Everyone loves new ships and it is long past time that Elite got some new ones. "But Hobo" you say "Fdev is already stretched too thin surely they don't have time to make new assets!" That is absolutely right, but thankfully with just a few light tweaks a host of neglected ships can seem just like new.
If you haven't noticed, there are some major shakeups happening in the game right now and this is a perfect opportunity to breath some life into the existing ship list.
I've been working on finding a good usage for each ship in the game, and I've found some excellent niche uses for lesser used ships, but a few exist with seemingly no purpose. This is a list of suggestions to make these "useless" ships earn a spot in any Cmdr's hangar.
The goal here is to make reasonable and minimal changes to each ship to bring them into the realm of useability. Changes should make sense with the existing design and not wreck the gameplay balance. I actually believe that ships are mostly well-balanced, but that there are a few outliers. Most importantly, these changes should require minimal time and effort from Fdev to implement.
That said, I'm not omnipotent so please let me know if I missed anything glaring.
Some games have a learning curve, Elite Dangerous has a learning cliff. Let's ease the burden on new and existing players a bit by integrating the super cruise assist and advanced docking computers into all ships.
With these functions integrated players would be able to try more intricate builds that would normally require sacrificing these small QOL components. Advanced players already forgo these modules for many builds, so there should not be a fear of causing imbalance (after all a docking computer doesn't do much for you in a dog fight). The addition also makes sense within game lore as we are already able to dismiss ships to orbit autonomously, despite such action being far more complicated than simple docking.
Players should still be able to toggle off these functions if needed.
The passenger system needs a rework, as of right now there is little incentive to equip anything other than economy class seats. In addition, the dedicated Saud Kruger "passenger" liners are outclassed in passenger capacity at every turn. Two things need to change:
Luxury Cabins should matter. These missions should have a chance to reward rare materials or obscene amounts of money. Right now you may get double the pay, but you are losing half your capacity so it nearly breaks even. A real life airliner may have 10x more economy class seats than first class, but they can charge as much as 50x for a first class flight. This shouldn't be every mission, but it should be a possibility.
Add a "Tourist Class Cabin" to the game, either as the E rated and bumping the other cabins up, or as an A rated. Tourism class should have double the capacity of economy class. Think of it as a boat outfitted for a standing/sitting sightseeing tour instead of individual quarters for each passenger. This cabin class, similar to the Luxury cabin, should be limited to the Saud Kruger line of passenger ships. This would allow the ships designed for passenger transport to shine as such, without breaking existing balance.
Admittedly not a quick fix like the rest of these suggestions, but needed nonetheless. The current dynamic with ship sizes requires that to gain the benefits of a large ship, a Cmdr needs to give up the versatility of a medium ship and the ability to land on certain stations. This leaves small ships in an awkward position as generally being outclassed by medium ships except in certain niche situations.
Small ships need a gameplay loop unique to them, perhaps another class of smaller station that is only landable with a small class ship. The dream would be mission centric small stations that could require disembarking for light interior combat or similar, but that's a big ask so maybe just start with some small pad only outpost type stations.
In the interim there could be unique missions with desirable rewards (rare materials?) that require docking at Odyssey small pad only settlements.
Ideally there would be a benefit and drawback to using each of small, medium, or large ship classes. As is, small ships are a bit left out.
The middle stepchild of the Alliance trio, slowest and least maneuverable of the bunch, it is nearly completely ignored by the community. Let’s make it the most versatile and heat packing of the bunch!
Changes: Make the Large hardpoint a Huge, add 1 size 5 optional slot.
Reasoning: This is the slowest, least manueverable Alliance ship. Let’s give it some more firepower to make that mean something. Tacking on a Huge hardpoint will put some meat on the bones of this beast without making it overpowered compared to its more maneuverable faster sisters. Alternatively, change the medium hardpoints to large and have an Alliance ship in the damage output arena of a Krait.
Additionally, this ship is sold as an upgrade solely for the ability to carry an SLF. Make that mean something and slap an additional size 5 optional slot on it. Yes I know it has one that was probably meant for this, but it has the same amount of slots as a Challenger, so let’s put that 5 slot where its needed. This will increase the ability to customize this ship (although its likely to make it tankier and slower in most builds).
