The new release "Rhea" has a bunch of new ships and updated models of old ships for us. I thought I'd take a moment and give you some of my own thoughts on these new ship models.
The Bowhead
Johnny Pew has posted a great review of the new ship you can watch.
God this thing is ugly! Let's be honest here, the new Bowhead is not going to win any beauty contests and I'm already loathing the day I have to sit down and draw this thing. But Freighters and Transports are not intended to always be beautiful, function is certainly more important than aesthetics when it comes to moving payload - so the Bowhead takes its rightful place among some pretty ugly ducklings.
I was shocked to hear it is longer than the Providence. I didn't expect that. From all the images and even from the above video, the size is not apparent. This is curious and I hope it feels differently when it is in-game. I can tell you that I will be using this ship ALOT! Right now, as things stand, I have no good way of moving fitted ships in and out of High-Sec space. If my alt can't fly it, it is pretty much stuck. Or I have to strip it down and get it to Low in my Freighter. So this ship immediately fills a big hole in my own supply chain.
A welcome addition in my opinion.
The Confessor
As much as I would have preferred T3 Frigates, T3 Dessies will do just fine. Right now we don't know a lot of details about this ship but it certainly sounds interesting. The ability to change "on the fly" is a good one I think. And this new line should fit rather nicely into a good niche between Destroyers and Cruisers. This wouldn't have been true a year or so ago, but the balancing that made Dessies a more viable option has laid the groundwork for this introduction.
I can only assume we'll be getting these new ships in a phased roll-out, which is also something new that can be achieved thanks to the new six-week release schedule. I have a feeling this won't be the last new thing rolled out this way.
Count me excited for this new transformer ship. Or Trans-Dessie.
The Bowhead
Johnny Pew has posted a great review of the new ship you can watch.
God this thing is ugly! Let's be honest here, the new Bowhead is not going to win any beauty contests and I'm already loathing the day I have to sit down and draw this thing. But Freighters and Transports are not intended to always be beautiful, function is certainly more important than aesthetics when it comes to moving payload - so the Bowhead takes its rightful place among some pretty ugly ducklings.
I was shocked to hear it is longer than the Providence. I didn't expect that. From all the images and even from the above video, the size is not apparent. This is curious and I hope it feels differently when it is in-game. I can tell you that I will be using this ship ALOT! Right now, as things stand, I have no good way of moving fitted ships in and out of High-Sec space. If my alt can't fly it, it is pretty much stuck. Or I have to strip it down and get it to Low in my Freighter. So this ship immediately fills a big hole in my own supply chain.
A welcome addition in my opinion.
The Confessor
As much as I would have preferred T3 Frigates, T3 Dessies will do just fine. Right now we don't know a lot of details about this ship but it certainly sounds interesting. The ability to change "on the fly" is a good one I think. And this new line should fit rather nicely into a good niche between Destroyers and Cruisers. This wouldn't have been true a year or so ago, but the balancing that made Dessies a more viable option has laid the groundwork for this introduction.
I can only assume we'll be getting these new ships in a phased roll-out, which is also something new that can be achieved thanks to the new six-week release schedule. I have a feeling this won't be the last new thing rolled out this way.
Count me excited for this new transformer ship. Or Trans-Dessie.
Blackbird/Rook/Falcon
I'll try to keep my personal feelings about ECM out of this. No doubt that the base model for these three ships was old and showing it. Not only the design, but the textures themselves seemed increasingly to belong to another age. So it is a good thing that they are being updated.
Having said that, wow. This is way beyond what happened to the Scorpion. And it is taking me some time to get my eyes used to seeing what I'm seeing. Don't get me wrong, I like it. But it is a large step and a rather radical departure for Caldari design. However, if this represents a new direction for the Caldari ship design ethic, then I am totally on-board. Plus, to be honest, it looks like it'd explode into some really nice pieces doesn't it?
I might actually break down and buy a Rook. That isn't quite a ECM ship is it?
Onyx/Eagle
I know there is some consternation around about these two new hull designs based on the recently updated Gila/Moa hull, but I don't see it. I think they both make sense and fit well within what seems to be a slightly new direction for Caldari design. As I discussed above. It is good to see variants when they are needed and these two ships deserved them.
Incursus/Enyo/Ishkur
There are a lot of Frigate base hulls I would have chosen to upgrade before getting around to the Incursus. So this is totally unexpected. Let's be honest, the entire line of Minmatar hulls needs some love! (Mostly just updated textures btw, don't get all angry on me!) But here we are anyway, with an updated hull that we didn't really need.
Having said all of that, these upgrades work and they pass my LAPZ Test.
L - Lineage
A- Animation
P - Progress
Z - Z Factor
Yes, I just made that up. Lineage. Does the ship adhere to a stream that connects it to the past? Essentially does this new model "look" like an Incursus? Did they whack away a Frill or two? The answer is clearly yes, this still looks like an Incursus. They managed to keep the lineage while updating it at the same time. Nicely done.
Animation. We pretty much demand spinning bits, rotating things, warp effects, and other more dynamic models these days. So the new Incursus model comes along with some nice warp effects that move the wingy bits in and out. Nice.
Progress. Does the new model move the hull forward or backward. I'd say this upgrade moves the Incursus forward slightly. Again, not convinced it needed an upgrade right now, but I'm cool with it.
Z Factor. The unknown. The hip. Is it cool? Is it fun to fly? Does it FEEL right in space? Dunno yet, but I suspect it'll be just fine and in three months we'll all think of this model as the actual Incursus and laugh at all the old screenshots.
Man, we can only hope that more ship updates will be coming in the months ahead. So, what are your thoughts about these new ships?