A reverse design?

[Game Loser]

Hi all,
I was wondering if reverse designs would ever become anything?  The game is designed around ships flying in one direction, forwards.
However, with a ship designed for lathing, backing up fast would be a safer option that trying to slowly crawl backwards - I should say 'slide' for movement.

I've created a design that is a bit overkill, yeah, but it puts the Command Module at the back and provides two engines.  The idea is that you position it firstly, then 'slide' it into position to do it's work on an emitter.  Then if things get a bit hot, just 'slide' back out at a quicker rate of knots that normally available.  Slow in, faster out.

[Dark Ambition]

An interesting idea. Frontline Corp will make a few prototypes and see how they perform in combat ops.

-Adalar -CEO- Frontline Corporation

[TonnyT]

I can see this being quite useful in some circumstances, but it might be too situational.
I'll forward your design to Imperium's Engineering division, we'll run some combat trials.

Result: After some combat trials we've uncovered some problems. It appears our pilots cannot adapt to the reverse design. They constantly rotate the ship, exposing the "rear" of the ship - which depending on the design is the most vulnerable part - towards the particulate. As well as this rotation takes up valuable time with could be spent lathing.

In conclusion, pilot error makes this idea less viable.

[Game Loser]

@TonnyT:
Yes, exactly the problem I am having.
The only solution to this completely upside down and back-to-front manoeuvring, is to firstly line up the ship with the emitter, in a safe area.  Then make use of the 'slide' control to head straight in (back in) to the target emitter.  It is a tough skill to master, but it's has it's merits.

Best way to describe this in terms of what we have on this planet, a side forklift.  A recipe for many an injured customer/staff member!

"Too situational" - exactly, it has one real purpose, Fast Lathing of supremely defended emitters/GemAmps etc.

Thanks for looking into it guys.  Perhaps in 1.0.3 we may have fully rotatable engines (providing we don't end up with a mountain of computation because of it).

[TonnyT]

Let's hope so. I'm really looking forward to custom modules. I also have rotated flightdecks on my wish list as well.

This idea would be much better severed with both forward and backwards facing engines, let's hope V gives us that as well.

[exy]

An additional thought.  Instead of lathing, what about using this technique to kite incoming enemy ships?

Range can be an incredible advantage in firefights, and if you're using long range weapons such as MK7s and missiles, a reverse ship could allow you to engage an opponent while keeping out of their fire range for as long as possible, thus allowing ships to 'punch above their weight', as it were.  Combined with Amp Gem range increase, this could be a method to take down even the most monstrous enemy ships while risking little to no casualties in return.  At the very least, it would give more time to shoot down enemy fire.

Just a thought.