Those are fair points.Slashman wrote:Simoom,
Let me answer your post by saying that one of the great things about X3 was that you always had an option as to what your go-to ship was. And you may be surprised to learn that many people have different tastes in which ship should be theirs.
So you may be surprised to learn that your two examples of the 'ultimate ship' which makes all others unattractive simply don't match my play experiences. Different people like different things. The more options you have, the better you are at satisfying a diverse audience with varying tastes.
To begin with, some of us don't even like the looks of the Skunk. But we can't do squat about it. Taking options away is never a good thing. It doesn't matter how the devs spin it. We are getting a single ship with a fixed and linear upgrade path that we cannot advance apart from plot missions. This may sound appealing to you, but it is less of a joyful thing for me.
The other thing I want to point out is your last statement about the AI. Most of the fundamental problems with X3 were a direct result of limited AI capability. They didn't provide a challenge in combat and they would not use their lateral thrusters to strafe.
Assuming that the devs are serious about having fixed these issues, then then one wonders why we're being so limited in what we can and cannot directly control. My theory is that they have 'fixed' them by making the AI more 'on rails'. Cap ships can only respond to the player's commands in a certain way, ships with specialized functions are not under the player's direct control. I think that, in essence, smarter AI literally means AI with more restrictions.
Time will tell if I am right or wrong, but I suspect this to be the case.
Just FYI I did vote in favor of having multiple ships, for the poll. I personally don't think it'll impact my enjoyment of the game that much, but having the freedom/option would indeed be nice.
They may be exceptions for their class - but I suspect they were meant to be "player ships" by design (notice how ships in X3 are not balanced - there are good ships and bad ships. Some ships you simply have no reason to own from a performance standpoint). And since the Albion Skunk is an UPGRADEABLE ship, I have a feeling it will possess similar capabilities to the Springblossom/Hyperion when fully upgraded (if not more).Geek wrote:The Hyperion and Springblossom are hardly representative of their class.
And we know the Albion do not have the same capabilities, neither for trading or combat. She can not take capitals on her own (not even upgraded). She can cannot carry the largest type of drones etc.
Not sure where you read "Albion do not have the same capabilities, neither for trading or combat". I've never read such a thing. Only thing I ever read from Bernd was the player ship isn't meant to take on capitols by itself - which you arguably can't really do in X3AP with a corvette already. So... not a big deal in my opinion. Assuming the new AI is up to the task, I have nothing against calling in my own capitols for large battles and just sit back and watch the fireworks.
If the Albion lacks cargo space for trading runs, you buy freighters - when was the last time someone actually did manual trading runs in X3?