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2951 Intergalactic Aerospace Expo (IAE)


LowZone

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11 minutes ago, LowZone said:

Madness...? This is SPARTAN!

 

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Pretty nice to see CIG reusing the ATLAS platform in order to now have the Ballista missile platform and the Spartan troop transport. It also makes for a nice combo with the Liberator as I believe that one had additional seating for extra troops if I'm not mistaken (or was that only the Hercules M2 from Crusader?). Makes me wonder if they will also use the same undercarriage and put a massive tank cannon on top at some point so we have a second tank to play with (although it wouldn't be a true tank; just an APC with a big gun on top but hey). :P

Additionally I still hope that CIG will also make a shortened variant someday that has similar dimensions and capabilities to the Ursa. We definitely could do with a few more generalist rovers in my opinion as the Ursa is currently the undefeated king at the moment. I definitely wouldn't mind buying a smaller Anvil rover and putting that one inside my Carrack instead of the freebie Ursa that came with it. ;)

I wouldn't mind something like this someday (and also rovers from Aegis, Crusader, etc.)

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 Also loving my Ares Inferno by the way. Has a bit less ammo that I had hoped; especially due to CIG stating that it would have 2-3x as much ammo but apparently Yogiklatt from CIG told us that the Q&A is obsolete (if so, then why bother doing them at all). :P

Still, they did increase it from 2000 to 3600 thankfully; but I was hoping for something more in the range of 5200-7800. Just the Redeemer's two twin-S5 turrets already carry 10800 rounds of ammo (in magical bags of holding apparently) while the Inferno only has its one gun and was supposed to have special bespoke ammo storage boxes inside the ship. Meanwhile the Ion can fire its energy cannon all day long while the Inferno has to restock ammunition every 3 minutes. 😕

The Inferno still looks way cooler though; even though the dispersion of the bullets is atrocious (worse than Stormtroopers) and there's a small bug with the panel color if you swap out the missile rack for a S5 torpedo (the front panel is white instead of black; so it's using the panel of the Ion atm). However, I am very glad that CIG decided to keep those swappable racks in and even came up with a cool solution to have that changing cover panel. They also gave it 12 S3 missiles in its bespoke launch bay instead of the originally planned 8. Definitely a proper heavy fighter (unlike the Scorpius with its peashooter guns, gimmick turret, and 8 S2 missiles; or the Hurricane with its single M shield and a mere 4 S2 missiles... Oh and CIG already nerfed the Hurricane's turret so now it can only shoot half as long as a Cutlass civilian transport and are apparently planning at punishing multicrew ships when more people man turrets. Talk about taking the fun away so I hope they received the message that turrets in a3.14 were a step in the right direction while turrets in a3.15 with shared capacitors are two steps backwards and putting us right back at the "turrets are useless; just get another singleseat fighter" again). 😒

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What does everyone think of the MISC Odyssey. I have mixed feelings on it personally. They're selling the Med facility as "best you can find on an exploration vessel" and the mining and refinery on the same ship so you can "never run out" of qunatanium is really cool. BUT it seems clear that Carrack will have a superior sensor suites, superior storage, and military grade components stock. Similar snub storage size (although it looks like Odyssey fits a Sabre - haven't tried that in my carrack (may report back on that) yet. The Odyssey looks much more utilitarian which I think I like but also think it may end up being the master of none because of it which is a deterrent for me personally. 

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I think Homer ought t' see this one: the Carrack Killer Concept?

Personally, even though the Odyssey's main advantage is its independent sustainability, I think the Carrack has a lot more going for it in terms of features not yet implemented: drones, repair facility, protective sheath, jump computer, and its modularity. The choice of a sabre as an accompanying craft for the Odyssey for example speaks volumes as to how CIG want the ship to be used - recon an area stealthily before jumping in with the main craft.

As both ships have specialties in different areas, I think it will come down to choosing the right ship for the right circumstances. Do you want to go out into the black, rarely to return, or extensively document an exploration area and return with the data relatively quickly?

