I don't know if it is allowed to ask for builds here but here I go. I want a medium ship (preferably python) with best possible mission runner build. I am asking because I'm sure there are lot of experienced players than me. I want a good jump range, I won't do mining and passenger missions in it. I would probably do planetary missions and courier ones. I'm willing to fully engineer it. So thanks in advance for sharing your builds.
Best Mission Runner ship
- Thread starter Pascuanegra
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Combat?
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Allowed? There's a whole subforum dedicated to the discussion of ship builds.
That said - missions are very varied. There isn't a single ship (except maybe for the "big three" - but those would exclude you from outposts) I would use for transporting wanted passengers, mining water and combat zone massacre missions. At least not without a major refit inbetween.
That said, my main mission runner is a Krait Mk.II - I swap out the size 6 and the size 4 compartment, depending on the mission requirements. Not too much cargo space, for sure - but more than a match for the four Anacondas some cargo missions throw in as a bonus, and up for any non-wing pirate elimination mission or blackbox retrieval op.
I tend to bring in a few other ships for specific mission profiles, though. For planetary base missions (data retrieval or generator assault), I have a hotrodded Viper Mk.III, for quiet passenger or cargo transport a Krait Phantom (no specific build stored - thermal engineered PP, everything else engineered for efficiency/low power).
That said - missions are very varied. There isn't a single ship (except maybe for the "big three" - but those would exclude you from outposts) I would use for transporting wanted passengers, mining water and combat zone massacre missions. At least not without a major refit inbetween.
That said, my main mission runner is a Krait Mk.II - I swap out the size 6 and the size 4 compartment, depending on the mission requirements. Not too much cargo space, for sure - but more than a match for the four Anacondas some cargo missions throw in as a bonus, and up for any non-wing pirate elimination mission or blackbox retrieval op.
I tend to bring in a few other ships for specific mission profiles, though. For planetary base missions (data retrieval or generator assault), I have a hotrodded Viper Mk.III, for quiet passenger or cargo transport a Krait Phantom (no specific build stored - thermal engineered PP, everything else engineered for efficiency/low power).
Python or K2 - if you're on a budget, Phantom is pretty good too.
Non combat.
coriolis.io
Quite often use 2 x 3b collector limpets too, for black box missions etc.
Stick in SRV, fuel scoop, whatever you need.
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
coriolis.io
Quite often use 2 x 3b collector limpets too, for black box missions etc.
Stick in SRV, fuel scoop, whatever you need.
Trade/Cargo missions?
The Python is a very capable and popular ship but if you‘re concentrating on planetary and courier missions it’s expensive to just do that. Especially when you’re cutting out mining and passenger missions which many use the Python for.
If you don’t have huge amounts of credits but want a ship that can do everything, go everywhere, defend itself in a PvE arena and have the credits to buy, outfit and insure it, the Python is a great, if uninspiring, choice.
If you’re just doing Courier and Planetary I’d stick with a Cobra MkIII or a Viper MkIV, maybe a Krait MkII if you want something larger and better at combat. You’ll have a tonne of choices and opinions though.
If you do go with the Python and decide to expand your missions you’ll soon have enough for whatever ship you want.
The Python is a very capable and popular ship but if you‘re concentrating on planetary and courier missions it’s expensive to just do that. Especially when you’re cutting out mining and passenger missions which many use the Python for.
If you don’t have huge amounts of credits but want a ship that can do everything, go everywhere, defend itself in a PvE arena and have the credits to buy, outfit and insure it, the Python is a great, if uninspiring, choice.
If you’re just doing Courier and Planetary I’d stick with a Cobra MkIII or a Viper MkIV, maybe a Krait MkII if you want something larger and better at combat. You’ll have a tonne of choices and opinions though.
If you do go with the Python and decide to expand your missions you’ll soon have enough for whatever ship you want.
No, I have other ships for that. But maybe a decent pirate killer you know in case of interdiction sounds like a good idea.
May I ask why did you prefer lower class power plant and distributor?Non combat.
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
Quite often use 2 x 3b collector limpets too, for black box missions etc.
Stick in SRV, fuel scoop, whatever you need.
I just A rate the core internals except Ds for life support and sensors. Fit an SRV a detailed surface scanner, a 5A scoop, a 4A prismatic and cargo all the rest. Usually 3 shield boosters and a PDT for shooting down hatch breakers. If doing black box salvage i slap a 3B collector on. Weapons dont matter much. I think mine has 2 LR fixed C3 bursts and gimballed MC on the rest. Works out to 200 tons cargo, 27 LY jump, 970mj shield.
