Carriers Future

[NJ_Blitz]

I recently bought the carrier and I love it I had flown as strike in a friends carrier a few time beforehand and learned a few good things about them.

I'm curious as to why there are so few equipment to use. I would hazard a guess it is so the carrier is not super strong or good. I'm not used to flying without RCS ducts.
I'm slightly disappointed that you can only get medium range cannons and missiles and only HT composite hulls with no choice of short or long range weapons and no choice of hull type.

What are the plans for the carrier in the future? Will there be new equipment released sometime and will it get an advanced version like all the other ships?

thanks in advance

[tazzie]

Originally Posted by NJ_Blitz

I recently bought the carrier and I love it I had flown as strike in a friends carrier a few time beforehand and learned a few good things about them.

I'm curious as to why there are so few equipment to use. I would hazard a guess it is so the carrier is not super strong or good. I'm not used to flying without RCS ducts.
I'm slightly disappointed that you can only get medium range cannons and missiles and only HT composite hulls with no choice of short or long range weapons and no choice of hull type.

What are the plans for the carrier in the future? Will there be new equipment released sometime and will it get an advanced version like all the other ships?

thanks in advance

Good question. I guess there are a few ways to look at it:
a) balance: as you said, could be to prevent a god-ship situation
b) development was so far behind schedule that they had to just rush out a minimally viable product
c) it's a cunning plan to make you spend cubits leveling up your equipment before introducing new stuff that you will need to spend more on.

My personal guess is a combination of the above: put out a minimal product and see how it goes. If it is too weak, then provide additional equipment to improve it rather than have to nerf something. Also if the interest is low and few ppl buy it, then the development time involved in making lots of options has not been wasted.

Just my thoughts...

Btw the only real weapon choice for the carrier as it stands now is flak.

Also as an aside: Just for ships and giggles I tried out the carrier as a solo mining rig. I used gp cannons lvl5 as my mining skills are still all 0, and I thought cannons would be needed against NPCs and the occasional pvp anyway. Result, as expected, was FAIL! But it did provide a few laughs! My recommendation is "do not try this at home" unless you are truly bored...

[tazzie]

Sorry. Double post.

I blame the iphone...

[EpicHam1]

Originally Posted by tazzie

Good question. I guess there are a few ways to look at it:
a) balance: as you said, could be to prevent a god-ship situation
b) development was so far behind schedule that they had to just rush out a minimally viable product
c) it's a cunning plan to make you spend cubits leveling up your equipment before introducing new stuff that you will need to spend more on.

My personal guess is a combination of the above: put out a minimal product and see how it goes. If it is too weak, then provide additional equipment to improve it rather than have to nerf something. Also if the interest is low and few ppl buy it, then the development time involved in making lots of options has not been wasted.

Just my thoughts...

Btw the only real weapon choice for the carrier as it stands now is flak.

Also as an aside: Just for ships and giggles I tried out the carrier as a solo mining rig. I used gp cannons lvl5 as my mining skills are still all 0, and I thought cannons would be needed against NPCs and the occasional pvp anyway. Result, as expected, was FAIL! But it did provide a few laughs! My recommendation is "do not try this at home" unless you are truly bored...

aww...
I was looking forward to owning one someday
Tell me .. what was the carrier like as an everyday ship?

[sibience]

Well as you know the carrier is designed as a support ship so its weapons are its strikes and a full squad of high level strikes with a moving respawn point is a pretty good deffence against almost anything.

I hope they don't give the carrier anymore weapons it doesn't need them it should never be flying around solo.

I do think they should give the pilot more things to do though, the targetting comp is good but its just not enough, they need to add some more support features.

Things like maybe instead of having an aoe type repair, the pilot could have a comp that repaired a ship within range in battle, or a comp that could remove a debuff or something simular, just generally something more to do than just flying around putting a target on something every now and again.

[verminstar]

Got the carrier a few weeks back and I have to admit I love it. My problem is Iv always been a lone wolf in an adv liche so getting a full squad of strikes in can be hard fer me. And strikes are not only your main weapon they also you main defence when things start going south.

As a support vessel for strikes it is second to none...strikes get massive boosts if they within range of what i call "the medicine" The target painter marks out targets for everyone not just whos in your squad and with 3k range you can stay just outside their range and call targets without typing it out to a much wider range of players.

Yes it can do all sorts of wonderful things for strikes...however the one big downside is that its useless at actually killing anything on its own. Personally I did use guns and launchers for a time but trust me...thats just wishful thinking. Flaks and PD really are the best option and just surrender to the fact that its nothing more than a support vessel and a very expensive one..although it does support very well indeed.

In the future Id like to see more HP...yes its double what most lines are but still...in fleet actions when the carrier has to get close to the action to support its strikes...the carrier takes a fair bit of abuse and its resource draining to repair. Some form of harpy would be most welcome when ye make a swooping pass on the actual frontline where, simply because of your size alone, yer gonna draw a lot of attention.

