Gladius

[Tallhart]

The Aegis Gladius is the UEE’s reigning light short-range patrol fighter. A single-seat ship with no room for expansion, the Gladius is fast, maneuverable and capable of punching far above its weight. The main advantage to the design is simplicity: cheap to produce, easy to repair and outfit and quick to train new pilots on. The Gladius is an aging design nearing the end of its life-cycle, although iterative updates have kept it the most nimble fighter in the active fleet.

[NuclearWoo]

Well I know I have to have one in my hangar.  I always liked flying light fighter class in sims.

[bod699]

I was definitely surprised to see a new ship announced as part of the $42 million goal, but good to see a dedicated light fighter. I am looking forward to seeing how this will look based on the limited information they shared in the letter for the chairman. Especially seeing as it was noted to be the 1st ship fully created from concept in the UK.

 

It was also interesting to see them start turning goals towards player given items again but sad to see that a combat armor set is winning the poll. Cosmetic item over something actually useful in game.. typical lol..

[Mrchafy]

 

 

It was also interesting to see them start turning goals towards player given items again but sad to see that a combat armor set is winning the poll. Cosmetic item over something actually useful in game.. typical lol..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BTW the combat armor isn't cosmetic. I refer you to the bottom of the page XI marine armor:

 

Class VI – Marine armor. Too bulky to wear in a cockpit, but much  more effective in boarding operations. A pilot wearing a Class III suit might fly a cargo load of his friends in Class VI suits to attack a freighter.

 

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/12978-Introducing-Your-RSI-Space-Suit

[Tallhart]

I was definitely surprised to see a new ship announced as part of the $42 million goal, but good to see a dedicated light fighter. I am looking forward to seeing how this will look based on the limited information they shared in the letter for the chairman. Especially seeing as it was noted to be the 1st ship fully created from concept in the UK.

 

It was also interesting to see them start turning goals towards player given items again but sad to see that a combat armor set is winning the poll. Cosmetic item over something actually useful in game.. typical lol..

 

It's not cosmetic.

[Puls0nic]

It's not cosmetic.

My Laser pistol sitting in my garage agrees with you.

[zerkerz]

Gladius=Mustang 3.0

[Swiftsure]

Looking at the Hornet I'd guess it's an Avenger/300i type deal, but with no/almost no cargo and upgrade slots? (still plenty of room to customize by changing guns, engines, shields, thrusters, overclocking, etc)

[Mrchafy]

A single-seat ship with no room for expansion, the Gladius is fast, maneuverable and capable of punching far above its weight. The main advantage to the design is simplicity: cheap to produce, easy to repair and outfit and quick to train new pilots on.

 

This quote leads me to believe no upgrade slots. Also that it has stronger weapons maybe having missiles?

[Reavern]

I figured this would happen.

Singleplayer space combat games typically have more than a dozen flyable ships -- players expect that -- and even though Star Citizen has over 20 ships now, most of them are civilian ships. Whereas Squadron 42 involves the UEE Navy, wherein the player will presumably fly all military ships, like the F7A Military Hornet and Gladiator torpedo bomber.

BTW, couldn't they come up with a name not so similar to the Gladiator? I mean, both the Gladius and Gladiator are UEE military ships, and the Gladius has been around for several decades -- why would the UEE military have two different ships, one a fighter and the other a bomber, with nearly identical names?

I know that CR has a history of naming the good guys' ships after types of swords, like the Rapier Fighter and Broadsword Bomber in WC, but it's a bad idea to have two different ships' names have the same first 5 letters. That's going to be very confusing -- especially since I've already seen numerous people use the nickname "Gladys" for the Gladiator. Gladys vs. Gladius!? Come on!

Why not recycle Rapier for the UEE Light Fighter? A rapier was a light sword, in-between a foil and a saber, so it works for a light starfighter. A rapier is lighter than a Roman gladius, which was a short sword, but was heavier than a rapier with a much thicker blade. I hope CIG renames the Gladius to anything else, because I know it'll confuse players. And I think that Rapier is a more appropriate name for the new UEE Light Fighter.

