Why not buff the eagle just a little bit?

I have enough money to buy every ship in the game and make it class A rated, I have flown every ship in the game, and for whatever reason the eagle really stands out for me, I just love the single seat and great maneuverability. Its just fun.

Problem is, it sucks.

In its current state, the eagle is pretty useless as its lack of speed and firepower is a major disadvantage which is not recoverable based on its great maneuverability alone. Any ship can run away from it, and perhaps its only a real threat to side-winders or Haulers...

However the Viper and Cobra, which relatively speaking are not that much more expensive, are a direct threat to ANY ship in the game. Once you are past the ASP stage of the game, the difference between a 40k Eagle and a 150k Viper is not very noticeable, yet one ship is a very viable combat fighter while the other is not.

So how about some quick and simple buffs that would make the eagle a tad more attractive? Not only would this add more dynamics to the game, as we will see more eagles flying around, but it will also make all the Eagle enthusiasts (which seems to be almost the entire Elite community) happy.

And even with the new combat ships coming up, the more the ship options the better...

Suggestions:

1) Make it more up-gradable. Perhaps some better shields and Power? that way the Eagle could survive a bit more in combat and not get fried in one pass by a Python? It would be a great support ship that way.

2) Make the Eagle stealthy? Make it run significantly colder than most ships such that it is detected late at shorter distances than most ships. This will add dynamics to the game, and make it a more survivable ship.

3) Give it 1 medium hard-point, that will add that bit of firepower that it needs.

4) Thruster upgrades to give it higher speed? Its a very light ship, perhaps make it more sensitive to thruster upgrades such that it can (almost) compete with ships like the Cobra and Viper speed wise. Or give it a significant boost speed, (390+ ms) such that it can survive being targetted by a larger ship by boosting off. At the moment, if a ship with large hardpoints gets its sights on the Eagle for 3+ seconds, its toast.

5) (my favorite) Create an Eagle variant, make a faction based ship, that's 10 times the price, and directly competes with the Cobra and Viper.
 
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I do completely agree with you. I would really like there to be more ships within a price range to allow brand/function choice other than the relatively standard "progression" system there is at the moment. There should be more of a reason to look at owning cheaper ships, in the sense that they can do something a larger ship can't, not just in terms of manoeuvrability either.

Personally, I am actively boycotting the Cobra MkIII because it's too common of a ship to be appealing (and also not too pleasing to the eye, but that's just me...), but it is THE ship to have in terms of price to practicality, but it feels like I'm shooting myself in the foot and it shouldn't.
 
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I agree. It feels like the Eagle and Sidey need to be a touch closer to the Viper and Cobra.

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I do completely agree with you. I would really like there to be more ships within a price range to allow brand/function choice other than the relatively standard "progression" system there is at the moment. There should be more of a reason to look at owning cheaper ships, in the sense that they can do something a larger ship can't, not just in terms of manoeuvrability either.

Personally, I am actively boycotting the Cobra MkIII because it's too common of a ship to be appealing (and also not too pleasing to the eye, but that's just me...), but it is THE ship to have in terms of price to practicality, but it feels like I'm shooting myself in the foot and it shouldn't.

This sums it up nicely.
 
eh, Eagle should be light interceptor, Viper should be medium superiority fighter. That's what it looks like to me.

Because the interceptor is lighter it can be outfitted to a scouting role, which is what I like about the eagles decent jump range, Compared to the vipers.
 
Ok may be buff the Eagle to increase the speed but drop the Agility to compensate for this

That will just make the Eagle into a weak Viper.
The Eagle is, really, the only fighter craft we can pilot. If it is to be buffed, then I hope that it would have its manueverability increased even more.
 
Also with regard to the above post i feel more and more people want a capable ship but without putting the work in to get one,I think you have a little to much inflexability or may you are too lazy to put the time into getting a better ship, a full A rated Viper/Cobra cost far more than a Eagle and takes far longer to get the money for this purpose and this sould be represented in its caperbilities
 
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Also with regard to the above post i feel more and more people want a capable ship but without putting the work in to get one

Definitively, I think all ships should be capable. For the roles they are made to fill.
This isn't some kind of linear grinding simulator where you go from Eagle to Viper to Ferdelance. Every ship needs to have its own role and reason for existing in the universe.
 
Eagle's aren't meant to 1v1 a python or even a viper. They're tiny fighter ships meant to be used against sidewinders or unarmed ships of similar or in groups. The groups thing is all that is lacking in ED in regards to balancing smaller ships against larger ones. No buffs are needed here, just more logical use of the ship. Maybe we will get lucky with 1.2
 
Thinking about it I can't see the harm in making the Eagle a lot more agile, although not increasing it's speed. That would create a niche for it, and wouldn't make it a mini-Viper or whatever.
 
eh, Eagle should be light interceptor, Viper should be medium superiority fighter. That's what it looks like to me.

Because the interceptor is lighter it can be outfitted to a scouting role, which is what I like about the eagles decent jump range, Compared to the vipers.

What's the point of an interceptor if it's too slow to intercept anything?


Eagle's aren't meant to 1v1 a python or even a viper. They're tiny fighter ships meant to be used against sidewinders or unarmed ships of similar or in groups. The groups thing is all that is lacking in ED in regards to balancing smaller ships against larger ones. No buffs are needed here, just more logical use of the ship. Maybe we will get lucky with 1.2



Except 31 Eagles couldn't take down a Python right now because it will just charge FSD and laugh at them.
 
Eagle's aren't meant to 1v1 a python or even a viper. They're tiny fighter ships meant to be used against sidewinders or unarmed ships of similar or in groups. The groups thing is all that is lacking in ED in regards to balancing smaller ships against larger ones. No buffs are needed here, just more logical use of the ship. Maybe we will get lucky with 1.2

Not talking about a 1v1 scenario, but rather a group vs group scenario. Its very easy to get targetting when there are multiple ships attacking you, in an eagle that means instant death which renders it useless for wings/group play.

I don't need to wait until 1.2 to come to realize that.
 
They just need to give the Eagle an A3 power plant. Since the SCB changes, it's almost impossible to fit an Eagle out with something most people would consider a decent loadout. I mean, before the SCB change I could run a single beam and two MCs... it was never going to dominate everything in sight. Can't even think about the beam now if you want to run a single small SCB. It's worthless now tbh.
 
This tread has far to much Bias toward an Eagle,Dont get me wrong i like the Eagle .Its cost slighty more than a sidewinder and is a little better that seems fine to me.
 
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