Newcomer / Intro Suitable Combat ship For A Newbie.

[Harrier_1961]

Hi everyone,

I've just gained Elite status for exploration which is obviously very pleasing and I'm next going to go out and sort out the Guardian FSD booster for my ASPX for future forays out into the black. Then I'm fancying a change for a while and wondered about trying a bit of combat stuff. (I play in solo so am not sure how successful that will prove to be.) I was just wondering if there's a good ship to try out in for starters. Credits aren't a problem as I have over 400 million but I presume that I'll be blasted out of existence regularly at least to begin with so constant rebuys won't be much fun. That said, if I don't have a decent setup, I presume that I'll still be blasted anyway so it's a bit of a tricky one to decide on.

Is there such a thing as what might be considered a decent 'starter ship' or am I better off splashing some of my hard-earned cash and getting set up with the best gear to maximise my chances of success?

Thanks very much.

 

[Speedcuffs]

Hi everyone,

I've just gained Elite status for exploration which is obviously very pleasing and I'm next going to go out and sort out the Guardian FSD booster for my ASPX for future forays out into the black. Then I'm fancying a change for a while and wondered about trying a bit of combat stuff. (I play in solo so am not sure how successful that will prove to be.) I was just wondering if there's a good ship to try out in for starters. Credits aren't a problem as I have over 400 million but I presume that I'll be blasted out of existence regularly at least to begin with so constant rebuys won't be much fun. That said, if I don't have a decent setup, I presume that I'll still be blasted anyway so it's a bit of a tricky one to decide on.

Is there such a thing as what might be considered a decent 'starter ship' or am I better off splashing some of my hard-earned cash and getting set up with the best gear to maximise my chances of success?

Thanks very much.

Start with an Eagle or Viper.
Cheap rebuys, good flight model. Fast enough to run away.

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

With that amount of cash, rebuys won't be too much of an issue Speedcuffs speaks wisely but you might also like to try a Vulture.

EDIT - another thing to consider is how much engineering you can apply to your ship of choice. Also, don't forget to pick the right option on the rebuy screen if/when you hit it - you might get a Freewinder but you'll lose your current ship and all of its goodies

 

[Para Handy]

........
Is there such a thing as what might be considered a decent 'starter ship' or am I better off splashing some of my hard-earned cash and getting set up with the best gear to maximise my chances of success?
.......

I am not "into" the combat side of things but even I think the Viper MkIII is really fun to fly. OK - you will have to accept the lack of "heavy hitting" weapons (unless you are really good with fixed weapons - I am not) and use the speed and manoeuvrability of it to outfly your opponent (not hard against NPCs).

You best bet is to start by flying in a High RES and following the security ships, engaging ships they are already fighting. Split your weaponry evenly between lasers and kinetics and always, before engaging in a RES, NavBeacon or especially a CZ - plot a course for an adjacent system and have a bind set up for "Next System In Route" - that way you can retract hardpoints and engage a h-jump quickly if everything goes t!ts-up.

Good Luck.

 

[Ashnak]

Depends on which engineers you have unlocked. A Viper MkIII is easier to set up than a Vulture, but a properly set up and engineered Vulture will swallow Vipers without chewing. A wing of Vultures will bring even seasoned PvP CMDRs in high end combat ships into a sweat.

And while you're out to collect the materials for the Guardian FSD booster - if you want to go into combat, I'd recommend that you also pick up the mats for the Guardian shield boosters, module reinforcements and perhaps a guardian fighter.

 

[Harrier_1961]

Depends on which engineers you have unlocked. A Viper MkIII is easier to set up than a Vulture, but a properly set up and engineered Vulture will swallow Vipers without chewing. A wing of Vultures will bring even seasoned PvP CMDRs in high end combat ships into a sweat.

And while you're out to collect the materials for the Guardian FSD booster - if you want to go into combat, I'd recommend that you also pick up the mats for the Guardian shield boosters, module reinforcements and perhaps a guardian fighter.

Thanks Ashnak,
I'll do a shopping list for the required materials. I've unlocked Felicity Farseer, The Dweller, Elvira Martuuk, Todd McQuinn and Liz Ryder. Am up to level 5 with F. Farseer as I wanted to max out my FSD distance but not started with the rest of the unlocked ones yet. I'll take a look to see what they can do for me with regard to combat ship upgrades.

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

I dislike fighting Vultures in a RES. Even in my combat 'Vet that's pretty much fully engineered, they're no pushover. I'm not really a competent fighter though.

 

[Tifu]

Start with an Eagle or Viper.
Cheap rebuys, good flight model. Fast enough to run away.

Two ships that are a joy to fly But if the OP can get the Imperial eagle -even better.

