Balance Changes notes

[pillow]

Discovery Freelancer 4.93.0 Patch 3 Balance Changes

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Hello everyone and welcome to me stealing Antonios format for the balance part of patch 4.93.0. This is a big one; it focuses mainly on Heavy Fighters, with a few VHF fixes sprinkled in because some ships truly needed it, such as the Starblazer or Eagle. It overhauls how Heavy Fighters work, allowing them to keep being fast, low eHP (effective health) ships while remaining competitive but most importantly, not being annoying to fly or encounter. Some of the changes below might scare you at first glance, so make sure to read the note attached to each ship. Some might not as their changes may be self explanatory. To not clog up the patchnotes below it is worth noting that all heavy fighters were brought up to 150 mass, meaning they don't have ridiculous strafing anymore. Weirdos like the Centurion and Saboteur with 120 mass and 21000 strafe force were also brought to more reasonable numbers. The majority of changed ships were given quality of life changes such as a better camera or bank angle/speed changes without really affecting them in any way. In general things should feel a lot better to fly regardless of their stats.

To tie the paragraph above in a cute little bow, the main function of base armor is to define what bursts of damage a ship can survive, be it a nuke or a loadout of 2.00s and a Mini Razor. An Irezumi has 11625 armor, yes, but most of its effective health is stuffed into its 67 nanobots: 40200 HP, 51825 total. By comparison, a Black Dragon isn't that much different at face value: 10425 base armor. However, 49 nanobots only counts for 29400 HP, giving the BD a total of 39825 armor. That is a 12000 armor difference. Keep this in mind as you look over the stats below.

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Heavy Fighters

Bayonet

-Changed: Armor increased from 8100 to 10820.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 51/51 to 56/56.
-Changed: Powercore changed from 1200/8000 to 1140/9800.
-Changed: Turn rate decreased from 80.21 to 76.02.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4375 to 0.5405.
-Changed: Max bank angle increased from 35 to 40.

The Bayonet much like the Falcon is a pretty big boy. Big boys coupled with big turn usually end up as bullies that are particularly annoying to hit in duels but die in 8 seconds in a groupfight; to try and find a middleground, we made the Bayonet a ship that banks hard and fast, allowing it to wiggle out of danger in groupfights, and at the same time showing its massive top more often in a duel. We think this makes for interesting gameplay, making ships like this more difficult to master but ultimately very rewarding.

Falcon

- Changed: Armor increased from 7900 to 10925
- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 49/49 to 56/56.
- Changed: Powercore changed from 1200/8000 to 1140/9800.
- Changed: Turn rate decreased from 81.05 to 77.00.
- Changed: Response time increased from 0.4717 to 0.5023
- Changed: Max bank angle increased from 30 to 45.
- Changed: CD arc improved.

If there's one ship I doubt anyone expects to be good after a patch, it's this one. I'm happy to douse those doubts in holy water because the Falcon is about as viable as you can get. During testing we've found that this ship can potentially be very powerful, but its shape and the stats we've given it keep it grounded (no .30 response Sunbeams here) meaning it has a pretty high skill gap. Ships that are hard to master and that get better as you learn to use them properly (instead of simply getting better at the game) are very interesting, and pretty rare. Have fun with this one. Its turret is also forward firing now!

Black Dragon

-Changed: Armor increased from 7650 to 10425.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 44/44 to 49/49
-Changed: Powercore changed from 1200/8000 to 1140/9800
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 73.37 to 76.53
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4661 to 0.5459.
-Changed: Scaled up by 15%.

I know what you're thinking: "Increased turn rate? On a ship this small?! Incompetence! How dare you!" Worry not; the ship comes with an upscale by 15%. The focus of this update is to increase the amount of ships people can fly unironically or without the intent of pissing someone off, and the Black Dragon with its comparatively tiny health pool and increased size is quite comfortable to duel. Groupfight wise, like all heavy fighters, its response rate keeps it in check away from any potential spastic wiggling.

Blossom

-Changed: Armor increased from 7650 to 10620.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 45/45 to 51/51.
-Changed: Powercore increased from 1200/8000 to 1200/10800.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 72.67 to 75.49.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4606 to 0.5173.
-Changed: Scaled up by 15%.

Another Kusari ship scaled up, properly statted to fit in with the rest of them. Not much else to say.

Bull Dog

-Changed: Armor increased from 9400 to 11145.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots decreased from 66/66 to 60/60.
-Changed: Powercore increased from 1200/8000 to 1200/10800.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 67.08 to 68.86.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4717 to 0.5040.
-Changed: Scaled up by 15%.

Ah, the Bull Dog. A ship so thin and small it passed through the Ethereal Realm and forever sat in spirit form, unable to be hit by any projectile. This thing got a scale-up by 15% and its mass increased from 100(!!!) to 150. Jesus Christ.

Carabela

-Changed: Armor increased from 7900 to 10775.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 46/46 to 54/54.
-Changed: Powercore changed from 1200/8000 to 1140/9800.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 72.34 to 73.08.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4605 to 0.5584
-Changed: Gun/Turret Mounts: 6/0 from 4/0.
-Changed: Scaled up by 10%.

In our search for the smallest ship the Freelancer game engine would allow we found the Carabela. A four-gunner with two cd slots and virtually zero volume. After we scaled it up to have the same proportions as the Rapier (meaning 10% upscale), we also gave it six guns; 4 gunners unfortunately don't work very well. However, due to that, it became too strong with its duo cd potential, so we decided to cut that feature off it.

Centurion

-Changed: Armor increased from 8200 to 11900.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 50/50 to 60/60.
-Changed: Powercore increased from 1200/8000 to 1200/10800.
-Changed: Turn decreased from 74.04 to 71.30.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4490 to 0.5614.
-Changed: Max bank angle decreased from 30 to 25.

The Centurion finally feels like it belongs in the Corsair family. A slow, hunky ship with little agility to speak of. What we aimed for when statting this ship in particular is making it feel like an earlier model of the Titan, and I feel like we've accomplished this while still keeping the ship unique.

Gladiator

-Changed: Armor increased from 9200 to 12300.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 55/55 to 64/64.
-Unchanged: Powercore left at 1240/12400.
-Changed: Turn rate decreased from 70.57 to 68.06
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4493 to 0.4860
-Changed: Gun/Turret Mounts: 6/0 from 4/0.

I know what you're thinking; compared to everything else we've covered so far, this doesn't smell very Heavy Fighter-y. The Gladiator compared to the Centurion has an incredibly wide top profile, hence the extra armor and nanobots. The turn rate, however, again: not Heavy Fighter-y. Why? Because this ship keeps its two CD slots and gains two guns aswell, hence the powercore. However, what it doesn't get is a VHF class 10 shield. In summary, this is now a particularly easy to hit ship that dies really fast in groupfights due to its decreased response and class 9 shield (and relatively low EHP for a ship this slow and unresponsive), but it can also dish out a large amount of damage due to its two CD slots, medium VHF powercore and six guns.

Loki

-Changed: Armor increased from 8400 to 10740.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 49/49 to 54/54.
-Changed: Powercore decreased from 1240/12400 to 1140/11400.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 67.29 to 73.42.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4016 to 0.5299.
-Changed: Gun/Turret Mounts: 6/0 from 4/0.
-Changed: Crosshair improved a fair bit.

The Loki can now finally be undocked without fear of automatically exploding the moment an enemy appears on scanner. Still a relatively small ship, however, with substantial turn rate, which is why the powercore had to be nerfed to not turn it into an OmegaBully. Otherwise the rest of the changes are Heavy Fighter Module™️ standard. Its two CDs stay with it.

Phantom

-Changed: Armor increased from 8800 to 10325.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 50/50 to 53/53.
-Changed: Powercore decreased from 1240/12400 to 1140/11400.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 70.57 to 75.94.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4774 to 0.5474.
-Changed: Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/1 from 4/0.

Similar to everything else, the Phantom is now a proper ship. A forward facing turret given to it to give it a tad bit more damage potential, powercore decreased due it its vast turn increase. It keeps the two CD slots.

Switchblade/Wight

-Changed: Armor increased from 8000 to 10600.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 44/44 to 54/54.
-Changed: Powercore changed from 1200/8000 to 1140/9800.
-Changed: Turn increased from 74.06 to 74.78.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4663 to 0.5419.
-Changed: Wight given a turret to match the Switchblade; didn't have one before for some reason.

I will not be making a separate entry for the Wight due to it and the Switchblade being functionally identical gameplay-wise, for now.
This is a good time to talk about hitboxes; courtesy of @Haste the Switchblade now actually has a hitbox! Wow!
The powercore should keep the ship in check from being too much of a bully in duels, and like all Heavy Fighters it will be kept in check groupfight-wise by the response time.

Kingfisher

-Changed: Armor increased from 8200 to 10400.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 50/50 to 54/54.
-Changed: Powercore changed from 1200/8000 to 1140/9800.
-Changed: Turn rate decreased from 75.50 to 75.02.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4118 to 0.5477.
-Changed: Crosshair improved a fair bit.

Much like many (many) other ships, the Kingfisher was ignored for a very long period of time. Now that its crosshair is actually on the ship itself and not outside of it, we were able to give it actual stats so the ship can be competitive with everything else.

Moonbeam

-Changed: Armor increased from 8600 to 10610.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots decreased from 56/56 to 51/51.
-Changed: Powercore changed from 1200/8000 to 1140/9800.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 75.50 to 76.09.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4118 to 0.5302.
-Changed: Scaled up by 20%.

Like many others, this ship's been a bit of a meme for a long time. After scaling it up (by 20%) to be proportionally identical to the Sunbeam but with less parts, vanilla style, we were able to give it some fun stats, since the ship is now actually hittable.

Serval/Serval NG

-Changed: Armor increased from 8900 to 11070.
-Changed: Powercore increased from 1200/8000 to 1200/10800.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 58/58 to 62/62.
-Changed: Turn rate decreased from 76.08 to 72.47.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4381 to 0.5332.

Not much to say here, besides noting that the Serval has essentially the same shape as the Lynx from the top and bottom, with a slightly better front due to the fuel tank being missing. Fits right in with the new style of HFs. Excellent matchup against the Agama.

Agama

-Changed: Armor increased from 8200 to 10750.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 55/55 to 60/60.
-Changed: Powercore changed from 1200/8000 to 1140/9800.
-Changed: Turn rate decreased from 81.65 to 75.62
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4490 to 0.5526.

Like with the Cuirassier below, the Agama is no longer a silly meme of a ship. It has been properly statted and is now a great matchup against the Serval and can hold its own just as well against the Lynx.

Cuirassier

-Changed: Armor increased from 8500 to 10875.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots decreased from 55/55 to 53/53.
-Changed: Powercore increased from 1200/8000 to 1200/10800.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 72.67 to 74.39.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4717 to 0.5257.
-Changed: Scaled up by 15%.

Has this ever been an actual ship in the past? Well, now it is. Boasting an actual powercore, real armor, a proper hitbox and shieldbubble, the Cuirassier can now be undocked and thrown against lawful Servals and Lynxes without being severely underpowered. Hopefully this will motivate people a little bit to play in Gallia now that pirates have real ships they can use.

Cuirassier Noir

-Changed: Armor increased from 7900 to 10235.
-Unchanged: Batteries/Nanobots stay at 52/52.
-Changed: Powercore changed from 1200/8000 to 1140/9800.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 73.37 to 75.28.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4661 to 0.5140.
-Changed: Max bank angle increased from 30 to 40.
-Changed: Scaled up by 15%.

The ship has the exact same model as the Cuirassier with different textures, but I wanted to do something different here to give more identity to the Unione Corse as a faction. More agile, banks harder and faster, but overall similar powerlevel to the regular Cuirassier due to the decreased health pool.

Chimaera/Tora

-Changed: Armor increased from 7900 to 10975.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 44/44 to 51/51.
-Changed: Powercore changed from 1200/8000 to 1140/9800.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 70.78 to 75.25.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4334 to 0.5409.
-Changed: Scaled up by 15%.

Similar to the Serval and Serval NG, I don't think it's necessary to make two different identical entries for these two.
Kusari ships have for the longest time been a complete nightmare to balance due to them being sizeable to a grain of sand. Thanks to the hitbox_men, this is not an issue anymore, meaning that the ships are now allowed to have real stats, making them fun to fly and encounter as a result.

Katana

-Changed: Armor increased from 7900 to 10850.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 44/44 to 50/50.
-Changed: Powercore changed from 1200/8000 to 1140/9800.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 70.78 to 75.94.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4334 to 0.5461.
-Changed: Scaled up by 15%.

Unlike the Cuirassiers who have more distinct shapes and profiles that allowed me to mess around with their stats to make them more distinct from eachother, I couldn't quite reach a point where the Katana and Chimaera were at the same power level but also played differently. Still, the Katana is ever so slightly faster with ever so slightly less HP (725 to be exact) simply so you can't say the two ships are completely identical.

Chameleon

-Changed: Armor increased from 8200 to 10230.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots decreased from 55/55 to 49/49.
-Changed: Powercore changed from 1200/8000 to 1140/9800.
-Changed: Turn rate decreased from 78.78 to 75.66.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4334 to 0.5769.
-Changed: Scaled up by 10%.

Now the Chameleon is special for multiple reasons. I am aware of only one: it's the only Bananashape ship in the game (the Anaconda is a myth and doesn't actually exist). Shockingly, this makes it absurdly annoying to hit, hence the scale-up and significant slowdown in turn and response. However, we don't nerf things into the ground because they're too powerful: we balance them. The ship is still competitive with its peers.

Paladin

-Changed: Armor increased from 8600 to 12100.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 56/56 to 66/66.
-Changed: Powercore increased from 1200/8000 to 1200/10800.
-Changed: Turn rate decreased from 71.97 to 69.17.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4268 to 0.5323.
-Changed: Crosshair improved.

The Paladin is quite interesting. Due to its nature of being slow (for a Heavy Fighter) it has a particular feel to it as it picks up speed, allowing it to feel properly Bretonian, fitting right in with big brother Templar, while providing a totally different playstyle aswell. I know that many people tend to dislike the Templar due to it being so slow; I'm glad to present them with a viable Bretonian opportunity, finally.

Executioner

-Changed: Armor increased from 8300 to 11360.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 54/54 to 58/58.
-Changed: Powercore increased from 1200/8000 to 1200/10800.
-Unchanged: Turn rate stays at 73.37
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4861 to 0.5529.
-Changed: New model!

The new Executioner is @Haste 's baby in particular, him in collaboration with @Treewyrm made it happen and it is a beauty. A stripped down Juni's Defender, it fits in perfectly with the Avenger and Guardian, providing a proper Heavy Fighter Module™️ playstyle to a house that otherwise hasn't had a heavy fighter for a long time. I tried to mix in some Guardian with sprinkles of Avenger for the stats, frankensteining something that feels different, but familiar.

Marauder

-Changed: Armor increased from 7900 to 11060.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 46/46 to 58/58.
-Changed: Powercore decreased from 1240/12400 to 1200/10800.
-Changed: Turn rate decreased from 75.92 to 73.48.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4317 to 0.5225.

The Marauder is more on the heavier side of open use HFs with strong powercore and armor due to its shape and size, still with a very good turn rate however. We feel it's in a good place.

Jackdaw

-Changed: Armor increased from 9800 to 10940.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 46/46 to 58/58.
-Changed: Powercore decreased from 1240/12400 to 1200/10800.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 69.87 to 72.60.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4717 to 0.5066.
-Changed: CD arc improved.

Similar to other 4 gun 2 CD Heavy Fighters, the Jackdaw was thoroughly unimpressive. Because of this, it now sports two (2) new extra guns, while keeping its dual CD ability. Relatively large, maneuverable and thoroughly enjoyable to fly. Another viable choice of ship for people to use, as this one is open use.

