Faulcon deLacy's Viper MkIV takes the MkIII model and beefs it up to a heavy fighter role. While it lacks the speed of the older ship, it enjoys much better protection from its shields and armour. With the capacity for a more capable powerplant and frame shift drive, the MkIV is also better suited for long-range patrols and rapid deployment. The powerplant upgrade potential supports greater customization for weapons and modules, making this a versatile fighter that would be and excellent addition to any navy or private-security concern.
Compared to MkIII, the new Viper features better internal slots in addition to the better powerplant, which gives the pilot more choice in their loadouts, like running more thermal weaponry, or mounting the Prismatic Shield Generator without sacrificing other modules.
Compared to the MkIII, the MkIV has worse shields by default due to its higher hull mass. However unlike the MkIII it is capable of mounting a Class 4 Shield Generator, which along with a much more durable hull gives it a lot of survivability.
However, the drawbacks for the better equipment come in the form of slightly worse maneuverability and speed. The MkIV also features a slightly bulkier hull due to addition of the "bumpers" on each side, which makes it a slightly bigger target compared to the MkIII. It also seems to have a relatively poor heat dissipation, with the prolonged firing of heat-generating weapons or shield cells easily pushing the ship's temperature over 100%.
Ship's hardpoint options are identical to its predecessor, but unlike the Viper MkIII whose underside mounted class 2 medium hardpoints are on a horizontally flat part of the hull, the class 2 medium hardpoints of the MkIV are on a slightly angled part of the underside.
At the EGX event David Braben said it "trades a bit of manoeuvrability and speed for better internals, but it's got the same hardpoint layout as the standard Viper".[2]
In Newsletter #92 it was stated that every Kickstarter beta backer or above will find a Viper MkIV docked at a starport for free.[3]
