio, just for starters), and personally I would prefer to see that effort applied to other areas rather than regular new ships. Occasional new ships are definitely attractive, but I think doing so as frequently as is suggested here would detract from other areas of the game.
I think additional ships should be low on the list of priorities at the moment.
Any new ship would need to have a specific role and not un-balance the current ships of that type.
i.e.
a new fighter - how does it affect the Cobra, Vulture, FDL etc.
a new hauler - how does it compare to the type-6, type-7, type-9 etc.
a new explorer - how does it compare to the AspX, AspS, Diamondback etc.
a new passenger liner - how does it compare to the Dolphin, Beluga, Orca etc.
a new multi-purpose - how does it compare to the Python, the Anaconda etc.
If FDev get the balance wrong lots of people will throw salt onto the forums - Whaaaaahh, I spent a fortune on ship x and you have nerfed it because ship y is better....'
As much as it is a nice idea, it is actually fraught with issues to do with balancing.
(probably one of the reasons why the Type-10 hasn't appeared yet)
Any new ship would need to have a specific role and not un-balance the current ships of that type.
i.e.
a new fighter - how does it affect the Cobra, Vulture, FDL etc.
a new hauler - how does it compare to the type-6, type-7, type-9 etc.
a new explorer - how does it compare to the AspX, AspS, Diamondback etc.
a new passenger liner - how does it compare to the Dolphin, Beluga, Orca etc.
a new multi-purpose - how does it compare to the Python, the Anaconda etc.
If FDev get the balance wrong lots of people will throw salt onto the forums - Whaaaaahh, I spent a fortune on ship x and you have nerfed it because ship y is better....'
As much as it is a nice idea, it is actually fraught with issues to do with balancing.
(probably one of the reasons why the Type-10 hasn't appeared yet)
They did tick the box yes, but I think the way they went about it was cheap and low-effort... They basically copy and pasted 4 ships to fulfill the pledge, which was pretty poor.
We, the explorers, has been nagging about a dedicated exploration ship since day one. Why drag 400 tons of armour around in deep space when you never need it? Get a ship with module sizes optimised for jump range and straight line thruster speed. That's one.
Other things that could be interesting is a tech race between the different manufacturers. Why not a new ship type with new kinds of modules? That would also make it easier for Frontier to promote variation in the galaxy.
I would like a few more ships. I am happy to have ships in the same areas as others so that we have some choice. Where is the competition for a Type 6 or a Python. There are none.
A dedicated imperial explorer would be nice.
More medium ships that can carry a SLF and is multicrew enabled.
A type 7 varient that is SLF capable.
I think we will be seeing an upgrade to the Keelback at some point that will make it multicrew too. It was pretty much hinted at by Sandro.
A dedicated imperial explorer would be nice.
More medium ships that can carry a SLF and is multicrew enabled.
A type 7 varient that is SLF capable.
I think we will be seeing an upgrade to the Keelback at some point that will make it multicrew too. It was pretty much hinted at by Sandro.
In agreement with most of the other posts.
Not all new ships would need to be player usable - quite happy with NPC only variants if it adds to the depth of the galaxy we're flying about in.
How about new manufacturers with exotic designs in direct competition with the existing ship types? We needn't be talking about new roles, although that would also be fine, merely adding variety to the game.
Also - F-dev - why don't you have NPC's using the skins and ship kits you sell in the store? Gives the players something new to look at, maybe purchase something they like the look of.
Not all new ships would need to be player usable - quite happy with NPC only variants if it adds to the depth of the galaxy we're flying about in.
How about new manufacturers with exotic designs in direct competition with the existing ship types? We needn't be talking about new roles, although that would also be fine, merely adding variety to the game.
Also - F-dev - why don't you have NPC's using the skins and ship kits you sell in the store? Gives the players something new to look at, maybe purchase something they like the look of.
Clearly has never flown Dolphin ..... ((
o7 Bit of fun Cmdr.))More ships? Always good .. but Dolphin? Pocket rocket!
I've been multi-rolling in mine for weeks and the flight deck is seriously good looking (imo).
Saud Kruger, only means you're worth it.
as we hear a lot on the live stream "not trivial"
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I really just want to see a medium Gutamaya ship.
It seems to me that too many of the replies are responding in a 'fanboi'esk' manner, answering the question with a defence because just don't know!
why do Toyota bother to make a car almost exactly the same as a Ford or Renault... price, performance, fitment? Market share... Choice!
It doesn't have to be filling a niche or a slot that one or the other of us thinks the range could do with it.
There is no reason that ED cannot provide what we already have 'statwise' in a ship with a different interior/exterior... it would give choice to the player, those that like the shape of imperial ships could have a Imperial looking Type 6 and so on.[yesnod]
On a slightly side note I wish I could see the ship I was buying in a lovely showroom environment instead of a RUBBISH ORANGE SILHOUETTE!
why do Toyota bother to make a car almost exactly the same as a Ford or Renault... price, performance, fitment? Market share... Choice!
It doesn't have to be filling a niche or a slot that one or the other of us thinks the range could do with it.
There is no reason that ED cannot provide what we already have 'statwise' in a ship with a different interior/exterior... it would give choice to the player, those that like the shape of imperial ships could have a Imperial looking Type 6 and so on.[yesnod]
On a slightly side note I wish I could see the ship I was buying in a lovely showroom environment instead of a RUBBISH ORANGE SILHOUETTE!