Saishi

-Changed: Armor increased from 8000 to 11115.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 50/50 to 55/55.
-Changed: Powercore changed from 1200/8000 to 1140/9800.
-Changed: Turn rate decreased from 76.86 to 74.08.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4717 to 0.5263.
-Changed: Scaled up by 15%.

Renzu Corp. presents you with a Saishi that isn't total aids to encounter! Turn rate and response significantly toned down coupled with 150 mass and this ship is suddenly actually bad. However, since we don't do things halfway anymore: the Saishi was given real stats that make it as another viable choice on the open market. Fast and speedy with a very large side profile, this ship is no longer something to roll your eyes at when you see it as a red on scanner.

Sunrider

-Changed: Armor increased from 8200 to 11125.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 52/52 to 60/60.
-Changed: Powercore changed from 1200/8000 to 1140/11400.
-Changed: Turn rate decreased from 85.94 to 78.22.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4861 to 0.5373.
-Changed: Max bank angle increased from 30 to 50.

Bit of a silly goose this one; the very definition of fat, with 7 guns. Seven guns and 78.22 turn is bound to be very scary in a duel, but we applied the same thought process here with the Sunrider as we did to the Falcon and Bayonet. It banks, shows its top or bottom: gets damaged. It also is able to wiggle out of fire, sort of, in groupfights. It still is absolutely enormous, bank can't save everything.

Hammerhead

-Changed: Armor increased from 10000 to 10960.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 61/61 to 57/57.
-Changed: Powercore increased from 1200/8000 to 1200/10800.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 71.27 to 76.76.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4212 to 0.5216.
-Changed: Max bank angle increased from 30 to 45.
-Changed: CD arc improved.

The Hammerhead got some love here. Proper Bounty Hunteresque turn rate coupled with serious banking to give it more of a chance in groupfights, its seven guns, all class 9 (no mini razor) make it scary in duels but its shape and total health keep it grounded.

Karasu

-Changed: Armor increased from 8400 to 10170.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots decreased from 54/54 to 53/53.
-Changed: Powercore changed from 1200/8000 to 1140/9800.
-Changed: Turn rate decreased from 78.78 to 75.96.
-Changed: Response time significantly increased from 0.2878 to 0.5298.
-Changed: Max bank angle increased from 30 to 40.

The most out there aspect of the new Karasu is that it got a lot of bank angle. I know, it's a needle- but it also only was able to fire only two guns to the side on a turn. Had to be fixed; plus, it looks cool when it rotates without affecting the ship shape much if at all. Very entertaining ship to fly.

Labraid

-Changed: Armor increased from 8700 to 10875.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 58/58 to 52/52.
-Changed: Powercore changed from 1200/8000 to 1190/11900.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 67.29 to 72.62.
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4016 to 0.5034.

The Nomads have had terrible ships for a while now. This is not the final version of the Labraid but it should hopefully help it a little bit. Still has 4 guns.

Greyhound

-Changed: Armor decreased from 11600 to 11480.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots decreased from 64/64 to 56/56.
-Unchanged: Powercore stays at 1240/12400.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 69.78 to 75.16
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4605 to 0.5545.

Due to the Hyena now being a proper VHF, the Greyhound is able to be what it was always meant to be. Still keeping its 5 class 9 guns but with more HF-esque stats, the Greyhound is pretty unique compared to everything else in the sandbox. About time Rogues and Mollys got some love.

Bastet

-Unchanged: Armor stays at 10800.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots decreased from 60/60 to 54/54.
-Changed: Powercore increased from 1120/10400 to 1200/10800
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 68.21 to 72.86
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4605 to 0.5543.

Since the Order would've been one of the few factions to lack a HF after this patch, the Bastet was modified to fit that playstyle. Still keeping its 6 class 9s (no MR, though), the Bastet remains powerful. By far the best part about it is that it now has a real powercore.

Saboteur

The Saboteur is pretty much unchanged besides it being brought up to 150 mass and brought down to 20k strafe force. There should be plenty of ships that can reliably keep up with it now.

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Very Heavy Fighters

Eagle

-Unchanged: Armor stays at 11700.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 66/66 to 67/67.
-Unchanged: Powercore stays at 11400/11400.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 69.87 to 70.00
-Changed: Response time decreased from 0.4717 to 0.4268.
-Changed: Max bank angle from 30 to 40.

Fitting we start with one of the most iconic VHFs in Freelancer.
The Eagles new significant response increase coupled with fine tuned banking should finally bring this ship back up to speed with everything else. No need to be afraid to undock Eagles anymore.

Starblazer

-Changed Armor increased from 10000 to 10825.
-Unchanged: Batteries/Nanobots stay at 60/60.
-Unchanged: Powercore stays at 11400/11400.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 67.03 to 69.46
-Changed: Response time increased from 0.4201 to 0.4406.

The Starblazer gets further help in this patch aswell. I always found it sad that such an adorable ship would see next to no use from anybody because how painfully terrible it was; hopefully these buffs will encourage people to use it more.

Anaconda

-Unchanged: Armor stays at 12200.
-Unchanged: Batteries/Nanobots stay at 70/70.
-Unchanged: Powercore stays at 1140/11400.
-Changed: Turn rate decreased from 72.01 to 71.25
-Changed: Response time decreased from 0.5041 to 0.4782.

The Anaconda was only altered to fit the new Chameleon, increasing its response for better groupfight capacity and lowering its turn to be a little less annoying in duels. The speedy identity of this ship kept intact, however.

Sunbeam

-Changed: Armor decreased from 11600 to 11110.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots decreased from 68/68 to 66/66.
-Unchanged: Powercore stays at 1140/11400.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 67.82 to 69.18
-Changed: Response time signficantly increased from 0.3007 to 0.4531.

The 0.3007 silliness has to come to an end, unfortunately. This infamously frustrating to hit ship has finally been brought down to more regular numbers, but don't worry; it's still a good ship.

Wyvern

-Changed: Armor increased from 11100 to 11800.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 64/64 to 68/68.
-Unchanged: Powercore stays at 1140/11400.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 67.08 to 68.41.
-Changed: Response time decreased from 0.4998 to 0.4535.
-Changed: Scaled up by 15%.

The Wyverns main shtick before this patch was to be small, like all Kusari ships. With the proper scaling of the Chimaera, the Wyvern fattens up and is now allowed to have fun stats, as you can see above.

Irezumi

-Changed: Armor increased from 10400 to 11625.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 61/61 to 67/67.
-Changed: Powercore increased from 1120/10400 to 1140/11400.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 69.19 to 69.58.
-Unchanged: Response time stays at 0.4606.

The Irezumi didn't get many changes besides (vastly) improved camera and increased overall health. It and the Black Dragon go hand in hand.

Iris

-Changed: Armor increased from 10900 to 11375.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 63/63 to 69/69.
-Changed: Powercore increased from 1180/11400 to 1240/12400.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 68.02 to 68.59.
-Unchanged: Response time stays at 0.4417.

An overall straight buff to the Iris was needed after the improvements to the Wyvern and Irezumi, with the medium powercore setting it apart from the two.

Sichel

-Changed: Armor increased from 12100 to 12220.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 68/68 to 71/71.
-Unchanged: Powercore stays at 1240/12400.
-Unchanged: Turn rate stays at 69.03.
-Changed: Response time decreased from 0.4883 to 0.4308.

I wouldn't blame you if you didn't even know this ship existed. I didn't a couple months ago.
The Sichel is a beautiful ship; it was given proper stats before but we didn't quite get there. We buffed its survivability further so it actually is a viable choice that one can make. Fast and relatively tanky with proper bird-like banking.

Hyena

-Changed: Armor decreased from 15500 to 12330.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots decreased from 82/82 to 70/70.
-Changed: Powercore decreased from 1722/38200 to 1300/13400.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 58.73 to 68.33.
-Changed: Response time decreased from 0.5756 to 0.4738.
-Changed: Max bank angle increased from 30 to 45.
-Changed: Scaled down by 15%, is now a VHF.

We talked about Haste's baby, now it's time to talk about mine.
The Hyena's new role is to be a ship that can now properly put up a fight against Guardians, Avengers, Templars, what have you. The previous VHF Greyhound was completely unremarkable- this was fixed, but we can't leave the Rogues without a proper frontline fighter. Boasting a large powercore for Sammaels and Trefoils, strong armor count to withstand Magma Hammers or Sunrails pummeling its fat side (that it can properly hide due to banking if the pilot is skilled enough, too) and generous turn rate to not leave it helpless against the new powerful Xeno Eagle™️. Have fun with it; I sure will.

Avenger

-Unchanged: Armor stays at 14000.
-Unchanged: Batteries/Nanobots stay at 74/74.
-Unchanged: Powercore stays at 1360/14400.
-Unchanged: Turn rate stays at 65.68.
-Changed: Response time decreased from 0.4717 to 0.4493.
-Changed: Max bank angle increased from 30 to 35.

The Avenger recieves a small buff to its groupfight ability, since the Guardian pretty much steals the show everywhere besides duels- and even then most times the Guardian was a better choice. We hope to see more Avengers flying around after this buff.

Prosecutor

-Changed: Max bank angle increased from 30 to 45.

Not much happened to the Prosecutor besides banking. Helps with two things: the first, the ship can now fire more than two guns to the side on a turn; the second, it can wiggle a bit more in groupfights, as this ship is quite big and needed help there.

Rabisu

-Changed: Armor decreased from 11400 to 11100.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots increased from 64/64 to 67/67.
-Changed: Powercore changed from 1300/13400 to 1240/13910.
-Changed: Turn rate increased from 65.89 to 67.32.
-Changed: Response time decreased from 0.4720 to 0.4427.

The Rabisu was given a few helping hands to help it with the extreme case of suckass that it's been going through for a while now. Still, a 7 gunner with full class 9 and that powercore was a bit spooky, especially with the buffed response and turn rate, so we made a custom powercore that has a bit more capacity (just flavor, really) but less regen. Overall, though, the ship is much better now.

---

Conclusion

They won't be rebuilding here anytime soon
Now get out of there before more of them show up
Mission commission signing off

thanks to @Venkman for Irezumi, Executioner, Labraid, Saboteur and Jackdaw images

[pillow]

Ship changes that we were too slow to do

Nephtys

-Changed: Turn rate decreased from 66.24 to 63.44.
-Changed: Response time decreased from 0.4717 to 0.4240.
-Changed: Max bank angle decreased from 30 to 27.

As the title suggests we were meaning to do this in the previous patch but didn't get it out in time. Nephtys was the embodiment of a bully in duels but pretty much fell apart in a groupfight which is something we try to avoid; a ship being good in duels and not-as-good in groupfights is fine, complete specialization in one or the other leads to problems such as "gank that man he is in [ship] so it's justified" or "just dock lmao don't bother dueling that ship" or "I'm not going to participate in this groupfight because the [ship] can't survive for more than 2 seconds".

Sleipnir

-Changed: Response time decreased from 0.4491 to 0.4435.
-Changed: Max bank angle decreased from 30 to 25.

Not much was done to the Sleipnir beyond making it something other than torture to fly. CD arc vastly improved, ship should feel less like a brick and more like a ship.

Manta

-Changed: Powercore increased from 1140/11400 to 1240/12400.

We felt the Manta had a powercore a bit too weak for what it was. Speedy ship, yes, but it's also quite large and it tends to lose its footing in groupfights; now there's an actual reason to pick it over the Hammerhead.

Vindicator

-Changed: Armor increased from 10600 to 11525.
-Changed: Max bank angle increased from 30 to 40.

The Vindicator was kind of forgotten about (my bad) and after the HF patch the Bayonet ended up with more base armor than the VHF that came from it. It now moves similarly to the Bayonet to show that they're both of similar design, and the Vindicator now has a bit more base armor to not only be more distinct from the Bayonet but also to survive shotgun loadouts easier.

Insurgent

-Changed: The silly 21k strafe force brought down to 20k.

the image isn't exactly correct but I don't have a better one
Self explanatory.

Arbeiter

-Changed: Turn rate decreased from 68.64 to 66.30.
-Changed: Response time decreased from 0.4729 to 0.4346.
-Changed: Max bank angle increased from 30 to 35

The Arbeiter was another one of those ships that was really good in duels but fell short in groupfights. Similar to the Nephtys, we slowed its turn rate down but boosted its responsiveness and banking for some proper groupfight wiggling. Should be a lot better now.

Lhotse

-Changed: Turn rate decreased from 65.58 to 62.86.
-Changed: Response time decreased from 0.4661 to 0.4278.

Again, another duel-bully that died immediately in groupfights. Slowed down significantly but given response out the ass.

Werewolf

-Changed: Turn rate decreased from 64.77 to 61.49.
-Changed: Response time decreased from 0.5006 to 0.4004.
-Changed: Max bank angle increased from 20 to 40.
-Changed: Batteries/Nanobots decreased from 140/140 to 98/98.
-Changed: Shield class changed from SHF shield (20k, 500 regen, 9 sec recharge) to freighter shield (24k/29k, 320/250 regen, 12 sec recharge)
-Changed: Shield bubble lowered to 2.5k volume.
-Changed: Bomber slots reduced to a single one instead of two.
-Changed: Can't mount two MRs anymore.
-Changed: Scaled down by 15%.

I'm sure you're sensing a pattern: this is the big boy of duels right here. Up until this hotfix the Werewolf was the undefeated king of dueling without a shadow of a doubt, and it was honestly pretty broken. However, the moment you brought it to a groupfight, it took a while to die but it was otherwise helpless. An extreme version of the aforementioned VHFs.
The changes above don't mean to change it from an SHF- in fact we think the Werewolf is a good example of an SHF done right. However, we had to straighten it up a bit. Nowhere near as oppressive in duels anymore, with the added survivability in groupfights should make this ship more appealing to people, both to fly and interact with. It shouldn't be able to tank 50 nukes and still live with 40 bots remaining anymore, and it also shouldn't immediately melt in groupfights. Have fun with it.

---

Conclusion

All I'm looking for right now is this drink

[pillow]

Discovery Freelancer 4.94.01 Equipment Rework

---

Hello.

The following equipment rework that you're about to look through was done first and foremost to add some much needed variety into that part of the sandbox, but also to fix some glaring issues such as the absurd 90 CD and 50/90 Mine ammunition counts. We had a lot of fun playing around with these, and we hope you will too.

---

Mines



Images taken from 72 meters away, click to enlarge.

Screamer Mine

Hull Damage: 1000
Shield Damage: 29500
Top Speed: 80 m/s
Acceleration: 300 m/s
Seek distance: 400 meters
Lifetime: 10 seconds
Owner safe time: 4 seconds
Detonation Distance: 6 meters
Explosion Radius: 40 meters
Ammo: 50
CD-able: yes
Refire: 1

Statwise, the Screamer is what you already know. However, evidently, its effects were changed to better match it's EMP-ness.

Images taken from 72 meters away, click to enlarge.

Seeker Mine

Hull Damage: 6400
Shield Damage: 4450
Top Speed: 100 m/s
Acceleration: 400 m/s
Seek distance: 600 meters
Lifetime: 10 seconds
Owner safe time: 10 seconds
Detonation Distance: 4 meters
Explosion Radius: 51 meters
Ammo: 45
CD-able: Yes
Refire: 1

My personal favorite, the "Smart" Seeker Mine never runs after its owner. You might scoff at it's low amount of damage, just don't forget to keep moving if your enemy has these equipped. The Seeker will absolutely hunt you down and kill you with bug bites. A generous ammo pool and high hit rate make it a solid choice for any encounter.

Images taken from 72 meters away, click to enlarge.