Who. What. Why. Where. Freaking How. This ship is a travesty, no one in their right mind flies it (yes I do have an engineered one I sometimes fly, why do you ask). Out of all the ships on this list this one needs the biggest overhaul. The bad? Everything. The good? It’s extremely manueverable. Let’s lean into that!
Changes: (i) Change the small hardpoints to medium, so 4x medium hardpoints total and (ii) increase the base speed to 300.
Reasoning: Only 5 Medium ships have a class 4 FSD, the FDL, the Mamba, the Keelback, the Type-6, and the Asp Scout. The Keelback/Type-6 are discussed below, and the manueverability of the Asp Scout tells us this was meant for fighting rather than cargo hauling. Swapping up the hardpoints and increasing the base speed would make this nice quick medium fighter, as the name implies.
This cruiser is in the top 1% of all liners. Except it isn’t. Let’s make this truly the king of passenger ships.
Changes: A new module “Tourist Class Cabin” should be added to the game with double the capacity of the Economy Class Cabin, that, similar to the “Luxury Cabin,” can only be equipped by the Saud Kruger passenger ships.
Reasoning: A fully equipped Beluga with “Tourist Class Cabins” would have a maximum passenger count of 368, making it have the most passenger capacity out of all ships in game, while maintaining existing balance with other loadouts.
This is a good ship, but its characteristics are more fitting of a medium class ship, where it could shine as the #1 medium passenger ship in the game.
Changes: In addition to the “Tourist Class Cabin” the Orca should be a medium sized ship.
Reasoning: This would increase the Orca’s capacity to 192, giving it the most passenger capacity for a medium size ship, while maintaining existing balance with other loadouts.
(Note: Although the Dolphin would also benefit from the Tourist Class Cabin, it is already a worthwhile ship so is not otherwise included)
Yes, this was a limited preorder bonus. Yes, people were promised exclusivity. Yes, this was a bad idea. Let’s fix it!
Changes: Allow all players to purchase this ship.
Reasoning: Legacy owners should receive a unique paintjob or similar, but actual content should never be locked behind a preorder. I’d be very surprised if legacy owners of this ship objected, especially if they received a truly unique and desirable paint job in exchange for losing the ship exclusivity. Overall its an okay ship that would have a few niche uses.
It’s outerspace, looking like a brick is absolutely no impediment to going fast as all hell. Lose some armor, drastically increase the speed. Make this the ship you are afraid will drop in on you!
Changes: Drop the base hull to 600. Increase the base speed to 300.
Reasoning: Make this the federal answer to the Chieftan. Less manueverable but faster on the straightaway. Lose some hull to make this happen and keep the hardpoints/optional internals as is.
A lumbering beast that doesn’t see much usage. Second slowest ship in the game and slowest medium ship. Let’s see how can we fix the GUNship… how about some freaking GUNS!
Changes: Large hardpoint - > Huge hardpoint. 4x medium hardpoints -> 4x large hardpoints.
Reasoning: Gunship go boom. The existing power supply could handle the extra firepower with some careful engineering, and the extreme turtle like nature of the ship would prevent it from dominating in combat. If this baby manages to get a lock on though, say goodbye to your keister.
This ship is pitched as a maneuverable fighter, so lets increase the pitch and make that true to its word! Also make it small class.
Changes: This should be a small class ship. The base pitch speed should be increased by at least 10 degrees/second. Add a size 4 military internal slot.
Reasoning: The changes would allow the ship to fill a small class fighter niche. It would also be the only small ship to be able to carry an SLF.
It’s so tiny, oh wait, why the hell does it take the same pad as a python? The damn thing nearly fits on a small pad already, and the name convention used for these ships should be reason enough. Give us a dedicated cargo small ship!
Changes: This should be a small class ship.
Reasoning: This would make the type-6 the undisputed king of small class cargo. Couple that with the small class gameplay discussed earlier and you’ve got a very useful ship.
