The Ares series also has a weapon rack and cargo access on the back of the ship for anyone that doesn’t know. I do not script my content so I mistakenly went over this part this time, won’t happen with any future ships! Thanks for watching, you all are awesome!
I will say that I actually like the idea of the charge shot for this ship, and that if the gun was balanced correctly, it would be able to fulfill its job in a formation, that being said what they have done to the gun is an absolute travesty! Look i get that the dev's that did this were trying to force people to stop blasting fighters with it, however there are 2 things wrong with what they have done and their reasoning. 1. Even when making shot's while CHARGING the gun, it is incapable of taking out the SHIELDS of even a smaller FIGHTER (Size 1 Shields) in any kind of a timely manner, and as such Nearly Useless entirely when testing with larger multicrew ships of any class. (yes, we are talking Size 3 shields down to Size 2's). 2. Yes, i recognize that the developer's intent for this ship is to be used as part of a formation with several others, that however is inadmissible as a point of argument when in such a formation The Ion is incapable of fulfilling its assigned task, and instead ends up relying instead on the DPS output of the Ballistic weapons on the Inferno's in the formation to punch through and take out the shields/components of the target ship. frankly with a Size 7 Gun on these ships they should be thought of in the same way as an A-10 Thunderbolt or similar aircraft. I really don't care if some Soyboy in an Arrow or whatever was stupid enough to sit in front of one and got connected to god's wifi a second later because to be blunt what else should be expected at that point seems to apply. and the hate the dev's seem to heap on this fighter and its brother appears misplaced to me. but how are they planning on justifying this thing's existence if it can't do its designed job. at this point it's like taking the A-10 and replacing the GAU 8 in the nose and replacing it with a BB gun and calling it balancing. Finally love the video can't wait to see more and what i am posting here i will also be putting in Spectrum, hopefully this fighter get's some love soon.
Charged shots... I am REALLY not a fan. 3.something seconds between every charged shot and meaning ANY change in the direction your target is heading will be a missed shot. It is only viable against capital size ships up close or stationary targets. I chose to melt my Ion for now and use its store credits for more viable stuff. Nice and levelheaded video on this ship, thanks for sharing EvenLease.
I feel that a slightly more expensive retaliator will be a much better option than the Ares series hunting down larger/cap ships. Interior and with modularity one will have more options as well. Yes its a multicrew ship but pilot still handles the torpedoes.
When the Ion was launched, it was good! feels good flies good and hit hard. The problem is some players dont like to see 1 ship to rule them all.. and these gladius fanboiz made so much noise that cig nerf the hell out of the ion. And it have been nerfed over and over and over... when you shoot a Size 7 cannon and a stupid chicken stand in front of it... what do you think will happen?
@Corey-mm7jw yeah, i loved that Ion and i was waiting for its release since 1st leaks.. Then glads outcry made me cry.. Its like elephant rifle for killing a bug, is it stupid? yes, but functional.. I think they shall add a huge cost of use to it, i mean energy generator shall consume fuel as well, if they would implement this, making it power hungry asf would make sense and it would balance it without any needs of reduction of the weapons functionality.. but explain it to the devs.. with "their vision"
Man I remember watching your channel a long time ago playing Shogun 2 Total war. I'm glad to see you covering star citizen content. Keep up the good work man :)
5/10 seems .... biased. For PVP specifically, I'd rather show up in an aurora than any Ares. I'd give it a generous 3/10 (and only because the prospector and the argo cargo exist....) I think they are onto something with the gun mechanics, they just got it backwards. If I were tasked to revamp the gun, I would give it 3 modes: 1. Sniper mode: Longest range, low rate of fire, high alpha damage, high projectile velocity, uses the whole capacitor and damage depends on the charge level. If you miss, you done f'ed up like any sniper would 2. Autocannon mode: Pretty much like the other laser cannons, with a small bonus to some stat for being bespoke. Take a regular S7 cannon and give it +10% across the board. You know, for killing mid-sized stuff and providing fire support 3. Shotgun mode: Low capacitor (maybe 5 shots), low range, high alpha, around 90 rpm. So *if* you can get a close up shot on a fighter, it will regret that. As a fighter, you do not sit in front of S3 and up guns, period. You'll have to really take piloting classes to actually be useful in a fight, tho. Mode switching should empty your capacitor and take some 5-7 seconds. Gives you A LOT of tactical flexibility and helps offset the loadout rigidity. It also raises the skill ceiling for knowing when to use which mode, and encourages different playstyles and flight styles.
I used to love this ship. And I typically used it when I expected to go up against heavy fighters and larger. In 3.22.1 the ship, I thought, was finally in a good place. Strong against the larger, slower targets. Fairly weak versus small fighters as it should be. It has been severely nerfed in epic fashion. The old argument of "it's meant to fight capital ships" falls down with the simple question: "how many capital class vessels are there in the PU? How often does one encounter capital ships in combat?" VERY RARELY. There is only 1 and half capital ships in the game. (the 890j and Idris). Until 3.23 the ship and even it's cousin, the Inferno could be adaptively used for other roles (even though it was handicapped a bit due to it's design); making the ship still worth owning. With the implementation of 3.23 and the accompanying flight model changes and the Nerfs specifically targeting this ship. The mechanics are actively barring the use of the ship for anything other than the vary narrow role of attacking Capital ships (Again, a class of ship that is effectively missing from the game). This makes the ship no fun to operate. and thus the reason to own one at all has been eliminated. sad times for the Ares series of heavy fighters.
