There are plenty of ideas on this thread, but I also already shared here this build that is full G5 Low Emission PP https://s.orbis.zone/ic58 38 LY jump, 706 m/s boost, 900 MJ shields, 400 hull and a SRV.
Ships Engineering an Imperial Courier
- Thread starter Darth Wonko
- Start date
Here's an alternative, with rejigged boosters and HD bulkheads.
I had to sacrifice the heatsinks and point defence. OP may not want to do that, and blaze your own
But this arrangement gets the thermal resist up, lowers heat and power draw, jumps farther (19t lighter, but still out of EPT optimal mass), and is significantly faster. And the MJ actually goes up (because of two additional boosters)
coriolis.io
I had to sacrifice the heatsinks and point defence. OP may not want to do that, and blaze your own
But this arrangement gets the thermal resist up, lowers heat and power draw, jumps farther (19t lighter, but still out of EPT optimal mass), and is significantly faster. And the MJ actually goes up (because of two additional boosters)
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
coriolis.io
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I would make those missile launchers Class 1 Advanced Missile Launchers, engineered high capacity with penetrator munitions. It saves you power and mass, and gives you a much larger ammo supply and an actual useful experimental effect.
High capacity would actually increase mass from 0,4 tons to 3,2 tons per hardpoint. But lightweight + penetrator could be done on that C1 size to save 0,2 tons of mass and get more ammo
So, I've learned a few things reading all of your posts:
So, I guess the first step for me is "Learn engineering, stupid".
Suggestions on where to start? Also, any more input you want to throw at me regarding this build is welcome. I'm learning a lot.
- This community is fantastic. You guys have been extremely helpful, and I truly appreciate your input
- Even after playing for years and engineering lots of ships, I apparently know nothing about engineering
- I have been far too set in my ways and need to think more creatively
- I need to rethink my approach to engineering
- I want a small ship to accommodate landing at more settlements and in rough terrain
- SRV is a requirement
- The speedier, the better.
- Decent jump range - somewhere around 30ly, if possible, but definitely a place to compromise
- I need to be able to survive interdictions from bounty hunters following a massacre mission. I generally submit to all small ships and destroy them, except for Vultures.... I have one of those, and those little buggers are tough. I also submit to quite a few medium ships and destroy those - Kraits, Alliance ships, and Asps. I avoid FDL and Pythons, I've never seen an NPC Mamba, and the few times I've encountered an FAS, I've had to disengage and limp away. Regarding large ships, I can destroy a Clipper, but avoid The Big Three.
- I've little to no experience with weapon loadouts other than Beam Laser + Multi-Cannon
- I have far less of an understanding of shields/shield boosters than I thought
So, I guess the first step for me is "Learn engineering, stupid".
Suggestions on where to start? Also, any more input you want to throw at me regarding this build is welcome. I'm learning a lot.
I think the ship Innocentius posted is a good start. Good jump, fast, good shields and integrity and even packs a rover. Still using a prismatic if that's your thing, but a class 2 that saves a couple tonnes. Swap his weapons for your favourites, or mimic them.
My Courier is faster, but then I don't have a 6t hangar on board! He has packed all that in to just 73t, and that's important because it falls under the optimal mass of the EPTs. Speed is life. Ships this fast can boost out of a submit faster than the interdicting ship can deploy his weapons, let alone fire a shot. A little faster and he'd be outrunning his own missiles
And ships this fast are hard to hit, so 900mj is more than enough, and he even has some meat on the bones, in the event the shields ever collapse and as collision protection. Well-flown, fast Couriers have just one threat really, collision. Integrity is the failsafe that protects you when the odds catch up and you inevitably pinball off another ship or two. In my ships I put high priority on shield thermal resist. Thermal resist gives your shields 'elasticity' against the very weapons designed to collapse them. Essential, for a combat ship, in my view of things.
Amen to that.
This my Courier, just to share. No rover, but room for it. It's a bit of a 'tweener. We had a thread some time back called Fast Battle Courier, where I searched for my best build. Over time it became a bit compromised as I realized what its deficiencies were, and this is the result. Not suggesting to copy this, just another Courier. I wanted a ship to use for bounty hunting where I could just fly it wide open all the time. And that's what I do, carving big arcs around a furball, slashing through to get my tags and extending at full speed to arc around and do it again. I envisioned building a ship I could fly like a Focke Wulf attacking a bomber stream, making gunnery passes at speed before extending away.