Ripper Mine

Hull Damage: 9350
Shield Damage: 9350
Top Speed: 80 m/s
Acceleration: 300 m/s
Seek distance: 400 meters
Lifetime: 10 seconds
Owner safe time: 4 seconds
Detonation Distance: 5 meters
Explosion Radius: 64 meters
Ammo: 35
CD-able: Yes
Refire: 1

The Ripper got the attention it deserved with an effect switch and stat look-over. Now being the only mine that does the same amount of damage to shield as it does to hull- and not only this, but also the most potent shield buster (excluding the Screamer, of course), the Ripper is likely the "old reliable" mine you can always fall back on and never be disappointed. To prove that the shield damage actually matters, the Ripper does just enough damage to de-shield a Very Heavy Fighter from full shields in a single blast. Nothing bad to say about this bad boy. It'll never let you down.

Images taken from 144 meters away, click to enlarge. This one's pretty big.

Wardog Mine

Hull Damage: 13900
Shield Damage: 6950
Top Speed: 70 m/s
Acceleration: 250 m/s
Seek distance: 400 meters
Lifetime: 10 seconds
Owner safe time: 3 seconds
Detonation Distance: 10 meters
Explosion Radius: 72 meters
Ammo: 30
CD-able: No
Refire: 0.33

Now the Wardog is something I personally have always wanted but people have consistently told me that it's a stupid idea. Lo and behold, I was right all along.
The Wardog is a mine that doesn't detonate from Cruise Disruptor explosions. "Heresy" I hear you cry, but fear not. The Wardog is very versatile, giving you a lot more room to maneuver if you're the type that likes to plant obstacles in front of your enemy. Due to it being uncdable, the Wardog tends to stick around until it expires or crashes into something. This makes them something you always have to be aware of and keep on the move, otherwise they'll catch up to you. On the downside, they have a larger hitbox than most mines, making them much easier to hit with guns.
The rings near the explosion you can see in the screenshot are basically the mines' shell being catapulted away from the blast upon detonation. It does this because the Wardog is so potent that it effectively pushes things away from it, including ships.

Images taken from 144 meters away, click to enlarge. This one's pretty big.

Shredder Mine

Hull Damage: 17000
Shield Damage: 8500
Top Speed: 70 m/s
Acceleration: 200 m/s
Seek distance: 400 meters
Lifetime: 10 seconds
Owner safe time: 4 seconds
Detonation Distance: 6 meters
Explosion Radius: 64 meters
Ammo: 25
CD-able: Yes
Refire: 1

You'll recognize this one.
It may seem strange to some of you at first but in the end we've decided that "Nuclear Mine" was an absolutely stupid name that didn't fit in with the rest. "Shredder" fits in more as a big brother to the Ripper. Thanks to @Omicega for the new infocard and name.
Statwise, nothing has changed beyond its ammo capacity, but visually we have increased the size of both the explosion and pre-explosion effects, not only to reflect its high damage but also to make it more visible.
i know the explosion looks white but i promise you that's just how it starts, the effect is unchanged but the screenshot was too cool to not use

Images taken from 144 meters away, click to enlarge. This one's large, vast, and big.

Swatter Mine

Hull Damage: 18480
Shield Damage: 9240
Top Speed: 40 m/s
Acceleration: 150 m/s
Seek distance: 800 meters
Lifetime: 15 seconds
Owner safe time: 2 seconds
Detonation Distance: 2 meters
Explosion Radius: 192 meters
Ammo: 40
CD-able: No
Refire: 0.25

Last but not least, the Swatter. This one's particularly interesting seeing as it's about as slow and dumb as a bag of hammers but you better be sure that if this collides with you, it's going to hurt pretty bad. In duels it's relatively easy to avoid, seeing as it was designed as to not be rammable: it gets pushed out pretty far from your ship before slowing down. It can be used in duels if you manage to position yourself (and your enemy) accordingly, then shooting the mine (I recommend doing this with the new Helios Beam Cannon), catching your enemy in the explosion radius. Its abilities evidently shine in groupfights, which I doubt require much of an explanation as to why and how.

It's an experiment to be sure, but damn if it's not entertaining to see these things explode. They will menacingly slumber over to their target over a long 15 second lifespan, locking on from a whopping 800 meters.

---

Cruise Disruptors

Mosquito Cruise Disruptor

Hull Damage: 78
Muzzle Velocity: 270 m/s
Maximum Velocity: 522 m/s
Detonation Distance: 15 meters
Turn rate: 9.71
Range: 1600 meters
Radius: 250 meters
Seeker Angle: 180
Ammo: 50

90 ammo limit was straight up ridiculous. The damage was also, simply put: silly. The Mosquito is the default cruise disruptor you use in combination with CDable mines. Pretty simple.

Train Cruise Disruptor

Hull Damage: 60
Muzzle Velocity: 270 m/s
Maximum Velocity: 803 m/s
Detonation Distance: 12 meters
Turn rate: 8.71
Range: 3000 meters
Radius: 400 meters
Seeker Angle: 120
Ammo: 60

The de facto bad-guy catcher CD, the Train, like the Mosquito, mostly got a damage reality check and an ammo reduction.

Hornet Cruise Disruptor

Hull Damage: 92
Muzzle Velocity: 350 m/s
Maximum Velocity: 800 m/s
Detonation Distance: 15 meters
Turn rate: 9.71
Range: 2400 meters
Radius: 400 meters
Seeker Angle: 270
Ammo: 30

The Hornet is the Train and Mosquito stuffed into one milkshake and infused with steroids. Turns fast, goes fast, skates fast, eats ass. It's too cool for a high ammo capacity, though. Use sparingly.

[Egon Bigmemes]

Enough about fighters, I'm hijacking this thread.

For now it's just capital missile quality of life changes. Part buffs, part nerfs, part removal of some jank.

First off, as I go along, motor delay is being removed from missiles, in trade for them starting off slower. In singleplayer, motor delay lets missiles drift with inertia and muzzle velocity, but in multiplayer, they just sit in place for the duration, and then will suddenly accelerate from 0 to whatever speed they should be. Not only does it look extremely laggy when that's simply not the case, it's just disorientating, and janky to experience.

And now for the first real changes, beginning with Battlecruisers. I will not apologize for my formatting I am not sorry.

Javelin Cruise Missile

Motor lifetime: 12 >> 7
Acceleration: 15 >> 50
Motor delay: 2 >> 0
Muzzle velocity: 60 >> 10
Theoretical top speed: 479m/s

Hull damage: 425.000 >> 385.000

Seeker lock-on angle: 220 >> 260 degrees
Max angular velocity: 0.15 >> 0.12

Power usage: 2.000.000 >> 1.900.000

---

Isn't this a nerf Saronsen?
Well, not really. Sure, it doesn't deal quite as much damage as before, and its tracking isn't the same as the Nova torpedo, but it makes up for it with being able to get that damage out to its target. And fast.

Application is the name of the game for the Javelin missile. Something that has a better chance of reaching its target before flak or, heaven forbid, the supports cruise disruptor catches it. In testing, its fairly low turnrate and high speed means that short range, spammable countermeasures just don't lead it off target in time, most often when the missile is coming in from the side. It's lost some viability against cruisers, who can steer out of the way of the missile with ease, but a distracted target is still a good target.

---

Predator Missile

Acceleration: 20 >> 25
Motor delay: 2 >> 0
Muzzle velocity: 80 >> 30
Theoretical top speed: 349m/s

Bugfix: dsy_marauder_missile_explosion >> dsy_predator_missile_explosion
Hull Damage: 150.000 >> 185.000

Missile lifetime: 15 >> 25
Seeker lock-on angle: 240 >> 300
Max angular velocity: 0.55 >> 0.45
Ammo limit: 50 >> 70

---

Firstly; Yes, the Predator was using the explosion meant for the cruisers Marauder missile, meaning it was dealing 35.000 less damage than it was supposed to for.. Years? A bugfix that's also a buff.
Secondly; Cruisers beware. The Predator missiles likes ya, and it wants ya. There's no easy way to do this, so we're doing it the hard way. It will come around after missing to chase you down again, but with its low agility, it will continue missing as long as you keep evading. Or have a countermeasure. It still has its blindspot from behind, so if it overshoots, it loses track of you entirely. I'm still not set on the tracking speed, but I didn't want to render it useless by hitting it too hard. I'll be watching and waiting for the @'s on discord if this gets out of hand.

---

That's the two changed battlecruiser missiles out of the way. Now for the cruiser launchers.

Devastator Torpedo

Acceleration: 18 >> 20
Delay: 2 >> 0
Theoretical top speed: 364m/s

Lock-on range: 3000 >> 2750
Mass: 100 >> 85
Lifetime: 30 >> 25

---

I'll be honest, it's just a straight nerf. Outranging Light Mortars (which it still does, just not so badly), being very difficult for battleships to flak, and often doing two full loops to try and hit someone as a very powerful deshielding tool, all on a light and quick capital ship like the cruiser. I would still like for the missile to remain a good long-range option, but forcing a battleship to tunnel vision for ten or so seconds trying to flak a single missile was excessive. It goes a little faster though, as a consolation. This might need further down-tuning, but I'm hopeful it's in a better spot.

---

Suicide Surprise Trinity Torpedo

Motor delay: 2 >> 0
Theoretical top speed: 349m/s

Lifetime: 20 >> 30
Mass: 10,000 (!!) >> 65
Max angular velocity: 0.11 >> 0.10
Seeker range: 2000 >> 2400
Seeker lock-on angle: 35 >> 180
Ammo limit: 51 >> 60

Dispersion angle: 6 >> 30
Power usage: 1.200.000 >> 1.299.000

---

Straight buffs, or rather, usability here. With a lock on FOV of 35 degrees, you could often defeat the trinity by strafing as they got closer, even if they were on a path to smash right into you. They'd simply lose track of you a couple hundred meters away. Not so anymore. They just turn that much slower now. They're a power move from cruisers, and I'm also watching these to see if they're useful, not INCREDIBLY STRONG.

And for your reference, the LABC has 800 mass. Have you tried deflecting one of those with flak? Trinities are now fairly lightweight, and flak should be very useful against them.

---

That's all for now. You know where to find me if you have a problem.

Happy missile spamming folks.

[pillow]

Discovery Freelancer 4.95.2 Balance Changes

---

It's me, ya' boy Probation back with another balance post. This time, we primarily focused on Super Heavy Fighters, but we do have a few other things we looked at.
The main idea with this class of ships was to have a bunch of ships that have a lower entry skill requirement, but are "skill-capped", so to speak, due to their size and low turn rates. Think of them as military-grade tricycles. We fumbled around in the dark for a while until finally deciding on what to do with the ship class, but we're pretty confident in their stats now. Lastly, we've decided to remove their ability to use bomber equipment, as that stepped on the actual bombers and the role that they play.

---

Super Heavy Fighters

Werewolf

- Changed: Armor increased from 24000 to 24660.
- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots raised from 98/98 to 119/119.
- Changed: Powercore changed from 1360/14400 to 1750/17500.
- Changed: Turn rate decreased from 61.49 to 57.59.
- Changed: Response time improved from 0.4004 to 0.3574.
- Changed: Mass increased from 150 to 225.
- Changed: Strafe force increased from 20000 to 22000.

Our SHF posterboy put on some weight since the last time you've seen him. No worries, though, it's still a right bastard to take down. We've talked about the Werewolf a million times, so I'll spare you the details; go and experience them for yourself! My personal favorite of the bunch, but that's no secret. I just have a thing for pirate boats. Yar har.

Dragoon

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 2/5
- Changed: Armor increased from 25000 to 28000
- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots lowered from 265/265 to 126/126.
- Changed: Powercore changed from 1950/36000 to 1750/17500.
- Changed: Turn rate increased from 53.93 to 56.72.
- Changed: Response time improved from 0.4605 to 0.3454
- Changed: Mass decreased from 250 to 225.
- Changed: Strafe force increased from 20000 to 22000.
- Changed: Scaled down by 25%.

It's hard for me to not fawn over this thing. It's so compact! A Templar with tower shields. Definitely has Templar DNA in it, what with it's respectable twenty eight thousand base armor that could headbutt Zeus into a coma. Seven guns, seven ways to visciously decapitate any evildoers that dare tresspass into the industrial hellhole that is Bretonia. 9.2/10, a good deal.

Recycler

- Changed: Armor increased from 24600 to 26800
- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots lowered from 260/260 to 131/131.
- Changed: Powercore changed from 1950/36000 to 1750/17500.
- Changed: Turn rate increased from 53.93 to 55.60.
- Changed: Response time improved from 0.4605 to 0.3155
- Changed: Mass decreased from 250 to 225.
- Changed: Strafe force increased from 20000 to 22000
- Changed: Scaled down by 20%.

Ever wanted to fly a Titan, CSV, Liberator and around 12 other ships all at once? The Recycler's your ship. A complete hitbox nightmare, but our man @Haste got it done only after two nervous breakdowns! Fat as hell, heavy as hell, mean as hell. A stalwart guardian of all scrap fields.

Spatial


- Gun/Turret Mounts: 6/3
- Changed: Armor decreased from 29600 to 22350
- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots lowered from 270/270 to 100/100.
- Changed: Powercore changed from 2350/39130 to 1500/15000.
- Changed: Turn rate increased from 57.30 to 60.52.
- Changed: Response time improved from 0.5449 to 0.3906
- Changed: Bank angle increased from 30 to 35.
- Changed: Mass decreased from 250 to 200.
- Changed: Strafe force increased from 20000 to 21500
- Changed: Scaled down by 25%.

Hey, look, it's the ship every gunboat player has had nightmares about. It's not exactly a gunboat muncher anymore, but use the PTSD of your enemies to get a tactical advantage! Did I mention the Spatial is also pretty speedy? After all, it has some Eagle DNA somewhere in its guts. Go wild.

Osprey Mk II

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 5/2
- Changed: Armor decreased from 29400 to 25250
- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots lowered from 270/270 to 110/110.
- Changed: Powercore changed from 1950/36000 to 1625/16250.
- Changed: Turn rate increased from 57.30 to 58.00.
- Changed: Response time improved from 0.4989 to 0.3618
- Changed: Bank angle decreased from 40 to 35.
- Changed: Mass decreased from 250 to 200.
- Changed: Strafe force increased from 20000 to 21500.
- Changed: Scaled down by 15%.

The quintessential long-range escort. Big, yes, but damn stylish- and pretty nimble, too. Now if only the Zoners weren't beacons of peace, as the Osprey can definitely both take and dish out solid beatings with its seven guns of neutrality.

OSC Shuttle

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/4
- Changed: Armor decreased from 24000 to 20500
- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots lowered from 145/145 to 94/94.
- Changed: Powercore changed from 1650/30000 to 1500/15000.
- Changed: Turn rate increased from 57.30 to 61.65.
- Changed: Response time improved from 0.4934 to 0.4283
- Changed: Mass decreased from 250 to 175.
- Changed: Strafe force increased from 20000 to 21000.
- Changed: Scaled down by 15%.

Cause havoc in style. Bursting with speed for an SHF, the Taurus can take you from Curacao to Hawaii, and from there to the tail end of the universe, safely. Take pictures!

Mjolnir

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/4
- Changed: Armor decreased from 28300 to 21700
- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots lowered from 250/250 to 97/97.
- Changed: Powercore changed from 1950/36000 to 1625/16250.
- Changed: Turn rate increased from 57.30 to 60.04.
- Changed: Response time improved from 0.4989 to 0.4068
- Changed: Bank angle increased from 30 to 35.
- Changed: Mass decreased from 250 to 200.
- Changed: Strafe force increased from 20000 to 20500.
- Changed: Scaled down by 15%.

This ship looks like a dump truck. It also flew about as gingerly as a dump truck before this patch. It was a nuisance with a metric assload's worth of nanobots, with eight guns and ill intent. I dig it! We tried to keep it in-line with Rheinland's code of conduct when it came to ships: light and nimble. It's not exactly what I'd call nimble, but it can bite the ass end of a Templar if it really wants to, so hey, don't bully it too hard. It didn't choose to be this ugly.

