Q&A: Drake Cutlass Steel

Drake Cutlass Steel Q&A
Now that the Cutlass Steel from Drake Interplanetary has been added to the 'verse, we posed a few questions to the vehicle team about the new dropship. Here are the answers, straight from the designers themselves.

Does the front/pilot area differ from the other Cutlass variants?
There are no differences in the Steel from the door into the cockpit area forwards.

Can any cargo be stored on the Cutlass Steel (commodities, vehicles, delivery boxes, food)?
There is no dedicated cargo grid on the ship, so full SCU crates cannot be loaded or secured. However, you can of course manually place smaller items in there. No vehicles are officially supported for loading, and the additional door guns and jump seats block most of the entranceways.

How does it stand apart from the other dropships?
Compared to other dropships, the big bonus is the increased amount of weaponry available to cover troops on the ground.

Are the door weapons bespoke, or can they be replaced?
They will be replaceable in the future, though they are currently locked to ballistic Gatlings.

Are the rest of the components on par with any of the other Cutlasses (shields, armor, etc.)?
Component-wise, the Steel is identically specced to the Black.

Are there weapon/armor racks on board?
The pilot and co-pilot retain their weapon racks in the cockpit room. Each jump seat in the rear also has space for one FPS weapon.

Does the co-pilot control the backward-facing remote turret, or can it also be controlled by one of the passengers from within the troop area?
The rear-facing remote turret is exclusively controlled by the co-pilot.

Does the Cutlass Steel have any medical equipment on board?
There is no medical equipment on board the Cutlass Steel.

Does its mass differ from the other variants? If yes, does it gain any benefits or disadvantages in terms of speed and maneuverability through this?
The Steel weighs more than the Black due to the extra jump seats and turrets, so has marginally reduced performance compared to the Black.

Does the Cutlass Steel have any special features to better withstand or evade incoming defensive fire from ground positions?
There are no additional features on the Steel aside from the jump seats, remote rear turret, and manned door turrets.

Is the pilot's visibility in line with the other Cutlass variants, or are there any advantages as it is a dropship variant that would benefit from better ground visibility?
The pilot and co-pilot positions are shared across all variants, and the canopy is the same as the Black, so it retains the same visibility. We are aware of issues with alignment and visibility in the Cutlass series and will be adjusting it in a future update.

Will it be possible to equip the backward-facing remote turret with AI-blades?
As always, blades will be able to slave remote turrets to pilots. However, as the remote turret on the Steel faces backward, it would be of limited usefulness as, with freelook/headtracking, the pilot would only be able to use it looking extreme left or right.

Disclaimer
The answers accurately reflect development’s intentions at the time of writing, but the company and development team reserve the right to adapt, improve, or change feature and ship designs in response to feedback, playtesting, design revisions, or other considerations to improve balance or the quality of the game overall.

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Drake Cutlass Steel Q&A
Jetzt, da die Cutlass Steel von Drake Interplanetary in das Spiel aufgenommen wurde, haben wir dem Fahrzeugteam ein paar Fragen zu dem neuen Dropship gestellt. Hier sind die Antworten, direkt von den Designern selbst.

Unterscheidet sich der Front-/Pilotenbereich von den anderen Cutlass-Varianten?
Von der Tür bis zum Cockpitbereich gibt es keine Unterschiede.

Kann auf der Cutlass Steel Fracht gelagert werden (Waren, Fahrzeuge, Lieferkisten, Lebensmittel)?
Es gibt kein spezielles Frachtgitter auf dem Schiff, daher können keine vollen SCU-Kisten geladen oder gesichert werden. Du kannst aber natürlich kleinere Gegenstände manuell dort hineinlegen. Offiziell werden keine Fahrzeuge zum Beladen unterstützt, und die zusätzlichen Türkanonen und Sprungsitze blockieren die meisten Eingänge.

Wie unterscheidet es sich von den anderen Dropships?
Im Vergleich zu anderen Dropships ist der große Vorteil die größere Anzahl an Waffen, die zur Deckung der Truppen am Boden zur Verfügung stehen.

Sind die Türwaffen maßgeschneidert oder können sie ausgetauscht werden?
Sie werden in Zukunft austauschbar sein, obwohl sie derzeit an ballistische Gatlings gebunden sind.

Sind die übrigen Komponenten den anderen Cutlasses ebenbürtig (Schilde, Panzerung usw.)?
Was die Komponenten angeht, ist die Steel genauso ausgestattet wie die Black.

Gibt es Waffen- und Rüstungsständer an Bord?
Der Pilot und der Co-Pilot behalten ihre Waffenständer im Cockpitraum. Jeder Jump Seat im Heck hat außerdem Platz für eine FPS-Waffe.

Steuert der Copilot den nach hinten gerichteten ferngesteuerten Geschützturm, oder kann er auch von einem der Passagiere aus dem Truppenraum gesteuert werden?
Der nach hinten gerichtete ferngesteuerte Geschützturm wird ausschließlich vom Co-Piloten gesteuert.

Hat die Cutlass Steel eine medizinische Ausrüstung an Bord?
Es gibt keine medizinische Ausrüstung an Bord der Cutlass Steel.