Just why? The Type-9 is right over there, holding insurmountably more cargo and stuck with the same no medium pad restriction. Let’s open up medium pad cargo hauling!
Changes: This should be a medium class ship.
Reasoning: It pretty much fits on a medium pad anyway. This would make it the king of medium class cargo, edging out the Python by just 16T.
Alliance Challenger: Make 1x Med Hardpoint into another Large Hardpoint. Help distinguish it from the Chieftan.
Mamba: Give it a smidge more speed. If it can truly leave the FDL in its dust it may be more of a competitor.
Imperial Clipper: This should be a medium class ship. The Clipper’s characteristics fit better with medium ships, and among the medium class it could be a very interesting ship; the only medium with a size 7 optional.
Panther Clipper: Add this bad boy, but give us a major drawback to using it. I’m thinking the optional internals are 6x size 8, 1x size 2, 1x size 1. Giving it a max cargo capacity of 1,542T. Slap an 8A FSD on that bad boy, since we know you want to. Then to balance it all out, limit this behemoth to a Class 4 Power Plant so it can barely operate a class 8 shield with nothing else drawing.
Q: Hey wait, you can't just change a few ships and call them new!
A: First of all; not a question. Second of all; just did.
Q: Fdev should add <insane unbalanced bullcrap> to the <my favorite ship>!
A: Again, not a question, but no they shouldn't. The ships are mostly very well balanced with a decent usage for each, the above are the exceptions that need critical help.
Q: Wouldn't the change to _____ imbalance the game?
A: The goal was to avoid that, but it's a legitimate concern. If you think one of the suggested changes above would mess up balance, please let me know why you think that and how it could be better.
Q: Isn't _____ balanced by being a cheaper version of _____?
A: Cost is almost never the deciding factor for a ship, except in very very new players. Even newer players will save up a bit more for the better ship, especially when with many of these the cost between the awful version cough asp scout cough is barely less than the better version.
If you haven't noticed, there are some major shakeups happening in the game right now and this is a perfect opportunity to breath some life into the existing ship list.
I've been working on finding a good usage for each ship in the game, and I've found some excellent niche uses for lesser used ships, but a few exist with seemingly no purpose. This is a list of suggestions to make these "useless" ships earn a spot in any Cmdr's hangar.
The goal here is to make reasonable and minimal changes to each ship to bring them into the realm of useability. Changes should make sense with the existing design and not wreck the gameplay balance. I actually believe that ships are mostly well-balanced, but that there are a few outliers. Most importantly, these changes should require minimal time and effort from Fdev to implement.
That said, I'm not omnipotent so please let me know if I missed anything glaring.
General Ship Fixes
- Integrate Supercruise Assist/Advanced Docking Computer
Some games have a learning curve, Elite Dangerous has a learning cliff. Let's ease the burden on new and existing players a bit by integrating the super cruise assist and advanced docking computers into all ships.
With these functions integrated players would be able to try more intricate builds that would normally require sacrificing these small QOL components. Advanced players already forgo these modules for many builds, so there should not be a fear of causing imbalance (after all a docking computer doesn't do much for you in a dog fight). The addition also makes sense within game lore as we are already able to dismiss ships to orbit autonomously, despite such action being far more complicated than simple docking.
Players should still be able to toggle off these functions if needed.
- Passenger Class Cabins Rework
The passenger system needs a rework, as of right now there is little incentive to equip anything other than economy class seats. In addition, the dedicated Saud Kruger "passenger" liners are outclassed in passenger capacity at every turn. Two things need to change:
Luxury Cabins should matter. These missions should have a chance to reward rare materials or obscene amounts of money. Right now you may get double the pay, but you are losing half your capacity so it nearly breaks even. A real life airliner may have 10x more economy class seats than first class, but they can charge as much as 50x for a first class flight. This shouldn't be every mission, but it should be a possibility.