Anzu

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 9/0
- Changed: Armor decreased from 30000 to 22200
- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots lowered from 270/270 to 90/90.
- Changed: Powercore changed from 2350/39130 to 1500/15000.
- Changed: Turn rate increased from 56.34 to 56.61.
- Changed: Response time improved from 0.4682 to 0.3860
- Changed: Bank angle increased from 25 to 35.
- Changed: Mass decreased from 250 to 175.
- Changed: Strafe force increased from 20000 to 21000

Nine guns. Who's idea was this? I'm halfway tempted to bring out a thesaurus of insults and type as many vulgarities as I can to describe this thing, but hey- I can't do that, 'cus I let it keep its nine guns so I'm equally insane to whoever put this ship in the game in the first place. But, boy, did that come at a cost. The glassiest of cannons, the Anzu can do a 180 only with crutches and 12 assistants, it's made of paper, and it has a weak powercore. But if, if it clamps you in it's sights, you better know how to dodge, cus it's gonna sting for a few days.

Arrastra

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 2/5
- Changed: Armor decreased from 21200 to 20900
- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots lowered from 145/145 to 135/135.
- Changed: Powercore changed from 1650/30000 to 1625/16250.
- Changed: Turn rate increased from 51.57 to 58.73.
- Changed: Response time improved from 0.4989 to 0.3742
- Changed: Bank angle increased from 15 to 25.
- Changed: Mass decreased from 250 to 200.
- Changed: Strafe force increased from 20000 to 21250.

The Arrastra was always odd, what with its inability to have a single symmetrical pixel on its entire model. I like it though! Beyond its absurd increase in turn rate and some mass taken off it, not much changed with it. Of course, it's significantly less stiff than before, so, if nothing else, it's a lot more fun to fly.

Plier

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 6/3
- Changed: Armor increased from 20000 to 23600
- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots lowered from 135/135 to 122/122.
- Changed: Powercore changed from 1650/30000 to 1625/16250.
- Changed: Turn rate increased from 50.61 to 57.76.
- Changed: Response time improved from 0.4759 to 0.3289
- Changed: Bank angle increased from 15 to 30.
- Changed: Mass decreased from 250 to 200.
- Changed: Strafe force increased from 20000 to 21500.

I'll be honest, we left this thing for last. An absolute nightmare to balance, but in the end we think we did it justice. Hard to tell without copious amounts of testing, but, hey, it can turn now. That's something.

AI Drone

- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots lowered from 90/90 to 70/70.
- Changed: Bank angle increased from 25 to 180.
- Changed: Mass decreased from 250 to 150.

This cute little thing was always too small to be considered a "Super Heavy Fighter" so we decided to bump it down to VHF stature. Less mass will allow it to strafe a lot harder and as a consequence, dodge better, so we stripped twenty nanobots and batteries off it to compensate. On top of that, we also gave it some kickass rolling and bank angle to go with it so it just keeps rotating no matter what you do. Have fun!

Claymore

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 6/0
- Changed: Armor decreased from 29600 to 16600
- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots lowered from 270/270 to 74/74.
- Changed: Powercore changed from 2350/39130 to 1500/15000.
- Changed: Turn rate increased from 57.30 to 60.79.
- Changed: Response time improved from 0.5449 to 0.4260
- Changed: Bank angle increased from 30 to 35.
- Changed: Mass decreased from 250 to 175.
- Changed: Strafe force increased from 20000 to 20250.

This ones new! Courtesy of @aerelm, the Claymore replaces this thing, formerly called the Warhammer. Out of the box ready with 6 guns and a forward gun slot! As you can see from the stats, it's a bit of an SHF/VHF hybrid, due to its size, it being a Falchion with a huge gun mounted on its belly. And how could I forget, the Claymore's coming with five different forward guns. 'Course you can only mount one at a time, but the variety's there!

Plover

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 8/0
- Base Armor: 27700
- Cargo Space: 180
- Power Output: 1750/17500
- Batteries/NanoBots: 130/130
- Turn Rate: 56.74
- Response Time: 0.3229
- Equipment Mounts: CM Torp CD
- Bank angle: 35
- Mass: 225
- Strafe force: 22000

God, how I love this thing. It looks like a very fat bird; its cockpit even forms into a beak. Its so beautiful! It's also very beefy. Guns to scare the mightiest of Very Heavy Fighters, a powercore to give gunboats nightmares, and the armor to chew through the toughest of mines. Unfortunately, it's not all sunshine and rainbows, all this goodness comes at a pretty heavy cost. All that armor? Yeah, this thing's fat, and you'll feel it. It turns about as fast as a truck without wheels. But, man, this truck sure is fun to fly.

Magpie

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 8/0
- Base Armor: 20000
- Cargo Space: 175
- Power Output: 1625/16250
- Batteries/NanoBots: 86/86
- Turn Rate: 57.51
- Response Time: 0.3650
- Equipment Mounts: CM Torp CD
- Bank angle: 35
- Mass: 200
- Strafe force: 21000

The Big Daddy of the Barrier Gate shipline, the Magpie still remains a relatively small and sleek ship- especially for an SHF, hence the gimped turn rate and effective health. That definitely won't stop it from being a meanie on the battlefield, though. Eight guns hurt.

---

Very Heavy Fighters

Hawfinch

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 6/0
- Base Armor: 11250
- Cargo Space: 65
- Power Output: 1240/12400
- Batteries/NanoBots: 64/64
- Turn Rate: 69.11
- Response Time: 0.4375
- Equipment Mounts: CM Torp CD
- Bank angle: 37
- Mass: 150
- Strafe force: 20000

Our first new Very Heavy Fighter of the day. Again, courtesy of @aerelm - as are most of the new models! I'd like to be able to come up with something quirky and interesting to say about this ship, but I'm afraid it's your typical, simple, good ol' painfully Freelancer ship. Speed, agility, and entertainment. Oozes style.

Lich

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 6/1
- Changed: Armor increased from 11200 to 12000
- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots lowered from 67/67 to 71/71.
- Changed: Powercore changed from 1180/11400 to 1240/12400.
- Changed: Turn rate lowered from 67.99 to 63.30.
- Changed: Response time improved from 0.4605 to 0.4531
- Changed: Bank angle lowered from 30 to 28.
- Mass: 150.
- Strafe force: 20000.

About time this shipline got some new stats. I absolutely loathe duplicated stats, so I figured I'd drop the Lich and her two friends in this patch along everything else to spice things up a bit more, turning them into heavy versions of the iconic Border Worlds shipline.

Courbe

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 6/2
- Changed: Armor decreased from 14500 to 11800
- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots lowered from 74/74 to 68/68.
- Changed: Powercore changed from 1360/14400 to 1240/12400.
- Changed: Turn rate lowered from 70.57 to 67.07.
- Changed: Response time improved from 0.4605 to 0.4531
- Bank angle: 35.
- Mass: 150.
- Strafe force: 20000.
- Changed: Scaled down by 15%.

The Courbe finally got some real stats after all this time, along with a rescale. The big boy in this family is the Plier, and it just wouldn't have been fair to subject the Courbe to the same level of fatness. Its shape makes more sense now when put next to other ships that are part of the same class, so the scary, substantial-looking nerf won't sting as bad once you get used to it. One more ship to add to the "finally useful" pile. Lastly, only one if its turrets fires forward.

Falchion

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 6/0
- Base Armor: 11000
- Cargo Space: 70
- Power Output: 1180/11400
- Batteries/NanoBots: 66/66
- Turn Rate: 67.08
- Response Time: 0.454 (Changed from 0.4717)
- Equipment Mounts: CM Torp CD
- Bank angle: 37
- Mass: 150
- Strafe force: 20000

For the most part, its stats remained unchanged, with the exception of some much-needed rolling (not a lot, just more than zero) and a slight buff to it's response. Honestly, the main reason I put the ship in these patch notes is to shine a spotlight on the new model. Compliments to the chef.

---

Heavy Fighters

Kingfisher

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 6/0
- Changed: Armor decreased from 10400 to 10000
- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots lowered from 54/54 to 52/52.
- Changed: Powercore changed from 1140/9800 to 1200/10800.
- Changed: Turn rate increased from 75.02 to 79.11.
- Changed: Response time improved from 0.5477 to 0.5158
- Changed: Bank angle increased from 30 to 42.
- Mass: 150.
- Strafe force: 20000

This ship's cool. Every time I look at it I feel like racing in Dublin. So sleek, so elegant. The Kingfisher's old model was cute, but not quite there. @aerelms remodel gives the concept about as much justice as it can get. Very speedy, very fragile, but its big core demands blood and I'm eager to go get styled on by some angry Kingfishers.

Wight

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 6/1
- Changed: Armor increased from 10600 to 11200
- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots lowered from 54/54 to 58/58.
- Changed: Powercore changed from 1140/9800 to 1200/10800.
- Changed: Turn rate lowered from 74.78 to 71.17.
- Changed: Response time improved from 0.5419 to 0.4531
- Changed: Bank angle lowered from 30 to 28.
- Mass: 150.
- Strafe force: 20000.

Not much else to say besides "this is a heavy Switchblade". It's not exactly the most inspired balance update and I'm not gonna' try and sell it like I'm some con-man. It's no snake-oil.

---

Light Fighters

Hawk

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Changed: Armor increased from 4150 to 9120.
- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots raised from 35/35 to 46/46.
- Changed: Powercore changed from 1000/8500 to 1165/5750.
- Changed: Turn rate increased from 87.85 to 90.00.
- Changed: Response time improved from 0.5219 to 0.5654
- Changed: Bank angle increased from 30 to 45.
- Mass: 125.
- Strafe force: 20000

Bet you didn't expect to see Light Fighters anywhere near any "Super Heavy Fighter" patch. Yes, well, I didn't either, but sometimes these things just happen. These stats got emailed to us and we felt obligated to put them in the game, so here we are. Ludicrous speed, ludicrous efficiency, the first of many Light Fighters to get the attention they deserve. Oh, and it's also called the "Hawk" now. You know, like the vanilla one. Return to tradition!

Scimitar

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 5/0
- Changed: Armor increased from 6300 to 8600.
- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots adjusted from 42/52 to 44/44.
- Changed: Powercore changed from 1000/8500 to 1165/5750.
- Changed: Turn rate increased from 76.39 to 84.03.
- Changed: Response time improved from 0.4298 to 0.5373.
- Mass: 125.
- Strafe force: 20000

The turn rate numbers going up for Light Fighters of all things is probably making some of you shiver with delight. Light Fighters are light for a reason! Not much to say, it's just your good old Border Worlds Light Fighter that's ready to take on some Corsairs down in Omega-5. Worth noting: the Scimitar doesn't have a class 10 shield anymore! Now it sits cozy with a Class 9, which is more than enough, seeing as how it can do some mean circles now.

Skeleton

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 5/0
- Changed: Armor increased from 6300 to 9000.
- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots adjusted from 42/52 to 48/48.
- Changed: Powercore changed from 1000/8500 to 1190/6450.
- Changed: Turn rate increased from 76.39 to 80.11.
- Changed: Response time improved from 0.4298 to 0.5389.
- Mass: 125.
- Strafe force: 20000

Had to add the Skeleton to the pile, considering the Scimitar's all new and polished. Again, same as the other two ships: Skeletal's heavier than the Scimitar. Bigger core, bigger nanos, bigger armor, smaller turn. Still plenty fast, just not as fast.

Piranha

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Changed: Armor increased from 6300 to 8900.
- Changed: Batteries/Nanobots adjusted from 42/62 to 47/47.
- Changed: Powercore changed from 1000/8500 to 1165/5750.
- Changed: Turn rate increased from 80.21 to 86.33.
- Changed: Response time improved from 0.4452 to 0.5987.
- Changed: Bank angle increased from 30 to 55.
- Mass: 125.
- Strafe force: 19500

And there it is! The Piranha's back, and in force. The Piranha and its teeth have been restored, and them pesky bountied pirates are in it for some pain. Again, no class 10 shield; doubt it needs it with these stats.

---

Ceres Innovations ships

Locust

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 6/0
- Base Armor: 11500
- Cargo Space: 65
- Power Output: 1240/12400
- Batteries/NanoBots: 66/66
- Turn Rate: 66.98
- Response Time: 0.4505
- Equipment Mounts: CM Torp CD
- Bank angle: 30
- Mass: 150
- Strafe force: 20000

A familiar-yet-different take on the "Starflier" shipline if I were to guess, this ship and its sister fit about as well as any ship can within Freelancers sandbox and distinct visual artstyle. Very nice. Made by @Swallow

Beetle

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 5/0
- Base Armor: 10600
- Cargo Space: 55
- Power Output: 1170/10300
- Batteries/NanoBots: 55/55
- Turn Rate: 76.14
- Response Time: 0.5453
- Equipment Mounts: CM Torp CD
- Bank angle: 30.
- Mass: 150.
- Strafe force: 20000

Breaking up the pace with a @Swallow model this time, here we have the Beetle. Middle of the road, balanced (ding!) Heavy Fighter with a bone to pick. A four gunner - five if you mount a gun on its torp slot - with a decent bit of survivability due to its sleek shape and fast turn rate. Fits right in with Freelancer's aesthetic.

Scarab Armored Transport

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 0/7
- Base Armor: 110000
- Cargo Space: 2700
- Power Output: 22500/240000
- Batteries/NanoBots: 410/410
- Turn Rate: 36.23
- Response Time: 1.0158
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD

As I am a pure-bred fighter pilot, I can't come up with any silly words to say about the Scarab, with one exception: its stats make me happy. They look good. Ship does too.

Mantis Gunboat

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 0/7
- Base Armor: 145000
- Cargo Space: 475
- Power Output: 60000/600000
- Batteries/NanoBots: 420/420
- Turn Rate: 33.86
- Response Time: 0.4187
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD

Now the Mantis is a Freelancer's wet dream. A heavy open-use gunboat, it can tackle just about any adversary silly enough to show their teeth against this thing. Scary numbers.

---

Conclusion

You probably noticed that the game has more than three Light fighters. Indeed, we noticed that too, and we'll get around to them soon enough. Them three big ones are a bit of a test run to see how those stats go. Have fun! Don't forget to take cool screenshots of these new ships now that @Val improved their turret view cameras so you can actually look at them.
Worth mentioning that our main man @Haste re-did every hitbox and every shield bubble of every ship you see above. well done Hasteric.

Once again, big thanks to @Swallow and @aerelm for the new models.

[pillow]

Discovery Freelancer 4.95.3 Balance Changes

---

Hello, me again with another apocalyptically long patch notes post. This time's the fabled Bomber rework, and - somehow - the Light Fighter rework all in one. We don't know how this happened. Set aside an evening or ten.

---

But first, a brief - and probably boring - interjection by your friendly neighborhood Haste

Strafing

We've made some class-wide adjustments that aren't listed in the individual ship changelogs below. For one, after @Lex figured out the exact formulae behind strafing, we went ahead and applied our newfound knowledge to adjust strafing forces for Light Fighters and Bombers depending, in part, on their mass:

Light Bombers: 20,000 -> 17,000.
Medium Bombers: 20,000 -> 17,500.
Heavy Bombers: 20,000 -> 18,000.

Standard Light Fighters: 20,000 -> 15,000.
"Class 9" Light Fighters (Hawk, Dagger, etc.): 20,000 -> 17,500.

In the case of Bombers, the goal here was primarily to make it possible for caps to somewhat consistently hit boxing bombers at close range. Heavier bombers are also literally heavier in terms of physics, meaning they require more strafe force to match their lighter cousins.

For Light Fighters, the numbers may look disturbingly low, but people have to keep in mind that these ships are - literally - lighter than other fighters, meaning their strafe acceleration is - by default - significantly higher. As a result, the boxing performance of even the 15,000 strafe force ships is only ever-so-slightly worse than that of a Very Heavy Fighter, even though the ships often have much better front profiles. "Boxing in a Liberator" isn't dead - it's just a little less infuriating for your opponent to deal with.

