This Man's Star Citizen

[VKhaun]

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/p...-Hurricane-LTI
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/p...arbond-Edition

$320 for the Terrapin and Hurricane, both w/LTI!

The Hurricane is also up for $160 w/LTI on it's own, and that's pretty nice. That sort of offense-stacked, easy to lose ship is perfect for LTI.

[VKhaun]

The smaller scout ships are really impressive in 2.6.1 with the new speeds. The Avenger and Khartu-Al feel really good. I still say the Aurora handles like ass but people seem to like it better now. I see them being used rather than sitting on the dock taking up a pad while the owner is on someone else's Constellation.

I'm sad to see the Mustang Delta lost the ability to run 6xSize1 guns on gimbal controls, due to two hardpoints which now only give options to attach rockets but that was probably OP.

Latency is sadly a big factor in multiplayer. Maybe that's not news to people who could actually run the game well to play multiplayer before last week.

Playing single player or as host I can fly a Khartu-Al with two pyrobursts (Size 3 weapon, like a big energy shotgun) and one shot kill Vanduul or completely wreck pirates for almost an hour before I start to die, but if I'm not host I literally can not hurt anything. I follow around some random aurora firing ahead, at and behind trying to find a hitbox but never even break the shields while the host kills the rest of the wave and then kills my target. For some reason physical weapons seem to handle latency a bit better. I was having ammo problems and clearly not doing as well as solo, but I still fine as non-host in a multiplayer match using a P-52 Merlin with it's internal chaingun and two 9-series longswords fixed, as well as with an Avenger with it's gimbaled chaingun and two gimbaled 9-series longswords. Might go up another step to rent a gladius and see how that feels tonight.

[VKhaun]

*continues talking to self*

Gladius sucked. It flies like a dream and I enjoyed trying it, but it's effectively just 3x Size2 guns. The gimballed special chaingun is actually removable, unlike the Avenger or Merlin, AND you get to keep the gimbal action if you stick another S2 on there. You just end up with 3xSize2 fixed when you lock the gimbal, or one size 2 and and two size 1 gimbals if you gimbal the wings. Not enough dakka.

Here self, in case you need the 2.6.1 projectile velocities/damage/DPS that Squidoflove posted and forget to save it again:

[Marou]

I want fucking 3.0. That's when I'll be spending a bunch of time in Star Citizen. Until then I'm not wanting to burn myself out dicking around.

[VKhaun]

DRAKE ships are available to buy for a bit.

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/c...he-2947-Lineup

No LTI on the page and the $195 combo pack is only a discount of $15 so overall the word is "meh". It does actually appear to be a "SALE" though. There's mention of a %15 discount and the prices are lower than I remember them being in the past so I don't think it's just fluff. These low prices also carry over to the ship upgrade options, so it might be a good time to upgrade something else to a Drake ship if you were waiting to do that.

I tried the Buccaneer briefly on PTU and I didn't particularly like it. The wingtips are S1 without gimbals so no loadouts really make sense. Either you're locking the turret and running 2xS1, 2xS2 and 2xS3 all fixed trying to match up your projectile speeds, or you're running 4xS2 on precision controls and... 2xS1 still fixed? The only thing I can think of is that it's meant to run all fixed plus large missiles and dakka the fuck out of big ships, with the varying projectile speeds serving to balance it out when fighting within it's weight class.

[VKhaun]

For spring, lots of smaller ships are available to buy.

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/c...Star-Ship-Sale

Again, not much of a deal. Not a good combo pack. No LTI in there anywhere.

The only thing of note is a new starter ship package with the MISC Reliant Kore. IMO, this starter pack is overpriced and a terrible option all around. The only noteworthy aspect being that it can carry a second player, but anyone able to log in already has their own ship with a jump drive. For right now, I recommend the cheapest possible buy-in, and waiting for something with LTI to be available to replace it and then upgrade.

[VKhaun]

Banu Ships are available to buy.

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/c...-Banu-Defender

The Merchantman is available for $300 with 6 month insurance, valued at $350 in the ship upgrade options.

The Defender is available with LTI for $170, valued at $185 in the ship upgrade options.

Warbond combo pack of 450 includes both ships, both with LTI.

On it's own I'm not seeing a great buy with the Defender.
It's pure combat, mostly TBD equipment and it is a disproportionately massive target compared to it's capabilities and weight. (EDIT--) Confirmed in the jump point article I can see as a subscriber. The guns listed as 4xS3 gimbal are, as usual, actually 4xS2 because the gimbal mount counts as S3. In addition, the jump point states explicitly that these can not be removed to add larger guns so you can't even go 4xS3 fixed.
You could get it just for the LTI but the standard mid range ships are all cheaper than $185 so you can't use it to apply LTI to any of the Hornets, Cutlasses or Freelancers.

