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Name: TPG Raptor "Predator" variant
Faction: TPG (plus 600 status)
Licenses: 7/6/-/4/-
Armor: 6500 (like that of a basic centurion or an EC-101)
Cargo: 6 cu
Weapon Port: 2s
Mass: 3600 kg (nearly 300 less)
Thrust: regular 250 N/ turbo at 350 N
Max Speed: 65 m/s
Max Turbo Speed: 225 m/s
Turbo Energy: 55/s
Spin Torque: 5
Description: As interference by drones and pirates became more common against TPG trade vessels, it became clear that the original Raptor prototype desperately needed revamping to increase its usefulness as a convoy escort vessel. By stripping much of the ship's platting and reconfiguring its engines to support forward thrust over spin torque, they finally had developed the ideal interceptor their engineers had been striving for, despite some critics concerns of pirates using it for exactly what it was built to counter...
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Purpose: This vessel puts usefulness to the Raptor as a decent interceptor. With the spin torque reduced in favor of better thrust, it is capable of catching up to runners and dealing a brutal hand to routing foes or unprepared vessels. I feel I must give some credit to Dr. Lector as his Corvus Greyhound is what inspired me to consider this ship as a possible alternative.
While its armor and manueverability are severely sacrificed (thus making it even more dismal in a pvp encounter), its sheer energy, acceleration and infiniboost capabilities will allow it to be a worthy interceptor to hunt down escaping ships or hit-and-runners (in and of itself, it will also make a good hit-and-run vessel). Combined with its already pre-existing storm radar, this vessel can easily act as the lurker in an ion storm, the "predator" as it is dubbed, by detecting vessels furthur away and moving to attack them with little warning.
It would be quite valuable, both in the hands of the pirate and the anti-pirate, both for its capabilities to hunt down trade ships and give chase to a fleeing raider. However, outside of serving this function, it would just be incapable of standing toe-to-toe in a dogfight due to its many other deficits.
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Some stats edited to better tailor the ship's function.
Faction: TPG (plus 600 status)
Licenses: 7/6/-/4/-
Armor: 6500 (like that of a basic centurion or an EC-101)
Cargo: 6 cu
Weapon Port: 2s
Mass: 3600 kg (nearly 300 less)
Thrust: regular 250 N/ turbo at 350 N
Max Speed: 65 m/s
Max Turbo Speed: 225 m/s
Turbo Energy: 55/s
Spin Torque: 5
Description: As interference by drones and pirates became more common against TPG trade vessels, it became clear that the original Raptor prototype desperately needed revamping to increase its usefulness as a convoy escort vessel. By stripping much of the ship's platting and reconfiguring its engines to support forward thrust over spin torque, they finally had developed the ideal interceptor their engineers had been striving for, despite some critics concerns of pirates using it for exactly what it was built to counter...
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Purpose: This vessel puts usefulness to the Raptor as a decent interceptor. With the spin torque reduced in favor of better thrust, it is capable of catching up to runners and dealing a brutal hand to routing foes or unprepared vessels. I feel I must give some credit to Dr. Lector as his Corvus Greyhound is what inspired me to consider this ship as a possible alternative.
While its armor and manueverability are severely sacrificed (thus making it even more dismal in a pvp encounter), its sheer energy, acceleration and infiniboost capabilities will allow it to be a worthy interceptor to hunt down escaping ships or hit-and-runners (in and of itself, it will also make a good hit-and-run vessel). Combined with its already pre-existing storm radar, this vessel can easily act as the lurker in an ion storm, the "predator" as it is dubbed, by detecting vessels furthur away and moving to attack them with little warning.
It would be quite valuable, both in the hands of the pirate and the anti-pirate, both for its capabilities to hunt down trade ships and give chase to a fleeing raider. However, outside of serving this function, it would just be incapable of standing toe-to-toe in a dogfight due to its many other deficits.
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Some stats edited to better tailor the ship's function.
i like it.
it needs a higher top end speed or infiniboost, otherwise it will run out of energy long before catching up to anything that is any distance away.
kp
it needs a higher top end speed or infiniboost, otherwise it will run out of energy long before catching up to anything that is any distance away.
kp
Oh yes, I think this ship MUST have infiniboost. Overwise it's useless for it's prime purpose-- to catch ships moving at turbo. You think the top speed is too low? How much higher would you suggest.
'd be nice if we could restrict the extra thrust to forward thrust only...
Spin torque is way too high. Thrust should be bifurcated: turbo at 350, regular at 225 or 250. No need for infiniboost, as it's designed for storm hunting, not long, multi sector chases. Maybe 53 drain rather than 55, but since it has to use flares rather than energy, doesn't much matter.
No ship this fast should have infiniboost. It's already near impossible to catch and significantly damage an empty Atlas X; I'm inclined to think infiniboost ships should all be limited to 200m/s.
Slightly lower drain might be ok - 53 or 54, but not 50. That's plenty of boost to run down the average ship and ruin its day with flares.
