I saw another player (I can't remember who, and if you posted this, sorry for copying :P)suggest this in game, and I didn't see it on the "list o' suggestions." I know a lot of people have voiced a desire for new ship designs, and I also know that this is a fairly time intensive process. Perhaps it would be easier (quicker) to make some or all Hive ships available to players (either thru various missions, or some sort of 'hive faction' or something). Obviously there could be different variants of each, and it seems to me (I admit I have a very limited understanding of programming and writing code) this might be an economical alternative to creating new ship designs. I personally would love to truck around in an Orne Guardian :P Anyway, just and idea. Look forward to seeing your replies to it :P

I think you're a little confused... Hive aren't aliens or people, they're just robots. It wouldn't really make sense if a player piloted a Hive ship. I do, however, agree that we need more ship variations... For now we should just make a shit ton of variations of the ships we have an spread them out over all the factions. We really need to coax back some 3d designers, though, to make some new ships and replace some of the crappy, unbalanced and ugly ones we have now (cough... Centaur cough cough - Seriously can we just phase out the Centaur model and replace it with the Wraith?).

However, I would have no problems with missions that have you take control of hive bots with limited jump capabilities or some-such - that would be pretty fun. We can tint the screen red, add some annoying interference, then throw in a raster line effect lol.

dude flying a hellman would be fucking awesome first off. Ryan made the initial post and I was talking about it on 100. I know ray voiced some interest in it. I think it would be sweet. Maybe make it that if you are in a hive ship no hive attack you unless you attack them but everyone else will shoot you except the faction from which you got the hive ship?

Incarnate expressed some interest too, it is a quick easy fix for the lack of variety in ships.

The basic idea is that factions captured hive bots and gutted them sacrificing armor and removing the robotic components and adding the needed modifications for a human to pilot it.

heres the original if it helps.
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/19386

Well that makes some more sense. We can give them sweet sci-fi slang names and outlaw them in certain areas. Might I suggest "scrap jobs" or "circuit jobs"? Hmmmm, those sound like bad robot hooker services... anyone else better at coming up with sci-fi slang names? (i.e. something like the Guises or the "skin jobs" from Blade Runner) That would be totally awesome. No use to this, just immersion. That, and anything along these lines in a sci-fi that would be illegal in most areas has to have a sci-fi slang name.

I think "bug bucket" would be a good name

+1 for bug bucket

bug bucket ftw!

Bug Bucket, I love it.

"Three more unidentified bug buckets 8 o'clock. Look sharp."

Yep... epic lol.

"It wouldn't really make sense if a player piloted a Hive ship." They're drones. If they're robots you can fly them remotely using the magical communications device that powers channel 100.

Configurability? If you buy a guardian, do you get to swap out the weapons or do you have to keep the loadout that exists?

You can swap out the weapons however you like. They drop normal weapons that are equip-able on our ships, after all.

If you're worried about balance, remember: human ships easily outperform hive ships. The hive strength lies in numbers; their ships are all derived from mining drone technology and really aren't anything special.

Starfisher, I think the idea is that grey space corporations that no one oversees have their salvagers haul in random hive ships, gut them, and wire the thrusters and weapons to be controlled from a seat. Then other corporations and factions decide to make them illegal in their space because of the non-overseen, un-trackable nature of bug buckets.

Because of the custom nature of bug buckets, I'd suggest they have limited stocks per day.

ladron: It was more gameplay general question/food for thought. I could see something like the non-configurable ships being much cheaper, for example, than ones where you could swap out the weapons. If the hive ships just plain suck, as their basic flight performance would imply, they'll be cool for a day and then no one will ever fly them again unless they were somehow differentiated favorably. Getting a cheap Prosus Assault or something might be nice for combat practice.

shank: *shrug*

My point was that justification for the hive bots being pilotable is trivial given magic respawn and galaxy wide instant communications already being in the game. Just call them drones, avoid the tortured logic of gutting hive ships rather than manufacturing your own like the CTC bots, and voila. Or whatever.

Those two things are unasked givens for all games, the ability to control enemy ships is not. Besides, the bug bucket idea is way cooler.

Hmmm, and to make the advantage for bug buckets be that they're cheap I think we first have to make money matter. Why not make it so that they don't require a license to buy and they have limited stock per day?

Uh, why wouldn't they be craftable only? Scrap + cores.

Uh, why wouldn't they be craftable only? Scrap + cores.

Yes, they should be. That makes a lot of sense. They should require less than 120 cu of raw materials overall to construct though, to keep the overall price down.

If the hive ships just plain suck, as their basic flight performance would imply, they'll be cool for a day and then no one will ever fly them again unless they were somehow differentiated favorably.

Which is why they should allow you to do things like show up as Unidentified on other people's radar, and infiltrate the hive without being shot at (unless you act aggressively, of course). Additionally, they should not require license levels or faction standing to construct. If you can dock at Corvus or Xang Xi, and you can bring some scrap metal and cores, plus a few credits for the use of their facilities, they'll let you fly off in a bug bucket.

I don't think bug buckets should suck but they shouldn't be l337 either if you look at the vo wiki some of the hive bots have pretty cool set ups like dual large ports.

Items needed to refurbish the Hive bots into Bug Buckets... (IMHO)

Advanced Logistics System
Advanced Targeting Systems
Airlock Maintenance Supplies
Amplification Module
Basic Targeting Systems
Bearing Grease
Commercial Textiles
Consumer Electronics
Cooling Systems
Coolant
Data Link Connectors
ERS Tracking Systems
Energy Conversion Module
Escape Hatch System
External Thermal Couplers
Fire-suppression system
Frequency Modulators
Flight Assist Control Module
Fuel Storage Container
Fuel Flow Regulator
Gyroscopes
Hydraulic Tappets
Hull Panels
Instrumentation Panel
Ion Core
LCD
Manufacturing Tools
Navigation Unit
Outer Hull Plate
Phase Array
Pressure Relief Valves
Propellant Actuators
Pilot Safety Harness
Pressure Relief Valves
Stabilizing Systems
Superconductors
Silksteel
Thermal Insulator Tiles
Thrust Regulators
Turbo Charger
Vismetal Cockpit

Nope. List is way too long.

They shouldn't need much more than a bunch of scrap and a core or two. That's the point, after all.