does lowrank ships have any roles

[NAFnist]

My question is, does these lowrank ships have any purpose once a higher rank ship is aqquired?

Like smaller is faster, or is a highrank ship better across the board?

cheers,

[Interdictor]

Well, a T1 Saber isn't going to outshoot a T4 Prometheus. But a phaser is a phaser and i'm pretty sure even the starter ships will be of some use in large engagements - especially if they group up into "wings" or "squadrons" and concentrate their attacks.

Also, according to the devs you can upgrade your lower ships to an extent to compete with higher ships. So a "pimped-out" Miranda might be able to match an average Saber or Excalibur, but it will probably be at a disadvantage one-on-one against an Akira or Constellation.

[ryuto]

Right, the developers have said that when grouped the lower tier ships will have uses but won't be able to hold their own when one on one against higher tier ships. They also mentioned that if you upgrade a low tier ship to its maximum it will be equal to a starting ship of the next tier up. So, if you tricked out a Tier 0 ship like the Miranda you could make it equal to a starting Tier 1 ship but not an upgraded Tier 1 ship and certainly not any of the higher tiers.

[Loekii]

From what I understand, Lower Tier ships:

Can be upgraded to be relatively competitive with a ship about 1.5 tiers above them

ie Pimped Tier 1 = Mid Tier 2 (estimate)

a group of lower tier ships can defeat a Higher Tier ship.
Ie 5 Tier 1 ships can defeat a single tier 3 ship (estimate)

Limits Bridge Officer Skills to the 'Seat' each officer is assigned.
ie a LT. Commander BO, put into an ensign seat, can only use their Ensign level abilities (and not their LT. Commander abilities).



What I am curious about, is how Player skills can affect the longevity of lower Tier ships. Can a vet Admiral -- who has long been in a Tier 4 ship -- take out their Tier 2 ship, and be more competitive than they where before with that ship, because of the various skills they have amassed. Or are all Tier 2 ships limited at the same point, regardless of the skills of the Player.

[klingon1021]

I think they should make the skills viable no matter what tier ship there in.
exp; a Lt Com should be able to use all his skills no matter what ship he's in if its a Mirranda class or a Defiant class.

[Interdictor]

I think they should make the skills viable no matter what tier ship there in.
exp; a Lt Com should be able to use all his skills no matter what ship he's in if its a Mirranda class or a Defiant class.I agree with this - it would certainly help with the longevity of the lower teirs.

[Loekii]

I agree with this - it would certainly help with the longevity of the lower teirs.

I am sure there is a reason they did not want to do that, and that they specifically coded the system to limit the abilities of the BOs to the ability limits of the seat.

[Interdictor]

I am sure there is a reason they did not want to do that, and that they specifically coded the system to limit the abilities of the BOs to the ability limits of the seat.

Yeah but they restrict the number of seats as well. I dunno, I think it would take off some of the "new ship tier upgrade" pressure if someone really wanted to stick with a lower-tier ship.

[Laurelin]

No matter how skilled the officer, the Miranda will not be able to perform like a Sovereign. Thats why you have seats, and those seats have ranks. There is a limit on how far you can upgrade something before it just makes more sense to go with a different design.
Lower tier ships are generally smaller and more manuverable than higher tier ships. So a group of smaller ships can concentrate on a single shield of a larger ship, while manuvering to spread damage across their own shields and avoid those devestating broadsides (or bow attacks for Klingons) of large ships.

[BreachAndClear]

The use of a ship will run its course faster in solo play than in fleet actions.

The example that I heard was that a Bird of Prey will not be able to go toe-to-toe with a Sovereign. You'll die. However, in a fleet, where the Bird of Prey isn't going toe-to-toe with any particular enemy, they can play an important role in harassing the enemy by making use of cloaking and staging attack runs while the fleets engage each other.

I believe it was Rekhan that gave the example, but it may have been Gozer or Zinc, I can't remember. It was said that the Bird of Prey is the "master of cloaking." Cloaking isn't a big enough advantage to overcome a much more powerful ship 1v1. But again, trading in your Vor'cha and falling back on the BoP to support your fleet could provide advantageous.

EDIT: The quote was apparently from "Cryptic_Geko" :D

<@Bizarro_Rekhan> <muttw7> Will there be any reason other than personal preference to use small ships in end-game content and will there be incentive for a wide variety of ships in a fleet/task force/group for combat operations? For example, if I want to use the BoP will that be viable or will it hurt my group if I use it instead of the Negh'var in my hangar? I know you've said that tier and combat effectiveness isn't entirely dependent on size, but where is the line?

<@CrypticZinc> Yes!

<@CrypticZinc> We want to encourage fleets in the end game to be made up of many different configurations of ships.

<@Cryptic_geko> Yes, a player's Vor'cha ship is not necessarily better than another player's Bird of Prey. Toe-to-toe, a Vor'cha would pound a Bird of Prey. But a BoP is fast, hard to hit, and a master of cloaking in combat. BoPs can do cloaking runs, which balances the playing field very well.

source (http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=19048)

[blujester]

Ok..here's how I see it from what the devs have said... see if this makes sense.

Take a Saber.. It's a fast ship, well armed, but has only, lets say 4 seats. 2 Tac, 1 Eng, 1 Sci, and you. But you're a Captain rank with 300 skill points in ship passives with some good clicks and you have some maxed out BO's to fill the seats and...since you've had this ship for months....it's got some real sweet modules mounted. Now in some situations you will be out classed. But your burst damage is absolutely amazing because of your skills and load out. So in some other situations your are the bees knees in that you can do as much damage as a Defiant for a little bit and do it in a ship that's much less expensive to kit.

Or say your fleet, or friends have a mission that has lots of cloaked BoPs in it and need a hand with spoting, you happen to have a Nova that's kit'd for cloak detection.


There are rolls. Higher tiers has been said to have more versitility, that doesn't always traslate to power.


Bj

[blujester]

No matter how skilled the officer, the Miranda will not be able to perform like a Sovereign. Thats why you have seats, and those seats have ranks. There is a limit on how far you can upgrade something before it just makes more sense to go with a different design.
Lower tier ships are generally smaller and more manuverable than higher tier ships. So a group of smaller ships can concentrate on a single shield of a larger ship, while manuvering to spread damage across their own shields and avoid those devestating broadsides (or bow attacks for Klingons) of large ships.

While I concede your point..keep in mind that your skills in space are mostly passive boosts for your vessel and crew. That can, if done properly, do alot to shore up weaknesses in low tier ships. Not so far as making a Miranda a match for a Sov. But still not useless.



Bj