I mean when you put it like that it does look nicer in that 20 DP spot. But the important part is to take a look at its role and how the ship is meant to be used. Fury is basically a bigger Shrike, not much science there. So as Shrike, it's also a fast flanker/harasser that can zoom into a battle an unleash a burst of missiles and energy weapons. Everyone here knows AI doesn't really do flanking maneuvers nor it has perfect timing to strike (also sometimes hesitant to pull off and active vent), which is why people call such ships "punch down" ships. 8 DP for a punch down ship makes sense, since frigates don't cost a lot less, only tiny less. Fury on the other hand costs 20 DP and ships which it can reliably kill are much cheaper than itself. Which is why I hate that the bloody thing occupies the same points in your fleet as Gryphon does.
You could sugarcoat this role all day long, I just don't have the need to spend 20 DP (the cost of an average cruiser) for a ship that can handle base Falcons at best.
If you're saying the Fury isn't worth 20 DP, then I'd advocate that it be buffed until it's worth 20 DP. Dropping to 18-19 DP is another option, with or without buffs. But I feel 15 DP is really too close to two other already existing ships with nearly the same doctrine and access to nearly the same weapons. You can put a Medium missile (or two small missiles), a Heavy Blaster and an Ion Pulser on a Medusa, on a Hyperion, or on a Fury.
Fury is a bigger Shrike, but so is a Medusa in a sense. Medusa ticks all the same boxes that the Shrike and Fury do. Fast flanker/harasser that can zoom into battle and unleash a burst of missiles and energy weapons. They all have systems to get them into trouble faster, and their speeds range from 90-120.
Actually, Medusa with Railguns and ITU has the same max range as a Fury with ITU with Heavy Blasters/Pulse Lasers. 700*1.2 = 840, 600*1.4 = 840. So the most distinguishing feature, longer range, doesn't even really apply to the more common hardflux builds. Going farther, an IPDAI + ePD Medusa has significantly longer range than a ITU Fury, so the cruiser chassis isn't doing much for you over the destroyer chassis.
I guess maybe from my point of view, I feel "cruiser" designation or "light cruiser" or "fast cruiser" are really nebulous. Are people arguing all light and fast cruisers should cost 14-15 DP? Are people also arguing we should modify the non-pirate Eradicator so it is only worth 15 DP or so as well? Why only the Fury and the Falcon? I mean, it fills in the same gap in the low tech lineup that the Falcon fills in the midline and the Fury fills in the high tech. Sure the Eradicator is called "fast" instead of "light", but it's got the 9 burn thing going for it. There doesn't seem to be any argument the Eradicator should be changed and dropped down to 15 DP.
Again, if the Fury is not worth 20 DP, I would rather see it be changed and buffed such that it is worth 20 DP, rather than match drop to 15 DP since I use Medusa and Hyperions from the high tech lineup for that job, or a Falcon from the midline line up, or the (P) Eradicator from the lowtech line up. Isn't the 12-15 DP fast cruiser line up crowded enough at 15 DP?
It's really barren at 20 DP for fast, highly mobile ships. What high base speed + mobility system ships clock in at 20 to 25 DP? Eagles didn't count at speed 50 since they really didn't have the sustained high speed, and they are dropping closer to the 15 DP range anyways. Not Champions (25 DP line holder with long range weapons/missiles), not Dominators (again 25 DP line holder with anti-capital larges ), not Apogees (18-20 DP again line holder with anti-capital larges), not Gryphons (20 DP slow missile ship), not Heron's (20 DP fast carrier), not Mora (20 DP line holder carrier brick).
So I see no problem sticking a fast, short range, highly mobile ship into the 20-25 DP band, with the Aurora sitting way up at 30 DP.
From an actual overall game ship's filling unique roles at different balance points perspective, as opposed to just naming conventions, I think the Fury should be balanced around 20 DP, not 15 DP. If people just want to change its designation to "fast cruiser" instead of a "light cruiser" so it gets compared to the Eradicator instead of the Falcon, I'm all for that.
@Hiruma Kai
A convincing argument. I was looking at the Fury from the lens of the Cruiser line up rather than the High Tech. From that perspective, you’re right: it would bump into the Medusa, though I feel the Hyperion is sort of an outlier and not a a “mainline” ship.
However, I’d be curious how many players compare a Falcon to a Medusa to a Hyperion (I.e. across hull sizes). That’s not immediately intuitive. Or perhaps it’s better to ask, what is the most common way folks compare ships? Is it hull size, DP, burn speed, role, etc?
I’m inclined to agree with Grievous69 when comparing it against a Heron, Gryphon, Mora, Apogee or the now cheaper Eagle: is it on par with these other 20ish DP ships? Maybe it should be 18 like the Eagle.
I guess I'm advocating for buffs to the Fury then, if it really isn't worth 20 DP. I'm saying where I would like to see the Fury end up, not necessarily where balance says it should be with its exact current stats. I feel like the last time I looked at the balance considerations, it was working OK at 20 DP? Certainly not over tuned, but it didn't seem that undertuned. If it's really worth 17-8 DP now, say, I'd rather see some tweak ups to it.
