Drake Caterpillar Review | Star Citizen 3.17 4K Gameplay
historically the caterpillar was the only large capacity cargo hauler in the verse making it almost ubiquitous for Traders but these days there is competition to be had for example from the Hercules Series so naturally that prompts the question how does the caterpillar perform in game I’m Barrister and in this video we’ll explore the answer to that question by reviewing a currently flyable Drake interplanetary caterpillar which is described as a heavy Freight ship on the RSI website although might end up being more of a mid-range option if you’ve seen other reviews on this channel then you
probably know what to expect with this video following the usual format it’s split into five sections starting with a ship tour assessing combat performance reviewing handling and visibility looking at the operating costs before finally summarizing as always I’ve included timestamps in the video description in case you want to skip ahead and if you’re one of the many people watching who isn’t yet subscribed to the channel you might consider it so you can be notified of future Star Citizen videos as they go live starting the tour for the caterpillar will approach from the right or starboard
side to the elevator which is underneath the ship you can approach this from either side you’ll find it roughly two-thirds of the way back from the front this deploys a
this is moving towards the front of the ship in the center of the room is a bench table as well as two beds for crew use on the opposite side of this bench table is a small kitchenette with a sink and a stove of some description there’s also the Drake standard shower toilet combination moving further forward we enter the first of the cargo storage modules in this case I’ve left the modules empty so that we can Traverse the ground level there’s a ladder to the upper walkway on either side are access controls which access each
of the individual doors on the port and starboard side meaning you can open simply just one module or simply one side of one module as we move forward you’ll see that these modules are repeated we’re entering into the third one now moving to the front moving through the fourth module these are all absolutely identical until we get to the fifth section which is called cargo access it does have some cargo storage available inside but also has the door at the front of the caterpillar instead of on one of the sides when you deploy this door
it opens up forwards again with the Drake hydraulic theme to it as we close this door we’ll make our way back through those cargo modules as quickly as possible to get to the rear of the ship will pass back through habitation access where there is a door on either side leading back to the elevator room and they will move further back through the ship you enter into this anti-room with some component access as we move back to engineering at the back of the caterpillar here you can see the turret for the lower turret access as
well as stairway access we’ll come to that in a moment as we move right to the back of the ship there is also a ladder which will take you up to the top deck in this case we’ll take the stairs the center hallway as it’s described is on the upper deck in the middle of the caterpillar on the right or starboard side is this tractor beam control room with a panoramic view great place to look around the caterpillar although the station is usable the tractor beam doesn’t currently work as we move across the ship we’ll
go backwards through the upper hallway on one door is power plant access and in the other door is this small server room the second door at the back of the server room also leads to power plant access see there’s a component access in here and then as we move to the rear of the upper deck we get to jump drive access there’s more component housing as well as the top of that ladder which we discussed earlier in the engineering section we now move forward through the ship again finally in the center hallway is command access
this opens a set of airlock doors which takes you into the cockpit Bridge area of the caterpillar at the front there’s a seat for the pilots and a co-pilot seat behind them in true Drake Style it’s quite a nice view to the front of the caterpillar from here there are two support stations for additional crew there’s also a ladder which takes you down to the lower deck of the command access in here you’ll find the standard Drake shower there’s also another two beds for the crew and another stove and sink there’s a seating bench and
then right at the front is another tractor beam access module again that track to beam access doesn’t currently work there’s also a weapons Locker we’ll head back up the ladder through the command access and back into the center hallway to move forward through the ship this is done via this Eva hatch there’s a ladder and a hatch above which leads to the top of the ship we then move back forward through the cargo modules this time on the upper walkway as before there’s access to the ladder to go up and down and there’s buttons to
make the doors open on either side likewise each of these modules from the top walkway is identical until we get to the front of the ship as we do get to the front of the ship the door is clearly marked turret access there is a button which opens the Deployable front ramp and also a chair leading to the upper turret whilst not a dedicated combat platform the caterpillar is nonetheless fairly well armed the pilot controls four weapons two size two m4a cannons on gimbals and two size three m5a cannons on a mini turret this is
further augmented by a manned turret at the front on top and a man turret at the back underneath both of which are armed with two size four weapons by default Rhino laser repeaters all in all that’s a fairly competitive Armament for a ship at this size and stands the caterpillar in good stead if you have two comrades to man The turrets that is the angles give Fair coverage of the ship although are more defensive than offensive in nature as it’s tough to get moving targets into a place where both turrets can effectively engage but those
turrets represent the main Firepower of the caterpillar largely because they have such generous capacitors and that they are so much easier to get on target than the pilot control weapons there is no missile Armament abort which given the slow Traverse rate is probably a good thing but the caterpillar does come with two generous size 3 Shield generators which makes the ship surprisingly tanky fall in that means the caterpillar can be a surprisingly effective combat platform for a freighter and is likely to be fairly well suited to attending some lost abandoned totally not pirated Cargo in
