[TC] Yaki Ryu: The New Elephant?

[A5PECT]

While in Reunion it made an impressive OOS patrol ship and makeshift carrier, moving from Reunion to Terran Conflict saw a major drop in combat effectiveness for the Split Elephant.

But the Ryu seems to have inherited some of the characteristics of the Reunion Elephant. Its 120m/s makes it just as fast as the Split TL, but its 8x IBL slots give it some serious OOS firepower. The Ryu's hangar can accommodate 12 fighters, only two less than the Elephant. It has one less shield slot, but slightly more cargo capacity.

[Alan Phipps]

Yes that is a good point and I do tend to use it as an OOS patrol light carrier while doubling as a local energy/ammo/missiles replenishment depot especially where energy cells are harder to find. The Ryu has a lower laser energy and half the laser recharge rate of the Elephant which means that its IBLs would soon run out of energy if fighting IS, but OOS that does not matter.

[TTD]

Yes. I even mentioned on a recent thread that the Ryu is a good work horse and is very flexible,if limited,in what it can be used for.

[Catra]

Depends on acquisition method:

Buying it?

3 mill price hike, and having to -buy- the additional 2000 units of cargo, is not worth the 2 extra turrets and subpar stats across the board.

"Serious OOS firepower" sounds nice, but for the most part its going to be extreme overkill unless you specifically set it to assault big ships that have
Less than 7GJ shielding.

120 =/= 131

Stealing it?
Serious waste of time.

So really, the ships only main advantage is that it has a higher chance to not die to M7s.

Ill be sticking to the elephant.

[GCU Grey Area]

I rather like the Ryu, particularly for early-mid game station build missions. I find the extra 2k cargo capacity makes a lot of difference since it enables the ship to carry 2 stations averaging out to 16k cargo each, in addition to a full supply of auto-loading jumpdrive fuel (i.e. 3200 e-cells, 160 sectors, loaded every time it docks at Hub) & all it's basic kit (shields, etc). In my first couple of TC games, when I predominantly used an Elephant for the job, there were often occasions where a 2nd station just wouldn't quite fit, a situation which I've found happens much more rarely using a Ryu.

[Alan Phipps]

@ Catra: You forgot one other late-game acquisition option which is the one I use. Knock them out cheaply (credit-wise) as needed from the PHQ using the 'freebie' resources from recycled ships or the self-sustaining complex next to the PHQ.

[Catra]

@ Catra: You forgot one other late-game acquisition option which is the one I use. Knock them out cheaply (credit-wise) as needed from the PHQ using the 'freebie' resources from recycled ships or the self-sustaining complex next to the PHQ.

The only difference between "buying it" and "building it" is the absurdly long wait time and the added materials cost(/ship sacrafice/profit/hr loss) that puts it further down on the why bother? Scale. =p

[TTD]

If the X games only consisted of the the best ship for the job,there would not be many ships in the game. It's partly the variety of ships available to try ,use.hate or love as to why I like the series.

[Fulgrymm]

My feeling on the matter is, why use a TL at all for patrols in TC? In X3R I understand perfectly, because the only other choices were underpowered M6s and expensive and overkill M1/2s. But we've got M7s now, and those seem perfectly suited for border patrols. Granted, they are still more expensive than TLs, but I figure if you're now in the market for heavy duty protection of your assets, you're likely to be at the stage where you can afford it.

[Ripskar]

Personally I think it becomes available at the wrong point, for most players the Elephant is their first TL and definitely an early game ship to be replaced later on. The Ryu doesn't become available till you've either befriended the Yaki or acquired a halfway decent platoon of marines.

[pjknibbs]

Personally I think it becomes available at the wrong point, for most players the Elephant is their first TL and definitely an early game ship to be replaced later on. The Ryu doesn't become available till you've either befriended the Yaki or acquired a halfway decent platoon of marines.

That depends on the gamestart, though--in some of them you're ALREADY friends with the Yaki and can buy a Ryu at the beginning of the game if you so choose. Same applies to the Elephant--you have to be reasonably friendly with the Split to buy one, and that's harder than you'd think in some gamestarts!

[Sorkvild]

Ryu is pretty good when you operate in safe sectors only, because this one shield really makes big difference

[Triaxx2]

I think you're over estimating the difficulty of befriending the Split. Ganking unarmed fishies is an easy way to befriend them. The Yaki have far fewer systems to work in.

The other upside to the Ryu over the Elephant is that the Elephant doesn't come with a free IBL forge.

[GCU Grey Area]

I think you're over estimating the difficulty of befriending the Split. Ganking unarmed fishies is an easy way to befriend them. The Yaki have far fewer systems to work in.

Unholy Traitor might change your mind about that. IIRC game starts with neutral Yaki rep, but Split rep is absolutely abysmal (Enemy of All Split Families 0%). Ryu was the very first ship I bought in the game & I don't recall having to do all that much to be able to buy it.

In contrast I had to shoot down multiple Xenon Q patrol groups before the Split would even consider not shooting at me on sight - indeed most of that Q hunting had to be done while under almost continuous fire from Split patrols who appeared to hate me far more than the Xenon ships that were rampaging through their sectors.

Then, even after sorting out the rep problem, there's still the tedious business of flying around (sometimes for hours) looking for hackers to turn the Split shipyards blue so you can finally buy Split ships. All in all much, much easier for an Unholy Traitor to buy a Ryu than an Elephant if a fast TL is wanted.

[Triaxx2]

It might indeed if I ever manage to survive the initial stages of Unholy Traitor. I've tried 6-7 times, but I usually fail to get out of the second system before I find myself completely ganked by M5's.

[GCU Grey Area]

It might indeed if I ever manage to survive the initial stages of Unholy Traitor. I've tried 6-7 times, but I usually fail to get out of the second system before I find myself completely ganked by M5's.

Yeah, it's not easy at all, lost count of how many attempts I've made over the years. What finally worked for me was...

Spoiler

Show

...starting in Tkr's Deprivation, heading west through Family Tkr, then north to Home of Opportunity where I could finally dock at a station & save the game. What made it possible (I think) was that Family Tkr is classified as a core sector so there were no Paranid bounty hunter M5s spawning in the sector. Being a core sector there were of course LOTS of angry Split warships. However they were mostly flying in formation with slow capital ships & could be avoided by taking a long route round the edges of the sector map.

[Triaxx2]

I'll try that, though twice I've had the bad fortune to run into a Tiger Group just out of the gate. Once literally.