Anaconda or Corvette?

[Bryan K]

To quote a certain robot with a shiny metal backside: “They’re both fine choices, whatever floats your boat”.

I have two Anacondas and one Corvette, and each serves a purpose. My Vette is my go-to ship for Conflict Zones and for when I need to slaughter lots of NPCs as quickly as possible. My secondary Anaconda is my AX battleship, and my primary Anaconda is my best all-rounder.

Personally, I lean slightly more towards the Anaconda, since it’s got great legs and it was my first large-pad ship. It’s also considerably cheaper to buy, run, and insure. That said, I certainly did grind my butt off to get the necessary rank for the Corvette, and I get a lot of mileage out of it, too (I’m in it now, as a matter of fact).

 

[NCFCpaul]

Personally I never liked the Cutter at all, the flight model just doesn't work for me although from time to time I do go and buy one just to remind myself.

The Anaconda has the advantage of its flexibility, it can easily be outfitted for combat, trade or exploration--it excels at all three.

The Corvette is extremely powerful for combat, especially against NPC's. The twin huge hardpoints really help. I put two huge MC's on mine with pulse lasers on the rest so I can fire almost constantly. Very effective indeed for harvesting victims.

The fact is, however, for combat the two ships I like best are the FGS and the Challenger. Leaving my Corvette mostly gathering dust. For exploration I can't beat the AspX, for trade I don't really, for mining Krait 2.

What's really fun is trying all the ships out to figure what you like best.

 

[Cmdr. Numa]

Just picked up a vette in LHS 20 (155 million) just trying to A rate it now. Not sure on the load out yet, but that FSD is going to need the attention of an engineer I think!

It's a PvE Vette and it has plenty of internals. Slap a size 6 scoop and a size 5 Guardian FSD booster onto it on top of engineering, and you get a still more than capable warship that is pretty comfortable to travel around in the bubble with a ~27ly jump range and easily topping up the tank between jumps.

 

[Riverside]

I have two Anacondas, one is a 75ly fringe explorer and the other is stuffed with economy cabins for evacuating refugees.

I use Cutters for armed trading & large pad mission work.

I have two Corvettes, one for 'ready for anything' exploration (much better supercruise handling than the Conda), the other for assassination missions & other large targets.

For CZ work (the majority of my combat) I use medium ships, all the large ships just attract too much attention from the reds although all three are capable of tanking a lot of incoming fire. My preference is a Python but the Krait MkII & FDL are good too.

 

[Old Duck]

I personally prefer the Anaconda, but not necessarily because it is the "better" ship. It just "feels" better and more realistic to me personally (which actually includes some weaknesses, like not being able to turn on a dime like a small fighter).

This is for PvE BTW.

 

[Stealthie]

Oh lordy, this is right up there with Android vs iPhone and Console vs PC etc.

Personally, I chose the 'vette for combat purely by default.
I'd already bought a Cutter as a cargo ship and was using Annies as large multiroles so, when I decided to build a big combat ship, I just picked the 'vette cos I like using different ships for different roles.

I've moved on a bit since then, however, and I've built an Annie for combat and I've got all the bits I need to convert my Cutter into a combat ship too, if I ever want to.
I still prefer the Corvette for combat.

For me, the main advantage of the 'vette is it's agility.
In outright terms, I understand that it's pitch/roll/yaw rates are only slightly better than the Annie but it seems much more neutral to steer.
It doesn't drift like a Cutter and it doesn't wallow like an Annie.
It just moves in the direction that you move the joystick.

Of the "big 3" it's the only one that I can properly "dogfight" with.
I can target something like a Vulture (in a CZ, while it's attacking something else) and I can keep the nose pointed at it while I'm firing at it.
I rarely lose a target and then have to turn my ship to re-acquire it.

I understand that it's possible to create an Annie and a Cutter with bigger shields and more hull armor than the Corvette but, IMO, all three ships are operating at a level (in PvE) where the differences become an academic exercise in creating bigger numbers.
In practice, you can build a Corvette which will never be noticeably inferior to the other two for PvE... while still being the more agile ship.

As for weapons, I guess it depends what you want to do.
If you're the sort of person who just fills up every hardpoint with an MC or frag' cannon then it'll be easy to decide which ship is "best" for you.
If, OTOH, you want different weapons for different purposes then things become more nuanced.
Personally, I like that I can bung 2x C4 lasers on the 'vette and it gives me a ship that can burst all small/medium and some large ships without ever using ammo'.
I then have the C3 slot, the 2x C2 slots and 2x C1 slots for fitting other toys for other purposes.