coriolis.io
You can see here what good shield resists do. I have only 586mj, but it's an apparent 1395 against thermal weapons. Shields done like this punch above their weight with the added bonus of faster recovery
My Courier is faster, but then I don't have a 6t hangar on board! He has packed all that in to just 73t, and that's important because it falls under the optimal mass of the EPTs. Speed is life. Ships this fast can boost out of a submit faster than the interdicting ship can deploy his weapons, let alone fire a shot. A little faster and he'd be outrunning his own missiles
And ships this fast are hard to hit, so 900mj is more than enough, and he even has some meat on the bones, in the event the shields ever collapse and as collision protection. Well-flown, fast Couriers have just one threat really, collision. Integrity is the failsafe that protects you when the odds catch up and you inevitably pinball off another ship or two. In my ships I put high priority on shield thermal resist. Thermal resist gives your shields 'elasticity' against the very weapons designed to collapse them. Essential, for a combat ship, in my view of things.
Amen to that.
This my Courier, just to share. No rover, but room for it. It's a bit of a 'tweener. We had a thread some time back called Fast Battle Courier, where I searched for my best build. Over time it became a bit compromised as I realized what its deficiencies were, and this is the result. Not suggesting to copy this, just another Courier. I wanted a ship to use for bounty hunting where I could just fly it wide open all the time. And that's what I do, carving big arcs around a furball, slashing through to get my tags and extending at full speed to arc around and do it again. I envisioned building a ship I could fly like a Focke Wulf attacking a bomber stream, making gunnery passes at speed before extending away.
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
coriolis.io
You can see here what good shield resists do. I have only 586mj, but it's an apparent 1395 against thermal weapons. Shields done like this punch above their weight with the added bonus of faster recovery
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@sinisalo, I'm looking at your build now and used @Innocentius' build as a starting point.
Here's where I'm at now.
Prismatic shields aren't really a deal-breaker, and I don't even have them yet. I won't have those unlocked until Thursday. The AFMU adds no mass and very little power draw, and I've always liked the idea of being able to self-repair.
I figure I'll run with an empty cargo bay and synthesize limpets as I need them - I don't foresee using this as a full-time HGE signal source farmer.
The mass is 81T which is under optimal mass for the EPT.
Point Defence was only there for Guardian sites, so I dumped that because I've never really had issues with their skimmers.
But, the speed is 478/648, which is far faster than what I was looking at previously.
Downsizing the cargo rack allows me to upgrade the Guardian FSD boost to 3H, so I now have a 35ly jump range which is more than I had hoped for.
So, about the hardpoints. What do you think about Thermal Vent vs Thermal Shock on the beam lasers?
Also, should I just dump these and start practicing with other weapons such as PAs and RGs?
Here's where I'm at now.
Prismatic shields aren't really a deal-breaker, and I don't even have them yet. I won't have those unlocked until Thursday. The AFMU adds no mass and very little power draw, and I've always liked the idea of being able to self-repair.
I figure I'll run with an empty cargo bay and synthesize limpets as I need them - I don't foresee using this as a full-time HGE signal source farmer.
The mass is 81T which is under optimal mass for the EPT.
Point Defence was only there for Guardian sites, so I dumped that because I've never really had issues with their skimmers.
But, the speed is 478/648, which is far faster than what I was looking at previously.
Downsizing the cargo rack allows me to upgrade the Guardian FSD boost to 3H, so I now have a 35ly jump range which is more than I had hoped for.
So, about the hardpoints. What do you think about Thermal Vent vs Thermal Shock on the beam lasers?
Also, should I just dump these and start practicing with other weapons such as PAs and RGs?
Another question - if I drop the fuel tank down to 2C and then change the engineering on the FSD from Deep Charge to Mass Manager, my speeds go up to 499/677 and my jump range is now >36ly. With a 3A fuel scoop, I'll fill the tank in 22 seconds from empty and I'm not leaving the bubble.
Is that just a stupid idea?
Is that just a stupid idea?
Zoom zoom
I'm the wrong one to ask about beam options, because I have a thing for efficient thermal vent. I like it for several reasons. One, the power footprint is small, and that has a knock-on effect throughout the build, and maybe allows me to run the class 2 PP. Two, sustained striking with TV beams acts like a heatsink, which is obvious, but that also has the same 'cloaking' effect on NPC sensors. Admittedly it has little use in my Courier, since the closing speeds mean sustained strikes are rare. Maybe I'm a creature of habit haha. But the efficient side is the key to keep the distributor draw down and shift that power overhead in to other areas of the ship. A different experimental would boost my damage, but I can live with it.
About the fuel tank.... I'd say it's just a matter of whether you value performance or, I guess you could say, endurance, more. More fuel on board also has a certain safety component. I'd say just keep both classes on hand and swap them according to what you need at the moment.
