Bubble Ship: Cobra Mk3 vs Viper Mk4

[Knightshark]

In search of a distraction from this whole "The Hunt" mess i started to ponder the question whether my very recent second Cmrd (currently with 4.1M Cr in assets) should stay in his Cobra Mk.3 while doing missions and collecting materials (for later) in the bubble OR if he should try something new and get a Viper Mk.4. So instead of running away from every interdiction which is bigger than a Cobra he could actually stay, tank hull, and blow some pirates to pieces.

So, Cobra Mk3 vs Viper Mk4, any opinions?

 

[Deleted member 115407]

I'm going to reserve judgement as I've only flown the Viper IV once (I suspect it's similar to a Cobra IV, based on its stats).

I am, however, interested in hear what other folks have to say.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Viper Mk IV if you want to put a bit of combat in there.

The Cobra Mk III... Really needs some light engineering to be a viable fighter... Only light mind. Lvl 3 should be enough.

 

[Faybs]

The Viper Mk.IV has good shields, armor and power plant, a decent amount of internals, great jump range, and responds very well to engineer mods. Mine has dirty drive tuning 3 and can boost to 426m/s. Maneuverability with the drive mod is OK-ish with FA on and pretty decent with FA off. Between that and the shields, it feels like a python in combat. Forgot to mention, acceleration is great. If it drifts at all, I can't notice it.

 

[Knightshark]

So sound's like Viper Mk.4 is a good choice.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

So sound's like Viper Mk.4 is a good choice.

If you want to put combat in the mix, yes, absolutely. You can drop to a Size 3 shield on that thing & still be comfortable. By far the best of the bunch in the update it arrived in.

 

[h347h]

I would say take a look at the Viper Mk IV too, It has some internal space, decent jump range, some of the best lateral thrusters in the game, and with mods can put up a fight as well as it being tanky for its size. Looking at 30+LYs with a grade 5 FSD increased range mod. Its like a nice sweet spot between the Viper III and Cobra III.

For the most part you can try out each ship once you get the mods on the correct sizes and see what you like.

 

[askavir]

Since 2.1 dropped, doing missions and hopping into signal sources has been most of my game time. I pick up more missions pretty much on every stop, using the supercruise transit to drop into USSs.

I have used 3 ships for that:

1 - Cobra Mk3. One of my favorite ships, I use 2 medium railguns and 2 small missile launchers, class 4 shield shield and milirary hull. Great for missions and signal sources, fun to fight in it, agile enough for make it easy to use railguns, very versatile ship. In the odd case things go south, its very easy to bolt. Its main drawback is its lack of cargo space. Can't pickup that many missions, worse when you carry limpets. That's why after a while I started using the:
2 - Asp Explorer. A lot more space for limpets than the Cobra mk3, allows for a lot of limpets and spare cargo space. Also allows to pick up more missions. I use it as a full missile boat, lays waste to NPCs on those USS and pirates trying to nab my modular terminals.
3 - Python. I sure as heck don't enjoy flying it nowhere as near as the Cobra3 (or even the AspE), but the Python gets the job done. Well done. Any job. You can carry a buttload of limpets and will have no problem picking up missions. I use a large beam on the belly, and 4 multicannons on top. NPCs never know what hit them. Unfortunately, the Python is a soulless ship, so I usually get back to the Cobra3 after a while a the cycle repeats!

Fun factor: Cobra3 > AspE > Python, but efficiency factor Cobra < AspE < Python.

Go with Cobra!

 

[Faybs]

I would say take a look at the Viper Mk IV too, It has some internal space, decent jump range, some of the best lateral thrusters in the game, and with mods can put up a fight as well as it being tanky for its size. Looking at 30+LYs with a grade 5 FSD increased range mod. Its like a nice sweet spot between the Viper III and Cobra III.

For the most part you can try out each ship once you get the mods on the correct sizes and see what you like.

Word of advice, when you're switching ships be very careful else you may end up accidentally sellling your heavily modded ship instead of switching to it. Thank goodness materials are much easier to come by nowadays, else that would have been a rage quit.

 

[h347h]

Word of advice, when you're switching ships be very careful else you may end up accidentally sellling your heavily modded ship instead of switching to it. Thank goodness materials are much easier to come by nowadays, else that would have been a rage quit.

Yeah if I intend to swap I make sure to keep an eye out and make sure I don't try and swap anything past the 10 minute point of entering the instance. So plan ahead.(good catch)