Impressions of 5.0 to date

[Spectre]

Systems - As usual, they look amazing. That's never really been an issue, and just shows that design outdoes themselves each update.
Gripes start to pop up with the layouts, like how Delta was reverted back to the newer layout, or how Omega-52 was just overhauled entirely, with Odessa even being renamed after the main update launched which was a weird one, to jump hole layouts in general. Feels like good topped with a bit of mediocrity.

Economy - Still not convinced it's any better than before. Sure, the pixel barons get to stash more money on one character, and if you can crack a billion credits you're basically god, but it doesn't feel like it's been shaken up to do any better than before. Some runs are just tedious for the amount of money you get. Granted, I haven't done much, so maybe my view will change.

PvE - There's huge ups and downs. For one, encounters don't really seem to work all that well. There's times they'll spawn in and then immediately despawn and activate the timer, or they'll just refuse to spawn outright. There's some definite tweaking required.
NPCs in general are very flippy floppy in terms of enjoyability. Fighting gunboat NPCs is an absolute joke on anything that doesn't pretty much insta them.

Story - Bit of a mixed bag. One the one hand, you removed the Insurgency, which is a severe blow, on top of also not removing the Royalists. The three year timeskip to me frankly came out of nowhere, and while I get it for a lore context, that's three years of RP people have to forumlance with no in-game participation.
On the other, the blackout is honestly something I really like as an idea, and I'm enjoying the implications that pretty much all of Earhart is making so far.
Lore-wise, a few notable retcons. Orkney minefield is no longer a minefield, and instead a giant 'wall' that people didn't simply decide to fly around. Also, that entire arc around the Core getting a jump gate connection to Rheinland? Gone. I'm not unconvinced that the lost systems won't return in the future since the blackout is at best a decent explanation, but considering how sudden it was in-lore, and that stations and even planets from said systems are now moved to others, it's pretty foreboding.

Jump Drives - Again, ups and downs. I like the idea for how it's executed, but batteries imo are just way too expensive, especially with how floppy the economy is atm. Maybe extend the amount of jumps a drive can make to counter it, or just make them cheaper? Brain candy. Chew on it.

Docking Modules - Nothing to say. I love them. Haven't tested them much, but easily a win.

Cloaks - Not as easy to praise. Proximity de-cloaking is easily one of the most annoying mechanics I've seen in a good while. Ranges frankly need to be scaled down for all classes, since it essentially makes getting away from fights impossible, since all your opponent has to do is just exist to ruin any plans. I think I like the idea of speed increasing your battery consumption, but that's not nearly enough to outshine proximity de-cloaking.
Cloak disruptors have zero use when you have a guy in a light fighter.

PoBs - Haven't tested them out much, but the concepts I see are really interesting. I'll need to figure it out mechanics-wise, but not too dissuading.

GBs - Fun when you're shooting, not so much when you're being shot at. Forward guns are perhaps a bit too powerful, but overall a general improvement. Also a huge fan of not adding bufu amounts of mass to them so they don't glide all over the place.

Cruisers - Fun again. Definitely got a nerf compared to other cap classes, but not enough to prevent you from taking out said cap classes with the right skill. Also not sure what people are on about with regards to thrust capacity. Fairly simple to manage, and I'm quite prone to just holding the button down.

BCs - An interesting concept, but gripes do present themselves. The BC Heavy is easily the most situational gun in the game. Never know when to use it, and when I want to it's always just out of the angle to fire. I'd make them turn just a tad bit faster, give it a few better angles maybe, make BCs with the right heavy fearful when using it.

Battleships - The gliding is obviously a let down, but EKing to full stop is useful when you figure out where to use it. Strafing eats a lot of thrust, but you don't have thrusters, so not a big loss imo. I think the changes to the guns are what really throws me through a loop. Range of ~3k? 3.0 prims? Solaris that couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from the inside? These are the questions that keep my BS characters up at night. Just.... why?

Snubs - I will concede that changes to these ships were made, and that they were done in this update. I will say that whoever decided that snubs should have death fuses should jump in a black hole.

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#BringBackTheCommonwealth

=CR=------*L|------TFP)
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A plurality is not a majority, and a majority is not everybody.

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Spec's RP Consortium
V-3X | CV-Montu | Fort Murray
Unum pro Omnibus, Omnes pro Uno

Your signature grew too big, I helped downscale it. ~Vex
Your adjustment grew too big, I helped downscale it. ~Spectre