Xi'an Cargoship

[Chris von Hoff]

Well, i never heared of that one befor yesterday, when Sandy mentioned it in ATV episode 7.

They either work on the concept art atm or are about done with it (i would need to rewatch be sure)

 

Are there any informations out there about the Xi'an cargoship that i missed?

[Jozi]

Nope you haven't missed anything. Atleast I can't find any info about xi'an cargoship.

[Fintz]

There is no info,yet. They sure love teasing us

[VoA]

I haven't heard anything yet. What is interesting about it is that it could be another possible player owned ship - considering the ship tech and manufacturing agreement with MISC. I would not expect any other Xi'An player ships though (example don't think we could purchase a Xi'An bomber). This could also portend another small Banu ship that players could purchase. . Upping it to two ships per race.

[Rocket Man]

I caught that too.  I'm guessing that they are adding ships to the Banu and Xi'an to give them more identity (as in having a fleet of their own, similar to the large number of Vanduul ships).

[Wu Jen]

Something seems off though. I personally don't want to see each race have the same types of ships. I would be happy with no analoges between some ship types. I.E. vanduul have a super heavy fighter. No other race has a super heavy fighter.

[Silveryn]

Something seems off though. I personally don't want to see each race have the same types of ships. I would be happy with no analoges between some ship types. I.E. vanduul have a super heavy fighter. No other race has a super heavy fighter.

 

Remember though that all races have to do the same sort of stuff. The Xi'an need to move large quantities of material just like the Banu do, so they need a cargoship. And with military stuff, its like the UEE saying "oh hey those vanduul sure have cool super heavy fighters. we need to counter that!" and then a new ship is born, which is countered by the vanduul, which is countered by the UEE etc. So both sides end up with many similarly role-d ships. 

As long as the different races have UNIQUE ships of the same types, it'll be great. If they all feel too similar, there is a problem. However, CIG has been good about differentiating culture of the 4 known races thus far, so I have faith that this "Xi'an Cargoship" will be awesome and unique.

[Wu Jen]

Massive and nimble perhaps?

[Chris von Hoff]

Massive and nimble perhaps?

well, those 2 barely come in 1 package

but a starfarer sized multipurpose ship with a lot of thrusters, nimble for its class but not compared to smaller ships...or somthing like that?

 

I defently would get one if it looks as good as the scout

[Chris von Hoff]

I have a theory...

 

In one ATV they mentioned the Xi'an Cargoship and then they did not mention it ever again, but they started mentioning the panther, without explaining what it was.

 

well i added 1 and 1 and my theory is that it is one and the same. (it was said it going to be renamed though)

 

From the look of it the design is coming along well and maybe we see it soon

[Reavern]

The Xi'an obviously have cargo ships, including massive freighters. The UEE Synthworld was apparently inspired by the Xi'an ProductionSystems, such as the Tal star system. Industrialization on a solar system scale would necessitate an equally massive logistical infrastructure and supply chain to support it, involving thousands or even tens of thousands of heavy freighters.

 

It's entirely possible that the Xi'an have larger, superior transports to UEE-built analogs.

 

Undoubtedly, the Xi'an have light and medium transports, akin to the Aurora, Freelancer, and Starfarer. Since localized ship makers already dominate the UEE market, it's unlikely we'd see Xi'an light or medium transports -- at least not as pledge ships. Practically speaking, it would be a waste of CIG's resources to design Xi'an ships that are redundant with UEE ships. If CIG does introduce a Xi'an cargo transport, it would need a unique selling feature that would set it apart from UEE transports. We know that Xi'an thruster tech is superior to the UEE's, but a small and nimble transport, similar to the Khartu-Al, doesn't make sense -- a transport variant model of the Khartu-Al is more likely.

 

I speculate that a Xi'an transport would be the opposite extreme: a massive capital ship-size freighter, even larger than the MISC Hull C, which is remarkably fast and maneuverable for its immense size and mass. We've seen Xi'an vertical cap ships, such as this one:

 

 

We don't know if its a warship -- those pointy extensions are more likely antennae than weapons IMO -- but it's likely that the Xi'an have similarly sized cap-ship freighters.

