View source for Talk:Alliance Crusader/@comment-24.159.43.54-20180930072447/@comment-189.232.88.255-20181113074537

I'm gonna say this. 

First of all, you need to look at every ship as one full package rather than individual stats. The numbers by itself don't mean anything outside of their context, so you need to delve into said context and the only way to do so is by running practical tests in the role(s) for which a ship was designed (in this case, combat).

Now, consider this. I'm gonna compare to the Fed Assault Ship so as to convey some inside perspective, as it is a rather popular combat ship in the game.

The Assault Ship is certainly faster in a straight line than the Crusader, but the Crusader still is faster at turning and performing other maneouvers, particularly those that make use of the vertical thrusters. This doesn't make either ship inherently good or inherently bad, but it does mean that each ship will be better suited to different flight styles.

In terms of firepower, it is more or less equivalent to the Assault Ship, but with lower armor-piercing potential unless you use heavy hitters or weapons modified for armor piercing. The loadouts may vary greatly from one pilot to another, but this is very much sufficient to take on big targets (and I have done it).

A great boon that the Crusader has in offensive terms, is the positioning of its hardpoints. All
the top-mounted hardpoints have excellent cross-convergence. The nose-mounted hardpoint doesn't have as good convergence with the top hardpoints as they do with each other, but nose-mounted hardpoints are perfect for fixed weapons. Plus, if you want a bit more versatility out of your hardpoints, you can use overcharged weaponry with this so you don't need as many redundant guns, and the ship's cooling system is perfectly able to take it. And I'm talking about things like combining overcharged beams, with plasma accelerators (I have done this and can manage the heat in combat just fine, using an armored power plant).

In addition to that, you may keep two fighters deployed simultaneously. Depending on how you use the fighters, they can be a great tactical defense boon, or a great offensive boon. A boon that the Assault Ship does not have.

And in addition to that, the Crusader has a relatively low price tag for a dedicated combat ship that can launch fighters (let alone launch more than one), and it requires no licenses. 

As far as defenses go, this ship also has equivalent armor-tanking capability to the Fed ship family (mileage can vary depending on setup) which is excellent and it can mount shields equivalent or more powerful than those of the Assault Ship depending on your setup (I run it with undersized shields to accomodate a larger fighter bay, and the shield strength is equivalent to my Assault Ship's)