 

[Ashnak]

At this level

• Elvira can do shields
• The Dweller can do Power Distributor and Lasers
• Todd can do all sorts of projectiles, including railguns
• Liz can at least make a start on armour and hull reinforcements
• Felicity can do Thrusters, Sensors (not really important right now) and make a start on shield boosters

 

[sinisalo]

It was a different time then, but my progression was Cobra>Eagle>Viper>Vulture.

Having done that I'd recommend going straight to the Vulture. Nothing wrong with the other ships, but the Vulture is about the best bang for the buck in Elite.

Cobra is one of my favorite ships but not an ideal combat ship.

Eagle is too fragile, especially for someone new to combat and to engineering

Viper is pretty good, but it's difficult to protect it properly, and even if it's not as fragile as the Eagle, it's only marginally better in my view.

Which leaves the Vulture. The two hardpoints are a constant source of consternation for me, but the ability to protect it well, and that amazing maneuverability, which is a defense factor in its own right, makes it the best choice for me. I think its important to avoid going straight for the heavy hitters, and experience small-ship combat. Small ships are where it's at for me, matter of fact I only own one large ship, the Orca, which isn't even armed. And of the small ships, the Vulture is amazing. It's a one-trick pony, I call it a knife-fighter. But it is just so much fun to fly in furballs like you get in RES sites. Positioning is key in combat, and nothing dictates position like the Vulture. I also use a very-fast Courier (800 boost) for combat, but that's a different sort of thing.

If the Courier is the Bf-109, then the Vulture is the Spitfire. All turn and burn and what's more fun than that?

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

I should have packed my Vulture on my journey. Probably won't have need of it though, and it'll cost 30m to ship and 45 hours to arrive

I'm way out in the oggin.

 

[sinisalo]

Here's my Vulture. Of the four ships I listed a couple posts back, it's the only one still in my fleet. Partly that's due to my self-imposed ten-ship limit. Many good ships have been culled through no fault of their own. And honestly, in PvE I dare say this ship is nigh-on indestructible. It's highly engineered of course, and dual beams is me just giving up trying to sort the weapons. But I fly it in CNBs all the time and the shields just don't drop. I might see 70% now and then, but losing them completely? Forget it. It's so tough that it's my Taran ship. Taran is a WW2 Russian word for ramming the out of your opponent. Yeah, I ram with this thing. It's the finisher when the opponent is mostly dead. You're already so tight might as well ram the bastage.

Arclight Vulture -- Knife Fighter

 

[WingNuts]

Yup Vulture would be my suggestion as well. My progression was Sidewinder > Cobra MKIII > Vulture > FAS ....... Still have that original hull Vulture, though heavy modded here https://s.orbis.zone/9jzv

As sinisalo can attest I'm a devout Krait MkII guy with "Skittles" my primary combat ship. Yet, was out in a Has Res yesterday in the Vulture. Nothing beats it's maneuverability and hitting power in size class.

 

[sinisalo]

Yeah Wingy, we all built Vultures and had a bash didn't we? I even put gaudy bronze metallic paint on it for the extra bling factor, which is vital of course

 

[Harrier_1961]

So.. Here's where I am at the moment, (see link below) bought a Vulture and bunged a load of stuff in it as per sinsalo's
above example. Obviously as soon as I deploy the hardpoints the ship shuts down lots of other stuff and my air supply starts to die so I now need to adjust to suit. I'm out in my ASPX now to collect more mats for engineer upgrades. Mistake from me earlier in my posts when I listed engineers unlocked, I only have F. Farseer and E. Martuuk unlocked at the moment. I'm up to level 5 with Farseer but not started yet with Martuuk.

Regarding upgrades .. Is there any particular order which I should do things? I presume that my power plant needs to be number 1 priority but after that I'm open to advice. I'm not in any rush to use the Vulture yet and am happy to prepare it in readiness for combat in its current configuration. That said, if I've created myself a mountain of grinding to get it working, then I'll happily reduce the level/number of modules with a view to using it sooner and then steadily upgrade as time/patience allows.

Thanks everyone for your help up to now

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

coriolis.io

 

[Viscera]

Buy a Chieftain.

Fill it full of gimballed multis, apart from a gimballed beam laser on the medium slot. Fill innards with hull protection, a couple of module protection, and size 6 bi weave shields.

Go shoot stuff, and learn how to fly.

You can do this in many ships, but the chieftain will give you good fire power at low cost..

 

[Faded Glory]

A Vulture is great because despite being a small ship it can go up against medium and even large ships thanks to its large hardpoints.

For your build, if you want to go with class C shields use Bi-weaves, they recharge much quicker even though the total shield value will be slightly less. In fact they can be preferable to A grade shields as in the event that you lose them they will be back on again much quicker enabling you to get back in the fight without having to leave. If you swap that out and then do two A grade shield boosters and two E grade you will still have good shields and should even get away with your current powerplant by setting fuel scoop and FSD to power priority two.

