Why are the Boron ships inferior to all others?

[God-Demis]

Hello everyone, I just wanted to complain about the Boron(for once more).

They are supposed to be a peaceful scientific race,ok? Ok. When I look at their ships though, I dont see anything scientific about them. In fact they are the worst ships(competing with the Teladi, but still worse).

Poor shieldind like the split but with lesser speed, yeah they have the mighty Ion weapons, which also posses the argon and they surely have better and stronger ships.

The dolphin SF used to be the biggest Ts, but no, now we have the Mistral SF which looks at the dolfin and laughs.

The Boron M3 are for laughter comparing to others.

Generally of all the ship types there are always better ships from the other races.Seems like they excel at nothing and suck at most.

I personally use no Boron ships because they are worthless. Pity because of all the races I like the Boron best.

It seems that Egosoft in their attemt to put a lot of ships in the game have lost the meaning of balance somewhere among the way. If anyone disagrees with me, think one thing: how many of the players use Boron ships and moreso, how many fly a boron ship. Most players use split, Argon or Terran.


I wish they made a patch to rebalance all the ships so that they represent thei race. Perhaps if the x universe goes online things will change...

One more thing: The whole story with the M3+ the M4+ and the advanced variations I think is ridiculus. I dont want more ships. I want better balanced ships. The ships in X2 were still a lot, but you more or lss used them all. X3 doesnt do the same.

Excuse me for my long post, but I am very dissapointed. All I see is people wanting more ships and items and care nothing about the balance of the X universe or the beauty of it.(Like in WOW where the game is all about items and nothing about the Role play). Thankfully there ARE some people who are marvelous exceptions and keep the Role play part of the X alive...

[MegaJohnny]

I've been wondering this question as well.

Probably stems from the fact that the Boron ships are mostly handmade. Clumsy flippers aren't going to get the same precision as a precisely engineered automated robotic arm.

If you ask me only the gray strip weapons (IRE-PPC) should be available to all races, ion weapons should be Boron ONLY, PBEs split/paranid ONLY, etc. regardless of class.

Even if it doesn't make a satisfying balance the Egosoft team can laugh to themselves as they watch the players squirm, unable to put IonDs on their Centaurs or whatever.

Only Pirate ships should be able to mount race-specific weaponry.

What the Boron need is more like the Mako. Yes it's a pretty woeful fighter, but it has almost 200 cargo space, ginormous for its class.

If the other small ships had such great cargo bays they'd have a role as quick civilian ships, like mini-freighters.

[God-Demis]

You got point there

[Kapakio]

I could say that the Boron Kraken is the best M7M, with 4 turrets (best missile spread) and not bad speed.

Also the Pleco has the biggest cargobase for a purchasable TM. Same for Angel, with the ability to carry XL cargo (only TP) and best shieldings.

Apart from that, boron ships are more like balanced and general purposes ships, not excelling in any particular feature.

[Chealec]

It's only their fighters that are a bit rubbish...

The Shark is a well balanced M1.
The Ray is a seriously heavy hitting M2.
The Kraken has 4 missile launch tubes and is one of the best M7Ms (although slow).
The Thresher is a brilliant M7; it's only weakness is swarms of M6s.
The Pleco is a useful TM because it can carry a lot of jumpdrive energy.
The Angel - well, it's just lovely

In my fleet I have 1 Shark, 2 Rays, 2 Threshers and a Kraken

[silenced]

just read yourself into the boron's lore ... answeres most questions

[EmperorJon]

how many of the players use Boron ships and moreso, how many fly a boron ship. Most players use split, Argon or Terran.

I have a Ray (M2). I rest my case!
Edit: Ok, as you can see from my new sig. that's no longer true.

[OTAS Employee]

One more good boron ship: the Orca.
I find its balance of speed and cargo space to be very good, and I use it often.

[VincentTH]

Don't forget the Skate Prototype (comes free in a SouthEastern sector). My favorite ships with every game start I have.

[MegaJohnny]

Yeah the Orca's actually rather a nice ship, its only real flaw being that it's so big.

What is it, by the way, that is apparently so nice about the Ray? I haven't seen the stats on it, but if the Boron fighter are anything to go by...

