Newcomer / Intro What are you up to?

Codger

Codger
0threeleven said:
I feel bad, almost guilty for Codger,
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Haha, don't feel bad for me. I've had more than my share of fun in this game, and many, many great experiences and memories. And I have my one ELW, which is kinda special to me.

I found it during my first long exploration trip. I took my T6 out to Colonia, back when engineering was new. I had about a 33LY range, and it was quite an adventure for me. I learned a lot, and eventually made it to Colonia (it took weeks). Once there I began to look around the general vicinity for undiscovered systems. I wound up around 500LY from Colonia where I made a little 'bubble' of my own, putting my name on everything I found. That was before you could map planets, but I got First Discovered on them.

The ELW was a surprise, and I decided to tag every single planet in that system. I didn't want there to be anyone else's name there, heh. I started thinking of it as "Codger's System", where he would eventually go to retire.

Some years later, when mapping planets became a thing and you could have "First Mapped" on things, I traveled back out there just to map everything and ensure that only my name would be on anything.

I've not been out there in a while, though. I think there are a couple landable planets there. I've been meaning to go get "First Footfall" on them, but it's such a long journey I haven't done it yet.

So you see, I haven't been missing out on any fun or experiences. :)

PS I also have 2 planets IN the bubble that I got First Mapped on, in the Chujohimba system. So there.
 

Tyres O'Flaherty

Tyres O'Flaherty
Ooooh...

Possibly a new wallpaper!

PUjMf3v.jpg
 

Marvin the Martian

Marvin the Martian
Been on vacation and just got back last night.

So I was in the middle of outfitting my new Challenger for Thargoids and I wondered something: Are the Gaurdian Gauss Guns effective against RES pirates?

Reason I ask, I was wanting to train against regular or low ranked RES pirates to learn to aim properly before going out actually looking for Thargiods.
 

CMDRQuainMarln

CMDRQuainMarln
Marvin the Martian said:
Been on vacation and just got back last night.

So I was in the middle of outfitting my new Challenger for Thargoids and I wondered something: Are the Gaurdian Gauss Guns effective against RES pirates?

Reason I ask, I was wanting to train against regular or low ranked RES pirates to learn to aim properly before going out actually looking for Thargiods.
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As someone from the AX initiative once said to me, the way to practice fighting Thargoids, is to fight Thargoids. I tried what you are thinking and it's just a whole different technique.

The nearest you can get:
Gauss cannons generate massive heat. So you need to mitigate that with a small long range thermal vent beam laser and several large bucket loads of heat sinks. This is also to stay cold so the Thargoid cannot target you. Are you trying for a shieldless build to do cold orbiting where you have the option of silent running and dumping heat with the beam laser + heat sinks? There is no human target that behaves the right way to practice this.
Before you get to firing gauss cannons there is destroying the Thargoid swams with the Remote Release Flack Launchers. I suppose a Plasma Accelerator is half similar, but against a swarm you'll be using it flight assist off and drifting backwards while you try to aim it, fire it and then time the release to catch the swarm in the flack. I'm very bad at dong this. Some YouTubers make it look quite easy. It's not.

So you could attempt a shield less Challenger build (the "meta" is meant to be Chieftain) with rail guns and Plasma Accelerator, which I tried on a Chieftain at a compromised nav beacon. The biggest problem I had with this practice was a load of Diamondback Scouts with railguns sniping the weapons off the Chieftain with no shield thus bringing the engagement to an end quite quickly with not much practice had.
The best ship to try Thargoid combat with a shield is the Krait II with its nice big power distributor to recharge the bi-weave shield quickly and bring it back online after it drops - which it will. Frequently.
Don't forget 2 x Module Reinforcement packages, ideally 3, and as many grade 5 heavy duty deep plate armour and hull reinforcements as you can stuff inside the ship.

Having been through this, I reluctantly but whole heartedly agree with the advice I was given:

"The way to practice fighting Thargoids, is to fight Thargoids"

A non-human signal threat 5 will have the easiest to fight Cyclops Thargoid Interceptor if there is one there at all. Sometimes its just a Thargoid Sensor floating in space. There in lies the other challenge of practicing fighting Thargoids. It can take a while to find one to fight after you are already in a system where they are present.

The next time I attempt fighting Thargoids I will take my Fleet Carrier into the system and find a place near where all the threat 5 non-human signals are. That way I'll stand some chance of finding a Thargoid and fighting it inside half an hour. I didn't have a Fleet Carrier last time I tried to fight Thargoids.

