Concept for an Irra Replacement Model

[Tenacity]

the back looks good - the front looks too much like a vacuum cleaner. - its just too simple. - in terms of model design .... ( yes, i know its gimp and not an actual model )

Most of the detail on nomad ships comes from the textures and skeletal structure (which arent represented in that image), they dont have a whole lot of detail in the model itself.

its good to take a page from existing models - but its not too good to make it look like a kitbash.

Isnt really a kitbash since that other model never made it into the game, and was lost entirely. We're just expanding it's design into a cruiser sized ship.

also - think really really hard. - do you really want a F-gun?

nomad ships are meant to be balanced equally to public ships - no more OP gear "cause they face bad odds" - a cruiser with f-gun will be like the lib siege cruiser ( significantly less point defense turrets )

Forward guns are much easier to balance for pvp than light mortars, because they actually take skill to aim - hence why current forward guns have higher damage/better efficiency than LMs.

This irra model is more than twice the size of the liberty siege cruiser or blood dragon cruiser, shouldnt be any problems with keeping the turrets it has now and adding the forward gun, especially since nomad cruiser turrets are not significantly more powerful than sirius counterparts (and are much harder to use against small craft than other cruiser turrets, due to a 1.00 refire rate).

then think of what ships you are most likely to meet ( order / bhg )

and only then - decide if it makes sense.... .


an anti-cap F-gun makes sense vs. ships like the rheinland battleship behemoth. - a ship that actually CAN be hit from afar.

but you will face osiris and makos BBs - which are considerably smaller and more agile. - so .... does a F-gun really make sense for you?

It's true we're fighting smaller, less agile ships, but from my experience using the current Irra we already have to get relatively close to fight anyways.

The Irra is limited to 1.9k range right now, with it's turrets. It cannot use pulses or light mortars or anything other than basic nomad cruiser turrets. It's designed more like a battlecruiser-ish tank than the smaller cruisers which are meant to fight from 3-4k range.

So far, I've taken my cruiser against a Geb Carrier/Battlecruiser, an AI cruiser, an LABC, and a Liberty Dreadnaught.

Against the Geb, I had the help of a single scorpion gunboat, and once I got behind him where he only has 8 turrets to fire back with, I pretty much got within 200-500 meters and tanked him down.

Against the AI cruiser... he didnt stand a chance at all. The LABC was piloted by Gafwmn, a rather good battlecruiser pilot. Using turret steering, he was unable to hit me with any heavy weapons, and I ended up tanking him down at close range too, flying circles around the vertical axis of his ship to make turret lock more difficult.

The liberty dread we killed with two scorpions, my irra, and some assistance from a lane hacker gunboat. He did some heavy damage to my ship, but staying at 1800m or so and using turret steering, and with the distraction from the gunboats, we were able to burn him down as well.



What the Irra needs most for those types of battles is a weapon which it -can- use at longer range, but can also use up close. A forward gun is good for both. There was also the suggested forward gun that, rather than firing large blasts, would take 1-3 seconds to 'charge up' and then would fire a stream of shots, making targetting easier for it against smaller battleships and cruisers due to a high refire rate.


Anyways, if it's really an issue we can simply put a light mortar equivalent (with a large firing arc) in the 'mouth' of the ship instead of a forward gun, I just find the forward guns more fun (and challenging) to use - as do most of the other keepers, from opinions heard over our skype channel.

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