The gun is very awkward to fire especially charged. I was going to experiment with it again after yesterdays patch dropped but I guess I never spawned it in the previous patch because it’s gone, lol
I really dig the ship's look BUT I also wish we could swap the paintjobs between the two versions (I like the Crusader's brand of white-black-red liveries better)
I feel your pain. WHen I saw the concept and the ship coming out (this and the Inferno) I fell in love with the diea of a ship with a massive laser cannon that would be able to snip large ships from range. Did that off the start, then it got nerf because Arrow pilots got one shotted... Problem wasn't alpha damage, it was projectile speed. Keep it long range, and a relative slow projectile speed. As to goign in with Inferno, inferno is suposed to survive a bit better up close, whil this is the sniper. BUt frankly, CIG destroy it. WHen an F8 can kill thinks faster, and you kill as fast as an aurora.... Not really. I have one in buy back, I want it fixed, but not sure I'll see it any time soon. So for now, there's the inferno. Alpha damage should SLAP! Charge damage should Kick in the NUTS!
i am ok with these changes but one thing, why i need to remember to click again for the next shot? after firing while still pressing the fire button it must be charged automatically again!!!
Dumb question, how do you get on top of the Ares ships to access the components? I've always just tried a running jump by the low part of the wing, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Is there a better way to get up there? I really hate what they did to the Ion. It looks so cool and the idea of having a big gun is so great, but somehow that all just doesn't work.
Great video. A couple of points to add. You did not show off the aft gun rack You did not show off the aft external cargo The Ion is now a light fighter sniper. If you can get the jump on a light fighter you can one shot most light fighters with a single charged shot. As you stated she does not do enough sustained DPS to actually warrant taking against larger targets. IMHO if they were to cut the charge time in half and change NOTHING else she would be decent for her intended role. The sustained DPS of the other size 7 guns in the game SF7B is about 4k M9A is also about 4k Oddly both of those guns are also Bering (in world manufacturer) This also says nothing of Energy Weapons have to eat shields before hitting hull Energy Weapons can not penetrate armor to hit components (when armor is a thing) An argument could be made that energy weapons should have a SLIGHTLY higher DPS to compensate for some of that but ... that is just me being a fanboy of my favorite ship The Crusader Ares Starfighter Ion.
Yes I realize I did not go over the gun racks or external cargo. Thank you! To be honest I wish they would have left the gun alone but slowed the ship way down and turned her maneuverability to complete crap. All these changes to the gun but while limiting the range of the round it fires has really killed this ship, for now.
@@EvenLease44 The issue is what that does to pvp, specially when against new players. It's the type of ship that's fun to play as but terrible to play against. A gun that size on a ship this small is almost impossible to balance. There's always the risk it one shots smaller targets. Imagine being a new player and you come up against something like that. Sure you can argue just learn to dodge it but the risk of getting one shot is always there and that pressure can get to people even when experienced. Even if you nerfed it's speed into the dirt you've basically created a new scenario where the pilot of the ion has a very limited amount of time to bring down the enemy fighter or is guaranteed to die and idk if I like that as a solution either. A gun this size on a ship this small might just be really bad design from the start it's either got one shot capability which is unfun gameplay for everyone against it or it's damage is so low that it doesn't fulfill it's intended role like now. I think it needs some kind of utility which is only good against larger targets. Perhaps give it's weapon insane range so it can snipe safely. This would be nearly useless against small fighters but even at it's current damage would be hard to deal with if you were in a larger and slower ship. Would basically require larger ships to need an escort if they came up against it.
@Kilinjaro The "need" to bring escorts is the whole idea. This was never intended to be a 1v1 game. Big ships slug it out with each other fighters > Bombers (ion is in this role) > Capital > fighters. There is supposed to be some consideration for fleet composition. Giving the shot a 4 second TTL at the current speed would be an interesting idea. At the moment (3.23), the charge shot can already core a light fighter. It, however, struggles with anything bigger. I still think that the Ion should have comparable dps between the two platforms (Ion, Inferno). This is further exasperated by the MANY advantages ballistics get (shield pen currently and Armor pen stated for the future being the most notable).
@@ShaRroos A sniper variant of this would need an escort because the only way a big ship could fight back against a faster ship that was pinging away at it from a distance was to send faster fighters to defend itself which would then require the ion to need fighters to defend it. A large ship without an escort could also be harried by the smaller ships to either keep it from tanking damage in ftl mode in hopes of getting away before it died by putting a constant threat in it's face. Literally just dipping into weapon range to harry it before losing shields would create that threat and would create a sort of arms race between factions centered around the Ares. Going back to huge damage per shot is likely never going to be a thing with the Ares as it just goes back to the old issue of one shoting small ships. It needs some sort of utility that makes it good against larger ships and that doesn't have to be my sniper idea but that would give it a unique niche and even the hammerhead can't really do that at least not to larger ships.
Have you found a ship you do like 3.23? Im having a hard time finding any ship fun right now but I've only been testing the single seaters I have. Just not enjoying all the ship combat changes.
Everyone seems to agree that the only fun ships now are the snubs. Only ships that have any kind of speed to them. However, CIG already said they think snubs are 'not in a good place'. Fun hammer incoming
This ship now really needs a turret so you can take a friend to watch your back while you're holding relatively still and using precision mode to snipe shots at range.
They need to just have a simple tier 1-10 weapon system with progressively more damage as you go through the tiers. Doing specific targeted balance changes to one ships weapons over another is stupid. If they want to balance anything then change maneuverability, that should be the main advantage of small ships with low firepower over larger ones with more firepower.
While I know people will hate these changes for general usage of this vehicle, it definitely is an okay workaround for making it better against larger vehicles. 1900 DPS consistently for a straight minute isn't too bad for a single seater vessel of this size. It just really has become unusable against smaller craft. I think if the DPS was bumped up slightly do make it excel even more at this niche, or alternative options like the M7A for the Vangaurd were tuned down, this would sit very comfortable in it's place as an anti-frigate heavy fighter. However, since the Vanguard does exist, and the M7A can be used on it granting it nearly the same sustained DPS, it still leaves the Ion in an uncomfortable space. I do think though that when armor is finally implemented, it will serve it's own purpose well enough, and we could maybe see buffs to it's maneuverability at that time.