Anyway, here's my builds:-

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

 

[CMDR Cknarf]

If you plan on covering either one in plasma accelerators, the Conda has fantastic hardpoint placement for them.

Vette’s layout is a little wideset for my liking.

Either will do fine in a PvE setting.

 

[CMDR Karrde Sun]

Type 10 if you aren't too hardcore so as to use turrets.

All 3 of them really they rp great and are great for pve. Type-10 has the best boost noise. The anaconda and corvette are really dull.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I've already got a Cutter, but that is mainly a cargo cow for CGs, etc.

I'd like to get a ship for PvE combat and be able to have multi crew, so I guess turreted weapons are a must? A SLF is also a requirement.

So 'conda or 'vette? Ship builds would be welcome too.

I prefer the weapon layout on the Anaconda, and it's superior jump range for PvE.
The Corvettes convergence is pretty pants.

But for PvE, both are more or less identical.
I don't use turrets on either anymore.

 

[Reggit]

Oh lordy, this is right up there with Android vs iPhone and Console vs PC etc.

Personally, I chose the 'vette for combat purely by default.
I'd already bought a Cutter as a cargo ship and was using Annies as large multiroles so, when I decided to build a big combat ship, I just picked the 'vette cos I like using different ships for different roles.

I've moved on a bit since then, however, and I've built an Annie for combat and I've got all the bits I need to convert my Cutter into a combat ship too, if I ever want to.
I still prefer the Corvette for combat.

For me, the main advantage of the 'vette is it's agility.
In outright terms, I understand that it's pitch/roll/yaw rates are only slightly better than the Annie but it seems much more neutral to steer.
It doesn't drift like a Cutter and it doesn't wallow like an Annie.
It just moves in the direction that you move the joystick.

Of the "big 3" it's the only one that I can properly "dogfight" with.
I can target something like a Vulture (in a CZ, while it's attacking something else) and I can keep the nose pointed at it while I'm firing at it.
I rarely lose a target and then have to turn my ship to re-acquire it.
-snip-

Yeah - agree with Stealthie

I'd use the Vette exclusively for Combat....And a Conda for anything else.
For PvE just give em a strong (Engineered) Shield and lots of Boosters....everything else will take care of itself

My big ships i've built with Combat in mind i always try to keep PvP fitted. I find they still do perfectly well in PvE and saves me alot of effort having to go back and re-engineer later!
That being said - Everyone should own a 70Ly 'JumpaConda'....just don't fly that one in Open

 

[Commander Biscuit]

That's because the FDL is actually gains combat advantages that offset the jump range. The Corvette does less damage than a Conda and has significantly less base shields than a Cutter. Which means that it should have jump range somewhere in between those two ships. Yet it has the same abysmal jump range of ships that have best-in-class shields/damage. It makes no sense.

The jump range is determined by manufacturer and role rather than anything else. Dedicated combat ships are unlikely to get their jump range buffed because of the jump range of multirole and trading ships anytime soon.

 

[Ziljan]

The jump range is determined by manufacturer and role rather than anything else. Dedicated combat ships are unlikely to get their jump range buffed because of the jump range of multirole and trading ships anytime soon.

Other than the short jump range, what makes the Corvette a "dedicated combat ship"? It does less DPS than the Conda and has less shields than the Cutter. Doesn't that make it a middle of the road large multirole?

 

[Stealthie]

Other than the short jump range, what makes the Corvette a "dedicated combat ship"? It does less DPS than the Conda and has less shields than the Cutter. Doesn't that make it a middle of the road large multirole?

I suppose it really should do but, then again, it does also seem like FDev has designed the Corvette to comply with Core Dynamics' usual phlosophy by giving it a lousy jump-range.

 

[Commander Biscuit]

Other than the short jump range, what makes the Corvette a "dedicated combat ship"? It does less DPS than the Conda and has less shields than the Cutter. Doesn't that make it a middle of the road large multirole?

Funny how people forget about trifling things like maneuverability, hull, hardpoint placement and a bunch of other things when begging for buffs. There's a lot more to a combat ship than two stats, and I know you know this.

 

[Ziljan]

Funny how people forget about trifling things like maneuverability, hull, hardpoint placement and a bunch of other things when begging for buffs. There's a lot more to a combat ship than two stats, and I know you know this.

