Ships The Silent Running DBC

[Mobediah Jones]

When I was new I came across a video of a Commander using a Diamondback Scout without shields, using silent running with heatsinks to stay hidden in combat.

It grew on me and now when I've got the ships I want, I took some time and tried to recreate that ship I saw.
Not really to use in combat, but just to have and show off to friends

First off a question, what heat % is the spot for going "invisible" ?

&

The ship:

Armour health - 1695
Amour rating - 40
15% heat in standby
Power plant - Low Emissions g3
Thrusters - Clean Drive g3
HRP 2 - MC - Efficient g1 - Corrosive Just realized I have 2x corrosive, this will get changed
HRP 2 - MC - Efficient g1 - Thermal Shock
HRP 1 - MC - Rapid Fire g4 - Corrosive
HRP 1 - Cannon - Efficient g1 - Dispersal field

I am curious on how effective it would be, if I have make any mistakes building it, so if you know a proper silent running DBC build feel free to point that out.
Thanks

 

[IMaelstrom]

Ahhh... a pilot after my own heart

DBS was my first dive into the world of "Stealth Fighting"... now I have some well tuned ships for silent running, DBS, FAS, and Cobra MkIII. I love 'em!!

I'm not going to tell ya what the proper build should look like, that's up to you and your needs of the ship...
I will share with you my experiences; right, wrong, or indifferent

Here's my current DBS build, I call her "Tulibee"
https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/dia...BAAA=.IwegLCoAziMKYEMDmAbeJJW0A===&bn=Tulibee

First off; my needs are for PvP pirating... I use this one to track traders going to and from CG stations, or tracking a player to there base of operations. Usually being wanted puts me in a position to fend off some Pew Pew with bigger ships...

I have attempted to reduce heat levels, and I must admit.. 14% is pretty damn good.. I've heard that <15% is about as close to "radar invisible" as you can get. I would be interested to hear of your experience with it...

Here's what I've encountered in combat...

1. Low emmission Generator.. Good, if you are in and out.. that said, I've found it heats the ship up faster than I like (I know, that doesn't make sense, I think the geni runs hotter but lets out less in yer tail pipe). More importantly, during combat, if your power plant gets beat up and output drops to 40%, the LE Generator won't have enough juice to power your thrusters. I don't upgrade mine if I can help it.

2. Thrusters.. I started with Clean Drives... output is cool.. I moved to Dirty and got a nice boost in speed with not much change in heat up.. I like that better.

Here's my Theory

Silent Running is all about not getting locked on by your opponent... Stay >1000m and yer good.. speed and agility is key. My weapon load out is all about strafe in and out of the kill zone.
When you pop a heatsink your sig drops anyway, so I don't worry to much about keeping down below 20% heat.

Again, I'd be interested to hear what you find with 14%..

 

[Mobediah Jones]

Thanks for the response! You're way more knowledgeable than me on this. I went about this really easy thinking, if it reduces my heat it'll be good thing. Probably great on paper when we're talking about silent running builds, but in practice the low emission PP might get me blown up for a little % heat decrease as you mentioned.

1. Low emmission Generator.. Good, if you are in and out.. that said, I've found it heats the ship up faster than I like (I know, that doesn't make sense, I think the geni runs hotter but lets out less in yer tail pipe). More importantly, during combat, if your power plant gets beat up and output drops to 40%, the LE Generator won't have enough juice to power your thrusters. I don't upgrade mine if I can help it.

2. Thrusters.. I started with Clean Drives... output is cool.. I moved to Dirty and got a nice boost in speed with not much change in heat up.. I like that better.

Silent Running is all about not getting locked on by your opponent... Stay >1000m and yer good.. speed and agility is key. My weapon load out is all about strafe in and out of the kill zone.
When you pop a heatsink your sig drops anyway, so I don't worry to much about keeping down below 20% heat.

1. I did not know that, I figured the low emmission would decrease the heat in all aspects, I'll keep it and come back when I've tried it. (Might take awhile, not really done anything versus a commander yet, a friendly test fight might do).

2. I've seen alot of people when talking about the thrusters recommending dirty versus the clean. I'll definitely buy another pair of thrusters to try it out.

I think I've also gone with the wrong HP's, in my head I think I wanted a shock trooper ship just as you mentioned, in quick to do damage, fall back and go for another attack but my HP loadout is really weak in that regard, I'll probably need continuous shooting to get anywhere with my setup. Is frag cannons a recommended HP if the above mentioned is my goal? Also I've never used Mine's, I can see where you would use it but inorder to get a hang of that I think I'll need a full on tutorial.

 

[StiTch]

1. I did not know that, I figured the low emmission would decrease the heat in all aspects, I'll keep it and come back when I've tried it. (Might take awhile, not really done anything versus a commander yet, a friendly test fight might do).

2. I've seen alot of people when talking about the thrusters recommending dirty versus the clean. I'll definitely buy another pair of thrusters to try it out.

You can roll a G1 low emissions mod multiple times in order to obtain a power increasing secondary. The result will be better thermal load and power output.

