[Destiny]

I agree with you, Zane...a lot.

Are these forward Gattlers the stock variant or the SuperGattler on the Solaris? The former is going to kill you, but the latter is going to kill you faster, and I think thats a distinction we need to make here, for Destiny's sake

Either way, wonderful amounts of Dakka on that little boat.

For my sake...? Nah, you don't have to...because it's my playstyle to go full power maximum destruction. Salute me if you would, but you should salute the ship because my Trebuchets will knock out the forward guns while I go BOOSTO with all guns blazing to Maxim range.

The black ops Custos is shielded and can fire countermeasure swarms, so neither Maxim nor Treb would be very effective.

That's quite a problem, isn't it. If there was only a 16-gun Morning Star-er in R2...well, depends on the regeneration rate of the shield, perhaps. Although, since the Custos is that epic, it's worth the wait to go charging head-on at it in the tech room. Hope it appears in many missions!

*complains to GTVI to make swarm Trebs*

[PsychoLandlord]

Must. Fly. Custos. It sounds hilariously broken for its size.

Of course, now I'm imagining Custos' being thrown around like Whitestars, which I'm sure won't be the case, but it makes for a terrifying image nonetheless.

[Mars]

Circe / Maxim combo sounds like the way to go.

[crizza]

Is there already a model for Fred floating around?

[Darius]

It needs LODs and debris (and probably UVmapping) and probably many other stuff. If the ship gets finished before Part 2 is done, I'll link it up for people who want it.

[crizza]

Then you're my hero Darius, can't wait to play with this beauty.
BTW: Will there be a SOC Cretheus as well?
And don't tell me, the Custos and the Cretheus have the same size^^

[Inglonias]

Speaking of interesting choices, you'll also be tangling with and flying alongside some new hardware.

The Federation's Custos patrol combatant can't stand on its own in line combat, but it's a useful torpedo attacker and it shines as a screening element and convoy raider. Of course, the GTVA has its own answer. Credit goes to our partner Cadius, an X3 modder.

If you liked flying the Karuna frigate in The Blade Itself, you'll probably like the Custos too. It comes in two breeds: a mass produced torpedo attacker, and a more advanced special operations combatant. A nimble sub-cruiser gunboat, the advanced variant of the Custos mounts a spinal mass driver, select-fire torpedoes and heatseeking antifighter missiles, and adequate point defenses. Its real advantages lie in its electronic warfare and tactical systems.

One of the Custos' abilities plays into something beautiful we've implemented in R2: capship mounted countermeasures. Fighters have been able to deploy decoys ever since FreeSpace 2, but now warships will fire volleys of flares to decoy incoming torpedoes and bombs, in a manner inspired by (but not quite as cool as) this.

<UninformedOpinion>
Oh... THAT's the secret 1st fleet project!
</UninformedOpinion>

[-Norbert-]

Why would they need two full logistic ship to build a new small capship and capship countermeasures?

[Snail]

Because Admiral Byrne isn't very good at getting things done

[Ypoknons]

Or he's better than we know.

[Snail]

Yeah he probably is. Crouching Moron Hidden Badass and all.

[MatthTheGeek]

If you read the character description in the VA casting thread, you might be surprised.

[Inglonias]

Why would they need two full logistic ship to build a new small capship and capship countermeasures?

To build a whole lot of them. Perhaps GTVA equipment is special somehow? Maybe taking the spare beam cannons? Who knows?

[-Norbert-]

Those things aren't armed with beam cannons and a shipyard is much better at building capital ships than a logistic ship.

And I very much doubt that small escort cruisers are "the secret plan that will save us all".... That would be even worse than the overused super ship.

[Snail]

Read Byrne's lines, it's obvious whatever the "project" is it's not going to be a lot of oversized fighter-gunboats.

[Commander Zane]

small escort cruisers are "the secret plan that will save us all".... That would be even worse than the overused super ship.

Whitestars were both.

[PsychoLandlord]

Despite how horrifying a group of these things would be to anything Cruiser sized or smaller, I'm reasonably sure that using them like Whitestars would end the war in a Tev victory faster. Even with all the Dakka a massed formation of Custos' could probably bring to bear.

Actually, are these things large and slow enough to be targeted by beams?

[Inglonias]

The Whitestars were kind of awesome, though...

I stand by my <UninformedOpinion> tags, though. Thats what the post was. I was guessing. I guessed wrong. Happens rather often.

[General Battuta]

Yes, they can be targeted by beams, and no they are not a war-winning swarm of death bees that will tip the strategic balance.

[PsychoLandlord]

Yes, they can be targeted by beams,

Well, the Custos is boned.

And no they are not a war-winning swarm of death bees that will tip the strategic balance.

And when you put it like that, it actually kind of makes me sad they aren't.