If targets didn’t move and fight back the damage output would be amazing. But in its current state as I mentioned missing shots spells doom for you and quicker than it should. The ion has a very long road ahead of it self.
There is sadly an issue with your calculation. Even the 6000 charged shot will likely do way less damage on anything but a capital ship due to cone fire. The damage is spread out over the entire square on your firing HUD. A ship will only cover a significant portion of that square at point blank range. Definitely not at any range considered 'sniper' range. And being that close makes you mince meat for the turrets as you're moving very slow. The Aries is way too fragile to survive in a braw like that. Until they rework it (again!), it has no role basically. 3/10 just for the missiles that aren't much good honestly and the good looks
I've never forgiven CIG for what they did to this ship or the fact they ignored the overwhelming backlash from the community and just kept it nerfed to hell. Haven't pledged for any ship since.
It has a good missile loadout, which is what it is supposed to use on smaller ships. Whether it works or not, it would be good to mention that in a review.
They made it even more useless than it was before. The charge shots in dogfights with small fighters is terrible. Feels sluggish, feels so slow, drags the fight immensely. Just not fun to fly with it anymore. They killed the Ion. Look, I'm probably nowhere near the top tier PVP players in aiming and tactics and so on, but when a fighter feels this sluggish even for new players against the smaller low tier bounty hunting, they're not gonna have fun. They might look for another game.
Also, I thought it was supposed to have 3 shields generators... Poor Ion :( and the speed! .... NO other way to say it: THe Ares Ion has been castrated.
They completely trashed it!!!! How about I sell CGI a Lambo, then after 8 weeks in the night while they sleep, I come replace it Ford Pinto after they paid the Lambo price. Do you think that would go over well?????
not being able to hold the charge for a few seconds is an absolute no go They either have to make the bullets faster to make the ship a sniper, or drastically increase dps cause imperfections in timing (and also then holding charges) further decrease the dps, which is absolutely laughable since for example a full energy F8C can deal 2100 sustained with 5600 burst without any of the additional drawbacks the Ion got. its so bs
Really great overview! I have both the Ion and the Inferno and love the concept of ship. I just think they're always going to be difficult to balance. I think in the Ion's case, it would be good if we could get some sort of mode toggle. The first mode removes the charge mechanic and brings it back to how it was in 3.22. The second mode could be what we have in 3.23. Either that or tie the charge mechanic to the new precision aim mode. That way you could snipe modules on larger ships at a safer distance, while keeping some of the basic dogfighting capabilities. But 100% get that it shouldn't really be engaging smaller ships. Still it's at risk of becoming too niche.
I see that argument used over and over that it shouldn't be fighting smalls and mediums. Well, it should not be able to keep up with them in a turn fight. Its gun should definitely be able to hit any ship. They keep nerfing the gun while they should be nerfing the agility
@@eavdmeer Thank You... At least someone gets it, the ship should be heavy and slow, but with a massive murder cannon... that was the entire concept. Any small ship that it touches should evaporate.
@@NYCZombie it was like this when it first came out. The only thing that was and still is absurd is the turn rate. They keep fiddling with the wrong thing instead of resolving the actual issue
One step forward five steps back on this ship... while its not the final version of this ship, for 3.23 and the considerable future this ship is dead in the water.
I have both the twins, and they're unique for sure, now though, they're in a more realistic position where they can do the most damage. Still together, they're a force to be reckoned with
man... to think the only reason it got nerfed and made completely unfun to play is "Multiplayer/PVP". We cant have good and fun/overpowered things as soon as there is pvp or multiplayer in games which is really sad in my opinion
well they initially in 3.23 took most the ammo from them leaving the laser cannon at 10 rounds and the gattling gun at 900 rounds, but then they “significantly” upped the count by doubling it in 3.23 update a few weeks ago, which is still less than 3.22.
Yes that’s my plan. I used up my time going over the tragic gun changes and completely skipped over the internal cargo and gun racks. Won’t happen again! I don’t script my self so it happens when I get too distracted! 😂
I own Inferno it's same pain... I'll upgrade it or melt it, there's nothing to lose anymore. As a person who won't use it in group battle vs capital I don't see purpose of having it in my fleet anymore.
Its not the same pain the Inferno is in a far better spot than the ares and its not even close. Inferno is actually useful and can still do ERTs. Ares cant do shit.
5 out of 10????? You are way too generous.. this monstrosity is no more than a 3/10 for pve, and 0/10 for pvp in the current state. Against a stationary Connie Andromeda, it takes a full minutes to destroy and for a hammerhead, a staggering 3 minutes... The reason is because their shields recharge before you can get another shot off. You will fare way better using the inferno instead, but even that ship is no more than a 6/10 for pve imho. Great video though. I hate how CIG has no clue how to really balance this ship. Keep the rate of fire, but up the Alpha significantly... It shouldn't take an anti capital weapon 3 minutes of continuous fire on a corvette to kill it. Maybe 5 direct hits to take down the shields fully and another 5 to blow it up. The use of this ship right now is a hangar trophy, a reminder of once an ok ship...
Fack me I was not going to comment. I need to sleep! However you are wrong on what the ship was designed for. I get so annoyed hearing that over and over. The ship design was supposed to be a long range sniper that could shoot up to 7k on a target. For years thats what the ship was touted to be. It was in the description saying exactly that and nothing at all to do with fighting cap ships. I know becauae it was the reason I bought it in concept. Seems like only a few seem to remember that. But then it all went to shit and people say it is designed for cap ships like that was the purpose the entire time. It pissed me off so bad I quit for a year. That ship to this day is the worst bs scam SC ever made.So the removed what the ship was actually designed for at the last minute. Literally it stated that concept from the moment it was conceived until one month after release. Poof just like that everyone has forgotten.
