Arcturus vs Minotaur

[Hohn Jelldiver]

Which do you prefer and why?

[ReallyStinkingPig]

I love the rustic looks of the Minotaur - it gives the impression of a weapon platform with huge engines strapped on. Also reminds me the Vosztok or the Szojuz rocket families. It is fast just like frigate, and has good turn rate, weapon placements are also good for a ship in a seek and destroy role.

Only downside is the hull strength - if you cannot kill wverything fast enough, it is time to get the hell outta dodge and live to fight another day :) but since it is fast, the hit/retreat/return tactic works quite good.

[fnberger]

I'd rather go for a Manticore (murath type destroyer). Heavily armoured and armed but way more agile than an Arcturus while much harder to take down than a Minotaur. To me the Arctur appeared being too slow and sluggish for a destroyer class ship - even the Damocles (red devil destroyer) is more fun to fly, imho.

[staiduk]

The Minotaur is probably the better ship of the two; it's definitely more maneuverable, weapon loadouts are similar. I drove one through much of the mid-game of my first time through. I never really connected with it though; it's an odd-looking beastie with way too much turn rate for a machine that size. This time I'm sticking with the Arcturus; I want to really explore the 'Star Destroyer Jr.' and see how she handles before I can get my hands on another McKinley. ;)

[Cookie]

Minotaur.

It's the only non-dreadnought in the game with the dreadnought aim assist feature on its broadsides. Park your ship at a distance and rapid fire a salvo of destruction at enemy capital ships from extreme distance.

[Atrushan]

I really enjoyed the Arcturus. It beats the Minotaur in looks any day and it costs less than 1/4 of the overpriced Minotaur while performing similar. Another important difference are the broadsides. I had problems using them on flanking maneuvers with the minotaur, since they are way back and their firing angle requires some practice.

If you play the pirate side or just don't want to stick around with the slow Acturus, the Minotaur with its unique looks (takes time to get used to that fat *ss you keep staring at most of the time ^^) offers speed, agility and slightly more firepower. Their turret allignment was similar effective for both ships.
When money isn't the issue, Minotaur wins in my book.

The above mentioned Manticore covers the area inbetween, both price and speed-wise. I found it to be very agile and the allignment of the turrets was perfect for sneaking up behind strong ships and finishing them. It lacks broadside power and more importantly all the turrets are on top, which makes mining asteroids a nightmare - when they are below your ship. Still a destroyer I liked flying for a while.

As for the Damocles (which was actually hard to get), it felt as slow as the Arcturus but lacked firepower in comparison. Especially the low amount of turrets makes a notable difference in damage output.

[Nightstalker]

The ohly ship I like that is bigger than the Scarab is the Blackgate. The other big ships tend to be somewhat squishy. Just a thought from somone that decided to dust the game off for a 5th run.

[WillieSea]

I just tried the Blackgate. I thought it would be sluggish and take a whole sector to turn around. I was very surprised when I found it more agile than the Minotaur...

The turning point against the Minotaur for me was when I left a station that was being attacked, with Mk6 everything, and in 10 seconds the Minotaur exploded. WTF? That never happened to me before.

[Cookie]

Originally posted by Atrushan:

I really enjoyed the Arcturus. It beats the Minotaur in looks any day and it costs less than 1/4 of the overpriced Minotaur while performing similar.

"overpriced" lol

By the time you should be buying an Arcturus, you've already sunk how many millions into MK6 equipment? The step up to Minotaur is very minor, considering you don't even need additional turrets. I'm pretty sure I was getting close to (if not more than) a million credits per mission at that point. And what does the Minotaur get? More broadsides (with hax auto aim even when not charged), more secondaries, more components, and more agility.

The Arcturus and Minotaur might not have much difference in damage potential up close, but the latter is a first taste of the insane broadside spam DPS of dreadnoughts. It's a steady stream of death at ranges the Arcturus just can't compete with, and with enough get up and go to cruise around the fringes of the battle.

Both ships are absolutely worth their respective costs. One is just much further up the ladder, and performs appropriately.

[Atrushan]

Originally posted by Cookie:

By the time you should be buying an Arcturus, you've already sunk how many millions into MK6 equipment?

None. In case you have forgotten it, both ships are available on the second system you visit. Which is merely a MK3 star system. So the "very minor" step up is worth more than 6 million credits, which by that time is a huge difference.

Originally posted by Cookie:

More broadsides (with hax auto aim even when not charged)

No. there's no such thing. Unless you are literally stuck to the enemy and touch them, uncharged shots will spread everywhere and only a very small part will actually hit when fired without charge - if at all.

[WillieSea]

Originally posted by bearhiderug:

Originally posted by Atrushan:

No. there's no such thing. Unless you are literally stuck to the enemy and touch them, uncharged shots will spread everywhere and only a very small part will actually hit when fired without charge - if at all.

Not always true. There are a few broadsides that can put in quite alot of work when spammed.

Yeah it is. Spamming the broadsides firing sends the shots everywhere in every direction. Beams, you cannot spam, so I am guessing we are talking pulse, scattershot or the like broadsides.

[Cookie]

Originally posted by Atrushan:

Originally posted by Cookie:

More broadsides (with hax auto aim even when not charged)

No. there's no such thing. Unless you are literally stuck to the enemy and touch them, uncharged shots will spread everywhere and only a very small part will actually hit when fired without charge - if at all.

Confirmed by the devs:
https://twitter.com/RebelGalaxy/status/771752857070469121
And if Twitch isn't completely broken (again) here is a demonstration:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/87011414

[Atrushan]

I don't know who confirmed what. And it doesn't matter either.
Buy a Minotaur, fly out and try to hit targets that aren't right next to you without charging.
Good luck with that.

I've played the ship for over 50 hours, so I think I know what it can and can't do.

[Cookie]

lol literally disagreeing with the guy who made the game

[WillieSea]

So, I watched the video, and no explanation as to 'how' to get it to work was given. So I guess I will go in game and see if I can figure it out. And people wonder why nobody believes them, when they can't take a second to explain what they are doing in the video to get it to work.

[Cookie]

No, I didn't offer an explanation at the time, as it's mostly just putting the target somewhere in the vicinity of the middle of the screen and then spamming left click. It's important to note that you have to lock onto targets to get it to work at most angles (and to work at all for some targets, like that pesky bio waste).