I recently bought a Zoner Whale on the USA Server, and I can safely assure you, the vessel is AWESOME.
However...
Something to note:
Zoners have no mining ships...
And they are a nomadic group, so they do not visit the houses when it can be avoided...
Another thing of note:
Each of their ships is a work of art. (Kudos to Jinx)
They pride themselves with their vastly superior Shipbuilding skills than the houses...
More spacious, agile, beautiful and efficient ships.
However, they are not completely self-reliant,... but they could be...
As of now, they have no mining vessels... (as previously stated)
and why would they move into the houses to buy their clumsy-large and inefficient Asteroid or Gas mining vessels to work on extracting material from nebulae/asteroid fields in their Border-world systems?
Thats right, they wouldn't do that.
And considering it is extremely expensive for ships of entirely new classes to be built...
Naturally the Zoners who want/need to mine certain materials would have come up with a logical conclusion:
The Mining lasers they produce and sell on Freeports...
They are extremely low-power, to increase mining efficiency, as well as remove the threat-factor of energy weapons...
The Whale is already a tradeship, and so; EDIT: Just add some (max level 2) turret hardpoints; one on each of the four corners of the ship, on the sides.
(Arc them so they can aim 360 degrees each, since each covers a corner of the Whale)
This would amount to 4 Mining Lasers, one at each corner.
(Meaning that you'd have totally useless levels of turret power if you tried to use anything else)
An extra note before anyone mentions the idea of how bad it is for SuperTransports to be mining:
All the rest of them can do it, as they have at least one gun/turret.
zoners are no miners. - they are allied with "miners" - the GMG. and a good reason they get along so well is that they don t interfere with each others affairs. - the GMG produces raw materials - the zoners distribute the refinded products.
the ship was meant to underline the very idea of zoners. - yes, you can do the same with 4 mini turrets that cannot defend against any pirate - but why instal them then? there is no other 5k transport of that size and agility around. - if you d want a transport that can mount a turret.... a zoner guard is always free to choose pretty much every other transport.
what i intended was a ship that reminds the holder of the power of the zoners, which lays not in weaponry - but in politics. - i understand that its frustrating to sit before a wreck that is filled up with a sweet codename and not being able to loot it - but thats the further cost of that ship.
so - i am against giving it a single turret. - zoners that insist on mining are free to buy any other ship. - the zoner whale is supposed to be a double layer shell with engines. it is the most extreme transport - 100% transport, 0% else.
i realy love the design of that ship.......i agree for it to not be armed.......but a single thing it concern me,.....the cabin on that ship is too small.....no way it could fit a man standing up in it.....i think that that ship should ahve a bigger cabin......it is supose to travel long way....and i am sure that the crew wan't sit all theyer way in chairs in a short cabin
Fine... This thread discussion over, time for a new thread (when I have time to write it up)
About a Zoner-specific Mining ship, for Mineral or Gas Mining...
//In other words: (wtf would a zoner want a clumsy house ship for when they can have a beautiful work of art and superior craft that which is functionally supreme to a house miner, which is inefficient, slow, ugly, and reminds them of their still depending upon factions outside themselves. (not Zoner philosophy) )
' Wrote:what i intended was a ship that reminds the holder of the power of the zoners, which lays not in weaponry - but in politics. - i understand that its frustrating to sit before a wreck that is filled up with a sweet codename and not being able to loot it - but thats the further cost of that ship.