I've flown lots of ships and for combat really the Vulture or Chieftain I think are what you should try. Certainly the Viper will be cheap and cheerful and a whole bunch of fun.
However, for the Vulture right out of the box it requires VERY CAREFUL power management to get it right, so it will need some engineering to aid you. As a heavy fighter it can leap about very nicely (especially with G2 or G3 engineered dirty drive thrusters) and with a fixed beam and gimballed mc (ideally get them all engineered too!) you will have everything you need to keep you going. Just keep an eye on your shields!
As for the Chieftain I got mine and did some immediate engineering for FSD, thrusters, power plant and power distributor, and then some playing about with various weapons, but it then doesn't seem to mind too much what weapons you load it with, there seems to be plenty of power available. With engineered thrusters it really handles well! You also have plenty of military slots to use for module and hull 'tanking'!
However, for the Vulture right out of the box it requires VERY CAREFUL power management to get it right, so it will need some engineering to aid you. As a heavy fighter it can leap about very nicely (especially with G2 or G3 engineered dirty drive thrusters) and with a fixed beam and gimballed mc (ideally get them all engineered too!) you will have everything you need to keep you going. Just keep an eye on your shields!
As for the Chieftain I got mine and did some immediate engineering for FSD, thrusters, power plant and power distributor, and then some playing about with various weapons, but it then doesn't seem to mind too much what weapons you load it with, there seems to be plenty of power available. With engineered thrusters it really handles well! You also have plenty of military slots to use for module and hull 'tanking'!
