Elite:Dangerous. Alliance Crusader vs Chieftain vs Challenger

[@tesstickle7267]

Hopefully they create an alliance big ship, something they can't just copy and paste thats up there with the cutter and corvette

[@Antraeon]

You mean like the Type-10?

[@Wingnut-z8m]

Pretty much as i suspected, Chieftan for the win.

[@lassenielsen7215]

Was wondering hehe just buy the chieftain

[@palladiamorsdeus]

Now that I've spent some time in the trio, I can say that the Crusader is my favorite simply because it fits my playstyle best. That being said, you're going to notice the drop in agility and or personal firepower when you first start running her. She CAN perform the same maneuvers her brethren can but it takes a bit more work and with her being a bit more sluggish, you're going to take more damage and deal less hits. I didn't realize how much I'd come to rely on the Chieftains agility until I switched to the Crusader. BUT if you don't mind employing an NPC co-pilot and working up their skills then that fighter is going to make a ton of difference. It helps to fill in the gaps that you lose from your personal offense and to even boost it a bit over the Chieftain and Challenger. While you won't really notice the differences in shield and hull strength, you WILL notice that its a bit harder for you to get away from dogfights to get some breathing room. At the end of the day if fighters aren't your thing then you can give the Crusader a hard pass and you won't miss a thing. But for those of you who enjoy the fighter playstyle and aren't up to the likes of the Krait or the big three yet then she's a solid little ship that will serve you well.

[@palladiamorsdeus]

Its a mid-price range ship with a fighter bay. Right now you have the Keelback and then forty five million later, the Krait MK II. May not seem like a lot to some people, but for many people that's a ton of money and time. This lets people who enjoy the Fighter Bay style grind up through those types of ships. Which is uh, me, and probably like three other guys. BUT me and those three guys appreciate it! As for why its another copy off the Alliance line, logically speaking it has to do with them being built for Anti-Thargoid warfare. Its a line of ships like the Republic Gunship line built for a specific gameplay style, combat. Considering they were built to combat a specific menace, it makes sense. The problem is, its not what players wanted. They wanted an entirely new ship, and ships intended for other roles. While I personally am happy about it, I completely understand why other people aren't. And then you have the people who are sitting at the top with like ten different combat ships who really, really don't want to see anymore of those.

[@mok5161]

I share that opinion. I know that many wish for new designs, but I think it's realistic and good that they stay true to themselves. Because a real company would also build on an existing concept and develop it further. Nevertheless, I can understand that a new design would be nice, but then not from a ship series, but something completely new.

[@palladiamorsdeus]

I'm giving them a bit of slack because this was supposed to be a small update. We got a few new things and some new fighters. If, however, the Q4 update fails to deliver I will completely understand the outrage.

[@chrisklitou7573]

They messed up on the Crusader they should have given it the most hardpoints, hull, shields and jump range but priced it at 50-60 million

[@falco566]

Chris Klitou yeah, at least there would be an added value to want to grind for. I hoped for an Alliance "Big 4th", and I get a Challenger (dumber brother of Chieftain), with a SLF that in itself has no real added value in Xeno combat and is plain useless against humans. A frog-looking FGS, with less punch.

[@virusproofficial1086]

@@falco566 no value in xeno fight? Well, there are guardian fighters

[@hermaeusmora345]

But Can it Run Crysis?

[@trevorstarks9002]

I must be the only person who absolutely loves my Cheiftain and Challenger in kind. True, they are incredibly similar. but they're all well made ships.

[@rgl2509]

Thanks mate, you just saved me a trip to Jameson to buy one. Like everyone else I was looking forward to something new, not more of the same.

[@BenYork-UBY]

I felt the Challengers design was lazy, but I Iet it slide because it's still a cool ship. But now this is just...cmon! Is the design team on vacation? What gives. The fighter bay doesn't fit with the design AT ALL

[@ttoy3603]

The names of these ships come from British tanks from the 40s to 70s

[@figjam9530]

expect an alliance heavy called the churchill

[@kitsurimuru190]

@@figjam9530 Maybe eventually they'll get a capital ship and name it the Conqueror

[@its-cry]

They sound more like space shuttle names to me lol

[@connycontainer9459]

Gimme a super agile Cromwell then !

[@Beer_Dad1975]

Really dissapointed, made my way back to Jameson yesterday, logged on first thing this morning, looked at the stats for this turd and didn't even bother. First time a new ship has been released and I haven't wanted to try it.

