Thoughts on the new Boron ships?

[Chris]

The new DLC has been out for a bit now, and I thought I'd start a thread to capture people's opinions on the new ships.

For me:
The bioluminescent paint job looks fantastic & makes me want my whole non-Boron fleet to have that same glow effect!

The fact that Boron equipment is restricted to Boron ships (and that Boron ships can *only* use Boron equipment) is understandable (from a game-balance perspective) but kinda unfortunate. I was really looking forward to seeing some of the new debuff weaponry installed on my Raptor.

The Irukandji scout has some amazing performance, and has taken the place of my "I need an S-sized ship to run errands", so I'm now using those for all my repeated "collect drops & deposit at PHQ" runs, as well as my "follow this ship because I might want to capture it later" scout missions. If I had any unexplored sectors left, I'd probably use them for sector scouting as well.

The Hydra is interesting for a M-sized player ship. It's not a replacement for the more versatile Kuraokami (due to Boron equipment restrictions), but I've been flying it a fair bit and enjoying the combo of the slow-punch railgun + ion flak.

The Thresher I flew during a mission seemed fine, but since I'm not terribly impressed with the Boron turrets (why can't the main-weapon Ion Atomizer be in turret form!?), it was only adequate.

The Ray destroyer is DELIGHTFUL. It's so responsive at twisting around that I've made it my new anti-fighter fleet ship. One full blast of the main weapon takes out a P, and it's rotation speed is fast enough to keep an M/N targeted as well. The turret positioning/rotation seems fast enough that the Arc Turrets can track fighters & knock them out, so this ship has been a lot of fun to just park at a get next to Xenon territory & occasionally teleport in for some fun blasting.

I've briefly flown the Orca & Shark and those seem ok, but I haven't logged enough flight time for a real opinion.

[Kalisa]

have not had much experence with the large and above combat ships yet, but the small and mediums i absolutly love the look, its again just a shame the race restrictions, i kinda hope in the future we may get more dlc/story content that expands on this in the future, perhaps a joint boron/argon research to make parts compatable with eachother even if it doesnt look perfect :P

Otherwise the large trader/miners i absolutly adore, i never usually fly traders personally but with the Boron I started to do some with the way that travel engine works, having a large ship that has an instant travel mode engage is just amazing for getting through the gate network even if its a slow ramp up i can usually maintain high speed the entire trip if i do it manually.

Overall i love the new designs and mechanics that goes along with the faction.

[Tiberius]

Boron is mostly abt anti fighters, which i think, the game heavily needs. Their arc wpn and turrets slowing effect allows other wpns with slower projectile (like blast mortar) to actually hit fast s/m ships. Mako is their best fighter, thresher is their best m ship (simply because of arc turrets). Their capital ships are stupidly fast, which makes em great as pirate ships. Boron kinda has to rely on missiles for station demolition tho, since ray main wpn sucks.

[Kalisa]

in my current game im trying to encourage the boron to take heratics end with hopes of them fighting split so i can see how the boron fleets actually handle stuff from the AI perspective, but will be awhile before i can see that in my game.

[Gibbo]

I love the look and style of Boron ships. Simply stunning. I really like the Hydra as a player ship. It will not replace my Kuraokami, but if I have to hop into a Hydra I know I'll be alright against pretty tough enemies.

I like the Boron miners and freighters. I forgot about the Ray despite that being one of my first 'big' ships. Yeah I'm happy with the Boron DLC. Good job Egosoft!

[Kalisa]

Also dont get me started on the station modules, soooo pretty, i love working with them.
The only thing i wish the DLC had was more story stuff, compared to the terran dlc it felt alittle short, most campaign end with a large cost option to influence things in 1 direction or the other and just felt that this dlc kinda lacked that. But stuff like that can be fleshed out in future updates/expansions now that we have the full set of factions now so its a minor nitpick.

[Zane87]

I really dislike that you as the player can't get a way to match boron and commonwealth equipment. I am fine with the AI not being able to but it would be really nice if the player could.

Aside of that not a fan of the fighters but the Irukandji too became my favorite scout/loot collector. Fast and sturdy and easier to get than a Moreya early on.

Hydra and Thresher are pretty good. Hydra can't really compete with the Katana but no Corvette on paper can. Still a group of 1 hydra and 2 thresher is a great patrol force and the threshers many turrets really shine here.

