Seriously though, these ships look amazing, have a unique bridge, access to Andorian prefixes and some snazzy new abilities. What's not to like. And although I thnk they look amazing, I do hope that it'll allow us to change the skin/material to something slightly less garish.
Something puzzles me though - we all (well some of us) assumed that the ship with side-facing cannon mounts was this. So that must mean there's at least one more cruiser-escort in the pipe.
As far as all the whining goes - dwi. It's not overpowered, and if there was much profit in selling KDF ships then Cryptic would make more. That's why the KDF hasn't had a three-pack since the Bortas, because there's no profit in the KDF.
Oh, and PvP is irrelevant until Cryptic bother to fix it, so I don't see how this ship "breaking" PvP is a problem when it's already broken to begin with.
You're just a machine. And machines can be broken.
Why is a ship that is supposed to be a 'glass cannon' equipped with an equal number of Engineering console slots as that of a Cruiser, and even given two Engineering BOFF slots? Seems to me, a glass cannon ship would have very few (1 maybe) Engineering slot and its BOFF seating split between Tactical and Science.
Sorry, I'm not seeing the 'glass' portion of this ship. It seems just as able to take damage as well or better than most Science and Escort ships out there.
So i've been thinking about a possible purchase today, but:
This is an escort designed for tacs, and tacs only. Engs will have more fun on other ships (chimera, patrol escort), scis have a mobius, but this one is for tacs almost exclusively. I have a lvl 10 fed tac. I don't want to spend another month and a half to take it to 50 and max rep. I don't want to spend another 500k dil to make him worth playing. I already have a KDF tac, max rep, fully geared Mk XII purple everything, spend a lot of time and tons of ECs and even some zen on doffs, gear, low level ships for consoles, other stuff, and i really love this char. Consequently, you missed a sale, even if i like buying new ships.
Next time, don't forget the KDF. Because it's really unlikely we create new chars to buy and use all your new releases.
6. The "glass cannon" comment on the blog refers to both the bridge officer layouts (which do not allow for much self-healing, especially the Tactical variant) and the fact the ship does not have the Fleet bonus to Hull or Shields.
Which begs the question, how can I counter the aggro that this ships firepower will trigger? It isn't reasonable to expect dedicated healers in fleet STF's, much less PuG's. I fully realize that forcing this limitation is a stab at balancing, which is okay. However, I think you guys have gone a bit too far. My DPS will be zip if I'm constantly respawning, right? Perhaps a shield modifier of 1.1 or 1.2?
TBH, being a tactical, I made the Ody and Vesta packs work very well for me. But I just don't see, based on the Boff layout, how I can use the tactical variant work for me anywhere near as well as my fleet Defiant or fleet AE.
I'm simply asking that Cryptic pay close attention to feedback and act quickly to ensure that this ship, in all its incarnations, is both powerful AND fun to fly.
This is an escort designed for tacs, and tacs only. Engs will have more fun on other ships (chimera, patrol escort), scis have a mobius, but this one is for tacs almost exclusively.
Indeed. That's why my Andorian tac. is secretly rubbing her palms somewhere on Andoria now. :P
I'm one of the people that always say that you can make any player class work and worthwile on any ship, but after thorough consideration I think a tac. will in fact have the perfect synergy with this escort. So I decided to go and make a tac. Yes, make a new one. But that Charal class started calling for me two days ago. And when that happens I can't ignore it cause I know it will work perfectly for me. So, I don't mind the leveling and the load of dil. I'll have to splash out as you mentioned. This will in fact be the first Fed. I'm gonna' take to end-game, but I'm crazy like that - when I connect with the ship I have the incentive to do anything.
Besides, I haven't bought a new ship since I got my Corsair quite some time ago and already have some 3k zen piled up from stipend, so as soon as the blue girl hits lvl 50 I'm getting me a bundle of joy!
