What did they do to FER-DE-LANCE.

[Morbad]

Take the time and do some engineers. Search for the ones that can upgrade your Power Plant (Engines), Thrusters and Shields. Then if you want some more juice from your weapons you'll also need to check which ones do the job for you.

It takes several amount of hours but since the game went this route of making engineered NPC's so they can be more "dangerous", you'll need to upgrade your ship with engineers to compensate their aimbot shots and take some more damage.

I had problems lately with my Python but after some tweaks here and there with 5 engineers, the ship feels quite good again and can put a fight against NPC's. (deadly/elite Fer De Lances are still a pain though)

Frontier did this to the game (engineers) mostly for the PvP crowd but forgot about Solo players, so you better take some time to find materials and then unlock some engineers and you are done. (it took me a couple of days to unlock 10 engineers while playing 3 hours a day, so it is not a big deal, the problem are the materials required but you can check all that at Inara.cz)

Engineers are they key if you want to be competitive back again, and of course getting better with your piloting skills helps too.

NPCs with mods are high rank and they don't have special effects.

You don't need engineering against NPCs and if you were doing fine against NPCs in past versions of the game, there is no reason for you do not be doing fine now. They still aren't that good.

I really wish heat only affected the module in question... ie - why does my whole ship overheat when a beam laser is doing the heating? Sire, I can see *some* heat going to the ship, but not all of it.

Where else is the heat going to go? Everything has to be cooled by the ships cooling system and the only way for appreciable amounts of heat to leave the ship is through the radiators (or ejected heatsinks).

 

[Ian Skippy]

You show me a vid of you taking down elite clippers with stock internals and no engineering and D shields and i will bow my head. My build now will just do itl but i used to do it with basically a stock ship when i first got my FDL.

haha, so you start saying you have a top-of-the line FDL and got killed by a Clipper. I suggest I show you how to do it, and suddenly your build will 'just do it' but I have to do it in a stock ship? You never mentioned stock ships before, noone flies stock ships, but fine. How about I make a vid in an FdL you can buy for 57 million including all upgrades (15% discount with in LYR space), and with not a single mod?
http://beta.coriolis.edcd.io/outfit...a040404020200B25e5e2725.AwRj4yrI.IwBhrSu6g===.

I'll even run it in 2.3 beta, where massive shield-stacking is nerfed. My computer is a potato, so the vid will be in somewhat not-HD, hope thats fine. And for the record, its not about 'having you bow your head', or showing who has the bigger e-peen. Its about demonstrating that ED is about skill and knowledge, not grinding. And I'll gladly demonstrate as a side-effect I am not even a great pilot myself. Its a bit of a pet-peeve for me, the 'you have to grind, ED is for people with no life' rhetoric. I hope that when you see it you'll get a new-found enjoyment and interest in all the possibilities. If you (mostly) play against AI, and can afford an FdL, you're golden. Meanwhile Morbad can show you how to kill a Corvette in under a minute with a Viper, if you need inspiration. He's the kind of cmdr who could seriously whipe the floor with me no problem, well worth watching.

Also, if you have beta access, I'd gladly MC with you to see if I can give some pointers, or when 2.3 goes live if you dont have access.

 

[jasonbarron]

haha, so you start saying you have a top-of-the line FDL and got killed by a Clipper. I suggest I show you how to do it, and suddenly your build will 'just do it' but I have to do it in a stock ship? You never mentioned stock ships before, noone flies stock ships, but fine. How about I make a vid in an FdL you can buy for 57 million including all upgrades (15% discount with in LYR space), and with not a single mod?
http://beta.coriolis.edcd.io/outfit...a040404020200B25e5e2725.AwRj4yrI.IwBhrSu6g===.

