Ship choice

[Zireael]

Who said anything about test-flying those you haven't flown? Just say what you think about those three...

And I'm not saying it's very urgent either, just that it could be nice (when it "airs") for a newbie who just discovered Oolite ...

[Zireael]

BUMP!

Any ideas? I'm going to test Vortex soon, so stay tuned!

[Yah-Ta-Hey]

As a Newbie, I think that it is best to let the person decide his mount. Each ship has unique characteristics that can fit definite needs for the player at a specific time and place.
I think the CobraMKIII is a great ship and it has allowed me to get experience and $$ but it takes a while.
I found a ship that cost $$$$$ that I knew would be in my future so I traded in and got a python... outfitted it so that I had a badass ship... then I traded , bounty hunted and thargoided, rock hermited until I am able to say that last night, I got my future partner. Military Stingray with the fixings (badass from the start).. outfitted it with everything that I could afford and now I go places that I have been shying from. When I had my Spirit vision, I knew that I would walk with power but This ship allows me to walk in the MonsterSlayer's mocassins with total power over my enemies......

If I had followed another scheme of what is "good" or "bad".. I would still be looking for my Power ship. By the way, with the drop snout of my Military Stingray, I have a fantastic view of space all around me. Getting to the head is something else as it is at the far end of the vessel, a very long walk.

Yah-Ta-Hey

[Smivs]

espajio

[Yah-Ta-Hey]

to smivs: yá'át'ééh shinaaí

[Smivs]

I am honored.
As your English is far superior to my ability to Google things in Navajo I hope you won't mind if I mostly use English in future posts.

[Yah-Ta-Hey]

Agreed.. best not to keep our brothers from knowing what we are talking about.... the encrypted language used by some are bad enough

[Makandal]

I propose you to use a totally geeky solution to classify the ships: let the computer decided of the classes.

Let me explain. One of my "speciality" in my job is the analysis of various oil and gas exploration and/or production historical data to detect underlying relationships i.e. classifications in some cases. The aim is to decrease uncertainties and thus risks (which can be welcome if you remember what happened 9 months ago...). For example, if I can detect the layers which have a tendency to bring sands when producing oil, I can put a mitigation system.

I have used for some technical papers a couple of rather sophisticated algorithms for that and I can use them for Oolite ships. My only requirements will be to have an excel spreadsheet with the variable available on the Wiki i.e. size, cargo capacity etc... I am too lazy to compile it.
The result will be, depending on the request, a classifier defining the class of the ships, the optimum ship for a given status etc...

Possibilities are infinite.

[Zireael]

I propose you to use a totally geeky solution to classify the ships: let the computer decided of the classes.

Let me explain. One of my "speciality" in my job is the analysis of various oil and gas exploration and/or production historical data to detect underlying relationships i.e. classifications in some cases. The aim is to decrease uncertainties and thus risks (which can be welcome if you remember what happened 9 months ago...). For example, if I can detect the layers which have a tendency to bring sands when producing oil, I can put a mitigation system.

I have used for some technical papers a couple of rather sophisticated algorithms for that and I can use them for Oolite ships. My only requirements will be to have an excel spreadsheet with the variable available on the Wiki i.e. size, cargo capacity etc... I am too lazy to compile it.
The result will be, depending on the request, a classifier defining the class of the ships, the optimum ship for a given status etc...

Possibilities are infinite.

There was such a spreadsheet once, but it was not accurate and I just deleted it from my HDD (it was a part of Realistic Shipyards...)
And your idea has merit.

[Smivs]

I can see this becoming more confusing than we need!
There are so many ships available these day, across so many classes, that any attempt to classify them is likely to make things more, not less confusing. And deciding what class a ship should go in is often a personal thing anyway.
Looking just at the core ships (to keep it simple) take the Boa Class Cruiser. With 175 T cargo capacity it's a Freighter, but it is as fast and manouverable as some 'fighters', and has the energy resources of a battleship. It's un-classifiable!
We could end up with as many 'classes' of ship as we have ships....it'll be like cars where we have to 'invent' stupid classes for them like 'Sports Utility Vehicle' (which is seldom sporty and not overly utilitarian), or 'Compact Crossover' whatever the hell that means!
And whatever we decided, some would disagree.
A nice idea, but ultimately pointless, I fear.

[Makandal]

I will try to compile a spreadsheet but it will take time.