Circling back to my original point, I'm not surprised that a new fighter has been created for SQ42. I expect there will be many more SQ42 ships added in the next year. I predict a Heavy Fighter will be next (which is different than a Gunship), because the Vanduul has the "Stingers" Heavy Fighter. I expect that the UEE will also have a Space Superiority Fighter, which I predict will be the F8A; introduced late in the SQ42 campaign to serve as the ultimate "war-winner ship" for the final few missions. I expect there will also be at least one more bomber, probably a medium bomber in-between the Gladiator and Retaliator.

And considering the Gladius is described as an older design light fighter at the end of its service life, it wouldn't surprise me if there's a new light starfighter in SQ42. Perhaps that'll be called the Rapier.

[bod699]

It's not cosmetic.

 

I know we only have item names at this point but i really dont see how in a game like Star Citizen an item named "UEE Marine combar armor" would be anything but a cosmetic armor set I see what you quoted and looks to have some benefits for boarding / 1st person as I mentioned... but.. there were other items that look a lot more useful.. and like previous polls of this type the items with the most practical use will not win.

 

The 2nd highest on the poll atm is an additional hangar room which is cosmetic where by items like "Updated scanner software" and "engine tuning kit" have a specific use and are a lot lower in the poll..

[Tallhart]

I know we only have item names at this point but i really dont see how in a game like Star Citizen an item named "UEE Marine combar armor" would be anything but a cosmetic armor set I see what you quoted and looks to have some benefits for boarding / 1st person as I mentioned... but.. there were other items that look a lot more useful.. and like previous polls of this type the items with the most practical use will not win.

 

The 2nd highest on the poll atm is an additional hangar room which is cosmetic where by items like "Updated scanner software" and "engine tuning kit" have a specific use and are a lot lower in the poll..

 

It would help you survive longer. Perhaps that glancing shot to the ribs would have killed you if you were wearing just a class II suit. With combat armour? Just shrug it off. 

 

I'm don't understand why you don't get the practical applications of the suit. It's not just a 'skin'. A boarding party wouldn't want to wear anything lighter than a class VI. I see no problem with getting one for free of military-grade quality

[bod699]

Im a big FPS junkie so look forward to that aspect of the game, anything that improves on that is a good thing including a suit of armor. I never said the combat armor wasnt useful just that I felt there were more practical options. If you dont agree I understand, but for me, a game that is primarily based in space flying ships that items benefiting those ships are more beneficial.

 

Thats all I was saying. There are a lot worse options than combat armor.. ie plants... even the hangar room (that cig ALREADY announced we would be getting) are just fluff.. We will likely get all of the useful items at the ned of the day anyway.. Thats how cig works..

[Scotterius]

The lack of upgrade slots makes me think this is more like the merlin than like the hornet. Does a jump drive count as an upgrade?  

[CC-Corp]

yeah jump drive does take up an upgrade space, it might be a very effective fighter vs fighter or even an anit bomber fighter go in fast and take out what you need to do kinda like the snub fighter like @Scotterius thinks

[Morpheus]

Alas, a worthy adversary for the Khartu?

[NuclearWoo]

When I read no room for expension, i see no cargo room not no upgrade slot..

[Reavern]

I agree. The wording is annoyingly ambiguous, but I think it means no cargo space, not no upgrade slots.

I expect the Gladius Light Fighter will be approximately the size and mass of the M50, and the M50 has 5 upgrade slots. The Aurora has 4 and the 300i has 6 upgrade slots. I think that the Gladius will have at least 3 upgrade slots.

[Silveryn]

I'd like to point out that the name is indicative of the ship's role in a Roman theme, just as Rapier would be in an English theme. The name "Gladius" represents a small sword capable of lethal stabs that is highly maneuverable and an icon of the Roman military.

As for confusing it with a Gladiator...use a different nickname. There really shouldn't be an issue.

[Reavern]

I don't believe that the UEE military would allow two different ships to have such similar sounding names. I can't think of any RL military that uses similar sounding names for weapons and vehicles within the same organization. For example, the following are names of fighter aircraft:

Mustang

Phantom

Tomcat

Falcon or Fighting Falcon

Eagle

Thunderbolt

Hornet

Raptor

Lightning

It would be virtually impossible to confuse any of those based on their names. Even when the military reuses a name, like the Thunderbolt II and Lightning II, the planes are decades apart and long out of service -- again, so there's no confusing them.