Add a "Tourist Class Cabin" to the game, either as the E rated and bumping the other cabins up, or as an A rated. Tourism class should have double the capacity of economy class. Think of it as a boat outfitted for a standing/sitting sightseeing tour instead of individual quarters for each passenger. This cabin class, similar to the Luxury cabin, should be limited to the Saud Kruger line of passenger ships. This would allow the ships designed for passenger transport to shine as such, without breaking existing balance.
- Small Ships
Admittedly not a quick fix like the rest of these suggestions, but needed nonetheless. The current dynamic with ship sizes requires that to gain the benefits of a large ship, a Cmdr needs to give up the versatility of a medium ship and the ability to land on certain stations. This leaves small ships in an awkward position as generally being outclassed by medium ships except in certain niche situations.
Small ships need a gameplay loop unique to them, perhaps another class of smaller station that is only landable with a small class ship. The dream would be mission centric small stations that could require disembarking for light interior combat or similar, but that's a big ask so maybe just start with some small pad only outpost type stations.
In the interim there could be unique missions with desirable rewards (rare materials?) that require docking at Odyssey small pad only settlements.
Ideally there would be a benefit and drawback to using each of small, medium, or large ship classes. As is, small ships are a bit left out.
Ship Specific Fixes
- Alliance Crusader
The middle stepchild of the Alliance trio, slowest and least maneuverable of the bunch, it is nearly completely ignored by the community. Let’s make it the most versatile and heat packing of the bunch!
Changes: Make the Large hardpoint a Huge, add 1 size 5 optional slot.
Reasoning: This is the slowest, least manueverable Alliance ship. Let’s give it some more firepower to make that mean something. Tacking on a Huge hardpoint will put some meat on the bones of this beast without making it overpowered compared to its more maneuverable faster sisters. Alternatively, change the medium hardpoints to large and have an Alliance ship in the damage output arena of a Krait.
Additionally, this ship is sold as an upgrade solely for the ability to carry an SLF. Make that mean something and slap an additional size 5 optional slot on it. Yes I know it has one that was probably meant for this, but it has the same amount of slots as a Challenger, so let’s put that 5 slot where its needed. This will increase the ability to customize this ship (although its likely to make it tankier and slower in most builds).
- Asp Scout
Who. What. Why. Where. Freaking How. This ship is a travesty, no one in their right mind flies it (yes I do have an engineered one I sometimes fly, why do you ask). Out of all the ships on this list this one needs the biggest overhaul. The bad? Everything. The good? It’s extremely manueverable. Let’s lean into that!
Changes: (i) Change the small hardpoints to medium, so 4x medium hardpoints total and (ii) increase the base speed to 300.
Reasoning: Only 5 Medium ships have a class 4 FSD, the FDL, the Mamba, the Keelback, the Type-6, and the Asp Scout. The Keelback/Type-6 are discussed below, and the manueverability of the Asp Scout tells us this was meant for fighting rather than cargo hauling. Swapping up the hardpoints and increasing the base speed would make this nice quick medium fighter, as the name implies.
- Beluga Liner
This cruiser is in the top 1% of all liners. Except it isn’t. Let’s make this truly the king of passenger ships.
Changes: A new module “Tourist Class Cabin” should be added to the game with double the capacity of the Economy Class Cabin, that, similar to the “Luxury Cabin,” can only be equipped by the Saud Kruger passenger ships.
Reasoning: A fully equipped Beluga with “Tourist Class Cabins” would have a maximum passenger count of 368, making it have the most passenger capacity out of all ships in game, while maintaining existing balance with other loadouts.
- Orca
This is a good ship, but its characteristics are more fitting of a medium class ship, where it could shine as the #1 medium passenger ship in the game.
Changes: In addition to the “Tourist Class Cabin” the Orca should be a medium sized ship.
Reasoning: This would increase the Orca’s capacity to 192, giving it the most passenger capacity for a medium size ship, while maintaining existing balance with other loadouts.
(Note: Although the Dolphin would also benefit from the Tourist Class Cabin, it is already a worthwhile ship so is not otherwise included)
- Cobra Mk IV
Yes, this was a limited preorder bonus. Yes, people were promised exclusivity. Yes, this was a bad idea. Let’s fix it!