To answer Smivs, obviously, there are an almost infinite way of classifying n samples with m parameters. Howver some are more relevant than others. Classification are of many types but basically between 2 poles: supervised and unsupervised.

In the supervised classifier, you indicates the number and/or the type of classes based on a selected training sample. With unsupervised, the computer creates the classes. The number of classes is sometimes chosen by the user, sometimes opimized by the algorithm. It is possible to then decide: "I want only 4 classes of ships, show me how they work" or "Classify me all that shitps !".

Recently, I used it on a forum to extract the determining factor to decide why a country is perceived as "western side". I listed 25 countries with the perception as being western from 1 to 5, and gave 7 other parameters to caracterize these countries. The result was interesting:
1/ The 'West' is mainly characterized by high urbanization, high life expectancy and high GDP
2/ The only 'historical' anchor point for the West seems to be a common history at the Renaissance.

I guess we could reach some very interesting results with our ships and uncover maybe some hidden classes.

[Smivs]

I look forward to seeing it. I'm not trying to do the idea down in any way, just point out how complex it could become.

[Mauiby de Fug]

'Tis an intriguing idea, and I'd certainly be interested in the outcome. Just think of the number of opinions that there are about! I'd like to see how the results compare to commanders' experience. However, I believe that choosing your ship is a personal thing, and what suits one person won't suit another. People will eventually choose their ship based on what feels right to them, rather than picking the top of a table.

My first new ship was to a SuperCobra, and I loved it. Felt better than an original Cobby in every way - faster, more room, more energy... I finally felt up to taking on some of the more dangerous ships that were lurking in the black, and had the speed to escape from them too if needs be. However, when I first saw a Caduceus, that was it. I wanted one! Drooling over the thought of it, I set about my trading anew. And eventually, I had enough money. Then, the hunt was on to find one in a shipyard! An elusive beast, to say the least! And I have now been the proud owner of three Caddys! The first was an Alpha, then I upgraded to an Omega. There was a sad and brief period in my life where I tried out a Tiger, as I wanted to compete in a Tournament at a Royal Hunting Lodge, and needed a non-turreted ship. I entered and won, but was left with a heavy heart. I traded in my beautiful ship on a whim, and absolutely hated this replacement. On paper, it may seem like a better ship then a Caddy - faster, more manoeuvrable, similar cargo bay and only 2 fewer missiles (and I'm not a big user of pylon-based weaponry anyway). But it didn't have the same charm, that feeling of being at one with your ship... We were at war with each other, not just with the pirates. (Only the pirates, sir, never an innocent trader, not at all! You must be mistaken!) With the Caddy, its slower pitch and roll give it the feeling of being a true battleship, and while the turrets might not be for everyone, they've saved my bacon more than a few times when the ship's systems are failing and the view screen updates less than 8 times a second. Also, figuring out how to fly in order to use them effectively (there's a knack to it!) taught me how to use my side lasers, which up till then I couldn't have hit an Anaconda with from 10 ship lengths away! I was lucky enough to find me another Caddy Omega, and that was that! It will have to be a very special ship indeed to make me part with the Taliesin!

Hmm, got a bit carried away there... The first paragraph actually makes my point! And no, I'm not part of the Caduceus sales team! I'm just rather attached to my ship...

[Ganelon]

The problem with rating ships is that it isn't all about just stats. I mean, we can just compare numbers, but that isn't what makes the game fun to play. To at least some degree, no matter how sophisticated the software or computer may be, in essence there is still some of "playing make-believe" to games like this. So a ship may not be the top so far as stats, but there's just something about it that makes it enjoyable to fly.

Sure, ships look different, but there's somehow more to it than that. To me they each have a certain "spirit" or "feel" to them that would be difficult or impossible to really explain in a sense that could be reduced to a chart or description. Sure, the "real" difference may be in the numbers, but back when some of us were kids, maybe the "real" ship was cardboard and crayons. What it's made of doesn't necessarily define what it *is*, though. Not in the subjective sense to the player when you get immersed enough in the game that the suspension of disbelief happens.

It can be enhanced with the right OXPs for your playing style, or by editing the sound set for a particular ship, finding the right HUD/cockpit and maybe editing/enhancing it a bit. But there's something else to some of the ships, some "ghost in the machine" factor that gives them a sort of life of their own when playing. I don't think there's any way to really explain that part, and you don't know "your ship" until you fly it.