Good luck with this. I hope you have more success than I have so far 👍
 
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CMDRQuainMarln

CMDRQuainMarln
During my COVID-19 isolation this weekend, I've been busy settling on which medium dedicated combat ship I'm going to stay with.
FDL - don't like how it decides when to turn with that narrow speed range in which it will do it. The off centre seating position with window frame bar right in your field of view is just... no! Lastly, the hardpoint placement splits the firing arc of the weapons which really limits you to a laser on the bottom or having the target dead ahead if you want all weapons firing at once. It's annoying, because I like the sound and looks of the FDL. But it's not working for me.
Chieftain - great, but I keep it for AX combat, on the rare occasion I do this, and I somehow want something faster. It doesn't draw me back into it as much as I want it to. My second choice overall.
FAS - Brilliant, mostly. But oddly placed hard points and general ugliness make it a ship I'm not attracted to get back into. Manoeuvrability is superb, though.

The winner is a ship I've been to and from a few times. I've been put off from getting serious with it because the conventional wisdom is, it's a bad FDL.
No it's not a bad FDL, it's a fabulous Mamba. You have to fly it like a Mamba, not some other ship. It's drop dead gorgeous. The cockpit and seating position is spot on. I actually feel like a bounty hunter seeking prey in this ship.
On a more practical front, all the weapons share the same firing arc ahead and up where you can see. High damage, short firing duration weapons like frag cannons work well with a huge beam laser or my choice of huge rapid fire multi-cannon with incendiary rounds. Then a small corrosive multi-cannon and a small emissive pulse laser turret (helps with situation awareness firing at the target constantly). It's a set up that works well for a fast fly by joust and dog fighting for when you can get on the tail of the target.
"The Mamba can't turn"
Yes it can. Much like the Krait MKII which I'm so used to, the Mamba can be asked to turn on request with a boost, and turns faster still with a bit of down thrust and a brief period of FA off at the same time. I've had a lot of practice doing this in the Krait, so it works well for me. Because I chose huge multi cannon instead of the beam laser that it the build mine is based on uses, I can fight with 1 pip on weapons and 2.5 pips on engines and systems to keep the bi-weave shield topping up. The boosts is always there when I want it, the engines are well powered for good speed and agility and 1 pip is more than enough to keep the weapons firing.
Keep speed in the blue zone, and the turn rate is good anyway.
The power plant is grade 1 armoured with thermal spread, so I don't get heat issues.
It will never kill targets in numbers and at the rate of the Federal Corvette, but this is highly entertaining dog fighting play right here, for the non-expert combat player willing to get used to it:
3926853x1570.jpg
 
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Teiri

Teiri
As a person that is rather far from firing arcs (that's when another gun didn't fire, right, i'm kind of used to ignore this fact usually...) i can say still, that the day i got myself FDL (quite early in my journey), i also subsequently got a Mamba no, checked, nearly two weeks in between, but vector was clear. Yeah, because of the cookpit.

But with time i was flying both, and they're both good in a way. My point is - keep FDL. Chances are you'll like it too as well. Nowadays i've made peace with the awkward cabin. Not at all arguing with Mamba, i think that's in Mamba that i was doing those pirate massacres back in times when i didn't know that pirate massacres harm pirates that are already poor enough to harm them even more.
 

CMDRQuainMarln

CMDRQuainMarln
Teiri said:
As a person that is rather far from firing arcs (that's when another gun didn't fire, right, i'm kind of used to ignore this fact usually...) i can say still, that the day i got myself FDL (quite early in my journey), i also subsequently got a Mamba no, checked, nearly two weeks in between, but vector was clear. Yeah, because of the cookpit.

But with time i was flying both, and they're both good in a way. My point is - keep FDL. Chances are you'll like it too as well. Nowadays i've made peace with the awkward cabin. Not at all arguing with Mamba, i think that's in Mamba that i was doing those pirate massacres back in times when i didn't know that pirate massacres harm pirates that are already poor enough to harm them even more.
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Perhaps if the cockpit did not annoy me so much I might persevere with the FDL longer and find a weapon combination that works for me. I don't get on with rail guns. PAs are OK but for me lasers and multi-cannons kill at least as quickly if not quicker.
Needless to say, I don't get into PvP combat, otherwise that would be more motivation to work with the FDL more. I think I'd probably go with the Chieftain for PvP if I did it though.
 

0threeleven

0threeleven
Codger said:
Nope. The only bonus is for being the first to log that bio on that planet. The bonus is equal to the value of the plant, so basically you get twice as much for something that no one else has logged yet.
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Got it, thanks Codger. Well, this is one of the strangest systems I've found, a Herbig AE/BE main star (only my third) orbited by 7 T-Tauri stars. The weirdest thing is they were all almost in perfect alignment and I didn't need to use the FSS scanner, just a good honking did the job.

Strange Herbig AE-BE.jpg
 

CMDR-NOBODY

CMDR-NOBODY
Teiri said:
As a person that is rather far from firing arcs (that's when another gun didn't fire, right, i'm kind of used to ignore this fact usually...) i can say still, that the day i got myself FDL (quite early in my journey), i also subsequently got a Mamba no, checked, nearly two weeks in between, but vector was clear. Yeah, because of the cookpit.

