Ships vs Drones

X-Logic · Post by **X-Logic** » Fri, 14. Oct 11, 13:04

“Ships” in X3TC:

Combat

M1 Carrier (Capital) (including Orbital Weapon Platforms) (22)
M2 Destroyer (Capital) (13)
M3 Fighter (67)
M3+ Elite Fighter
M4 Interceptor (47)
M4+ Heavy Interceptor
M5 Scout (45)
M6 Corvette (anti-fighter) (26)
M6+ Corvette (anti-capital)
M7 Frigate (Capital) (25)
M7M Missile Frigate (Capital)
M8 Bomber (7)

Transport

TL Station Transports (Capital) (17)
TS Transport (41)
TP Personnel Transport (14)
TM Military Transport (9)

Other

DR Drone (4?)
GO Goner Ship
LI Astronaut/Space Suit (3)
SA Navigation Relay Satellite (2)
MN Mine (4)
T Lasertower
UFO ??? (5)
SP Spacefly
SM Beacon (2)

356 ish total (sorry if I missed any xD ).

“Ships” in X Rebirth: (Edit: updated thanks to em3e3)

Player Ship

Pride of Albion

Drones

Mining
Scanning
Shield
Torpedo
Mk1
Mk2

Fighters

...
???
...

Capitals

Transporters
Collectors
Builders
Welders
Destroyers
Carriers

(Shamelessly partially stolen from this thread http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=308614)

Questions

What is the distinction between drones and ships?
- Drones are ships but with no cockpit?
- Drones are “upgrades” to (your) ship(s)?
- Drones control ships?
- Other?
- All/some/none of the above?

What classes of ships/drones will there be?
- What will “capital” ships include? (M1, M2, M7(M), TL?)
- Is our ship, the Pride of Albion, an M6? (this seems to be a common opinion) If so can it be changed/upgraded into other types? If not what is it?
- What non-capital ships will there be? (M3(+), M4(+), M5, (other) M6(+), M8, TS, TP, TM, Other?)
- What is the range of sizes of drones?

What ships (or drones) will we be unable to (virtually) fly? (apart from capital class ships)
- In X3TC there were very few ships we could not fly, will that be the case here?
- Will we be unable to virtually fly other ships (not drones) smaller than capital ships?

What ships (or drones) will we be unable to control/command?
- Will we be limited to just the Pride of Albion, capital ships and drones?

How many different models of ships/drones will we be able to (virtually) fly compared to X3TC?

How many different models of ships/drones will we be able to control/command compared to X3TC?

I love the variety of ships in X3TC and the way they were classified. My main concern about X Rebirth is will this variety be much less? I wouldn’t mind a little less because of improvements like surface points (which sound awesome). However from what I’ve seen (which is very limited) drones appear more aesthetically similar than the different ships in X3TC. Perhaps it is simply wrong to think about X3TC ship classifications for X Rebirth. It seems a waste to throw all that away though unless the system replacing it is substantially better.

What do you think?

A5PECT · Post by **A5PECT** » Fri, 14. Oct 11, 13:14

X-Logic wrote:I love the variety of ships in X3TC and the way they were classified. My main concern about X Rebirth is will this variety be much less?

I'm also worried about this, but the closer I look at the trailer and other bits of gameplay footage the more I notice different ship designs, so I feel my fears will be assuaged over time.

One of my complaints in Terran Conflict was that while there was a lot of ships, many of them were redundant. There were usually only one or two ships for each type that were "best in class," with the rest having little use outside of roleplaying. There was a lot of redundancy and outright uselessness.

I hope that in Rebirth while the developers cut down on the number of ships, they work to actually make each one unique and useful. Quantity over quality, and all that.

Besides, there will be time to add new ships and ship types added through sequels.

X-Logic · Post by **X-Logic** » Fri, 14. Oct 11, 22:40

KloHunt3r wrote:I feel my fears will be assuaged over time

I'm starting to feel the same way. Especially after watching the recent interview given by Bernd Lehahn to Gamereactor.

KloHunt3r wrote:There was a lot of redundancy and outright uselessness.

Good point. But I really like the fact there are sooooo many models in X3TC. Even if the stats are subpar, the different designs are something to admire.

KloHunt3r wrote:I hope that in Rebirth while the developers cut down on the number of ships, they work to actually make each one unique and useful

While I agree making the ships unique and useful is a good thing. I think inferior ships are acceptable if they're a low price

KloHunt3r wrote:Besides, there will be time to add new ships and ship types added through sequels.

True and the modders will probably help with that

I'm still confused though, in addition to my other questions, are drones meant to replace ships? Will drones be able to "fly" other ships?

caleb · Post by **caleb** » Fri, 14. Oct 11, 23:12

Actually, I dislike the denominations used in the old X games, and they are pretty obsolete.

M3 bigger than M4
M4 bigger than M5
M6 bigger than... M3???
M7 bigger than M6
M8 smaller than M6... What?

They are counter-intuitive. Old players are used to it, but new players will be really confused. I prefer they use the more common Scout, interceptor, corvette, destroyer, etc.

Back to the original question, we are not sure yet. I would assume (and this is just an assumption), that drones will take the place of ships. So we will have scout drones (M5 size), and heavy drones (M3 size). And capital ships will be drone carriers as well. That's just my guess though.

Also, there could be different drones that take care of logistics, so they take the place of all the Tx ships. I'm just guessing here though...

X-Logic · Post by **X-Logic** » Fri, 14. Oct 11, 23:28

caleb wrote:They are counter-intuitive.

Even when I was writing this post I got a bit confused *Clearly M1 is the biggest and so M7 should be tiny...wait...*. A renumbering could help

. I guess what I like is that each classification is quite different and usually has a lot of ships.

caleb wrote:I would assume (and this is just an assumption), that drones will take the place of ships

The only problem with that is NPCs need a cockpit

So there should be a lot more ships than drones right? (unless NPCs are all using VR goggles now too xD ). Thus a big concern of mine is will these drones be able to control the ships so you can virtually pilot them?

Edit: I know my questions, most of them, are probably maybe unanswerable right now but I'm just putting them out there so they can eventually be answered!

em3e3 · Post by **em3e3** » Sat, 15. Oct 11, 00:33

There's more variety than you've pointed to:

Code: Select all

Ships
    Player ship
    Drones
        Mining
        Scanning
        Shield
        Torpedo
        Mk1
        Mk2
    Fighters ?
    Capitals
        Class
            Transporters
            Collectors
            Builders
            Welders
            Destroyers
            Carriers

X-Logic · Post by **X-Logic** » Sat, 15. Oct 11, 12:18

em3e3 wrote:There's more variety than you've pointed to

Updated the list thanks. This is starting to look better!

The questions still stand though

Threesixtyci · Post by **Threesixtyci** » Mon, 17. Oct 11, 05:36

All I can figure is that DID play should become a whole lot easier, this time around. This upcoming game is going to be like the movie Surrogates, but with ships instead of people.

A5PECT · Post by **A5PECT** » Mon, 17. Oct 11, 05:40

Threesixtyci wrote:This upcoming game is going to be like the movie Surrogates, but with ships instead of people.

Well, it's like Surrogates if you could only swap into the body of a midget or some kind of pygmy... maybe even some dwarves.

...and if you want, you could stay in your own body and have a bunch of little people you get to boss around.

...and they each get their own specialization, like a mining midget, or a torpedo pygmy, or a fighter dwarf.

...and I'm going to just stop this metaphor right here.