It’s a sniper, but it’s not a sniper in 3.23. Watch my video titled “talking star citizen” to see my opinion on why. I know what the ship is supposed to do and be. But it’s no where close to that.
In 3.22 the Ares Inferno and Ares Ion were much to powerful. Its good to reblance these ships but I think, they will get more rebalancing before end of day.
I wish they would have left the gun alone and just made it dirt slow with crappy maneuverability, allowing it to still output damage. Instead they killed the only thing the ship literally has going for it.
@@EvenLease44thank you! Exactly this! It should be difficult to manoeuvre! It's a battleship gun strapped onto a heavy fighter. That thing should turn like a pig, but hit like a boar 😂
It's not good for capital size ships, It has close to half the DPS of a Buccaneer and DPS is the only thing that matters on larger targets Who cares if it has an alpha damage of 6 000 if it takes more than one shot to knock down the shields, any actual fighter will deal more damage to a capital ship than this hunk of trash
They REALLY have to stop allowing artists to design ships. This is a MMO, no, overly specialyzed ships that are not REQUIRED are just useless crap, no 2 ways about it. This is a dead ship and they never even figured what the hell they wanted when implementing heavy fighters, because the game doesn't have TARGETS what RL, WW2 heavy fighters would hunt - bombers. Larger ships in SC are already based on naval vessels, not aircraft, and as such heavy fighter is nothing but a failed archetype that is just an easy prey to ligh fighters, specially because CIG is too cowardly to allow 1 hit kills, and that's the ONLY way heavy fighters could compete - if they traded manouverability for sheer killing power.
They have to stop allowing artists to design ships? I completeley disagree. This game is far from beeing finished and we will need ships like the ares ion in future for sure. Also the Terapin and the Herald, which are of no use for the moment.
@@throdwobblermangrove6200 Artists have no clue about whay could be useful. They must give directions to artists so they can implement useful designs in the most interesting way, but from scratch? We will just end up with 2/3 of the ships being nothing but NPC fodder and wasted purchases from frustrated customers.
This ship is fine, the features needed for it to have a purpose just aren't around. The goal is for it to punch through heavy armor and be useful against capital ships and frigates. However, armor is not implemented and therefor there's no current way to keep it balanced against large vehicles while not also destroying smaller vessels. As soon as we get armor, this thing will be viable for their niche.
and you're calling yourself a lover of Ion. As a fan and owner of the Ares platform I can say with confidence - you have NO understanding of this ship and its "new" role. tip: use "sniper" mode to aim components like turrets and/or engines trying to hit the hull - ridiculous and will become useless once physicalized damage is fully in place
@@izraphailzero5610 I mean knocking out the 200,000 shield hp if a hammerhead and THEN sniping it’s turrets seems like a lot of work. Cuz it’s not like the hammerhead won’t be shooting at you. And this ship is larger than an f8
this isn't a review its a [b-word for complaining]-fest about you losing an i-win button you dont like the ship for what it is you liked it because it was an overpower i-win button and now that cig are taking that away, your just spending most of a review complaining about how waaah i want my i-win button back. instead of taking the time to learn to use the charge ahot effectively and figuring out how to incorporate it THEN judging the shot when an equal before and after skill level is established. (apologies if this is a double post shite local wifi right now)
It’s a review and also a statement that the ship is completely useless now, even at its “intended” role the ship can’t do anything. Do you expect any less when they take a $250 ship and nerf it into the ground making it useless?
The Ares series also has a weapon rack and cargo access on the back of the ship for anyone that doesn’t know. I do not script my content so I mistakenly went over this part this time, won’t happen with any future ships! Thanks for watching, you all are awesome!
Got rid of it TWICE now. Never going back. CIG messed up the Ares too hard.
I will say that I actually like the idea of the charge shot for this ship, and that if the gun was balanced correctly, it would be able to fulfill its job in a formation, that being said what they have done to the gun is an absolute travesty! Look i get that the dev's that did this were trying to force people to stop blasting fighters with it, however there are 2 things wrong with what they have done and their reasoning. 1. Even when making shot's while CHARGING the gun, it is incapable of taking out the SHIELDS of even a smaller FIGHTER (Size 1 Shields) in any kind of a timely manner, and as such Nearly Useless entirely when testing with larger multicrew ships of any class. (yes, we are talking Size 3 shields down to Size 2's). 2. Yes, i recognize that the developer's intent for this ship is to be used as part of a formation with several others, that however is inadmissible as a point of argument when in such a formation The Ion is incapable of fulfilling its assigned task, and instead ends up relying instead on the DPS output of the Ballistic weapons on the Inferno's in the formation to punch through and take out the shields/components of the target ship. frankly with a Size 7 Gun on these ships they should be thought of in the same way as an A-10 Thunderbolt or similar aircraft. I really don't care if some Soyboy in an Arrow or whatever was stupid enough to sit in front of one and got connected to god's wifi a second later because to be blunt what else should be expected at that point seems to apply. and the hate the dev's seem to heap on this fighter and its brother appears misplaced to me. but how are they planning on justifying this thing's existence if it can't do its designed job. at this point it's like taking the A-10 and replacing the GAU 8 in the nose and replacing it with a BB gun and calling it balancing. Finally love the video can't wait to see more and what i am posting here i will also be putting in Spectrum, hopefully this fighter get's some love soon.
Gods WiFi, had me rolling. bravo for that.
On a second note, I agree with everything you wrote. I wish the Ares ships would be better
This things going to gather dust in my hanger for a while
Charged shots... I am REALLY not a fan. 3.something seconds between every charged shot and meaning ANY change in the direction your target is heading will be a missed shot. It is only viable against capital size ships up close or stationary targets. I chose to melt my Ion for now and use its store credits for more viable stuff. Nice and levelheaded video on this ship, thanks for sharing EvenLease.
