Q&A: Mirai Guardian & Guardian QI

Guardian & Guardian QI

Mirai goes further and harder, jumping into the heavyweight space-combat game with the Guardian.

We asked the Vehicle and Gameplay teams a few questions about Mirai's first dedicated heavy fighter series. Here are the answers, straight from the devs themselves.

The Mirai Guardian and Mirai Guardian QI are now available to fly in Star Citizen Alpha 4.0 Preview. Players can access 4.0 Preview from the 'Game Environment' dropdown in the RSI Launcher. Once the full rollout of Alpha 4.0 is complete, all player progression, ships, and vehicles will transfer to the Live environment.

What kind of operations or activities (solo or otherwise) would be good use cases for the Guardian?

The Guardian’s bank of S2 missiles makes it a great fighter screen for larger ships, especially in numbers, while the QI variant's quantum dampener means it’s ideal for policing and security operations.

As the Guardian is poised as a long-range heavy fighter, how does its flight range compare to that of the Aegis Vanguard Warden and RSI Scorpius?

The Mirai Guardian stands out with its powerful thrusters, offset with the highest hydrogen consumption among the three. However, its Size 2 quantum drive gives it excellent efficiency in long-range travel, surpassing the RSI Scorpius, which has a limited range due to its Size 1 quantum drive.

In contrast, the Vanguard series balances both hydrogen and quantum-fuel efficiency, outperforming the Guardian in this field, even though it doesn’t present the same high-flight-performance profile as the Mirai ship.

The Guardian seems to be slightly smaller in comparison to the RSI Scorpius and Anvil F8C Lightning. What can you tell us about the Guardian's maneuverability and speed capabilities compared to these?

Among the Heavy Fighter class, the Guardian stands out as the most agile, offering excellent angular velocities and accelerations. Additionally, the ship presents a more spherical linear-acceleration profile, enabling high-g capabilities along both the vertical and lateral axes.

In terms of speed, the Mirai Guardian is one of the fastest in its class. However, it still falls short of some of the other heavy fighters, like the RSI Scorpius.

How does the Guardian's armor compare to its competitors? Are there any other special defensive capabilities this ship has over the others?

The Mirai Guardian's armor is on par with the average standards of its class, offering durability that meets the expectations of heavy fighters. This resilience allows the ship to engage effectively in close-combat encounters without compromising its performance.

What are the advantages of using this heavy fighter over a gunship?

Heavy fighters are typically crewed by one or two players, whereas gunships often require a larger crew. Alongside this, a heavy fighter usually has the majority of firepower in its forward direction with a secondary turret, whereas gunships tend to have a more 360-degree coverage of fire.

Typically, ships equipped with guns up to S4 have been viewed as the natural adversaries of dogfighters and heavy fighters. As the Guardian's S5 weapons seem like they might be slight "overkill" in these matchups, what is its intended "prey" in terms of combat? Can the Guardian be considered an anti-capital or anti-multi-crew ship?

With S5 guns, the Guardian is designed to take on larger threats, such as multi-crew ships or heavily armored smaller craft. Its maneuverability helps it in combat against smaller fighters and, if its guns hit more agile craft, they provide a huge amount of damage.

Can the S5 guns be customized/swapped out?

Yes, the S5 guns can be swapped out.

Are the weapons gimballed? What is the firing arc?

The guns are gimballed with a firing arc of -15 to +15 in both yaw and pitch.

What ships will the Guardian fit in?

Both Guardians are 25m in length, 17m wide, and 8m tall (in landing mode). So, a ship would need a 25x17m cargo area with an entrance larger than 17x8m to squeeze a Guardian inside.

The Guardian has two elevators, one leading straight into the cockpit and one to the rear of it. If I lose my power generator, how can I exit the ship ?

When the power goes out, the elevator and pilot seat will work under battery power, so you won't get stuck.

Does the Guardian have an escape pod?

Yes, the bed in the hab area also doubles as a very comfortable escape pod.

