The Reliant and a Ship Sale

Real Life hasn’t been kind to me lately, which is why I haven’t been blogging much in the past month. In addition to my mom’s health problems, I managed to end up in the ER for a stay and now living on pain meds. Oh the joys of Real Life.

Still, my love of Star Trek and the acquisition of shiny new things (via a Ship Sale this past weekend) offer some distraction from all the misery.

I have been sitting on a decent pile of Zen for the last little while, waiting for some sale to come along. During the Service Sale I bought some more Account Bank slots and a wad of Master Keys, which I will probably sell on the Exchange… but maybe I’ll keep a handful to try out Lockboxes for a change. Then a long-overdue Ship Sale dropped this past weekend, and I decided to buy some ships to cheer myself up. While I’ve been eyeing two recent bundles, i.e. the Allied Escorts and the MME Science 9-pack, I actually ended up getting neither. Why? Well I don’t have any Caitan or Ferasen toons, and without that thematic driver the Allied Escorts aren’t all that attractive. The MME Science bundle would’ve been a huge outlaying of funds, out of which I probably would only end up flying one ship. Not very cost effective.

What I did get are the cross-faction T6 Dreadnaughts (Yamato, Kolasi and Kara) as well as the brand new Advanced Light Cruiser bundle. Yes, this is the new bundle headlined by the T6 Miranda! This baby makes me happy; not only does the venerable T1 starter ship that everyone has flown gets a new life, but it’s got a brand new updated skin to go with it. The Miranda class is such an evergreen presence in the various Trek shows as well, and this new T6 version may mean we get to see more iconic Trek ships in-game. That would be such a huge improvement over the plethora of non-Starfleet ships in orbit around ESD lately… or those fugly Ent-J’s. Ugh.

Even though I bought the Advanced Light Cruiser bundle, like everyone else the Miranda/Reliant is really the only ship I’m interested in. Here are the published stats:

Reliant-class Advanced Light Cruiser [T6]

This modern version of the classic Miranda Class starship has been outfitted for high maneuverability, without sacrificing much in the way of the defensive and utility capabilities typically associated with Cruiser type vessels.

This starship features a Lieutenant Commander Universal/Pilot specialist bridge officer seat.

Ship Details

• Tier: 6
• Availability: C-Store
• Faction: Starfleet
• Rank Required: Vice Admiral
• Hull Strength: 39,675 at level 50 and 46,000 at level 60
• Shield Modifier: 1.1
• Fore Weapons: 4
• Aft Weapons: 4
• Device Slots: 4
• Bridge Officer Stations: 1 Lieutenant Commander Tactical, 1 Ensign Engineering, 1 Commander Engineering, 1 Lieutenant Science, 1 Lieutenant Commander Universal/Pilot
• Console Modifications: 3 Tactical, 4 Engineering, 3 Science
• Base Turn Rate: 11
• Impulse Modifier: 0.17
• Inertia: 40
• +5 to All Subsystem Power
• Console – Universal – Potential Energy Entangler
• Starship Mastery Package (Cruiser)
  • Absorptive Plating (+Kinetic/Physical Damage Resistance Rating)
  • Rapid Repairs (+Regeneration)
  • Enhanced Plating (+Energy/Radiation Damage Resistance Rating)
  • Armored Hull (+Maximum Hull Capacity)
  • Evasion Specialist (Starship Trait)
• Cruiser Command Array
  • Command – Strategic Maneuvering
  • Command – Shield Frequency Modulation
  • Command – Weapon System Efficiency
  • Command – Attract Fire

Overall it looks solid. It uses a cruiser template with the usual cruiser commands, good survivability, 4/4 weapon layout and Commander Engineering. True to its classification, the Reliant is less hefty in hull than the larger cruisers, but makes up for it with maneuverability (one of the highest cruiser turn rates in-games) and the first ever Pilot seating in a cruiser. Someone on Reddit had an idea that perhaps the Reliant could’ve been the first in a new Frigate class of ships, meant to be workhorses of the fleet and one defining feature could be the lack of a Commander seat; instead it would have 3x Lt. Cmdr and 2x Lt. seats. I thought that’s an interesting concept but as for now that’s all it is, a concept.

So who’s the lucky toon who got the Reliant? Turns out it’s my new toon Lt. Adam Kunzel. Funny story — originally I made the character for the Sutherland bundle that I purchased, so I was going to make him a Science officer. As it turned out, he’s Tactical! Not exactly sure how I made such a massive screw-up, but now that I learn of his true colors, I punted him over to the new Reliant and it’s a much better fit for him!

NCC-2059-C U.S.S. Greyhound – Lt. Kunzel’s new assignment

Strangely, fully mastered this tiny little ship has more hull than the Sutherland. Didn’t expect that! The unfortunate part is I’ve enjoyed flying this ship, and I may feel compelled to properly build it out. Curses! Adam is one of the third-tier toons so I had no intention of building him out…. be strong, Heidy, be strong.

Adam isn’t the only toon to hog the spotlight this past weekend, as two of my other toons settled into new ships as well. Xymok, my 3rd-tier Reman toon got his Kara (my god that is an awkward ship to fly as it turns like a overloaded SUV with broken axles). In addition, Congilla got the Kolasi.

Commander Congilla’s new ship – I.K.S. Zinj. Somebody get that fugly Ent-J out of my picture!

This is an older ship, so forgive me for gushing over it so belatedly — but this thing is cool! The design is cool, and the transformation animation is even cooler! The blatantly non-Klingon aesthetic also fits Congill as a non-Klingon toon. Performance-wise this ship should be worse than the Kor (as a stealth bomber and raider) or the Kortar (with the 5/2 weapon layout and pilot maneuvers) – its main advantages are the Lance weapon and the hangar bay — and I’ll do a separate post about that later. The Kolasi cannot match the turn rates of either of those ships and it doesn’t have any kind of cloak, yet oddly enough, in practice it seems to perform better than both. Against the Kor, the Kolasi is a lot more durable so it can just hang in there a bit longer; against the Kortar…. well, ironically the slower and less agile Kolasi means it doesn’t overshoot a target as often as the pilot raptor, making it easier to stay on target. Blame it on my poor piloting skills!

That’s my purchases for this last ship sale. What did you get?

EDIT:

I want to add some pics to show the “remastered” skin of the new Miranda. Personally I think this is a HUGE improvement. Makes the old Miranda look almost unpainted/unfinished by comparison.