Great job. Looking forward to following the series.
I feel that a slightly more expensive retaliator will be a much better option than the Ares series hunting down larger/cap ships. Interior and with modularity one will have more options as well. Yes its a multicrew ship but pilot still handles the torpedoes.
When the Ion was launched, it was good! feels good flies good and hit hard. The problem is some players dont like to see 1 ship to rule them all.. and these gladius fanboiz made so much noise that cig nerf the hell out of the ion. And it have been nerfed over and over and over... when you shoot a Size 7 cannon and a stupid chicken stand in front of it... what do you think will happen?
@Corey-mm7jw yeah, i loved that Ion and i was waiting for its release since 1st leaks.. Then glads outcry made me cry.. Its like elephant rifle for killing a bug, is it stupid? yes, but functional.. I think they shall add a huge cost of use to it, i mean energy generator shall consume fuel as well, if they would implement this, making it power hungry asf would make sense and it would balance it without any needs of reduction of the weapons functionality.. but explain it to the devs.. with "their vision"
People that complain about balance are the most annoying group of people that exist.
Man I remember watching your channel a long time ago playing Shogun 2 Total war. I'm glad to see you covering star citizen content. Keep up the good work man :)
Thanks for being around for so long, I LOVE shogun 2, making videos for that was so much fun.
5/10 seems .... biased. For PVP specifically, I'd rather show up in an aurora than any Ares. I'd give it a generous 3/10 (and only because the prospector and the argo cargo exist....)
I think they are onto something with the gun mechanics, they just got it backwards. If I were tasked to revamp the gun, I would give it 3 modes:
1. Sniper mode: Longest range, low rate of fire, high alpha damage, high projectile velocity, uses the whole capacitor and damage depends on the charge level. If you miss, you done f'ed up like any sniper would
2. Autocannon mode: Pretty much like the other laser cannons, with a small bonus to some stat for being bespoke. Take a regular S7 cannon and give it +10% across the board. You know, for killing mid-sized stuff and providing fire support
3. Shotgun mode: Low capacitor (maybe 5 shots), low range, high alpha, around 90 rpm. So *if* you can get a close up shot on a fighter, it will regret that. As a fighter, you do not sit in front of S3 and up guns, period. You'll have to really take piloting classes to actually be useful in a fight, tho.
Mode switching should empty your capacitor and take some 5-7 seconds. Gives you A LOT of tactical flexibility and helps offset the loadout rigidity. It also raises the skill ceiling for knowing when to use which mode, and encourages different playstyles and flight styles.
All these modes are just getting tok much thats the problem.
I used to love this ship. And I typically used it when I expected to go up against heavy fighters and larger. In 3.22.1 the ship, I thought, was finally in a good place. Strong against the larger, slower targets. Fairly weak versus small fighters as it should be. It has been severely nerfed in epic fashion. The old argument of "it's meant to fight capital ships" falls down with the simple question: "how many capital class vessels are there in the PU? How often does one encounter capital ships in combat?" VERY RARELY. There is only 1 and half capital ships in the game. (the 890j and Idris).
Until 3.23 the ship and even it's cousin, the Inferno could be adaptively used for other roles (even though it was handicapped a bit due to it's design); making the ship still worth owning. With the implementation of 3.23 and the accompanying flight model changes and the Nerfs specifically targeting this ship. The mechanics are actively barring the use of the ship for anything other than the vary narrow role of attacking Capital ships (Again, a class of ship that is effectively missing from the game). This makes the ship no fun to operate. and thus the reason to own one at all has been eliminated. sad times for the Ares series of heavy fighters.
I own both ships and can't wait to melt them both
CIG destroys the Ares once again
The gun is very awkward to fire especially charged. I was going to experiment with it again after yesterdays patch dropped but I guess I never spawned it in the previous patch because it’s gone, lol
Cig might as well create a deployable S7 turret.. And scrap the Ares if they like it this way
I really dig the ship's look BUT I also wish we could swap the paintjobs between the two versions (I like the Crusader's brand of white-black-red liveries better)
I feel your pain. WHen I saw the concept and the ship coming out (this and the Inferno) I fell in love with the diea of a ship with a massive laser cannon that would be able to snip large ships from range. Did that off the start, then it got nerf because Arrow pilots got one shotted... Problem wasn't alpha damage, it was projectile speed. Keep it long range, and a relative slow projectile speed.
As to goign in with Inferno, inferno is suposed to survive a bit better up close, whil this is the sniper. BUt frankly, CIG destroy it. WHen an F8 can kill thinks faster, and you kill as fast as an aurora.... Not really. I have one in buy back, I want it fixed, but not sure I'll see it any time soon.
So for now, there's the inferno. Alpha damage should SLAP! Charge damage should Kick in the NUTS!
Thanks for the review, good points for consideration
i am ok with these changes but one thing, why i need to remember to click again for the next shot? after firing while still pressing the fire button it must be charged automatically again!!!
I wont be buying this thanks man
Dumb question, how do you get on top of the Ares ships to access the components? I've always just tried a running jump by the low part of the wing, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Is there a better way to get up there?
I really hate what they did to the Ion. It looks so cool and the idea of having a big gun is so great, but somehow that all just doesn't work.
Maybe making a distortion gun for it or just, other size 7 lasers? It's in a rough shape for sure
good review, earned a subscribe
Great video. A couple of points to add.
You did not show off the aft gun rack
You did not show off the aft external cargo
The Ion is now a light fighter sniper. If you can get the jump on a light fighter you can one shot most light fighters with a single charged shot. As you stated she does not do enough sustained DPS to actually warrant taking against larger targets.
IMHO if they were to cut the charge time in half and change NOTHING else she would be decent for her intended role.