I'd also stick a pulse laser in one hardpoint and a multi-cannon in the other so that once your targets shields go down you can do more damage to their hull.

Once you engineer the powerplant you'll likely not have any issues with power anyway. And engineer those thrusters to get the speed and agility up.

Regarding other engineering mods, it's very much a matter of preference, but don't neglect the possibility of engineering shields for specific resistances rather than absolute MJ (I pretty much always engineer for thermal resistance with the base shield and then resistance augmented for any boosters) and against NPC's I rarely lose shields.

 

[Ashnak]

Depends on how far you want to go along sinisalo's build - it's not something I would use for a Vulture. Even efficient beams use a lot of power - and duisabling your FSD in combat can be a deadly idea. Sometimes, you will need to run, and having to wait for the FSD to come up again can make quite a difference on your survival rate. You could improve that by going for the "fast boot" option with Felicity, increasing your PP output even further - or forego the Beams for something more suited to the Vulture.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

Ok, that one should be possible with what you have now.
Hull: doesn't really matter - you can put in a military grade composite here for another 300 hull points without sacrificing too much speed right now, but once you unlock the Prof and get access to grade 5 thrusters, you'll rethink that.
Power Plant: Felicity can only do grade 1 - but if you can work without the lasers, a grade 1 armoured/monstered is ample
Thrusters: as much as possible
FSD: this is a combat ship, not an explorer. Minimum FSD to get out of dodge, nothing more. Upgrades to taste - I put an increased range/double braced on it, doesn't really matter. If you want to travel to a farther system than those 50 ly, get yourself a taxi Hauler and have the Vulture shipped via ship transfer. A short bounty hunting jaunt or mission will amply pay for that.
Life support: A rated. You have no engineers for that yet, otherwise put reinforced on it (shielded costs power). Why? Well, once your shields are gone, your canopy will be next. An A-rated life support will let you stick around until your ammo runs out instead of having you run to the nearest base immediately.
Power Distributor: same thing with the lasers - if you skip them, you can use a size 4 PD. When you get to engineer it, it'll work better than the unengineered size 5.
Sensors: D-rated (again for power), but possibly long range (for range - see them before they see you)
Shields: on a Vulture, only bi-weaves. The rest is hull and module reinforcements until you get the Guardian goodies. They will use power, so by that time, you also should have Marco (via Elvira) or Hera (via Liz) available to engineer your PP to level 4/5. For hull and armour, you'll really want to unlock Selene Jean.
Weapons: gimbals are for sissies - nope, I use them myself. But not on a Vulture with a symmetric loadout. I put Frags in there in this build - effective only at short range (less than 300 meters) and in a short burst. You have no engineer for them, so that's it. Any other projectile (ammo using) weapons loadout would work as well, but I like frags. If you like them, too, one of your next stops is four weeks of powerplay - sign up with Zac Hudson and get yourself some Pacifiers. They do what it says on the tin.
Two A-rated shield boosters, slightly modified by Felicity.
Point Defense. Your shields will go down. And then the NPCs will fire missiles. Two PDs on the front facing utility slots will prevent you from helplessly watching a couple of missiles impacting on your canopy (and disabling your guns).

 

[Old Duck]

Two ships that are a joy to fly But if the OP can get the Imperial eagle -even better.

I've flown both Imperial and Federal Eagles, and I actually went back the Federal Eagle despite the smaller hardpoint and lower top speed. The primary reason was maneuverability - I can stick to an enemy's six way easier in a standard Eagle than I can in the drifty Imp Eagle. I also actually prefer the look of the standard Eagle - the Imp is a bit too "shiny" (and not in a Firefly way) for my tastes.

Now the Courier, that's a proper Eagle replacement, as long as you don't need tight weapon convergence

 

[sinisalo]

So.. Here's where I am at the moment, (see link below) bought a Vulture and bunged a load of stuff in it as per sinsalo's
above example. Obviously as soon as I deploy the hardpoints the ship shuts down lots of other stuff and my air supply starts to die

A couple levels of power plant overcharge would take care of it. At 5% over, you should be able to take care of it by module priority. In my ship there isn't much to shut down, but the scoop, FSD and the GFSDB are plenty to get the hardpoints to deploy without power issues. Try setting your scoop and FSD to lower priority and if that's not enough add a little armored or overcharge to the PP.

There are a lot of ways to get it to work, including efficient on the beams, E-rated boosters and the like. For me I always mock up my build, then once everything is settled, add whichever power plant engineering I need to make it all work. Module priorities though can cover a lot of it.