And then there is the Endeavour's explorer cab just lurking around the corner...

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@LowZone - Great take - I have spent some time asking question on spectrum and watching the main "SC Influencers" hot takes and what I have come back with is:

PROS

Carrack:

- Drones - TBD on how good this PRO is.

- Cargo module changes - in the into the verse episode where Carrack was formally reviewed these were module not just for cargo - Cargo (current), Mining + laser (which would remove the odyssey advantage there), Science, Fuel (additional Fuel), Missile, Probe module, Scientific module, etc.

- Armor and Sheilding: Carrack was a military vessel and as such would is currently (rightly or wrongly) being serves up as the "super hornet" of the exploration options, ship matrix aside. 

- Cartography room: has one and as such, better make good use of it. Plays into the....

- Jump Point Finding systems: Specifically called out on the Carracks material and not on Odyssey. Both will likely have the ability whenever that day comes but Carrack "Should" win out. 

- "No Capital Systems" - may seem strange to say but capital systems are not interchangable. You will be stuck with what you get, forever, at least based on current lore in the odyssey, while you can change out the L systems in the Carrack. 

Odyssey

- Med Bay is two beds instead of 1. 

- Mining laser/tractor beam + refinery - this thing never "has" to refuel. This is a +++ if Carrack doesnt get modules that allow it to do this. If it does, that's a mess up curve ball given the material on the odyssey making it seem so unique...

- Can fit "medium fighers" it is hanger (Carrack can only fit large snubs)

- 3 X S5 on paper is better than Carracks 4 X S4, however firing coverage on Carrack is better so a toss up?

- Component and ejection pods are in a much better location than carrack

- Space Station and Ship to ship docking collars v carracks ship to ship only (expected to be an advantage, time will tell). 

- Capital size components: I know I used this as a pro for the Carrack but depending on where these land they could be a pro for Odyssey... 

 

 

 

 

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If you want to explore ( for the UEE, your org etc) probably the Carrack is better; if you're a lone man on the frontier, I'd go with the Odissey: you can find new places and start mining and doing stuff right away, more cargo for building bases on the ground, one deployable small ship for extra flexibility etc.

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I guess that's it for another year! With each day featuring at least one vehicle that debuted this year (as shown on this page), a theme of this year's Expo was "Dare to fly" and I suppose it came as no surprise that CIG "Dared to try" new things. Everything from the projected holograms of the profiles of various NPC's throughout the verse to the interactive voiced displays providing information on each ship, and even the surprise display of guns and armour in the final days, all added to the sense of CIG trying to keep things fresh and innovative. Perhaps it should be an ongoing theme that CIG may make lootable-only gear have a version that it is only sold once a year at future Expos?

I especially liked the added detail of an in game schedule displayed in the elevators and the game's impressive attention to detail led to an occasion where another player entered my elevator and I was able to tell which floor they wanted simply by watching their actual eye movements as they read the schedule!

I was also glad Jax got over his minor crisis of faith in this year's Whitley's guide (the last episode of which, particularly showcasing CIG's plans for facial aging tech) and look forward to what he will have to show next year (in Pyro?)

Understandably, and a little disappointingly, the Expo couldn't take place on Orison but with the first iteration of cloud tech implemented on Microtech, it made for some stunning views and a glimpse of things to come. Even the servers themselves seemed more stable than in previous years - are CIG learning from past mistakes or has the tech finally reached a much more reliable state? This can only be a sign of the future looking bright for the project, especially with server meshing possibly being utilized next year.

And so, with the Stanton sun setting on another successful Expo, there's just enough time for the traditional shot of Storm Breaker departing the IAE for pastures new. Until next year!  

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@LowZone agree was a good year. Many of the bug that come with a larger than normal audience riding the servers but honestly only experienced a few issues where I had to restart on a new server which was a vast improvement from past IAEs. Overall I'd give it a B overall. Those speaking info stands were a nice addition with the voice overs. I may have spent most my time in a super hornet and 890 jump..... 

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