The sustained DPS of the other size 7 guns in the game
SF7B is about 4k
M9A is also about 4k
Oddly both of those guns are also Bering (in world manufacturer)
This also says nothing of
Energy Weapons have to eat shields before hitting hull
Energy Weapons can not penetrate armor to hit components (when armor is a thing)
An argument could be made that energy weapons should have a SLIGHTLY higher DPS to compensate for some of that but ... that is just me being a fanboy of my favorite ship The Crusader Ares Starfighter Ion.
Yes I realize I did not go over the gun racks or external cargo. Thank you!
To be honest I wish they would have left the gun alone but slowed the ship way down and turned her maneuverability to complete crap.
All these changes to the gun but while limiting the range of the round it fires has really killed this ship, for now.
@@EvenLease44 The issue is what that does to pvp, specially when against new players. It's the type of ship that's fun to play as but terrible to play against. A gun that size on a ship this small is almost impossible to balance. There's always the risk it one shots smaller targets. Imagine being a new player and you come up against something like that. Sure you can argue just learn to dodge it but the risk of getting one shot is always there and that pressure can get to people even when experienced. Even if you nerfed it's speed into the dirt you've basically created a new scenario where the pilot of the ion has a very limited amount of time to bring down the enemy fighter or is guaranteed to die and idk if I like that as a solution either. A gun this size on a ship this small might just be really bad design from the start it's either got one shot capability which is unfun gameplay for everyone against it or it's damage is so low that it doesn't fulfill it's intended role like now. I think it needs some kind of utility which is only good against larger targets. Perhaps give it's weapon insane range so it can snipe safely. This would be nearly useless against small fighters but even at it's current damage would be hard to deal with if you were in a larger and slower ship. Would basically require larger ships to need an escort if they came up against it.
@Kilinjaro The "need" to bring escorts is the whole idea. This was never intended to be a 1v1 game.
Big ships slug it out with each other
fighters > Bombers (ion is in this role) > Capital > fighters.
There is supposed to be some consideration for fleet composition.
Giving the shot a 4 second TTL at the current speed would be an interesting idea. At the moment (3.23), the charge shot can already core a light fighter. It, however, struggles with anything bigger. I still think that the Ion should have comparable dps between the two platforms (Ion, Inferno). This is further exasperated by the MANY advantages ballistics get (shield pen currently and Armor pen stated for the future being the most notable).
@@ShaRroos A sniper variant of this would need an escort because the only way a big ship could fight back against a faster ship that was pinging away at it from a distance was to send faster fighters to defend itself which would then require the ion to need fighters to defend it. A large ship without an escort could also be harried by the smaller ships to either keep it from tanking damage in ftl mode in hopes of getting away before it died by putting a constant threat in it's face. Literally just dipping into weapon range to harry it before losing shields would create that threat and would create a sort of arms race between factions centered around the Ares. Going back to huge damage per shot is likely never going to be a thing with the Ares as it just goes back to the old issue of one shoting small ships. It needs some sort of utility that makes it good against larger ships and that doesn't have to be my sniper idea but that would give it a unique niche and even the hammerhead can't really do that at least not to larger ships.
Have you found a ship you do like 3.23? Im having a hard time finding any ship fun right now but I've only been testing the single seaters I have. Just not enjoying all the ship combat changes.
Everyone seems to agree that the only fun ships now are the snubs. Only ships that have any kind of speed to them. However, CIG already said they think snubs are 'not in a good place'. Fun hammer incoming
the 20 round capacitor does not matter with the rate if fire it will never be empty I tried...
This ship now really needs a turret so you can take a friend to watch your back while you're holding relatively still and using precision mode to snipe shots at range.
For pve bounty hunt solo, you prefer the ion or the rsi scorpius?
Pve the ion can be useful depending on how responsive the AI
They need to just have a simple tier 1-10 weapon system with progressively more damage as you go through the tiers. Doing specific targeted balance changes to one ships weapons over another is stupid. If they want to balance anything then change maneuverability, that should be the main advantage of small ships with low firepower over larger ones with more firepower.
They’re gonna have to rework the gun eventually because if they leave it as it is, the Perseus will have a pretty lackluster debut.
I'll be upgrading my ion during Invictus
To what? The vanguards are weird aswell
While I know people will hate these changes for general usage of this vehicle, it definitely is an okay workaround for making it better against larger vehicles. 1900 DPS consistently for a straight minute isn't too bad for a single seater vessel of this size. It just really has become unusable against smaller craft. I think if the DPS was bumped up slightly do make it excel even more at this niche, or alternative options like the M7A for the Vangaurd were tuned down, this would sit very comfortable in it's place as an anti-frigate heavy fighter.
However, since the Vanguard does exist, and the M7A can be used on it granting it nearly the same sustained DPS, it still leaves the Ion in an uncomfortable space.
I do think though that when armor is finally implemented, it will serve it's own purpose well enough, and we could maybe see buffs to it's maneuverability at that time.
If targets didn’t move and fight back the damage output would be amazing. But in its current state as I mentioned missing shots spells doom for you and quicker than it should.
The ion has a very long road ahead of it self.
There is sadly an issue with your calculation. Even the 6000 charged shot will likely do way less damage on anything but a capital ship due to cone fire. The damage is spread out over the entire square on your firing HUD. A ship will only cover a significant portion of that square at point blank range. Definitely not at any range considered 'sniper' range. And being that close makes you mince meat for the turrets as you're moving very slow. The Aries is way too fragile to survive in a braw like that.
Until they rework it (again!), it has no role basically. 3/10 just for the missiles that aren't much good honestly and the good looks
Can the charged shots be held? Or does it fire when it hits max charge?
Fires when hits max charge.
I've never forgiven CIG for what they did to this ship or the fact they ignored the overwhelming backlash from the community and just kept it nerfed to hell. Haven't pledged for any ship since.
