Ships Focusing on combat for first time in Krait II - thoughts on weapons & engineering

[CMDRQuainMarln]

I hit Elite explorer and Tycoon trading while still Novice at combat, although I've worked up to Competent now. So I'm only really figuring out what weapons are working for me now.
I'm still useless with fixed mount weapons and PAs are out of the question with the firing delay and slow flight time, so it's gimballed for me. Using rail guns for long range sniping is appealing, but it's a high risk high reward approach. I don't hit often enough.
I've been using an all MC build with large 2 x overcharged incendiary and 1 x overcharged autoloader plus medium overcharge 1 x corrosive and 1 x oversized for quite a while
It's been good, but MCs don't seem to hit much beyond 1km and I do run out of ammo in conflict zones before the battle is over. I do have an SLF in the mix too.
I've tried overcharged frags in the medium hardpoints with corrosive and drag munitions, and they are hilarious when you finish off a target in an instant, but they seem to miss the target a lot - high risk high reward again.
I've just had another change around, and I think I've found a perfect mix for me.
The two medium MCs are back, the 1 x large MC with autoloader is back and I've gone with 2 x burst lasers long range oversized. I can reliably hit targets 4km+ out and a lot of combat happens in the 500m to 2000m range with the burst lasers. No power distribution difficulties or heat issues. Opponents shields are coming down quicker. The MCs come it at short range and/or when shields are down.
With less reliance on MCs ammo is lasting a lot longer.
Other commanders swear by beams, but you cannot get efficient beams (to relieve pressure on power distributor) and long range at the same time, and long range seems to be key to the success of this load out.
It leaves me wondering why beams are so popular. 2 x large long range beams would drain the power distributor too fast for me, because I cannot deal with constantly shifting pips around in the middle of fighting while making a turn etc.
Leaves me wondering what I'm missing about beam lasers...

 

[GroG79]

I'd argue beams are not very popular. They can work if you manage your power and perhaps use the efficient mod on them.

Using energy weapons for shields and bullets for hull is a good tactic. I would not open fire/waste distro power when the target is >2500m away. As you said you hardly get any damage in. Take the Krait closer to your target. If it agile enough to do so.

I like full MC. Yes you run out of bullets but the level one synths are really cheap so I use them all the time in haz res and CZ. Downtrading 4-5 g5 mats will give you full g1 bins. This will give you about 120 synths so I think that is very very cheap.

 

[yelboc]

It depends alot on your play style. I like to get a bit closer, and I use 3x large Efficient beams with thermal vent, plus a couple of medium cannons with short range +force shell, mostly becuase they're a good laugh (especially the noise they make). The cannons work quite well against hull, and the beams strip shields very quickly. For small targets don't bother with the cannons, just let the beams do the work.

Krait distro is OP and means you can fire Efficient beams nearly continuously if you engineer it. Thermal vent means no overheating, and if you maintain fire on target, your enemy will lose lock too. Time on target is very high due to the placement - this for me is more important than DPS - as a HOTAS user, fixed weapons are hard work. With engineered thrusters and FA off, its possible to run rings around most bigger ships and stay out of trouble, whilst keeping the beams on "toast" and staying cool.

[edit:] just to note that this is all PVE - that loadout would get fried in PVP against the Meta

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

I'd argue beams are not very popular. They can work if you manage your power and perhaps use the efficient mod on them.

Using energy weapons for shields and bullets for hull is a good tactic. I would not open fire/waste distro power when the target is >2500m away. As you said you hardly get any damage in. Take the Krait closer to your target. If it agile enough to do so.

I like full MC. Yes you run out of bullets but the level one synths are really cheap so I use them all the time in haz res and CZ. Downtrading 4-5 g5 mats will give you full g1 bins. This will give you about 120 synths so I think that is very very cheap.

I do synth ammo sometimes and I did visit those planets with crystal shards giving you 4 out of 5 top grade raw materials for trading. That's all fine, except I'm in Colonia right now and I don't know of a similar place here to get the top grade raw materials that easily. There is one of every type of materials trader here, so that step is not a problem.
Synthesising ammo is not really sustainable out here long term.

 

[Imo]

Your multi cannon setup is near perfect. I use multi cannons on all ships for years and they shred everything!

