practically speaking, the cat needed the firepower. changing modules to "catch up" in one area is a great idea, but when the cat is behind in every area already, it just ends up being a buzzword thrown in to make it sound better. To put it in a more direct way: modularity ceases to be useful when specialized ships outperform the cat in every aspect. its modularity puts it behind every other ship in its class which is already outperforming the cat in every other area. without its abilities as a "fighting freighter," it's just nothing. That's not really a valuable trait for the caterpillar at this point. the starfarer is still better than the caterpillar in every aspect (firepower, cargo, et cetera). the carrack would then beat the caterpillar in firepower, sensors, cargo, and probably armor, while still carrying its snub and rover, and would also still have its own repair facilities and medbay.Ĭhange out one of its modules to compete with a starfarer. Replacing a cargo module on the cat for, say, a sensor suite, then compare it to a carrack. The problem is that the modularity will never make it as good as a specialized ship at a particular function (which is ok), but it will make the specialized ship better at everything than the cat (here's the problem). I do think that CIG will balance it if it needs help, but I just don't want another Retaliator situation.
#Star citizen caterpillar full#
So we'd have to give up a good portion of that versatility just to get adequate defenses that we thought we'd already have? It's already nearly the price of the Starfarer itself - and we'll have to pay quite a bit for a full module suite (or wait until they release them in-game anyways).īut yeah, I know from the chat reaction I'm not the only one disappointed with the loadout - but I wanted to see if we're in the minority or if we're just being silly about the whole thing. There's a specialist ship for each of the Cat's possible module roles that will completely outperform the Cat, but most of those specialist ships don't have the versatility to perform multiple roles. Jack of all trades, master of none type deal. The Caterpillar's purpose was versatility - not to be a pure cargo hauler - and it's a very bad cargo hauler compared to the other ships. I'm sorry for the rant, this is definitely a "concern" post, but I was just really disappointed to hear that they weren't even equipment, just decorations :\ I think the module selection is really going to make or break the Caterpillar for a lot of people now, hopefully we learn more about them when the Cat hits the verse in 2.6's upcoming release. Based on what they've shown us on ship shapes - the Caterpillar with full cargo modules holds less than 800 SCU - so it's not like it's even a great hauler either. I know in most cases I'll be bringing escorts anyways - but would a pair of S5 hardpoints on the front really be unbalanced? Right now it feels like it's going to be bullied into a loot pinata unless half your module slots are weapon or defense modules. I'm not asking for a Warship, I'm just asking for the "Fighting" part of the "Fighting Transport" that we were sold on - there wasn't a stipend that said "Fighting capabilities included in separate module from base ship".
And while I know cost doesn't determine everything - consider that the Cat is nearly the same price as the Starfarer already - with a full module suite it will easily cost $100-$200 more than that depending on what you get. You can carry dragonflies - but then you have to give up the cargo for that module - and a few dragonflies aren't going to be very effective against the kinds of ships that will attack a Caterpillar.
Moving on yes - you can supposedly give up module slots for better defense, right now they're teasing a missile module - but then your trading 20% of your modularity just to have a possibly adequate loadout. This wasn't supposed to be a Drake Hull-C, it was a Fighting Transport. For further reference - the Star-G has a dual-S5 manned turret, two dual-S4 unmanned turrets for the pilot, and two more dual-S3 manned turrets. A 100+ meter ship that only has two dual-S4 manned turrets on opposite sides of the ship, and two S1/S2's on gimbals to defend itself.īefore you say that's not too bad - consider the Starfarer outguns the Caterpillar by quite a bit now, it can carry more cargo, and it doubles as a premiere industry fuel collector and refiner. the Drake "Pirate Flagship" feels incredibly vulnerable with a stock loadout - even for a freighter.