Slightly lower drain might be ok - 53 or 54, but not 50. That's plenty of boost to run down the average ship and ruin its day with flares.
Interesting, this would be a ship with a very high thrust-to-weight ratio. It'd change the face of the Deneb Run (not that that'd be a bad thing).
do not put top speed over 225m/s. We've had this conversation on countless threads in this last month. I'll link them here if necessary.
Given the raptor in its current shape, though, I don't think I'd fly it. It's just too big a target (literally). We'll see though.
Given the raptor in its current shape, though, I don't think I'd fly it. It's just too big a target (literally). We'll see though.
No ship this fast should have infiniboost? The difference is from the Atlas X is that this thing will absolutely be trashed in a pvp encounter. It would rely almost entirely on it's hit-and-run aspect and its armor would be extremely weak. Without an interceptor having infiniboost, how else will you catch a ship moving away at infiniboost turbo? Its understandable the concern, but that's why this vessel suffers with poor maneuverability, weak armor, and an inconvenient shape (as Aticephyr pointed out).
Now, last night, I was considering what Lecter had said about his Warthog variant. The need for 1L port. Without it, even at infiniboost, the raptor's 2s ports would drain it. But I was considering this possibility. The TPG are ant-pirate. While I like the irony of them created a good pirate vessel in the hopes of making an anti-pirate ship, I began to think, perhaps this varient could be an anti-interceptor interceptor.
This thing could be the direct counter to the infiniboosting pirate hog Lector suggested. It would have high acceleration and infiniboost capabilities, but with its 2 small ports, it would have just enough power in catching and downing small ships that attempt to flee or boost away rather than hunting down a trade ship (unless these raptors moved in packs). That would make the raptor fit in more to the RP standards of the TPG, give the raptor a defined, specialized purpose as an anti-hit-and-run escort vessel, and through it all, it would be balanced in that it would still suck in a pvp encounter.
Outside of being used as a pirate or anti-hit-and-run escort vessel, I don't see what other possible variants could be useful for the Raptor. Too many people here have suggested this thing be either a hornet clone, a vulture clone (which it will never be due to its shape), or a wtf-pwn-everything ship. This way, the raptor actually can be useful to hunt down a fleeing light ship or to hunt down larger prey in squads.
Now, last night, I was considering what Lecter had said about his Warthog variant. The need for 1L port. Without it, even at infiniboost, the raptor's 2s ports would drain it. But I was considering this possibility. The TPG are ant-pirate. While I like the irony of them created a good pirate vessel in the hopes of making an anti-pirate ship, I began to think, perhaps this varient could be an anti-interceptor interceptor.
This thing could be the direct counter to the infiniboosting pirate hog Lector suggested. It would have high acceleration and infiniboost capabilities, but with its 2 small ports, it would have just enough power in catching and downing small ships that attempt to flee or boost away rather than hunting down a trade ship (unless these raptors moved in packs). That would make the raptor fit in more to the RP standards of the TPG, give the raptor a defined, specialized purpose as an anti-hit-and-run escort vessel, and through it all, it would be balanced in that it would still suck in a pvp encounter.
Outside of being used as a pirate or anti-hit-and-run escort vessel, I don't see what other possible variants could be useful for the Raptor. Too many people here have suggested this thing be either a hornet clone, a vulture clone (which it will never be due to its shape), or a wtf-pwn-everything ship. This way, the raptor actually can be useful to hunt down a fleeing light ship or to hunt down larger prey in squads.
I actually like that one: as a flare based, anti-fleeing interceptor platform, maybe a Craptor could work?
Agreed, and with the new release of the Greyhound (congratulations on that btw Lecter), I think this could be an interesting counter.
If the trade possibilities in greyspace are pushed to the ridiculous level, money will trickle down and these ships will see use.
/me wants the IBG/rev C/CV/SVG to have 235 top speed since they have 60 drain and kill a FC in less than 30 seconds not counting weapons shooting.
How would you feel about jacking its turbo drain to 65/second, and beyond, instead of killing its combat abilities entirely. Giving one ship high acceleration, velocity, and efficiency is a little much. Think about it; that's exactly the problem with 'griefing' tactics in this game. If every ship was only good at one of those three things, then they'd all be able to counter each other. High acceleration ships could catch the other two before they could get started. High velocity ships would be able to break away from the others, with proper timing. High efficiency ships would inevitably catch the other two kinds, but yield the initiative. This is how you make a chaser that can still be chased.
For the ship to serve its role as an effective chaser, it must be capable of actually catching the ships and slaughtering them as they flee. The cost would be its stand-up combat abilities. If you take from the chasing abilities to aid in combat, it will fail in both. As a combat vessel, it is too long, too easy to hit to ever be good, no matter what boosts you give it. With its chasing abilities removed, it won't be able to do so effectively. One cannot boost its combat abilities and make it a good chaser or else it will turn easily into another Atlas X.