Detailed strafing statistics are now listed at the bottom of ship infocards, in addition to various other agility-related stats.

---

Shields

Class 8 Light Fighter shields have been upgraded a fair bit to encourage a more aggressive Light Fighter playstyle:

- Recharge: 120 -> 156.
- "Offline time" when downed: 12s -> 9s.

Bombers now have their own shield classes, specialized to offer significantly more protection against capital ships, but similar performance against fighters (compared to class 10 VHF shields).

Light/Medium Bomber Shield:
Capacity: 14178
Recharge: 354

Heavy Bomber Shield:
Capacity: 17722
Recharge: 443

These shields take an additional 25% damage from all standard weapon types (Plasma, Neutron, Pulse, etc.), but take 35% less damage from Gunboats and Cruisers, and 55% less damage from Battlecruisers and Battleships. These modifiers are also listed in the shields' infocards.

As with most class reviews, we have standardized shield hitboxes across the Light Fighter and Bomber classes, with the actual size of the shield depending - in part - on their subclass (and thus, shield strength). This means capital ships should be hitting bombers a little more reliably, and light fighters' shields are significantly easier to hit as well.

---

Bomber Weapon Changes

As bombers gained improved anti-cap defences, higher agility and more weapon slots, we had to adjust their weapons accordingly. Our goal here is to force bombers to take some damage while fighting capitals, so that a swarm of bombers can't simply chew through an infinite number of caps. At the same time, powercores have gotten buffed and the efficiency of virtually all anti-cap bomber weapons has been significantly increased, reducing time-to-kill.

Bomber EMP Cannon
Energy Usage: 206 > 165
Speed: 600ms > 750ms

Designed to be paired with some of the faster bomber weapons. Also just much easier to hit things with.

Bomber Energy Cannon
Damage: 938 > 850
Energy Usage: 169 > 165

Some small nerfs to make up for bombers being able to mount up to six of these, rather than four.

Bomber Gatling Laser (former Bomber Chaingun)
Damage: 640 > 1060
Energy Usage: 100 > 254
Range: 750m > 600m

A very strong heavy slot laser. No longer capped by ammo. Fighters should fear these.

Bomber Neutron Blaster (former Bomber Scattergun)
Damage: 1425 > 3350
Energy Usage: 300 > 740
Refire: 4.00 > 0.50
Speed: 650ms > 700ms
Range: 150m > 500m

Scatterguns were effectively deleted from the game - by reducing their range to 150 - as nobody quite figured out how to balance them. Neutron Blasters, their successor, are more about chunking smaller ships for large amounts of their health.

Scorcher Bomb
Energy Usage: 1688 > 1300
Dispersion: 0.75 > 0.25

A large efficiency buff and improved ease of use & accuracy. Scorchers can bring down even larger caps relatively quickly.

Neutralizer Bomb
Energy Usage: 1875 > 1280

Kill shields with these. As good as ever, just more efficient.

SNAC:
Range: 1400 > 400

Unfortunately throughout our testing we kept bumping into a problem: no matter how strong we made other bomber weapons, it was never worth exposing yourself to taking damage if you could just lob one SNAC from a thousand meters. Combined with the new, stronger bomber shields, bombers were effectively invulnerable to capital ships as long as they stuck to only using the SNAC. Worth noting guns inherit the parent ship's velocity, and the effective range is roughly 630 meters - still plenty good enough to see use.

Nova Torpedo
Energy Usage: 18000 > 11000
Range: 4200 > 1400
Refire delay: 5s -> 10s
Turn rate: 0.15 > 0.05

Virtually a dumbfire Torpedo, Novas gained a large chunk of efficiency and some speed, but can no longer be fired from the other side of the system. You'll now have to expose yourself to at least some danger to fire these.

---

Light Fighter - Misc. Changes

Light Fighter guns have received, save for some very specific exceptions, a flat +20% damage buff. Their energy use has been scaled up proportionally (with a small exponential factor). A more in-depth review of their guns - and an increase in variety of faction and codename guns alike - is in the works, but wasn't ready for this patch.

Light Fighters now have a built-in 25% resistance to explosion damage. This means the arch-nemesis of the Light Fighter, the Mine Dropper, now poses slightly less of a threat to them. Of course this statistic is now also listed in ship infocards.

---

Thanks Haste. - piller
Now let's talk stats.
For clarity's sake, Red means old, and Green means new.

Bombers

Adad

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 6/0
- Base Armor: 17800
- Power Output: 1880/45390 > 1825/32880
- Batteries/NanoBots: 80/80
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 58.37° > 64.27°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.81s > 1.86s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.35s > 3.07s
- Scaled up by 7.5%.

This ship already was strong as hell prior to the patch, considering it was one of the few (if not the only one?) bombers who came with 6 guns. It had a medium core and was VHF sized, so, yeah, we had to do something about it. It's a proper Light Bomber now.

Barghest

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 24500
- Power Output: 2350/47000 > 2435/43840
- Batteries/NanoBots: 165/165 > 134/134
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 54.72° > 57.96°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.68s > 1.61s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.53s > 3.34s
- Scaled down by 10%.

How I love this beast. Most bombers ended up feeling pretty stellar to fly after our handling changes, but the Barghest in particular is smooth. It plays like one big nuclear bomb with engines strapped to it. Pick one up and drive at the nearest ship you can find, it'll probably explode out of fear before you even fire a shot.

Basilisk

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 20500
- Power Output: 1880/45390 > 2130/38360
- Batteries/NanoBots: 105/105
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 59.80° > 63.03°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.72s > 1.88s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.26s > 3.13s

I've always liked the design of these ships. Doesn't make much sense for a faction to consistently build their ships all rusty and worn, but hey, this is Freelancer. Logic and aesthetics clash all the time. Fortunately this one's only washed out in name only, as the Basilisk is a damn solid bomber, good match to the Cougar.

Blacktip

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 16200
- Power Output: 1722/38200 > 1825/32880
- Batteries/NanoBots: 84/84
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 60.88° > 64.46°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.72s > 1.98s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.21s > 3.08s

The Core's shark. I was never a fan of this shipline personally but hey, I can't deny it has some style. Borderline camouflaged in the blackness of the Omicrons, the Blacktip's new stat block makes it ready to drive some novas up someones ass, be them Nomad or Order.

Broadsword

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 21500
- Power Output: 1880/45390 > 2130/38360
- Batteries/NanoBots: 95/95
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 58.76° > 62.40°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.76s > 1.85s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.32s > 3.15s

Our good friend @aerelm back at it again with another remodel. Worth mentioning this Broadsword is a lot smaller than the old one, so keep that in mind. I always loved this ship and it's smaller sister (before it got replaced) so seeing it get a new higher quality model makes me very happy. And hyped.

Challenger

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 23000
- Power Output: 2350/47000 > 2435/43840
- Batteries/NanoBots: 150/150 > 126/126
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 53.48° > 57.24°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.69s > 1.65s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.61s > 3.38s

The Challenger always felt like an answer to the Molly Barghest, and it definitely delivers. With payloads as big as the ones this thing can dish out with its absurd powercore them Scyllas and Valors oughta' just take some laxatives to skip going to work.

Cougar

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 16400 > 18700
- Power Output: 1722/38200 > 1825/32880
- Batteries/NanoBots: 88/88
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 60.16°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.72s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.24s

Almost unchanged from the Cougar we all know and love beyond some backround handling and camera changes to make it feel more in-line with the rest of them, the Cougar still sits tall and mighty up there with the best of them. Very small and decently tanky for a light bomber. Plenty of style too.

Cutlass

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 19400 > 16200
- Power Output: 1722/38200 > 1825/32880
- Batteries/NanoBots: 95/85 > 86/86
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 58.73° > 63.39°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.72s > 1.82s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.24s > 3.1s

It's a Sabre with SNACs and Novas. What more could you ask for? We tried to make this one feel as close to home as possible, and I do think we managed it. Sabre with torps. Beautiful.

Eclipse

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 23900
- Power Output: 2350/47000 > 2435/43840
- Batteries/NanoBots: 160/160 > 136/136
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 55.07° > 60.10°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.69s > 1.61s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.51s > 3.23s

The name sure as hell works seeing as it eclipses everyone's screens with its fat ass. I'm sure you noticed that it's about as fast as a Cougar - and it's a heavy. Indeed. This thing really is that big. Can't deny it though, it sure is fun to zoom around with metric assloads of war crimes in the making in my hold in this ship, as big as it may be. You're going to take damage, but you're also going to deal lots of it. Sounds like a win to me.

Fafnir

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 24900
- Power Output: 2735/50880 > 2435/43840
- Batteries/NanoBots: 170/170 > 140/140
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 54.11° > 57.617°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.69s > 1.56s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.57s > 3.35s
- Scaled down by 15%.

The pride of Rheinland. It used to have a comically large powercore compared to everyone else, as the only thing it could do was dab on cap ships, what with its two forward firing weapons. No more. It has six frontal angry guns of doom and a few years of grudges and resentment that are reaching a boiling point ,eagerly awaiting another invasion of Texas.

Falcata MK II

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 21800 > 22800
- Power Output: 1880/45390 > 2435/43840
- Batteries/NanoBots: 110/110 > 122/122
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 58.28
- Time to Max Turn: 1.59s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.32s

Too bad I have to be neutral or positive in these stupid posts. Too bad I don't give much of an assbutt: I hate this ship. It's wack. Overdesigned, overdetailed, soulless. Didn't stop us from making it a true heavy bomber - as it used to be a medium while being the size of a small moon - but that won't stop me from loathing it. Feels good, tanks hard, has a gigantic core to dump, but I'ma' stick to the Cutlass whenever I feel like dabbing away with some Corsair bread baskets or whatever.

Havoc MK II

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 20300
- Power Output: 1880/45390 > 2130/38360
- Batteries/NanoBots: 110/110
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 58.57° > 62.18°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.53s > 1.8s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.3s > 3.16s

I never felt like this ship belonged in Freelancer if I'm allowed to spout some opinion-based word vomit. Didn't help that it felt like liquid ass to fly. I don't dislike it nearly as much anymore now that it's a real ship.

Jaguar

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 16200 > 16700
- Power Output: 1722/38200 > 1825/32880
- Batteries/NanoBots: 84/84 > 87/87
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 59.80° > 64.15°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.72s > 1.95s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.26s > 3.09s

Hey, look, it's the WW2 plane. Scary ship. Valors beware.

Jaguar Noir

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 15400
- Power Output: 1722/38200 > 1825/32880
- Batteries/NanoBots: 82/82 > 82/82
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 60.92° > 65.80°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.75s > 2s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.21s > 3.03s

Same model as the regular Jaguar, stats adjusted because I'm not allowing copy pasted poot in my space game. Overall more speedy at the expense of some armor. You know the drill with these Noirs by now.

Kaibyo

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 16400
- Power Output: 1722/38200 > 1825/32880
- Batteries/NanoBots: 85/85
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 60.88° > 63.79°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.72s > 2.13s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.21s > 3.13s

Isn't it funny how I just said I don't like copy pastes in my game and literally immediately after I'm talking about a complete 1:1 ship to the Umibozu? Yeah. Wack. But I can't make up 3 different types of stats for the same damn model. There's only so much you can do.

Kaichou

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 20400 > 17700
- Power Output: 1880/45390 > 1825/32880
- Batteries/NanoBots: 100/100 > 90/90
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 55.86° > 64.96°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.9s > 2.04s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.5s > 3.07s

Apparently this was a medium bomber before the patch. VHF sized. Thanks. We enlightened it. Cool ship still.

Mamoru

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 15200
- Power Output: 1722/38200 > 1825/32880
- Batteries/NanoBots: 75/75
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 59.09° > 64.69°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.72s > 2s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.3s > 3.07s

The Reaver Farmers Alliance bomber comes through in force even though you won't see anybody fly it, unfortunately. Very small, very fast. I love the design, even though the model is wack. Kusari CTE vibes.

Moray

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 17200
- Power Output: 1722/38200 > 1825/32880
- Batteries/NanoBots: 85/85
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 60.16° > 65.27°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.72s > 2.1s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.24s > 3.06s

Release me from this mortal coil. Haste had a panic attack trying to hardpoint this thing.

Nanda Devi

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 23200
- Power Output: 2350/47000 > 2435/43840
- Batteries/NanoBots: 155/155 > 124/124
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 53.48° > 59.18°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.69s > 1.67s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.61s > 3.28s
- Scaled down by 10%.

Doom's IMG ships were always really cool. Very Freelancer-y. The Devi remains a very scary heavy, not much else to say besides that it looks cool.

Nodachi

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 16000 > 15000
- Power Output: 1722/38200 > 1825/32880
- Batteries/NanoBots: 85/85 > 80/80
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 61.23° > 66.08°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.72s > 2.1s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.19s > 3.03s

Think Umibozu, but fast as hell. Fastest bomber in the game, tied with the Roc. Light as balls, mean as balls, has big balls.

Orchid

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 19600
- Power Output: 1880/45390 > 2130/38360
- Batteries/NanoBots: 100/100
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 58.73° > 62.34°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.72s > 1.93s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.31s > 3.17s

Very flowery. Smells like heroin. The only medium bomber in Kusari.

Panther

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 22000 > 21000
- Power Output: 1880/45390 > 2130/38360
- Batteries/NanoBots: 110/110
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 56.34° > 64.89°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.53s > 2.17s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.42s > 3.09s

This is the point when I realized that more than half of this post is memetext-less and I'm running out of funny words. Big Gaian scary bomber makes cruel Bretonian law enforcement officers turn vegan or something.

Praetorian

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 21000 > 22500
- Power Output: 1880/45390 > 2130/38360
- Batteries/NanoBots: 100/100
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 58.01° > 61.31°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.64s > 1.93s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.34s > 3.22s

I can't express my disappointment that this ship isnt a heavy bomber. We can't exactly make it one considering its size, but that doesn't make me any less upset. It's a Corsair ship and it's a medium. What a tragedy.

Pytho

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 20000 > 17500
- Power Output: 1880/45390 > 2130/38360
- Batteries/NanoBots: 100/100
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 59.09° > 62.55°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.72s > 1.95s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.3s > 3.16s

Pytho is a genus of dead log beetles in the family Pythidae. There are about nine described species in Pytho. It's also a pretty decent medium bomber.

Revolution

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 24700 > 22350
- Power Output: 2350/47000 > 2435/43840
- Batteries/NanoBots: 170/170 > 120/120
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 53.48° > 59.38°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.69s > 1.69s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.61s > 3.28s
- Scaled up by 5%.

Lead your next revolution through orbital bombardment.

Roc

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 17400
- Power Output: 1722/38200 > 1825/32880
- Batteries/NanoBots: 85/85
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 60.88° > 66.03°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.72s > 1.97s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.21s > 3.01s

"You ever fly a hot knife through butter? Really gross and stinky, but it's actually pretty fun seeing the brick turn responsively and bring its teeth to bear rather than skid around like a bobsled on olive oil." - Reeves.

Sekhmet

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 21700
- Power Output: 1722/38200 > 2130/38360
- Batteries/NanoBots: 105/105
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 58.01° > 59.15°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.64s > 1.62s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.34s > 3.28s

Ever wanted a Nephtys with a droopy nose? The Sekhmet's for you. Model's wack but it dinks caps pretty hard regardless.

Sense

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 20100
- Power Output: 1880/45390 > 2130/38360
- Batteries/NanoBots: 100/100
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 58.76° > 65.03°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.76s > 2.11s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.32s > 3.07s

Launch this off Darmstadt and go bomb Synth Foods. @Wildkins won't like you.