I have a slight problem with those andorian phasers. Without them, my ship will look like a rainbow boat. And the're "only" MK11, when or where do I get MK12 versions ?
Those phasers are quite costly and I don't want to buy them twice. It's really the only problem I have with getting that ship.
I have a slight problem with those andorian phasers. Without them, my ship will look like a rainbow boat. And the're "only" MK11, when or where do I get MK12 versions ?
Those phasers are quite costly and I don't want to buy them twice. It's really the only problem I have with getting that ship.
Chances are...
at some point an "upgrade" kit will be on offer in the lobi as it was with MK XII Jemmy stuff :P
Has anyone considered the absolute insanity five dhcs will cause regarding procs, let alone damage?
...phasers will be absurdly OP in pvp as we all know - they disable one subsystem for five seconds - so just imagine the 'fun' of having your shield routinely disabled more often and theres nothing you can do as by the time you hit a shield heal, your hull is gone as you have five of the most powerful weapon types in the game doing its own damage (+ crit) and 30% on top due to CRF
...Oh...and what about hybrids? phased polaron, for example...
Yeah...I think we have a bug smasher...One things for certain, I'll keep out of pvp until the 'next best thing'(tm) appears and the 'OPari' is put back in drydock on most peoples accounts
* One fore weapon slot is occupied by Kumari Wing Cannons. This weapon can be removed and replaced by a different weapon, but it cannot be equipped on ships other an Andorian Escort. Only one may be equipped per ship at a time.
** Upgraded Mk XI Very Rare Andorian Phasers may be purchased from the Dilithium Store only if you own at least one ship from the Kumari Line, and can be equipped on any ship.
I had planned on pssing on this in the first place because none of these $50 packs grant me an account wide ship slot unlock. JamJamz did a great job on the look of these ships! It's a shame that you have to spend a TRIBBLE load of DL on top of $50 just to upgrade the special weapon.
Just wanted to answer a few of the questions I've seen on this thread.
1. The Wing Cannons have a higher base DPS than Mk XII DHCs, but their energy drain is even higher (15). They have a very slow rate of fire and a cooldown between shots; they're essentially like "super" heavy cannons. They're listed as having [DMG]X4, but that's just to give you a ballpark figure, since there isn't really anything directly comparable. They're really more like an entirely new weapon type.
I'm aware Accuracy is more popular among most players than raw damage, but damage was thematically appropriate for these cannons.
5. The Andorian Phasers (other than the Wing Cannons) are standard phasers in terms of stats. They're just color tinted to look appropriate for an Andorian ship. The ones on the Dilithium store are MK XI Purple quality, similar to other Diltihium stores. They're [Acc]x2[Dmg]. We may release more variants on these eventually, but probably not in the immediate future.
6. The "glass cannon" comment on the blog refers to both the bridge officer layouts (which do not allow for much self-healing, especially the Tactical variant) and the fact the ship does not have the Fleet bonus to Hull or Shields.
Firstly, may I just say that these ship are IMO worth the wait. Look utterly incredible.
A few niggles though.
Firstly, I don't feel that damage is more "thematially appropriate" on an andorian ship. In enterprise, they were shown to possess advanced sensors even capable of penetrating Xindi shields. To quote memory alpha "The long-range sensors utilized on board the Andorian battle cruiser were more sophisticated than those utilized on board Starfleet's NX-class. (ENT: "Proving Ground", "Babel One") These sensors were capable of scanning a star system from a distance without betraying the vessel's presence." (http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Andorian_battle_cruiser)
Even the andorian bridge has large radar like dishes on it, in both the show and now this game. The two piece bonus on your new andorian set even mentions enhanced andorian targeting arrays.
They even have ANTENNAE on their heads. Andorian BOFFS possess acute senses trait, and aenar have blindsense. Whilst they do give off a more aggressive feel than other fed species, to say that aggressive = dmg doesnt sit right in my mind when andorian weapons on the show were often subtler (for lack of a better word) than their comtemporaries.
