Crag - You're confusing me with the OP =)
Cragspyder wrote:I am surprised to see the Noether above the Adjudicator, especially TWO tiers above it. I just don't see how no normal shields and a Pike Beam is that much stronger then 1 layer of shields and a Halberd Beam. But I don't have a lot of experience in the Zoltan ships.
Like The Torus, the Noether has the equipment to bypass any number of shield bubbles right from the start - this is quite powerful indeed. Combining those Dual Ion Blast 1s with essentially any weapon is powerful - your starting Pike Beam does good work, but later finding a Halberd, lasers, or anything else can combo well too.
That said, I was somewhat unsure on the placement; I could easily see dropping it to mid Tier 2, because it should have more problems with early Drones than anything else save the DA-SR 12. In general it's rated highly and I've always had good runs with it myself, so it may feel a little better than it is in reality.
As for the Adjudicator - it does nothing well and also has weaknesses. It has a crappy boarding crew, and the only way it can bypass Tier 2 shields is by using the crappy Leto - good that the option is there, but it's still a crappy option. It also starts pretty ill-equipped in general - level 1 engines, average level 3 weapons, and Zoltan crew replacing normal power -- which is a fair bit worse until your reactor is capped at the very end of the game. The Zoltan shield and doors are nice and do mostly cover what would be the other major weakness - boarders. They can still be a definite nuisance, though.
Cragspyder wrote:I don't think Torus deserves to be above the Osprey. Osprey has better crew, roughly the same amount of blue options, and probably just as easy of an early game if not easier. And the Osprey is still fine against 2 shield ships wheras the Torus theoretically might struggle if the Ion Blast II starts to miss. Not to mention the Torus can run out of drone parts.
Osprey does have better crew for sure - boarding party ready to go. I disagree with the rest, though - BL2 is an amazing weapon, but it's only average speed - you'll be hit by Artemis, Leto, or enemy lasers before you have any hope of taking their weapons down. Meanwhile, The Torus has a random element with the Anti-Ship, but it can potentially take down weapons before they ever fire - especially against early opposition. You can also ionize weapon systems for this effect too.
I'd also say the BL2 is going to struggle against Tier 2 shields a lot more than Ion II + AS will. Both have to hit 3 times in a row to bypass the shields, but once the Ion gets their the AS can start going to town, while the BL2 probably did 1 damage to shields and then has to wait another 10.8s to fire again. The Ion 3 also has the subtle advantage of leveling your weapons officer much more quickly.
The Osprey has the Artillery Beam, of course, but even with a 2nd level you're looking at a 40s cooldown - enough time for most enemy weaponry to fire 3 full volleys (and most larger missiles to fire two). That's a lot of hull damage you're taking before it goes off.
Drone parts are a possible concern, though you should remain in parity or positive when only using one drone, especially if you take appropriate surrenders. The Torus is also ready to roll with a defense drone if you find one, while The Osprey needs to buy the system and get a Defense Drone (usually) - and it doesn't have the option of cloaking at all.
Cragspyder wrote:Shivan has such a strong early game and transitions so well into boarding.
It's possible I rate the Shivan a tad low; people in general tend to rate it very very highly. I personally think the Fire Bomb + Rock boarders is rather overrated (though still useful). It also has no door system and a poor ship layout, meaning boarders can still be a nuisance and fires even worse (while Rockmen don't take damage from fire, they also don't put them out faster than normal; Engi are still much better at fire management).
That said, it does have solid boarders to start, and it has a very strong laser to roll with until you can buy teleporters. The speed of the laser means you're still generally going to eat small missiles but you can avoid most slower threats, such as Burst Laser 2s or bigger missiles, and it has a solid fire/breach chance to boot.
Overall I feel people tend to rate the Shivan too highly, but I could still be underrating it slightly as well.
Cragspyder wrote:I don't think the Nesasio deserves to be so high. Four engines is great and all but the cloak is weak, the weapons are weak, and the crew is weak. It is just so vulnerable to bad luck and what were normally trivial ships (Dual beam Rebel Rigger, anyone?) can end the game instantly for you.
The Nesasio is my favorite ship - I wanted to put it even higher because it can do great work when played well, but it does still have major flaws that bring it down. First, though: The cloak is very very strong, and the weapons are also very strong early on (Dual Lasers are super strong late too, but a little awkward with the 3 weapon slots). The crew does suck and it had some issues, but they are vastly overstated in my experience.
An early Rigger with a Beam Drone and a Mini-Beam equipped is honestly not something that scares me too much - it's completely different from the DA-SR 12 and is absolutely not an instant game over. I expect to take about 4 damage from that situation on average, though sometimes it'll go badly and I'll take more. The keys are a) set your Dual Lasers to slot 1, b) time your cloaking carefully, and c) fire your weapons carefully. If weapons fail, your FTL should be charging and you can generally jump away.
And beyond drones, you can avoid nearly all damage early on with The Nesasio with your cloaking. Learning weapon timing - e.g., if they have both a Heavy Laser and a Basic Laser, don't cloak right when they fire the HL - wait just until the BL fires and you can avoid both with the same cloak.
See
http://www.twitch.tv/darktwinge/c/2338542 for a video demonstrating some of these tips.
As I said, it does still have definite problems - the crew is weak, and having only 3 weapon slots is a major drawback. But it's actually really strong early in most cases and can use that early strength to buy up those shields, cloaking levels, etc. to keep you alive through the mid game.
Cragspyder wrote:I suggest just re-amalgamating these into one tier. Maybe you really hate the Vortex but I really hate the DA-SR 12, so we might as well put all three of them in the crap tier and leave it at that.
As I mentioned, I can easily see putting the Stealth B on the same level as The Vortex - it has some *major* problems. I feel these problems aren't quite as drastic on average (though they do rely on playing the DA-SR 12 well), but I'm not certain of this.
Cragspyder wrote:Honestly, if I had to edit your tierlist, I would go:
Tier 1: Basilisk, Carnilian
Tier 2: Bravais, Osprey, Shivan, Red-Tail, Torus, Noether
Tier 3: Gila Monster, Adjudicator, Kestrel
Tier 4: Bulwark, Nisos, Nesasio, Man-O-War
Tier 5: Stormwalker, DA-SR-12, Vortex
The Stormwalker isn't on the same level as The Vortex. It has major issues too, but 3 crew is dramatically superior to 1, and teleporters from the start means you're getting great scrap rewards - even if it's awkward with the Healing Burst. Utilize movement tricks to lure the pilot away from the cockpit as needed to ensure your Healing Bombs have a 100% chance to hit (likewise, move your pilot away when firing on your own ship).
Also, don't underestimate how crazy good the Breach I and Dual Lasers are on the Man-O-War - even if you change your plan towards not using the Bio Beam, these are very strong weapons even late game.
Cragspyder wrote:I imagine a lot of this will be personal preference anyways, but it might be useful for other players to see how difficult a new ship will be to play, relatively.
Important distinction - my tier list is in no way meant to indicate how easy a ship is to play. My tier list is a rough measure of the overall power level and chance of success with a given ship when played expertly. If I was rating on difficulty to play well, The Nesasio would certainly be lower for example - Stealth A isn't bad but you need some experience/skill to play it at a level where that's true.