Type 7 - Please lower it's height to make it a medium ship!

[Mengy]

Elite desperately needs a ship to compete with the Python for medium pad gameplay. Ironically enough, there is a ship in the game already perfectly designed to do exactly that: the Lakon Type 7. I know the T7 model is just barely too tall to fit in a medium size hangar, but I suggest the model be tweaked to make it just fit into in a medium pad. It wouldn't take much, investigators have shown it only needs to shed about 2.6m in height to fit, and the Python is both wider and longer already. They both also have very similar max cargo capacities:

Python max cargo: 292
Type 7 max cargo: 304

As a large ship the T7 doesn't have any place in the game, there isn't a niche it fills to give it any use. The Python already outclasses it in every way imaginable except for that max cargo cap, that is the only thing which makes the T7 competitive against it.

The T7 as a medium ship just make SOOOOOO much more sense. I think it would be a very, VERY value added change to the fleet lineup, and well worth Frontier's time to make it happen.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

As a large ship the T7 doesn't have any place in the game, there isn't a niche it fills to give it any use. The Python already outclasses it in every way imaginable except for that max cargo cap, that is the only thing which makes the T7 competitive against it.

The T7 is also 3-4 times cheaper than the Python, depending on loadout. Its niche is surely "a very cheap way to haul a lot of cargo".

 

[Mengy]

The T7 is also 3-4 times cheaper than the Python, depending on loadout. Its niche is surely "a very cheap way to haul a lot of cargo".

Yep, exactly like the T9 is similarly cheaper than the Anaconda or the Cutter. Their niches are cargo only, so you pay less for that limited usefulness. The problem is that nothing competes with the Python in the medium class ships, there is no competitor at all to it. And what use does the T7 have in the large ship class with the T9 filling the trade only niche there? The result is that the T7 is just a stepping stone in the large field when it could have a lot of usefulness as a medium ship.

It's a small change which could have great benefits for lots of players in the game. In my opinion at least.

 

[Lucifera Danzig]

Elite desperately needs a ship to compete with the Python for medium pad gameplay. Ironically enough, there is a ship in the game already perfectly designed to do exactly that: the Lakon Type 7. I know the T7 model is just barely too tall to fit in a medium size hangar, but I suggest the model be tweaked to make it just fit into in a medium pad. It wouldn't take much, investigators have shown it only needs to shed about 2.6m in height to fit, and the Python is both wider and longer already. They both also have very similar max cargo capacities:

Python max cargo: 292
Type 7 max cargo: 304

As a large ship the T7 doesn't have any place in the game, there isn't a niche it fills to give it any use. The Python already outclasses it in every way imaginable except for that max cargo cap, that is the only thing which makes the T7 competitive against it.

The T7 as a medium ship just make SOOOOOO much more sense. I think it would be a very, VERY value added change to the fleet lineup, and well worth Frontier's time to make it happen.

Is it just me, or could they make up the volume lost when they shorten it by making it a touch wider, and still be a Medium?

 

[Mengy]

Is it just me, or could they make up the volume lost when they shorten it by making it a touch wider, and still be a Medium?

Actual ship volume doesn't have much to do with in game stats. For example, the Python has a volume of about 26,772 cubic meters when you calculate it from the ship's measurements, but the T7 has a volume of over twice that much at 54,591 cubic meters. Most of that is due to the T7's much greater height, yet it only carries a dozen more tons of cargo despite being over twice as voluminous.

The Beluga is more voluminous than all of the other large ships in the game, heck it's over twice the volume of the Anaconda, yet it's cargo capacity is less than all of them. The Beluga has about twice the volume of the Cutter yet can only carry about half of what the Cutter can!!!

I don't think ship volume has any real relevance to ship stats, which is why it wouldn't break anything design or lore wise by simply reducing the T7's height by 3m. Sure all of the paint packs would have to be changed for the new revised model, but the T7 only has three packs anyway, it never got much paint love (it has the least amount of packs of any of the ships in the game!) so better to change it now than later, eh?

Spoiler

 

[Lucifera Danzig]

Actual ship volume doesn't have much to do with in game stats. For example, the Python has a volume of about 26,772 cubic meters when you calculate it from the ship's measurements, but the T7 has a volume of over twice that much at 54,591 cubic meters. Most of that is due to the T7's much greater height, yet it only carries a dozen more tons of cargo despite being over twice as voluminous.

The Beluga is more voluminous than all of the other large ships in the game, heck it's over twice the volume of the Anaconda, yet it's cargo capacity is less than all of them. The Beluga has about half the volume of the Cutter yet can only carry about half of what the Cutter can!!!

I don't think ship volume has any real relevance to ship stats, which is why it wouldn't break anything design or lore wise by simply reducing the T7's height by 3m. Sure all of the paint packs would have to be changed for the new revised model, but the T7 only has four packs anyway, it never got much paint love so better to change it now than later, eh?