But with time i was flying both, and they're both good in a way. My point is - keep FDL. Chances are you'll like it too as well. Nowadays i've made peace with the awkward cabin. Not at all arguing with Mamba, i think that's in Mamba that i was doing those pirate massacres back in times when i didn't know that pirate massacres harm pirates that are already poor enough to harm them even more.
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I'm sharing a very similar path for FDL and Mamba as your. I get FDL first, I love its shape. It's fast'n furious. I noticed its issue for soon, but its not the cockpit like many CMDRs pointing out, its the hardpoint placement! That under belly C4 hardpoint makin it only useful with fixed weapons.

And since many CMDRs saying that Mamba is so much better than FDL, I brought Mamba too very soon. Been going back'n forth between the 2 since then. Both have its pros and cons. I like how FDL turns nicely (even back in the days I only have G3 dirty drive, now even better with G5!) but as mentioned above I was so frustrated with the hardpoint layout. For Mamba, the hardpoint layout obviously beat FDL but then its lower pitch rate really bugs me. Other than these, both getting their job done nicely.

I'm still having both in the hangar, flying them to pewpew from time to time and try out new weapons combination.
 

ubermick

ubermick
CMDRQuainMarln said:
During my COVID-19 isolation this weekend, I've been busy settling on which medium dedicated combat ship I'm going to stay with.
FDL - don't like how it decides when to turn with that narrow speed range in which it will do it. The off centre seating position with window frame bar right in your field of view is just... no! Lastly, the hardpoint placement splits the firing arc of the weapons which really limits you to a laser on the bottom or having the target dead ahead if you want all weapons firing at once. It's annoying, because I like the sound and looks of the FDL. But it's not working for me.
Chieftain - great, but I keep it for AX combat, on the rare occasion I do this, and I somehow want something faster. It doesn't draw me back into it as much as I want it to. My second choice overall.
FAS - Brilliant, mostly. But oddly placed hard points and general ugliness make it a ship I'm not attracted to get back into. Manoeuvrability is superb, though.

The winner is a ship I've been to and from a few times. I've been put off from getting serious with it because the conventional wisdom is, it's a bad FDL.
No it's not a bad FDL, it's a fabulous Mamba. You have to fly it like a Mamba, not some other ship. It's drop dead gorgeous. The cockpit and seating position is spot on. I actually feel like a bounty hunter seeking prey in this ship.
On a more practical front, all the weapons share the same firing arc ahead and up where you can see. High damage, short firing duration weapons like frag cannons work well with a huge beam laser or my choice of huge rapid fire multi-cannon with incendiary rounds. Then a small corrosive multi-cannon and a small emissive pulse laser turret (helps with situation awareness firing at the target constantly). It's a set up that works well for a fast fly by joust and dog fighting for when you can get on the tail of the target.
"The Mamba can't turn"
Yes it can. Much like the Krait MKII which I'm so used to, the Mamba can be asked to turn on request with a boost, and turns faster still with a bit of down thrust and a brief period of FA off at the same time. I've had a lot of practice doing this in the Krait, so it works well for me. Because I chose huge multi cannon instead of the beam laser that it the build mine is based on uses, I can fight with 1 pip on weapons and 2.5 pips on engines and systems to keep the bi-weave shield topping up. The boosts is always there when I want it, the engines are well powered for good speed and agility and 1 pip is more than enough to keep the weapons firing.
Keep speed in the blue zone, and the turn rate is good anyway.
The power plant is grade 1 armoured with thermal spread, so I don't get heat issues.
It will never kill targets in numbers and at the rate of the Federal Corvette, but this is highly entertaining dog fighting play right here, for the non-expert combat player willing to get used to it:
3926853x1570.jpg
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Contrary to popular belief, the Mamba is a lovely ship. Like you, I personally thought it was more agile than the reports make it out to be, and it can be kitted out to be a real pain in the b’ttocks.

But I also agree 100% with Teiri - both the Mamba and the FDL have a place in any commander’s hangar. There’s a reason the FDL is the “meta” ship when it comes to combat, and I really enjoy mine in combat zones. But for bounty hunting and mission running, I do enjoy my Mamba.
 

CMDR-NOBODY

CMDR-NOBODY
So, get back to my viper. Took a few fights before going to bed. Was bit of worrying on its pitch rate, but G5 dirty drive, the worry is gone. Gosh.. I can turn with other vipers and even eagles. The shield hold up longer than expected, I engaged a deadly python without getting it fully charged!!! So far so good, except it takes long time to grind down the target.

Thinking of dumping some more armor for shield reinforcement???
 
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