Q&A: Esperia Talon
Following the concept release of the Esperia Talon, we took your community-voted questions to our designers to provide you with more information on the recently unveiled alien fighter.
Where does the Talon fit within the hierarchy of stealth ships compared to the Eclipse and Prowler, Sabre and Raven, and Hornet Ghost? The Talon is not a dedicated stealth ship like the Eclipse and is positioned as a ship with stealth features. So, it will sit between the Sabre and Ghost in the examples listed above.
How aerodynamically capable is the Talon (both in-engine and realistically)? The Talon handles better in-atmosphere than it looks at first glance due to its low weight and relatively aerodynamic wing profile.
Is there an incoming missile mechanic rework that justifies a light fighter with 24x S3 missiles? There are plans to not only bugfix but improve missiles and countermeasures in upcoming patches to give a much deeper level of gameplay rather than the current fire-and-forget approach.
The brochure indicates bespoke weapons. Will we be able to take the gimbals off and put the two fixed S4 guns onto the Talon, or fixed S2’s on the Shrike? What weapons/components on each model are bespoke (and fixed), and which can be swapped? The wing-mounted weapons that come with the talon are Esperia recreations of Tevarin weapons, much like those found on the Prowler, and can be swapped out with other standard weapons. The missile racks on the base Talon are swappable, however the bespoke missile racks on the Shrike cannot be replaced, though the missiles themselves are customizable as usual.
In terms of maneuverability and agility, where does the Talon fall in the current list of small fighters? Compared to our existing light fighters, it currently sits between the Arrow and Gladius in terms of maneuverability, though this could change during implementation.
From the brochure: ‘… while unique countermeasures derived from original specs found on Kabal III create radar decoy signals, to leave aggressors fighting ghosts.’ Does this imply a new type of electronic warfare (e-war) that will be coming with the ship? Or is it simply flavor text.
As mentioned above, we have plans for deeper missile and countermeasure gameplay, which extends to their use in e-warfare. A few other ships are planned to utilize similar decoy countermeasures alongside flares and chaffs, including the Prowler and Vanguard Sentinel.
The description seems to say it’s lightly armored, but the brochure lists medium armor, what should we expect? The Talon is lightly armored like all light fighters. The brochure listing for medium armor was a mistake and has been corrected.
Will the Talon or Shrike have a bed? The cockpit escape pod looks like it has space for more than a seat. Does the Talon have any interior space? The Talon has no usable interior space other than the pilot’s chair. It does not have living quarters.
Is the role of the Shrike intended to be a "stealth missile ambusher?” If so, how many missiles can it lock and launch simultaneously? The Shrike’s role could be described as that and, compared to non-missile focused ships, it will be able to lock and launch more missiles when the revised missile locking system comes online in a future patch. Ultimately, the exact amount will be controlled by the ship’s computer and can be upgradeable via blades, though dedicated missile ships will support more by default.
The brochure hints at it having air shield tech, is this for an interior? For a unique entrance/exit method? Or was it just mentioned because it’s also a Tevarin ship? It is partially mentioned due to the Tevarin nature, though the cockpit does seal itself during ejection with air shields.
Will the Talon have the Phalanx shields on release? At release, it will have the same shield behavior as those currently equipped to the Prowler and Defender, which feature Phalanx shields in their design, so 100% ballistic absorption and massively increased shield hardening ability. There are plans to push the abilities of Phalanx shields further, but no additional details are available at this time.
Will players have any control over the cockpit after an ejection? The ejected cockpit is not controllable like a parasite ship and should be thought of more like an escape pod in that it fires out the ship for a period of time in a predetermined direction.
Will the escape pod functionality be included with the release in December or will it be added later on? At a minimum, it will function like all other ejection seats, except forward-firing instead of vertically. When the ability for ejection pods to be fully set up is available, the Talon and other ships will have them implemented.
How will the Talon differ itself from other fighters? Compared to other light fighters, the Talon splits the difference in firepower between a stock Gladius and Buccaneer, favoring fewer but larger weapons. Agility wise, it’s between the Gladius and Arrow. It is often very much user preference between these ships, so it fills a gap in the lineup that promotes choice in-game.
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.