 

[AlSki]

So I'm only really figuring out what weapons are working for me now.

Actually, no. I would suggest that you are trying to work out what build works for your flight style. Or to put it another way, its not just the weapons, but how you use them.

a lot of combat happens in the 500m to 2000m range

Yeah ^this.

I like flying the Imperial Courier, its faster that a Krait, has a lot lower DPS and probably less overall damage tanking (shields + armour). If you just held the two ships at a long distance, with long range beams the Krait would crush the Courier (3xL+2xM vs 3xM). This leads me to a flight style where I use speed to not get hit, and I try to get in close behind my enemies. Which means a lot of trying to pass around them while they try to keep me in sight. With gimbals I can increase the cone of fire on my ship vs fixed on theirs and concentrate on avoidance, letting the gimbals do the work. With a pair of efficient beams on top, I can usually drain their shields while dodging.

This flight style didn't work for me in a Krait MKII with 3x Large beams and 2x medium Multis. It was a larger, slower ship that needs boosting to make turns, and takes more incoming fire, particularly since its profile is so much larger when pointed away from head on to your target. So even with Prismatic shields, I often had to retire to edge of the CZ and reboot/repair to get my 50% shields back. (It does however work really well with a Mamba, 1x Huge Beam, 2x Large Multis, and a pair of CytoScramblers, but that is another story).

Hopefully others have better flight styles for Kraits than I have.

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

It depends alot on your play style. I like to get a bit closer, and I use 3x large Efficient beams with thermal vent, plus a couple of medium cannons with short range +force shell, mostly becuase they're a good laugh (especially the noise they make). The cannons work quite well against hull, and the beams strip shields very quickly. For small targets don't bother with the cannons, just let the beams do the work.

Krait distro is OP and means you can fire Efficient beams nearly continuously if you engineer it. Thermal vent means no overheating, and if you maintain fire on target, your enemy will lose lock too. Time on target is very high due to the placement - this for me is more important than DPS - as a HOTAS user, fixed weapons are hard work. With engineered thrusters and FA off, its possible to run rings around most bigger ships and stay out of trouble, whilst keeping the beams on "toast" and staying cool.

[edit:] just to note that this is all PVE - that loadout would get fried in PVP against the Meta

You're right, I should have made it clear I am playing PVE only. I'd get murdered PVP
I do have dirty grade 5 plus drag on the Krait thrusters and I'm "OK" at staying away from the front end of Anaconda's and the shields are grade 5 engineered with 2 x boosters so can tank the hits for quite a while when I do get caught in front. Wings of 3 Imperial Couriers or FAS and similar are more difficult to deal with than an Anaconda.

 

[yelboc]

I assume you are familiar with https://coriolis.io/ ?

nice graphs of damage versus distance etc..

 

[tolm]

Krait MkII is a great ship to try out combat in: fast, boost for days, great hardpoints and enough internals to stack up on shields or hull, as you prefer.

Now, I’m a PvE only player so bearing that in mind:

Ideally you want lasers on the smaller hardpoints and kinetic weapons on larger hardpoints due to hull damage being factored based on weapon size.

A combination of Efficient Beam Lasers (2x C2 and optionally1x C3) with Overcharged Multicannon (2 or 3x C3) is a pretty solid starting point. Long Range Beams can also be an option - especially if only running 2x C2. I tend to go with Thermal Vent on beams and AutoLoader on the MCs, you could put Corrosive on one of them too. If you do put a laser ”up top” you want it in the middle C3 hardpoint for convergence with the C2s.

Personally I would go with a C6 BiWeave shield engineered for Thermal Resist with Fast Charge. Then use the Utility Slots to stack 1x Kinetic Resist booster and 3x Resistance Augmented, which should even out your resistances nicely at about 50 - 60%. If you want more raw MJs you can also add some Guardian Shield Reinforcement modules, which the Krait has plenty of room (and power!) for.

You probably also want engineered armour, at least one HRP and one MRP just to allow you time to get away if your shields do drop.

