Interesting idea, will have to see what FDev thinks about it. Also, sorry in advance for the incoming wall of text.
Going over your suggestions:
- The Type 7 isn't that slow to begin with, and has the best yaw rate in the game.
- Bit of a no brainer. Will probably come at the expense of more hull mass though.
- As it is, the Type 7 struggles to power everything needed to survive a PvP interdiction, and overheats if you take too long while charging the FSD. I'm thinking the Type 8 would get a size 6 PP. It would definitely get better radiators too.
- While the number and placement of the hardpoints seems good, there is no way a size 3 distributor (the same one on the Vipers and Cobras) will be able to handle that much firepower. However, looking at how long it takes to drain the Type 10's distributor firing all fixed MCs with 4 pips to weapons (64 seconds), it would take about the same amount of time to do the same thing with the Type 8 using a size 3 distributor (68 seconds). If/when the Type 10 gets a size 7 distributor the Type 8 should get a size 4, otherwise keep the size 3.
- I don't see why not. More shield boosters are never a bad thing.
- My only real complaint about the Type 10 is that it makes the Type 9 completely obsolete. In order tor prevent this from happening with the Type 8, I'll do you one better: sacrifice a size 5 slot and get a pair of size 4 military slots for additional hull tanking.
- Not too sure about having it be medium pad capable. If they put a spoiler on it like they did with the Type 10, there is no way it will ever fit into a medium hangar. Considering that the spoiler on the Type 10 is likely there to dissipate heat and improve the ship's thermal characteristics, the Type 8 will probably have a spoiler.
- Did a bit of testing in Coriolis EDCD. It seems like it would be OK to give the Type 8 a size 6 FSD with its (probably) increased hull mass. For reference, I used an Anaconda with the same loadout as a Type 7 and added 20t+.
- Not sure if the Type 8 would get a fighter bay, but it would certainly be big enough to have one.
Your stock price of 25M seems about right. Looking at the examples of competition for the Type 8, they are all sufficiently different to allow the Type 8 to have its own personality and/or niche. I would say that this ship seems like a good idea, hopefully FDev like it! +1
1. I didn't fly that ship for about 2 years, so probably you're right
2. Yeah, it's a no-brainer, but doesn't hurt to remind the devs about it.
3. Yes, I know. That overheating is one of the factors that renders the ship not very usable for the task it was designed for: trading. So that's a problem for Lakon engineers to solve in T8. Size 6PP seems about right.
4. They didn't change the distributor between T9 and T10. And it seems sufficient for regular weapons. Whether they should think about bigger distributor for T8, that's something to be tested. I'd say probably yes but I wouldn't go as far as the design strategy being exactly the same as behind T10.
5. I mean it has 4 already, so that should be enough, but with the new AX scanner it may be a good idea to provide some extra slots.
6. Type 7 is already obsolete. It's obsolete straight from the factory line. Don't get me wrong, that ship got me into my Python and I liked it, but I never considered buying it again. I bought it because of its cargo space, but had I known its characteristics or wanted to start over again, I would never go the T7 route again. When other ships have some flaws, T7 has only flaws and the only thing you get in return is decent cargo space. And I loved flying that ship, I loved the looks and sounds of it. It's a cool vessel, but flying it is masochism.
T9 was slightly more useful and has more purposes, but I skipped it whatsoever and went straight for Conda. Purely because of my experience with T7. Type 10 didn't make Type 9 obsolete. Frontier made Type 9 obsolete. They have also made Type 7 obsolete.
I would like to see both T7 and T8 buffed slightly (medium pads and no overheating for T7 would be enough and more cargo capacity for T9), but if the buff is done by making a new, anti-Thargoid ship (like with T10), then I'm all for it.
With military compartments I went T10 way: additional military compartment on top of existent internals, though it being a medium size ship having one military compartment instead of 2 (like T10). But your suggestion seems an acceptable compromise to me.
7. I think T7 should be remodelled as a medium ship (so a few meters lower). This is probably not going to happen, even though it makes perfect sense for T7 to be a medium size ship.
I think T8 should be made a medium ship from the start. As for the spoiler... Give it it additional winglets if you must to dissipate heat, though don't all the ships have heat vents for that? T10's spoiler seems to have been an aesthetic choice, not practical one. It has utility mounts, but they could have been easily placed elsewhere.
Anyhow, with T8 no spoiler is needed, other solutions can be found to keep it low enough to fit a medium hangar.
8. Yes, it would need a bigger FSD, at least size 6. I'd go for size 7 (just because I find jump ranges of
all of the current ships lacking) but that's not going to happen.
9. I added a question mark because to me SLFs are more of a cherry on top. Cool feature I don't personally use much. Mostly for flying in the asteroid fields, canyons and sometimes to shoot at skimmers (not that you can target them using SLF, but they go down nevertheless) This would instantly change if we got gliders / scouting ships for planetary exploration. Then again, to me hangars should be uniform and one should be able to put SRVs and / or SLFs into them, depending on your needs and preferences.
The basic premise behind this thread is that anti-xeno fighting is currently more difficult for players who: 1. Don't have enough money for T10 2. Don't have Fed ranks to get other combat oriented ships for that purpose.
This is not an issue for me personally, I have all the ranks and funds I might need for ships and outfitting, but have to admit it would be nice to see another useful and likeable medium size ship for the players to use.