The combo pack is interesting though.
A list-price savings of $20, plus the combo pack provides LTI for both ships rather than just the defender, giving a value of around $70 in savings if you actually want an LTI defender to use or upgrade from. Maybe a good deal to pass on to people who want to play with a small group using the Merchantman for trade and upgrading the Defender to something else for getting tradestuffs like a Constellation Aquilla or Reclaimer.

[Marou]

For the past few years I've had a Merchantman with LTI, a Reliant Sen with LTI, and a Mustang Delta w/o LTI. Aeinna has a Freelancer MIS with LTI. Between all of those ships I think we have all of our bases covered. I'd be somewhat interested in picking up a Banu Defender if it wasn't priced so expensive for what's (ultimately) a 2 person combat ship with limited customization capability.

[Aeinna]

The only thing missing is the Reclaimer. I've wanted that ship from the first moment I saw it. It will be mine.

[VKhaun]

Same. I find the ships very interesting but I pretty much have what I want.

The last thing on my list is something really light and fun with a tiny bit of cargo space and LTI on it. Hoping for a "space pickup truck" basically. Direct in/out of the cockpit instead of airlock, and direct access to cargo spaces without opening/closing anything. But also somewhat fast and fun to fly. Dragonfly is kind of my backup plan, but with only one unit of cargo space it's not precisely what I was looking for.

The lazy gamer side of me also really wants to be a space farmer with the Endeavor. 2x farms to raise space-chikin and space-chocolate respectively and some kind of setup to farm services for money, like being a respawn point or doing rescue pickups in "safe" areas where it won't get asploded. LTI not as important since I would specifically try to use it in an ultra safe way even if it limited me.

[Marou]

So it seems my Merchantman grew larger than fuck when Squadron 42 took over. Should be hella run floating around as a travelling bazaar though.

[VKhaun]

Hmm... seems they changed their minds. I still wouldn't buy one at that price, but 4xS3 fixed on a fast craft is much more desirable. With extra large tanks I assume that affects boosting fuel as well. Might be a good craft to throw 4x fixed Pyrobursts on for lulz pwning nuiscance NPC's. Some really long range missiles just in case you end up too far away from the merchantman and need to defend it from afar.

Can the Defender mount fixed S3 guns instead of using gimbals?

Yes, the current plan for the Defender’s gun hardpoints is that you can choose to mount either a S3 fixed weapon or a S2 gimbaled weapon. We expect this sort of loadout to be favored by solo pilots or used in a crew arrangement where the co-pilot is completely focused on other tasks, like shield or power management, as a fixed weapon loadout for this ship would make life harder for a co-gunner who doesn’t have independent control of where they’re pointing.

EDIT--
Actually... my Hurricane has no cargo space either, is squishier, shorter range and harder to repair... Upgrade is only $10... I think I'll finally remember to cancel my DDO subscription for May and get the Defender instead. 4xS3 fixed and internal-access to all components for repairs sold me. I already have the Cutlass with a turret and cargo space if KGB or whoever wants to run duo.

[Marou]

Hmm... seems they changed their minds. I still wouldn't buy one at that price, but 4xS3 fixed on a fast craft is much more desirable. With extra large tanks I assume that affects boosting fuel as well. Might be a good craft to throw 4x fixed Pyrobursts on for lulz pwning nuiscance NPC's. Some really long range missiles just in case you end up too far away from the merchantman and need to defend it from afar.




EDIT--
Actually... my Hurricane has no cargo space either, is squishier, shorter range and harder to repair... Upgrade is only $10... I think I'll finally remember to cancel my DDO subscription for May and get the Defender instead. 4xS3 fixed and internal-access to all components for repairs sold me. I already have the Cutlass with a turret and cargo space if KGB or whoever wants to run duo.

Defender and defender size ships will be able to dock inside mah merchantman, so we got a base of operations.

[VKhaun]

Defender and defender size ships will be able to dock inside mah merchantman, so we got a base of operations.

Has it been named yet?

Fun fact: Warframe has an NPC named Maroo who runs a bazaar. Korean MMO style "stand there with advertisement up to sell stuff" area for players and she is there as an NPC to trade in treasures for another currency.

[Marou]

Has it been named yet?

Fun fact: Warframe has an NPC named Maroo who runs a bazaar. Korean MMO style "stand there with advertisement up to sell stuff" area for players and she is there as an NPC to trade in treasures for another currency.

The Merchantman? No idea on names yet. You got any?

[VKhaun]

No... >.>

I was poking around on wikipedia articles about viking traders and the silk road but none of the names jump out as particularly shippy.

[VKhaun]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skuldelev_ships

Skuldelev 7

[VKhaun]

Subscriber flash sale for the Gladius short range patrol fighter. (Not to be confused with the 2-man GLADIATOR.)
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/c...ber-Flash-Sale

I was thoroughly underwhelmed with the Gladius as a ROM and the default equipment on this is asstastic. Wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole.