As a final note … PAs … the Krait is actually really nice with PAs “up top”, as they’re perfectly positioned to lead your target whilst the two C2s are on target. For PAs, I use the Focused engineering which - even just at the G2 I have available - increases the speed (from 875 to 1330m/s) enough to make a big difference in my ability to hit stuff. It also increases armour penetration for taking out modules quicker. Combined with the Plasma Slug experimental, yes it’s far from “optimum” damage but the Krait has a big ol’ fuel tank so any shots that do miss don’t smart as much because you’ll essentially never run out of ammo.

It’s been a while (my Krait is now my AX ship) but I think my last combat build used to run 2x C2 Efficient / Thermal Vent Beams, 1x C3 Overcharged / AutoLoader MC and 2x Focused / Plasma Slug PAs. Lasers (and PAs) for shields and then the MC for small ships that are tricky to hit with the PAs and the PAs for anything Asp-upwards.

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

Actually, no. I would suggest that you are trying to work out what build works for your flight style. Or to put it another way, its not just the weapons, but how you use them.

Yeah ^this.

I like flying the Imperial Courier, its faster that a Krait, has a lot lower DPS and probably less overall damage tanking (shields + armour). If you just held the two ships at a long distance, with long range beams the Krait would crush the Courier (3xL+2xM vs 3xM). This leads me to a flight style where I use speed to not get hit, and I try to get in close behind my enemies. Which means a lot of trying to pass around them while they try to keep me in sight. With gimbals I can increase the cone of fire on my ship vs fixed on theirs and concentrate on avoidance, letting the gimbals do the work. With a pair of efficient beams on top, I can usually drain their shields while dodging.

This flight style didn't work for me in a Krait MKII with 3x Large beams and 2x medium Multis. It was a larger, slower ship that needs boosting to make turns, and takes more incoming fire, particularly since its profile is so much larger when pointed away from head on to your target. So even with Prismatic shields, I often had to retire to edge of the CZ and reboot/repair to get my 50% shields back. (It does however work really well with a Mamba, 1x Huge Beam, 2x Large Multis, and a pair of CytoScramblers, but that is another story).

Hopefully others have better flight styles for Kraits than I have.

Agree with all you say. It is definitely weapons and flight style with this particular ship. I've done some combat in an Anaconda and quickly realised the weapons and mods that work for the Krait don't fully succeed on the Anaconda. The Anaconda needs a long range weapon to finish off targets before they run away, because it's too slow to catch them up.
I am very keen to try an Imperial Courier sometime. It will have to wait until I get back to the bubble as you can't buy Federation, Imperial or Alliance ships here in Colonia - unless someone has them on their Fleet Carrier for sale.

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

I assume you are familiar with https://coriolis.io/ ?

nice graphs of damage versus distance etc..

I spend so much time on coriolis my family laugh at me about it
I've learned to be cautious with what it tells you - reality can sometimes be a bit different. Yes familiar with the damage vs distance profiles.

 

[tolm]

You could also consider a Chieftan. Less shields than the Krait (though you can still stack plenty) but more agile and with 2x C1 and 1x C2 Long Range / Thermal Vent Beams you can sit at zero heat before unleashing 2x C3 MCs with Overcharged / AutoLoader and 1x C1 High Capacity / Corrosive MC to boost your damage against hull by 25%.

 

[Greybeard Seawolf]

I love screaming around CZ'z in my Krait MkII, I also love using the afterburner a lot so to manage my heat levels I have 2 small beams with long range thermal vent and the rest is overcharged multi's once I keep on the targets tail the thermal vent brings my temp to 0 and with 4 pips to weapons I can keep my finger on the trigger till it's time to start shredding

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

Krait MkII is a great ship to try out combat in: fast, boost for days, great hardpoints and enough internals to stack up on shields or hull, as you prefer.

Now, I’m a PvE only player so bearing that in mind:

Ideally you want lasers on the smaller hardpoints and kinetic weapons on larger hardpoints due to hull damage being factored based on weapon size.

A combination of Efficient Beam Lasers (2x C2 and optionally1x C3) with Overcharged Multicannon (2 or 3x C3) is a pretty solid starting point. Long Range Beams can also be an option - especially if only running 2x C2. I tend to go with Thermal Vent on beams and AutoLoader on the MCs, you could put Corrosive on one of them too. If you do put a laser ”up top” you want it in the middle C3 hardpoint for convergence with the C2s.

