Xi'AN Scout Aopoa Khartu-al As a somewhat Khartu-al fanboy, I'd like to see this ship getting some attention. Ever since it was released i have had a feeling that it is under-preforming and quite honestly doesn't resemble anything that was originally pitched. I suppose i speak for more then just myself when i make that statement, but that's obviously not for me to say! I'd like to highlight some aspect in this post that I'd like to see addressed to make it an overall more enjoyable ship to use! For reference: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13954-XiAn-Scout-Available Some of the initial idea's that made the Khartu-al scout attractive to (i assume) most people who pledged for it are the following: Different flight modes. The Virtual cockpit with good view. The second seat. Its fighter and scouting capabilities. Its maneuverability and speed. its unique form and flight mechanics. Its racing potential Its Xi'an weaponry Most of these characteristics and idea's simply didn't made it into the ship on release. Instead we now have a shallow resemblance of what we thought would be the khartu-al. This ship probably deviates the most out of all the ships released so far, comparing concept/pitch with the end result. I still hope we can get some of these idea's back into the Xi'an scout! For me personally that would be the virtual cockpit and the seconds seat. 2.6.1 -> 2.6.3 feedback Here is a small list of things i think are currently working/ not working for the Xi'an khartu-al: Good: The scout looks good! Its turning speed is fast Its shields are okay, but due to a combination of factors it sometimes feels not enough. ( Mainly due too its giant frontal plane ) Bad: Can feel drifty, especially with G-save on. Its strafing speeds feels okayish, it doesn't deviate to much from other ships even though it has gimballed thrusters. It can only shoot upwards while in landing(PRE) mode. No gun redundancy and very low damage output compared to the rest of the (light)fighters. It has just 2 guns nothing else. No fun with customizing its load-out due to poor hardpoint placement, and lack of overall hardpoints. Monoboating fixed guns is its only option. The ship has no missiles, which is okay if it wasn't so under gunned! ( personally I'm not a fan of missiles for this ship ) Gimbals are unusable due to the hard-point placement and the ship and cockpit blocking the guns in there movement. ( I wouldn't recommend gimbals even if they worked, but currently it isn't an option.) The khartu-al feels large for a single-seater. Every time i see it, it feels as if it was designed as a 2seater! Its wings feels way to static, I'd love to see it have a little movement. Its movement speed is okayish, but not on the level of any racing craft. it has Glitchy vanduul interface. Just broken: Its view is a mess. The struts block the view on important flight angles, considering its one of the faster ships it makes very easy to crash into objects, especially flying decoupled and with G-safe of having constant blur and grey-out effects. It armament is a mess, the guns still don't align, and thus makes it very hard to near impossible to hit other ships. It still has several enter exit bugs tied to its flight mechanic's, drifting to one side losing complete control of the ship. With G-safe turned off the scout suffers from instant black,red and grey-outs. Sometimes even multiple times in a row and mostly without indicating it is happening. * Note; This is mainly based on how the khartu-al is currently functioning in the game. I hope for some good discussion as where to go with this ship, cause in its current state its probably only fun to look at. Overall it feels as if this ship has no real purpose other then being an alien ship, and hangar flair. - Edit: (4 March '17 ) Idea's and improvements from the comments: * Note; These are just quick bullet points, SO please read the comments to get a better picture/description about those idea's! Shrink the Xi'an khartu-al in size. A solid cockpit with one way transparency from the inside for visibility and a way to get rid of the struts. Regarding exploration; A form of sleeping bunk, using the cockpit and/ or in place of the second seat. A form of ejection seat / escape pod ( The cockpit ball has already nice escape pod potential ). G-force dampening tech. Use excessive room for more cooling options. A flight mode that makes the scout harder to spot and diminishes its signature at the cost of cooling capabilities. - Edit: (7 March '17 ) By @Netaxus: Xi'An Aopoa Khartu-Al Scout's flight characteristics evaluation: https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/365707 Xi'An Aopoa Khartu-Al Scout's cockpit struts, inner one's and view in comparison to other ships: https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/341853/xi-an-aopoa-khartu-al-scout-s-cockpit-struts-inner-one-s-and-view-in-comparison-to-other-ships SC-29624: Xi'An Aopoa Khartu-Al Scout's cockpit struts, light and view collateral issue: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/community/issue-council/star-citizen-alpha/SC-29624-Xi_An_Aopoa_Khartu-Al_Scout_s_cockpit_viewlightstruts_and_inner_cage_struts_collateral_issue Ask a Dev: DESIGN (Ships, Gameplay Systems, Combat, etc.): https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/comment/6956836/#Comment_6956836 - Edit: ( 3 April '17 ) By @Asdraguuhl: Some older post about thruster actuation algorithms. Very interesting and awesome write-up/proposal and maths! https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/323396/thruster-actuation-algorithm-for-the-khartu-al#latest Direct link to the dropbox file: https://www.dropbox.com/home/Khartu-al%20TMF?preview=Thruster+Management+Function+-+Khartu-al.pdf - Edit: (5 March '17 ) Weapon configurations proposals: ~ An extra set size 2 guns ( 2x size 2) Will give: 2x s2 + 2x s3 ~ Convert the size 3 hard-points into size 4. With twin-link guns. Will give: 2xs4 or can be setup as 4x s2 -Edit: ( 1 April '17 ) Issue council Bug list for 2.6.2: Please help fix these issue for the khartu-al validate and contribute! :blush: 1. https://robertsspaceindustries.com/community/issue-council/star-citizen-alpha/SC-39809-Xi_an_Scout_khartu-al_xian_landing_mode_landed____floating 2. https://robertsspaceindustries.com/community/issue-council/star-citizen-alpha/SC-40576-Xi_an_Khartu-alScoutStrafe_issue_after_exit_? -