I'll even run it in 2.3 beta, where massive shield-stacking is nerfed. My computer is a potato, so the vid will be in somewhat not-HD, hope thats fine. And for the record, its not about 'having you bow your head', or showing who has the bigger e-peen. Its about demonstrating that ED is about skill and knowledge, not grinding. And I'll gladly demonstrate as a side-effect I am not even a great pilot myself. Its a bit of a pet-peeve for me, the 'you have to grind, ED is for people with no life' rhetoric. I hope that when you see it you'll get a new-found enjoyment and interest in all the possibilities. If you (mostly) play against AI, and can afford an FdL, you're golden. Meanwhile Morbad can show you how to kill a Corvette in under a minute with a Viper, if you need inspiration. He's the kind of cmdr who could seriously whipe the floor with me no problem, well worth watching.

Also, if you have beta access, I'd gladly MC with you to see if I can give some pointers, or when 2.3 goes live if you dont have access.

Good post, looking forward to the video. I hear what you're saying about Morbad's quality, too. He's a great pilot for sure. I always read what he writes very carefully, too, as he is one of the more informed on the forum.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Good post, looking forward to the video. I hear what you're saying about Morbad's quality, too. He's a great pilot for sure. I always read what he writes very carefully, too, as he is one of the more informed on the forum.

Can you suggest a freeware vid-capping tool that needs as few resources as possible? I used NVidia's native stuff but it would be unable to buffer the audio properly (running a AthlonII x4, 6gb ram, GTI750). If there is some freeware app that can record at 720p or something without hogging too much I'd be grateful for it.

Kinda looking forward to it, it feels a bit like hitting 'record' in the music studio for the first time.

 

[jasonbarron]

Can you suggest a freeware vid-capping tool that needs as few resources as possible? I used NVidia's native stuff but it would be unable to buffer the audio properly (running a AthlonII x4, 6gb ram, GTI750). If there is some freeware app that can record at 720p or something without hogging too much I'd be grateful for it.

Kinda looking forward to it, it feels a bit like hitting 'record' in the music studio for the first time.

Sorry, I'm a bit of a luddite when it comes to technical stuff. I don't have any experience making videos

 

[Roopard]

I hear you, Teljkon b, was gone a while myself and it sounds like we both like similar builds so I know exactly what you're talking about.

I have a huge beam laser, two medium beams and two rail cannons. I tried using pulse lasers and hated it. Just accept the heat. Learn to love the heat. And keep shooting. I used to leave a has res when I ran out of ammo, now it's when my thrusters start failing. But I'll usually leave with a few million. I got lucky when I efficiency engineered my huge beam and got the experimental effect that means it does more damage the more heat you have. I think that's what turned it around for me. The two medium beams got heavy mounts because they break too easily otherwise.

I'll shoot my rails twice and get warning klaxons, and that's the sound that means it's time to open up with the lasers until all the juice is gone. Hey it's crazy but it's working out, got elite today.

 

[ChubbyBunneh]

The python is back!

Yup yup, with dirty drives it's a dream to fly again and with the increased FSD range traveling in it is somewhat bearable. The sturdy mount mod also allows the Python to run my all-time favorite load out: 3 medium rail guns with -35% thermal load and feedback cascade and 2 large OCMC's.

The only weak point now is the lack of utility slots, but whatever. No ship's perfect.

 

[Elyssaen]

Well offense taken. If you really think it is my skills you can come over see me some time and I'll vape you any time once a figure out a working build. Everyone keeps telling me heat management has changed drastically so apparently beams are just off the roster huh. I was exploring for probably 6 months so yes i was away for a long time. Ive put plenty of hours back into the skills and still no success its clearly my build has been nerfed. I do remeber the F-D-L sweet heat period and flew after that was rolled back by managing it with sinks you can't do that now either. When did that change??

So... I bought a Fer-de-Lance last week. It definitely outperforms my Vulture and my Federal Assault Ship in combat, and I've been pretty damn happy with it. No engineering, certainly not at first – I'm starting to get grade 1-3 upgrades.

Most people here seem perplexed by your thread because they don't really recognise any changes that match your experiences – there hasn't been an FDL nerf as far as I know. And from my personal perspective, new to the FDL if not to reading about updates, all beams is (almost) always going to overheat. I'm amazed that ever worked for you... maybe you last played in some version I never saw or read about.

