Turbo Otter

Been flying the new Spirit C1 around in Arena Commander (praise for a planetary AC map finally) due to the complete instability of the PTU right now. Have to say I've been really surprised and impressed by it.

When the Spirit concept debuted, I was like "I NEED FIVE OF THESE, MINIMUM." And then over time I kind of lost interest in it...

...the roles didn't really make sense for me.

...the stats seemed off.

...it ballooned up from the original 37m concept pitch to 47m and felt like it made less sense at that size.

...the A1 came out and the bombing feels lacklustre and broken and that kind of cast a pall over the whole series.

...then the Zeus concept came out and all we can see is that the same size ship has seemingly twice the cargo and 3x the shields and is "better in every way."

But then the C1 hit PTU and I'm back to "I must own this ship." It's so well done, it's so good looking, it's so much fun to fly. The stats will change over time with all ships, but the design is near perfect and full of tons of neat little touches and details, and I'm no longer convinced the current stats are bad even if they stay the same.

CitizenCon tells us having 3 shields may not matter if your powerplants can't keep them maxed out and you have to divert power someplace else, while perhaps 1 shield you can keep fully powered at all times.

CitizenCon tells us min-maxing by blocking off half your ship with cargo is going to be a bad idea when a relay fails or your coolers take a direct hit and you can't repair them.

The Spirit is so much more thoughtful, and sensible, and well-rounded than the Zeus. The Zeus CL is a min-maxer, and there's a place for that, but I don't think that place is in my fleet. I am still very interested in a Zeus MR to fill a role I currently lack entirely in my fleet, but I already have ships tha carry 120 SCU without the compromises of the CL.

It helps that the Spirit flies like an old-school muscle car. Sit down, buckle up, press the gas and...black out from G forces. May not corner great, but there's something inherently fun about a foolish amount of horsepower at your fingertips.

And you can't tell me it doesn't look like an otter with the Resolute paint. Already melted the concierge pre-sale paints.

The lesson is that ships can be more (or sometimes less) than the sum of their numbers in a spreadsheet, and judgement should be withheld until you experience it.

Crusader got it right this time.