a hostile environment if needs be the cockpit in the caterpillar is set on the left or port side of the ship in the rear third but not entirely at the back it’s a somewhat unusual position but actually gives a good view of the cargo section up front which once you get used to it can be quite helpful there are some cockpit struts on the glass which get in the way a little but generally there’s good visibility out to the sides and above by way of handling the caterpillar is a freighter and handles accordingly it’s slow
and sluggish especially PlanetSide but that’s probably not unexpected for a ship capable of hauling many many boxes the top speed is 894 meters per second which is fairly slow compared to smaller ships and is largely only achievable in the vacuum of space the SCM speed limiter defaults to 99 meters per second which is much more comfortable to fly in but still considerably slower than smaller ships the stock Quantum Drive is the pontus and coupled with a Quantum fuel source on the caterpillar is actually a fairly good choice giving both range and Traverse speed which is
important for a hauler refueling and repairing the caterpillar isn’t always the cheapest but it’s not usually oppressively expensive either expect costs in the thousands to maybe five figures in Alpha UEC but the caterpillar comes with options for making cash too there’s plenty of space aboard for delivery boxes although a smaller and easier to fly ship might be a better choice for that but that 576 SCU of cargo storage is still more than most chips currently flyable in Star Citizen which makes the caterpillar a great choice for cargo hauling profits have suffered a little in that
regard recently and with that much cargo pilots are taking a big risk if they are attacked as they could potentially lose a lot of credits still cargo hauling is a viable option for the caterpillar and come next patch whilst the risk to Cargo Traders may increase with more players looking to cash in on the demise of cargo hauling as potentially also an opportunity for the caterpillar with her somewhat dubious credentials as a potential pirated loot Galley and finally if you have a couple of friends with you because the caterpillar is so tanky and with decent
Weaponry in the turrets combat contracts are a genuine real possibility it’s probably not the easiest most comfortable experience but it’s certainly an option the stock Loadout on the caterpillar is actually pretty good for my tastes I’d recommend keeping the gimbals for the Pilot’s weapons just because trying to do any fine aiming with a ship like the caterpillar is not ideal if you’re really into the combat side of things you might choose to mil-spec the components but you might end up paying almost 1 million Alpha UEC to do so which I don’t think is necessary as
a drake ship the caterpillar is renowned for operating on the dubious side of the law it’s the Natural Choice for transporting less than legal goods and owing to the generous capacity the ease of loading in the vacuum of space with the individually Deployable cargo bay doors and the solid combat performance the caterpillar would also make for a great companionship in a pirate Fleet to fly away with a precious booty the cargo bay is also potentially have room for small vehicles but owing to the lack of any loading ramp this is largely restricted to hover Vehicles
like the dragonfly and in the future the caterpillar may have even more options whilst not available in game yet there are stations for tractor beams and the cockpit could potentially double up as an escape pod there are also plenty of bed support for crew use but it’s not all good news the Drake interior is certainly an acquired taste and getting around the ship often involves long walks through many many doors which is especially noticeable for the pilot when having to leave to buy or sell cargo when the cargo bay is full the only way to
navigate the cargo decks is via the upper walkway as the lower decks are completely blocked by cargo when physicalized cargo comes online whenever that’ll be it might be possible to leave a gap in the middle for a lower walkway but even if that becomes possible it would be sacrificing cargo capacity to do so and to effectively operate the caterpillar as a combat platform you need three players aboard but that might be okay there are lots of crew stations available outside of just those two turrets with two support seats in the cockpit as well as a
co-pilot seat and tractor beam stations it’s a ship that can still be flown solo if you’re just wanting to move goods from A to B and are comfortable to take the risk and the 576 SCU of cargo storage is still one of the best in the game in terms of currently flyable ships at least beaten only by the 696 SCU of the Hercules C2 in terms of price the caterpillar comes in at around 300 US dollars or 4.7 million Alpha UEC in game both are fairly expensive but the only real competition at the moment comes
from that C2 Hercules which is priced similarly in game at 4.9 million Alpha UEC and that is a real competition the C2 is faster and easier to fly carries more cargo and is just about as well armed as the caterpillar it also has loading ramps for vehicles making it easier to carry aboard all manner of ground vehicles and even some smaller spacecraft for most cargo haulers the C2 is likely to be a better choice at the moment that said there may still be a niche for the caterpillar in the near future ignoring the tractor beam
stations for the moment the modular cargo bay doors on the caterpillar offer easy and organized loading points for nefarious Pirates potentially making it faster to load up Goods than via the same entrance on the Hercules and naturally that also plays into the Drake ethos which I certainly can’t encourage as a relatively peaceful player so I suppose the verdict is that for most players the C2 Hercules is probably the better in-game choice at the moment but for those select few who like to throw caution to the wind and sail a little too close to the line
of lawfulness the caterpillar might be a nice choice but do you agree especially if you’re a former or current owner I’d be particularly interested to read your thoughts in the comments once again if you’re not yet subscribed you really might consider it if you got this far as I have a few more star citizenship reviews you can expect over the coming months and it would also be really helpful if you would press that like or dislike button to guide me as to what videos you’re enjoying the most so I can tailor them to you otherwise
and as always thank you for watching