Take the ushaan tor knives (would love these in game btw). Smaller than lirpas, batleths or swords, but are wielded by with greater speed than more umbersome melee weapons.
To my mind, giving the wing cannons [Acc]x2 [CritH]x2 or similar would be more apppropriate, and more usaeble since this is a big feature of a ship with such a large price tag. Even the other andorian phasers use Accx2, so why not the wing cannons?
Secondly, whilst I love the look of Andorian themed phasers, 23,000 dil (or around 220 zen at current prices) to get average MkXI weapons seems silly, since as discussed elsewhere the [DMG] mod sucks. We can pick up Phaser [acc]x2 modded weapons for a fraction of the price elsewhere. Given that MkXII is becoming the new standard for top level gear, why not a) make them mk12, b) change the dmg mod to something else, such as CritH or even a second proc (like hull resist debuff or suchlike). Either that or I'd lower the dil cost a lot.
This is made even more questionable by the possibility of adding more (read superior) versions of these weapons at a later date. Why shell out almost two thousand zen worth of dil on outfitting your ship weapons when more competitive verions of the same weapon could be just around the road? Thats not to mention elite fleet phasers, and potential new weapons from new reputation factions (i would imagine with pvp and tholian factions we'll see new phaser and tetryon gear respectively)
As to the glass cannon BOFF layout: I love the layout on the Charal and Khyzon, and I reckon the Kumari just might have been too powerful if it werent for being forced into another Lt. Tac. My only issue is that extra Tac doesnt have any conceivable use at all, papart maybe from running attack pattern delta/beta or maybe BOverload with a dual beam bank. Will we ever see more useful/varied low level Tac powers?
Personally, I think I'll go Charal. Room for another RCS will help me a lot more than another Tac console, and depending on the quality of the gear it comes equipped with I'll either stick with my Tetryons (from my andorian themed Ushaan escort) or keep the best default gear and add cheap acc modded phasers in place of the wing cannons and beam arrays.
My final question is what is the ETA on the re=species token, or at least new species skins for our characters? My fed is up to rank for 4 in most commendations, has a ton of bound gear and is well advanced in fleet and reputation systems. I would love to change him to even look andorian, without having to start from scratch.
Kudos again on making such fantastic new ships. They look awesome, and putting the weapons to one side I reckon theyll play brilliantly.
Got a cat? Have 10 minutes to help someone make the best degree dissertation of all time?
Then please fill out my dissertation survey on feline attachment, it'd be a massive help (-:
Which begs the question, how can I counter the aggro that this ships firepower will trigger? It isn't reasonable to expect dedicated healers in fleet STF's, much less PuG's. I fully realize that forcing this limitation is a stab at balancing, which is okay. However, I think you guys have gone a bit too far. My DPS will be zip if I'm constantly respawning, right? Perhaps a shield modifier of 1.1 or 1.2?
I'm sorry, but STFs are -precisely- where you should expect to need dedicated healers, as they are supposed to be the toughest challenges in the game. It might be okay to be able to fly your Escort without support in low-level missions, but if you are taking on the end-game content, you should do so with the knowledge that you are going to need a good team to succeed.
If anything, Escorts and Science ships have already taken over too much of a Cruiser's job, and caused that class to be rendered all but unneeded to most teams (how many times have I heard the 'Bring DPS, or you are a hinderence to any team'?). How you can expect you should be able to engage in the most challenging missions in the game without the need for the highest degree of gameplay is a bit of a mystery to me.
So, to answer your question, I would say 'make sure you have a cruiser to back you up if you use this ship', because that -is- the reasonable conclusion to using a ship that is supposed to be a 'glass canon' rather than the opposite. If you don't want to, then fly another ship or don't do STFs in it.
The wings fire plue phasers. The burst is a console special and its tachyon not tetryon.
So I either go with a blue/orange rainbow if going with fleetphasers and the wing cannon; pure blue phasers with wing cannon & (probably) weaker XI blue dilstore phasers or all blue with all tetryon weapons but not wing phaser.