[@rampagexx96]

What frontier needs to do is add more middle class ships. You know. Like lessen the gap between a python and an anaconda.....we need 3 more ships. All of them being multi purpose. Just make 2 of the 3 leaning more towards trading and combat. Then have a happy middle.

[@splashtyphoon6606]

They hyped us up for a copy and paste with a fighter Bay, it's only worth the buy if you have a Chieftain or a challenger to trade in for the Crusader

[@morsmagne]

Splash Typhoon No need to sell anything: Just have a Robigo grinder Python permanently at Robigo and grind a casual 100M credits per hour. Listen to an audio book to keep yourself entertained while you do it. :o)

[@splashtyphoon6606]

It's not worth it you have to trade out cargo racks or shield gens for the fighter bay

[@BenYork-UBY]

I wouldn't trade my challenger for a crusader. The fighter bay would have been nice but it comes at too many downgrades. And the awkward fighter bay placement is triggering.

[@PasteteDoeniel]

not worth trading it in. it's a downgrade compared to the chieftain and challenger

[@hobomisanthropus2414]

Crusader was a dumb addition, it should have been a dedicated Large warship, though I guess the Type 10 kinda fits that bill with Lakon already?

[@figjam9530]

i'm holding onto the hope that the t10 isn't the alliance heavy ship. the name "defender" doesn't fit the pattern of ww2 british tank names tho. chieftain, challenger, crusader.......churchill?

[@PasteteDoeniel]

way to many ships in the same area and the crusader looks so much inferior to the chieftain and challenger.

[@palladiamorsdeus]

Its not but its...different. Its going to depend entirely on whether or not you want to either utilize a skilled AI pilot for that fighter or do it yourself, and then of course there's the matter of what fighter to take. But if having a 'pet' as it were or flying around in a fragile fighter in a game where the AI is coded to paste you before anything else isn't your cup of tea then its not worth the downgrade in performance.

[@PasteteDoeniel]

why would I get the crusader if I can get the gunship that can do everything the crusader can and is way better in every way for 10 million more? And if you don't care about a fighter the challenger or chieftain are better choice compared to the crusader.

[@only1thatmakessense]

@@PasteteDoeniel it stops faster, perfect for a dropship, has good space underneath too for easy srv access

[@chrisklitou7573]

Thanks so much I've been waiting for this video all day

[@KorneliusBriedis]

update went live like 4 hours ago only ;) but i know what you mean :)

[@Innosos]

It seems to me that for any dogfighting and combat purposes I'd pick the Chieftain. If I fancy a fighter bay I take the Crusader. But what's the Challenger for?

[@IRMentat]

Innosos scrap haulage/spare parts?

[@danieldusentrieb2912]

I'm considering thargoid combat and I'll probably get myself the challenger because of its 3 medium hardpoints (1 flak cannon, 2 Gauss cannon, the large hardpoints will be used for a plasma charger). Also I like it being not to expensive and being able to fit just a bit more hull reinforcements.

[@Airtroops83]

Midway point? if you have about 20m to get a chieftan and some parts, you have enough money to easily make the additional 7 to get the challenger or whichever one you want, very very quickly. Way too similar. I was hoping they would make the design differant with just a few design nods to the existing ones. This is pretty disappointing. It should have been around 40m, with a different design and a midway point between a python and to ~20m ships.

[@racingtwo7490]

Wow been two years since you posted elite dangerous... Hope all is well hopefully we will see you out there again

[@KorneliusBriedis]

Highly doubtful :( Elite is dead, all my friends moved away and the base game is still in same state as 5 years ago, which is frustrating. I want a proper MMO and at the moment am waiting for New World release.

[@Helix_22]

@@KorneliusBriedis You coming back for Odyssey?

[@alaskanbas6507]

Two chapters later and still the Cieftain is the best out of all, nice.

[@gavinburns6994]

I really miss your Elite Videos, wish you would start doing them again.

[@KorneliusBriedis]

Yeah, sadly I was watching that other elite dangerous youtube channels expanded much more while mine was stagnating for years and at some point I just felt that I am wasting my time with this. If I would have steady 40k+ views per video I would have motivation to do more content even while frontier disappointed me with every new update more and more. But with so few views my time investment was just not worth it at one point. I am still looking for a game to call mine, at the moment there are no serious options but several are in development and will come out next year or two and I hope you can enjoy that game and my videos again ;)

[@kyr_taap]

@@KorneliusBriedis Do you want to give us a hint for which game(s) you're waiting for? I really like(d) watching your well researched vids and comparisons. Hopefully you'll be back soon :)

[@KorneliusBriedis]

@@kyr_taap Made some vids on different games recently, at the moment 2 games that I am awaiting - Dual Universe and Amazons New World. Dual Universe might be the space game we are waiting for, still too early to tell yet, but the possibilities there are endless.