Changes: Allow all players to purchase this ship.
Reasoning: Legacy owners should receive a unique paintjob or similar, but actual content should never be locked behind a preorder. I’d be very surprised if legacy owners of this ship objected, especially if they received a truly unique and desirable paint job in exchange for losing the ship exclusivity. Overall its an okay ship that would have a few niche uses.
- Federal Dropship
It’s outerspace, looking like a brick is absolutely no impediment to going fast as all hell. Lose some armor, drastically increase the speed. Make this the ship you are afraid will drop in on you!
Changes: Drop the base hull to 600. Increase the base speed to 300.
Reasoning: Make this the federal answer to the Chieftan. Less manueverable but faster on the straightaway. Lose some hull to make this happen and keep the hardpoints/optional internals as is.
- Federal Gunship
A lumbering beast that doesn’t see much usage. Second slowest ship in the game and slowest medium ship. Let’s see how can we fix the GUNship… how about some freaking GUNS!
Changes: Large hardpoint - > Huge hardpoint. 4x medium hardpoints -> 4x large hardpoints.
Reasoning: Gunship go boom. The existing power supply could handle the extra firepower with some careful engineering, and the extreme turtle like nature of the ship would prevent it from dominating in combat. If this baby manages to get a lock on though, say goodbye to your keister.
- Keelback
This ship is pitched as a maneuverable fighter, so lets increase the pitch and make that true to its word! Also make it small class.
Changes: This should be a small class ship. The base pitch speed should be increased by at least 10 degrees/second. Add a size 4 military internal slot.
Reasoning: The changes would allow the ship to fill a small class fighter niche. It would also be the only small ship to be able to carry an SLF.
- Type-6
It’s so tiny, oh wait, why the hell does it take the same pad as a python? The damn thing nearly fits on a small pad already, and the name convention used for these ships should be reason enough. Give us a dedicated cargo small ship!
Changes: This should be a small class ship.
Reasoning: This would make the type-6 the undisputed king of small class cargo. Couple that with the small class gameplay discussed earlier and you’ve got a very useful ship.
- Type-7
Just why? The Type-9 is right over there, holding insurmountably more cargo and stuck with the same no medium pad restriction. Let’s open up medium pad cargo hauling!
Changes: This should be a medium class ship.
Reasoning: It pretty much fits on a medium pad anyway. This would make it the king of medium class cargo, edging out the Python by just 16T.
- Honorable Mentions:
Alliance Challenger: Make 1x Med Hardpoint into another Large Hardpoint. Help distinguish it from the Chieftan.
Mamba: Give it a smidge more speed. If it can truly leave the FDL in its dust it may be more of a competitor.
Imperial Clipper: This should be a medium class ship. The Clipper’s characteristics fit better with medium ships, and among the medium class it could be a very interesting ship; the only medium with a size 7 optional.
Panther Clipper: Add this bad boy, but give us a major drawback to using it. I’m thinking the optional internals are 6x size 8, 1x size 2, 1x size 1. Giving it a max cargo capacity of 1,542T. Slap an 8A FSD on that bad boy, since we know you want to. Then to balance it all out, limit this behemoth to a Class 4 Power Plant so it can barely operate a class 8 shield with nothing else drawing.
Q&A:
Q: Hey wait, you can't just change a few ships and call them new!
A: First of all; not a question. Second of all; just did.
Q: Fdev should add <insane unbalanced bullcrap> to the <my favorite ship>!
A: Again, not a question, but no they shouldn't. The ships are mostly very well balanced with a decent usage for each, the above are the exceptions that need critical help.
Q: Wouldn't the change to _____ imbalance the game?
A: The goal was to avoid that, but it's a legitimate concern. If you think one of the suggested changes above would mess up balance, please let me know why you think that and how it could be better.
Q: Isn't _____ balanced by being a cheaper version of _____?
A: Cost is almost never the deciding factor for a ship, except in very very new players. Even newer players will save up a bit more for the better ship, especially when with many of these the cost between the awful version cough asp scout cough is barely less than the better version.
