Yes it does. It needs a ship that someone can buy, pretty quickly after learning how to make money. It needs to be cheap with lovely cheap upgrades, so that they can work out how outfitting works and how to balance parts with a relatively small amount of money. It needs to be inexpensive to run and maintain with repairs when they damage it. And it needs to be cheap to insure for inevitable when they get themselves destroyed in it.
In performing this function the Eagle is arguably one of the most important spacecraft in the game.
The Viper.
Nope. One of the great charms of Elite is that you're not the Dovakin, or The Inquisitor, or The Gray Warden, or The Chosen One. You're just another schmo in a universe full of schmos, and if you want to rise above the schmos you're going to need to outclass them yourself somehow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QWqzRYU0gU
I didn't say it was hard, I didn't even imply it was hard. But it does take time and effort. If someone wants a bigger, badder, and better ship... work for it. That's what Elite is and always has been. This isn't Call of Duty in space.
And the Eagle fills that requirement, and will do it post-buff. No problem. It will continue to perform that function. No problem. It does not need to be inferior to fulfill this function. No problem.
For my second statement you quoted, I meant that in terms of what the game needs from the Eagle. The Viper is pretty fine.
And at the same time, you are a commander. You are free. You are not ''level 1''. You are free. I do not ask for the game to treat us as special snowflakes, don't pull that one on me.
Do you know how many persons the Elite Anaconda pilot is? One person. How many persons are the new-start Sidewinder pilot? One person. They are equals.
And after the speed buff. There will still be bigger, badder ships than the Eagle, that you will have to work for? Problem? No problem!
Do you have any more problems? If not, then I see no reason to not go ahead with the Eagle speed increase.
Well the higher rebuy cost of the Cobra may disuade gankers from using it due to the comparatively higher rebuy.
Due to the Eagle's maneouvarability, if you up it's speed, what's to stop it from sitting on the tail of a Viper, Cobra, FDL or any other ship that doesn't have rear facing turrets. They boost, it boosts, they turn, it slides in behind them. Probably also a reason why the Vulture has a low top speed. Then it'll be a case of, if you see an Eagle and aren't flying an Eagle, you might as well run, as there'll be no point. You'll be boosting and spinning and trying to get a shot in but it'll be behind you the whole time. Sure you can run, but is that really the only option people want to have against the cheapest and, what should the be the weakest, of all the combat specific ships.
If the Vulture didn't exist would this thread even have happened?
No, the higher rebuy cost of the Cobra will not matter, because if you fly a Cobra, you can actually keep yourself alive when Ferdelance players attack you. Or several Ferdelance players attack you. I always run, and survive. The Eagle pops almost immediatly. I've seen it myself so many times, especially in Lugh.
That's great, gives smaller weaker fighters a chance against lone heavy ship pilots. Of course, all those ships could escape freely, hindering the Eagle from accomplishing anything but routing them. If in an open scenario, where the Eagle is interdicting them to hinder them from accomplishing their ojectives, this is useless. In a warzone scenario, it's the larger ship's fault that they went there without wingmen. Going alone into a player-filled warzone really sucks. I've seen for myself what happens then, a lot of times.
If credits are so bountiful, buy a Vulture. It gives all of the thrills of an Eagle, plus it has punch. The price of a ship is a concern. The Bond/Bounty earning potential went up, in part, to help the Combat focused players have a chance at getting the better ships. Each ship doesn't have to be a keeper. If you saw every ship obsoleted by the last, you may have had a point, but that isn't the case. The Eagles niche is the low cost (to purchase, outfit, and loose) combat ship that won;t break the bank if you take risks. I can't get behind any attempt at doctoring it up for any other purpose.
I see every Eagle be obsoleted, unlike in some other cases where FD have balanced the ships so that each ship has their own niches, strengths and weaknesses.
Low cost isn't a niche, I would say it is entirely the opposite, even: If the Eagle didn't exist, then people with little money wouldn't be capable of getting into combat-oriented ships at all, but every combat ship would fill a useful role. As it is now, however, people with low capital get demoted to Eagle dregs and get to enjoy the fun of 8 players attacking them because they are ''the easiest kill''.
If the Eagle was a relatively weak frontline fighter, but useful in its own ways and had aspects in which it was superior, it would be a way better ship for introduction to combat. The changes suggested in the OP would, in my opinion, help accomplish that.
