Is the 1.5 FDL worth a second look?

_neuron_

_neuron_
Yes. I had gotten rid of my FDL pre-1.5/2.0 due to the power issues and less than impressive agility. I decided to give the new, buffed version a try, and it's a major improvement. Definitely worth keeping around as a bounty hunting ship (I still prefer my FAS, but the FDL is a nice change of pace.)
 

SGT TickleFight

S
_neuron_ said:
Yes. I had gotten rid of my FDL pre-1.5/2.0 due to the power issues and less than impressive agility. I decided to give the new, buffed version a try, and it's a major improvement. Definitely worth keeping around as a bounty hunting ship (I still prefer my FAS, but the FDL is a nice change of pace.)
Click to expand...

Can I ask why you like the FAS better? I recently took mine out for a few days so it would be a good reference.

Credits aren't an issue for me - just wondering if it is worth the travel time to get it outfitted and return to the pew pew.
 

tawittle

tawittle
The 1.5 fdl is broken.

No more power constraints, no more power management.

so much heat dissipation, you can hardly get it over 100% unless you are using SCB. If I spam rail guns on the FAS, I'll reach 100% in just a few salvos. On the FDL, you can fire the rails over and over again and you won't even get to 100%. If you use a heat sink on the FDL, you basically go into cool running for 15 seconds - breaking gimbal lock

The buff to frag cannons means the FDL has even sillier DPS than before.

And to top it all off: better pitch and roll rates.

What ever were you thinking when you thought up these FDL changes FD? FD: "everyone is complaining the FDL has too little jump range...I know, lets make it even deadlier in combat!"
 
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nosleepdemon

nosleepdemon
As a combat ship the FDL has always been very capable, now it is the perfect monster. I just need a bit more cash to plop down for the powerplant and plasma accelerator.
 

d8veh

d8veh
I use both the FAS and the FDL for RES farming and kill missions. The FDL can handle much more power than before, and it doesn't overheat with three beam lasers going continuously, so you can stay out all afternoon without having to go back to the station to re-load ammo. It's also very easy to control, as you can see when docking, where you just glide down and park. You have to use a bit more than basic flying technique to chase down the smaller faster ships.

The FAS is the lazy guy's killing machine. You can always point it at the target and shoot, so very little flying technique is needed except when docking. It's so responsive that it's difficult to land on the spot. You keep overshooting backwards and forwards if you don't concentrate. Fire power is about the same, but it does overheat if you have two C3 beam lasers going for too long. My FAS is a bit of a tank, so not very fast. It's a bit of a pain having to keep boosting to cruise round following other ships.
 

Dr Roly

Dr Roly
Has anyone tried the 1.5 FdL against other commanders? I was regularly beating the previous gen FdLs in my "nerfed" Python so IMO the FdL really needed a buff as it's a pure combat ship.
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It sounds like the FdL price should go back to 102mil though.
 

n4p0l3on

N
tawittle said:
The 1.5 fdl is broken.

No more power constraints, no more power management.

so much heat dissipation, you can hardly get it over 100% unless you are using SCB. If I spam rail guns on the FAS, I'll reach 100% in just a few salvos. On the FDL, you can fire the rails over and over again and you won't even get to 100%. If you use a heat sink on the FDL, you basically go into cool running for 15 seconds - breaking gimbal lock

The buff to frag cannons means the FDL has even sillier DPS than before.

And to top it all off: better pitch and roll rates.

What ever were you thinking when you thought up these FDL changes FD? FD: "everyone is complaining the FDL has too little jump range...I know, lets make it even deadlier in combat!"
Click to expand...

and the nerf brigade has come!
 

Starender

Starender
It's a very tough, very powefull ship, the agility is now good and the heat dissipation is godly. The FdL lost another 1 Ly jump range tho >< so it's the perfect rez hunting ship, it's also great for defense in powerplay, but it's hugely bad in everything else.

I still prefer my FAS which is much more balanced and can jump decently but to say the truth i know i would be stronger in the FdL, i just can't stand the jump range.
 

Windscreen Smudge

W
Starender said:
It's a very tough, very powefull ship, the agility is now good and the heat dissipation is godly. The FdL lost another 1 Ly jump range tho >< so it's the perfect rez hunting ship, it's also great for defense in powerplay, but it's hugely bad in everything else.

I still prefer my FAS which is much more balanced and can jump decently but to say the truth i know i would be stronger in the FdL, i just can't stand the jump range.
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Stahp.... You people are making me wish I hadn't taken off to the black immediately after Horizons launched.... I'm stuck in this piggy Clipper right now that's already lost 80% hull to two tiny taps while flying planetside. It's so bad at maneuvering planetside I'd swap it out for an FDL right now, jump range and everything, and I'm already 7k ly out.

On my way back to pick up my Courier now, I think it'll end up being the best of both worlds. I'll be trying some canyon flying before I head out this time, if the Courier doesn't cut it I'll just grab my FDL and settle in for the long haul.
 

Cyrgon

Cyrgon
tawittle said:
The 1.5 fdl is broken.

