Forums » Suggestions

Pirate ship and Interceptor ships in a Balanced universe

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Feb 17, 2009 Aticephyr link
I'm down with the Moth D... but would anyone EVER take that through a WH sector unprotected (aka, w/o escort and advance scouting)?
Feb 17, 2009 Dr. Lecter link
Depends. Are they feeling lucky? Is it in nation space trading? Should we care about their terrible odds of survival if they're risky enough to try it?

Hell, I'd try it running swarms or ADV rails between Sedina L2 and D14 at some early hour. Make enough money when nobody's there to cover the occasional loss when they show up.

Roda: agreed on the turbo speed cut, and you can keep the armor on. Only thing is that if it's a 400 cu, 80 m/s lumbering barge, let's not make it terrible to pilot. 50 drain, not 60. Infinboost at 80 m/s with that much cargo to weigh it down . . . not a real advantage.
Feb 17, 2009 Daare link
From this trader's perspective, no. It's 40% slower and only carries 20% more cargo; more efficient to use an XC even with the added thrust considering the extra mass. The extra armor is useless at that speed since most people don't have trouble hitting the broad side of a barn. And unless that weapon port is a large cap ship turret, all it would be good for is mines (well, maybe a radar extender) which every other ship in the 'verse can ignore when you are only traveling at 100 m/s.

Sorry, Roda, I agree with the rest of your post though.
Feb 17, 2009 Kierky link
Dr. Lecter, you're an idiot, that's like an infiniboost valk with superspeed...
Feb 17, 2009 Dr. Lecter link
Kierky, your room-temperature IQ--as well as a healthy misapprehension of VO game mechanics--is showing.

Unlike an "infinboost valk with superspeed," the Corvus Hog only does one thing: run forward in a straight line. It lacks armor (the valk does not), and it lacks any significant rotational torque or combat (i.e., non-straight forward) thrust (the valk is the most agile non-cent ship in the game, in addition to being a fast sprinter).

Anyone dumb enough to try and use a Greyhound as a combat platform--by, say, putting a tube of flares and an AGT on it and facing an opponent head on--would find that it doesn't turn, it doesn't dodge, and it gets the shit kicked out of it by flares (you try recovering from a concussive blast with the Spin Torque of a n00b bus) . . . all while having a fraction of the armor of a serious combat ship.

In conclusion, you're a fucking idiot if you equate being able to go really fast in a straight line with the combat capabilities of a Valk. It would be better for you (though less amusing for the rest of us) were you think before you type.
Feb 18, 2009 AgY link
(Out of the other Thread)

There is no need for Large ports, Cargoslots or long distance travel.

4000m at 210 needs 19 seconds (fast trader)
4000m at 225 needs 17,7 seconds (valk)

There are usualy 1000m between a pirate and his target. Assuming someone jumps in and both start to accelerate.
The valk is 1,3 seconds faster. That means he can shorten the distance to 700m until the trader jumps. Reminder: you need at last 400m to place a good shot.

How fast must a intercepter be to catch this ship?
Feb 18, 2009 Antz link
Traders can be slowed down in general by just making trade goods sufficiently heavier, although an across-board slowdown of trade ships will not hurt.

I like Dr. Lecter's Hog suggestion, but it should still be possible for pirate hunters to hunt it down (or at least chase it away from protected traders). Perhaps reduce armour even further to make sure pirates *really* don't want to use it in a real fight?

Another issue with it would be dealing enough damage to take out a voy moth before it jumps. A second L port would not go amiss for that, but I am unsure that would keep the ship balanced, it may be more the case that voy moths just have too thick hulls.
Feb 18, 2009 Aticephyr link
reducing armor on the hog wouldn't change a thing (though I like the idea of weighing down traders a bit more, though we should increase non-turbo thrust on moths if that is put into effect). The rats already won't want to use this in a fight. The only problem from a rat-hunting side is that this thing is impossible to catch. If it sees me, it turns around (granted that could take a second or two), and then I have absolutely no shot in hell of catching it. It might be reasonable to give this a small additional handicap of needing 2/3rds battery full to jump (or something of that sort; and honestly, that isn't even a huge disadvantage since no one is going to use anything but a FC or UC on this guy anyways).

EDIT: Dr. Lecter responded to my above comment here:
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/20762#257257

As I said before, I fear for the day Marcuse gets ahold of this ship.

Also, giving anti-rats a low-burn, light, and fast ship to intercept with (just 1 small wep port is fine by me) like has been previously mentioned would help counter this threat. But I still am a little worried about the possible use of this ship to run AWAY, instead of towards.

@AgY: How often are you chasing a LIGHT cargo ship that is worth any cash anyways. What you want is a uber-chase-ship that can chase down and kill anything. good luck getting that. I'm tired of listening to a guy in fantasy land who insists he's the only one who knows what he's talking about.