Well, I have decided text line 3 of my sig applies here, going by the responses 
Can I get some advice for my Beluga please?
- Thread starter Dutchman141
- Start date
Correct. The hull protects you from stellar radiation, not the shields. Many explorer builds don't even include shields.
Your Beluga can be configured to not overheat any more than other average ships. Each ship has its own characteristics and each one needs to be set up to do what you want to do with it.
The Beluga is awesome. It was my go-to big ship to make money for a couple of years. Its SC handling is awesome, so much so I never feared NPC interdictions. That was back when I played solo, fwiw.
Just take the advice above and you'll get it right. Its worth it because it can make you lots of money in various ways.
The Beluga is awesome. It was my go-to big ship to make money for a couple of years. Its SC handling is awesome, so much so I never feared NPC interdictions. That was back when I played solo, fwiw.
Just take the advice above and you'll get it right. Its worth it because it can make you lots of money in various ways.
This is my luxury liner build. I use it whenever I feel like doing some passenger sightseeing missions. Like you said Dutchman141, the Beluga overheats pretty easily. Besides the poor heat handling it has terrible shields as well. I use this configuration to solve the heat issue and compensate for the poor shielding.
Because a passenger liner doesn't require much power you should definitely go with a low emissions engineered power plant. Also despite what is said engineer your thrusters with the dirty drive enhancement. This will not cause the Beluga to overheat if you engineer your power plant accordingly. You can get as low as 6D thrusters and still have better performance than 7A rated thrusters. Scooping stars will also no longer be an issue with a low emissions power plant. You can now also use silent running without the ship heating up fast after exiting the space stations if you have scan sensitive passengers. Combined with heat sinks this is now very effective.
Due to the optimal mass of class 5 and 6 shields and mass of the Beluga even the highest class you can put in will give you very poor shielding. I tried to somewhat improve this by adding flat shield absorption using Guardian shield reinforcement packages and E rated resistance boosters. Because of the poor shield strength increase due to the optimal shield module mass/Beluga hull mass discrepancy, the Beluga shield benefits the most from resistances increase. You can get to a respectable 1K kinetic HP after the modifications. This will help greatly for passengers sensitive to hull damage. The shields will be able to take some punishment from collisions.
Because a passenger liner doesn't require much power you should definitely go with a low emissions engineered power plant. Also despite what is said engineer your thrusters with the dirty drive enhancement. This will not cause the Beluga to overheat if you engineer your power plant accordingly. You can get as low as 6D thrusters and still have better performance than 7A rated thrusters. Scooping stars will also no longer be an issue with a low emissions power plant. You can now also use silent running without the ship heating up fast after exiting the space stations if you have scan sensitive passengers. Combined with heat sinks this is now very effective.
Due to the optimal mass of class 5 and 6 shields and mass of the Beluga even the highest class you can put in will give you very poor shielding. I tried to somewhat improve this by adding flat shield absorption using Guardian shield reinforcement packages and E rated resistance boosters. Because of the poor shield strength increase due to the optimal shield module mass/Beluga hull mass discrepancy, the Beluga shield benefits the most from resistances increase. You can get to a respectable 1K kinetic HP after the modifications. This will help greatly for passengers sensitive to hull damage. The shields will be able to take some punishment from collisions.
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What kind of weapons do you put on your Beluga? I didn't bring any to the Guardian sites to save mass, and I think that was a mistake because the sentinels can attack the ship. They can't really do damage, but without weapons, there isn't anything that could be done against them other then getting into an SRV and destroy them from there.
And how do you find multiple passenger missions that go to the same destination other than at special places? Without that, there isn't worthwhile money to be made with passengers, and I only do it when I want to go sightseeing.
We should have a way to set up our own cruises and let the passengers apply for booking cabins.
And how do you find multiple passenger missions that go to the same destination other than at special places? Without that, there isn't worthwhile money to be made with passengers, and I only do it when I want to go sightseeing.
We should have a way to set up our own cruises and let the passengers apply for booking cabins.
When visiting Guardian sites you will benefit from 1 or 2 point defence modules on the top of the ship, if you are landed close to the site the ship will automatically shoot down the sentinel missiles.
On my Beluga I have 5 high capacity pack hound racks with various experimentals... 3 volleys before the ship overheats critically
Yeah I put two PDTs on, and those are shooting the missiles and not the sentinels. They are a great help, though.
