The funniest part about the Odin isn’t even the Size 12 pilot beam. It’s that after more than a year of feedback, CIG somehow looked at the Polaris and concluded the problem was that it DIDN’T have enough disadvantages. The Odin gets: pilot controlled S12 beam S7-12 weapons no consumable primary, solo-able weapon instant combat readiness cheap ballistic ammo “just log in and dominate” gameplay The Idris lineup gets: pilot S10 beams pilot railguns pilot S12 torpedoes enough forward firepower to delete most ships before the crew finishes loading in The Tiburon? Subcapital ship with S7 guns and a pilot S10 beam because apparently every new combat hull now has to satisfy the “solo warlord power fantasy” checklist. Meanwhile the Polaris: pea shooter turrets S3/S4 mounts on a CAPITAL SHIP a “main gun” that penetrates like bespoke S5s on the RSI Meteor (and smallest capital "main" weaponry in the game smaller mounts than some subcapitals torpedoes that cost a small mortgage payment every engagement torpedoes STILL not pilot controlled one of the only capital ships in the game where engaging in a fight actually has economic consequences We were told engineering and multicrew would matter. Instead every new ship announcement reads like: “Introducing the UEES Entire Bridge Crew Replaced By Left Click, the meta-class battleship.” CIG specifically justified pilot controlling the Idris railgun and beam by arguing that otherwise someone’s entire gameplay loop would just be “pressing a button.” They outright acknowledged that sitting around waiting to fire one major weapon is not compelling gameplay. Okay. Cool. Agreed. Now go look at the Scorpius Antares. Now go look at the Polaris torpedo station. That is LITERALLY the gameplay loop. Apparently “press button occasionally” is unacceptable gameplay unless you own a Polaris, in which case it suddenly becomes peak multicrew immersion. At this point we’ve gone so far down the pilot-weapon road that the old arguments about “the Polaris shouldn’t have pilot weapons because teamwork” are just comedy. What teamwork? The Odin pilot gets a Death Star laser. The Idris pilot gets strategic weapons. The Tiburon pilot gets capital-grade beams. The Polaris pilot gets the privilege of watching eight torpedoes leave the ship while mentally calculating how many bunker missions it’ll take to financially recover. And honestly, maybe we should’ve taken the hint sooner considering the official Vehicle Design Team account literally commented “Fck the Polaris” during the Ironclad is Rad video cycle. Like, that actually happened. Are we fcking serious? At the time everyone laughed it off as a joke. Looking at the last year of balancing decisions, I’m starting to think that may have been the most honest communication we’ve received about the ship. But y'all won't say anything and you won't respond to this post, nor the several others over the past year complaining about the same thing. Maybe I'll even get lucky enough to have NIghtrider-CIG in my DMs a few hours after I post this. Either way, this is ridiculous behavior towards people who spent so much money and waited CLOSE TO TEN YEARS FOR THIS SHIP just to have it power crept into oblivion. I don't care about the sticklers who say the interior isn't pretty enough. I'd just like to use my ship, arguably the most balanced (financially) capital in the game, as I was sold it.