Right now I do not like any of these options enough.
I've had a few requests for this, so I have added 4 new images to the blog (under "Console Set") that visualize the 3-piece console set bonus. Full size images of some of the shots in the Blog will be available as tomorrow's Friday Screenshot.
I've had a few requests for this, so I have added 4 new images to the blog (under "Console Set") that visualize the 3-piece console set bonus. Full size images of some of the shots in the Blog will be available as tomorrow's Friday Screenshot.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Would be nice to know if there are any plans for the KDF to get some kind of pack like the vesta and now the andorian ship pack Not to be negative or anything just feels like KDF is being left out of these new molds that are being put out.
I've had a few requests for this, so I have added 4 new images to the blog (under "Console Set") that visualize the 3-piece console set bonus. Full size images of some of the shots in the Blog will be available as tomorrow's Friday Screenshot.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
You should post a screenshot of the new ship- the Khyzon variant, I suppose, as it's closest to the canon ship- alongside a D'Kyr and an NX-class.
I just went to look at the pictures which got uploaded but absolutely no pictures in the blog show up any more. Even right clicking and selecting view image manually just brings a 404 error.
Comments
Seriously though, these ships look amazing, have a unique bridge, access to Andorian prefixes and some snazzy new abilities. What's not to like. And although I thnk they look amazing, I do hope that it'll allow us to change the skin/material to something slightly less garish.
Something puzzles me though - we all (well some of us) assumed that the ship with side-facing cannon mounts was this. So that must mean there's at least one more cruiser-escort in the pipe.
As far as all the whining goes - dwi. It's not overpowered, and if there was much profit in selling KDF ships then Cryptic would make more. That's why the KDF hasn't had a three-pack since the Bortas, because there's no profit in the KDF.
Oh, and PvP is irrelevant until Cryptic bother to fix it, so I don't see how this ship "breaking" PvP is a problem when it's already broken to begin with.
Then will my Klingon Tactical captain be flying this truly excellent ship?
Oh. Well then. Nothing to see here.
. No, really there is nothing to see here because it is no surprise. KDF gets nothing. Where is my 5 console 5/2 BoP with battle cloak?
Not bitter at all. Just putting away my wallet.
Player and forumite formerly known as FEELTHETHUNDER
Expatriot Might Characters in EXILE
Don't tell me you where suprised kdf got nothing.
The Evil Queen - Tac - Hobo
John May Lives - Sci - Hobo
Why is a ship that is supposed to be a 'glass cannon' equipped with an equal number of Engineering console slots as that of a Cruiser, and even given two Engineering BOFF slots? Seems to me, a glass cannon ship would have very few (1 maybe) Engineering slot and its BOFF seating split between Tactical and Science.
Sorry, I'm not seeing the 'glass' portion of this ship. It seems just as able to take damage as well or better than most Science and Escort ships out there.
Ummmmm....no. I haz known it before it happened is how not surprised a am.
Player and forumite formerly known as FEELTHETHUNDER
Expatriot Might Characters in EXILE
only 32,000 hull hp on tribble.
This is an escort designed for tacs, and tacs only. Engs will have more fun on other ships (chimera, patrol escort), scis have a mobius, but this one is for tacs almost exclusively. I have a lvl 10 fed tac. I don't want to spend another month and a half to take it to 50 and max rep. I don't want to spend another 500k dil to make him worth playing. I already have a KDF tac, max rep, fully geared Mk XII purple everything, spend a lot of time and tons of ECs and even some zen on doffs, gear, low level ships for consoles, other stuff, and i really love this char. Consequently, you missed a sale, even if i like buying new ships.
Next time, don't forget the KDF. Because it's really unlikely we create new chars to buy and use all your new releases.
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Oh Em Gee! Already nerfing it!
(just kidding).
