So, last night I made my first Rare Trade Run.. Lave to Fujimi. (Think I spelled that right)
What. A. Rush.
Interdicted Twice.. won the mini game on the first one, and narrowly escaped a pirate attack on the second one..
THEN..
forgot I had Contraband.. so had to go 400LS out of my way to find a black market.. Interdicted AGAIN! And Escaped..
walked away with 700k Credits.. and a bunch of new upgrades to my Cobra..
I Love this game.. [up]
One questions, Im looking for suggestions on how to best outfit my Cobra Mk3 Ive read conflicting reports on the forums and on websites about heat sinks, weapons, etc.. I figure I want to focus on Rare Trades.. because so much money..
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G8 smuggling info from CMDR BongoBaggins and profit
advice from CMDR B Wald. Rep to both and to CMDR NappingZed
just for having fun
One answer to your Heat Sink question:
generally one Heat Sink must be used when you fire off a Shield Cell.
I put both on the Fire 2 button/trigger. Sometimes this fails and the
heat is damaging. I think that this is more critical with higher Class
Cells.
----------------------------------------------------
This loadout may be your style of play. I have used it very successfully.
So for your Cobra3 ...
This loadout (see below) is designed to trade Rares and to be fully
capable of fighting and clawing my way across the galaxy.
"... want to fight ... bring it on" [heart]
All modules are top-shelf. The weapons however are a notch
down as they are turrets. Luv my turrets!
I use
two (2) weapons groups. ALL weapons in each group.
ALL to be fired by the Fire 1 button/trigger. I do control which
weapons fire, for example, if targets shields are down, I might
dip my nose to stop the laser fire. Usually I just blast with
everything.
In each group, I put one shield cell and one heat sink; to be
triggered by the Fire 2 button/trigger. I use the cells/sinks
liberally.
I switch to the next group each time I fire a cell and sink.
It may not be true, but it seems that there is a delay in firing
a cell and sink one after the last in the same group. This is in
addition to the 5(?) second delay that it takes to actually activate
the shield cell. I may be wrong, but I switch groups just in case.
This is useful when interdicted and hammered by an Anaconda
in a wing and I am running like a crazy bunny [woah]
Don't stack both cells in one group unless one is turned off -
don't burn up your ship!
BTW, when I run, I use
FA-off and boost boost boost!
Regarding having all weapons firing at the same time. I only
have heat problems if I let the weapons capacitor get too low
or empty. Watch your pips and you can keep firing
100% of
the time!!!
Also if the sys capacitor is empty, the heat sinks seem to lose
charge and eventually become useless until I throw a pip into Sys.
Pip management is critical but relative easy. I always Balance the pips
then move them to where I need them. I then know what I have and
where without looking.
I use
Mirrored Surface Composite as when attacked, it usually seems
to be with lasers, not kinetics. Lasers 'reach' further. Some CMDRs will
argue with this 'til the cows come home. No matter; it works well for me.
In the
Modules panel, I shut down/uncheck the Cargo Hatch. I will
die (and have) before I give up anything! Be sure that the Fuel Scoop
and FSD shut down when you deploy weapons. If you get killed-murdered,
when you respawn be absolutely sure to disable the cargo hatch or put
it back in the lowest module group with the FS and FSD. Ugly if you don't.
Only 32T of cargo with this loadout. The point to this loadout is
for combat and travel, but also to get payed gobs of CR to 'finance'
my journey. You could switch out one of the cells for an additional
4T of cargo; and the heat sink for Chaff or Point Defence or KWS.
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=702,7u67u64x24x20Wg0Wg,326Q6Q6Q4s4s4s6k,7RA0720727dg7dg4xo
Ret :: (88%) 13.68
Dep :: (97%) 15.10
... cargo hatch on, weapons off, FS & FSD on will be 92%
... cargo hatch on, weapons on, FS & FSD off will be 101%
... everything on will be 107%
Range: 19.79
[Cobra Mk III]
M: 2F/T Multi-cannon
M: 2F/T Multi-cannon
S: 1F/T Beam Laser
S: 1F/T Beam Laser
U: 0I Heat Sink Launcher
U: 0I Heat Sink Launcher
BH: 1I Mirrored Surface Composite
RB: 4A Power Plant
TM: 4A Thrusters
FH: 4A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 3A Life Support
PC: 3A Power Distributor
SS: 3A Sensors
FS: 4C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 16)
4: 4A Shield Generator
4: 4E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 16)
4: 4E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 16)
2: 2A Shield Cell Bank
2: 2A Shield Cell Bank
2: 2A Fuel Scoop
---
Shield: 123.59 MJ
Power : see above
Cargo : 32 T
Fuel : 16 T
Mass : 276.6 T empty
324.6 T full
Range : see above
Price : 12,002,450 CR
Re-Buy: 600,123 CR @ 95% insurance
------------------------------------------------------------
No weapons was suggested above. I have not used this
loadout. but did plan for it. If your emphasis is trading the
Rares without combat, this could work well. You could even
chuck the shield gen and shield boosters for another 16T of
cargo and less ship mass. Higher risk, bigger payday.
Could probably drop some of the modules to D rating for
better range.
This is designed for running only. Be sure to use FA-off when running.
No weapons. 4 pips to engines, 2 to sys ... run like the wind.
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=702,mpW0_g0_g,326Q6Q6Q4s4s4s6k,7RA07207203w03w4xo
Ret :: (90%) 13.92 ... cargo hatch on; 86% if off
Dep :: (90%) 13.92 ... "
Range : 20.68 LY unladen
18.10 LY laden
[Cobra Mk III]
U: 0A Shield Booster
U: 0A Shield Booster
BH: 1I Mirrored Surface Composite
RB: 4A Power Plant
TM: 4A Thrusters
FH: 4A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 3A Life Support
PC: 3A Power Distributor
SS: 3A Sensors
FS: 4C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 16)
4: 4A Shield Generator
4: 4E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 16)
4: 4E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 16)
2: 2E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 4)
2: 2E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 4)
2: 2A Fuel Scoop
---
Shield: 173.02 MJ
Power : see above
Cargo : 40 T
Fuel : 16 T
Mass : 264.0 T empty
320.0 T full
Range : see above
Price : 8,865,250 CR
Re-Buy: 443,263 CR @ 95% insurance
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ouch ... needed a lot of editing