Solidaritat

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 20600
- Power Output: 1880/45390 > 2130/38360
- Batteries/NanoBots: 105/105
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 57.65° > 60.97°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.81s > 1.88s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.38s > 3.23s

This ship looks like a cheesegrater after it battled a blender to the death. It's strong (all bombers are), but ugly as sin.

Thor Mk I

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 18700 > 17900
- Power Output: 1880/45390 > 2130/38360
- Batteries/NanoBots: 92/92
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 63.19
- Time to Max Turn: 2.09s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.15s

I put in a screenshot of the old model of the Thor MK II so you can be surprised by how much better it looks ingame thanks to @aerelm. I love this ship so much.

Thor Mk II

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 23900
- Power Output: 2350/47000 > 2435/43840
- Batteries/NanoBots: 160/160 > 128/128
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 55.99° > 58.16°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.68s > 1.72s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.46s > 3.35s
- Scaled down by 10%.

Fatboy over here lost a little bit of weight but kept its teeth sharp. Still a mean ass heavy, the MK II can bully Bismarks with deadly efficiency.

Touketsu

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 16800 > 17800
- Power Output: 1722/38200 > 1825/32880
- Batteries/NanoBots: 82/82 > 89/89
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 61.23° > 64.10°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.72s > 1.94s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.19s > 3.09s

This ship reminds me of the Kaichou a lot. Both ships were intended to be VHFs, and both are now light bombers. Wild!
Slowly running out of random trivia. Bare with me, there's plenty more ships left.

Transgressor

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 22500
- Power Output: 2350/47000 > 2435/43840
- Batteries/NanoBots: 145/145 > 135/135
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 55.99° > 58.54°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.68s > 1.61s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.46s > 3.31s

The Bug. Bugman. Bug boy. This ship looks like a bug and it makes me mad. The textures are cool though. And its big guns.

Umibozu

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 16400
- Power Output: 1722/38200 > 1825/32880
- Batteries/NanoBots: 85/85
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 60.88° > 63.79°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.72s > 2.13s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.21s > 3.13s

The Nodachi took the Umibozu frame and tore some armor off for extra agility. The real deal doesn't need more turn rate to kill things, it's plenty deadly as-is.

Upholder

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 19800
- Power Output: 1880/45390 > 2130/38260
- Batteries/NanoBots: 98/98
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 58.37° > 61.60°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.72s > 1.8s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.33s > 3.18s

Hehe, "Cupholder". Comedy.
I need to hire somebody to write this for me as it's getting a little ridiculous. We're only halfway through and my dictionary runs empty.

Waran

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0 > 6/0
- Base Armor: 23000
- Power Output: 2350/47000 > 2435/43840
- Batteries/NanoBots: 150/150 > 130/130
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD CM 2xTorp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 54.02° > 59.07°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.86s > 1.54s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.07s > 3.27s
- Scaled down by 10%.

Remember when the Waran was the size of a Bismark? I don't either, but it was still plenty big and now it's not as big anymore. Imagine that! Heavy bomber, heavy duty.

---

Light Fighters

Arrow

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 2/0
- Base Armor: 3750
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1165/5825
- Batteries/NanoBots: 35/35
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 99.31
- Time to Max Turn: 1.75s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.07s
- Scaled down by 10%.

Finally finished bombers. Like 40 more ships left.
The Arrow's pretty much unchanged from the current game, with the exception of a rescale. It was intended to be a silly 2 gunner racing ship and it's distinct lack of polygons prevented us from doing anything else with it.

Bergelmir

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 14000 > 9050
- Power Output: 1722/38200 > 1265/6475
- Batteries/NanoBots: 80/80 > 45/45
- Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp 2xCD > CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 55.51° > 82.81°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.9s > 1.65s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.52s > 2.41s
- Is now a Light Fighter.

Silliest ship in the mod. I can't even begin to imagine the thought process behind this thing. "Hey, what if we made the ship the size of a Liberator into a bomber?" What even. With the Fafnir now being a real ship, the Berg can turn into the Rheinland lawful Light Fighter, something it hasn't had since the Banshee turned into a Heavy Fighter ages ago. Heavy and mean, it does fit in well with the rest of the snubs Rheinland has to offer.

Caracal

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 4950 > 9270
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1210/6150
- Batteries/NanoBots: 44/44 > 47/47
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 76.39° > 82.45°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.29s > 1.78s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.54s > 2.44s

It's a bird, it's a plane! No, it's just a medium-sized cat native to Africa. Coincidentally, it's also a medium-sized light fighter native to Gallia. How the stars align.

Legionnaire

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 3700 > 8900
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1165/6475
- Batteries/NanoBots: 44/44 > 45/45
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 75.20° > 89.68°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.29s > 1.95s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.58s > 2.29s

This one's funny. Initially we went for a tame 83.30 turn rate, right? Then we realized that the front profile of a Legionnaire is just a Titan with 35 less nanobots. It was hilariously bad compared to its peers, magnetically attracting projectiles to it because of how big it is from the front. By far the biggest jump in turn rate out of any ship in the game, I think.

Eros

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 4350 > 7900
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1210/6150
- Batteries/NanoBots: 42/42 > 46/46
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 89.76° > 84.94°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.75s > 1.68s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.26s > 2.36s

According to Greek mythos, Eros is the Greek god of love and sex. Very epic. That's pretty cool. It doesn't [ADMIN CENSORED] while in flight but it's pretty cool.

Gecko

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 4100 > 8510
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1165/5825
- Batteries/NanoBots: 37/37 > 43/43
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 87.85° > 85.39°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.66s > 1.84s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.29s > 2.37s

The Maquis answer to the Caracal. Significantly more nimble at the expense of less armor and core, the usual. Not to disown it- its still very fun to fly.

Gitano

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 4300 > 8800
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1265/6475
- Batteries/NanoBots: 39/39 > 47/47
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 89.76° > 82.32°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.98s > 1.74s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.29s > 2.44s

I have never in my life seen this ship flown by anybody. If only it had more junkery textures ala the Collector, it would be cool. Alas, all we have for a Junker LF is a droopy slab of cardboard. It was slowed down pretty hard mostly to follow the Junker heavy ship theme. Heavy powercore, heavy nanobots, you know.

Gladius

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 4600 > 8770
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1210/6150
- Batteries/NanoBots: 42/42
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 84.88° > 83.10°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.43s > 1.74s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.33s > 2.42s

Take the Rapier and visciously tear off its 500 engines and you have the Gladius. You know, that sword Legionnaires use.
Put me out of my misery.

Hayabusa

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 3/0
- Base Armor: 3400 > 7750
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1165/5825
- Batteries/NanoBots: 35/35 > 43/43
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 87.85° > 88.15°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.75s > 1.78s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.3s > 2.3s
- Scaled up by 40%.

A 40% upscale may sound like a lot, but it genuinely looks like a real ship now. The hardpoints on it look properly scaled too. It's as if whoever put this ship in the game initially scaled it down by exactly 40% and then dumped it in because it was bigger than a Liberator. Yes, well, now it exists in a 3D space. Still fast as hell though.

Hussar

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 4800 > 9400
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1265/6475
- Batteries/NanoBots: 42/42 > 43/43
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 76.39 > 83.08°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.29s > 1.86s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.54s > 2.44s

Ever wanted to fly a shrimp? The Cavalier is here to fulfill your wish! Man, this ship's so adorable. Such a powerful crimson chin too. Great ship.

Jackal

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 4100 > 8160
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1265/6475
- Batteries/NanoBots: 35/35 > 46/46
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 80.21° > 85.77°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.29s > 1.75s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.43s > 2.35s

Take a Liberator, scream at it for a few years, and then you get a Jackal. Fast, tanky, mean. It looks like a torpedo. How fitting.

Liberator

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 3600 > 7600
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1165/5825
- Batteries/NanoBots: 38/38 > 40/40
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 84.03
- Time to Max Turn: 1.75s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.4s
- Scaled up by 15%.

My favorite Light Fighter by far, I touched its handling only internally, as I felt that the stats were good for it. Most LFs were just a copy paste of the Liberator and I almost went insane re-doing Liberator after Liberator but hey, at least I didn't have to alter the original. With its new scale it looks presentable near a Guardian, as if it was always meant to be this way. Ah, how I love it. LPI rejoice.

Manaslu

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 5250 > 9240
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1265/6475
- Batteries/NanoBots: 44/44 > 45/45
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 89.76° > 82.57°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.75s > 1.54s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.26s > 2.4s

Remember when we talked about the Nanda Devi? Same shtick here. Cool ship. Heavy ship. It has stats, I don't know. I'm running out of words.

Mistral

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 3900 > 7800
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1210/6150
- Batteries/NanoBots: 40/40 > 40/40
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 80.21° > 87.14°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.47s > 1.73s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.46s > 2.32s
- Scaled up by 15%.

The upscaled Mistrals are so hilariously fitting near Cuirassiers, it's truly shocking. Finally hittable. Can't wait to fly this thing.

Mistral Noir

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 3800 > 7300
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1165/5825
- Batteries/NanoBots: 38/38 > 37/37
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 80.21° > 92.49°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.47s > 1.79s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.46s > 2.21s
- Scaled up by 15%.

Same as its Brigand sister. Lovely ship. Fast as hell.

Neko

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 4000 > 7400
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1210/6150
- Batteries/NanoBots: 40/40 > 38/38
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 76.39° > 87.25°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.29s > 1.94s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.54s > 2.34s
- Scaled up by 15%.

Take a Wyrm and vomit some yellow on it. Grumble grumble.

Onuris

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 5100 > 9000
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1265/6475
- Batteries/NanoBots: 44/44
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 85.94° > 84.44°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.75s > 1.74s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.35s > 2.38s
- Scaled up by 15%.

The Onuris was always such a stylish little thing that was unfortunately plagued by not having a hitbox, shield bubble, or being balanced in general. Both aids and weak as hell at the same time. How sad. Not anymore though! It boasts stats out the ass. Heavy core, lotsa nanos, and style.

Partisan

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 7500 > 9440
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1265/6475
- Batteries/NanoBots: 47/47
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 77.54° > 81.74°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.29s > 1.56s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.51s > 2.43s

Every time this ship does a turn it looks like a dead fish flying at you menacingly. It's so beautiful. My favorite Coalition ship, hands down, no question.

Piranha

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 8900 > 8700
- Power Output: 1165/5750 > 1210/6150
- Batteries/NanoBots: 47/47 > 46/46
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 86.33°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.79s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.35s

First thing to note: It doesn't have a class 10 shield anymore. That was my bad, in its initial rebalance I forgot to tear it off. It should be significantly less wack to shoot and kill now.

Dagger

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 5/0
- Base Armor: 8600
- Power Output: 1165/5750 > 1165/5850
- Batteries/NanoBots: 44/44
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 84.03° > 85.18°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.86s > 1.61s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.07s > 2.35s

The Dagger is back. Never thought I'd see the day. More turn and its powercore has been updated, but otherwise it's the same ship.

Silvertip

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 7400 > 8220
- Power Output: 1140/9800 > 1210/6150
- Batteries/NanoBots: 44/44 > 45/45
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 75.88° > 83.62°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.42s > 1.58s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.58s > 2.42s

The Core's answer to the Order Onuris. Light and nimble, yada yada, it's a light fighter. What do you want from me?

Skeleton

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 5/0
- Base Armor: 9000 > 8820
- Power Output: 1265/6450 > 1210/6150
- Batteries/NanoBots: 48/48
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 80.11° > 82.20°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.61s > 1.61s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.48s > 2.42s

Fat stats, yo. Take a Dagger and hammer more armor plating over it. That's how you get a Skeleton.

Stargazer

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 4000 > 8000
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1165/5825
- Batteries/NanoBots: 37/37 > 43/43
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 80.21° > 87.09°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.38s > 1.66s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.44s > 2.31s

Bet you didn't expect to see this ship here, ey? Well, it's a ship that exists in the game, and it's a light fighter. Couldn't have ignored it. It's huge, so we're not totally sure if its competitive yet or not, but in theory, it should be. So, uh, if you want to fly a Stargazer into combat for some reason... go ahead. It'll work.

Tanto

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 4100 > 7090
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1165/5825
- Batteries/NanoBots: 35/35 > 36/36
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 80.21° > 94.16°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.29s > 1.89s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.43s > 2.19s
- Scaled up by 15%.

This is the fastest Light Fighter in the game, boys. 94 turn rate of total domination. Its core is light and its armor plating is even lighter, so you better know what you're doing if you step inside this thing. Fitting for the Blood Dragons, no? Best fighter pilots in the colonies.

Tiger Shark

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 3900 > 7540
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1165/5825
- Batteries/NanoBots: 36/36 > 37/37
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 91.67° > 85.94°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.75s > 1.75s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.22s > 2.35s

let me out of here please i dont want to look at this thing ever again

Tournez

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 5/0
- Base Armor: 5200 > 10300
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1230/8825
- Batteries/NanoBots: 46/46 > 56/56
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 82.12° > 76.39°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.29s > 1.61s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.38s > 2.59s
- Is now a Heavy Fighter.

All one of you who owned a Tournez prior will either be happy or sad to know that it's now a Heavy Fighter. We're sorry, but it was just way too huge. We gave it stats and armor out da' wazoo, of course, but it's a Heavy Fighter nonetheless. Ain't zooming around at mach 5 anymore.

Wyrm

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
- Base Armor: 4000 > 7400
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1210/6150
- Batteries/NanoBots: 40/40 > 38/38
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 76.39° > 87.25°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.29s > 1.94s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.54s > 2.34s
- Scaled up by 15%.

You know how it goes with Kusari fighters by now. More armor and core than the Blood Dragon variants, at the expense of turn rate.

Starboys

Starflier

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 3/0
- Base Armor: 3000 > 7500
- Power Output: 1000/8500 > 1165/5825
- Batteries/NanoBots: 23/23 > 45/45
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 95.49° > 93.35°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.75s > 1.85s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.14 > 2.2s

Yeah, they're getting their own category. Bite me. The Starflier is back and with such blooming stats. I'm too hyped to type anything about it, so I'ma' go mount some Tarantulas on it and attack defenseless Rhinos.

Startracker

- Gun/Turret Mounts: N/A > 4/0
- Base Armor: N/A > 10270
- Power Output: N/A > 1175/7900
- Batteries/NanoBots: N/A > 55/55
- Equipment Mounts: CM Torp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: N/A > 82.59°
- Time to Max Turn: N/A > 1.65s
- Time to turn 180°: N/A > 2.42s

Yep. This one too. We're doing it.
Fun fact: it is a 4 gunner, yes, but it has two class 6 slots! It's a hybrid, and boy is it fun to fly. Fastest Heavy Fighter, definitely. Even beats out the Falcon.

Starblazer

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 5/0
- Base Armor: 10825 > 11440
- Power Output: 1180/11400
- Batteries/NanoBots: 60/60 > 65/65
- Equipment Mounts: CM Torp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 69.46° > 72.53°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.32s > 1.48s
- Time to turn 180°: 2.78s > 2.7s

The 'Blazer got some love too! Sped up hard, given more nanos and more armor. Again, fastest Very Heavy Fighter yet. Isn't it beautiful? I better see you corp players escorting transports in these. Game won't be complete until then.

Super Heavy Fighters

To not repeat myself 600 times, the general gist of these changes is that they SHFs listed got more agility, with some even getting some extra bots like the Anzu and Magpie.