No more power constraints, no more power management.

so much heat dissipation, you can hardly get it over 100% unless you are using SCB. If I spam rail guns on the FAS, I'll reach 100% in just a few salvos. On the FDL, you can fire the rails over and over again and you won't even get to 100%. If you use a heat sink on the FDL, you basically go into cool running for 15 seconds - breaking gimbal lock

The buff to frag cannons means the FDL has even sillier DPS than before.

And to top it all off: better pitch and roll rates.

What ever were you thinking when you thought up these FDL changes FD? FD: "everyone is complaining the FDL has too little jump range...I know, lets make it even deadlier in combat!"
Click to expand...

Dr Roly said:
Has anyone tried the 1.5 FdL against other commanders? I was regularly beating the previous gen FdLs in my "nerfed" Python so IMO the FdL really needed a buff as it's a pure combat ship.
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It sounds like the FdL price should go back to 102mil though.
Click to expand...

I dunno. Price doesn't necessarily equal balance. It's stupidly overpowered at the moment in my opinion. I love it, true. That's not a reason to keep it, however. All the power you'd want, all the agility you'd want, all the weapons you'd want. Where's teh downside? Every ship needs downsides to balance the benefits, and the current FDL has none, excepting jump range. That doesn't help the poor souls in your system though.
 

Deleted member 38366

D
I've made my first combat tours in a completely refitted FdL.

- Class 4 SCBs turned out nearly useless, hence they were removed entirely
- 5A Shield was replaced with a 5C Bi-Weave to focus on regeneration instead of maintaining Shields at all cost
- 5A Thrusters installed instead of heavyweight 5B
- all Shield Boosters converted to 0A Grade
- free Internals fitted with maximum Hull Reinforcement Packages to augment the already fitted Military Bulkheads and compensate for repeated loss of Shields

I found that this combo worked extremely well with the FdL, likely also contributed by the other buffs the Ship received (the new Heat tolerance is ludicrous, far better now even than the DiamondBacks).
 
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Chongo

C
As said, the heat dissipation changes have made things different. You don't have to scoop in multiple passes anymore, and using a B4 SCB puts you at around 100 during combat but you pretty quickly cool off while still firing. The power changes allow you to use any weapons, or mix it up a lot with modules, so the build variability has gone way up compared to before - which was pretty darn unappealing.

The range isn't as unbearable because you can scoop reasonably well, but you still lose a slot to a fuel tank if you have a sanity brink like me. It doesn't travel well regardless - the extra time consumption ends up tipping the scales towards a variety of other ships for the same combat purposes. It's not a great ship for anything other than combat, and I still think I'm leaning toward my python for that in general gameplay - just offers more. Giving it a solid try right now to make it the main ship in my combat quiver, it's really fun - but only for combat near your homebase.
 

ShadowWolf Kell

ShadowWolf Kell
Windscreen Smudge said:
Stahp.... You people are making me wish I hadn't taken off to the black immediately after Horizons launched.... I'm stuck in this piggy Clipper right now that's already lost 80% hull to two tiny taps while flying planetside. It's so bad at maneuvering planetside I'd swap it out for an FDL right now, jump range and everything, and I'm already 7k ly out.

On my way back to pick up my Courier now, I think it'll end up being the best of both worlds. I'll be trying some canyon flying before I head out this time, if the Courier doesn't cut it I'll just grab my FDL and settle in for the long haul.
Click to expand...

Like the FdL, the Courier handles like a dream on planets. FA on or off. Can rely solely on lateral thrusters as well up to 4g.
 

Cyrgon

Cyrgon
FalconFly said:
I've made my first combat tours in a completely refitted FdL.

- Class 4 SCBs turned out nearly useless, hence they were removed entirely
- 5A Shield was replaced with a 5C Bi-Weave to focus on regeneration instead of maintaining Shields at all cost
- 5A Thrusters installed instead of heavyweight 5B
- all Shield Boosters converted to 0A Grade
- free Internals fitted with maximum Hull Reinforcement Packages to augment the already fitted Military Bulkheads and compensate for repeated loss of Shields

I found that this combo worked extremely well with the FdL, likely also contributed by the other buffs the Ship received (the new Heat tolerance is ludicrous, far better now even than the DiamondBacks).
Click to expand...
You can get 755 shielding (what you could previously get only by gimping your damage) with bi-weave if you get rid of one of two extra slots. I kept the KWS and dumped chaff for the increased shield strength. The SCB is much weaker true, but the heat gain is negligible on the FDL. I'm guessing you could easily activate two at once and barely take any heat damage at all, if any. Just means setting up a couple specialized power settings to use it when you need it. Go regular shields and you can get just shy of 1k. If you specced prismatic I don't even know what could make you run.
 
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Windscreen Smudge

W
ShadowWolf Kell said:
Like the FdL, the Courier handles like a dream on planets. FA on or off. Can rely solely on lateral thrusters as well up to 4g.
Click to expand...

Took the clipper solely for the weight/thrust/speed ratio for high g planets and it hasn't turned out to be as necessary as I thought, while being a PITA at all other times. Can't wait to get into another ship.
 
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