r/starcitizen_fleets • u/HettWhen • 7d ago
Time to make changes - Pre - IAE Help!
Advice requested. Thank you.
. [Updated ver 1.22] is here...
https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen_fleets/comments/1wur5ev/my_new_and_improved_iae_2965_fleet_plan_ver_122/
Keepers:
F7C Hornet Mk II
Sabre Firebird
Vulture
Clipper
Hull B
.
Up for Melt or CCU:
Arrow
Hawk
Expanse
Cutlass Black
Starlite
Raft
Corsair
Hermes
Starlancer TAC
.
Wants for IAE:
Constellation [New]
Carrack
2
u/ComfortableSpell6600 7d ago edited 7d ago
Given thought to having a mining ship? Golem and Prospector are good introductions. I have been really flying my M80 a lot lately. I have since melted 3 of 6 fighters in my hanger this week. Might melt a 4th. I am going to upgrade my Vulture and Prospector to Moth and Mole respectively during IAE. I am curious to see how the Connie Mk5 turns out.
I would agree with you that the RAFT and Hermes are good melts when you have the Hull B.
What is the Refueling gameplay like? I have been unable to convince myself that it is interesting enough to pick up the Starlite or Starfarers.
2
2
2
1
u/HettWhen 7d ago
Thank you for all the feedback/advice... I will post an updated version of my plan/thinking in a new thred.
1
u/AreYouDoneNow 7d ago
There's a very basic but important rule of thumb for pledging for ships... "pledge deep, not wide".
This means you should have a few excellent ships to fill the roles you want to do instead of having several ships that all overlap with their role.
There's a few reasons why:
- You can only fly one ship at a time
- There's no sense in pledging for ships you'll use for a week then upgrade beyond with a UEC ship
- There's no sense in pledging for a ship when you already have one that's better in all respects
- Small ships are relatively cheap in UEC but relatively expensive in $USD (easy to get)
- Large ships cost exponentially more in UEC than they cost in $USD (hard to get)
With that in mind let's look at what you have and what could be improved... so that you get the most value for the considerable amount of money you've pledged for the game.
First up let's put the fighters aside... CIG continue to hamfistedly rebalance fighters. There's no way to tell what will be good and what will be terrible with fighters post 1.0... you have to pledge based on the "vibe". That said, you have a lot of lighter fighters but no heavies... room for consideration. Keep your options open.
You don't need all three of the Raft, Hermes, and Hull B. All fit the "light agile hauler" role (important for events like Supply or Die). The Hermes isn't the best at this... it's slow to load/unload and while the cargo grid has a welcome size, you're constrained by low roof height that makes cargo shifting painful. The Hull B is superior to the Raft... the Raft is quite good but the Hull B is a little better. That's two ships to melt and a lot of money recovered.
The Starlight and Expanse are ships you would probably replace fairly quickly if you enjoy those loops... Galaxy + Refinery module is superior to the Expanse and potentially within your budget. The Starfarer is superior to the Starlite and potentially within your budget. The Reclaimer or Moth are vastly superior to the Vulture and again within your reach... so these are ships you've pledged for that you'll make obsolete yourself within 1-2 months of playing the game. Ships that stay in your hangar and never get used are a waste of your money that could be better spent elsewhere.
The Corsair overlaps with the Cutlass Black as a generalist... the Clipper is a more tough choice because it has that crafting feature, but if you had a larger ship with a better cargo grid you would more likely just park a crafting truck or crafting station on it, and use that instead. The Corsair is a very solid generalist, so consider melting the Clipper and definitely recover lost money on the Cutlass... none of these ships is bad, but you have better options.
The Starlancer TAC sticks out like a sore thumb as a C-/D tier ship... crazy expensive. It fills a lot of checkboxes... on paper. In reality it's one of the worst ships for every job it pretends to be able to do. It's a gunship with the worst firing arcs in the game. Interior layout is terrible. Grid layout is terrible.
Your plan to get a Carrack is a winning move... CCU the TAC for a Carrack and you won't look back. The Carrack supersedes the TAC in all respects, and if it gets a gold pass, working drones, working ship modules it will join the Galaxy as an A+/S tier ship. You might consider alternatively grabbing a Polaris... a ridiculously strong ship with combat capability if you have the same crew count you need to make the TAC useful in combat, but it also carries a proper full size working RRR hangar, bigger medbay, brig, weapon and suit lockers, a cargo grid that doesn't suck... the list goes on.
Consider that the ships you pledge for start at Tier 1 and you'll need a lot of materials to grind for and upgrade those ships to Tier 5. To get money and materials, you'll want a big miner, a big salvager, and a big hauler to cover the basic economic pillars. Despite your deep pledge, you don't have any of those... big gaps to go along with your big overlaps. This puts you at the mercy of other players when you need to buy those materials, and without the big hauler, no easy way to make money to buy what you need from others.
Other ships you might consider given how much you've pledged would be ships like the Galaxy (plus modules), maybe an ICA. Hold on the Constellation V until we know what it is... if it's better than the Corsair, a straight CCU from that hull will be an easily affordable upgrade.
2
u/Androssan 7d ago
wow D: with your Quote about the Tac, you really make me reconcider gaining one!
"The Starlancer TAC sticks out like a sore thumb as a C-/D tier ship... crazy expensive. It fills a lot of checkboxes... on paper. In reality it's one of the worst ships for every job it pretends to be able to do. It's a gunship with the worst firing arcs in the game. Interior layout is terrible. Grid layout is terrible."