Which begs the question, how can I counter the aggro that this ships firepower will trigger? It isn't reasonable to expect dedicated healers in fleet STF's, much less PuG's. I fully realize that forcing this limitation is a stab at balancing, which is okay. However, I think you guys have gone a bit too far. My DPS will be zip if I'm constantly respawning, right? Perhaps a shield modifier of 1.1 or 1.2?
TBH, being a tactical, I made the Ody and Vesta packs work very well for me. But I just don't see, based on the Boff layout, how I can use the tactical variant work for me anywhere near as well as my fleet Defiant or fleet AE.
I'm simply asking that Cryptic pay close attention to feedback and act quickly to ensure that this ship, in all its incarnations, is both powerful AND fun to fly.
The screens looks very blocky.
That is the original Kumari class battlecruiser from ENT, the ship which these new Kumari class escorts are based on.
Indeed. That's why my Andorian tac. is secretly rubbing her palms somewhere on Andoria now. :P
I'm one of the people that always say that you can make any player class work and worthwile on any ship, but after thorough consideration I think a tac. will in fact have the perfect synergy with this escort. So I decided to go and make a tac. Yes, make a new one. But that Charal class started calling for me two days ago.
Besides, I haven't bought a new ship since I got my Corsair quite some time ago and already have some 3k zen piled up from stipend, so as soon as the blue girl hits lvl 50 I'm getting me a bundle of joy!
Those phasers are quite costly and I don't want to buy them twice. It's really the only problem I have with getting that ship.
Ah, based on. Thanks, that explains. Thought they wanted to recreate it.
Saw a few other screens from the previous blog now; looks better there.
Now... where to get blue colored adv. fleet phaser cannons...? :P
Or skip the blue wing gun and full tet. equip? *ponders* Will not buy till came to some conclusion.
That blue is the tetryon burst. Don't you read?
Chances are...
at some point an "upgrade" kit will be on offer in the lobi as it was with MK XII Jemmy stuff :P
Though probably not.
#2311#2700#2316#2500
...phasers will be absurdly OP in pvp as we all know - they disable one subsystem for five seconds - so just imagine the 'fun' of having your shield routinely disabled more often and theres nothing you can do as by the time you hit a shield heal, your hull is gone as you have five of the most powerful weapon types in the game doing its own damage (+ crit) and 30% on top due to CRF
...Oh...and what about hybrids? phased polaron, for example...
Yeah...I think we have a bug smasher...One things for certain, I'll keep out of pvp until the 'next best thing'(tm) appears and the 'OPari' is put back in drydock on most peoples accounts
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I had planned on pssing on this in the first place because none of these $50 packs grant me an account wide ship slot unlock. JamJamz did a great job on the look of these ships! It's a shame that you have to spend a TRIBBLE load of DL on top of $50 just to upgrade the special weapon.
Firstly, may I just say that these ship are IMO worth the wait. Look utterly incredible.
A few niggles though.
Firstly, I don't feel that damage is more "thematially appropriate" on an andorian ship. In enterprise, they were shown to possess advanced sensors even capable of penetrating Xindi shields. To quote memory alpha "The long-range sensors utilized on board the Andorian battle cruiser were more sophisticated than those utilized on board Starfleet's NX-class. (ENT: "Proving Ground", "Babel One") These sensors were capable of scanning a star system from a distance without betraying the vessel's presence." (http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Andorian_battle_cruiser)
Even the andorian bridge has large radar like dishes on it, in both the show and now this game. The two piece bonus on your new andorian set even mentions enhanced andorian targeting arrays.
They even have ANTENNAE on their heads. Andorian BOFFS possess acute senses trait, and aenar have blindsense. Whilst they do give off a more aggressive feel than other fed species, to say that aggressive = dmg doesnt sit right in my mind when andorian weapons on the show were often subtler (for lack of a better word) than their comtemporaries.
