Hi everyone!
We’re introducing a new component designed to support the horizontal progression of ships and give you the opportunity to take tuning into your own hands - meet the new Flight Blades.
What Are Flight Blades?
In simple terms, Flight Blades are components that go into your ship’s computer ports to adjust its flight behavior in two key ways currently:
- Speed: Increase your straight-line top speed
- Maneuverability: Improve ship handling
While using Flight Blades can boost one area, it comes with a tradeoff, as you’ll see a reduction in another to balance things out. This isn’t about chasing raw upgrades - it’s about making meaningful changes and further dialing in your loadout to reflect your playstyle. Whether you’re prioritizing speed or maneuverability, Flight Blades offer real player choice, allowing you to fine-tune the behavior of your ship to align with how you fly, fight, and operate in the 'verse.
We’ve put together a quick FAQ to cover some of the more common questions.
FAQ
What Flight Blade types are available?
Currently, there are two types: Precision Handling Balanced (PHB) Flight Blades, focused on maneuverability, and Top Speed Balanced (TSB) Flight Blades, focused on speed.Which ships can equip Flight Blades?
The following ships will be the first to have compatible Flight Blades, with more to come:
- Aegis Gladius series
- Aegis Avenger series
- Aegis Redeemer
- RSI Scorpius series
- Argo MPUV series
- Anvil Arrow
- Anvil Pisces series
- Aegis Hammerhead
Why were these ships chosen?
These ships were selected for the initial rollout of the Flight Blades to cover a broad spectrum of playstyles and ship roles. But, this is just the beginning, and there are plans to make Flight Blades available for other ships in the future.Can Flight Blades be used across entire ship families?
Flight Blades are version-specific, meaning they’re designed for specific ship models and configurations, not across entire ship families. For example, while all the ships in the Aegis Avenger series will get Flight Blades with this release, the Avenger Stalker can only utilize the specific Avenger Stalker Flight Blades, the RSI Scorpius Antares can only utilize the Antares Flight Blades, etc.Do Flight Blades give me a competitive advantage?
Flight Blades offer tuning flexibility, giving you more control over your ship’s behavior. There is no shortcut to mastery; it’s all about making smart decisions for how you want to fly.How do I equip Flight Blades?
Flight Blades can be equipped in the Vehicle Loadout Manager (VLM) app in your mobiGlas. Simply swap the default blade with the new Flight Blade as you would with your other components.How do I move Flight Blades between ships?
To move a Flight Blade between ships (from one Gladius to the other, for example), you’ll need to first swap it out in the VLM by replacing it with the default blade. You can then equip the Flight Blade on the other ship.
Note: You cannot simply “remove” a Flight Blade, you’ll have to swap a blade in to replace the currently installed one.Can Flights Blades be destroyed?
In the initial implementation, Flight Blades are not destructible or damageable as their location is not physicalized on ships. In the future, they will be housed within the Computer item of ships and then be subject to normal component damage rules.Will Flight Blades be available to purchase from in-game stores?
Yes, Flight Blades will become available in in-game stores for aUEC following the end of their pledge-exclusive availability, similar to how we introduce new vehicles.Is there anywhere I can learn more about ship components?
Yes! You can dive deeper into ship components and how they work by reading our Components Comm-Link.With the introduction of Flight Blades, should we expect AI Blades to follow soon?
While we’re planning for AI Blades down the road, we’re not there yet. We’ll keep you posted on any developments in that direction.–
We can’t wait to see how you use Flight Blades to customize your ships! Whether you’re after speed, maneuverability, or finding the right balance, this is just the beginning of expanding ship tuning as part of horizontal progression. We’ll be keeping an eye on feedback as you explore how Flight Blades fit your playstyle.
Got a setup that’s working for you? Share it with us!
Not a huge fan of blades being model specific instead of targeting model-families (like in the provided example Avenger Stalker won’t be able to use Avenger Titan ones) as this only means more bespoke components CIG will have to keep in check. Considering how often they cite the large number of ship variants as a reason for slow updates for many of them… I can’t see this going well.
No other complaints, hope these will provide noticeable enough difference when used.
Edit: Oh… oh no. I just realised they’ll lock them behind real money purchases initially. That’s… certainly a choice. Not a surprising one but disappointing nonetheless.
Edit 2: These prices are absurd…
Yeah having stuff that can give you an advantage against other players locked behind a paywall is some bullshit, but at least it’s only temporary I guess. Still a shit move though.
Still, when they’re widely available I look forward to jamming a speed blade into my M50 lol.
Well, that spectrum thread is definitely blowing up with people upset about flight blades being locked behind a paywall for the first few months. It would be awesome if they actually reversed course on this. Currently sitting at 1376 downvotes:
At least blades take some heat of the bomb racks which are also available for real money.
I mentioned it in another comment but I’ll add it here as well. Based on what I’ve seen from the leaks these are not straight upgrades but rather tit-for-tat (you increase speed at the cost of handling and vice versa). Can’t say if that’s how they perform on release though so take this with a grain of salt.
In simple terms, Flight Blades are components that go into your ship’s computer ports to adjust its flight behavior in two key ways currently:
• Speed: Increase your straight-line top speed
• Maneuverability: Improve ship handling
So you can just buy bigger numbers? If I had to pick one thing they absolutely shouldn’t sell for money, it’d be this.
Like, the game has always been pretty pay-to-win, but at least there was a veneer of plausible trade-offs/pros/cons between different ships. This is just indefensible “pay money for better stats” levels of P2W.
Not exactly. The speed one decreases handling, the manoeuvrability decreases speed or at least that’s the explanation I’ve seen so far. I haven’t checked them myself for obvious reasons.
Interesting. I’ll have to see what the numbers look like once someone data mines them.
Still… thrust reallocation probably should have been a feature of normal engineering gameplay.
Well, we were suppose to get the ability to tweak our ships/components back in the day, which later turned into crafting and tiered items so who knows what the plan is theses days. I still have the “engine tuning kit” milestone reward in my hangar, not sure what it’ll be used for now.
I miss the ability to manage power towards individual thrusters that got lost when we got the new HUDs :/
It’s great when they remove functionalities before implementing their replacements, isn’t it?
Yeah its a bit dumb, as I would see that this is management is something the pilot should be able to do and not from the engineering console.