I'm aware that CR is using the Roman Empire as inspiration for Star Citizen and there are numerous references to ancient Rome, but it's not a universal theme. For example, the UEE's primary starfighter for generations is the Hornet. The UEE Navy's most powerful warship is the Bengal. The Cutlass isn't a UEE military ship, but it's a sword from a different era than ancient Rome. So is the Rapier. So there's no reason why the UEE Light Fighter needs to be named the Gladius, especially since it's so similar to the Gladiator torpedo bomber.

And since SC is a work of FICTION, there's no rational reason whatsoever to name two different ships so similarly, when there are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of suitable alternative names that wouldn't be so confusing. It doesn't make any sense, and CR should step in and change the name.

Off the top of my head, here are a few dozen better alternatives for the UEE Light Fighter:

Arrow

Archer

Banshee

Centurion

Cobra

Corsair

Dagger

Eagle

Falcon

Grasshopper

Hurricane

Intruder

Jackal

Knight

Lightning

Marauder

Nightingale

Oracle

Pegasus

Quasar

Raven

Rapier

Shrike

Thunderbolt

Tornado

Tigershark

Unicorn

Vanguard

Valkyrie

Viper

Wraith

Warhawk

Xanatos

Yellowjacket

Yeager

Zephyr

My top 3 names are Viper, Shrike, and Rapier. Any of those would be perfectly suitable for a Light Fighter -- and better than Gladius.

[Scotterius]

 I can't think of any RL military that uses similar sounding names for weapons and vehicles within the same organization. 

 

Other military organizations than the US's own have aircraft   How about the Topolev, the Yakovlev, and the Yermolayev?  They sound pretty similar to me.

[Reavern]

Other military organizations than the US's own have aircraft How about the Topolev, the Yakovlev, and the Yermolayev? They sound pretty similar to me.

So those examples all end with "ev", which supposedly means they're easy to confuse? I don't think so.

Those seem like Russian names to me, and admittedly I don't speak a word of Russian; but I imagine that for a Russian-speaker those names are as distinctive and unlikely to confuse as an English-speaker is to mix up the surnames Anderson, Benson, Carlson, Davidson, Henderson, Johnson, Mason, Peterson, Robertson, Samson, Thompson, or Wilson.

That's the same "logic" as the people who confuse the numerous Middle Eastern countries with names that end with "istan". In Indo-European languages, "-istan" means "home" or "place", and is equivalent to the English word "-land".

How often do you mix up England, Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, and Greenland?

Confusing Gladiator and Gladius is completely different, because they start with the same five letters, which are pronounced exactly the same. And they're both UEE military ship names, which could be in the same battle-space in the game, so they'd be easy to confuse. As I stated, there are countless possible alternative names which wouldn't be confusing at all.

I like Viper because it's a homage to BSG, and it was used as a nickname for the F-16 Fighting Falcon. The F-16 was designed for the US military's Lightweight Fighter Program -- basically classifying it as a Light Fighter. The F-16 is also the most produced modern American-made jet fighter currently in service, with over 4500 produced to date, and in service of two dozen countries. Therefore, Viper seems like a fitting name for the UEE Light Fighter.

[Scotterius]

Ah, you missed my point.  The russian names do indeed sound the same to me, because I am unfamiliar with ...well just about everything russian. Your list of real life aircraft of almost entirely american warplanes made me think you were coming from a ethnocentric viewpoint, which I was pointing out.  Nothing wrong with it, but I can testify that reality never rotates around any of us...which brings me to my point...

 

Perhaps the designers are coming from a viewpoint where the Latin words are less confusing to them and less similar. While Latin is a dead language, many of us use it everyday.  Gladius and Gladiator are not confusing to me and the shared root does not bother me.

[Mrchafy]

I hope they add numbers to the front of it kinda like F55-Gladius or somthing lol

[Scotterius]

I am really curious what the Aegis aesthetic is.  If you compare the Idris and the Avenger there are not a lot of similarities.  The Idris looks a lot more like a 300i than the Avenger.  I wouldn't mind seeing another ship with the avenger look...but ....more lean.  Perhaps more kiwi, than penguin this time.