Take the ushaan tor knives (would love these in game btw). Smaller than lirpas, batleths or swords, but are wielded by with greater speed than more umbersome melee weapons.
To my mind, giving the wing cannons [Acc]x2 [CritH]x2 or similar would be more apppropriate, and more usaeble since this is a big feature of a ship with such a large price tag. Even the other andorian phasers use Accx2, so why not the wing cannons?
Secondly, whilst I love the look of Andorian themed phasers, 23,000 dil (or around 220 zen at current prices) to get average MkXI weapons seems silly, since as discussed elsewhere the [DMG] mod sucks. We can pick up Phaser [acc]x2 modded weapons for a fraction of the price elsewhere. Given that MkXII is becoming the new standard for top level gear, why not a) make them mk12, b) change the dmg mod to something else, such as CritH or even a second proc (like hull resist debuff or suchlike). Either that or I'd lower the dil cost a lot.
This is made even more questionable by the possibility of adding more (read superior) versions of these weapons at a later date. Why shell out almost two thousand zen worth of dil on outfitting your ship weapons when more competitive verions of the same weapon could be just around the road? Thats not to mention elite fleet phasers, and potential new weapons from new reputation factions (i would imagine with pvp and tholian factions we'll see new phaser and tetryon gear respectively)
As to the glass cannon BOFF layout: I love the layout on the Charal and Khyzon, and I reckon the Kumari just might have been too powerful if it werent for being forced into another Lt. Tac. My only issue is that extra Tac doesnt have any conceivable use at all, papart maybe from running attack pattern delta/beta or maybe BOverload with a dual beam bank. Will we ever see more useful/varied low level Tac powers?
Personally, I think I'll go Charal. Room for another RCS will help me a lot more than another Tac console, and depending on the quality of the gear it comes equipped with I'll either stick with my Tetryons (from my andorian themed Ushaan escort) or keep the best default gear and add cheap acc modded phasers in place of the wing cannons and beam arrays.
My final question is what is the ETA on the re=species token, or at least new species skins for our characters? My fed is up to rank for 4 in most commendations, has a ton of bound gear and is well advanced in fleet and reputation systems. I would love to change him to even look andorian, without having to start from scratch.
Kudos again on making such fantastic new ships. They look awesome, and putting the weapons to one side I reckon theyll play brilliantly.
Then please fill out my dissertation survey on feline attachment, it'd be a massive help (-:
https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/87XKSGH
I'm sorry, but STFs are -precisely- where you should expect to need dedicated healers, as they are supposed to be the toughest challenges in the game. It might be okay to be able to fly your Escort without support in low-level missions, but if you are taking on the end-game content, you should do so with the knowledge that you are going to need a good team to succeed.
If anything, Escorts and Science ships have already taken over too much of a Cruiser's job, and caused that class to be rendered all but unneeded to most teams (how many times have I heard the 'Bring DPS, or you are a hinderence to any team'?). How you can expect you should be able to engage in the most challenging missions in the game without the need for the highest degree of gameplay is a bit of a mystery to me.
So, to answer your question, I would say 'make sure you have a cruiser to back you up if you use this ship', because that -is- the reasonable conclusion to using a ship that is supposed to be a 'glass canon' rather than the opposite. If you don't want to, then fly another ship or don't do STFs in it.
Err... eh?
The wings fire plue phasers. The burst is a console special and its tachyon not tetryon.
So I either go with a blue/orange rainbow if going with fleetphasers and the wing cannon; pure blue phasers with wing cannon & (probably) weaker XI blue dilstore phasers or all blue with all tetryon weapons but not wing phaser.
Right now I do not like any of these options enough.
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
Would be nice to know if there are any plans for the KDF to get some kind of pack like the vesta and now the andorian ship pack
You should post a screenshot of the new ship- the Khyzon variant, I suppose, as it's closest to the canon ship- alongside a D'Kyr and an NX-class.
Sort of an Enterprise family portrait :cool:
Still waiting to be able to use forum titles