I wouldn't go as far as to say the reduced power output makes the ship run hotter regardless, but may as well have the best of both worlds anyway, especially with the DBX being a little more power hungry than average. At least you don't have to deal with PE thrusters.

Speaking of thrusters...basically dismiss any thought of using clean drives. The benefits are so negligible they border on broken. You'll effectively see no improvement unless boosting over a high-G planet.

Weapon wise frags can be reasonable for an SR build (though your game is often not to stay at closer ranges, so it becomes a zoom/boom tool), but you actually have more freedom here overall. Shieldless builds are very disadvantaged compared to shielded builds in the current game, but they do have a couple of attractions - one being that pip management troubles effectively go out the window, as you need pips to SYS either never or once in a blue moon.

Also remember that SR cancels when firing, so there's no point in desperately avoiding hot weapons, as you wouldn't really be firing them weapons much under SR anyway. SR builds throughout history have typically used railguns, which are considered fairly hot weapons.

Basically, use whatever you think will work well when you can force the enemy to de-target you at range.

 

[IMaelstrom]

You can roll a G1 low emissions mod multiple times in order to obtain a power increasing secondary. The result will be better thermal load and power output.

Also remember that SR cancels when firing, so there's no point in desperately avoiding hot weapons, as you wouldn't really be firing them weapons much under SR anyway. SR builds throughout history have typically used railguns, which are considered fairly hot weapons.

Basically, use whatever you think will work well when you can force the enemy to de-target you at range.

There's some Pro Tips...
I never really considered using a G1 roll multiple times for a power boost secondary... nice and cheap on the mats... I think I'll give that a go and see how it works out. Thanks Stitch.

And ya, I agree, weapon load out is really a player preference. Each weapon was it's pro/cons.. I like the double frags cause it's fairly effective against shields and armour... of course ammo is always an issue.. also I am a tag in and out type of pilot.. I'm not always looking for the kill, mainly just trying to make a point... lol

As far as mines go, FSD and Thruster busters are just fun, and impressive when you get the hang of it... I use them in an offensive type more than a defensive style.. great for a team of pirates trying to steal cargo from Anaconda and Cutter traders...

 

[Mobediah Jones]

You can roll a G1 low emissions mod multiple times in order to obtain a power increasing secondary. The result will be better thermal load and power output.

I wouldn't go as far as to say the reduced power output makes the ship run hotter regardless, but may as well have the best of both worlds anyway, especially with the DBX being a little more power hungry than average. At least you don't have to deal with PE thrusters.

Speaking of thrusters...basically dismiss any thought of using clean drives. The benefits are so negligible they border on broken. You'll effectively see no improvement unless boosting over a high-G planet.

Weapon wise frags can be reasonable for an SR build (though your game is often not to stay at closer ranges, so it becomes a zoom/boom tool), but you actually have more freedom here overall. Shieldless builds are very disadvantaged compared to shielded builds in the current game, but they do have a couple of attractions - one being that pip management troubles effectively go out the window, as you need pips to SYS either never or once in a blue moon.

Also remember that SR cancels when firing, so there's no point in desperately avoiding hot weapons, as you wouldn't really be firing them weapons much under SR anyway. SR builds throughout history have typically used railguns, which are considered fairly hot weapons.

Basically, use whatever you think will work well when you can force the enemy to de-target you at range.

Great post, thanks.

I did change my thrusters to dirty from clean, thought about it and 9/10 says the same so I guess I'll put it as the truth. ^^
The way I got management set up now is, if everything goes wrong and they get some shots into my PP, I can loose 55% of my power input and still have my engines, FSD and Power Distributor online to escape. As for having a disadvantaged ship is not my main goal, I just love the idéa of the silent running ship so I won't mind. I did not know Silent running cancels when firing however, I tried it and my very not heat increasing weapons got it up pretty good anyhow, thanks for telling.

I've tried rails but the load time is just off to me, I've settled with frag cannons as Maelstrom uses, hit and runs with lotsa bullets. Thinking of getting double shot with some experimental effects, any recommendations?

 

[Mobediah Jones]

I like the double frags cause it's fairly effective against shields and armour... of course ammo is always an issue.. also I am a tag in and out type of pilot.. I'm not always looking for the kill, mainly just trying to make a point... lol

Yeah, that's exactly me. I've now switched the weapons to frags and looking to engineer them for double shot with some sweet experimental efffects. That should make some good drive by's.
Oh, and the ship now got a name. The 'SS Chameleon' !

 

[IMaelstrom]

Oh, and the ship now got a name. The 'SS Chameleon' !

[big grin] Looks as if yer on your way to a new change of play my friend...
good luck

you cant go wrong with double shot at close range... it is satisfying... try it out on a pve conda... youll be a true believer!! as far as effects ...
i dont think theres a bad one in the bunch... i fly against lots of SR fas pilots and the one that gets overlooked imo is Dazzle... i always use it..
it decreases radar range... perfect for dropping enemy target lock as you joust by...

edit
by the way... when you get used to silent running
move to the armored shieldless FAS... by far my favorite ship in the game.... and the FDL's bane!!!