cobra vs viper. dogfights.
- Thread starter Eldan Cross
- Start date
I don't know why you would go with fixed weapons on a cobra with its slower turning and acceleration. It may have more topline speed than the others, but it's more sluggish. It's a bigger and heavier ship than others in the same class, it seems to me most efficient to go with gimbals but carry heavy armor due to its bigger mass support. The tactic against a cobra is to avoid jousting, stay in tight, and hit it as it's trying to turn. Therefore, as a cobra pilot you really ought to do whatever you can to bring your own weapons to bear quickly - thus gimbaled weapons. I feel that of the ship in its size range, the Cobra is the one that was built to take a beating. Reminds me of an A-10 with how tough it is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikp2Xpfr5Dg&feature=youtu.be
Check this out, great way to take out Anacondas in viper, reckon you can do it in a Cobra too, but I haven't flown a Cobra that much at all.
Check this out, great way to take out Anacondas in viper, reckon you can do it in a Cobra too, but I haven't flown a Cobra that much at all.
have some rep because you are a good pilot.
other than that, the way i described is 10 times easier
Cobra and Viper have the same manoeuvrability. Only Sidewinder and Eagle have better manoeuvrability, but even then it's not god awful bad. Despite both ships having a manoeuvrability rating of 6, it still turns pretty good.
I personally don't have a problem keeping another ship in my crosshair or tuning into him with a Cobra. Disabling flight assist and boosting among other things, there are many techniques for swatting a mosquito on your back.
Thanks for the Rep! and yeah that way is much easier, but totally not as FUN!
An A class fully upgraded Viper will tear apart most Cobras if not all. The Cobra relies on gimbals to compensate for poor turning (even with A class thrusters) but they are useles against a hardened fixed weapon viper with chaff. Chaff is extremely effective against the slow turning gimbal reliant cobra. It also ruins other torp based Cobra builds.
I had a run in with a 4x multi cannon viper I was using 2x beams class B gimballed and 2 fixed class B rails. Now I can only use 1 rail at a time against small targets due to poor convergence. I couldn't touch him, far too manouverable for my rails and he chaffed constantly ruining my gimbal targeting. For pvp the viper excels. I thought I'd give it a go though, but yeah cobra is outclassed. I'm a relatively good pvper and so was he so I think it was a balanced fight skill wise.
BTW I use Rails for Asassin missions. Not the best for pvp I know. I don't think it would have made much difference though what I had fixed.
I had a run in with a 4x multi cannon viper I was using 2x beams class B gimballed and 2 fixed class B rails. Now I can only use 1 rail at a time against small targets due to poor convergence. I couldn't touch him, far too manouverable for my rails and he chaffed constantly ruining my gimbal targeting. For pvp the viper excels. I thought I'd give it a go though, but yeah cobra is outclassed. I'm a relatively good pvper and so was he so I think it was a balanced fight skill wise.
BTW I use Rails for Asassin missions. Not the best for pvp I know. I don't think it would have made much difference though what I had fixed.
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Some people are saying chaff doesn't work on NPCs at all.
The Cobra doesn't turn poorly. I think the only area where the Viper is much superior in turning is Yaw. Unless you have two Chaff launchers, they can't be up all the time, and gimbals isn't just a substitute for aiming but actually allows more time with weapons on target, though I think the Viper gimbals better due to hardpoint placement.
The majority of my game time has been inside a Viper. I love the Viper, but in my opinion, if I fought myself, as some magical-like-minded clone, I would lose the fight. The Viper and Cobra are similar in terms of overall maneuverability, but a combat spec Cobra will pitch faster than a Viper will. The Viper has a different flying style, relying on more vector control, which means in a standard loop-loop-loop-loop dogfight, the most basic of kinds you can have, the Cobra would be a better turner. There wouldn't be a big difference between the two if their weight allotment was similarly used up BUT..
A combat spec Cobra will be sitting far below it's max thruster's optimal weight, this is why you can get your cobra to get to speeds around 430 in a straight boost. A Viper can only really cut down on its weight by a few tons below optimal. If you further reduce the Viper's weight, you'll reduce your ability to fight, aka, shield cell banks, which can be very heavy on the very weight conscious Viper.
The Cobra can also have more shield cells, while being under its optimal weight, meaning better maneuverability and boost speeds across the board, compared to a similarly spec'd Viper, who would be under weight, but only boosting around 400-405. If the cobra runs and wants to jump away, the Viper cannot maintain distance on him for very long, and also does not negate the Cobra's jump via mass. Likewise, the Cobra can chase down a fleeing Viper and slow down its ability to jump due to the mass difference, and also be around 30 units of speed faster.