[VKhaun]

[VKhaun]

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/p.../Aegis-Eclipse

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/c...In-The-Shadows

Aegis Dynamics launches it's new stealth bomber called the Eclipse. A hyper-specialized ship. Weighing only 17,000Kg it's about half the mass of a Cutlass and seats only one pilot, but is still somewhat oversize compared to it's armament of only two size two fixed ballistic guns. It leans entirely on a set of oversized torpedoes and "scan diffusing technology" that would presumably allow it to go undetected by other players and NPC's.

Also available are the bomber pack (Anvil Gladiator, Aegis Eclipse and and Aegis Retaliator Bomber config) all with lifetime insurance for $670, and an updated Aegis War pack featuring the entire Aegis lineup, including the Eclipse and even the Reclaimer, all with lifetime insurance for $2,350.


https://robertsspaceindustries.com/p...ET-Bomber-Pack
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/p...r-Pack-Updated

[VKhaun]

Xi'an Nox concept sale today... The crotch rocket to the Dragonfly's moped, it appears to be a solo ship with better guns and more of both speed and maneuverability as well as more protection for the driver vs the Dragonfly's ability to carry a buddy and a tiny box of cargo. Not sure what it's role is exactly though. I don't see why you'd ever take this over something like a Merlin or Archimedes for space combat, and I don't see why you'd want it over the Dragonfly for ground exploration. Eagerly awaiting the description and pamphlet to see what -if anything- it has to carve out a niche.

EDIT1
I don't see it on the RSI site, but I found this buried in the Reddit comments:
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/p...ue-LTI-Warbond

$35 w/LTI!!!

That's it's purpose.

Cheap ass LTI buy-in. :P



EDIT2

Had two $50 Origin 85x's w/LTI that I intended to upgrade later for <$50 each to have a selection of small ships with LTI. Just for fun/variety.

Bought three Nox bikes for $105.

Now I can melt my two old 85X's for $100 store credit to make the upgrades on two of the nox bikes later.

I'll keep the third one, basically a $5 Nox bike with LTI!

VK is a happy person this morning.

[VKhaun]

Also available in black, and in packs!

Looks like I jumped the gun getting three singles @ $35 off the reddit link. Should have got the 2-pack and a single, would have saved $5 and had a FREE space bike!

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/c...arbond-Presale

[Cadamer]

Okay, just wanna clarify something....so are all these ships you keep posting actually bought using real-life currency? I'm just curious because judging by your posts so far, you've spent hella money. Maybe I'm just not in the know when it comes to this game's economy or something. Its just sounding awfully expensive though.

[Marou]

Okay, just wanna clarify something....so are all these ships you keep posting actually bought using real-life currency? I'm just curious because judging by your posts so far, you've spent hella money. Maybe I'm just not in the know when it comes to this game's economy or something. Its just sounding awfully expensive though.

They can be, yes. It's how they been raising money for continued development. It's worth noting that it's not a "grind game", it's a universe sim. Anything can be earned in game and the only thing (needed) to play is a basic 45$ ship pack. You can buy different ships to support further development if you want. Looking forward to the big release in the next month or so here adding all the planetary stuff. It's tough to hold back playing too much during these big feature push stages - because I don't want to burn myself out on the game before it's feature complete; which given how many features there are may not be until 2020 or so.

[VKhaun]

Okay, just wanna clarify something....so are all these ships you keep posting actually bought using real-life currency? I'm just curious because judging by your posts so far, you've spent hella money. Maybe I'm just not in the know when it comes to this game's economy or something. Its just sounding awfully expensive though.

Yes. Real money. In fact "Sale" is a misleading word with these guys that I try to avoid. They're not "on sale" in the sense that they're discounted for a time, they actually DO NOT SELL most of their lineup at any given time. They put the ships "up for sale" just meaning you can buy them for while.

Their store is well designed. You can upgrade ships to more expensive ones for just the cost difference and keep all the extras like insurance. You can also "melt" ships you previously bought and convert them to their full value in store credit to get something else. I've spent a fair bit now, but some of what you may think I spent probably overlaps that way.

I'm almost certainly done spending money now. I've bought enough that store credit and trades/upgrades will let me get anything I want within reason. Even the money I spent yesterday was already earmarked to be spent on upgrades later. All I did was shuffle it to cheaper ships for upgrading to cheaper ships. I may even have saved a little money yesterday.

My only regret is the Terrapin+Hurricane pack for $320. I had just gotten a bonus from work and I really REALLY wanted the Terrapin but it seemed like it was too expensive on it's own without LTI... The pack made me feel like I was getting enough for the money... then I spent a little more upgrading the Hurricane. It's a bit of a pit now. I like the Defender I ended up with but if I ever did want to spend more money I'd just melt that extra ship rather than pay in more.