Anzu

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 9/0
- Base Armor: 22200
- Power Output: 1500/15000
- Batteries/NanoBots: 90/90 > 105/105
- Equipment Mounts: CM Torp 2xCD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 64.27° > 64.27°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.86s > 0.91s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.07s > 3.31s

Magpie

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 8/0
- Base Armor: 20000
- Power Output: 1625/16250
- Batteries/NanoBots: 86/86 > 96/96
- Equipment Mounts: CM Torp CD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 57.51° > 58.34°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.09s > 1.01s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.29s > 3.23s

Dragoon

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 7/0
- Base Armor: 28000
- Power Output: 1750/17500
- Batteries/NanoBots: 126/126
- Equipment Mounts: CM Torp 2xCD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 56.72° > 59.16°
- Time to Max Turn: 0.93s > 1s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.31s > 3.19s

Werewolf

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 6/0
- Base Armor: 24660
- Power Output: 1750/17500
- Batteries/NanoBots: 119/119
- Equipment Mounts: CM Torp 2xCD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 57.59° > 60.94°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.07s > 1.07s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.28s > 3.11s

Osprey Mk II

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 5/2
- Base Armor: 25250
- Power Output: 1625/16250
- Batteries/NanoBots: 110/110
- Equipment Mounts: CM Torp 2xCD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 58.00° > 59.96°
- Time to Max Turn: 0.98s > 0.98s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.25s > 3.14s

Recycler

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 2/5
- Base Armor: 26800
- Power Output: 1750/17500
- Batteries/NanoBots: 131/131
- Equipment Mounts: CM Torp 2xCD
- Maximum Turn Rate: 55.6° > 58.78°
- Time to Max Turn: 0.94s > 0.94s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.37s > 3.2s

Claymore

- Gun/Turret Mounts: 7/0
- Base Armor: 18600
- Power Output: 1500/15000
- Batteries/NanoBots: 82/82
- Equipment Mounts: CM CD FWG
- Maximum Turn Rate: 60.79° > 61.14°
- Time to Max Turn: 1.28s > 1.11s
- Time to turn 180°: 3.15s > 3.1s

New Ships



LHX3-F2S "Longsword" Liberty Blackmarket Heavy Fighter

Gun/Turret Mounts: 6/0
Base Armor: 10880
Cargo Space: 60
Power Output: 1230/8825
Batteries/NanoBots: 57/57
Equipment Mounts: CM Torp CD
Maximum Turn Rate: 77.16°
Time to Max Turn: 1.64s
Time to turn 180°: 2.57s

This used to be my favorite Very Heavy Fighter, called "Falchion", before the current model replaced it. Admittedly the model was bad, but the design was really cool - and there it is. The Longsword is what I've always wanted out of the old Falchion, so I made sure to dump some hard stats into it to make sure it's good. I'll be very surprised if it isn't. @aerelm project.

LHX5-F1I "Kali" Borderworlds Light Fighter

Gun/Turret Mounts: 4/0
Base Armor: 8100
Cargo Space: 50
Power Output: 1165/5825
Batteries/NanoBots: 47/47
Equipment Mounts: CM CD
Maximum Turn Rate: 86.33°
Time to Max Turn: 1.66s
Time to turn 180°: 2.33s

Cute baby Falchion. @aerelm at it again with the cool models.

LHX5-F1B "Lance" Borderworlds Bomber

Gun/Turret Mounts: 6/0
Base Armor: 19000
Cargo Space: 85
Power Output: 1825/32880
Batteries/NanoBots: 84/84
Equipment Mounts: CM 2xTorp CD
Maximum Turn Rate: 62.81°
Time to Max Turn: 1.91s
Time to turn 180°: 3.14s

And the bomber. Only thing left for @aerelm to do is to pull a Heavy Fighter out of his big ship folder and we have a full shipline here. Pretty cool, innit?

BVHF08 "Sirocco" Brigand Very Heavy Fighter

Gun/Turret Mounts: 6/0
Base Armor: 12150
Cargo Space: 70
Power Output: 1300/13400
Batteries/NanoBots: 69/69
Equipment Mounts: CM Torp CD
Maximum Turn Rate: 67.72°
Time to Max Turn: 1.31s
Time to turn 180°: 2.85s

Bet you thought it'd never happen. Well, neither did we, but we saw it in the game files and Haste went "screw it". @aerelm once again helped with it, properly finishing the model for Haste to put into the game.

CB14-H "Sirocco Noir" Unione Corse Very Heavy Fighter

Gun/Turret Mounts: 6/0
Base Armor: 11890
Cargo Space: 70
Power Output: 1240/12400
Batteries/NanoBots: 66/66
Equipment Mounts: CM Torp CD
Maximum Turn Rate: 69.63°
Time to Max Turn: 1.31s
Time to turn 180°: 2.78s

Teerin would be happy with this. 7 years in the making. At least the ship is in the gane in the end, yeah?

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Conclusion

these patch notes were harder to do than the balancing im gonna go play kenshi

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Discovery Freelancer 4.95.3 Capital Ship Balance Changes

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Hello there folks, this is your resident ex-Colonial boi Shooter. While I would love this patch note to be the capital ships rework, it is not, that thing has a rather long way ahead. Instead we have rather small additions and changes for y'all this time. With this patch we focused on outlier battlecruisers and helped the new Corsair "Tribunus" Battlecruiser to get implemented.

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Changes

Bullhead

- Changed: Secondary Turret placements and arcs adjusted.

Bullhead was found to be an incredibly janky ship that had its guns clipping like hell and secondaries were rather awkward to shoot. This is mostly a QoL change rather than an actual balance need. To alleviate the compromises some of the position changes brought to the table, we have added two more secondaries to it. Looks much better now.

Irra

- Changed: Heavy Turret arcs are changed to prevent the Irra from firing 4 heavies 360 degrees.
- Max Turn rate was reduced to 11.70° from 11.91°
- Time to %90 Turn was reduced to 0.41s from 0.35s

The Irra was every battlecruiser player's wet dream except that dream was filled with *ours*~tentacles~'OPness'. Capability of firing 4 heavies with 360 degree arcs, alongside having the absolute best HP pool, turn rate and a respectable time to %90 turn, combined with a footprint that was similar to LABC made this thing the way to deal with any ~dark~*metal*-husk-. We have opted to limit two of the heavies' arcs and nerfed the turn rate accordingly. The end result is, the ship is still very versatile and can still respond to any situation, except it can not bring all the firepower to the rear of it anymore, while being effectively as nimble as a light battlecruiser.

Vidar

- Made a Light Battlecruiser
- Model upscaled by %20
- Base Armor adjusted to 1.350.000
- Max Turn rate adjusted to 11.52°
- Time to %90 Max adjusted to 0.23s
- Red Hessian Battlecruiser Primary and Secondaries added

THE WAIT HAS COME TO AN END! We have heard and thought that Vidar should be a Battlecruiser, for years at this point. Once upon a time fat and miserable Venator Star Destroyer cosplayer Heavy Cruiser that was not heavy enough to tank properly and not agile enough to dodge properly, with the Tribunus' arrival, could be put out of this position and redeem itself as one of the lightest battlecruisers instead. We will closely monitor how this change affects the Vidar and Omega region in general and continue to do balance passes as needed.

New Additions

Tribunus

- Added: Corsair "Tribunus" Medium Battlecruiser
- Base Armor of 1.400.000
- Max Turn rate of 11.80°
- Time to %90 Max of 0.33s
- Corsair Battlecruiser Primary and Secondaries added

The mighty Corsair Battlecruiser has come. Featuring more horns than a Chaos warship and an angry glowing head on the front, this warship is more Spartan than Leonidas and more Cretan than El Pepe. Tribunus was a long awaited capital ship by the Corsair playerbase and it hits two birds with one stone. Competes with the "Hasta" Outcast Battlecruiser and it allowed Vidar to be made a Battlecruiser without leaving Corsairs behind. In the tests we have ran, this ship turned out to be an ideal chaser, while we have given it a high turn rate in hopes of alleviating it's great weakness in kiting due to the shape, as this thing is essentially an inverse Fortitude, shape-wise.

---

Conclusion

This is my first time writing a section in patch notes, so I hope my long rambling did not bore you to death. I want to thank to @bakugone for rigorously testing and doing hardpointing stuff, @Val for balancing Vidar.

Big thanks to @AngelofMercy for the model.

[HonourWolf]

Discovery Freelancer 5.1 Balance Changes

Contents List

New Features and Miscellaneous Changes

Fighter Crafts, Bombers, Freighters

General
Equipment
Fighter Craft
Bombers
Freighters

Capital Ships

General
Gunboats
Cruisers
Battlecruisers
Battleships

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As stated previously in our balance-focused dev blog, The Inter-Class Balance Puzzle, Aftershock's balance changes are focused on the interplay between the many classes of combat ships available in Discovery Freelancer. After years of gradual powercreep, we have applied an across-the-board reduction of overall armor, shield and damage output stats to all larger ship classes, from Gunboats and Transports to Battleships. This, of course, then required us to make many changes to Fighters and - especially - Bombers to keep snub versus capital gameplay fair, balanced, and most importantly enjoyable for both sides. After extensive testing, we're finally satisfied with the results, so let's get into it.

Given the large structural changes in the patch, we're choosing not to provide line-by-line, item-by-item patch notes, as individually they wouldn't make a great deal of sense and would just present players with an impossible to parse wall of text. Instead, we're aiming to provide as much useful information as possible.

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NEW FEATURES AND MISCELLANEOUS CHANGES

Reticle Snap

Players can now disable the magnetism of their guns towards the reticle with a hotkey.

This is generally useful for capital ships to enable them to fire at longer ranges without allowing for the reticle to mess up with their own shot calculations. (Known before as blindfiring)
For snub players, it can be used to mitigate the common ways most players use to dodge shots, i.e. by spiralling.

This feature does not have a default hotkey, remember to set it in your Controls under the Multiplayer Category

Arming Time

Certain Mines and Torpedoes now require a specific amount of time to pass after they're launched in order to arm themselves. If they reach their target before then or are destroyed they will "fizzle out" and deal no damage.
Benefits attackers where their munitions won't be targetted and blown up right ontop of themselves.
Benefits defenders where munitions shot at them at a short range won't be confirmed and easy hits.

Cruise Power Drain

Light Fighters' power will no longer be drained while cruising.

Disabling Shield Recharge

Previously, the /shields command was used to completely disable shields. Now, instead, only shield regeneration will be disabled. On average, shields now draw significantly more energy to regenerate.
This allows players to trade shield recharge for increased sustained damage output.

Tip: The /shields command can be bound to a hotkey. This can also be found in your Controls under the Multiplayer Category.

Deep Core Mining

We're rolling out a new mining system for gold ore in Dublin. Other ores are likely to follow, but we would like to first gather feedback and see what may or may not need to change. Instead of flying to a small, designated zone and shooting tiny rocks for a few minutes, players will find that Dublin's gold mining zone has changed and is now covered in a thick cloud of dust. Scattered throughout this field, there are large destructable asteroids. These asteroids can be easily found by switching the target list to the "loot" tab, and are named "Resource-Rich Asteroid".

Once an asteroid is found, the following steps are required to successfully mine it:

First, prepare the asteroid for mining by firing your mining laser at its "shield". A large dust explosion occurs when the shield is fully depleted and this step is complete.

Second, strip away parts of the outer shell of the asteroid. You can find vulnerable parts of the shell by using the wireframe view, or visually by looking for parts of the rock that are "inset" slightly into the larger asteroid. The asteroid's shell is highly vulnerable to explosives, and smaller craft can use missiles to great effect to strip much of the rock away with just a few salvos. Take care not to use overly high-yield missiles, as they may inadvertantly end up destroying the entire asteroid, costing you a lot of valuable ore.

Third, fire any of your normal, non-explosive weapons or turrets at the small gold veins found underneath the outer shell to collect your gold ore. Note: this ore drops in space and needs to be manually tractored and will not be automatically added to your cargo hold.

Finally, destroying the asteroid fully drops another batch of gold ore. The "Hegemon" Asteroid Miner receives a particularly large amount of ore from this step, making it efficient to only mine out easily-accessible parts of the asteroid and then blowing up the asteroid itself prior to moving on to the next.

Notes:

Overall mining time using this method has been deliberately increased to make mining itself more of an activity, where previously the focus of mining was put mostly on moving ore to local storage as quickly as possible using 5k transports. The price of gold ore has been increased accordingly, and gold refineries have increased yields. We will of course keep a close eye on this to ensure gold ore is still worth mining and refining.

Currently, Mining Containers are not capable of storing ore mined this way. We will likely look into ways to make the container useful for this to help out mining ships with smaller cargo holds.

Class-Agnostic Changes

Overall, scanners have had their range increased. In addition, we have done a balance pass over the various scanner types to make each of them viable:

Scanners

Scanner:
Range: 15000m -> 17500m
Cargo Scan Range: 1000m -> 2500m

Deep Scanner:
Range: 13500m - 17000m
Cargo Scan Range: 4000m

Advanced Deep Scanner:
Range: 15000m -> 18000m
Cargo Scan Range: 2000m

Minified Spyglass Scanner:
Range: 15000m -> 18000m
Cargo Scan Range: 6000m

Cargo Scanner:
Range: 12000m -> 16000m
Cargo Scan Range: 6500m -> 7500m

Advanced Cargo Scanner:
Range: 11000m -> 15500m
Cargo Scan Range: 9000m -> 9500m

Jintsuriki Scanner:
Range: 16000m -> 19000m
Cargo Scan Range: 4000m

Battleship Scanner:
Range: 18000m -> 19000m
Cargo Scan Range: 9500m

Spyglass Network Scanner:
Range: 16000m -> 19000m
Cargo Scan Range: 4000m

Miscellaneous Changes:

Audio issues for multi-barrel weapons have been resolved.

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FIGHTER CRAFT, BOMBERS, FREIGHTERS

General Fighter Craft Changes:

Snub ranges: (600 - 800) -> (525 - 600)

Snub strafe forces have been reduced to lower the ability to "box" targets, in particular capital ships.

Snubs are now able to use all classes of snub weapons apart from Bomber Special Weapons (Nova Torpedoes, Scorcher Bombs, etc.)

All Fighter Heavy Weapons are now placed on hardpoints closest to the center of the ship.

Fighter Craft Equipment Changes

Gun Changes:

Class 1 (Light Fighter): Damage per second significantly decreased. All Class 1 guns are now hybrid weapons, dealing additional energy damage equal to 25% of their hull damage. This results in them dealing 75% of their hull damage to shields, rather than the usual 50%.

Class 2 (Fighter): Unchanged.

Class 3 (Elite): Bomber guns have been merged into this class, giving Light, Heavy and Very Heavy Fighters access to them. Their damage has been reduced, but is still higher than that of conventional fighter weaponry. In return, however, they add mass to the ship they are mounted on.

Class 4 (Fighter Heavy): Bomber Heavy Weapons like Hellfire Rocket Pods and Deluges have been merged into this class. Similarly to lighter bomber guns, their damage output has been reduced but remains high. As a tradeoff, they add an even greater amount of mass to the ship they are mounted on.

As a ship's mass increases, its acceleration and deceleration increases proportionally. This affects linear movement like impulsing, thrusting and strafing, but does not affect turn rates.

Mines

Self Detonating Mines:

Swatters now detonate themselves at the end of their lifetimes to introduce another way of applying their damage.

Swatter Mines' muzzle speed (velocity at which they are fired away from the user's ship) has been reduced, resulting in them dropping much closer to the user.

Wardog Mines have been reverted back to a state comparable to pre-5.0, with the following changes:

Added arming time of 0.333 seconds
Reduced linear drag: results in the mine inheriting the owner's velocity for longer, causing the mine to stay closer to them.
Detonation Distance ("proximity fuse"): 10 -> 13 meters
Lifetime: 10 -> 9 seconds
Acceleration: 250 -> 300 m/s^2
Top Speed: 70 -> 75 m/s

Seeker Mines:

Acceleration: 400m/s^2 -> 350m/s^2

Missiles

Light Missiles (Javelins and their faction counterparts):

Detonation Distance: 7.5 -> 6
Power Usage: 1560 -> 2340

Special and Endurance Thrusters(Bluebird, Furnace, Cheetah)

Thruster Drain: 110 -> 115

This change was made to allow us to more easily tune Light Fighter thruster energy. Previously, all Light Fighter thruster balance had to be done with Cheetah usage in mind, making the class needlessly expensive to outfit compared to other fighters.

