Love this ship, it looks really awesome. It has 2 beds, is very long range, has a strong shield, and is on par with a sabre damage wise. Since it has quite some interiour it can be used to do all sorts of box missions and piracy! really love it!
To me, it's a more desirable and affordable vanguard. It looks way better, feels better to fly and even has more range. The missiles do work, but you have to angle your ship up a bit to aqcuire a lock on target. I've kitted out my defender for hit & run attacks, with the strong sukoran affording me great endurance until it drops, ballistic cannons to penetrate shields well and stealth components to slip away quicker when I need to run. It's practical, attractive, uncommon and performs very well.
Great review well deserving a sub! That ship is, in my opinion, by far the sexiest ship. One gotta love the organic/antique aesthetic! We feel like flying an ancestral artefact!
Thank you for the review. My Defender has become a go-to option for it's utility and performance. I hope the tachyon cannons get some work in the future as it's a marquis brand for the Banu and having them in the not-so-great-state they are in is disappointing. Not to mention the missiles STILL not working. It should be noted that another selling point was the ability to access and manage components from the inside (the wall panels at the back are supposed to slide open like the cockpit doors). A key element of this ship was the long range it had via it's huge fuel tanks so being able to repair damaged components from the inside without stopping was a nice feature for a fighter, especially since a co-pilot could get up and do it. Being able to log out from the beds, do box missions and fight is great and I do appreciate the added durability compared to other light fighters. As you mentioned, the jump effects are gorgeous and I also like how the ship, well, "bleeds" green fluid when damaged, as if it is a living organism. Very nice touch.
The Sukoran shield has a unique property of not letting any ballistic shells hit the ship until the sheild is fully depleted. To get the missiles to work you need to have the target higher in the view or the missiles wont lock. Great ship, shame they nerfed the tachyon cannons from the first release.
The co-pilot seat can do evening the pilot seat can, but the pilot seat has priority. So I wouldn't necessarily say the flying is done from the pilot seat. The shields are the best in class, and other than the Prowler, it's the only way to get them. Also it has the second longest quantum range, second only to the 890 Jump.
For me, just the style alone already made me want to have the banu defender. Not even talking about the features yet. The Design looks very inspired from Crabs (And i love crabs), the door animation, the weopons in the position where the claws are and also giving it a stronger shield speaks for it. And not to forget the 2 Cockpits as the eyes of the Crab =D. The Landing gear animation is super satisfying to watch. And as mentioned, the green effect while Quantum travelling ist just awesome. If it would have only a little bit of a cargo option like 1-3 SCU for some high value transportation, i would love it even more. I am already happy to be able to use the Banu defender for most of the missions. Bounties, Box missions, Cave investigations. That crab will be picked whenever possible !
Love the defender. Thanks for the loadout change! I've learned to use the singes. She's my daily driver for the fuel tank and if you can't afford fuel... there is other problems in your verse.
What drew me to the ship mostly was the fuel capacity and it's shield capacity. Also like the looks.....nice details and materials used in it's creation. It was this ship or the vanguard, but I already have a heavy fighter in the fleet (Inferno;Solo) and a Gunship(Redeemer;multi). So something lighter with almost the same capacity of the vanguard seemed more ideal.
I started with a freefly event during the last ship showdown, trying out all the ships to see what I liked/wanted to buy. And once I sat in the Banu and test drove it, I knew it was the ship for me. It's style reminds me of a Cylon raider (I played bsgo so that is a nice touch) and it's "crab" like position reminded me of my favorite ship from the game (Nidhogg, whose nickname was also a crab), and it reminded me of a Collector/Reaper hybrid from Mass Effect with the organic look. From my pov, the Banu is an amazing ship perfect for Lone wolf players. The fuel capacity is a big part of it, as is the unique shield that's strong and prevents ballistic penetration (few things are worse than a stray bullet penetrating the cockpit and hitting your head, with full shields at the start of any engagement). I've also gotten in engagements with vanguard wardens/sentinels, and I as a newish pilot was able to hold my own and/or drive off the pvp bounty (they couldn't take my shields down, and I was more agile than they - the flight model can really do wonders if you know how to use it for this ship). And my fuel reserves let me pursue them with no need to stop and refuel. I love my banu, but I wouldn't be against some size 4 weapons (2x3 and 2x4. 4x4 might be a bit much but the ship has more than enough power for that I'm pretty sure.) To go with the organic nature of the ship, it should have the ability to slowly repair itself automatically, and even regrow its wings (over 15-30 minutes maybe?)
Hiya, Great vid. Loving the reviews you do. I got one of these mainly because of your review and the stats like the good shields and large fuel tanks. I've decided to got with laser repeaters on mine so I don't have to worry about ammo. I am also looking at swapping out the systems, I found with the stock weapons it overheats quite easy.
I intended to fly with my wife as co-pilot, however, I can't get her out of her Ghost! I'm not complaining, just slightly jealous of your children, lol! o7
The front stairs were my favorite part and also the most ET alien entry of any ship. This ship is a great fighter and is best ship in verse for delivery missions. Equip fastest quantum drive in game and still make a round trip of the entire Stanton system. But for its price I had to get rid of it. I have a tana which is an equal to this ship. Has way more missile payload. For missiles the target used to have to be at the bottom edge of the HUD, just at dashboard level. That allows lock on.
Cool thing about the stock tachyon cannons: Their projectiles require no time to cross the distance between you and the opponent. Once youve aimed at an enemy ship and fired, the enemy is INSTANTLY damaged. The projectile hits the exact second you press the trigger. So theres really no way to dodge those guns.
I want to love this ship. I have the Khartu-Al and absolutely love it. Every time I've flown/tested the Defender, it's been in stock form (free flies etc). I've never been able to test it with my own load out. Maybe this year's Alien week (in a few days).
What drew me to the Ship? Its not as boring as any human fighter. It has a lot of firepower, It has a special Shield, large tank, inside walkable space. nice sounds and visuals.
Haven't changed the weapons out on my Defender but seeing the firing rate of the balistic guns, it seems to make good sense to switch Go my Defender with a Banu Merchant Man (BMM). Plan is to use it for small box runs to sell precious items or minables on the BMM or Kraken when those are in game and the trade mechanics are in game
Good video, but you critically missed how the unique shields included default with the defender arguably make it worth the price tag alone. Same with the Prowler, which nets you 2 shields to 'borrow' in total.
I was instantly drawn to it's raw uniqueness. It's got (well, not right now) hit scan weapons, it's got a high cap shield with 100% ballistic resistance, it's got an interior with beds for logging out, and enough space for boxes. Also, it's just beautiful, inside and out.
My Banu Defender simply came with the BMM, used it only twice, usually jusy t flying the 600i Funny thing is, that I have never refilled my fuel tanks in many years. I guess the patches set your tank to full?
Don't know if it changed in 3.10 but from 3.9 I would definitely prefer 4 gimballed neutron repeaters for a much lower time to kill than what I saw in this video. Edit: Also the Defender is a ship that ship always be flown decoupled for better time on targets.
i snagged the Defender to be a good long range fighter for escort or force projection.... something smaller to help the Vanguards. that and it looks bitchin', inside and out.
