Why is everyone using Solar ships?

[Daddy Kaneki]

Are they good?

[Nettle]

Omega expedition starts you off with one. Other than that they have few advantages:

• They're cheap
  
• Pulse Drive goes for ages
  
• You get integrated Launch Thruster recharging as standard.

[BaneBlackGuard]

everyone's not. it's popular because they are decent ships and have interesting variations, but I see people using a wide range of ship types. currently i'm using the new ship from omega, but i still use my living ship quite a bit. feels more like a companion than a ship.

[docpara]

I do not care for them myself. First the sails block field of view. Second, solar sails do not make sense, to me, on a FTL capable ship.

[Grimmslayer73]

I'd like them better and would probably actually use them if the solar sails only opened when you engaged the pulse drive instead of opening as soon as you enter space. Restricts the view too much.

[Ograus]

while, matter of taste, they look nice and are inexpensive compared to some other types/families, they have one big problem, as mentioned "field of vision"
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2939001925
imho they are the yachts of no mans sky
for combat or as an allrounder-ship i would prefer a fighter or an exotic (with no hull/wing parts protruding in the field of vision)

[Barmy Nimrod]

I'm not into the specialty ships (Exotic, Solar or Living). My favorites are Explorers and Shuttles.

[Nettle]

Originally posted by Ograus:

imho they are the yachts of no mans sky

Nah.

Seaplanes. Pirates. Studio Ghibli.

[mazzarina]

I prefer small exotics, Royal-7 or Guppy. Big ships bump into trees all the time, expecially Solar.

[Lindy Bomber]

I have a solar, but hardly use it. They look cool, but it's hard to see around them. In the expedition I switch to Utopia Speeder the first chance I had.

[Foxglovez]

Got them free with the expedition. They look cool but have terrible visibility due to the sails being too far forward, noted above. Gimme a guppy or the new ship even. The interceptors are nice except for the red lines through the windscreen.

[Kobs]

I'm not, tried them when they came out but I just hate the big sails that blocks the view

I always used an exotic guppy before the robot ship came out, now I use a very small robot ship that looks like a flea with tank legs

[Brma]

I keep seeing people not being able to see, but I don't have that problem in mine at all (unless I'm going to boot the game tonight and notice it and never be able to use my solar again ya jerks). Is it worse in 3rd person?

[Johnny in the Clouds]

Originally posted by docpara:

... the sails block field of view...

Originally posted by Ograus:

...they look nice and are inexpensive compared to some other types/families, they have one big problem, as mentioned "field of vision"...

They're highly manoeuvrable compared to 'out of the box' similar ship types. Simply use a hot key to switch instantly back and forth between first person and third person view while flying. Any view restrictions become negligible at the press of a button.

Hot keys for many functions are easily set in the quick menu either flying, driving or on foot and save so much time and make the game more immersive.

Also flight squadron pilots or companion mech robots or pets, if they get in the way, can be called or dismissed with a hotkey instantly too.

Exotics can be some of the most powerful well balanced ships for most tasks. One of my most powerful ships (base stats) I've found turns out to be a found S class fighter.

[UncreativelyNamed]

Huh. They're my favorite ships, but I'm an odd sort of player, so I guess it makes sense. LOL

It's partly because I'm a greenie tree-hugger IRL. (We live in a tiny, off-grid house, we grow a good chunk of our food, etc.), so I appreciate the energy- and resource-conserving nature of solar ships. Also, I like that they're flat, as I play mostly in third-person so, unlike folks complaining about the sails getting in the way of the view in first person, I find that, especially when flying low over a planet's surface (when the sail isn't deployed) looking for things, I can see much more than I can in most other kinds of ships, which tend to be "taller" and/or to have odd kibble sticking out all over the place. (The only ship I have that's better in that regard is this little teeny-tiny beetle-like sentinel ship that I have in one of my saves, which is my favorite of all the ships I've ever had.) I spend a LOT of time exploring planets on foot and occasionally summoning my ship to my location to offload stuff to the ship inventory, so the fact that the solar ship's launch thrusters recharge means that I don't have to keep a stock of launch fuel/uranium in the ship's inventory, which frees up space for other stuff. I also like their maneuverability, which is helpful for flying over planets with lots of mountains and valleys, looking for stuff.

Generally, I end up with:
1) A solar ship for my "everyday" ship, with a good balance of upgrades for shields, pulse drive, and weapons (just the photon cannon plus a phase beam) for those times when I'm in the mood to blow up pirates.
2) A hauler for when I need to stock up on resources, with very strong shield upgrades and at least two good photon cannon upgrades (mostly for mining asteroids, not for fighting, but mining asteroids tends to trigger pirate fights, soooo....) and a maxed-out inventory space.
3) An explorer with nothing but hyperdrive upgrades, which I use solely for jumping to a new system, especially since I don't always bother to get a freighter, and even when I do, I usually don't use it for warping. It's just my mobile base.

[Anga Hakuna]

• They look cool
  
• Good resource use
  
• Nice maneuverability

But ...

• The sails blocking the HUD view (1st person) is very annoying.
  
• They also are not the best at combat, if you want that.
  
• The sails may mean that the ships get in your way when fighting other starships if the you use solar ones as part of your fleet.

I like variety -- at least one of each type starship. I like the weirdness of my Living Ship even. though it's not the best in a lot of aspects. I love the hover ability of sentinel interceptors. etc.