Coming back to the game after a year about a month ago, I will say this: I got regularly slaughtered. PvE was relaxingly trivial for me last year, with either my Vulture or FAS being more than enough to tear up any rating of Anaconda. A DBS was the smallest ship I could take out a highly ranked Anaconda back then.

When I came back... oh god no. I ran from some goddamn Vipers. I got torn up by an Asp. And Anacondas weren't even on the table. Below Dangerous is fine, but anything Dangerous or up was a nightmare.

If I understand correctly, these rankings of the AI have engineered ships, and it's now mostly insufficient to not engineer your ships. I'm not sure I like that – I like the challenge occasionally, but it seems excessive how just about every AI I see anymore is heavily engineered and a huge challenge.

Anyway, I've got better at dealing with them, even without engineering. And my FDL has really served me well. Huge fixed beam, four gimballed multi-cannons, worked with no engineering and currently has minor efficient and rapid fire upgrades. Beta is probably going to ruin my multi-cannons, but hey, I'll deal. Maybe move to a long-range huge PAC, one medium corrosive multi-cannon and the others lasers.

I don't think the FDL is unviable or nerfed at all. If you're the great combatant you say you are, believe me, you'll handle it. Definitely go lighter on the beams, and definitely expect much tougher fights these days unless/until you engineer your ship: that's just the game now.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Yup yup, with dirty drives it's a dream to fly again and with the increased FSD range traveling in it is somewhat bearable. The sturdy mount mod also allows the Python to run my all-time favorite load out: 3 medium rail guns with -35% thermal load and feedback cascade and 2 large OCMC's.

The only weak point now is the lack of utility slots, but whatever. No ship's perfect.

Its not my ship but for about 80 million you have a ship that can do almost every mission without requiring a module change, from passenger missions, bulk cargo, assassinations, base assaults, whatever you want really.

 

[d8veh]

The FDL is still an awesome ship for RES farming. It didn't get nerfed, instead, it was the AI that got buffed, so you will have problems in any ship until you adjust to how the AI works. Don't forget that if you go for the class 4 multi-cannon and at least two other multi-cannons, you can get the permanent 30% bonus on damage by doing a one-off ammo synthesis on each. Obviously, you have to get the synthesis materials first, but that's not too hard.

 

[Ian Skippy]

So... I bought a Fer-de-Lance last week. It definitely outperforms my Vulture and my Federal Assault Ship in combat, and I've been pretty damn happy with it. No engineering, certainly not at first – I'm starting to get grade 1-3 upgrades.

Most people here seem perplexed by your thread because they don't really recognise any changes that match your experiences – there hasn't been an FDL nerf as far as I know. And from my personal perspective, new to the FDL if not to reading about updates, all beams is (almost) always going to overheat. I'm amazed that ever worked for you... maybe you last played in some version I never saw or read about.

Coming back to the game after a year about a month ago, I will say this: I got regularly slaughtered. PvE was relaxingly trivial for me last year, with either my Vulture or FAS being more than enough to tear up any rating of Anaconda. A DBS was the smallest ship I could take out a highly ranked Anaconda back then.

When I came back... oh god no. I ran from some goddamn Vipers. I got torn up by an Asp. And Anacondas weren't even on the table. Below Dangerous is fine, but anything Dangerous or up was a nightmare.

If I understand correctly, these rankings of the AI have engineered ships, and it's now mostly insufficient to not engineer your ships. I'm not sure I like that – I like the challenge, but it seems excessive how just about every AI I see anymore is heavily engineered and a huge challenge.

Anyway, I've got better at dealing with them, even without engineering. And my FDL has really served me well. Huge fixed beam, four gimballed multi-cannons, worked with no engineering and currently has minor efficient and rapid fire upgrades. Beta is probably going to ruin my multi-cannons, but hey.

