https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=23745.105 Here's an older thread about the Vanguard, to show I did do some research on the forum's opinions of Vanguard before making the post. I had a few thoughts I wanted to share about the Vanguard and this is too small of a post to make for its own thread imo, so I decided to put it here.
VANGUARDS(I striked out what is no longer worth discussing because it has been addressed via rugged construction change in 0.96)
I think they're actually just fine in battle; I've had good success using them against high-end Ordos, even. Just have to bring enough of 'em; they work in packs - if you deploy one or two, sometimes they'll do something and sometimes they'll run into a few HILs and fizzle out, but if you have a bunch it averages out into consistent good performance - and they synergize well with other Vanguards. It's just the recovery cost that's too high, making this a still-winning-but-too-expensive proposition.
I was thinking about the Vanguard recently and a thought occurred to me. What if the top speed of the Vanguard was higher, say 155 like the omen?
I think the vanguard still struggles a little too hard even when it is mixed with other vanguards or other ships that can draw fire or hide behind when beams are involved. Beam damage resistance would 'fix' this but probably open a different can of worms, and was already discussed before anyway. A top speed buff to the vanguard might be an interesting experiment, though. This would play into the use case listed by Alex here - packs that can move in and move about. Obviously they have burn drive, but burn drive AI is pretty cautious about using it to approach too much, the vanguard's burn drive is used more for point capture, rapidly redeploying on the battlemap and chasing fleeing enemies than offensive approaches when in AI hands. I think. A higher top speed would also improve its role as an escort, for those who like using vanguards as escorts.
I had this thought because I've been on a starsector hiatus for a few months and thought the vanguard already had a high speed for a frigate. And, it sort of does, but 135 was lower than I thought it was. Bringing its top speed to be similar to the Omen would sort of be like mirroring the sorts of roles an Omen can fulfill, but with a low tech variant that does it in a very different manner.
Well, that was all I had to mention, just throw that thought out there.