I'm the wrong one to ask about beam options, because I have a thing for efficient thermal vent. I like it for several reasons. One, the power footprint is small, and that has a knock-on effect throughout the build, and maybe allows me to run the class 2 PP. Two, sustained striking with TV beams acts like a heatsink, which is obvious, but that also has the same 'cloaking' effect on NPC sensors. Admittedly it has little use in my Courier, since the closing speeds mean sustained strikes are rare. Maybe I'm a creature of habit haha. But the efficient side is the key to keep the distributor draw down and shift that power overhead in to other areas of the ship. A different experimental would boost my damage, but I can live with it.
About the fuel tank.... I'd say it's just a matter of whether you value performance or, I guess you could say, endurance, more. More fuel on board also has a certain safety component. I'd say just keep both classes on hand and swap them according to what you need at the moment.
Thanks so much for the advice. I've got to grind some mats, but when the PP cycle hits Thursday, I'm grabbing a bunch of Prismatics and will start hitting this build in earnest.
Those shield resistances look good too, and you've cut your recovery in half. When you're so much faster than the NPCs you're fighting, you don't need stacks of mj in my view. Take a burst, lose a ring, boost, recover, rejoin. I think it was Stalin who said speed is a defensive quality. Or maybe Mark Twain, not sure.
I have different goals to you for my iCourier. Mine is light weight to be as fast as possible with 3A enhanced thrusters G5 dirty plus drive distributors, which means it lacks the firepower and shield strength to fight anything heavier than a Viper, just about OK against a Vulture. I use it for courier missions and special operations like retrieving black boxes - missions that give good Inf+++ and Rep++ rewards. I dropped the tank down to a 2C and use a 2A fuel scoop and it's fine as I'm rarely going more than 3 or 4 jumps from my home station. I do occasionally put the 3C tank back in if I want to go further, but I'd usually take the DBX for longer distances scouting and material collecting around the bubble.
The only time this iCourier overheats is if it fires MCs in more than short bursts. That's partly down to the 2D engine focused power distributor. It's a fast special ops/courier ship, not a combat ship.
When I spec an iCourier for serious combat, it's not as fast as I'd want it to be before I'd just choose a bigger heavier ship for the job.
@ Darth Wonko,
you have lots of help from the Elite Commanders...
for adding weapons , tip is build/buy another courier...
you want each ship to be great at one activity...
for heat problem ... an overcharged powerplant & fdirty drive thrusters will always run too hot... pick one or the other...
also, you can tinker with less internal modules that make less heat like grade C modules... having all grade A... is trying to have too much going on...
as for weapons they product heat so a different power distributor wwould be a diff engineering...
you have lots of help from the Elite Commanders...
for adding weapons , tip is build/buy another courier...
you want each ship to be great at one activity...
for heat problem ... an overcharged powerplant & fdirty drive thrusters will always run too hot... pick one or the other...
also, you can tinker with less internal modules that make less heat like grade C modules... having all grade A... is trying to have too much going on...
as for weapons they product heat so a different power distributor wwould be a diff engineering...
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
s.orbis.zone
This build was initially conceived as a Community-Goal Ganker-Baiting ship. Aimed at getting interdicted and zooming off. Wasting gankers time. Also cheeky interdictions to be dished out to gankers too. However I've found it to be a great little runabout, decent jump range and spellblindingly fast. I love it.
One thing I like is that iCouriers built for 800m/s+ boost speed are immune to mass lock from an enemy ship. One boost and in the blink of an eye you are out of the mass lock zone. I've got multi-canons on mine, but they don't get used much.
Definitely food for thought. I think I'm satisfied with where I ended up. The only time heat is an issue is when I'm fuel scooping, and the Thermal Vent on my beam laser takes care of heat during combat. Regarding 'lots of help from the Elite Commanders' - that's very true, and very much appreciated.
That is fantastically devious, underhanded and all-around spiteful. I love it!
Good point - I hadn't thought of that.
Here's my final build. It's fast enough to avoid most anything I wish to avoid, sturdy enough for NPC combat (I'll fight any small or medium ship) and for taking fire from ground forces and weapons, and can gather materials from destroyed ships or pick up black boxes. It's the best all-around utility ship I've created, based on my style of play.
That's a nicely balanced ship, and 642m/s boost will get you out of mass lock fast enough for the shields to protect you while you make an escape - if needed.
Yeah, and those MCs shred other ships.
I just looked at the engineering on the MCs after you said that. Both have corrosive shell, only one of them needs it for the effect you need. Swap corrosive shell for autoloader on one of them to eliminate reload delays and up the DPS a bit without losing anything on the corrosive shell effect you want. Only down side is the autoloader MC will go through ammo faster that the corrosive shell MC.