Is railjack a real game changer or just an inexplicable game mode?

[(XBOX)Architect Prime]

Because I don't know how I would feel about having railjack and then for some reason not being able to use the railjack in all the situations where it would make more sense to. Why, for example, would I go kill everyone on a grineer gallion when it would make much more sense to blow it up with my railjack? It's like you suddenly need to make every space mission railjack accessible now, which is insane. You could try to explain it away, but in the end - the railjack would and should change the dynamics of almost every mission on the star chart... Which is insane.

Of course, there's a slightly easier way around this issue that I can think of - that would still be an improvement in my opinion. It would be a big addition, but it'd be cool: Get rid of load screens and replace it with a visual on the front window of the orbiter that would show you going to the destination. And then accepting the mission becomes going into a new room in the orbiter, from which you deploy in the landing craft. I've always thought it would be nice to either pilot the landing crafts or choose from several entry tiles on the tile set... In my mind, that would make the overall mission-to-mission experience extremely smooth. Like how destiny does it, but not as boring - and more immersive. But then there's the glaring issue of why the big ships don't just deploy their little fighters to get you in every mission. Like is the landing craft invisible or do the grineer just not care? And why are there these extremely convenient ports for Tenno landing crafts all over the place to begin with? 

Railjack alone just seems like it'll be so separate and inexplicable, like here's a ship that you can use sometimes _{even though you should logically be able to use it for allot of stuff...} So I'm left wondering how the system is going to both be explained away and how it's going to flow. Because I'm somewhat nervous that we're going to end up with one fairly useless mission on most of the planets and then that's railjack. It seems to have happened to archwing so... 

It's my hope that all the sabotage and exterminate style missions in space become railjack accessible. My hopes are probably too high. But you never know.

[Omega-Shadowblade]

Landing crafts use something similar to cloaking that does render them nigh undetectable. Its mentioned in the radio scanner aboard your orbiter, among other times in the game.

As to why kill everyone aboard, sometimes you need to strike fear into the enemies and draw resources to an area, sometimes you kill everyone on the ship so that the ship can later be raided for what's on board by operatives actually suited for the task. But as you said, there are many ways to explain it, so why really argue. Its going to be the same either way.

Railjack is more designed for situations where open conflict is unavoidable and necessary, as seen with the capital ship. Its bombing the planet so it must be dealt with, and they'll be already on full alert and know you are coming, so they'll have defenses against a purely stealth craft. Its also going to allow a new type of exploration as mentioned at tennocon. 

[motorfirebox]

There are any number of possible explanations why a railjack operation might not be possible or appropriate. Maybe Lotus wants the ship for some reason—maybe we're clearing opposition for another operation, maybe we're just distracting the enemy, maybe an allied faction is going to steal the ship after we clear it. Maybe the ships we fight in railjack are armed cargo carriers, not full battleships, and the risk of taking a railjack against a battleship is too high. Maybe the ship targeted for extermination is part of a fleet, and railjacks don't stand a chance against that kind of superior firepower. Maybe there are ground-based AA (well, anti-space) emplacements guarding the ship, and we have to slip in unnoticed. Etc etc etc.

I definitely agree that giving missions more context and maybe more choice over execution would be a really good thing. It could tie in with that mission designer that DE has occasionally discussed.

[(XBOX)Architect Prime]

1 hour ago, Omega-Shadowblade said:

Landing crafts use something similar to cloaking that does render them nigh undetectable. Its mentioned in the radio scanner aboard your orbiter, among other times in the game.

As to why kill everyone aboard, sometimes you need to strike fear into the enemies and draw resources to an area, sometimes you kill everyone on the ship so that the ship can later be raided for what's on board by operatives actually suited for the task. But as you said, there are many ways to explain it, so why really argue. Its going to be the same either way.

Railjack is more designed for situations where open conflict is unavoidable and necessary, as seen with the capital ship. Its bombing the planet so it must be dealt with, and they'll be already on full alert and know you are coming, so they'll have defenses against a purely stealth craft. Its also going to allow a new type of exploration as mentioned at tennocon. 

Why can't the railjack cloak just like the dropship? I hope it's explained somewhere that I'll actually hear it. After an hour of survival and thousands killed, you'd think the enemy would either abandon of blow up their own ship.

Edited August 29, 2018 by (XB1)Architect Prime

[Omega-Shadowblade]

Just now, (XB1)Architect Prime said:

Why can't the railjack cloak just like the dropship? I hope it's explained somewhere that I'll actually hear it.

It's an interceptor class ship. It's designed for open combat, it simply isn't built to cloak. Its like the difference between a standard fighter jet, and a stealth bomber.

[(XBOX)Architect Prime]

1 minute ago, Omega-Shadowblade said:

It's an interceptor class ship. It's designed for open combat, it simply isn't built to cloak. Its like the difference between a standard fighter jet, and a stealth bomber.

If that's true, then why use the interceptor when we can just go murder the crew of a ship with minimal casualties on our own side? Archwing can fly right on in. 

[Omega-Shadowblade]

Just now, (XB1)Architect Prime said:

If that's true, then why use the interceptor when we can just go murder the crew of a ship with minimal casualties on our own side? Archwing can fly right on in. 

Same reason that we can't fly a landing craft right up to the balor formorians. Though for the Formorians, they are massively powerful both on offense and defense, but they are slow to aim and fire. They can handle large and powerful targets like capital ships, but not agile targets like archwing.

Under normal circumstances we can infiltrate Ships due to them being unaware. If they are on alert, they have heavy defenses for even agile archwing targets. At that point the need for raw power is apparent. Archwing acts as a supplement for travel and small spacecraft, but it simply can't destroy heavy targets. We can punch through formorians due to exploiting failures in its design and overconfidence leading to lack of solid defense support..

To put it simply. Railjack for Ships with well planned defenses and support ships, Archwing for speedy travel, but only if there are significant holes in the enemy guards, Landing crafts for unaware targets.

[motorfirebox]

51 minutes ago, (XB1)Architect Prime said:

Why can't the railjack cloak just like the dropship? I hope it's explained somewhere that I'll actually hear it. After an hour of survival and thousands killed, you'd think the enemy would either abandon of blow up their own ship.

For much the same reason that an A-10 Thunderbolt has a much larger radar cross section than an F-117 Nighthawk, I expect: they're different craft designed for different purposes. You can't just slap radar-absorbent material on an A-10 and expect it to avoid detection anymore than you can slap a 30mm cannon on an F-117 and expect it to do close air support. The Liset is designed for stealth insertions and the railjack is designed to blow stuff up.