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Python is tops for doing bgs imo. Krait 2 close second. reverse that if your bgs is more combat focused
Python.
In fact even in PvP, in a 1v1, a well flown PvP Python will probably win over a well flown PvP FDL. The number of SCBs a python can house is ridiculous.
In fact even in PvP, in a 1v1, a well flown PvP Python will probably win over a well flown PvP FDL. The number of SCBs a python can house is ridiculous.
It depends what type of missions you want to do. There are loads of different ones from assassination to delivering data. Each type needs a different type of ship and different loadouts..
As a general rule, always get the best thrusters and power distibutor before anything else if you're doing missions where you might get interdicted.
I would also advise to never carry weapons unless you want to do combat missions, then you need to get rid of any general purpose stuff that isn't needed for combat.
General purpose ships are generally a bad idea until you can have a fully engineered one.
Yiou only need enough power to work everything. Any more is a waste. The lighter the PP, the further you can jump. Don't fit a small PD if you can't engineer it level 5 charge enhanced or engine focused otherwise you could be a sitting duck if you get interdicted.
This is my shieldless Python for doing Robigo passenger missions that makes an easy 100 mil per hour. The 35ly jump range is very important to do the run in two jumps, otherwise earnings go down by 20%:
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
coriolis.io
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Well, i did a mission runner python. Name's Flipper (used it to flip some systems)
But the thing is a ship like that can run any mission that is not a passenger or mining mission, but it will be doing it less efficient than a dedicated ship
So the universal mission runner is a myth imo.
Eventually when i was stacking supply/delivery missions i removed everything that was not a cargo rack and i used smaller shields so i could carry 272t of cargo.
When i had to do combat, i put back a better shield, scb, mrp, hrp, etc
When i had to do planetary missions i switched to a smaller ship - cause some planetary missions are easier and faster done with the ship and not the srv
When i had to do megaship missions i dropped the shields and replaced the shield boosters with heatsinks - because some megaship missions work better if you avoid combat and go for silent running.
And so on... i guess you get the point.
Multipurpose is a valid concept, but that does not mean a ship can do everything with a single config, but that a ship is versatile enough to be able to perform well enough multiple tasks when outfitted for the respective tasks.
No it's not.
Bigger PPs and PDist's handle heat better so weapons take longer to heat up and then cool down more quickly.
You don't always need/want the biggest PP & PDist but they do provide benefits.
Anyway, my medium-pad multiroles are Kraits but I'm sure it'd be easy enough to build something similar with a Python.
Aaand, it seems Coriolis doesn't want to cooperate at the moment, so I can't post a link.
Here's a screenshot of the build instead.
Basically, A & D rated core modules, some cargo racks for, erm, cargo, SRV bay for doing surface stuff, FSD booster for bigger jumps, collector for grabbing black-boxes and scooping stuff from any HGEs I find and DSS for locating surface bases.
It's got an HRP simply cos there wasn't anything else I wanted to fit and a light-alloy hull + a HRP is lighter and stronger than an upgraded hull.
I have several mission running ships, all originally constructed mostly from spare modules I had lying around. Four of them are Pythons, and the one that has ended up being my main workhorse was originally built to do a cargo hauling run to a friendly outpost in a hostile system, 280t at a time so minimal defence (A3 shield & 4x boosters, reactive armour). To discourage any potential attackers I needed high burst damage because my shields wouldn't last long & would take ages to recharge, so I fitted frags on top mostly as a deterrent.
I used it for an assassination (pirate lord corvette) in a pinch, not expecting it to do well because it couldn't tank the damage, and that forced me to fly the Python more evasively, and get in close. It was amazingly good at killing any one NPC but needed better shields for more varied mission running as my other Pythons (that mostly used multi-cannons) so I put a C6 bi-weave shield module in and with an MRP, HRP & single SRV it carries 208t (or 192t if I use the class 4 internal for something else), I have flipped, retreated & invaded more systems in that one ship in the last year than some quite large player groups have ever managed.
It can do a low CZ at a pinch (while I wait for a CZ specialist ship to arrive), it can do haz RESs & CNBs for maybe half an hour (runs out of ammo pretty fast), any number of assassinations legal or not, haul to & from anywhere, do base assaults (scans or cut the power) without needing to land & has an SRV for the few occasions I do need to land.
The weapons are a long range fixed thermal vent C3 beam under the nose for sniping, 2x C2 Screening shell Frags (one corrosive, one overcharged) and 2x C3 Incendiary Frags, both overcharged. The whole ship is G5 engineered now, I steadily upgraded it all in use but G3 on most stull was fine, G5 is obviously better but hardly essential. It jumps around 26ly unladen without a Guardian booster.
