Oolite Bulletins

Here's a question I've been wondering about... What was/will be your next ship after starting with a Cobra Mk III, and why that choice?

For those who've jumped ship multiple times, if you'll pardon the pun, what has the progression been?

Personally, I stuck with my Cobra Mk III until very recently when I upgraded to a Military Stingray. The additional Energy Bank and excellent recharge rate are big plusses. Also, it can pitch faster - very handy when I need to switch lasers mid fight.

I was wanting something with more cargo space, but I didn't want anything that was less manoeuvrable or, Goddess forbid, slower, than my Cobby (so a Python was right out for me). One thing I liked about the Cobra was that if I found myself out-gunned or outnumbered (often at the same time) I could outrun most ships with Fuel Injectors. Of course, as luck would have it, just after I'd got my nice shiny new Stingray I found myself surrounded by half a dozen Asps which there was no way I could outrun, so I held a missile party for them instead.

So, what's everyone else flying these days?

I'm a traditionalist - there is no *after*

DaddyHoggy wrote:

I'm a traditionalist - there is no *after*

What can I say but... Right on, Commander!

I move to something (anything!) that can carry more than 50TC as soon as possible, use that to get a decent cargo carrying reputation and make the big bucks hauling 3000g loads of gems to places with unpronounceable names. Later on a boa2 (or an OXP ship like one of the clippers) with cloaking device, NEU, and 4 military lasers is pretty much unstoppable. You can run Gal Navy missions and almost afford repairs from the bounties.

Well...

When I decided I was going to upgrade my ship, I was focusing on the speed. Cargo space wasn't a big thing for me; I just didn't want less. Bearing in mind that I don't mind some speedy ships in my Ooniverse, the first ship I bought was a SuperCobra. Faster and more manoeuvrable, more energy, and with a little bit more cargo space, it matched my target parameters pretty much perfectly.

The second ship I bought was a Caduceus (probably an Omega, but there's a possibility it could have been an Alpha). The big selling point of this was the DCN (ie an auto-repair system), the speed and the turrets were added extras. I've never found turrets to be that overpowered - it takes some skill to get them to work accurately. And the thing I discovered and really liked was that while the pitch/roll etc was lower than the SuperCobra, it made it feel like I was really commanding a destroyer. It gave me a real sense that I was piloting a big ship, and is one of the reasons that I fell in love with it. Another point of interest is the no parallax laser sight, allowing for some really precise shooting, although I changed the positions slightly, as you can get some quite odd effects.

Then there was a very short period of time when I flew a Tiger Mark 1. I needed a ship without turrets, I think for a tournament in the Feudal States, and I found this. I absolutely hated it. It just felt... wrong. Too quick, too nippy, just... ugh!

So after completing the mission, I then began scouring every shipyard I could to find a Caddy again. Eventually I succeeded, and am very happy. The Caduceus Omega is a pretty damn amazing ship, and I love the Taliesin to pieces.

I'm currently more or less grounded at the moment - I only have the use of a computer that isn't up to very much. If (or hopefully, when) I can get a new one, I'll probably start from scratch as a Jameson again, with all of the oxps that I want in the game from the beginning, to see how different the Ooniverse becomes. When I do this, I suspect that I'll probably try and go down a different route. Ships I might try upgrading to are either CaptSolo's Cobra Mark III-XT, a very nicely balanced upgraded Cobby, or perhaps, if I decide to explore the world of being a legitimate trader, Smivs' Boa Clipper. Not much of a speed increase over the original Cobby, but a sizeable cargo increase, and more energy too.

As many will tell you, though (and quite rightly too), the standard Cobby is one hell of an all rounder. In an Ooniverse without too many other oxp ships, it would be hard to recommend any ship to upgrade to. If, however, you're like me, and enjoy plenty of ship variety, there are times when I'm glad I traded it in for something else. It all depends on what ships you think are balanced enough to add to your game, really...

Interestingly, it is possible to achieve the highest cargo carrying reputation with only a maximum size of 50T. Less than that I don't think I could do it, but with a bit of luck, I've managed it with 50.

Ad_Astra wrote:

Here's a question I've been wondering about... What was/will be your next ship after starting with a Cobra Mk III, and why that choice?

Wait, you mean there are ships other than the Cobra MkIII? OMG!!

Ad_Astra wrote:

Here's a question I've been wondering about... What was/will be your next ship after starting with a Cobra Mk III, and why that choice?

My trading commander bought a Porcupine as soon as funds allowed, and recently upgraded to a Coluber Blue Racer to do some blockade running through the Qucedi bottleneck. Now that's a nice heavy trader. I'll probably move on to a Boa II or a Boa Clipper once I have the money, to get the extra cargo space.

My firs upgrade was to a Caduceus Alpha, then I managed to upgrade further still to an Omega. But after a while the game (even with a lot of very powerful oxp ships like Smivs' Tough Guys)was becoming a little too easy and was looking to get a 'normal' ship, a none Uber ship. Then Staer9 came along and brought out the Chopped Cobra S9. I love the S9's just slightly better combat capabilities than the standard Cobra III and looks amazing with the green skin colour of the Chopped Cobra.

Agreed, the S9 is an excellent ship, except for the lack of cargo space, so might not be what Ad_Astra is looking for.
My two 'main' commanders fly a Boa Clipper and Cobra Mk III respectively, and my 'test' commander normally flies a Contractor. The only one of these which sounds suitable would be the Boa Clipper, but its smaller cousin the Python Clipper might be worth a look.

I had a brief flirt with a SuperCobra, but settled on my Imperial Courier quite quickly, and never looked back.

I took up Switeck's challenge and started (again) with an Adder... I sold that and bought a Mongoose which was pretty good for jousting and boy was I glad when I had won enough money to trade back up to a cobra and pay off the Black Monks. I did try a Supercobra in one incarnation but when I looked at the external view I wanted my cobra back!

I'm thinking of getting the Zeke Mining Transporter. My Cobra Mk 3 starts feeling too comfortable and I want new challenges.

Mauiby de Fug wrote:

The second ship I bought was a Caduceus (probably an Omega, but there's a possibility it could have been an Alpha). The big selling point of this was the DCN (ie an auto-repair system), the speed and the turrets were added extras. I've never found turrets to be that overpowered - it takes some skill to get them to work accurately.

I'm never piloted a ship with turrets - could you expand a bit on that last comment? Do you have to orient your ship's broadsides to face the intended targets of your turrets?

Mauiby de Fug wrote:

Interestingly, it is possible to achieve the highest cargo carrying reputation with only a maximum size of 50T. Less than that I don't think I could do it, but with a bit of luck, I've managed it with 50.

I can well believe that, although most of the cargo jobs I've seen require a bit more than that, up to around the 125-200CT ballpark, if not more. I'd love to pilot a really huge capacity trader, although all but the really really expensive ones are aren't as fast and manoeuvrable as I'd like, possibly excepting the Boa Clipper, but I'll need to save up rather a lot more credits before I fork out for one of those.

It depends on where they are on the ship. In the Caduceus case, then yes, they fire out from the sides. They can be quite useful in a brawl, taking out ships while you fire on others with your lasers. But if you just try and sit still just using turrets from the side alone, you'd be a sitting duck.

A useful trick I learned was that for the Caddy, they can hit ships that are towards the edge of your front screen. So when you can't turn the ship fast enough to catch up with them with the lasers, you can sort of twist and wriggle about and keep them in the turrets' range. That's saved my fur a great many times! So I think of them as compensating for the Caddy's lack of manoeuvrability.

another_commander wrote:

you mean there are ships other than the Cobra MkIII? OMG!!

With thanks to Snoopers!