Personally I would go with a C6 BiWeave shield engineered for Thermal Resist with Fast Charge. Then use the Utility Slots to stack 1x Kinetic Resist booster and 3x Resistance Augmented, which should even out your resistances nicely at about 50 - 60%. If you want more raw MJs you can also add some Guardian Shield Reinforcement modules, which the Krait has plenty of room (and power!) for.

You probably also want engineered armour, at least one HRP and one MRP just to allow you time to get away if your shields do drop.

As a final note … PAs … the Krait is actually really nice with PAs “up top”, as they’re perfectly positioned to lead your target whilst the two C2s are on target. For PAs, I use the Focused engineering which - even just at the G2 I have available - increases the speed (from 875 to 1330m/s) enough to make a big difference in my ability to hit stuff. It also increases armour penetration for taking out modules quicker. Combined with the Plasma Slug experimental, yes it’s far from “optimum” damage but the Krait has a big ol’ fuel tank so any shots that do miss don’t smart as much because you’ll essentially never run out of ammo.

It’s been a while (my Krait is now my AX ship) but I think my last combat build used to run 2x C2 Efficient / Thermal Vent Beams, 1x C3 Overcharged / AutoLoader MC and 2x Focused / Plasma Slug PAs. Lasers (and PAs) for shields and then the MC for small ships that are tricky to hit with the PAs and the PAs for anything Asp-upwards.

I'm PVE only for combat at least.
You've given me plenty of different options to experiment with there, and I never realised there was an engineering mod to speed up PA flight time. I might have to try them again.
I've got C6 BiWeave reinforced fast charge and then balanced out thermal resistances to a reasonable level with the shield booster engineering. And a shield cell bank plus hull and module reinforcements. Guardian modules are out of range for now - I've just got the FSD booster in a Phantom explorer but its not needed in the Krait II
I need promotion to Expert combat rank before Colonia engineers will deal with me for Armour Engineering, but I'm planning to stick around in Colonia long enough to do that. If I was in the bubble, it would be laser engineering I don't have the combat rank for.
Fuel is no problem here - rarely need to do more than one or two jumps to get to/from a battle ground so plasma slugs are more than viable. I don't even fit a fuel scoop here.

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

You could also consider a Chieftan. Less shields than the Krait (though you can still stack plenty) but more agile and with 2x C1 and 1x C2 Long Range / Thermal Vent Beams you can sit at zero heat before unleashing 2x C3 MCs with Overcharged / AutoLoader and 1x C1 High Capacity / Corrosive MC to boost your damage against hull by 25%.

I've got one 22Kly away in the bubble mainly for AX combat, but I've not spent much time with it yet. I'll definitely experiment with it more when I get back there.

 

[d8veh]

The most useful module above all for a Krait to do combat is the SLF. If you set the fighter on a target and wait for it to land a shot, the target will prioritise the fighter, which gives you a good chance to do serious damage before you even get shot at. The penalty is that the SLF steals half your rank and 10% of your bounty money.

 

[GeoJase]

Unlock Pacifiers and unleash the inner Krait..!

3x Pacifiers (OC or hi cap, one corrosive) and 2x med beams (choose your poison: long range, OC, short / TV) =

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

The most useful module above all for a Krait to do combat is the SLF. If you set the fighter on a target and wait for it to land a shot, the target will prioritise the fighter, which gives you a good chance to do serious damage before you even get shot at. The penalty is that the SLF steals half your rank and 10% of your bounty money.

I have an SLF and an NPC pilot up to Expert rank - higher than me!
10% bounty money is no issue, but is it really half my rank? My rank seems to be going up at about the same rate it did before I took on an NPC pilot. I'll have to ditch him if he really takes that much, because getting up one more combat rank is the target I'm aiming for right now.

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

Unlock Pacifiers and unleash the inner Krait..!

3x Pacifiers (OC or hi cap, one corrosive) and 2x med beams (choose your poison: long range, OC, short / TV) =

I've put it on my to do list for when I get back to the bubble

 

[Fenwe]

I went old school. She works really well for me. The long range tags them and draws them to me. The beams take out the shields, and the multi + beams finishes them off. (PvE)