Atarlost wrote:
Let's take the Ares for our example of stargate defense. Every border facing stargate should have a ring of turrets around it. Possibly those parallel to the border as well. For important gates (eg. in Ares Prime and any other critical system and, if the border ever stabilized in a cold war situation, those that crossed the border at that time) there should be something like an outpost a bit beyond the range of the CW's fire and forget missiles, but armed with a Hecates Cannon or Micronuke Cannon or APA. This provides heavy fire on the gate. If the gate is still important (eg. those leading into Ares Prime) it should also host advanced gunships...
Aside from that being largely incompatible with vanilla gameplay, the Sung, Xenophobes, and Charon are not conventional armies. The Sung are slavers in something of a cold war with the CW, not taking too many slaves from the greater powers for fear of retaliation. The Xenophobes are largely unknown at this point, but their worldships appear to be their population centers, and they seem to operate as raiders based on their cargo and their tendency to destroy CW stations. The Charon are pirates, and are confirmed to have risen up due to a lack of diligence and oversight in the New Beyond.
Within the system cruisers like the Deimos might be on patrol and individual stations usually have guards.
I like the idea of patrolling ships. If the AI figures out how to reliably avoid stations, It would make the vanilla game more interesting as well. Imagine encountering a Deimos or Phobos on patrol, away from any stations.
To break through this sort of defense requires either more ships than the turrets can stop or something that can tank the defenses long enough to kill them. The Phobos epitomizes the latter incarnation of this role, but the Dragon Slaver and Xenophobe Worldship are other good examples in Vanilla. The CW doesn't have such a ship, but it does have the Britannia. The Britannia can drop through the gate and spam fire and forget missiles with similar range to Ares turrets.
Aquilae can do this as well. I've tested it, and two can level a commune with no casualties simply by charging in.
For in-system fighting the roles we identified are cruiser, bomber, space superiority gunship, and heavy gunship. Cruisers are the common capital ships like the Deimos, Aquila, Xenophobe Defender, and Earth Slaver. Bombers are specialized station killers like the Cometfall and Sigyn. Space superiority gunships are designed to kill other gunships. Most of the crapp gunships fall into this category along with the Chasm. The heavy gunships are capship handlers. Currently the only viable ones in vanilla are the Tundra and Steel Slaver (the latter less because they can punch above their weight than because they can hack enemy weapons).
The Ares have the most complete fleet, lacking only a canonical heavy fortress. The CW has a mostly complete defensive lineup, but lack a heavy gunship that works. Thanks largely to the radius fragment bug the Britannia is only able to function in the space superiority and forlorn hope roles.
The Brit can easily kill Communes and quickly raze defenses. I've used it for that in - game.
Against capital ships, it can work(I know you'll object to this, but there's a reason CSCs give you some when sending you against one). It's largely an AI problem that keeps them from serving in this role. They would, however, be much more justifiable as gunships if they had a swivel mount for the KSC, so as to explain why the fleet did not simply attach missile pods to Centurion X class gunships.
Any modification the player could make, NPCs could make; any ship the player can have, NPCs can have.
You seem to have skipped over my entire post. People buy things that suit their needs.
Think of it this way: the stock gunships are Windows, the customizable ones Linux. Most people use their computers for work in Excel and Word, and browsing on the internet. Windows can do all of these things, and has an interface that makes it easy to get started.
Linux, however, does have tasks that it is suited for. While the ordinary consumer will not buy it, having no need for the additional capability that is great enough to justify getting past the more difficult to use interface, some people and companies, such as those that require dedicated servers or desire a very powerful system, are willing to put in the additional effort, believing it will pay off in the long run.
Similarly, station guards, escort ships, and the vast majority of individual gunship owners have no need for a gunship that can be modified to fight in higher level systems. After all, they rarely if ever leave their home region. Pilgrims, mercenaries, privateers, and gladiators, however, would not survive without a modifiable gunship. Juan certainly wouldn't stand a chance against the Sandstorms if he had the stock turbolaser instead of his Omni Tev9.
The basic dual turbolaser + NAMI launcher + class II configuration of the Wolfen is roughly equivalent to a Wind Slaver, Xenophobe Fighter, Ranx Gunship, or Sandstorm-class, and is more than capable of defending against them.
Sandstorms rarely show up alone. Xenophobe fighters
never show up alone.
Spaceframes are cheap. The previous calculations were 3000 for a modular Wolfen spaceframe with integrated drive and reactor, a small fraction of the cost of its equipment (3500+1000+2400=6900) and a miniscule fraction of its total operating cost including repairs, ammo and fuel. Saving one or two thousand on the spaceframe only makes sense if the ship is disposable.
In comparison, there are many excellent reasons for modular construction. One is ease of assembling different configurations at the factory.
Notice the plural. Each spaceframe will have various factory configurations, the Ronin/ABC series are different, mass-produced models that all use the same spaceframe. There is no canonical difference between them except their devices. As such, it is easier to mass-produce the spaceframe and fit devices later. Consider this the equivalent of automobile dealers offering various customization options at the time of purchase.