Unterscheidet sie sich in ihrer Masse von den anderen Varianten? Wenn ja, hat sie dadurch irgendwelche Vor- oder Nachteile in Bezug auf Geschwindigkeit und Manövrierfähigkeit?
Die Steel wiegt aufgrund der zusätzlichen Sprungsitze und Geschütztürme mehr als die Black und hat daher eine geringfügig geringere Leistung als die Black.

Verfügt die Cutlass Steel über besondere Eigenschaften, um dem Abwehrfeuer von Bodenpositionen besser standzuhalten oder auszuweichen?
Abgesehen von den Sprungsitzen, dem ferngesteuerten hinteren Geschützturm und den bemannten Türtürmen verfügt der Steel über keine zusätzlichen Funktionen.

Entspricht die Sicht des Piloten den anderen Cutlass-Varianten, oder gibt es Vorteile, da es sich um eine Dropship-Variante handelt, die von einer besseren Bodensicht profitieren würde?
Die Positionen des Piloten und des Co-Piloten sind bei allen Varianten gleich, und die Kabinenhaube ist die gleiche wie bei der Black, so dass sie die gleiche Sicht bietet. Wir wissen, dass es bei der Cutlass-Serie Probleme mit der Ausrichtung und der Sicht gibt und werden dies in einem zukünftigen Update anpassen.

Wird es möglich sein, den nach hinten gerichteten Remote-Turm mit KI-Klingen auszurüsten?
Wie immer werden Klingen in der Lage sein, Piloten mit ferngesteuerten Geschütztürmen zu versklaven. Da der ferngesteuerte Geschützturm der Steel jedoch nach hinten gerichtet ist, wäre er nur von begrenztem Nutzen, da der Pilot ihn mit Freelook/Headtracking nur mit Blickrichtung nach links oder rechts benutzen kann.

Haftungsausschluss
Die Antworten spiegeln die Absichten der Entwickler zum Zeitpunkt der Erstellung dieses Artikels wider. Das Unternehmen und das Entwicklungsteam behalten sich jedoch das Recht vor, Features und Schiffsdesigns als Reaktion auf Feedback, Spieltests, Designüberarbeitungen oder andere Überlegungen zur Verbesserung der Balance oder der Qualität des Spiels insgesamt anzupassen, zu verbessern oder zu ändern.

Drake Cutlass Steel Q&A
Now that the Cutlass Steel from Drake Interplanetary has been added to the 'verse, we posed a few questions to the vehicle team about the new dropship. Here are the answers, straight from the designers themselves.

Does the front/pilot area differ from the other Cutlass variants?
There are no differences in the Steel from the door into the cockpit area forwards.

Can any cargo be stored on the Cutlass Steel (commodities, vehicles, delivery boxes, food)?
There is no dedicated cargo grid on the ship, so full SCU crates cannot be loaded or secured. However, you can of course manually place smaller items in there. No vehicles are officially supported for loading, and the additional door guns and jump seats block most of the entranceways.

How does it stand apart from the other dropships?
Compared to other dropships, the big bonus is the increased amount of weaponry available to cover troops on the ground.

Are the door weapons bespoke, or can they be replaced?
They will be replaceable in the future, though they are currently locked to ballistic Gatlings.

Are the rest of the components on par with any of the other Cutlasses (shields, armor, etc.)?
Component-wise, the Steel is identically specced to the Black.

Are there weapon/armor racks on board?
The pilot and co-pilot retain their weapon racks in the cockpit room. Each jump seat in the rear also has space for one FPS weapon.

Does the co-pilot control the backward-facing remote turret, or can it also be controlled by one of the passengers from within the troop area?
The rear-facing remote turret is exclusively controlled by the co-pilot.

Does the Cutlass Steel have any medical equipment on board?
There is no medical equipment on board the Cutlass Steel.

Does its mass differ from the other variants? If yes, does it gain any benefits or disadvantages in terms of speed and maneuverability through this?
The Steel weighs more than the Black due to the extra jump seats and turrets, so has marginally reduced performance compared to the Black.

Does the Cutlass Steel have any special features to better withstand or evade incoming defensive fire from ground positions?
There are no additional features on the Steel aside from the jump seats, remote rear turret, and manned door turrets.

Is the pilot's visibility in line with the other Cutlass variants, or are there any advantages as it is a dropship variant that would benefit from better ground visibility?
The pilot and co-pilot positions are shared across all variants, and the canopy is the same as the Black, so it retains the same visibility. We are aware of issues with alignment and visibility in the Cutlass series and will be adjusting it in a future update.

Will it be possible to equip the backward-facing remote turret with AI-blades?
As always, blades will be able to slave remote turrets to pilots. However, as the remote turret on the Steel faces backward, it would be of limited usefulness as, with freelook/headtracking, the pilot would only be able to use it looking extreme left or right.

Disclaimer
The answers accurately reflect development’s intentions at the time of writing, but the company and development team reserve the right to adapt, improve, or change feature and ship designs in response to feedback, playtesting, design revisions, or other considerations to improve balance or the quality of the game overall.

Now that the RAFT from Argo Astronautics has been added to the 'verse, we posed a few questions to the vehicle team about the new cargo carrier. Here are the answers, straight from the designers themselves.