Dolphin, Porpoise and Rorqual are pretty decent. Not the top of the line but very usable early on. Stork i never used.

Guppy is pretty damn great, it's a very affordable, quick and sturdy early carrier and pairs very well with scraponomy throwaway fighters. Wouldn't use boron fighters though. A guppy with 150 Kyd are a rather affordable way to take out an I.

Shark is... A bit disappointing? The quick dock/undock is great and the m docks as well, coupled with the huge shield that can tank I shots rather easily you have a big huge tanks carrier. So in that regard it's actually very fitting for it's role. But no L turrets (and Boron L turrets are understanding to begin with) and only the M turrets... I feel it really needs a bit more punch for it's cost despite it being just a very good carrier.

The Ray however...

It is quite decent by itself. It's pretty quick and agile. Very slow travel drive acceleration, but instant charge up. So you can relatively quickly make a retreat if necessary.
What really makes the Ray shine is the awesome main cannon (which can take out surface elements very easily and still can delete fighters and corvettes if one wants) and the AI behavior IS and OOS, which tries to stay at comfortable 8km. You can take out a K with one IS without much troubles and 3 or 4 can take out an I without much issues either if you either fly one yourself (to correct occasional stupidity) or give direct orders, which thanks to their agility and instant travel spool up they will follow without issues.

Both points are the reason why it became my go-to destroyer next to the rattlesnake now and no one can convince me otherwise. Power is all great and fine, as is the ability to delete everything when self-flown. But having capable OOS destroyers quick enough to catch prey and sturdy enough to not die almost ever is what is important in a big empire with many fronts.

[Donauwelle]

More then 200 Hrs in KE Heralds campaign (and a few thousand overall)
I`d say:
Look and feel is awesome,
but besides the initial wow the Borons are very lackluster...
On many ways:


Ships:

For a Fighterbased faction having only 2 Fighters is..... uncool.
Egosoft really underdelivered in the AMOUNT of ships in this DLC.
They look and "feel" awesome, but compared to TER or SPL DLCs this DLC is really small.

Then, for a Fighterbased faction their 2 Fighters are quite underperforming.
Makos with 2 and Barras 3 Hardpoints leaves them in the lightly armed areas.
Their shields are Huge but in AI controled ships this isnt a pro but a con,
as the AI loves to waste all their shields for Boosting in combat.
Considering Boron Fighters arent the best-armed and not the fastest, their only real faction-Pro becomes essentially an expanded thruster before leaving them as siting Ducks.

Hydra is cool, but cant really make up for the generall lack of arms for Borons.
Gunboat is so "un-nessesearly", I renamed the initial one i got from "flying fish" to "stranded whale" and sold it the moment i could afford a Hydra.
In fleet-combat it exists... like most Gunboats.

L-Ships same. Ray, Guppy, Shark.
Wow
3 Combat Ships.

Guppy is the silent star of the show, easiely my new go-to-first-capital ship.
Really handy, really fun, really usefull and with all Dumbfire-Turrets id bet my money on a Guppy above a Ray at any given Time.

Shark is a quite nice Carrier.
Nothing more, nothing less.

Ray is a wet noodle, wich lacks in all parts of Combat besides Style.
Maingun is fun to use, but DPS wise rather middleground, again no comparison to TER/SPL.
Low turret count, especially only 2 "L`s" make them rather lightly armed ships.
They are ok shielded and have decent speed, but a Okinawa Syn or Rattle wipes out the Ray before the Ray Fired its Maingun a 2nd Time.


Equipment

The Boron L-Turrets really lack the oomph, and while the Ion-slow looks like a cool and unique buff on paper i dont think this was thought to an end.

Thing is there is nothing in Boron Arsenal that acts as a Hammer for the "Ion-slow Anvil".
Torpedos are slow and in theory could benefit from the Ion Slow but they have small-tracking anyways and all other factions manage to hit them quite well, so why bother with Ion-slow.
Dumbfire rockets? Well they are quite fast (capital combat) and all other factions manage to hit (most) of their Dumbfires so why bother with Ion-slow.