[@Helix_22]

@@KorneliusBriedis To be fair, your Elite videos have still done better then the rest :)

[@billygray8863]

i forgot that kornelius was back

[@markhackett2302]

The ship armour (not the hull reinorcements, they're fine) is far far too expensive. You can get as many hull points for quarter or less the price and lighter weight (by variable amounts, but still a fraction of the weight generally) but you also get resistances you don't get with military et al hulls. The price of the alternatives are also too much higher. You get lower overall resistance with, IIRC, reflective armour, yet it still costs more. The others should be the same price as military, you just take whichever one fits your build. But the price should be lower for the higher weight it takes up and the lack of resistances.

[@ondrejhanel5579]

haha so much hate for crusader and here i am building it for AX :D

[@keplerthe3399]

I think the Alliance variants were a waste of time in my opinion. It's great some people like it though, with the introduction to Hybrid fighters, maybe in Q4 we'll get a hybrid ship. Preferably focused on Exploration.

[@erichzann2675]

well I think the Chieftain was a nice addition overall to give people more choices (and an Alliance ship). The Challenger and Crusader both look kind of stupid additions though, especially the Crusader....

[@falco566]

Exactly what I wanted to know, thanks K. Agree with you this Alliance fleet is crowded, with very similar ships, so what is their real respective added value? I also would be interested to know what you think of comparisons with the Fed fleet; obviously the Crusader seems the incestuous baby from FGS and FDS. The Challenger, the even slightly dumber outcome of a FAS-FDS intercourse. The Chieftain may be the most interesting. Its agility with overall qualities, the 2 large HPs, it is my current favourite (especially since I killed a Krait Cmdr - I hate that Krait, for no other good reason that one Krait cmdr beat me in a Python) along with my FaS in xeno combat. I guess a better pilot would not need the extra speed the Chieftain/FAS give, compared to the others (I dont consider the Holy Flatness of Krait. Then the Guardian SLF... frankly, they are somehow good to distract the swarm, but with very short life expectancy. And since there already are AX SLFs, and since they are useless against human tech... why do they even fucking exist? It makes me rethink priorities: Ill go check the new Guardian beacons, rather than purchase and equip the Alliance FGS. Good thing they all have similar core modules, -> less grinding. Hey Kornelius! You feed us with very professional and technical videos, and your objectivity honors you. Still, I sometimes want to hear you speaking from your guts, what you like and dont, what makes you wanna play and what not. You sound pissed, wtf is going on?

[@markhackett2302]

Crusader should have been bigger. Even if it became a Large pad ship. Bigger FSD, slightly heavier, slower and less manoeverable, but also a little more expensive. If it means making the class 5 internal a 6 or the 6 a 7, to use up the space inside, then fair enough.

[@countfragington436]

Man I was so excited for the Crusader. This is a huge letdown. I mean, I really love the look. Yeah, it's a Chieftain with a spoiler but the Chieftain is imo one of the best looking ships in the game and it looks good with the spoiler. I'm not excusing FDev for the laziness by any means but I objectively like the look of it. But that's it. I was hoping that with the SLF it would be more expensive and much, much beefier. Right now I just can't see why you'd buy the Crusader over either other Alliance option. They're priced too close together to take the defensive, maneuverability, and potentially offensive losses versus the other two. Maybe I'm just being too pessimistic looking at it and someone can show how it actually shines. I think FDev saw this as essentially making one ship in three different forms to give us the option to tweak the playstyle to be exactly what we want.

[@cmdrterrorfirma4244]

we do have too many ships that are all practically the same. At least the three Fed ships, though they look similar are very different. These three... MEH

[@CMTechnica]

Small weapons? Might as well not even use them unless you plan on mass engineering the weapons in the slot

[@roganmuldoon3357]

Saw "Crusader vs Chieftain vs Challenger" and thought it was all about British tanks. Ah well...

[@ufuk664]

who ship is first ?

[@saanri5500]

your pronunciation is best! ) I love you! ))))

[@danny1229c]

the comments are mean here but i personally thing the challenger is a thing of beauty

[@darinbuchan349]

I just feel that while the new 2 are interesting the Chieftain is the best of the 3. Also tired of so many combat oriented ships lately.

