Here's the ships I went through, in order, during my career.
Cobra mk 3 - The classic all-arounder; fully kitted and with a talented crew, it's a very capable craft. It should come as no surprise that you can find Cobbys operating everywhere you go, by Jamesons, hardened Elites, and everyone in between. My
Deuce Coup wasn't the newest model. It was bought used, and had a bit of rust around the welds and developed a few quirks. As long as I avoided overwhelming fights, she could hold her own.
Excalibur - A nippy little one-seat fighter; performance-wise was every bit as capable as an Asp, in a somewhat more compact spaceframe. It could pull some serious high gee turns and was difficult for hostiles to get a hit on, meanwhile it was practically inescapable in a turning fight. However, an Excalibur suffers from a rather weak energy system, no cargo space - though 10tc is available as a bolt-on option - and it's cockpit was a tight fit for a big Lizard like me.
Paladin - Needing more room, I moved into the
Golden Goose as soon as it came onto market. A Paladin is a great craft, easily comparable to a Cobra in cargo space, yet a little more capable performance wise. Yet again, not a lot of wiggle room in the cockpit.
Dragon M - Now for a bounty hunter, this is quite a combat platform. Not much in the way of cargo space, and it's not a fantastic turner for it's size, but it more than makes up for that with a strong energy system, tough hull, and devastating weapons array. It's also fast for it's size. Missile loadout on a Dragon is enormous: Make no mistake, the Dragon is an assault bomber and torpedo boat, and performs best when it's firepower can be brought to bear on heavy cruisers - A Blackdog Python's worse nightmare. I will admit, my
Lady Tiomat had a few questionable mods and tweaks. She was lost during the Tibecia Incident.
Kirin M Prototype - I was hired to captain the Kirin prototype. During my time with this craft, it got upgrades and tweaks till it evolved into the Kirin XM most know of today. The cargo space is, to put it in one word,
vast, as is the bridge and living space. If you like a lot of interior room, the a Kirin isn't lacking. It's also one of the biggest things that can be squeezed into a standard docking bay, but with little room to spare. Docking can be a little hairy with this beast. In combat, I call it a battle cruiser for the spacejock on a budget. It's slow and ungainly, but very tough, a stable platform for long-range laser sniping, and a fighter pilot has to be insane or suicidal to get into range of those flak guns; those same flak cannons make it practically torpedo proof as well. I'd say a Kirin can be flown into Reidquat without much fear of the local hoodlums.
Kirin Sport - I captained one of these soon after the Tibecia Incident. The "Sport" variant is a lower budget version of the Kirin C; a smaller size makes it easier to dock, it's faster and more fuel efficient, carries less cargo but being cheaper to buy and operate makes up for that. It's fairly lightly armed compared to the full-size Kirins, but better armed and tougher than most Python variants. Hey Hesperus, this is the ship for you! (hint hint nudge nudge)
Cadedeus Omega - Befriending the Shulth clan definitely has it's upside. Imagine my surprise when I was given the captaincy of the
Persistence of Memory. I do find it a little difficult to relate to a living ship, but find it easier to relate to her as a crewmember, which she seems to appreciate. Perci is the third oldest of the Omega variant as I was told, and she is a venerable hunter-killer indeed. Perci stands out among the Omegas as being born to be a warrior, and she clearly lives to fight. She has no fear. Perci tears apart pirates and Bugs with equal delight.
Perci's weapons array is nothing short of vicious: Heavy plasma cannons top and bottom - referred to as "SunGuns", these are the hardest-hitting plasma cannons ever mounted on any craft. A large internal missile store. Side mounted, ganged plasma cannons, backed up with side laser mounts. And pinpoint accurate fore and aft lasers. It sucks to be a pirate where Perci can see 'em!
And the Bugs will learn to respect her as much as they respect the
Hammer of Sorrow.
-- Captain Derik "Wyvern" Roh'i