Newcomer / Intro How do you defeat a fed corvette?

Zeus Cubed

Z
I took a mission to kill a pirate, confident that with my Fdl I could take on any npc.
I was wrong.

I met a dangerous federal corvette.

I barely escaped.

I think I was piloting quite well, always keeping my adversary in my sights, but no matter what I threw at him, his shields were never coming down. And I could not find any blind spot from his turrets, even if I managed to stay behind and on top of him...

But do npc have engineered shields?
 

Sadistic Savior

Sadistic Savior
Zeus Cubed said:
I took a mission to kill a pirate, confident that with my Fdl I could take on any npc.
I was wrong.

I met a dangerous federal corvette.

I barely escaped.

I think I was piloting quite well, always keeping my adversary in my sights, but no matter what I threw at him, his shields were never coming down. And I could not find any blind spot from his turrets, even if I managed to stay behind and on top of him...

But do npc have engineered shields?
Click to expand...

More skilled NPCs do use their resources far smarter than lower skilled NPCs. I have seen this with NPC Anacondas as well. Target subsystems. Federal Corvettes are supposed to be the best fighters in the game. To take on a Dangerous NPC Corvette, you will need to have heavy engineering (I have no problems with Elite NPC Fed Corvettes, but I am also in a heavily engineered Corvette myself). I am sure there are PCs that could do it without engineering, but it would be hard, and I think it is intended that it be hard.

The short answer is that No, they don't actually use engineering from what I understand. They just use regular resources really well relative to most PCs.
 

Maenden

Maenden
I don't think NPC's have any engineering.
It's the status of the pilot that makes a big difference.

I've got a sneaking suspicion that Frontier don't increase the skills of the NPC with pilot status but toughen his shields proportionately instead to compensate.
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
Zeus Cubed said:
I took a mission to kill a pirate, confident that with my Fdl I could take on any npc.
I was wrong.

I met a dangerous federal corvette.

I barely escaped.

I think I was piloting quite well, always keeping my adversary in my sights, but no matter what I threw at him, his shields were never coming down. And I could not find any blind spot from his turrets, even if I managed to stay behind and on top of him...

But do npc have engineered shields?
Click to expand...

The trick is to try to get their health below 0% while keeping yours above that threshold. ;)

Seriously though, Corvette is a tough opponent. Well, it's the best combat ship in game, so... yeah, don't beat yourself about it.
Corvette is highly maneuverable, so the classic advice when fighting bigger opponents - "don't stay in front of the pointy end" - doesn't really work. There isn't really any "trick" to fighting a Corvette, you just need a lot of experience. It's all in the wrist. :)

And Maended - high ranked enemies DO use engineered modules. They just don't use many weapon special effects (cos' people whined)
 

JohnRoberts

JohnRoberts
Higher level NPCs do fly better, and they can use SCBs too. Its going to be a battle of attrition.

Best place againt a Corvette is behind and slightly above. There are no class 4 turreted weapons, and its class 3 is underneath. The two class 2 are on the sides, but it you are behind and only slightly above, you should be in their blind spots.
 

colprice2002

C
Remember the the FdL is really good at speed, but isn't the best ship for manoeuvring into a blind spot.
Sidewinder, Eagle, Vulture are manoeuverable, but aren't good at speed or taking too much damage...

A fully engineered Corvette is probably your best bet, but maybe beyond your means.

In this instance, discretion is probably required - I've abandoned similar missions...
 

Ananym

A
Shoot it until it dies.
I've taken dangerous corvettes out in my mostly unengineered vulture, and while I did cheer a little, at no point was I at risk of losing the fight.
I was never really clear of his turrets, but his turrets weren't doing huge damage. I think I only just lost my biweaves by the time the fight ended.

As long as you stay out of his main guns, you have more firepower than him - he'll go down eventually.
 

Bob Lighthouse

Banned
Bob Lighthouse
I mainly use rails, feedback cascade rail to kill the scb charges.
Super pen to hit modules.
I have a c4 PA on my FDL but other things work too.
Stay sort of perpendicular to the tail end of the ship using thrusters to adjust and don't get to close.
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
Bob Lighthouse said:
I mainly use rails, feedback cascade rail to kill the scb charges.
Super pen to hit modules.
I have a c4 PA on my FDL but other things work too.
Stay sort of perpendicular to the tail end of the ship using thrusters to adjust and don't get to close.
Click to expand...

Yes, good point. At least one feedback cascade is a good thing to have in every build, especially in smaller ships with less DPS.
 

Bob Lighthouse

Banned
Bob Lighthouse
Chris Simon said:
Yes, good point. At least one feedback cascade is a good thing to have in every build, especially in smaller ships with less DPS.
Click to expand...


The reverberating cascade torpedo pylons work really nice too!
I'll grab a few of those for single assassination missions sometimes, just using a Courier or something.
They are pretty funny but not very practical ammo wise.