I don't think the FDL is unviable or nerfed at all. If you're the great combatant you say you are, believe me, you'll handle it. Definitely go lighter on the beams, and definitely expect much tougher fights these days unless/until you engineer your ship: that's just the game now.

Its a myth. NPC mods got mostly pulled after 2.1 beta, only the highest-ranked NPCs have mods, and only very few if that. They also nerfed the core AI because it was too challenging apparantly. heavily engineered NPCs do not exist in the game. The issue is that people blame their performance on the mythical mods, that have been officially declared to not be the case, rather than improved AI. Powerful ships versus weak AI led to lazy pilots, thats all. Yours truly included.

 

[Elyssaen]

Its a myth. NPC mods got mostly pulled after 2.1 beta, only the highest-ranked NPCs have mods, and only very few if that. They also nerfed the core AI because it was too challenging apparantly. heavily engineered NPCs do not exist in the game. The issue is that people blame their performance on the mythical mods, that have been officially declared to not be the case, rather than improved AI. Powerful ships versus weak AI led to lazy pilots, thats all. Yours truly included.

I read that they got pulled temporarily because of a bug, with many players believing it was permanent, but then they got put back?

I do get hit regularly by engineer special effect weapons. Every few Dangerous, Deadly or Elite ships. More than "very few if that", and that's just special effect weapons. Ideally, only 1 in 10 ships with engineered weapons should have special effects, and 2-3/10 Dangerous+ NPCs seem to have the special effects.

And while I'll readily accept that stronger AI can beat the hell out of me (I'm not a great combat pilot), I'm still a bit suspicious. I've poured too much on-target DPS into Elite Vipers vs Competent Vipers, and seen way too much difference in survivability to be explained by normal outfitting. So if not engineering on the Elites, do lower combat ranked ships actually have shield/hull handicaps?

 

[ChubbyBunneh]

I read that they got pulled temporarily because of a bug, with many players believing it was permanent, but then they got put back?

I do get hit regularly by engineer special effect weapons. Every few Dangerous, Deadly or Elite ships. More than "very few if that", and that's just special effect weapons.

And while I'll readily accept that stronger AI can beat the hell out of me (I'm not a great combat pilot), I'm still a bit suspicious. I've poured too much on-target DPS into Elite Vipers vs Competent Vipers, and seen way too much difference in survivability to be explained by normal outfitting. So if not engineering on the Elites, do lower combat ranked ships actually have shield/hull handicaps?

Higher ranked enemies have enormous hull boosts. It's been that way since before Engineers. The Elite and Deadly NPCs have always taken more punishment than the Novice and Competent NPCs which seem to fall apart like wet paper.

 

[Ian Skippy]

I read that they got pulled temporarily because of a bug, with many players believing it was permanent, but then they got put back?

I do get hit regularly by engineer special effect weapons. Every few Dangerous, Deadly or Elite ships. More than "very few if that", and that's just special effect weapons.

And while I'll readily accept that stronger AI can beat the hell out of me (I'm not a great combat pilot), I'm still a bit suspicious. I've poured too much on-target DPS into Elite Vipers vs Competent Vipers, and seen way too much difference in survivability to be explained by normal outfitting. So if not engineering on the Elites, do lower combat ranked ships actually have shield/hull handicaps?

Thats also a myth. Many regular non-modded weapons now give 'special warnings'. A common one is PAs, but there are others as well. It doesnt mean they are modded at all. There are no 'handicaps' either. One of the big things is that people dont fully realise the flexibility of outfitting: a non-engineered Viper mk4 can have more than 300% of the armor of a stock Corvette (+-1950 vs 666)! With engineers you can get a Viper above 3000 armor with scary resistance levels. Thats the equivalent of FIVE stock corvettes for less than 2 million credits (not including other modules)!