[1muvwndr]

Well, as long as the Boreas exists, every other M2 is just cannon fodder.

In 2.0 the Boreas will change but I doubt it will be so much worse. It will still have 20 PPCs firing in any direction at any given time.

[snyderm]

The larger ships of the Boron are very good.

Heavy Hydra, Orca, Thresher, Shark, and Ray are very good.

The thresher deserves special mention, as it is the only M7 with PPC's. It is quite excellent against fighters too.

The problem with the Boron is their smaller fighters. In the days of Vanilla X3, there was just nothing about the Boron that was adaquate. X3TC improved their larger ships, but their smaller ships are still completely worthless (except the Mako has 200 cargo, which is itself stupid because the teladi buzzard should be the one with the largest cargo, it just doesn't make sense).

Egosoft has always refused to play-balance the smaller ships. Why they don't feel the need to tinker with things for a measley 5 minutes to vastly improve the game is beyond me.

[INSTG8R]

I have been flying my Skate Prototype exclusively since I got it and haven't had much trouble knocking most stuff down. I just picked up the Advanced Barracuda and tho I have only had it as my Wingman for a short time and still need to get it another 25 MJ Shield. I'm not disappointed with either of them.

[Sblade]

I like to have Boron Orcas as my large transport fleet.

[1muvwndr]

Heavy Hydra, Orca, Thresher, Shark, and Ray are very good.

The Heavy Hydra needs half a sector to turn, while you can turn around an Orca only in Maelstrom without hitting something (only after you blow the PBG factory, else you crash into it). The Tresher should be called Trasher, the Shark has no teeth and the Ray is just a big barn door.
Sadly all the Boron ships (except the Angel) are inferior to similar ships of other races. I agree that some weaponry should be Boron-only. Ion Cannon and Ion Pulse Generator, with Ion Disruptor shared with Argons because their mutual good relationship - but having only Boron figters being able to mount them. And no pirate ship able to mount it (they are renegades, not technicians!). That would balance a bit things around IMO.

[pjknibbs]

It's only their fighters that are a bit rubbish...

And not even all those are poor--Skate Prototype is one of my favourite M3+ ships.

As for the original question: the Boron are peaceful scientific types, yes. Emphasis here is on the "peaceful" bit--they don't like war and so don't put much effort into designing their warships; if it weren't for their constant cold-ish war with the Split they probably wouldn't have any armed ships at all!

[K-64]

They look nice enough though. Although in my game, the Boron are kicking the Split's ass. And I'm with the Split (I think I chose the wrong side )

[Erratic1]

The Skate is a decent ship (M3+) and the Thresher IMO is the best personal ship M7- no other M7 can fire those PPC's, giving it a whole lot of grunt for it's ship class. The Orca is a good TL, and the Angel is a decent ship in it's class as well. So uhh... I'm not seeing this issue to be honest. Ah, alright, maybe with the lighter ships. Some of the balancing on the M4 and lighter class ships is a little skewiff. That's for all the races though, not just for the fish people.

[GCU Grey Area]

Some of the balancing on the M4 and lighter class ships is a little skewiff.

Boron M4s do have some potential as the smallest (therefore cheapest) ships which can use Ion-Ds - closest thing we have at the moment to Ion Drones.

[NeverSnake]

Yeah the Orca's actually rather a nice ship, its only real flaw being that it's so big.

It's no bigger than the albatross (slightly smaller in fact).

The Heavy Hydra needs half a sector to turn

A problem shared by the M6 class in general.

while you can turn around an Orca only in Maelstrom without hitting something (only after you blow the PBG factory, else you crash into it).

The orca has joint-second best turning for a TL, with only the MMBS/Mammoth being significantly better (the atmospheric lifter is not included for obvious reasons) so again, not a boron issue.

The Tresher should be called Trasher. the Shark has no teeth and the Ray is just a big barn door.

These statements seem to be based on nothing, the Ray is better armed that most M2s and the Shark has an average sized hanger so should have no less teeth than most M1s. The Thresher is a popular M7 and third or fourth in the damage stakes.

I do agree with the comments in this thread that the ship numbers have gotton a bit out of whack, for a race of traders the teladi do have some awful trading ships. Not all the Boron ships are rubbish though.