Personally I wouldn't mind seeing it. I kinda outgrew the T6 and T7 a while ago, but when trying to help friends just starting out to get into trading or CGs it's a struggle between the T7's larger cargo capacity and the T6's capability to land on smaller platforms. I think it'd help new players to cut the height down on both the T6 and T7 to fit a small and medium pad, respectively.

 

[MK Regular]

Personally I wouldn't mind seeing it. I kinda outgrew the T6 and T7 a while ago, but when trying to help friends just starting out to get into trading or CGs it's a struggle between the T7's larger cargo capacity and the T6's capability to land on smaller platforms. I think it'd help new players to cut the height down on both the T6 and T7 to fit a small and medium pad, respectively.

I would be fine with this. It would make more sense for the size of the T6 and T7 be maxed out for small and medium pads. I don't think they could do the same thing with the keelback though, as I think it might be too big for a small pad (not just too tall) although I would think this would be completely understandable.

 

[damon8r351]

There's a pretty convincing thread I saw that said the Type-7 is originally intended to be a medium pad ship. It has hinges on its wings where they'd fold up, undoubtedly for fitting on a medium pad. And we already know that landing gear has the ability to kneel and unkneel to accommodate an SRV being deployed, so it's not so farfetched that the Type-7 can kneel its gear on a pad to get the height clearance for a medium pad. The the Type-7 is absolutely dwarfed by a large pad.

 

[Vasious]

Is it just me, or could they make up the volume lost when they shorten it by making it a touch wider, and still be a Medium?

The winglets have hinges that could fold up if need be to narrow the ship.
The Adder

I got the height wrong ( thought it was half a meter not 2.6m that the ship was too tall) but have a similar thread.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/391103-Unlocking-the-Type-7-to-full-potential

 

[Mengy]

The winglets have hinges that could fold up if need be to narrow the ship.
The Adder

I got the height wrong ( thought it was half a meter not 2.6m that the ship was too tall) but have a similar thread.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/391103-Unlocking-the-Type-7-to-full-potential

That's an interesting thread Vasious. I've honestly never before noticed that the wings on the T7 are hinged, wow.

Great idea for having the landing gear make up the height difference though. I'm not sure there is enough room to do it, but cool idea.

 

[Yure]

Elite desperately needs a ship to compete with the Python for medium pad gameplay. Ironically enough, there is a ship in the game already perfectly designed to do exactly that: the Lakon Type 7. I know the T7 model is just barely too tall to fit in a medium size hangar, but I suggest the model be tweaked to make it just fit into in a medium pad. It wouldn't take much, investigators have shown it only needs to shed about 2.6m in height to fit, and the Python is both wider and longer already. They both also have very similar max cargo capacities:

Python max cargo: 292
Type 7 max cargo: 304

As a large ship the T7 doesn't have any place in the game, there isn't a niche it fills to give it any use. The Python already outclasses it in every way imaginable except for that max cargo cap, that is the only thing which makes the T7 competitive against it.

The T7 as a medium ship just make SOOOOOO much more sense. I think it would be a very, VERY value added change to the fleet lineup, and well worth Frontier's time to make it happen.

The T7 is also 3-4 times cheaper than the Python, depending on loadout. Its niche is surely "a very cheap way to haul a lot of cargo".

That's a horrible argument. I literally got enough money to buy T7 and rebuy, then looked at python and said oh... Well I'd rather not waste my money and get that better ship. I got to python and decided... Well already grinded this much, I might as well get the t9. I basically skipped t7 because it wasn't worth it, When compared to other option for an extra day of money making.

T7 needs something going for it. Even if they have to remove hard points, it needs something to make it with the buy and upgrade options.

 

[Virandar]

I was just going to start a similar thread. And I will, because my point was slightly different.

As for T7, I did like that ship and used it as a stepping stone between T6 and the Python. And got rid of it as soon as I got the Python. There's no point in it, really. It can't defend itself, it's slow, it overheats in everyday situations (FSD charging, for example). And on top of that it can't even land at outposts... It's a nice ship, despite all its flaws, but it should really get some love. So yeah, it would be nice to see T6 reduced to small pad size (it's the size of DBX or Cobra Mk3 !!!), Keelback perhaps staying medium (could be made similar in size to AspX) and T7 getting the possibility of landing on medium pads as well. Just to make things more interesting and more logical in the Small / Medium ship ranges.

 

[Syde_Syrius]

There is a really big gap for medium size mid price ship. I think that it is just obvious when looking at the ship prices and max cargo, that type-7 should be a medium ship because there is no good trading ship for that price. Asp explorer cost 6mln and can take 128T of cargo and dropship (about 13mln) can take 164T. Both are medium ships and are best for trading for me since I can land on medium pads.

Type-9 can take 532T of cargo and this is really large pad ship. Type-7 with the 304T should be definitely medium to be competent as a trading ship. Why everyone should go for python? We should have alternatives because then, the gameplay is simply better and we can fly and invest into multiple ships rather than different python configurations....
I hope some changes will be done with the Type-7 and we will be able to land on medium pads. It's only a hope because I saw some threads from 2014 in this topic...