Iv also found what I think may be a bug with them. The guns dont automatically start firing each time I select a target...I have to activate and deactivate every single target. This has a really odd effect on Flaks if yer using those instead and thats apart from the fact that its just plain annoying.

Some more options are definately needed in what you can actually fit to it...there are very few choices in that respect. Also agree that possibly a few more slots to fit extra items would be good...its a support vessel give it a harpy give it better range to administer "medicine" to strikes further out...maybe 1500 to bring it into line with the range of the Flaks and PD.

Carrier nukes would also be good simply to see the fireworks...ofc these would be extra expensive and the sortof thing that even the most hardened wallet warrior will cringe at.

[tazzie]

Originally Posted by EpicHam1

aww...
I was looking forward to owning one someday

If you really want one, then I am sure you will get one.

Tell me .. what was the carrier like as an everyday ship?

In a word... abysmal. As stated many times before by others, the carrier is not intended to be the final be-all-end-all ship for everyone to aspire to. It is merely a tool to do a specific job, and it does it well in my opinion. Using it outside it's intended purpose of fleet support with a payload of strikes is asking for trouble. Only two guns can be put on-target at any one time, which is about as useful as an extra hole in the head. I only did it because I was bored and had a few cubits to spare.

As to the issue of available comps, I can't see any problem with allowing the standard selection of buffs/debuffs (perhaps with additional duration and range?). I know I would use a speed buff for example. I would also like to see a few more carrier only comps to choose from. Perhaps that remove all buff/debuff magic spell Bridger was talking about a while back? Or how about a comp that boosts a single targeted friendly's chance to crit? I don't know, just a couple of random thoughts...

[NJ_Blitz]

I flew solo for half of the day doing assignments. I could do all of them except DEO's. Not sure if it's a bug or if kills don't count with a carrier. I was using 4 cannons and it's really handy to have 2 in front and 2 in the back.
Anytime an enemy pvp came along, i had to jump, didn't want to sit about and let them shred me to pieces.

I was lucky enough to have a fleet battle (they don't happen too often on Virgon) and obviously I was number 1 target for a while. It seemed as if I had no hulls on, health just zipped down but I survived.
As excited as I got, all I could do was sit back and target a ship every minute and use the strike healer now and then but my problem with the healing ability is the range. I don't want it to be too good but a range of 1000 is asking you to be in the battle to help strikes but in a battle the liners can and will hit you and only death is the end result.

Giving the carrier one or 2 new functions to use during a big battle would be nice, a scanner isn't really helpful there :P. A command module would be nice to boost nearby ships emitter and firewall. Maybe even the experimental Gladiator computer, the one that combines the damage and avoidance buffs.

Right now, I'll be happy taking anything new thrown my way for carrier but it certainly does need some attention.

[Boyd]

I really loved mine when it came out. But as time goes along, I see the potential vs the actual. The carrier did get short changed.

Weapons(except flak and PD), engines, hull, DC packs and ammo are all standard line equipment that has just been renamed XL. so you have to buy these items which you already have leveled up in your line, and level them up again. FAIL The ammo, which is the same as the line ammo, takes up additional spots in your hold. FAIL

Only 2 guns that you can hit a target with, see above, is a FAIL also! it should have atleast 3 guns on target or no guns at all. Just for fun I ran a 1v1 against all three classes of ships. All three classess of ships killed the carrier, 1v1. The only one that was close was the strike. If it had only guns and no DC packs I got the kill. If it was a missile boat it got the kill. (I understand that it is a SUPPORT ship) However, it needs better protection than just 2 crappy GP line guns hitting a target. FAIL

Why in the HELL!!!!! does it have minning cannons and a scanners as an option if its not meant to fly solo! These are USELESS!! FAIL

HT Composite hull is not enough. Yes it comes with 10k HP and that seems like a lot, but trust me IT AINT when every player on the other side wants to kill you. As a comparison, the OP, which is really a support ship also, has 30k health and better weapons and is really a defensive platform only. Now the carrier is suppose to be a support ship in the offensive and 10k starting out when a Jormong can hit 9,900 hp is not enough. FAIL.

Other than the Flak and Pd, the only things they got right are the targeting and repair computers. Well almost. The targeting range is only 3k which when you consider the distance between fleets in a battle at between 1800-2200 and the fact that the carrier is not suppose to be a front line ship means that the carrier HAS to be at the front line in order for its target computer to be effective. It should ahve a 4k range. I have been told by numerious players that when I hit them with the level 10 target computer that they barely notice anything other than the "You have been targeted by a carrier" Warning that pops up. This means it is not strong enough. BEEF it up. The repair computer is fine the way it is.

[EpicHam1]

soo... essentially , the ship is useless.....
all show and no go huh...
guess I'll save for an Aesir then ... :P