Fighter Craft Changes

Fighter powercore recharge has been increased to partially offset shields' increased power drain.

Light Fighters:

Cruise charge is now 3s

Cruise drain will now not affect Light Fighters

Light Fighters' survivability has been shifted from armor into shields. In addition, we've made their shield "bubble" hitboxes substantially larger. As a result, this means that players are more often shooting a larger, easier target.

Stat Comparison Between 5.0 and 5.1

5.0 Patriot:
Batteries / Nanobots: 34 / 34
Shield Bubble Volume: 1000

5.1 Patriot:
Batteries / Nanobots: 85 / 17
Shield Bubble Volume: 2000

5.0 Dagger:
Batteries / Nanobots: 39 / 39
Shield Bubble Volume: 1250

5.1 Dagger:
Batteries / Nanobots: 95 / 19
Shield Bubble Volume: 2000

Thruster Energy: 75/350 | 80/400 -> 80/250

LF Shield Drain: 10 -> 325

Light LF Recharge: 1080 -> 1230

Medium LF Recharge: 1100 -> 1290

Heavy LF Recharge: 1140 -> 1340

Tsuyo Adjustments:

Now has LF Shield Bubble and LF-class Shields

Heavy Fighters:

HF Shield Drain: 10 -> 245

Light HF Recharge: 1100 -> 1225

Medium HF Recharge: 1160 -> 1285

Heavy HF Recharge: 1220 -> 1345

Marauder Adjustments:

Increased bank angle

Loki Mk II Adjustments:

Re-added sixth gun

Very Heavy Fighters:

VHF Shield Drain: 10 -> 295

Light VHF Recharge: 1180 -> 1330

Medium VHF Recharge: 1240 -> 1390

Heavy VHF Recharge: 1300 -> 1450

Shihai Adjustments:

Power core:

Recharge reduced: 1510 -> 1420
Capacity reduced: 12400 -> 11360

Survivability:

Armor increased: 13250 -> 15235
Nanobots increased: 66 -> 76
Shield batteries increased: 82 -> 90

Agility:

Turn Rate: 73.37 -> 76.31

Prosecutor Adjustments:

Camera improvements
Less bank angle
Stronger power core
Faster roll rate
Response time decreased

Lynx Adjustments:

Maximum Turn rate increase
Minor Response time increase

Irezumi Adjustments:

Hardpoint locations have been changed
Decreased bank angle
Minor camera improvement

Harrier Adjustments:

Faster roll rate

Bomber Changes

Reworked Bombers:

They are highly versatile and can mount all classes of fighter and bomber weapons.
They have stronger shields than other fightercraft, although recharging these shields costs a significant portion of their power recharge.
Bombers are now more agile than before.
Bomber powerplant capacity and recharge has been significantly reduced.
Heavy Bombers have been scaled down improving their ability to evade fire.

Reworked Bomber Torpedoes & Bombs:

Scorchers and Neutralizers are now ammo-based with restrictive ammo counts, encouraging use of docking modules to restock allied bombers. As with lighter bomber weapons, the damage per second of bombs has been significantly reduced. Instead, their extremely high efficiency allows bombers to continue dealing damage even with little power remaining.
Nova Torpedoes and Incapacitator Torpedoes are now -- once again -- long-range torpedoes designed to apply pressure to capital ships from relative safety. However, with an arming time of 6.5 seconds, using them at close range is virtually impossible. In addition, larger hitboxes for the torpedoes themselves provide capital ships with ample counterplay: torpedoes can be either flakked or shot down with primary or secondary turrets. As with Neutralizer and Scorcher Bombs, torpedo ammo is highly limited, and bombers should expect to run out of ammo quickly without capital ship support.

Bomber Shields

Bomber Shield Capacity: 5519 -> 5632
Bomber Shield Power Drain: 10 -> 615

Adv. Bomber Shield Capacity: 9280 -> 7004
Adv. Bomber Shield Power Drain: 10 -> 720

Bomber Archetype Change Examples

Light Bomber

Roc:

Armor: 18000 -> 16905
Regens(Bats/Bots): 160/75 -> 85/85
Max Turn Rate: 66.03 deg -> 67.66
Time to 90%: 0.66s -> 0.4912s
Power Core(Recharge/Capacity): 1825/32880 -> 1570/21300
Shield Type: BMB

Medium Bomber:

Upholder:

Armor: 19800 -> 15480
Regens(Bats/Bots): 180/83 -> 77/77
Max Turn Rate: 63.63 deg -> 65.25
Time to 90%: 0.61s -> 0.4670s
Power Core(Recharge/Capacity): 2130/38360 -> 1630/23680
Shield: BMB -> Adv.BMB

Heavy Bomber:

Waran:

Armor: 24800 -> 18405
Regens(Bats/Bots): 232/103 -> 92/92
Max Turn Rate: 59.07 deg -> 63.65
Time to 90%: 0.52s -> 0.4216s
Power Core(Recharge/Capacity): 2435/43840 -> 1570/21300
Shield: Adv.BMB -> BMB

To reiterate on the scale of heavy bombers being brought down, here is a comparison:

Spoiler

Guns

Arbalest:

Hull: 1138 -> 910
Shield: 1138 -> 910
Power Usage: 347.20 -> 746.10
Refire: 1.50
Speed: 500 m/s -> 700 m/s
Range: 625 m -> 540 m

Lacerators:

Hull: 45 -> 36
Shield: 432 -> 346
Power Usage: 211 -> 230.30
Refire: 4.00
Speed: 550 m/s -> 750 m/s
Range: 600 m -> 535 m

Renders:

Hull: 414 -> 331
Shield: 207 -> 165.5
Power Usage: 174 -> 196.90
Refire: 4.00
Speed: 500 m/s -> 700 m/s
Range: 625 m -> 540 m

Sunderer:

Hull: 254 -> 203
Shield: 127 -> 101.50
Power Usage: 85.30 -> 100.80
Refire: 6.67
Speed: 450 m/s -> 650 m/s
Range: 650 m -> 545 m

Hellfire Rocket Pods:

Hull: 769 -> 692
Shield: 384 -> 346
Power Usage: 180.60 -> 288.5
Refire: 6.00 -> 3.03
Speed: 450 m/s -> 650
Range: 562 m -> 565 m
Ammo Count: 6000 -> 1000 per launcher

Deluge:

Hull: 424 -> 212
Shield: 212 -> 106
Power Usage: 228.50 -> 95.30
Refire: 8.33
Speed: 750 m/s
Range: 750m -> 555 m

Havoc Adjustments:

Increased bank angle

Freighter Changes

Rippers, Seekers, and Screamers are now stackable for the 2 mine slots on Freighters.

In general, freighters are stronger offensively -- provided you disable shields to reduce power draw if needed -- while having stronger shields than before. In return for this, however, they have had their armor significantly reduced (by approximately 50%).

Example for Freighter Shields:

Adv. Aegis Fr. Shield:

Capacity: 8352 -> 8235
Regeneration Rate: 209 -> 274
Shield Drain: 10 -> 550

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CAPITAL SHIPS

General Capital Ship Changes

All ships in the Transport, Gunboat, Cruiser, Battlecruiser and Battleship classes have had the following stats reduced:

Armor (Components included): -50%
Powercore Capacity: -50%
Powercore Recharge: -50%
Gun/Turret Damage: -50%
Gun/Turret Energy Consumption: -50%
Shield Capacity: -62.5%
Shield Recharge: -62.5%

Notes:

With all capital ships' stats being changed by the same amounts, capital-versus-capital combat is unaffected by these changes.

Class-specific balance changes have often mitigated these changes significantly. Some examples are:

Cruiser shields, being a focal point of the class in 5.1, have been made significantly stronger, offsetting the bulk of the nerf.
Cruiser and Battlecruiser primary turrets have significantly higher (+250 m/s) velocities, increasing anti-snub accuracy.
Cruisers and Battleships have received highly effective anti-snub flaks.
Bombers deal significantly less sustained damage.

The end result of these changes is that capital ships are more vulnerable to fighters and need to take greater care with managing their powercores when fighting snubcraft, as while compensation buffs have brought back some of the damage that capital ship weapons lost, their efficiency remains unchanged.

Gunboat Changes

Thruster Changes:

Gunboat Thrust Speed: 160 -> 180

Where other capital ships were given potent flaks to fend off snubs, Gunboats instead were instead given more agency in fleet fight settings and are harder for small ships to pursue.

Weapon Changes:

Forward Guns:

Range: ~1150m -> ~1035m

Gunboat Light Weapons:

Liberty Light Gunboat Turrets:

Power Usage: 1552 -> 1630

Gunboat Pulse Cannons:

Velocity: 800ms -> 700ms

Gunboat Heavy Weapons:

25% energy damage reduction across the board

Vandal and Silencer Missiles have been reworked. Both can now track fighter craft.

Razor/Glaive:

Damage doubled -- note that with overall capital ship damage reduction, their damage against fighters has effectively stayed the same, increasing only against other capital ships.
Velocity: 920 m/s -> 800 m/s
Efficiency: 0.1500 -> 0.1586
Turn Rate: 90deg/s -> 60deg/s

Impact Cannons:

Efficiency: 0.2024 -> 0.2131
Turn rate: 30deg/s -> 45deg/s

DOOM:

Velocity: 700ms -> 675ms

QUAKE:

Damage: Increased by 40%
Power Usage: Increased by 40%

Mines:

Ravager Mines have had their hull damage slightly increased and their energy (shield) damage significantly increased.

Added Targe Mine:

This is a defensive mine that does not explode on contact -- except if ships get very close to its center -- but creates a physical barrier that shields against enemy fire.

After a certain amount of time, or if sufficiently damaged, this mine explodes and deals large amounts of energy (shield) damage to ships in its radius along with a small amount of hull damage.

Gunboat Shield Upgrades have been added to subclasses of Gunboats; 1 for Mediums, 2 for Heavies

Cruiser Changes

Cruisers can now thrust up to a speed of 220ms.
Cruiser Thruster Capacity and Recharge increased significantly.

Thruster Capacity: 1,750,000 -> 2,025,000
Thruster Recharge: 130,000 -> 135,000
Sustained Thrust Speed: 163.33 m/s -> 176.25 m/s

Compared to Gunboats, Cruisers are now slightly slower on thrusters, where previously they had both higher top speeds and higher average speeds.
High top speed and large thruster energy capacity, however, still allows Cruisers to close the gap against Gunboats and take the fight to them.
Cruisers now have a degree of range control against fighter craft, allowing them to maneuver and bring their new flaks and powerful heavy turrets to bear.

Minor 5-10% upscales of outliers like the Typhoon and Thresher.

Cruiser Shields:

Cruiser shields now have the highest recharge of any class of shield in the game, further increased by Shield Upgrades for Medium and Heavy Cruisers.
Cruiser shields drain 22,500 energy per second from the Cruiser's powerplant in order to recharge. For reference, Cruiser powerplants have between 40,875 and 46,500 recharge.
Cruisers with their shields fully recharged, or toggled off, have more power to spend than they did pre-5.1, but while their shields are recharging they are significantly less capable of dealing sustained damage.

Light Cruisers have had the size of their shield bubbles increased by +25%; Medium Cruisers' shield bubbles have been increased in size by 8.5%.

Cruiser Primaries:

Fire rate increased
Velocity increased by 250 m/s
Range reduced from 2,000m to 1,900m

Cruiser Pulses:

Range reduced from 2,250m to 1,900m

Flak turrets have been introduced to cruisers for anti-snub purposes.

Hull Damage: 2070
Shield Damage: 4140
Power Usage: 44550
Refire: 1.0
Radius: 150
Range: 650
Muzzle Speed: 350ms
Acceleration: 300m/s^2
Acceleration Time: 1s
Seeker Range: 1500m
Seeker FOV: 180deg
Dispersion Angle: 15deg
Turn Rate: 10deg/s

Defense Turrets:

We have introduced Defense Turrets (Class 7) to Cruisers. These turrets are, on average, far more efficient than frontal heavies, while having slightly lower velocities and dealing a little less damage per second. Their range is also lower than that of Heavy Turrets at 1,750 meters.

Not unlike Gunboat Mines, these turrets are designed to discourage mindless chasing and add an element of risk to being the aggressor. This makes Cruiser combat a bit slower and more tactical, especially against other Cruisers.

Defense Turrets are not restricted solely to being used defensively as their arc just about covers Cruisers' broadsides as well, allowing simultaneous use with front-facing Heavy Turrets for a burst of damage.

The following non-codename Defense Turrets are available:

Cruiser Impact Cannon:

Hull Damage: 11,400
Refire: 1.5
Velocity: 700
Efficiency: 0.286

Cruiser Storm Cannon:

Hull Damage: 9,480
Shield Damage: 5,332
Refire: 1.5
Velocity: 750
Efficiency: 0.2506

Cruiser Shard Cannon:

Hull Damage: 2,975x3
Refire: 2.0
Velocity: 750
Efficiency: 0.2808
Dispersion Angle: 1.3

Heavy Cruisers will have 2 Shield Upgrades and 2 Defense Turrets
Medium Cruisers will have 1 Shield Upgrade and either 1 or 2 Defense Turrets
Light Cruisers will have 0 Shield Upgrades and 1 Defense Turret

Heavy Turrets:

Cruiser Heavy Turrets have a limited forward arc that just about covers the ship's front and some of its broadside.
Cruiser Heavy Turrets' velocities have been increased, allowing effective use at longer range.

Engine Component:

With the introduction of defense turrets, we have also introduced an engine component to cruisers that can be subtargeted and taken out.
The breakpoints reached for damaging these components will deliver a burst of damage to the cruiser's hull and the destruction of these components will take out the ship's thrusters.

Battlecruiser Changes

Primary Turrets:

Velocity increased by 250 m/s

Flaks:

Minimum Range reduced
Energy Damage reduced
Hull Damage increased
Added dispersion to projectiles
Projectiles given a turn rate of ~10deg for a small amount of tracking

Battlecruiser Heavy Turrets:

Arcfire:

Turn Rate: 6.0 -> 8.5
Muzzle Cone Angle*: 6.0 -> 10.0

Breaker:

Turn Rate = 5.25 -> 7.75
Muzzle Cone Angle: 6.0 -> 10.0
Range: 2700 -> 2750

Sunwreath:

Turn Rate: 4.5 -> 7.0
Range: 2450 -> 2600

Voidstorm:

Turn Rate: 6.0 -> 8.0
Muzzle Cone Angle: 6.0 -> 10.0

*) Muzzle Cone Angle describes the number of degrees a gun or turret is able to fire away from where the weapon's barrel is directly pointed.

Battlecruiser's Cruiser Heavy Turrets are limited to a forward-facing 240 degree (-120/+120) firing arc.

Battleship Changes

Battleship flaks have been reworked to be similar to Battlecruiser flaks, effectively having a minimum range under which they are highly unlikely to hit snubs and missiles. In return, however, they are far more threatening to snubs that do reside in the Battleship's "range sweet spot".

Battleship Flaks:

Hull Damage: 1430
Shield Damage: 715
Power Usage: 54960
Refire: 1.0
Radius: 225
Minimum Range: ~675
Muzzle Speed: 250ms
Acceleration: 200m/s^2
Acceleration Time: 2s
Seeker Range: 1500m
Seeker FOV: 180deg
Dispersion Angle: 15deg
Turn Rate: 10deg/s

Battleship Secondary Turret counts have been reduced in favor of making them more effective individually.

Battleship strafe forces have been adjusted to scale based on each individual Battleship's smallest front profile.

Armor values have been reduced depending on the amount of strafe force gained.

Powercores:

The range between fastest and slowest-recharging Battleship powerplants has been reduced by increasing the recharge rate of lighter Battleships' powerplants.
All Battleship core capacities are now 30 seconds worth of recharge.

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