Shouldn't the ship automatically shoot sentinels in range when it has turrets and they are deployed while it's landed and set to 'fire at will'? I guess missiles would require me to target the sentinels first. We should be able to do that while in a SRV ...
Shouldn't the ship automatically shoot sentinels in range when it has turrets and they are deployed while it's landed and set to 'fire at will'? I guess missiles would require me to target the sentinels first. We should be able to do that while in a SRV ...
PDT aren't offensive weapons, which is why they don't target sentinels (think about it)...
Sentinels are pretty easy to take care of, particularly if use is made of the existing structures as cover. Made even easier to deal with as there is quite a long delay between them launching missiles and switching back to normal weapons
Still it can be good to have something to destroy sentinels while inside the ship. Otherwise there is nothing to keep them from attacking the ship, and if there are enough of them, that could be dangerous.
not worth it. never happened.
dumbfire missiles, mines, fixed frags or beams do work, but as the sentinels spawn after the other, it's not worth bothering.
not sure whether someone played guardian structure through in a sidey or courier.
I flew around in my SLF while a friend was doing 'the rounds'... It probably would have made more difference if, at that time, I'd been better practised with fixed weapons...
(I eventually landed and deployed a SRV, but it was fun for a while - I think I blew a couple up
)Wouldn't it be a rather lengthy journey to go to guardian sites in a Sidewinder or a Courier?
use the ferry from zende ... and generally, people have been going in sidey to beagle point, so ... each his own.
Why use a Beluga for a Guardian run? Trying to find a good landing spot around those can be frustrating at times, so trying to find one that'll take a large ship... Sometimes I get frustrated using my trusty old Asp (so I'm going to build myself a DBX when I get back to the Bubble one day).
As to PD, one is sufficient, two is actually overkill, but it's fun. Those poor Sentinels and their Scawwy Missiwes! As to their fire, 4 to shields, 2 to weapons, watch them die in droves.
As to PD, one is sufficient, two is actually overkill, but it's fun.
Those poor Sentinels and their Scawwy Missiwes! As to their fire, 4 to shields, 2 to weapons, watch them die in droves.My DBX:
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
s.orbis.zone
Just add 2 PD to the top, guardian site ready!
A docking computer? On a DBX???? I may have to gank you one day, just for that
(And fail miserably, but just on general principle because... that's what you're supposed to do, right? Right???)On a serious note, though: I love that design. If I can just get rid of my irrational notion that I have to put weapons on all ships even if they're not supposed to fight and wouldn't last for five seconds anyway... Definitely using that one as a blueprint.
But still... Seriously... A docking computer? At least it wasn't an advanced one.
It is my error - the last share of that build was to a friend who wanted it - I would have put the advanced on mine, naturally, as I can't fly for toffeeA docking computer? On a DBX???? I may have to gank you one day, just for that
On a serious note, though: I love that design. If I can just get rid of my irrational notion that I have to put weapons on all ships even if they're not supposed to fight and wouldn't last for five seconds anyway... Definitely using that one as a blueprint.
But still... Seriously... A docking computer? At least it wasn't an advanced one.
(these long-distance explorers forget how to land...)
It's funny though, innit? I found out on my marathon to Colonia. I can land on just about any planet you can throw at me without one, no problem. High G, low G, nothing but canyons, no issue if it's got those sweet mats and then, when I finally came across an honest to Bob station on the way, I was all kinds of fumbling getting aligned correctly for the mail slot. I can only imagine how it would be after 50k LYs in the blackIt is my error - the last share of that build was to a friend who wanted it - I would have put the advanced on mine, naturally, as I can't fly for toffee
(these long-distance explorers forget how to land...)
It was interesting returning to Robardin Rock after flying out to Beagle in the ship below... fortunately there was no-one around to see...It's funny though, innit? I found out on my marathon to Colonia. I can land on just about any planet you can throw at me without one, no problem. High G, low G, nothing but canyons, no issue if it's got those sweet mats and then, when I finally came across an honest to Bob station on the way, I was all kinds of fumbling getting aligned correctly for the mail slot. I can only imagine how it would be after 50k LYs in the black
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A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
s.orbis.zone
Not all explorers are paper...
Nice boat. And I'm of the same mind. I like a hard shell and at least a couple of teeth. And Beagle? That one is still on my list. Respect!