Finally got the Andorian Pilot Escorts.
I just now, this second, realized why someone would want those butt-ugly Rom ships in the Rom bundle.. They are cross faction.. Sort of.. I mean.. ALL of your Roms can fly them... whether they are Fed or KDF.
Damn..
All my active Escort pilots are Roms.. Including the KDF that didn't get a ship..
OK wait.. I'm still good.. My Fed Sci guys want the Trait from the Sci Escort..
*whew*
Damn that Faction! See, now I know I'm cloning my KDF for sure. It's just less confusing..
Anyway.
First impressions coming from one whose first T6 was an old version Pilot Escort:
The old Pilot Escorts have better consoles. I thought surely there'd be a console in the new bundle I would use, but.., none are (seeming, so far..) as nice as that cone of death console (combine that with the new Tac Captain power for much added AoE yum) in the old bundle. That console is so good that it makes the ship a better ship. The +25 to mines and torpedoes is normally pretty usable too - meaning, I'm not giving up stats for a power.
I *do* like the new Pilot Escort console with the 60 second (invul...?) hangar pets. I dunno what their deeps is but it seems nice enough to make losing the cone from the old Pilots less painful. You can have them PERMA! too (default is that you can summon them for 60 seconds, every 2 minutes). I heartily would like to do so, but.. man.. To give up 3 console slots to the 3 consoles you get in that set (also, oddly, the D.O.M.I.N.O. console we got awhile back is a set console) seems just too painful. It's too much to give up for the fun of the pets. Except... maybe for my yet to be rolled KDF clone who doesn't have as many nice consoles to choose from. That may make re-rolling my KDF as a Fed less painful and more fun - having those pets, perma.. in a high deeps Escort.
Everything else, except a slight loss in turn rate (but we get +5 more power to weapons..) is better, in the new bundle. The hull is bigger, shields bigger. Better Traits. Last and definitely not least, it's like they read my posts about the old ships: f/x "I can't tell the front from the back, sometimes..'. In the new ship, it could not be more clear, except, if the ship was unnaturally big for an Escort (they are all small). I mean.. everything in the Front of the ship says "Front" and the same for the back. I didn't especially like the '+' shape I had in the back of my ship, at first, and then.... I noticed... when I follow another ship to line up for a cannon attack... it's like having crosshairs! I mean, these babies are contoured. They took all my old complaints and made them vanish. There also seems to be a lot (more than average) of versatility with all the Universal Boff seating.
Now I just have to see if I can live without my cone.. That baby shreds (especially when combined with the new Tac power..).
I've tried other Escorts but I always end up back in a Pilot. This update to the line seems pretty decent so far even though the (not tested very much at all) consoles are initially disappointing. Sure do like what they did with the skin in the Fed version. The Rom and KDF versions Both are kinda butt ugly (to me, of course...) now that I think of it.