[@planexshifter]

IKR? Non-Combat we got the Krait- Underwhelming as it was-

[@TheIronHip]

I want a panther clipper

[@woe794]

@@TheIronHip yuck

[@THE_BEA5T]

That was fast...thanks:)

[@GR-bx2yv]

Quick and dirty copy and paste by FD team - ED is on life support officially now. Dino game and other upcoming games are higher priority for FD..

[@falco566]

Gary II Boom. I see your point. I dont know enough to gauge the amount of resources and energy there were invested in this, so I like to hope you are being too harsh. But I for sure would expect more substantive content than another little plastic toy. If only because it almost belittles the existing ones, which have been engineered and all. The idea is to have meaningful and fun things to do, but I end up fitting ships more than flying them.

[@MrZlocktar]

When i said that first time - everyone did not take my words for real and laugh. Guess who's laughing now.. Well.. crying to be honest.

[@figjam9530]

to be fair, the fed drop/assault/gun ship are the same, tho perhaps slightly more distinct from each other. i just hope they give us a good alliance heavy, tho i think the crap t10 is meant to fill that role.

[@deadeyecpt.7765]

@@figjam9530 but the Fed tree actually has a good distinction between each ship. Even then, I rarely see a gunship in open, it's mostly fas or dropship for pvp piracy. Gunship imo has a good place in 1v1 if you build it right and know how to fly it. The issue with alliance ships is that they don't differ enough from one another and the looks don't either. I can see a place for Chieftan as a decent low price hulltank pvp ship but the others seem useless to me.

[@planexshifter]

Yeah- that excuse doesn’t fly- that shit Dino game has been done- They too busy designing more boring guardian fucking grind-

[@rampagexx96]

The only good ship in this trio is the chieftain. Nothing matches its firepower and maneuvering in a dogfight. I personally am in love with my Krait MkII

[@ULTIMBANGA]

Thank you KB, you were very fast. I love fighter bay... but ... another copycat with less speed, less agility, less hardpoints. I am disappointed.

[@erebusparcae]

damn... i thought the crusader was a bigger ship than the chieftain and challenger.... like a the size of a python with much more power and agility.... smh... hopes crushed right there.... thanks kornelius for the review not gonna bother buying it ... or maybe just because of the fighter bay but ... i just wish all the big mid ships are capable of fighter bays instead of this like.. 3 variants with almost the same layout and output...

[@thefrenchbastard1646]

but they are the same size as python the game is térible job at showing it off(unless you are in VR from what i heard)

[@dsagent]

Another "new" ship.

[@GR-bx2yv]

Yes :D Totally unique design never done before :D

[@dsagent]

So we should take the worst aspects of real life and put them into the game. In that case we need permadeath.

[@zenairzulu1378]

its too much of a mixed up set of ships mess not needed.

[@davidkennedy1077]

Frontier are getting so lazy with their ship designs. There's barely any difference between all 3 of these ship's and they are all built for the same combat role. The Federation ship's are fairly similar but they have far more differences between them and therefore serve different roles (FAS fighter, Dropship multi role, Gunship heavy fighter) Is this a taste of the future from Frontier??? Are they not making enough money out of Elite to bother anymore??? I know they have Jurassic (and 2 other projects coming soon) so are they saying that they just can't be bothered with Elite, because this is how it's looking. 2018 started with such promise and since then Frontier have apparently forgotten all about it!!!

[@SEPK09]

Agreed to many of these rehashes, Frontier need to stop spin offs altogether, it's lazy development IMO. Even balancing is getting to ridiculous, no need to have this complication in game design the original ships is the only way to go.

[@tthemachinee]

Cookie cutter ships

[@Damonwex]

Yeah getting sick of these small\medium hardpoint combos. We have literally dozens of ships in small and medium ship categories that have every possible combo of these weapons and they still cram them in every single new ship they release. Why can't they release anything exiting like a medium fighter with only 3 larges or a big brother to vulture with 2 huge hps and the same drawbacks of vulture. We need more specialized ships not this jack of all trade drivel.

[@KorneliusBriedis]

yeah. very true, but i can tell you why - ship/game designers don't pvp / pve but just make ships look good and that skins can be fitted, they don't really know the balance of the game and just guess stuff mostly or have someone that tell them to do like that, in any way it feels like most ships are made by someone who never really flew them ;)

[@Pootch17]

another cheap copy&paste ship

[@planexshifter]

Lol- this engine pod design is fucking shit! They STILL use it!?!?!?!? So easy to destroy the engines on those pods- Why would you want this generic piece of shit!?

[@antoniomora1906]

1.9 g for this??? gtfo!

[@Drakey_Fenix]

Really boring ship...