Because the Raptor is the one fighter that looks too heavy for its weight and because we don't have a ship like this yet: Make the raptor weigh >15,000kg and buff up the thrust and spin torque to balance it out exactly to the maneuverability it has now. This would allow the Raptor to resist turbulence (makes sense for an "all-weather" ship) such as flares, conc mines, missiles, prox mines, 'splosions, etc and also have less effect on its maneuverability when equipped with heavier light ports like flares; and if ever a "cannon" weapon is developed that has a recoil force when fired... less effect from that as well. The shiny new turbo thrust is great and all, but the raptor needs some sort of combat advantage.

Craptor it was, and Craptor it is, and Craptor it ever shall be.

weld duel megaposis on it

I think ShankTank might have a point there...

I'm going to second the main idea here. Good thinking!

Having a ship on which extra mass doesn't affect it as much is a very intriguing idea (i.e. a lighter, smaller Prom-like thing).

The root problem with the raptor is its geometry. It's too big, thus, its a hit magnet.

This is the way to make the Raptor better:



(Compare to http://images.vendetta-online.com/screenshots/dump0011.jpg )

Is it really the tail that makes it such flare/gauss/rail/anything bait?

The Craptor's front profile is as wide and stretched out as Kate Gosselin's vajayjay.

Remodeling the Raptor has been discussed many times before and isn't going to happen any time soon; and, quite frankly, I wouldn't want the devs working on something like that with so many other more important things in the queue such as economy, faction, and all those other things that they said they will turn out Soon(tm). Think stats.

Personally, I always thought of the raptor as a good testing platform for the first ever double heavy port fighter... but with the AGT issue still on the table, I don't think that that is happening any time soon, either. This idea, however, is original and makes sense with the Raptor's profile as an "all-weather" fighter (resisting turbulence and such). And if this is implemented, it might also make sense to add some more armor to the raptor (with it being all heavy and such). That might make it last a bit longer in combat. What does everyone think of that?

Again, agreed. I have seen maybe two people fly the raptor (in combat or otherwise) ever. Sad to let something which took so long never be flown. Let's beef it up a bit.

As has been said, the thing is serious profile issues, so giving it some seriously nicer stats would be well balanced by the profile.

I fly the raptor quite effectively against all but the best pilots. It needs higher armor and more thrust and optionally take it back to it's original wide firing pattern.

Actually, dual AGT or not, a 2L port Craptor would be worth a run. It's such a shitty ship now that I don't see it being unbalancing (Tumble's humor regardless). It would make a fucking nasty twin jacks platform with its old "wide stance" port alignment.

I agree give the Raptor two large ports... or maybe keep the two small and add one large.

I've gotta say, I think the pic that LeberMac posted is still a pretty cool ship, and kinda looks like the UIT equivalent of the Valk, frankly.

As for the tail, I will definitely attest to the fact that getting hit near there with an explosive essentially spins you around. That's where I've usually been hit when flying it. If it were trimmed down just a little to the more condensed version, I'd definitely be more likely to fly it.

Despite all the disbelievers, I think ShankTank's idea still holds merit. Not immediately (although skewing the stats linearly wouldn't be that much work...), but definitely something for the long run.

And not to put too fine a point to it, just cutting off the Raptor's tail makes it look like a cat that sat too close to the road, rather than a bobcat. Why not just shorten the tail drastically? This is not meant as an insult to your graphical designer's skills, LeberMac.

2 large ports and a hefty boost to the armor and so on might bring the raptor up to playable specs. I hate to see such a good looking ship go to waste.

Doc said: Is it really the tail that makes it such flare/gauss/rail/anything bait?

Yep. The center of rotation means that tail is hanging out all over the place (like Paris Hilton, to continue the analogy), and if a flare or AGT catches the smallest portion of it, the entire ship takes full damage.

The frontal cross-section is larger than a vult or a centurion, obviously, but it's similar to a Hornet, and the Raptor's strafing might barely be enough to make it usable.

Of course, this is not something the Devs should spent a lot of time on, but I truly believe it would make the raptor a better ship, perhaps even combat-worthy.

Adding mass further from the center of rotation also increases the moment of inertia, reducing the effect of any applied torque, assuming that the applied force remains the same distance from the center of rotation.

This idea is good.

If you up the mass and tweak other stats in a way that doesn't affect performance, that would be a good advantage.