Parts of the chassis throughout the ship's exterior are covered by what look like armor plates. Do these plates serve any defensive purposes, and have they been strategically placed to protect vital ship components, or is the design purely aesthetic?

The armor plates you point out are purely aesthetic. However, the Guardian's wings provide an extra layer that enemies need to shoot through before they can hit the ship's hull.

The Guardian features aggressive-looking forward-facing wings. While they look cool, they seem quite long and increase the surface area of the ship and, therefore, its hitbox. What is the reasoning behind its appearance/length?

The wings provide extra protection for the ship and need to be blown off before the enemy can target the hull. The wings also house the thrusters, so the wing's length provides extra leverage for maneuvering.

The visibility out of the cockpit seems slightly more obscured compared to other heavy fighters, partly due to the elongated forward-facing wings. Does the Guardian have unique features or capabilities to compensate for this, for example, with a swiveling/gyroscopic cockpit?

Other heavy fighters have no visibility at all underneath the cockpit, whereas the Guardian gives the pilot excellent visibility down as well as up. It is true that the wings obscure visibility somewhat diagonally, but the fact that the pilot can see everything in front and beneath them makes up for it.

In terms of flight, does the Guardian perform better in certain environments? Does the unusual wing design present any advantages in atmospheric flight?

The Mirai Guardian series is just as competitive in atmospheric flight as it is in space. Its gimbaled main thrusters effectively counteract gravity, significantly enhancing the ship's ability to rapidly change its velocity vector. The wings, while peculiarly shaped with the well-known Mirai style, do not impose any notable disadvantages in atmospheric conditions, allowing the ship to maintain peak performance.

We see that there are MAV thrusters placed towards the edge of the Guardian's wings and they seem to be quite a way out from the center of the ship's mass. Are there any maneuverability benefits with this placement, such as increased turning speeds?

Yes, having the mav thrusters so far forward provides extra leverage for pitch and yaw maneuverability.

Guardian QI

Will the Guardian QI have any advantages or disadvantages over the base Guardian, such as weapon or shield loadout?

No, it is identical to the regular Guardian, aside from the addition of the quantum dampener and upgraded powerplants. However, it does incur a small weight and cost penalty, and the quantum dampener is power intensive, requiring the pilot to balance its use with other weapons.

Will the added quantum jammer affect the Guardian QI's signature or flight performance?

There is a weight cost incurred by the quantum dampener, so flight dynamics are affected slightly. When the dampener is active, the ship’s signature is increased due to the increased power consumption.

How will the dampener impact the Guardian QI's energy consumption compared to the base Guardian? If additional power is required, how does the Guardian QI intend to support this on top of its existing systems?

The quantum dampener is power hungry. However, the Guardian QI comes with better quality powerplants to compensate.

What are some good use case scenarios for the Guardian QI?

The QI excels at engaging larger targets and preventing them from fleeing, such as multi-crew ships, given its combination of S5 weapons and quantum dampener.

What advantages and disadvantages does the Guardian QI have over, for example, the RSI Scorpius Antares and Aegis Vanguard Sentinel?

The RSI Scorpius Antares requires a co-pilot to use the quantum dampener whereas, in the Guardian QI, the pilot controls everything, including the dampener.

The Aegis Vanguard Sentinel has an EMP and is designed to work with other ships, since it trades off offensive power for its electronic-warfare abilities. It is tough to compare the Guardian to the Sentinel, but I would say the Guardian would be much better on its own, unsupported.

Another ship that is intended to be a direct competitor to Guardian QI is the Drake Cutlass Blue, which has dedicated pods for bounty-hunting purposes. Will the Guardian QI have bounty-hunting pods or any other features that will give it an edge over the Cutlass Blue?

The Guardian QI is not intended for bounty hunting. When bounty hunting, you generally want to keep your target alive, which is why the Cutlass Blue has the pods. The Guardian is designed to keep enemies from escaping but then to kill them instead of capturing them.

Where exactly is the dampener located and can I access it from inside the ship?

The quantum dampener is on the spine of the ship, in the rear. It is not accessible from the inside.

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