It used to be the fastest ship at 250 m/s, despite a very high drain. Now it is another Hog look alike with crappy drain. I think it should be buffed up somehow.

It definitely could use something to distinguish it from the other models once again. The turbo speed advantage never struck me as very useful given its other characteristics, so perhaps it should have some better attributes for serving as a System Defense ship, which its name implies.

And besides a stats change, how about restricting the AI version to UIT convoys? How Corvus got so many of them to haunt Grey Space with is beyond me.

Everyone knows the major corporations finance the pirates.

Seriously though, the TD could use a boost. Perhaps thrust could be increased to 225 or 230 N, or the drain could be lowered to something ranging between 53 and 56 eu/s

I was flying one of those the other day for an extended time; their maneuverability is already quite high, so I don't think it needs a major buff in that area. To better fill the "territorial defender" role, perhaps a slight increase in turbo speed or decrease in turbo drin would do it good (allowing it to reach and enter engagement more quickly)

Well, I just pulled the numbers off the wik and added a small amount, so since you had hands-on experience (can't be bothered to up UIT standing), I'll just aree with your post, Dihelical Synthesis.

Definitely need to buff the TD. It used to be worth flying, but now I don't bother with anything other than the Mk2. As they are now, a little more armor and a little less weight (on the Mks 3/4 and TD) don't make up for the lack of infiniboost and marginal (if any) performance increases in other areas.

Indeed, the fast turbo was the only real reason to even *consider* flying a TD before the nerf, and the incredibly high drain more than balanced its speed. Before, it was a short-range interceptor, which fit well with its 'territorial defender' role, but after the nerf it became hopelessly outclassed by far less advanced models of the attack bridge. Seriously, having an agile firing platform is completely useless if you can't stay in range of your target. its become like the BioCom Vulture XT--so superfluous that no one in their right mind uses it.

BioCom Vult XT
Warthog TD
Valk Rune

All now useless.

Also, could someone who knows what the hell was going through the minds of the Dev Team please finally explain why there was a cap of 225m/s imposed on boost speeds... to slow down combat? If that is to be a factor at all, why wasn't there a simple across the board proportional scale back?

Ships, especially for chasing, are now unbalanced in a major way, which was not the case before the boost cap.

Who dares slack off the XT?

Vult XT = slightly worse than Vult Mk IV with steeper hurdles to get it.

Buff the XT?

Here's a thought... cut the XT's armor dramatically and make it lighter and more maneuverable than the other vults. It would become spamfodder, sure, but at least it would give SOME players reason to fly it. Anyone fancy themselves leet enough?

EDIT: Give the valk rune infiniturbo back and it will have a niche again... heck, I'd fly it.

I'm with vIsitor. But I do remember back when the mining maud could outclass a hog TD, gat and flare style.

First people whine about the TD being too powerful... and now it needs buffing? make up your damned minds already. Hog TD suddenly not cheap enough for you now that the AGT's been nerfed? please... Hog TD is perfectly fine if you're not trying to carry super heavy weapons on it.

i too considered the td a waste of scrap, until the npc pirates started using it. why can't i fly a td like that?

TD is crap. Give the unnies any hog with flares and an AGT and you'll get the same results. Plus, the unnies just sit there. They don't try to chase really. If you need to take more than two steps, the TD gets outclassed.