Fully engineered Eagle. Hands down the most maneuverable ship in the game. As gracefully as a gazelle.
Most Maneuverable Ship For Combat
- Thread starter Darth Silen
- Start date
Fly an Eagle (imperial or not doesn't matter that much) for a while. The difference in speed and agility is not that big, but the imperial Eagle has one medium hardpoint. But note that the firepower of either is severely lacking. At the same time, these ships really teach you defensive flying. You mess up, you get shot down.
The same is true for the Imperial Courier, it's pure fun to fly. But when you fight an Elite Rated Anaconda, better have something to read along... (Yes, there are a few very specific setups which can do good enough damage, but once you flew something with a bit more punch, you really notice the difference. )
The often mentioned Vulture indeed is very agile. And while some people claim that it can only be set up with engineering, it actually can also be brought to good use without it, by taking a close look at the internals. (E.g. taking a close look on your thrusters, their minimal mass and how heavy your Vulture is. Unknown to many, the Vulture does not need A-rated thrusters to get maximum turn rates, it merely gains a few more meters per second of speed with them. Or you simply put your FDS to a lower power priority. This of course delays you a bit if you want to run away, but saves a lot of power. )
Then the Chieftain and Challenger were mentioned several times. Again, the difference in their agility is not as big as some people claim it to be. (Just never touch the Crusader. It's pure garbage. ) Their flight model is very different from many other ships, some love it, many hate it, so it's really a thing to try yourself. Nobody can tell you if it's for you or not, but if you like drifting and know how to use it for your advantage, this might be your most agile combat ship with good firepower.
Last not least, the elephant in the room, the FDL. Good firepower, massive shields, good thrusters. You can fly it in quite an agile way. But by how sturdy its shields are, it just like the Vulture makes the pilot lazy. You could push them to the limit, but the ships defense tells you that facetanking and trading blows also is fine. (So yes, people who only learned to fight in a Vulture and FLD can be good pilots. But they are so despite their ships, while some other ships force the pilot to learn. )
And on the Vipers, also mentioned here several times: in my eyes they suffer from the same problem as all other small ships: they have only limited firepower, which was enough in old times. But defense stacking (damn the engineers) means that shields and armour has vastly outpaced the firepower of small ships. Thus they might be fun to fly, but when fighting targets of higher combat rank, they turn into quite annoying bullet sponges.
The same is true for the Imperial Courier, it's pure fun to fly. But when you fight an Elite Rated Anaconda, better have something to read along... (Yes, there are a few very specific setups which can do good enough damage, but once you flew something with a bit more punch, you really notice the difference. )
The often mentioned Vulture indeed is very agile. And while some people claim that it can only be set up with engineering, it actually can also be brought to good use without it, by taking a close look at the internals. (E.g. taking a close look on your thrusters, their minimal mass and how heavy your Vulture is. Unknown to many, the Vulture does not need A-rated thrusters to get maximum turn rates, it merely gains a few more meters per second of speed with them. Or you simply put your FDS to a lower power priority. This of course delays you a bit if you want to run away, but saves a lot of power. )
Then the Chieftain and Challenger were mentioned several times. Again, the difference in their agility is not as big as some people claim it to be. (Just never touch the Crusader. It's pure garbage. ) Their flight model is very different from many other ships, some love it, many hate it, so it's really a thing to try yourself. Nobody can tell you if it's for you or not, but if you like drifting and know how to use it for your advantage, this might be your most agile combat ship with good firepower.
Last not least, the elephant in the room, the FDL. Good firepower, massive shields, good thrusters. You can fly it in quite an agile way. But by how sturdy its shields are, it just like the Vulture makes the pilot lazy. You could push them to the limit, but the ships defense tells you that facetanking and trading blows also is fine. (So yes, people who only learned to fight in a Vulture and FLD can be good pilots. But they are so despite their ships, while some other ships force the pilot to learn. )
And on the Vipers, also mentioned here several times: in my eyes they suffer from the same problem as all other small ships: they have only limited firepower, which was enough in old times. But defense stacking (damn the engineers) means that shields and armour has vastly outpaced the firepower of small ships. Thus they might be fun to fly, but when fighting targets of higher combat rank, they turn into quite annoying bullet sponges.
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Deleted member 121570
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that sounds like a fun build to try, and tbh, escaping isnt a priority, im good with learning the hard way so dying is an acceptable possibilitythank you, i'll give this a go
With the Eagle's rotations too and weakish boost - you can even pull off a boosted kulbit and stop, which is insanely good fun. Not maybe useful, but fun.
Well ofc you need to fly the Chief a bit differently. For one it has an excellent Class 8 Hardpoint if you get my meaning.