The Viper accelerates and slows down faster than the Cobra, and can vector up, down, and left and right better. But it will be slower than the Cobra in straight line boosting, and in pitch turning. The Viper's shields with a "A" shield generator are very tough, but in a prolonged fight where the combatants are using shield cells, the Viper on equal terms, is likely to run out of cells before an equally stocked Cobra will.
(To the comment earlier, Chaff does not affect NPCs. It doesn't. Just fight an Elite Anaconda with beam turrets and pop chaff, they won't lose lock and will continue unimpeded blasting at your shields.)
A combat spec Cobra will be sitting far below it's max thruster's optimal weight, this is why you can get your cobra to get to speeds around 430 in a straight boost. A Viper can only really cut down on its weight by a few tons below optimal. If you further reduce the Viper's weight, you'll reduce your ability to fight, aka, shield cell banks, which can be very heavy on the very weight conscious Viper.
The Cobra can also have more shield cells, while being under its optimal weight, meaning better maneuverability and boost speeds across the board, compared to a similarly spec'd Viper, who would be under weight, but only boosting around 400-405. If the cobra runs and wants to jump away, the Viper cannot maintain distance on him for very long, and also does not negate the Cobra's jump via mass. Likewise, the Cobra can chase down a fleeing Viper and slow down its ability to jump due to the mass difference, and also be around 30 units of speed faster.
The Viper accelerates and slows down faster than the Cobra, and can vector up, down, and left and right better. But it will be slower than the Cobra in straight line boosting, and in pitch turning. The Viper's shields with a "A" shield generator are very tough, but in a prolonged fight where the combatants are using shield cells, the Viper on equal terms, is likely to run out of cells before an equally stocked Cobra will.
(To the comment earlier, Chaff does not affect NPCs. It doesn't. Just fight an Elite Anaconda with beam turrets and pop chaff, they won't lose lock and will continue unimpeded blasting at your shields.)
My Cobra with A4 thrusters goes 300 in straight line and 450 on boost (4 pips engines). How fast is a Viper with A rated thrusters?
Depends on weight.
I run about the lightest practical pure combat loadout that doesn't sacrifice much (A everything, except sensors and life support which are D), and my Viper does 332 cruise, 415 boost, with full fuel.
Isn't the Viper technically the fastest ship in the game? From my point of view that invaluable because if I'm going to lose a battle I have a good chance of running. The Viper imho is pretty nath as standard compared to a Cobra but with upgrades its a beast. The Viper will reward better skilled pilots as it's not a massive cruiser with shields/armor that takes a pounding but a good Viper pilot will deal huge amounts of damage and won't take much in return.
Not in forward speed. Cobra can boost faster, and can maintain about the same, if not slightly better speed over distance with 4 pips in eng and boosting as often as possible.
A Viper pilot who is on the ball can usually get away from a Cobra, but the Cobra is the safest ship in the game.
Assign you shield cell to a button, not a trigger. Less faffing about with fire groups.
to cut it short, they have approximately the same speed/maneuverability/weapons, so in term of fight they are equal
BUT the Cobra can use far better shield cell, so ultimately the Cobra will always win no matter what
AND the Cobra can do every profession at the same time, when the viper can only do bounty hunter effectively
the Cobra has 20 Ly jump range, the Viper has 13 Ly
the price of a viper is 150k/4 million, the Cobra 370k/9 million
the earning money potential is 4 times stronger on a Cobra, so the end result is: why do the Viper exist ?
BUT the Cobra can use far better shield cell, so ultimately the Cobra will always win no matter what
AND the Cobra can do every profession at the same time, when the viper can only do bounty hunter effectively
the Cobra has 20 Ly jump range, the Viper has 13 Ly
the price of a viper is 150k/4 million, the Cobra 370k/9 million
the earning money potential is 4 times stronger on a Cobra, so the end result is: why do the Viper exist ?
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That the Cobra can even be thought about in the same class as a dog fighter as a Viper is testament to Cobra's versatility.
I think the original OP doesn't much like the Cobra but probably considering how much more it can do game wise vis a vis the Viper is giving it one hell of a recommendation.
Tbh I think the Cobra realises the true definition of the word IMBA, or the Viper is no where near as good as it should could be.
Interesting comment about which one takes more skill to be good at though
I think the original OP doesn't much like the Cobra but probably considering how much more it can do game wise vis a vis the Viper is giving it one hell of a recommendation.
Tbh I think the Cobra realises the true definition of the word IMBA, or the Viper is no where near as good as it should could be.
Interesting comment about which one takes more skill to be good at though
The Viper exists for it's price point. When you buy a Cobra you're not paying it for it's combat potential - that's the Viper's price tag - you're paying for it's flexibility.
If the only thing that interests you is bounty hunting, save yourself some creds and buy a Viper. That's why it's there.
If the only thing that interests you is bounty hunting, save yourself some creds and buy a Viper. That's why it's there.