If the Borons had anything to.... work with this slow,
some super slow "plasma-quantum-nano-XXXplosive" thats so slow and devastating that picking Ions for slow is worth it.....
But they dont have something that "needs" the slow.
Its a gimmick.
One noone else needs, heck one the Borons dont need themselfes as all their unique weapons are "fast as f***".
I fould L-Dumbfire-Turrets to be much, much better then L-Ion guns.

But worse, not only does the Ion theme feel like a nice idea not thought to an end, the whole Boron ship-sets are also not interchangable.
-Farewell Par-Plasma.
-Seeyousoon Ter-Beamz.
-Baba SPL Flak.
-Have a good time, fun and interactivity when planing your ships/fleets.

+++HELLO generic samish Layouts with a pittyfull amount of 5 different Turrets of wich 2 are just the generic Rocket ones.

So yeah 3 unique Guns, and no way to use other Faction ones.
Daf*** Egosoft.
I like the "unique set" part. But then i need tools to make up the lack of possible options.


Economy / Map:

The Borons are so cut off from anything else on the map, gameplay wise... AI wise... nothing is going on.
They leave no impact on the map at all. They sit in their Corner for Hundreds of hrs gameplay and do nothing unless you trigger ARG/TER war, in wich they take side for ARG.
They dont Trade, they dont fight, they dont expand into Xenon, they could vanish from existanse and noone in my current playthru would even notice...



Feel like 75% of the work "on last DLC" actually went into the free-update 6.0, wich is in theory fine, but it leaves KE as the 2nd worst DLC in my eyes.
Content wise no comparison to TER and SPL.
Another 15% went into designing the awesome Bor ships and 10% are split between getting Drunk and making Boron NPC models....

Jokes aside, one small update with 1-2 more ships (or 3-4 as there are rly just a Handfull of BOR ships) some numbertweaking and mb 1-4 new guns.



Still upvoted KE as a product, but id recomand TER and SPL for new players at any given time.
More and better thought out content for same money.

[Gibbo]

Originally posted by Zane87:

I really dislike that you as the player can't get a way to match boron and commonwealth equipment. I am fine with the AI not being able to but it would be really nice if the player could.

Aside of that not a fan of the fighters but the Irukandji too became my favorite scout/loot collector. Fast and sturdy and easier to get than a Moreya early on.

Hydra and Thresher are pretty good. Hydra can't really compete with the Katana but no Corvette on paper can. Still a group of 1 hydra and 2 thresher is a great patrol force and the threshers many turrets really shine here.

Dolphin, Porpoise and Rorqual are pretty decent. Not the top of the line but very usable early on. Stork i never used.

Guppy is pretty damn great, it's a very affordable, quick and sturdy early carrier and pairs very well with scraponomy throwaway fighters. Wouldn't use boron fighters though. A guppy with 150 Kyd are a rather affordable way to take out an I.

Shark is... A bit disappointing? The quick dock/undock is great and the m docks as well, coupled with the huge shield that can tank I shots rather easily you have a big huge tanks carrier. So in that regard it's actually very fitting for it's role. But no L turrets (and Boron L turrets are understanding to begin with) and only the M turrets... I feel it really needs a bit more punch for it's cost despite it being just a very good carrier.

The Ray however...

It is quite decent by itself. It's pretty quick and agile. Very slow travel drive acceleration, but instant charge up. So you can relatively quickly make a retreat if necessary.
What really makes the Ray shine is the awesome main cannon (which can take out surface elements very easily and still can delete fighters and corvettes if one wants) and the AI behavior IS and OOS, which tries to stay at comfortable 8km. You can take out a K with one IS without much troubles and 3 or 4 can take out an I without much issues either if you either fly one yourself (to correct occasional stupidity) or give direct orders, which thanks to their agility and instant travel spool up they will follow without issues.

Both points are the reason why it became my go-to destroyer next to the rattlesnake now and no one can convince me otherwise. Power is all great and fine, as is the ability to delete everything when self-flown. But having capable OOS destroyers quick enough to catch prey and sturdy enough to not die almost ever is what is important in a big empire with many fronts.

What a fantastic post and a great summary of the Boron!

[PaXeR]

Originally posted by Donauwelle:

More then 200 Hrs in KE Heralds campaign (and a few thousand overall)
I`d say:
Look and feel is awesome,
but besides the initial wow the Borons are very lackluster...
On many ways:


Ships:

For a Fighterbased faction having only 2 Fighters is..... uncool.
Egosoft really underdelivered in the AMOUNT of ships in this DLC.
They look and "feel" awesome, but compared to TER or SPL DLCs this DLC is really small.

