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Possibly the best? You can activate the FSD while scooping and hit an SCB, and the FDL will be like "I'm overworking myself. I almost broke a sweat".
I swear you can land that ship on a star lol.
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Imperial Courier vs Vulture (is Courier better?)
- Thread starter Red Fox Four
- Start date
Possibly the best? You can activate the FSD while scooping and hit an SCB, and the FDL will be like "I'm overworking myself. I almost broke a sweat".
I swear you can land that ship on a star lol.
Yeah but it's soooo sexy.
The Clipper has more shields and better armor fully equipped, too. Nobody gives that ship enough credit. Throw some military bulkheads and HRP's on it, and it has 2800 armor.
With gimballs, it's awesome in RES. Hard point placement doesn't really matter for pve. Even the FAS has that top hardpoint...
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No doubt. I use mine for canyon runs. It's absolutely amazing at that. I really hope the class 3 thruster buff does the Courier justice. Hoping it becomes the fastest ship in the game.
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As a fdl owner both pre-buff and after, I can say the fdl now is a true upgrade in most respects. The bottom hardpoint is not as easy to aim as the dual c3s of the vulture, but with practice it is quite useable. Post buff it doesn't require as much power management, and it runs much cooler allowing for scb use. It has good maneuverability like the vulture but a much better boost. Six utility slots allow for lots of customization (I forgot how many the vulture has). Pre buff the fdl was a ship for hipsters, now it is a powerful combat ship. Hope that helps. Btw I use a gimballed cannon in my c4 slot.....easier to use than a fixed PA imo.
thats because the FDL's heat management is broke aka it can fuel scoop a star at maximum and charge its FSD and jump out while its still scooping at maximum without overheating.
Not really broken though. This is the most one dimensional ship in game. It's a heavy fighter, and that's it. Its limited internals, tiny fuel tank, and abysmal jump range help ensure it will never be anything but a combat ship. Even the Corvette has some multipurpose utility.
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I went Vulture -> Clipper -> FAS -> FdL.
The FdL is super fun to fly, but really itching to get back into the Clipper.
The FdL is super fun to fly, but really itching to get back into the Clipper.
No, strawman.. And you answered my question, thank you.
Don't get too carried away theorycrafting in Elite; the DPS numbers in ship building tools are pretty meaningless to be honest. What matters more is how well you can keep your weapons on target, how your chosen weapons stack up against your chosen target (small ship, medium ship, large ship, or subsystem on one of those), and how well your distributor can keep those weapons fed for the times you are on target.
The Courier is a good ship, and so is the Vulture. Personally, I don't think there's a "better", it's all just down to playstyle. If you want more firepower on your Courier than Beam/2xMC, try swapping your multicannons for Plasma Accelerators. You can't have them both in the same firegroup, but if you set up one firegroup for your beam, and then one with left plasma on one trigger and right plasma on another and alternate your shots, it works really well. Shield Strip with the beam (or plasma, if you're impatient), and those plasmas will eat through anyone's hull or powerplant in no time.
As far as next, it depends on what you value in a ship again.
FDL, Clipper, and Python all have their pros and cons. Since you lean Imperial, I'll not suggest any Fed ships.
The Courier is a good ship, and so is the Vulture. Personally, I don't think there's a "better", it's all just down to playstyle. If you want more firepower on your Courier than Beam/2xMC, try swapping your multicannons for Plasma Accelerators. You can't have them both in the same firegroup, but if you set up one firegroup for your beam, and then one with left plasma on one trigger and right plasma on another and alternate your shots, it works really well. Shield Strip with the beam (or plasma, if you're impatient), and those plasmas will eat through anyone's hull or powerplant in no time.
As far as next, it depends on what you value in a ship again.
FDL, Clipper, and Python all have their pros and cons. Since you lean Imperial, I'll not suggest any Fed ships. This. Really throwing out more love for The Clipper. It's a beast of a ship that feels like flying silk. I swear, if it could land at outposts, I'd never fly anything else.
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I only say possibly because the DBS exists, and I haven't done a 1/1 comparison. Both have incredible heat management.
The DBS does have great heat management. Nowhere near the FDL though. Just activate your FSD while scooping in the DBS. It's my favorite "cheap" ship, though. Flies like a dream and the heat management makes it great at silent running.
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The thing is that the large hardpoints do not suffer penalty against medium and large hulls.
And it wrecks small hulls. So even if the DPS is better in the courier, the Vulture does "more damage" and can stay longer in the battlefield and in the tail of the enemy with less difficulty.
The Imperial Courier is sweet ship though, but is made to combat equal hull size vessels.