New heavy fighter may be released at ILW for them to nerf Ion/Inferno like this.
You might be onto something
Ares needs an Ultrafast Load Up Sniper Beam Laser.
poor Ion.... we had a good run 😢
It has a good missile loadout, which is what it is supposed to use on smaller ships. Whether it works or not, it would be good to mention that in a review.
I did mention it’s massive missile payload. Seems more a gimmick tho instead of useful when missiles are as finicky as they are currently.
@@EvenLease44 Sorry, it is very late in my timezone; I must have dozed off and not caught it or something. Again, sorry, my bad.
@bluexgreen1 no worries! Personally I hate missing things and I know I missed one or two things in my review here, so I appreciate you!
They made it even more useless than it was before. The charge shots in dogfights with small fighters is terrible. Feels sluggish, feels so slow, drags the fight immensely. Just not fun to fly with it anymore. They killed the Ion. Look, I'm probably nowhere near the top tier PVP players in aiming and tactics and so on, but when a fighter feels this sluggish even for new players against the smaller low tier bounty hunting, they're not gonna have fun. They might look for another game.
Also, I thought it was supposed to have 3 shields generators... Poor Ion :(
and the speed! ....
NO other way to say it: THe Ares Ion has been castrated.
They completely trashed it!!!! How about I sell CGI a Lambo, then after 8 weeks in the night while they sleep, I come replace it Ford Pinto after they paid the Lambo price. Do you think that would go over well?????
Good review. They sold it has a Sniper and I think they goes on the right direction with it. Too many people use it in close range
a sniper shot far away with precision and does heavy damage this is clearly not the case with the ion
I bought this ship in game right before the latest money wipe and then they changed its gun immediately and now I’m sad
Yeah the gun change made me sad too.
not being able to hold the charge for a few seconds is an absolute no go
They either have to make the bullets faster to make the ship a sniper, or drastically increase dps cause imperfections in timing (and also then holding charges) further decrease the dps, which is absolutely laughable since for example a full energy F8C can deal 2100 sustained with 5600 burst without any of the additional drawbacks the Ion got.
its so bs
i had this and the inferno , both bought ingame , after the new update the inferno disappeared from my fleet but this peice of crap stayed
The Ares are always in game bought for me.
Its too easy to nerf to pay real money for it.
Really great overview!
I have both the Ion and the Inferno and love the concept of ship. I just think they're always going to be difficult to balance.
I think in the Ion's case, it would be good if we could get some sort of mode toggle. The first mode removes the charge mechanic and brings it back to how it was in 3.22. The second mode could be what we have in 3.23.
Either that or tie the charge mechanic to the new precision aim mode. That way you could snipe modules on larger ships at a safer distance, while keeping some of the basic dogfighting capabilities.
But 100% get that it shouldn't really be engaging smaller ships. Still it's at risk of becoming too niche.
I see that argument used over and over that it shouldn't be fighting smalls and mediums. Well, it should not be able to keep up with them in a turn fight. Its gun should definitely be able to hit any ship. They keep nerfing the gun while they should be nerfing the agility
@@eavdmeer Thank You... At least someone gets it, the ship should be heavy and slow, but with a massive murder cannon... that was the entire concept. Any small ship that it touches should evaporate.
@@NYCZombie it was like this when it first came out. The only thing that was and still is absurd is the turn rate. They keep fiddling with the wrong thing instead of resolving the actual issue
Yogi messed this up bad.
One step forward five steps back on this ship... while its not the final version of this ship, for 3.23 and the considerable future this ship is dead in the water.
I have both the twins, and they're unique for sure, now though, they're in a more realistic position where they can do the most damage. Still together, they're a force to be reckoned with
I would rather that they swap that size 7 canon on Ion with size 7 laser repeater
That might be a good solution actually. Charged for a laser bolt and normal for repeaters.
man... to think the only reason it got nerfed and made completely unfun to play is "Multiplayer/PVP". We cant have good and fun/overpowered things as soon as there is pvp or multiplayer in games which is really sad in my opinion
S5 laser cannons have like 1800 alpha. This thing is tragic.
Unless they up the range of the cannon so you can shoot at targets from beyond their fire range, this ship will useless. RIP Ion.
They destroyed the f8C also nerfed speed and movement to oblivion
has anything significant happened with the inferno? if this is still fucked in live i might swap to the brrrrrrt
Well the main gun shoots faster but does less alpha damage and has less ammo.
@@EvenLease44 i swear CIG said they're increasing ammo capacity for both variants "significantly" for 3.23
well they initially in 3.23 took most the ammo from them leaving the laser cannon at 10 rounds and the gattling gun at 900 rounds, but then they “significantly” upped the count by doubling it in 3.23 update a few weeks ago, which is still less than 3.22.
40 shots to destroy a Volture. That's all I'm saying
They seem to have no idea how to balance these concepts.
If you are making these reviews aimed at new players you need to also include that the Ares has a gun rack and some decent trunk space in the back
Yes that’s my plan. I used up my time going over the tragic gun changes and completely skipped over the internal cargo and gun racks. Won’t happen again! I don’t script my self so it happens when I get too distracted! 😂
@@EvenLease44 love the vids bud
Look at what they did to my baby boy...
In 3.23 my beloved Ares Ion turned into rubbish.
I own Inferno it's same pain... I'll upgrade it or melt it, there's nothing to lose anymore. As a person who won't use it in group battle vs capital I don't see purpose of having it in my fleet anymore.
Its not the same pain the Inferno is in a far better spot than the ares and its not even close. Inferno is actually useful and can still do ERTs. Ares cant do shit.
They should of told them gladius cry babies to just get good =D it goes both ways. dont get in front of a big ass cannon, pretty simple logic.