For OP

[video=youtube;xGZNToSK-ZU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGZNToSK-ZU[/video]
 
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Sadistic Savior

Sadistic Savior
Ananym said:
Shoot it until it dies.
I've taken dangerous corvettes out in my mostly unengineered vulture, and while I did cheer a little, at no point was I at risk of losing the fight.
I was never really clear of his turrets, but his turrets weren't doing huge damage. I think I only just lost my biweaves by the time the fight ended.

As long as you stay out of his main guns, you have more firepower than him - he'll go down eventually.
Click to expand...

Yeah, other than ego, there is really no reason to take on a Dangerous or Deadly or Elite Corvette. At the very least they will take longer to kill and have the best weapons, so you will end up waiting to regenerate your shields. NPC Anacondas are much easier to kill, and give the same rewards.

As noted above, Corvettes are very maneuverable for their size. So larger ships will not be able to avoid their guns.
 

Bunkerkind Anni

Bunkerkind Anni
Sadistic Savior said:
Yeah, other than ego, there is really no reason to take on a Dangerous or Deadly or Elite Corvette. At the very least they will take longer to kill and have the best weapons, so you will end up waiting to regenerate your shields. NPC Anacondas are much easier to kill, and give the same rewards.

As noted above, Corvettes are very maneuverable for their size. So larger ships will not be able to avoid their guns.
Click to expand...

you know... when you take an assassination mission, you cannot choose your target... and thats what the topic is about - how to get THAT Corvette down if it spawns.
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
Bob Lighthouse said:
The reverberating cascade torpedo pylons work really nice too!
I'll grab a few of those for single assassination missions sometimes, just using a Courier or something.
They are pretty funny but not very practical ammo wise.

For OP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGZNToSK-ZU
Click to expand...

Nice video. :)
Yea, I don't like torps much. For a quick assassination, sure, but other than that they're useless. Actually less than that - after the initial fireworks it's a wasted hardpoint.
 
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EDanaII

EDanaII
I have two methods for defeating a 'vette.

First, if I have to go to him, first thing I do when I pop into the mission signal source is fire off a heat sync so he doesn't detect me first and, therfore, engages his victims. I then use a hit and run strategy while his victims continue to wear him down.

Second, if he comes looking for me, I just make my way to the nav beacon and then let all the other bounty hunters there strip him down before I engage.

Second strategy always works. First strategy works most of the time, although there are some scenarios where he spots me anyway or manages to finish his victims before he comes for me...
 
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Nero Tacitus

Nero Tacitus
I ended up in a very similar situation a while ago while doing assassination missions in my (unengineered) FDL. Saw a mission for 2 MEF, thought it was too good to pass up so just took it without reading.
Arrived at the system, no target, scanned, over to the planet, USS, dropped in ... Elite Fed Corvette.

It was one of those scenarios where the ship is "attacking" a trade convoy (T6+2 Eagles), so I thought I'd just let him engage them, then the 4 of us could bring him down. Took him all fo 5 seconds to turn to me and just open up. I dashed over to the T6 and maneuvered behind it, hoping I could get a few stray rounds to land on it and get some help, nope, 'Vette just stopped firing when he was in the way and the convoy did nothing. Shields were down to 1 ring, so I took off. One weakness of the 'Vette is its top speed. Got out of range, dumped some SCBs and got back up to 3 rings.

I knew the 'Vette was maneuverable, but only for its size, it still couldn't keep up with an FDL. So I shifted 4 PIPs to SYS, turned and headed straight at him, dodging the PA shots on the way in. Got beneath him, pulled up and got on his tail. He boost-flipped on me and hit a good salvo with the PAs, I popped chaff and got back in behind him before the PAs could fire again. This started a back and forth of me getting behind him, him boosting/flipping around and opening up on me, then me returning to his blind spot. After 3-4 passes, I realised I was losing and I needed to ditch my SYS entirely and shift to ENG to stay in his blindspot more. I got his shields down a bit before he took mine out; targeted his powerplant and just kept staying above or below him, feeding round after round into his PP.

Destroyed him with 6% left on my hull. Was a great fight.

You can't go toe-to-toe with a 'Vette in an FDL, you have to out-maneuver them. Boost into their blind spots (behind, above, below) and focus more on staying there than dealing damage. Remember to use your vertical thrusters to help get you in their wake during a boost, just boosting straight at their tail in an FDL will almost always overshoot and you'll get punished. PIPs management is important, I shifted to shields when I knew heavy damage was coming, but my biweaves still couldn't take that much punishment, and I ended up going 4 to ENG for most of the fight. You take more damage if you get hit, but the extra maneuverability means you get hit less often. Save chaff for when you mess up and you're going to take heavy damage, this 'Vette was using 2 huge PAs (IIRC), so the chaff wasn't that useful, but still better than nothing. Their shields can take some time to get through, but once they're down, you can start targeting subsystems. In retrospect I should have gone after his drives, not PP, I would have disabled him much faster that way. MCs have terrible breach and I ended up chewing 90% of his hull before his PP gave out.

A difficult fight, but certainly winnable. Lots of fun either way.
 
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