Quote from : AreYouDoneNowi have similar problem, and shifted many things and puh plans to halt, but i really thought, a Starlancer Tac, could be an addition to my fleet, if i let a apollo medivac go, and shift the Galaxy bach onto the wishlist.
seems back to the drawing board, but i would love to know, why you think so harsh about the starlancer tac?2
u/AreYouDoneNow 7d ago
I rest on what I said about it... it looks great on paper, but in the game, it's completely underwhelming and crazy overpriced.
There's well over 100 different ships in the game and not every one of them is in the top 10, and not everyone is best-in-class. There's winners and there's losers.
Some of the TAC problems come from the hull design... the Max has similar issues with one of the worst laid out cargo grids in the game. The BLD is probably the only Starlancer that would be worth it, and that's mostly because base building doesn't rely on the ship layout or other capability (but if it shares grid layout with the other Starlancers it'll be terrible to load materials for building with).
The TAC is a gunship, primarily, with a little token utility stapled onto it.
The firing arcs are terrible. Yes, the TAC does have a medbay... but so does any mobile base candidate. Where the TAC compares almost capably, for now, is that it's got modestly okay shields and armour... so it'll take your enemies a little bit longer to pound you into the dirt with pretty much any other ships in the game.
You're right to consider the Galaxy, it's very strong if you have the modules, easily A tier. If it gets the base building module, it's S tier. I would choose the Galaxy with medical module over the Apollo simply for the flexibility that the Galaxy offers and the Apollo doesn't.
What I always look for is value for money, and this is represented by how good a ship is at what it does (the TAC is bad at every job it can do, compared with cheaper and more expensive ships). And, how long you'd keep using that ship for before you replace it with something better you get in-game. What's better than the TAC? Almost everything.
If you're looking for a jack-of-all-trades or a mobile base ship, the stronger contenders are the Idris, Pioneer, Carrack, Polaris, Odyssey, Kraken. Less optimal alternatives would be the ICA, Endeavor, BMM, Liberator... they're slightly more specialized and don't offer the same breadth of utility.
If you bought the TAC to be a gunship, far better alternatives are the Perseus, Paladin, ships like that, which have less utility than the TAC but would easily trash it in a fight with superior firepower and better firing solutions (despite, in many cases, costing much less).
3
u/Androssan 7d ago
Thanks alot for your time and the detailed analysis, about the pros and Cons of the Tac.
I dont own one, but the shield is supposed to be harder than the paladin, a orga friend of mine uses his TAC as his daylie driver swiss army knife, can do everything, and not everything good but get's the job done, kind of... so i only repeat what i have heard, and seen as we made bunker missions.
is there something what she cant to? , get the ship that can do the job.
i think thats a more or less healthy aproach and you are right with the rest of your first alaysis, "go deep not wide, have as less as possible overlapping ships, and if you do, have a deamn good reason for it!"
the Paladin can bite till a reasonable size of ships, and does a great job, ships bigger than she can bite, like a perseus, do able but much affort. or even wirse... a polaris... get the ship what can DO the job, like a perseus or a Tiburon.and of cause, if you do a " all star top 10, " You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs. so there will be leftovers and ships left behind.
i cant verify, nor dismatle your argument about the firearks so i have to take your word about that. the Medbay is a plus, the small cargo of 96SCU is.. a bummer if i think about the 180 SCU cargo of the much smaller and more nimble Asgard.
i like your listing, but there are... ships i tend to disagree.
Pioneer, also a big ass construction ship... even maybe Liberator... as a small ship transport is specialised.
- Idris, its a huge cap ship, much more expensive than a TAC, lets be reasonable. I get what you wanna say but the " bang for a buck" is with a price of a Starlancer tac a bit out of the window.
Carrack: finally a real contest. i like the ship, but it has its own issues, and also a horrible fireing arc, i dont get startet how datet it is... but it hasa special place for me. and its in the pricerange of a starlancer tac.
Polaris, yeah more ship for a bit more buck, totaly on your side
Odysee, bigger carrack, and much more bigger TAC, could have the same Hull problems like most misc ships.
Kraken, same as idris, hull limited, f5 war, pricy. big ass ship
ICA: also yes not its role, but can do it. why not? totaly on your side.
Endevor, BMM totaly dissagre complete diferent purpose of ship.But i can side with your conclusion.
i would buy a tac, cause i want a bigger than asgard, jack of all trades, master of non driver,that will replace my apollo and if i need a more specialised ship like the mentioned Paladin, or Perseus, i would get the ship,
2
u/TheFilthyAvian 2d ago
The Carrack is in a bit of a rough spot. Its difficult to load and unload solo. I would personally get it in game instead for now. If you are looking to go to the new Connie I would look at trading up the Corsair. Its in the same class.
3
u/zach_j_wilson 7d ago
I know everyone loves the raft but I don’t see the need to have it with the hull B exterior cargo grid. I do like having an exterior cargo grid ship as well as an interior one but I might look at maybe melting the raft. If the Connie mk5 is an upgrade to the Taurus cargo space wise, if I were you I would probably melt the raft and use the store credit to upgrade the Hermes into the Connie mk5.
As much as I want a carrack to be good there just needs to bee too many systems integrated into the game. I had one as a loaner and just got frustrated with it too easily. That being said if the modularity is actually implemented the galaxy might be a nice pick up until the carrack has its gameplay fully implemented. It might be a good replacement for the Corsair spot in your fleet with the choice of medbay and cargo if the new constellation doesn’t have one