The main thing it lacks is staying power, it'll escape an interdiction, kill any NPC one or two at a time if the shields have time to recharge, and it's versatile enough to take 20 missions, crunch through them all & get back to hand them in without needing to refuel it's default 32t tank, although occasionally I run too low on ammo to kill every mission spawn Conda that comes after me
Originally it was called 'Lard' & was purely a hauler, now it's called 'Proportionate Response' as a polite reminder to any potential invaders why they might find themselves not making much progress any more if they try to interfere with my stuff
If you are doing faction support work a Python like mine will serve you well, if you are doing it for simple variety & fun a Krait would probably be a more entertaining ship to fly, if you are doing it for the money... well that's a different set of requirements, ime corvettes have staying power in PvE combat & Cutters carry the most cargo whether hauling or mining.
Good luck
I used it for an assassination (pirate lord corvette) in a pinch, not expecting it to do well because it couldn't tank the damage, and that forced me to fly the Python more evasively, and get in close. It was amazingly good at killing any one NPC but needed better shields for more varied mission running as my other Pythons (that mostly used multi-cannons) so I put a C6 bi-weave shield module in and with an MRP, HRP & single SRV it carries 208t (or 192t if I use the class 4 internal for something else), I have flipped, retreated & invaded more systems in that one ship in the last year than some quite large player groups have ever managed.
It can do a low CZ at a pinch (while I wait for a CZ specialist ship to arrive), it can do haz RESs & CNBs for maybe half an hour (runs out of ammo pretty fast), any number of assassinations legal or not, haul to & from anywhere, do base assaults (scans or cut the power) without needing to land & has an SRV for the few occasions I do need to land.
The weapons are a long range fixed thermal vent C3 beam under the nose for sniping, 2x C2 Screening shell Frags (one corrosive, one overcharged) and 2x C3 Incendiary Frags, both overcharged. The whole ship is G5 engineered now, I steadily upgraded it all in use but G3 on most stull was fine, G5 is obviously better but hardly essential. It jumps around 26ly unladen without a Guardian booster.
The main thing it lacks is staying power, it'll escape an interdiction, kill any NPC one or two at a time if the shields have time to recharge, and it's versatile enough to take 20 missions, crunch through them all & get back to hand them in without needing to refuel it's default 32t tank, although occasionally I run too low on ammo to kill every mission spawn Conda that comes after me
Originally it was called 'Lard' & was purely a hauler, now it's called 'Proportionate Response' as a polite reminder to any potential invaders why they might find themselves not making much progress any more if they try to interfere with my stuff
If you are doing faction support work a Python like mine will serve you well, if you are doing it for simple variety & fun a Krait would probably be a more entertaining ship to fly, if you are doing it for the money... well that's a different set of requirements, ime corvettes have staying power in PvE combat & Cutters carry the most cargo whether hauling or mining.
Good luck
Yup. Can't have your systems knocked by powerplant drop if you only use 50% of your power
@Op, here's mine, though it's based off a Krait MK2 fit I use.
The Shield Cell Bank is optional tbh... that's what my Krait MK2 doesn't pack usually, with bit shuffled to match.
The Guardian FSD boost is also optional...there's reasons I pack that... it's a convenience more than anything to fetch particular source mission needs.
Guardian Shard Cannons are a reasonable anti-shield substitute for engineered frags. No, they aren't better, just an easy alternative. Most of that fit won't have experimentals... even without the experimentals listed it does the trick (just be aware of the drawbacks e.g no thermal vent on OC beam), so I can whip it together if I have to in a pinch.
Supercruise assist is pure convenience... replace with an interdictor if you like.
SRV is optional too, though this rules out surface salvage.
The only missions out-of-bounds to this fit are:
The Shield Cell Bank is optional tbh... that's what my Krait MK2 doesn't pack usually, with bit shuffled to match.
The Guardian FSD boost is also optional...there's reasons I pack that... it's a convenience more than anything to fetch particular source mission needs.
Guardian Shard Cannons are a reasonable anti-shield substitute for engineered frags. No, they aren't better, just an easy alternative. Most of that fit won't have experimentals... even without the experimentals listed it does the trick (just be aware of the drawbacks e.g no thermal vent on OC beam), so I can whip it together if I have to in a pinch.
Supercruise assist is pure convenience... replace with an interdictor if you like.
SRV is optional too, though this rules out surface salvage.
The only missions out-of-bounds to this fit are:
- Mining
- Wing Assassinations
- Wing delivery/source
- Passenger (which is an activity unto itself, and better suited for large ships)
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