I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before because I did not do an in depth search.

I feel that the only real class of ships that is missing from the arsenal at the player's disposal is a strictly heavy bomber with the main focus of taking out capital class ships. It would have 1 small port and 3 or 4 large ports, armor of maybe 17000 (mkI), and a mass of maybe 17000. It would be very ineffective for taking down any medium or light ships because of its low menuverability, but very effective at taking out capital ships such as a HAC because of its payload. Input?

buy a Ragnarok?

lol, that's what incarnate said when I mentioned this to him. I guess I just like the idean of having more large ports.

it'd also be great for station mining, 4 lmine launchers = 16 lightning mines.

Get a buddy to join you, 2x2 L ports = 4 L ports.

Actually, I agree about the fact that there needs to be a bomber oriented ship such as the idea mentioned. I don't think that the Rag or the Prom live up to this, and when capships become user controllable, there has to be a way for users to effectively destroy them :-)

1 Small Port and 4 Large Ports however seems to me as an entirely new class of ship.....possible a subcapship class?

We also do not want one person single-handedly taking out large targets. Not to mention that such a ship could be an insta-kill weapon.

I still think that strength in numbers is a better idea than shaping a ship around 4 L ports and tacking on all sorts of drawbacks to make it balanced.

yes, but keep in mind, 4 Large ports, even with the number of combinations possible, would undoubtedly not be able to take down an HAC on its own......3 or 4 of these would be needed. Also, with such a low maneuverability, a small attack ship would probably be able to take one of these 'bombers' down.

You have to keep in mind that once the shields are down, lighter ships may be even more important due to the s ports' high dpe and dps ratios. We're talking Leviathans, here, too, intended to be group target.

Perhaps a 3 L port ship would be a nice compromise? But it all depends on how potent anti-cap ship weaponry will be, in the end.

thats not a bad idea.....3 L ports and 2 small? The reciprocal of a Rag?
But we'd need something like a less powerful version of the capital gauss cannon?

Although 3 Plasma Devastators and 2 Gauss Cannons (both MKII) would be amazing.......however there are no powercells that could accommodate such a weapons platform....unless we could put two powercells on the 'bomber'

Would it be insane to put two powercells on a single ship?

Mega Positron Blasters would work fine for an attack ship, I think.

Perhaps this could be a ship that would employ dedicated power cells, and maybe even have a rear turret...

yes, dedicated powercells and a rearturret sound perfect for a bomber....would the rearturret need a person to man it? or would it be alright to have an 'auto' switch?

I don't know. Theoretically, could we put a turret on a player shiP? If it is, it isn't implemented. The way I see it, if you don't have shields, its useless. Three or four good sunflare shots could destroy the turret in this case.

I'm not suggesting shields, I'm just saying that a turret may not be the best idea.

No, turrets on player ships have not been implemented yet. However, I don't see a problem with a destructible turret. That turret would give the ship a decisive edge against pursuers.

"Would it be insane to put two powercells on a single ship?"

there have been times...(in real life)...where I've had to "daisy chain" several batteries together to get power for certian things so, no...its not insane.

If something like this were added, it would need to be somewhere between a behemoth and a trident in size and handle like a brick. Make it a hard counter so that it's deadly against caps but ineffective against fighters (which are currently all we have). The other solution would be to increase the size, mass and armor of the rag, decrease its thrust and add your extra L port. Then it'd actually be a bomber.

On the other side of the spectrum, once we get player controlled caps (in 2028) there could be a gunboat ship of similar size bristling with turrets for destroying light fighters, but ineffective against larger ships, such as this theoretical heavy bomber.

maybe they could do a Rag varient with 3 rockets systems hardwired in...(permanent fixtures) with a higher ammo count. make the rockets unguided so it has to get close...(like a dive bomber) and drop one or two small ports so the total mass isnt thrown off too much.

My initial idea on this was to have 3 large ports not 4, just to make that clear. I was thinking something maybe between centaur and behemoth in size with the turning and acceleration between the two also. This would make it very challenging to use as a platform against fighters, but very useful against capital ships.

@ Ghost: Exactly my way of thinking.

I too found Homeworld enjoyable.