3L ports: Ack. No. Overkill. A Marauder should not have more firepower than a Ragnarok. Maneuverability isn't even an issue if you have the ability to launch tri-swarms. Coming from a ship the Marauder's size that would just look wierd.

Perhaps we are trying to pidgeon-hole the Marauder into a role it wasn't designed for. I could be wrong but from the look and description of the Marauder it seems like it's supposed to be a maneuverable trade ship that is also decent at dogfighting.

3s ports is really ideal in this case.

I still stand by my argument that the port configuration is what gives each ship class its "flavor." I even think it's a little strange flying around a maud with 1s, 1L port (like an Atlas or Hog).

In the ideal world the maud would have "infinite" cargo capacity, but for every 15cu another cargo canister would be added to the string of canisters at the back of the ship. This would totally ruin the handling in any other direction then straight ahead because of the very off-centre thrust. Strafing sideways would push the "head" to the side, but not the string of canisters. It can't turn around on the spot but would have a rather large turning circle...

but things aren't ideal :(

@Phaserlight: It wouldn't have more firepower than a Rag. The Rag's 3S ports are worth more than a 3rd L port. It would become a decent bomber (not better than the Rag, but 2nd best, only considering damage), but Incarnate said that's why he didn't want to make utility ports, he wanted ships to be able to be outfitted either for mining or combat or anything else. And while a 3 L port Maud would be capable of dealing a good bit of damage as a bomber, it would be much easier to intercept & kill than a Rag, Taur or Prom would be, due to its lower speed & maneuverability. I really don't think 3 L ports would make it imbalanced in combat.

@The Noid: As I understand it, that's more or less the plan, eventually. But that (and making the Levi wiggle, and lots of other cool stuff) requires inverse kinematics, which the physics engine can't do yet. And there's a lot of other potential problems that would need to be addressed, as well (expandable cargo capacity means it has a wide range of potential ship mass, so how much thrust does it get? A fixed thrust is either going to be too much for the low end, or too little for the high end of the range of potential mass, so it might be better to give it a dynamic thrust, based off how much mass it has, but how exactly should the dynamic thrust be calculated?).

Beolach and The Noid,
perhaps the maud could add several types of pods to the chain cargo pods would add mass and cargo space, engin pods would add thrust and spin torque, etc. and to keep engin pods from getting too powerfull they have to attach to a cargo pod. it could still be abused, but would definately change they dynamics of the maud.

Phaserlight,
3S is just too much like the valk. i mean is there any configuration for the maud, that isn't better if done with a valk (combat wise)?

also my opinion of the maud is that it's supposed to be a pirat ship, that was originaly desiged as a multi-perpus workehorse. and to me that means a combination of L and S ports. basicly it should be a less masive version of what the centaur is now (but preferably with more pirat usability).

I'm all for changing the ports on the maud. It just makes sense that a 3S trade ship should be dwarfed by valk, and why wouldn't a trade ship have a L port anyway? Make is 1S 2L or just 2L, but make sure that it's fast enough to be able to pirate. But when it fills up with cargo, it slows down and loses its speed and combat ability.

Then give MMaud 3L, but completely inept at flying.

Or... Make heavy weapons heavier. So that they'd be more effective on something with more mass.

Huh? Light ships already dominate pvp, weighing down other ships would NOT be helping.

light ships dominate PVP because nothing can hit hard enough and fast enough to make them obsoleet. For example any sort of beam weapon quickely make heavy shipd more popular. "all the light ships in the 'verse wouln't help you didge something traveling at the speed of server"

------------ totally new idea in thread ----------------

If you dont want to add 'equipment ports' then maybe you can plug mining into the energy equation somehow. For example, have a special mining beam that is super duper, but it drains 100/second from your batteries. Then give the mining marauder two batteries. Thus the mining marauder can 'infinimine' with the special beam while most ships using the special beam will only get 1-2 seconds of mining, then have to wait for a recharge. Thus the MMaud will have a mining advantage but no special combat advantage. The old ships will be as good as they ever were at mining. And you dont have to have 'equipment ports'. And no chickens have to die.

---------------- thanks for reading --------------------

So the second battery would only apply to the mining beams? can they do that?

Allow me to clarify. The second battery would have no special attributes or effects other than increasing the recharge rate of ship's energy. The UI will not change except in the station there will be 2 battery slots for the MMaud. Energy capacity will be the average of the two batteries, recharge rate the sum. Similar to real life when 2 batteries are hooked in serial (double voltage, same amp hours).

Interesting idea, however, the increased recharge would have to be conter-balanced by either a very high turbodrain or a very low turbospeed (or both) to negate the (obvious) advatage that it would pose in a long-range race like Dened Run, or its usage as and energy gunboat.

The main limiting factors of the races are hitting storms, and sector load time. Battery recharge time is very small, 1-2 seconds or so per sector. The MMaud with 2 batteries would only cut that time in half, not eliminate it.

On top of that the MMaud only goes 180 already. To go 10,000 m at 180 takes 56 seonds, to go 10,000m at 220 takes 45 seconds. That more than makes up for the 1-2 second recharge advantage.

The 2-battery MMaud would not win many races.

As for it being an 'energy gun boat', thats true, it could perhaps infinitely fire Megapositron blasts at 4 per second. Then again, it only has 2 weapons ports, and it is so slow and large that it can be killed or run from easily. It would only be a threat to unarmed capital ships. I doubt it could keep up with a Moth long enough to kill it. And so what if it is some kinda slow gunboat? Its not gonna unbalance anything, for reasons I just stated. Incarnate just said he wanted to leave things flexible and thats flexible.

In conclusion, I think a 2 battery mineral maurauder + a new high-energy-drain mining beam is a good compromise. It changes only 3 things:

1. The station menu for equipping the ship: the mmaud will have two battery slots

2. Recharge rate on mmaud energy will be the sum of the rates of each battery. 2 FC = 100/s. 2 Heavy = 90/s. 1 Heavy + 1 FC = 95/s. Capacity will be the average of the two, (1 FC + 1 Heavy = 375) unless this unbalances combat, in which case it can be changed to be the lesser of the two + 10% or something like that.

3. a few new mining beams in the equipment menu. they will drain 100/s, and will basically heat up much less than a normal beam, so that you could roughly get the same amount of ore out of a roid in 1 trip with 1 'energy draining' low-heat beam, as you could with 2 normal beams.

ananzi,

your perposed mmaud would be the bane of moths. it is faster than them, and can maintain iniboost while firing and recharging

Then make turbo drain 100/s. This will make it able to infiniboost but firing a weapon will drain it normally. It can recharge faster than other ships, but by the time it does, the Moth has gotten away. They both go 180m/s and its hard to catch a ship going the same speed as you.

I hate to say it, but...you have a good point.