Hi there,
I have a few nodes left to unlock on Tau’Kita. It’s about 95% unlocked, only insignificant nodes left.
So I was thinking of sharing my 2 cents about it in all types of gameplay:
1. PVE
1.1 - missions: as any covert ops, pretty weak overall, considering the small tank and low firepower. Compared to a gunship or a dessie it is good and strong only in a very limited number of cases. But the best gameplay is to test it in all PVE maps to see the ups and downs. To use it to grind for insignia is a mistake, it will result in a quick burnout.
Overall grade: 3/10, very weak, in its current form. (side question - Tharga and Zeta have been strongly nerfed a while after release! Could we see the opposite this time, to buff this ship?)
1.2 - Open Space.
Here things start to get interesting. Properly fitted, it can be pretty funny and strong. One big downside is that it lacks fast speed (like 800m/s) or an engine booster like the one gunships can fit. And some maps in Open Space are laaaaaarge, so it would be wise to be faster. Using the Teleportation sphere to jump 2500m is meaningless, because distances are far longer than the jump and the reload time is too long.
Open space fits: 8/10, pretty good.
2. PvP - here we must distinguish between solo versus team gameplay.
2.1 - Playing this ship solo can be very interesting or super frustrating. It all depends on the game, if your team is weak it’s gonna be a waste of time. If your team is strong, you can do a good job with this ship, even if you did a poor job at fitting it.
How could it have been stronger? Usually, covert ops means some sort of hit-and-run ship. I don’t know about others, but when i see cov-ops a japanese ninja comes to my mind. What does that mean? Fast, agile, aware, able to very easily hide, low-to-medium firepower. Can be lethal to 1 or 2 enemies, but not more. Do these traits show in Tau’Kita? Yes, but in a shy way, sadly.
Solo gameplay: 6/10. above average, lots of room for improvement.
2.2. Team gameplay - it’s all there. Sometimes the matchmaking sets you in a strong team and when this happens the ship can be pretty efficient. Again, it does matter if the map is small or large, because, you know, it’s not a very fast ship (as it should be). This means on smaller maps you can get more kills or capture more beacons, thus resulting in more efficiency points at the end. But on larger maps it will have a hard time being efficient.
Solo/team gameplay - 6/10, it can score important points. Sadly, only in the right hands.
2.3 - fit for kills - some pilots fit it for hunting smaller ships, like recons, other cov-ops or maybe tacklers. Here it can do a pretty good job, above average. But we also must consider the skills and experience of that pilot.
Hunting fit - 7/10, pretty good again, with so many options missing!! (the first question that comes to mind is why does it lack modules like Tactical Warp or Emergency Retreat)? And please don’t tell me it would be too powerfull, that’s a joke. No one said anything like that about Tharga or Zeta on release days and then they got nerfed because they were “too strong”… lol, no, the other pilots needed more training, it’s never the ships’ fault! :))
2.4 - fit for getting beacons - the ship has a 20% beacon capture speed. It’s not the best, but it can be used this way, to make it fast and agile, so the main target is capturing beacons and sometimes hunting/killing other ships. Or at least fighting them. Or evading :))
Fit for beacons - 7/10. Could have been a 9 or maybe even a 10/10, but again: why does it lack modules that increase bacon capture speed? Why does it lack serious advantages when using nukes? Why the standard 10.000 or so hitpoints for a nuke blast, like a level 9-10 Kite or Kite-M?? I have a feeling in this game some devs LOVE the firepower (read gunships and dessies) and HATE the more sublte types, like the recons or cov-ops.
3. Skirmish - believe it or not, here the ship scores best.
Obviously it makes a huge difference if you fit chips or not. But even with chips, it’s a pretty hard choice, you need very strong chips because of the low overall damage. The good part is that it’s main weapon (Na’Gnu) can be chipped and set from certain nodes to deal pretty high damage. The main option is clearly a higher critical chance, that can be set to 100% without chips! And then the critical damage bonus can easily be set close to 100% - again, without chips. This makes it a pretty strong ship in Skirmish, combined with proper piloting skills and a strong situational awareness - aka knowing when to attack and when to hide.
Skirmish fit - 9/10.
Overall mark - 6/10.
(PS - it’s not the average of the previous ones, it’s just the number.)
Reality check aside, let’s see what is missing, how it could have been made stronger (yes, I secretly hope to see it buffed. Maybe it’s this one, maybe others…)
Let’s see a few examples of what/where it could have been improved:
a) - the first special module that would allow permanent radar cloak. Even if you shoot, or get shot, still keep the cover. Yes, for a limited time, like 20-30 seconds or so, but keep it. Right now the Crystal Camo 17 keeps it permanently under cover, but you can’t use weapons/modules. So it’s really a no big deal.
b) the 2nd special module - a special weapon, think of some small arrows filled with poison - ninja style. The “poison” can be translated into small guided missiles, mines, bombs, small nukes (with damage over time to stop beacon capture) or anything similar. Yes, the crystal arc is there, but meaning to prevent beacon capture is a weak thing. And this coupled with increased agility. And this does mean overall agility, not only the roll+pitch degrees, which is a dumb thing. but are so loved by the pilots who dogfight.
c) 3rd special module - here is something that’s supposed to be advanced. But it’s not, sadly. Why?
This module - Crystal fetters - is a mix of garbage - damage dealing, engi-selfhealing and not much else. ZERO covert ops specs. Why? Taikin has the Jump Drive - you can insta-kill an enemy with it. Tharga has the Crystal predator - very strong in pvp. Zeta has the Fast swarm - again, strong in pvp.
Let’s imagine a special module that could:
-
- fit a multi-hit weapon! Some sort of smaller, weaker MIRV Launcher, or something similar. Yes, the energy arc is there, but that can be vastly improved.
Other modules that i wonder why weren’t fit:
*** holograms for nukes and missiles! Imagine deploying 1 nuke and activating that special module. You’d get 3-4 more nukes, same sound, same image, but only 1 real damage. It must be super nice in sector conquest, to decide which nuke is real vs which is fake.
*** A similar module for missiles - imagine activating it, with a range of say 5.000 meters, and having 3 Wolfhounds in range. The math is simple: 6 missiles from the Archangel, 6 more from Firestorm. All this times 3 ships means 36 missiles. Super confusing for the enemy team, fast kills.
*** an active or passive module similar to Maneuver Co-processor, fitted on Spike. Right now, Spike does a FAR better job at cov-op tasks (PvP related) than Tau’Kita. And this is an important reason.
*** a module (special or not) that can render useless the Protonwall fitted on the enemy ship. And some ships fit 2 of them! This means, for example: a short burst of damage like … 500% or even 1.000%?! Again, coming back to Spike, it can be far more dangerous if well fitted, than the brand new Tau’Kita. Why?
*** a module that increases the sensor range. By 300% or 500% for 10-20 seconds. Without needing to fit Enhanced scanners.
*** Quantum defence - same old, boring, ZERO innovation. why? Imagine a new module that allows the ship to accelerate to 800 m/s for s short while and ignore 100% tackler effects.
*** another special module (active or passive) that acts as a mirror: yes, it’s only good against lasers, but you get 0 damage, it reflects back all laser damage. Why isn’t it here?
Lot’s of others, will come back with an update, as time is runnig very fast! 
Side-question: why only 3 special modules? Taikin, Tharga and Wazgot have 5, this is also a small ship so imho it could have handled just nice 2 more.
Just my feedback (some good parts, some rant), but pls feel free to add your thoughts to this.
Fly safe!