Rationale: The UDV was originally upscaled to have large port weaponry in order to bring it up to par with the other top tier nation ships. This makes it a monster in its own right, but a limiter in its utility.

I think the UDV could stand to exist in both variations, the current version, and the original small port version, perhaps renamed "UDV Light". Seeing as its poor turn rate would make a drop to light weapon DPS a downgrade, the small port version would be more of a utilitarian version, capable of carrying small-only weapons like the PCB, while still maintaining the other qualities (speed, acceleration, energy efficiency, and scanners) of the UDV.

I think it also brings the UIT a bit more in line with the Itani and Serco, seeing as both other nations have multiple variants of their premier ships, giving them a wider variety of use cases. I'd go so far as to suggest the Raptor could use even a couple more variants, but that's for another thread.

Similar threads over the years to ponder on before replying:

Bring back the SP UDV (2018)
More TPG Raptor UDV variants. (2016)
Be Fair to UIT (2014)

I mean could just buff the craptor mkII, or what could be cool would be an ineubis variant.

just a small port UDV wouldn't bring much more variety though so i'd rather see the mkII buffed instead of a whole "new" ship added.

As far as I'm aware, the small port UDV still exists, just is not available.

What darknessrise13 said is part of what prompted this suggestion. The small port UDV would feel very different in combat (once again, worse, but having the utility of varied small port weapons) while retaining the chasing/scan abilities of the large port version, and it already exists for both an easy implementation and lore explanation (though that's obviously not the primary reason, it's still a benefit).

Spidey, I'm not sure what could be done to buff the Raptor II without either a) turning it into a vulture with more abilities, or b) turning it into the UDV in all but name*. And besides, the idea is that it'll be a UIT-limited ship. I want those benefits to be a UIT exclusive.

*Not that the Raptor couldn't use a good buff. I just think it should go in a different direction, and again, be available to anyone willing to level TPG rather than only UIT.

That's the thing right now the mkII is almost as viable as the udv only real differences are the armor/turbo drain.

Give the mkII the sensor suite and it's practically a udv with poor endurance and ~2500 less armor.

It's not just (3500) armor and energy efficiency; it's mass, regular thrust, and both its top speeds that set it apart from the Raptor II. Those are things that make the Centurion III a joke to fight while allowing the superlight to run circles around even the best players.

Point being, small stat adjustments have justified entirely new variants. These adjustments are pretty significant, which is why people pick up the UDV and almost never touch the regular Raptor. The ports being entirely different will allow the small port UDV to fight very differently than its big brother, while still having distinct enough stats from the standard variants to justify grabbing it.

And again, the Raptor II is a ship anyone with TPG standing can buy. The UDV is a UIT-only ship, meaning it can stand to have some strong benefits.

No PCBs on UDVs, thank you.

The TPG Raptor MkII should probably get a buff, but we've all heard that story for a decade plus.

abortretryfail,

This suggestion is not about the TPG raptor, which is available to anyone. This suggestion is about an additional UIT exclusive. The Sercos have four proms the Itani have five valks but we UIT only have a single exclusive UDV varient. Even with a pcb, the the udv will be flare bait. I don't see the problem.

The awesome version of the goli when it first came out would make an nice exclusive uit ship as well.

Well to be fair the UIT aren't a nation at war which could explain the top tier variants that the Serco and Itani have. However, Incarnate has mentioned that something like : he is for setting aside lore and realism for game improvements.

Allright fucken bring the drain down to 56 and give it an extra thousand armor. If this doesn't make it viable give it a built in addon scanner.