Corvette and Conda have almost the exact same 4 pip pitching ability and nearly the same drift when they are both fully armored. Granted the Vette does slightly tighter FAoff boost strafing. Also, the Corvette and the Cutter have the same 0 pip pitch rate, which is far more common in PVP slugfests 4-0-2, which makes the agility not all that relevant since neither ship can actually dodge or flank, and neither ship has issues maintaining ToT with the current (broken) boost mechanics. So you're left with the sole argument that having two top mounted C4 hardpoints (with less DPS than a Conda) is sufficient grounds for having a 11LY base jump range? This line of reasoning is pretty shaky at best. Two front mounted C3 frag cannons on a Conda are going to do WAY more DPS than any back mounted C4 weapon on a Corvette. A single pacifier cannon does as much DPS as TWO C4 weapons, and very few people are going to look at the Vette's C4 slots and think "this is the perfect spot for a pacifier."

This is not about "begging for buffs". This is about arguing logically for better overall game balance. Honestly I don't care too much what they do with the large ships since they are currently ignorable in PVP and in PVE they do generally much worse DPS than well built medium ships that have no trouble closing the distance or staying in range, and can't be locked by broken Cutters.

 

[Cmdr. Numa]

The Conda took a stealth nerf when the Corvette was released., it drifts far more ever since, while the Vette has very little drift. Dual huge hardpoints really shine with cannons, multicannons or beams. Shielding is much better on the Vette, those dual size 7 SCBs are priceless. The Cutter can do similar with a single size 8 SCB, but it runs into power issues with size 8 shield and SCB. And while it's the fastest of the 3 it really doesn't like changing direction much, especially at full throttle. The overall mix of features makes the Vette my clear favorite combat ship of the 3.

 

[Riverside]

The cutter has massive shields for the size of ship they have to stretch over, and the conda is very tough for its mass. These two obvious balancing flaws are what makes the vette look worse on paper.

The vette doesn't need a buff imo, the conda and cutter are the outliers.

Tbh I think all three are okay as they are, the T-10 is the slightly useless one by comparison, but there was some demand for a more combat capable T-9 battle cow and we got it

 

[Cmdr Nemo LXXI]

I've already got a Cutter, but that is mainly a cargo cow for CGs, etc.

I'd like to get a ship for PvE combat and be able to have multi crew, so I guess turreted weapons are a must? A SLF is also a requirement.

So 'conda or 'vette? Ship builds would be welcome too.

At least one of each! Engineered and loaded out for their own specific purpose's. My Conda is an fully engineered modified explorer that I utilize for general bubble hopping which gets 60+ ly's. Makes gathering mats a lot faster when one can get there faster.
My Vette is fully engineered and modified for combat in all situations that are available in a private mode. I don't play in OPEN, my constant internet disconnects are two easily thought to be Combat Logging.
I also have a fully engineered modified Vette that I only utilize as an UBER. But I don't utilize it very often and generally only for evacuation missions.

Though I've owned a Python the moment I could afford one two years ago, and utilized it ALL the time in my begging noob days. It's now been permanently engineered and modified to haul 8 cabins of passenger's utilizing only two jumps both ways in dry dock in Robigo.

 

[Commander Biscuit]

Corvette and Conda have almost the exact same 4 pip pitching ability and nearly the same drift when they are both fully armored. Granted the Vette does slightly tighter FAoff boost strafing. Also, the Corvette and the Cutter have the same 0 pip pitch rate, which is far more common in PVP slugfests 4-0-2, which makes the agility not all that relevant since neither ship can actually dodge or flank, and neither ship has issues maintaining ToT with the current (broken) boost mechanics. So you're left with the sole argument that having two top mounted C4 hardpoints (with less DPS than a Conda) is sufficient grounds for having a 11LY base jump range? This line of reasoning is pretty shaky at best. Two front mounted C3 frag cannons on a Conda are going to do WAY more DPS than any back mounted C4 weapon on a Corvette. A single pacifier cannon does as much DPS as TWO C4 weapons, and very few people are going to look at the Vette's C4 slots and think "this is the perfect spot for a pacifier."

This is not about "begging for buffs". This is about arguing logically for better overall game balance. Honestly I don't care too much what they do with the large ships since they are currently ignorable in PVP and in PVE they do generally much worse DPS than well built medium ships that have no trouble closing the distance or staying in range, and can't be locked by broken Cutters.

There's no real way to avoid it, the Corvette is a better combat ship than the Conda or Cutter. As someone in the other thread said: "The only downside is the jump range." Which is pretty much true. Remove that downside and what do you end up with?

 

[Quantis Trap]

In my opinion owning a Corvette (or several other Fed ships) REQUIRES grinding for the Guardian Frame Shift Drive Booster.
Once you have a few engineers unlocked and that booster in hand, you can make almost any ship (within reason) into what you want.