IMO.
And it wrecks small hulls. So even if the DPS is better in the courier, the Vulture does "more damage" and can stay longer in the battlefield and in the tail of the enemy with less difficulty.
The Imperial Courier is sweet ship though, but is made to combat equal hull size vessels.
IMO.
The Clipper is much worse for the money at combat (needing larger, more expensive yet somehow less efficient modules) but can do things the FDL and FAS can't. Like carry cargo and make a profit greater than the cost of the fuel used.
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I rarely jump far enough to need to fuel scoop in my FDL (for obvious reasons) so I guess I haven't noticed it was quite that good at heat management. I knew it was excellent just from the fact it can soak up an SCB use while spamming the C4 PA though. I'll take your word for it then
And the DBS is an awesome ship. Best performance for the money out of any ship in my opinion.
I used to own an Asp and a Vulture before I went on the Distant World's expedition and when I came back I decided to upgrade the Vulture so I bought an FDL.
This required a completely different style of combat though. The Vulture is far more manouevrable but slower. The FDL is much faster but I found it more difficult getting as close to the enemy and it takes forever for the shields to come up, so I need to use SCBs. But if I can get the hang of controlling the speed then it will be a beast. I ended up missing my Vulture a lot after I sold it so I bought a new one. I was also told that the FAS is an upgrade to the Vulture and being manouevrable as well I thought I would give that a try, so I bought that to compare against the FDL. It's definitely a lot of fun and in a sense it is a direct upgrade.
I'm trying to improve my combat skills, so like with learning a range of different martial arts, I have bought a range of ships that work best in different scenarios. I then bought a Viper Mk3. Next will be a DiamondBack Scout because I had such good times with that ship in the past and this could be good for stealthy combat. The idea is that each ship promotes a different play style and if I can get good at all of them then it will mean that I can cope with whatever situation I come across.
But here's the thing, for me personally given my current play style, I actually do best with the Vulture. But this only really clicked when I replaced the C3 cannon with a frag cannon. I combine this with a beam laser. Yesterday it really came together and I was chewing up NPCs 1v1 in a HazRes faster than I have ever done before. I'd beam the Asp/DBS/Adder, then three quick frags in succession and they'd be down to 30-40% hull integrity. It was a real blast and out of all my combat ships I have most fun in the Vulture. I went 1v1 against a dangerous Anaconda and got him down to about 8% when he blew out my canopy when I wasn't close enough. I only had 5 minutes air but I continued anyway, destroyed him and got to the station within 2 minutes. I really wished I had recorded that.
So what I have learnt is that it all depends on how you fight. This determines which weapons work for you and which ship is best suited to that load out. It also depends on what you want to use it for.
I'd pick the Vulture for taking down big ships because it's so small, manouevrable and can get in close behind or at the side and stay there with lots of chaff so most of the turreted weapons are useless against it. For farming a HazRes or CZ I'd pick the FAS. Or if I was protecting an unarmed explorer or trader so I could ram any pirate as quickly as possible so the other player could escape. For PvP I'd choose the FDL which might outrun the Vulture, but it would be interesting to see how the Vulture coped. If I wanted to act as bait then I would choose the Viper.
If I could only choose one, right now, for me and the way I personally fly, it would be the Vulture. When I get better at controlling the speed of the FDL, making better use of the huge plasma accelerator and possibly adding another fire group to it, then my opinion might change.
This required a completely different style of combat though. The Vulture is far more manouevrable but slower. The FDL is much faster but I found it more difficult getting as close to the enemy and it takes forever for the shields to come up, so I need to use SCBs. But if I can get the hang of controlling the speed then it will be a beast. I ended up missing my Vulture a lot after I sold it so I bought a new one. I was also told that the FAS is an upgrade to the Vulture and being manouevrable as well I thought I would give that a try, so I bought that to compare against the FDL. It's definitely a lot of fun and in a sense it is a direct upgrade.
I'm trying to improve my combat skills, so like with learning a range of different martial arts, I have bought a range of ships that work best in different scenarios. I then bought a Viper Mk3. Next will be a DiamondBack Scout because I had such good times with that ship in the past and this could be good for stealthy combat. The idea is that each ship promotes a different play style and if I can get good at all of them then it will mean that I can cope with whatever situation I come across.