If you look at it, there's little different with this ship from the Greyhound. The main difference is the storm radar (of course) and the 2 small ports (which makes it useful to hit fleeing fighters alone but only able to hit trade ships in packs.)
If you look at it, there's little different with this ship from the Greyhound. The main difference is the storm radar (of course) and the 2 small ports (which makes it useful to hit fleeing fighters alone but only able to hit trade ships in packs.)
Yes, obviously. Now, how would you go about catching a "Predator" precisely?
Its spin torque is crappy, its armor is extremely weak, and it pretty much is moving in a straight line. See it coming and it wouldn't be too hard shooting this thing down. If it runs away from you, it runs away. it will rely on that aspect entirely in maintaining its survival. If you chase it away, you've accomplished much of your purpose as there is little this thing can do to retaliate effectively.
How do you chase a Predator? You don't have to. But you can make it undesirable for it to attack. Because of its two small ports, it will have a difficult time charging at you with energy weapons. About the only thing it will shoot down with such weapons are people in light craft. If it equips flares, it will have more firepower, but due to its lacking maneuverability, it cannot risk standing toe to toe with such weapons. About all it can rely on is charging in, hitting with the flares when you don't expect it, and then running away as fast as possible.
Because also of its low armor, if expected, interceptors like the vulture could provide a short chase and shoot it down before their energy cells depleted. They may not have infiniboost like the Predator, but they would have just enough to pop open its already vulnerable hull before it gets away. So I don't believe this ship is at all overpowered. The infiniboost and fast acceleration is its one and really only advantage in combat.
How do you chase a Predator? You don't have to. But you can make it undesirable for it to attack. Because of its two small ports, it will have a difficult time charging at you with energy weapons. About the only thing it will shoot down with such weapons are people in light craft. If it equips flares, it will have more firepower, but due to its lacking maneuverability, it cannot risk standing toe to toe with such weapons. About all it can rely on is charging in, hitting with the flares when you don't expect it, and then running away as fast as possible.
Because also of its low armor, if expected, interceptors like the vulture could provide a short chase and shoot it down before their energy cells depleted. They may not have infiniboost like the Predator, but they would have just enough to pop open its already vulnerable hull before it gets away. So I don't believe this ship is at all overpowered. The infiniboost and fast acceleration is its one and really only advantage in combat.
It'd have one of the highest non turbo accelerations among light fighters tho.
With weapons as high as Valkyrie.
With weapons as high as Valkyrie.
"How do you chase a Predator? You don't have to."
Thank you for responding to my question in detail. Now, why don't you have to?
Thank you for responding to my question in detail. Now, why don't you have to?
"It'd have one of the highest non turbo accelerations among light fighters tho.
With weapons as high as Valkyrie."
And? High acceleration and turbo is necessary and the 2 small ports would leave it at a disadvantage really. The Corvus Greyhound would be a better pirate ship with its large port capable of holding a megaposi. This ship is like the Greyhound, but with less attack power and more thrust.
" "How do you chase a Predator? You don't have to."
Thank you for responding to my question in detail. Now, why don't you have to? "
Did you bother to read any of the rest of the post? For one, if you chase it off, you've accomplished your purpose and the pilot knows you are aware of its presence. If he attacks again, he will have to be really good at avoiding your shots or his ship's EC equivalent armor will make him cannon fodder. That will be hard though, because the horrible spin torque will leave him little opportunity to dodge, but if he charges in a straight line at you with turbo... well, I don't think I have to explain how easy it would be to take the guy out.
You're looking for reasons to be concerned about this ship when there really is little to be concerned about. As a hit-and-run, if you are aware of it, it can do little to you. Therefore chase isn't even necessary.
That's NOT to say it isn't possible. Because of its low armor, non-infiniboost interceptors can catch up to it enough to land shots that could destroy it before they have to recharge.
With weapons as high as Valkyrie."
And? High acceleration and turbo is necessary and the 2 small ports would leave it at a disadvantage really. The Corvus Greyhound would be a better pirate ship with its large port capable of holding a megaposi. This ship is like the Greyhound, but with less attack power and more thrust.
" "How do you chase a Predator? You don't have to."
Thank you for responding to my question in detail. Now, why don't you have to? "
Did you bother to read any of the rest of the post? For one, if you chase it off, you've accomplished your purpose and the pilot knows you are aware of its presence. If he attacks again, he will have to be really good at avoiding your shots or his ship's EC equivalent armor will make him cannon fodder. That will be hard though, because the horrible spin torque will leave him little opportunity to dodge, but if he charges in a straight line at you with turbo... well, I don't think I have to explain how easy it would be to take the guy out.
You're looking for reasons to be concerned about this ship when there really is little to be concerned about. As a hit-and-run, if you are aware of it, it can do little to you. Therefore chase isn't even necessary.
That's NOT to say it isn't possible. Because of its low armor, non-infiniboost interceptors can catch up to it enough to land shots that could destroy it before they have to recharge.