Then, for a Fighterbased faction their 2 Fighters are quite underperforming.
Makos with 2 and Barras 3 Hardpoints leaves them in the lightly armed areas.
Their shields are Huge but in AI controled ships this isnt a pro but a con,
as the AI loves to waste all their shields for Boosting in combat.
Considering Boron Fighters arent the best-armed and not the fastest, their only real faction-Pro becomes essentially an expanded thruster before leaving them as siting Ducks.

Hydra is cool, but cant really make up for the generall lack of arms for Borons.
Gunboat is so "un-nessesearly", I renamed the initial one i got from "flying fish" to "stranded whale" and sold it the moment i could afford a Hydra.
In fleet-combat it exists... like most Gunboats.

L-Ships same. Ray, Guppy, Shark.
Wow
3 Combat Ships.

Guppy is the silent star of the show, easiely my new go-to-first-capital ship.
Really handy, really fun, really usefull and with all Dumbfire-Turrets id bet my money on a Guppy above a Ray at any given Time.

Shark is a quite nice Carrier.
Nothing more, nothing less.

Ray is a wet noodle, wich lacks in all parts of Combat besides Style.
Maingun is fun to use, but DPS wise rather middleground, again no comparison to TER/SPL.
Low turret count, especially only 2 "L`s" make them rather lightly armed ships.
They are ok shielded and have decent speed, but a Okinawa Syn or Rattle wipes out the Ray before the Ray Fired its Maingun a 2nd Time.


Equipment

The Boron L-Turrets really lack the oomph, and while the Ion-slow looks like a cool and unique buff on paper i dont think this was thought to an end.

Thing is there is nothing in Boron Arsenal that acts as a Hammer for the "Ion-slow Anvil".
Torpedos are slow and in theory could benefit from the Ion Slow but they have small-tracking anyways and all other factions manage to hit them quite well, so why bother with Ion-slow.
Dumbfire rockets? Well they are quite fast (capital combat) and all other factions manage to hit (most) of their Dumbfires so why bother with Ion-slow.


If the Borons had anything to.... work with this slow,
some super slow "plasma-quantum-nano-XXXplosive" thats so slow and devastating that picking Ions for slow is worth it.....
But they dont have something that "needs" the slow.
Its a gimmick.
One noone else needs, heck one the Borons dont need themselfes as all their unique weapons are "fast as f***".
I fould L-Dumbfire-Turrets to be much, much better then L-Ion guns.

But worse, not only does the Ion theme feel like a nice idea not thought to an end, the whole Boron ship-sets are also not interchangable.
-Farewell Par-Plasma.
-Seeyousoon Ter-Beamz.
-Baba SPL Flak.
-Have a good time, fun and interactivity when planing your ships/fleets.

+++HELLO generic samish Layouts with a pittyfull amount of 5 different Turrets of wich 2 are just the generic Rocket ones.

So yeah 3 unique Guns, and no way to use other Faction ones.
Daf*** Egosoft.
I like the "unique set" part. But then i need tools to make up the lack of possible options.


Economy / Map:

The Borons are so cut off from anything else on the map, gameplay wise... AI wise... nothing is going on.
They leave no impact on the map at all. They sit in their Corner for Hundreds of hrs gameplay and do nothing unless you trigger ARG/TER war, in wich they take side for ARG.
They dont Trade, they dont fight, they dont expand into Xenon, they could vanish from existanse and noone in my current playthru would even notice...



Feel like 75% of the work "on last DLC" actually went into the free-update 6.0, wich is in theory fine, but it leaves KE as the 2nd worst DLC in my eyes.
Content wise no comparison to TER and SPL.
Another 15% went into designing the awesome Bor ships and 10% are split between getting Drunk and making Boron NPC models....

Jokes aside, one small update with 1-2 more ships (or 3-4 as there are rly just a Handfull of BOR ships) some numbertweaking and mb 1-4 new guns.



Still upvoted KE as a product, but id recomand TER and SPL for new players at any given time.
More and better thought out content for same money.

I had to give you a award for this perfect summary of the borons. Very much appreciated!