But here's the thing, for me personally given my current play style, I actually do best with the Vulture. But this only really clicked when I replaced the C3 cannon with a frag cannon. I combine this with a beam laser. Yesterday it really came together and I was chewing up NPCs 1v1 in a HazRes faster than I have ever done before. I'd beam the Asp/DBS/Adder, then three quick frags in succession and they'd be down to 30-40% hull integrity. It was a real blast and out of all my combat ships I have most fun in the Vulture. I went 1v1 against a dangerous Anaconda and got him down to about 8% when he blew out my canopy when I wasn't close enough. I only had 5 minutes air but I continued anyway, destroyed him and got to the station within 2 minutes. I really wished I had recorded that.
So what I have learnt is that it all depends on how you fight. This determines which weapons work for you and which ship is best suited to that load out. It also depends on what you want to use it for.
I'd pick the Vulture for taking down big ships because it's so small, manouevrable and can get in close behind or at the side and stay there with lots of chaff so most of the turreted weapons are useless against it. For farming a HazRes or CZ I'd pick the FAS. Or if I was protecting an unarmed explorer or trader so I could ram any pirate as quickly as possible so the other player could escape. For PvP I'd choose the FDL which might outrun the Vulture, but it would be interesting to see how the Vulture coped. If I wanted to act as bait then I would choose the Viper.
If I could only choose one, right now, for me and the way I personally fly, it would be the Vulture. When I get better at controlling the speed of the FDL, making better use of the huge plasma accelerator and possibly adding another fire group to it, then my opinion might change.
The Clipper is much worse for the money at combat (needing larger, more expensive yet somehow less efficient modules) but can do things the FDL and FAS can't. Like carry cargo and make a profit greater than the cost of the fuel used.
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I rarely jump far enough to need to fuel scoop in my FDL (for obvious reasons) so I guess I haven't noticed it was quite that good at heat management. I knew it was excellent just from the fact it can soak up an SCB use while spamming the C4 PA though. I'll take your word for it then
And the DBS is an awesome ship. Best performance for the money out of any ship in my opinion.
The Clipper is still excellent in combat. Has fanatic maneuverability and can take a serious beating. Not to mention it's the second fastest ship in the game. I prefer it to the FAS.
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The FDL does take some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, you'll rarely even get shot. Run bi weaves to recharge faster. I don't even run an SCB on mine. It has 728mj shields with bi weaves and 5 boosters. The shields just never drop and they recharge fast enough to keep me in the action.
The speed of the FDL is what makes it so good at staying close to your opponent and out of their line of fire. Unlike the Vulture you can't really keep it in the blue 100% of the time and expect great success. Constantly adjusting your throttle and using your maneuvering thrusters is helpful for mastering the FDL.
However the most important combat tip for the FDL (any ship really) is to suppress the instinct to shoot them while they are scanning you, or try to snipe them from extreme range. These are tactically bad moves, because the best position to be in is close to your enemy; NPCs typically only open fire once they have 'seen' you while in combat, sparing you turret fire, and the closer you are the more difficult it will be for them to turn to face you, because the distance you have to travel to match their rate of turn is vastly reduced.
However the most important combat tip for the FDL (any ship really) is to suppress the instinct to shoot them while they are scanning you, or try to snipe them from extreme range. These are tactically bad moves, because the best position to be in is close to your enemy; NPCs typically only open fire once they have 'seen' you while in combat, sparing you turret fire, and the closer you are the more difficult it will be for them to turn to face you, because the distance you have to travel to match their rate of turn is vastly reduced.
It may be worth noting that the iCourier will be able to use the new improved class 3 drives and so will be getting a buff with the next patch.
Again thanks for all the valuable input.
I am thinking about going for an FdL since I primarily do bounty hunting for income (otherwise Clipper would be a fun option, but hate not being able to land at outposts tho).
Does anyone have a nice FdL setup? I was looking at 2 x Burst Lasers + 2 x MultiCannon + Plasma Accelerator, but a bit unsure on the utility slots.
I am thinking about going for an FdL since I primarily do bounty hunting for income (otherwise Clipper would be a fun option, but hate not being able to land at outposts tho).
Does anyone have a nice FdL setup? I was looking at 2 x Burst Lasers + 2 x MultiCannon + Plasma Accelerator, but a bit unsure on the utility slots.
That's the almost the same hardpoint setup I use on my FDL, but I run pulse lasers instead of burst. The lasers/multis are gimbaled so I can simply group them together and fire the PA with secondary. Most of the time it works great because I drop their shields with the PA exclusively. For utility I run with double chaff, a KWS, and 3x 0A SBs. I used to run with two SCBs but dropped one in favor of keeping a fuel scoop full-time instead of swapping when I want to take it somewhere; I found that every time I returned to port I'd burned through the ammo before touching the second set of SCBs, but your mileage may vary.