I have been playing for about a month now (still consider myself a noob) and the one thing that stands out is the lack of ships to aim for ... I got a HMII after about a week and thats it there is no HMIII or HM IV
I'm sure the same is true of hauling or fighting ships
there should always be a ship to aim for no matter how long you've been playing
even if you have 24/24/24/24/24 there should still be a ship you cant get until 25

Come back to this thread when you've gotten yourself a Trident. We'll wait. :)

Well I don't think anyone is 24/24/24/24/24 and I think the trend is less about restricting ships based on levels (a.k.a grinding) and more about restricting ships based on diplomatic position of the character. That's why we have alt characters so you can experience all the different content with one paid subscription.

Yeah, you're also going to want to look around, there are a lot of ships out there....

That's not to say I wouldn't appreciate more ships, but a month is probably not enough to experience all of them.

You got the BHMII after one week? Holy crap what a grind.

Yes, more ships would be nice.

+1, but as lower priority... cool, but there are other more urgent things.

I guess that publishing all requirements, technical specs, maybe even a test tool, would allow daring souls to develop some community-provided models. The time invested in creating that documentation will pay itself once you get new resources, either hired, intern, free-lancers or voluntaries...

And before any newbies start replying about how they're 1337 modelers and could make lots of cool ships, let me point said newbies at the following sticky from the General forum:

http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/1/24704

And especially the post it links to:

http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/21226#262881

Newbies: Don't reply to those threads. Let dead threads rest in piece.

Just check the consequences of publishing the full specs to enable users to create ships:

http://www.hard-light.net/wiki/index.php/User-made_Ships

yeah, wtf... how in holy hell did you get hm3 in a week?

@ Alloh

A selection of ships in those numbers would be incredible. Because, quite honestly... the endless variants of the same few ships is dull and lazy.

well It may have been 2 weeks I cant remember but it was not hard and you should not be able to get best combat/ hauling/ mining ship in a few days/weeks is my point and there should be ships between the easily available ones and cap ships

There should be, and there will be... eventually. The developers can only focus on so many issues at once, and because there isn't an artist working for Guild Software currently that sort of stuff isn't exactly top priority.

Here's an unfinished ship that looks like it could be between the size of a Behemoth and Trident.

Unfortunately, without some way to make combat interesting for a ship of that size, I think disappointment will follow shortly.

Hell, look at the Raptor, gorgeous ship... when was the last time you saw someone flying one?

Well, gunners help a little in that regard.. but yeah, Vendetta's combat/flight model is usually much more fun with small fighter craft than anything bigger.

IMO, the Trident is the in-between ship, alongside the Teradon. You've got the little fighters and the slightly bigger bombers and cargo ships, then you've got the Trident and Teradon frigates, and then you have the real capital ships: HAC and Constellation.

The only thing that isn't in-between about the Trident is the absurd crafting time.

A game where you have to play for a year to unlock the most badass ship is not the sort of game I want to see VO become. I'm not saying we shouldn't have more ships to unlock, but turning VO into EVE or WOW would be a step backward, not forward. EVE and WOW already exist and are fine games in their own rights; go play them if you want a grindy game. VO is something different.

VO IS a grindy game. We've got license "levels", that go up with earned "xp", that you get from doing missions and certain actions over and over, which unlock more content as they go up. We've got a faction reputation system where you gain reputation from doing missions and certain actions over and over. And there is money which must be earned by doing missions and certain actions over and over.

Each of these must be ground up to buy and use ships and equipment.

That sounds exactly like a grindy game to me. Just because there is no "best" ship/weapon/whatever does not mean that VO isn't a grindy game.

There is some grind to Vendetta, but less than pretty much any other MMO. I believe Incarnate wants to replace the XP system entirely eventually, as well.

Exactly. It doesn't take long to reach equipment parity with a vet. I can create an alt and level it to the point it can fly an XC within two play sessions (or in a single session, if I get another player or alt to do the hauling for me). With an XC and access to the Warthog MkII, I can go from KOS to POS with a nation in just several hours. I don't remember how long it takes to get the combat licenses needed for skyproms and X1s, but I know it doesn't take long to reach the 5-7 range. If I started a fresh alt and played it exclusively, I could have access to my typical ships and gear within a week, for sure.

High level requirements just detract from the focus on player skill that is one of VO's biggest strengths. If you keep adding more and more ships at higher and higher levels (with higher and higher stats, otherwise why bother getting them?), eventually you end up in a situation where you have to play for six months just to get a ship that can stand a chance of beating the ships the vets fly.

In WOW, a level 20 has no hope at all against a level 80, period. In fact, even if the level 80 is AFK, the level 20 might still die in the attempt if the 80 guy has one of those moves that automatically damages anything that touches him.

That isn't the case in VO. A newbie at level 3/3/0/0/0 has access to enough gear to potentially take on a person in the best stuff. If they die instantly, it's due to a lack of skill far more than a lack of gear.

The main purpose that grinding serves in VO is as a gradual introduction to the game's equipment. Games that give you everything right at the beginning can feel overwhelming, and VO is already overwhelming to a lot of newbs, what with being twitch based and so open ended. Only introducing new weapons as they level up gives them time to play with things a few at a time and get a feel for how the game works. It also helps to give them purpose for a while, until they start asserting their own purposes. We don't need additional level grinding beyond that point.

If you want to grind, go play Progress Quest. It's free!

As I said some times before, it is not about BETTER ships, but MORE ships... weaker, stronger, faster, larger, rounded edges, square, dark, bright...

The first and most important, for me, is adding visual diversity. Each "race" should have their own ships, with similar stats, but entirely different visuals.

Like, keep EC-89 (new bus) for Serco, make EC-88 (old bus) the default Itani ship, and give a new model with same stats to UIT.; Now when one newbie from each race meet, they all fly the same ship, while each one should be flying a similar, but visually different ship.
Itani: <> Serco: <> UIT: ??

Same applies to Revenant for Serco, Wraith for Itani and a new one for UIT. Same stats, different ships. They even can have same physics models, collision mesh, so on, but visually differ from other races!

vs vs a new model

Then, make the large ships really larger. Visually, a Centaur and a Centurion are very similar in size. And finally, add more diverse specialized models, as a barge for mining, a streamlined model for racer/interceptor, so on... keeping the races visual identification, like Itani ships are rounded, Serco ones are squared and UIT ones are exotic...