You fail to understand my point, and contradict yourself in the process. A corporation manufactures many ships of a certain class. If, as you claim, the vast(vast, vast) majority of consumers do not have any desire or need for adaptable gunships, the cost of making it possible to refit these gunships is going to far outweigh the additional revenue that could be gained by doing so.
The Ronin A, B, and C only reinforce my argument. While they have the same overall spaceframe, their interiors are built for different roles. The A is built for light escort duty, the B as a support gunship, and the C as a strike fighter. Making them the same inside as well as out is inefficient and costly. The A only requires one weapon, and thus has no need for the electronics that would be required for a second weapon mount, or, for that matter, a shield mount.
Think of this like the F35 A, B, and C. The airframe is the same, but they are manufactured for different roles, and the systems that would not be needed for the role of one of the aircraft are left out of that variant.
Back to the Wolfen. Every Wolfen in the game aside from the player's and Volkov's has only two weapons mounted, and no non - shield devices. Building the ability to attach devices onto every Wolfen would have a massive and unjustifiable cost to the company. In addition, the player's Wolfen starts out fielding a dual laser, rather than a dual turbolaser. If the system works as you describe it, either the player consciously chose to downgrade their ship, every other Wolfen pilot in the game chose to upgrade to the exact same weapon, or there is an entire class of Wolfens fielding dual lasers, and the player simple never encounters a single one by pure coincidence.
The much more logical conclusion is that there are variants of these ships that feature the ability to modify the loadout, which are marketed to and used by groups that require such capabilities. The poorer starting configurations of the player ships reinforces this: the ships are marketed to people who believe their lucrative but dangerous professions will allow them to upgrade their ship.
I cannot recommend replacing the existing gunship configuration system with this; The KISS principle is a major strength of Transcendence's ship upgrade system.
It would provide a good reason why the Ranx did not did not design their Dreadnoughts with 3 kiloton mounts.
Whether freighters need protection was never in question, only whether escorts or self-defense upgrades are more cost-effective.
Were freighters customizable, self defense upgrades would be more cost - effective. However, the heavier freighters are never seen in independent hands, and were likely built before the current generation of threats appeared. It is more likely than not that they are not built to be modified. Thus, the escorts.
Most sane captains limit upgrades to one or two components. Anything greater and it would have been smarter to just buy a better ship to begin with. Only pilgrims try to completely overhaul their ship multiple times.
The only people ever seen with modified ships are those whose ships have been completely and thoroughly rebuilt in terms of weaponry, shields, and components.
Neither are the freighters.
Fair point, but they're likely corporate property in some way or another.
Notwithstanding Manticores with their mix-and-match loadouts, the Korolov Charon Buster variants and all autons.
Autons themselves are something of a black sheep no matter how you look at them. The player's the only one who ever uses any, and(unless it's been fixed) some of them sell for less than their individual components.
The manufacturer of the Manticore may have a different corporate strategy than the other companies. It is, after all, the only ship with so many different loadouts.
This raises numerous questions: Do gladiators buy a modular ship just to fight?
Yes. Do you consider buying a new ship a more drastic decision than engaging in bloodsport?
Why are there no gladiators without modular ships?
A stock ship would fare poorly in the Arena at the higher levels. Those entering the Arena believe that they have at least a faint hope of making it to those levels, otherwise they'd have saved themselves the trouble and simply lept out of the airlock.
What friendly stations could the Fleet even raid in the Outer Realm? Out of the Commonwealth's allies in the Outer Realm, the Ringers and Taikon Ventures would not tolerate attacks and will shoot back with level 10 weaponry. This pretty much leaves only the Teratons and Commonwealth settlements.
The Teratons are a fairly obvious target, as you mentioned. They have no ranged defenses and no alliances to speak of, so so long as you have enough Brits or Aquilae, you can raid them with impunity.
Commonwealth settlements seem to be what George was getting at, though. Corporate arms factories are also a possibility, as are Ferians. Indeed, Ferians would likely be the main target of raids, due to the Fleet's Petranacium requirements, which will come into jeopardy as their supply of Rin falls.
Ringers are the Fleet's fuel suppliers. Should the player find an alternate source of fuel, they would be a viable target, though they are difficult to crack. Direct engagement with a CSC or group of Aquilae could do them in.
Taikon Ventures has a high level weapon, but it isn't very long ranged or powerful, and has no WMD. A single Aquila could probably take them, as could a squadron of Britannias operating at maximum range and using their missile pods on defenders.
The OP suggests we will be able to mine. I wonder how we'll get mining ships? Do CSCs have the facilities to construct Borers as they do with the other ships they field?
Also, I think everyone would like to know what those Rogue Fleet Settlements used to be. They aren't haphazardly built and they share Fleet design conventions, implying that they were originally in the hands of the Fleet.
How did the Fleet lose them all? Did they lose them all, or are the friendly ones simply not seen in game? What was their purpose? Given that they are armed with KSCs, they must've been built somewhat recently.