Its the curse of readily available high-end ships. Once you've spend a fair amount of time flying the 'weak ships' you'll realise that when properly outfitted even the cheap ships are not trivial at all, and a poorly flown/outfitted UberShip isnt that big a deal at all. Ofcourse, against a properly outfitted/flown corvette a viper has zero chance, but this is not WoW. Grinding alone gets you nowhere. I have a list of people who I know are amazing pilots. If I were to meet them with me in my Corvette and them in a Viper or some such I'd high-wake.

 

[Only Mostly Here]

The outfitting difference between different ranked NPCs can be startling - higher ranks will mount much better equipment and more combat-related gear such as additional HRPs. While high rank NPCs do use low-grade engineer mods, they do not make use of special effects. The callouts you hear are from railguns (callout is 'impulse attack') and plasma accelerators ('thermal attack') which cause these callouts by default.

 

[Elyssaen]

Higher ranked enemies have enormous hull boosts. It's been that way since before Engineers. The Elite and Deadly NPCs have always taken more punishment than the Novice and Competent NPCs which seem to fall apart like wet paper.

Ah. Possibly that boost (or one part of it) came before Engineers but after I stopped playing last, then!

sleutelbos: if so, I am reading so much crap about this game every time I look anything up...

 

[m0rl0ck]

I fly an FDL and have been for a while, doesnt seem any different than it did last June/July. I made more than 40 million in a recent bounty hunting cg and didnt die once, the only time i have died in it was taking on three ships at once to see how far it would go.
I do have a little trouble with upper ranked NPC's sometimes, but its not unusual when i interdict an npc victim for them not to survive long enough for my FSD to cool down.
In the bounty hunting cg i mentioned i did have to make a couple of trips to get my hull repaired, but the damage was usually my fault, too lazy to do anything but sit nose to nose with a hostile combatant and slug it out. Usually when i made a trip to the station it was to reload on MC ammo.
I dont have any engineers mods. This is my build.

https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/fer...270t0t0404040400034a326b-2h.Iw18aQ==.Aw18aQ==.

I usually run at 85% hull if the cops arrive or im outnumbered and the FDL is by no means invincible, but it seems to me, even without engineers mods, capable of dealing with any NPC opponent in the game. Oh and i deal with heat warnings by going to my happy place

EDIT: In system i usually replace the fuel scoop with an MRP. Same with the FSD interdictor, sometimes replace it with an HRP or MRP if i dont need it.

Second EDIT: If you do replace your the fuel scoop with a reinforcement, make sure there is a repair stop one jump away as close as possible in case you attain wanted status.

 

[Ian Skippy]

Ah. Possibly that boost (or one part of it) came before Engineers but after I stopped playing last, then!

sleutelbos: if so, I am reading so much crap about this game every time I look anything up...

Yeah, thats true. Its absurd how much is being spread around non-stop. FWIW: use this as a good tool:
http://beta.coriolis.edcd.io/

Its up-to-date as for the current 2.3 beta rules. As an example Viper:
http://beta.coriolis.edcd.io/outfit...esef4--1717--2b2bB429272725.Iw18UA==.Aw18UA==.

HRP is MASSIVE. EVen a Sidey can out-armor a stock Corvette:
http://beta.coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/sidewinder?code=A2p4t4F4l4d4s4f11818--2727m125.Iw1/EA==.Aw1/EA==.

These are facts. Check it for yourself. HRP are non-linear, and provide a gret way for small ships to be competitive way beyond their price-range.

 

[the100thmonkey]

Can you suggest a freeware vid-capping tool that needs as few resources as possible? I used NVidia's native stuff but it would be unable to buffer the audio properly (running a AthlonII x4, 6gb ram, GTI750). If there is some freeware app that can record at 720p or something without hogging too much I'd be grateful for it.

OBS will do it, provided you set up the recording options appropriately. If you have the N version of Windows, you might need some other bits for encoding, but as that's unlikely I won't go into it unnecessarily here.

 

[tafkabb]

You don't need engineers.

4x med multis
1x huge multis.

Pips 4-0-2.

Flight assist off.

Laugh all the way to the bank.