 

The only question is if CIG plans on designing a Xi'an cap-freighter that is player flyable for the game's retail launch. I doubt it. It's more likely that CIG will have NPC-only Xi'an ships, with finished exteriors, but their interiors wouldn't be mapped out and designed, like an Idris Frigate. If players can't go aboard one of these Xi'an ships, then they definitely won't be available to buy and fly one.

[Flatfoot]

Something seems off though. I personally don't want to see each race have the same types of ships. I would be happy with no analoges between some ship types. I.E. vanduul have a super heavy fighter. No other race has a super heavy fighter.

 

I have to agree with @Silveryn on this one. While in game design there is usually a distinction between factions, it is generally used as archetypes for quick player understanding, something I don't think would be fitting to the extreme in SC. Take a look at our world. While different countries might have slight better, bigger, or more of any unit, we all have tanks, jets, and guns. None are so wildly different from another.

 

The major differences I think we'll see will be aesthetic and tactical/economical.

Edited August 29, 2014 by Flatfoot

[VoA]

The Xi'an obviously have cargo ships, including massive freighters. The UEE Synthworld was apparently inspired by the Xi'an ProductionSystems, such as the Tal star system. Industrialization on a solar system scale would necessitate an equally massive logistical infrastructure and supply chain to support it, involving thousands or even tens of thousands of heavy freighters.

 

It's entirely possible that the Xi'an have larger, superior transports to UEE-built analogs.

 

Undoubtedly, the Xi'an have light and medium transports, akin to the Aurora, Freelancer, and Starfarer. Since localized ship makers already dominate the UEE market, it's unlikely we'd see Xi'an light or medium transports -- at least not as pledge ships. Practically speaking, it would be a waste of CIG's resources to design Xi'an ships that are redundant with UEE ships. If CIG does introduce a Xi'an cargo transport, it would need a unique selling feature that would set it apart from UEE transports. We know that Xi'an thruster tech is superior to the UEE's, but a small and nimble transport, similar to the Khartu-Al, doesn't make sense -- a transport variant model of the Khartu-Al is more likely.

 

I speculate that a Xi'an transport would be the opposite extreme: a massive capital ship-size freighter, even larger than the MISC Hull C, which is remarkably fast and maneuverable for its immense size and mass. We've seen Xi'an vertical cap ships, such as this one:

 

 

We don't know if its a warship -- those pointy extensions are more likely antennae than weapons IMO -- but it's likely that the Xi'an have similarly sized cap-ship freighters.

 

The only question is if CIG plans on designing a Xi'an cap-freighter that is player flyable for the game's retail launch. I doubt it. It's more likely that CIG will have NPC-only Xi'an ships, with finished exteriors, but their interiors wouldn't be mapped out and designed, like an Idris Frigate. If players can't go aboard one of these Xi'an ships, then they definitely won't be available to buy and fly one.

+1 Great Post !

 

We have seen the most references to this ship as being a Xi'An Capital Ship (similar in size to a Destroyer) - but it could be a cargo ship as well....and we do know the Xi'An partner with MISC to produce the "Hull" ships and there is a "Hull D" - even bigger than the "Hull-C".

 

[Chris von Hoff]

I have a theory...

 

In one ATV they mentioned the Xi'an Cargoship and then they did not mention it ever again, but they started mentioning the panther, without explaining what it was.

 

well i added 1 and 1 and my theory is that it is one and the same. (it was said it going to be renamed though)

 

From the look of it the design is coming along well and maybe we see it soon

 

well i was wrong on this one, the Panther is obviously the (escort)carrier (mentioned in the august report)

 

As for the xi'an cargoship, i could envision a similar size as the banu merchantman with some interesting thruster config and xi'an weaponry.

There is a reason why the Xi'an build the Misc Hull D in a license agreement, its a huge containership, so obviously they do not need another big one.