I know the appeal of Frags -- my currently preferred outfit is a pair of Pacifiers, complemented with some lasers, a FC Rail and a Corrosive MC. With that I'm basically set up for anything. (Currently juggling around the small/med HPs a bit)
Which makes it more fun IMO, because you can't just go around tanking and soaking damage like most other ships - you actually have to fly like a real pilot to survive
Granted if the OP is looking to take down Thargoids or clear Level 7 Pirate Signals, then good piloting won't be enough, but I've successfully held my own in various level RES and even CZs in my Eagle. If there was a squadron of dedicated Eagle pilots, I'd be tempted to join, because a wing of well-engineered Eagles would be a force to be reckoned with, without being so OP as to be silly easy mode.
Yeah that is a serious litotes I think. To fight successfully and punch above your weight class in an Eagle, you have to be a VERY good pilot -- so if you can kill ships in a Threat 6 signal then props to you, but that's way waaay beyond the skill level you can expect from someone who posts questions like this in the Newcomer section. Most of all the Eagle doesn't forgive any mistakes.
It sounds to me like you are describing a Courier engineered favoring speed while still keeping decent shields (1k+ effective). Lightweight on just about everything, low wep capacitor draw leaving lots of pips for engine, and topping out in the mid 700s on speed. That type of Courier build can circle most NPC ships with throttle at zero, just using directional thrusters. They are an absolute blast to fly, and while a tad anemic with 3 mediums, still fully capable of solo CZ clears.
@Old Duck sorry if I missed any build link you already posted, but do you run that beam gimballed or fixed? I ask because I run two C1 efficient pulses fixed on my Adder, and while I’m getting the hang of the C2 rail gun I struggle to maintain my aim with the fixed lasers. My PS4 controller is an unofficial one mind, so a little twitchy and not quite as precise as the official DualShock, so it could be either pilot or controller related...
" I think @WeComeInPeace went with A-Grade to get to the same values while still being able to incorporate the Point Defense turret. Not sure what for though. "
I use the shield for ramming. Actually I now have two Heavy duty SBs. The point defence is for not having a misile up my rear end when deciding to chicken out of a PvP brawl. Running away always beats any shield, but once I get to that stage, I'm so pumped with adrenaline, that the point defence has saved me more than once. Always adjust your build to suit you Especially when using someone else's "meta".
"I use the shield for ramming. Actually I now have two Heavy duty SBs. The point defence is for not having a misile up my rear end when deciding to chicken out of a PvP brawl. Running away always beats any shield, but once I get to that stage, I'm so pumped with adrenaline, that the point defence has saved me more than once. Always adjust your build to suit you
Especially when using someone else's "meta".
Never said I was taking my Eagle into Threat 6 zones. If anything, I go after softer targets in my Eagle, not because I'm looking for "easy", but because I'm looking for balanced and realistic. I don't enjoy Threat 6 even in a top-tier ship, because this is when ED devolves into bullet-sponge face tanking infinite jousting borefest IMO. I'd much rather fight Master NPC Kraits in my Eagle, as this feels like the perfect balance of fun, realism, and challenge for me personally.
As for new players, what are they doing in Threat 6 zones? Saying that the Eagle is the wrong ship for a new player is the silliest thing I've heard all day, LOL.
Gimbaled. I'm not good enough to keep a fixed beam on a target for long periods of time (I too fly with the Dualshock). If anything, this would negate some of the Eagle's maneuverability since you have to fly in unnatural ways to permanently keep the nose of a ship fixed on a target. Rails, on the other hand, don't require a constant "lock" on the target, making them the perfect fixed weapon to complement my gimbaled beam.
As will all builds, YMMV. I never chase metas, so don't expect anything I give to be the best DPS / speed / shields / whatever. I build my ships for fun, and gimbals are more fun for me (except when target spams chaff).
Never a truer word said! I’m much the same, I try to build my ships ‘thematically’ and usually meta be damned. I might well try swapping the fixed pulses for gimballed and see how that feels, to be honest with the exception of rails and plasma I find the concept of fixed space weapons a bit daft but it is what it is
Lol @ 730 dps....
Edit: Not liking your shield setup though... my vulture has biweaves with almost the same raw MJ but half the recharge and recovery times...
Yeah wow, and that's with gimballs. Not even fixed.
Just curious but has anyone tried some 'Hammers in the Vulture? Thoughts?
The adder is an ugly duckling but its a very capable ship!
On the contrary, I think she’s rather the looker! Got some nice space shuttle vibes, and with the right paint job...
She reminds me of certain Hollywood actresses - beautiful on the outside, ugly on the inside.
Deleted member 121570
D
You don't like the coffee buckets?
You made me do an avatar double take with the appropriation of Paul’s hands.FdL
Nothing more maneuverable with a huge hardpoint, four mediums and 3000mj of shields.
(I hate the flight model by the way).
Can’t disagree there, but most of my other rides are Lakon so I’m used to the spartan or workbench cockpit feels!
