This is for MASTER MODES My initial impressions were positive, but the more I played with it, the more I began to realize how it is currently still very lacking, which is an absolute shame since it is what most would consider the premier "gunship" in the game and was, at one point (correct me if I am wrong), slated to be the first ship that would have engineer testing and true multi-crew gameplay. You would think a ship which requires 6 gunners, a pilot, and eventually an engineer would perform quite well, but in reality, it is still ineffective and barely functions in its supposed anti light fighter role. In testing, the following was observed: 1. The turrets are incredibly easy to shoot out and destroy with ballistics regardless of the remaining shield pool. A Hammerhead without turrets may as well not exist. Interestingly, this concept is very similar to the current issue we have on live where distortion weapons shut down ships, regardless of HP, and nullify everything and anything. While you cannot kill the Hammerhead, killing the turrets one by one is effectively doing just that. 2. Turret traversal speed and coverage are extremely lacking. A Hammerhead will rarely ever kill a smaller ship (assuming they know what they are doing) before it gets within the dead zone of a gun. While on paper, you may have 5 other guns to help "cover" you, that is not a realistic scenario in the current AC model, and even if it was, requiring a full crew to fend off a numerically inferior amount of fighters, a ship class you are designed to counter, by the way, is unreasonable. 3. The weapons, while impressive, are very inaccurate. This means that you will not be using effective fire to scare or deter enemy ships from closing in on you but rather relying on volume. Volume doesn't mean much when it isn't reliably impacting the hull and doing true damage to the enemy. I feel like the Hammerhead is not very rewarding for a ship that will require a large crew to effectively operate. In its current state, I cannot see why I would ever bring a single fully crewed Hammerhead when I could bring two fully crewed Connies or 7 individual smaller ships. Ironically, the Hammerhead was far more lethal to a larger ship such as another Hammerhead or a Connie as opposed to individual fighters. I would also argue that gunnery itself, especially with the toning down of "auto-aim," requires a great deal of skill. You need to suppress it quite often to land reliable shots on a target and work in conjunction with the pilot, who has no true firepower, to get kills. The organization tax on this ship is quite high, but there is no payout for that extra work. My two initial suggestions would be: 1. Increase the HP on the turrets. Ballistics going through the shield disable them very quickly. This is an easy solution. 2. Increase the turret traversal range and speed so that the dead zone is unreasonably slim for a fighter to get into. Is this ship going to be designed to counter fighters or not? Those would be a first good step to see how it performs. I just find it quite jarring that this ship is superior against other larger ships but woefully inferior against smaller ones. A couple of unrelated things that do not pertain to the Hammerhead but in general may go a long way in addressing some problems from my observations: I understand that the UI is quite jarring now and very temporary. However, I would like to note that with both head tracking, an above-average game sense, and communication, it was very difficult to not only track but coordinate with my pilot to work together on targets. In the future, focusing on the readability and accessibility of UI elements to promote better team cohesion would go a long way in helping all multi-crew ships, not just the Hammerhead. I was relying more on sound in a space game to find my enemy than my vision or UI elements. Consider adding objectives to squadron battles. For example, proximity-capturable buoys similar to capture points in FPS games. This would diversify the roles of ships and let larger ones like the Hammerhead act as an anchor on an objective. Respawn timers can be adjusted accordingly to facilitate more active gameplay. An objective would make the entire experience more fun and also help promote the testing of these ships by giving them a team role. Consider adding a "repair/rearm" point for each team to use. I find myself just blowing my ship up when out of ammo or heavily wounded. It would be nice to stay in the fight and "return to base" and come back. All in all, I am actually quite happy with things so far. I like the dynamic testing. I think a lot more people are interested in being gunners for ships than some may expect. That experience should be a pleasurable one and serve as a valid option for those uninterested in mastering flight for whatever reason. I would also urge you to consider the balance equation of "1+1=3" when thinking about crewed ships, whether it be a Vanguard or a Hammerhead. Incentivize players to crew these vehicles by making their performance sub-optimal without a gunner while greatly enhancing their performance with one. Encourage and reward teamwork and acknowledge the coordination tax that goes into getting two or more brains to work as one. EDIT: I do not think I am important, but I would like to share what I expect from manning a turret in any game, not just Star Citizen. I expect that by forfeiting my own individual thought and transportation to combine with another player, I am rewarded with an effective experience that counts for at least three players. 1+1=3. I expect my turrets to have minimal dead zones and for the weapon to become more deadly the closer my enemy comes. I expect excellent information relay from the game to help me make better targeting decisions and excellent feedback on when and if I am hitting my target so that I can correct my fire if needed. I expect gunnery to have nuance, not as much nuance as flying a ship, but enough to differentiate between a good gunner and a bad gunner. And finally, I expect the turret gunner position to be so effective if done correctly that people are willing to sacrifice their own offensive power to rely on mine. I strongly dislike comparing or bringing up other games, but I was always very happy to be a driver for a good gunner in Halo. I don't currently get that feeling or desire in Star Citizen. I also feel like these may be the general expectations for a lot of players. not just myself.