… looks good though? 😬
5 out of 10????? You are way too generous.. this monstrosity is no more than a 3/10 for pve, and 0/10 for pvp in the current state.
Against a stationary Connie Andromeda, it takes a full minutes to destroy and for a hammerhead, a staggering 3 minutes... The reason is because their shields recharge before you can get another shot off.
You will fare way better using the inferno instead, but even that ship is no more than a 6/10 for pve imho.
Great video though. I hate how CIG has no clue how to really balance this ship. Keep the rate of fire, but up the Alpha significantly... It shouldn't take an anti capital weapon 3 minutes of continuous fire on a corvette to kill it. Maybe 5 direct hits to take down the shields fully and another 5 to blow it up.
The use of this ship right now is a hangar trophy, a reminder of once an ok ship...
Fack me I was not going to comment. I need to sleep! However you are wrong on what the ship was designed for. I get so annoyed hearing that over and over. The ship design was supposed to be a long range sniper that could shoot up to 7k on a target. For years thats what the ship was touted to be. It was in the description saying exactly that and nothing at all to do with fighting cap ships. I know becauae it was the reason I bought it in concept. Seems like only a few seem to remember that. But then it all went to shit and people say it is designed for cap ships like that was the purpose the entire time. It pissed me off so bad I quit for a year. That ship to this day is the worst bs scam SC ever made.So the removed what the ship was actually designed for at the last minute. Literally it stated that concept from the moment it was conceived until one month after release. Poof just like that everyone has forgotten.
It’s a sniper, but it’s not a sniper in 3.23. Watch my video titled “talking star citizen” to see my opinion on why.
I know what the ship is supposed to do and be. But it’s no where close to that.
Inferno is better imo
The inferno is absolutely better than the ION now! In 3.22 that was debatable.
In 3.22 the Ares Inferno and Ares Ion were much to powerful. Its good to reblance these ships but I think, they will get more rebalancing before end of day.
I wish they would have left the gun alone and just made it dirt slow with crappy maneuverability, allowing it to still output damage. Instead they killed the only thing the ship literally has going for it.
@@EvenLease44thank you! Exactly this! It should be difficult to manoeuvre! It's a battleship gun strapped onto a heavy fighter. That thing should turn like a pig, but hit like a boar 😂
Both Ares ships have been butchered, they sell the ship in a good logical state and nerf it into the dirt.
It's not good for capital size ships, It has close to half the DPS of a Buccaneer and DPS is the only thing that matters on larger targets
Who cares if it has an alpha damage of 6 000 if it takes more than one shot to knock down the shields, any actual fighter will deal more damage to a capital ship than this hunk of trash
I thought it was just me the ion really is dog poop now :/
CIG made me hate my favorite ship. Total waste.
did the devs forget this game is supposed to be fun? ugh you couldnt pay me to fly this hunk of boring
Yeah the ION was destroyed :(
Where is cat 😢
Caterpillar is on my list don’t worry!!! Expect it soon.
booooooo
that sucks
They REALLY have to stop allowing artists to design ships. This is a MMO, no, overly specialyzed ships that are not REQUIRED are just useless crap, no 2 ways about it. This is a dead ship and they never even figured what the hell they wanted when implementing heavy fighters, because the game doesn't have TARGETS what RL, WW2 heavy fighters would hunt - bombers.
Larger ships in SC are already based on naval vessels, not aircraft, and as such heavy fighter is nothing but a failed archetype that is just an easy prey to ligh fighters, specially because CIG is too cowardly to allow 1 hit kills, and that's the ONLY way heavy fighters could compete - if they traded manouverability for sheer killing power.
They have to stop allowing artists to design ships? I completeley disagree.
This game is far from beeing finished and we will need ships like the ares ion in future for sure.
Also the Terapin and the Herald, which are of no use for the moment.
@@throdwobblermangrove6200 Artists have no clue about whay could be useful. They must give directions to artists so they can implement useful designs in the most interesting way, but from scratch? We will just end up with 2/3 of the ships being nothing but NPC fodder and wasted purchases from frustrated customers.
This ship is fine, the features needed for it to have a purpose just aren't around. The goal is for it to punch through heavy armor and be useful against capital ships and frigates. However, armor is not implemented and therefor there's no current way to keep it balanced against large vehicles while not also destroying smaller vessels. As soon as we get armor, this thing will be viable for their niche.
The challenge with this was it’s a ship built for a sale not for gameplay. They sold it then tried to figure out how they could fit it in.
and you're calling yourself a lover of Ion. As a fan and owner of the Ares platform I can say with confidence - you have NO understanding of this ship and its "new" role.
tip: use "sniper" mode to aim components like turrets and/or engines
trying to hit the hull - ridiculous and will become useless once physicalized damage is fully in place
Sniper nose for what? It uses lasers.
@@asog88 I'll tell you a secret. turrets - are EXTERNAL modules! In other words - can be destroyed with a laser
@@izraphailzero5610 after the shields are down sure.
@@asog88 guess what Ion does the best? Right - removes shields! What a coincidence!
@@izraphailzero5610 I mean knocking out the 200,000 shield hp if a hammerhead and THEN sniping it’s turrets seems like a lot of work. Cuz it’s not like the hammerhead won’t be shooting at you. And this ship is larger than an f8
this isn't a review its a [b-word for complaining]-fest about you losing an i-win button
you dont like the ship for what it is you liked it because it was an overpower i-win button and now that cig are taking that away, your just spending most of a review complaining about how waaah i want my i-win button back. instead of taking the time to learn to use the charge ahot effectively and figuring out how to incorporate it
THEN judging the shot when an equal before and after skill level is established.
(apologies if this is a double post shite local wifi right now)
It’s a review and also a statement that the ship is completely useless now, even at its “intended” role the ship can’t do anything. Do you expect any less when they take a $250 ship and nerf it into the ground making it useless?