Advice for PVE Fer de Lance

[viper1209]

Greetings commanders o7

I ask your advice for my Fer de Lance PVE build, especially what to engineer how.

This is what I think should work out (For testing purpose I set every upgrade except power plant to "worst" to see if I get mayor power issues)

Currently I fly pretty much the same right now but without the upgrades, Point defence replaced by shield booster and military bulkheads.
I'm not using SCB because of the ammo issues in those small and few internals.
Also in all builds I found I never have seen anyone using Plasma Accelerators in an FDL so I would like to know if there is a good reason not to use them, hard to hit a fast/distant target tho. I miss with about every other shot, should I use lasers (which one, burst with focused G5?) instead? I never had any temperature issues while fighting with PA, I think I never got it over 130% and very rarely over 100% but may change with Dirt Drive G5.

For the experimental effects I thought about aming for 2x "Corrosive Shell" and 2x "Incendiary Rounds" for the MC but have no idea if I should choose "Dispersal Field", "Phasing Sequence" or "Target Lock Breaker" for PA

Thanks

 

[viper666]

For PVE I went with a similar setup but all shield boosters were thermal resist, with re-enforced bi-weaves. The FDL is a pretty big ship so I ditched chaff and fitted a heatsink launcher modded for more ammo, and a size 4 shield cell bank.
I would ditch the bulkheads and go with modded lightweight G5 heavy duty, no weight penalty. The huge hardpoint is ideal for snapshots with the plasma accelerator, you do sacrifice a lot of fire power though, but it worked for me.

For the PA I would go for G5 efficient with NO special effect. I had 50/50/50 resist stats for the shields, and nothing but a wing of big ships could take those shields down.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

That will work. For PVE, anything you can hit them with more than they hit you works.
I do most of my PVE in a Beluga, but over this past weekend I even used a Dolphin for some entertaining combat.
Once I used a pair for force-shell cannon turrets, the other a beam and rail gun.

Have to admit, the Force Shell always makes me laugh a bit, especially vs. small ships like Sidewinders and Eagles.
But the beam-and-rail works nicely against things like Asp Explorers.

It's all about what works best for you.

Only one Corrosive is needed or really desired, as the effect does not stack.

For the PA, you might actually consider Plasma Slug and Long Range or Efficient - You'll lose some damage output from the Slug, but you'll gain nearly unlimited ammo and no restocking costs.
Long Range will increase the speed of the plasma ball. Efficient will cut the heat output, and give a slight increase to damage to soften the reduction for the slug.

 

[yolomcbobbinz]

Here is what I run, I highly recommend it.https://eddp.co/u/lZqyUPCH
If you have no interest in using it then let me give some advice, you don't see many plasma accelerators on pve builds because of their low ammo count and high power and heat generations. Target lock breaker is kinda pointless because the NPCs have aimbot

As for the multicannons you were talking about using 2 corrosive don't get 2 because they don't stack trade it in for an incendiary or something. Since I advised against the plasma I'd run 2-3 lasers at least and rest multi cannons.

As for the utilities there's no reason to use point defenses because thanks to the FDL's kinda squishy hull if your shields get low you should leave and recharge them.

 

[viper1209]

Thank you all for your advices

That will work. For PVE, anything you can hit them with more than they hit you works.
I do most of my PVE in a Beluga, but over this past weekend I even used a Dolphin for some entertaining combat.
Once I used a pair for force-shell cannon turrets, the other a beam and rail gun.

Have to admit, the Force Shell always makes me laugh a bit, especially vs. small ships like Sidewinders and Eagles.
But the beam-and-rail works nicely against things like Asp Explorers.

It's all about what works best for you.

Only one Corrosive is needed or really desired, as the effect does not stack.

For the PA, you might actually consider Plasma Slug and Long Range or Efficient - You'll lose some damage output from the Slug, but you'll gain nearly unlimited ammo and no restocking costs.
Long Range will increase the speed of the plasma ball. Efficient will cut the heat output, and give a slight increase to damage to soften the reduction for the slug.

Force shell sounds fun but for a gimbal weapon the cannon just uses to much ammo but I rarely run out of ammo for the PA and I used plasma slug back then when flying an ASPX with two rails and recognised that FDLs fuel tank is too small for long combat

Here is what I run, I highly recommend it.https://eddp.co/u/lZqyUPCH
If you have no interest in using it then let me give some advice, you don't see many plasma accelerators on pve builds because of their low ammo count and high power and heat generations. Target lock breaker is kinda pointless because the NPCs have aimbot

As for the multicannons you were talking about using 2 corrosive don't get 2 because they don't stack trade it in for an incendiary or something. Since I advised against the plasma I'd run 2-3 lasers at least and rest multi cannons.

As for the utilities there's no reason to use point defenses because thanks to the FDL's kinda squishy hull if your shields get low you should leave and recharge them.

Very nice one. I really like the "look and feel" of beam lasers but never made them to work properly, because they just emptied my capacitor and burned my ship in heat without dealing much damage. But if you say yours work I think I will at least try it
Is there a reason why you only applied G3 to beams "Efficient" and shield boosters "Resistance Augmented"? Especially as "Efficient" has no downside. Switched one booster with a warrant scanner set all on G5 and did my "worst test" seems to work fine.

 

[Jimbodiah]

Weapons depend on what you are doing: if you are going to hazres then leave the multicanon as the ammo is very limited unless you have loads of synth materials.

Huge G5 efficient beam laser with thermal vent.
Four G5 rapid fire pulse lasers with phasing and scramble effects


You can run hazres forever this way.

Re armor: if you need it then you are doing it wrong. Save the weight and expense.

I also don't use SCB as the 4A is too small to matter and only gives 3 recharges. 5C biweaves with thermal resistance.

Shield boosters with resistance augmented and heavy duty. The single resistance types give penalties for the other resistances so are not logical imho.

5A long range sensors for 13km reach

Chaff with extra ammo mod, 0B killwarrant

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

The G1 long range mod for the PA should be a consideration.
That and the focused are what I use on my PAs; they both increase shot velocity considerably.
Lasers really benefit from the long range G1 mod too, re: damage falloff.
I mix it up a bit on my FDL but my current favorite is 2 long range gimballed beams, 2 long range rails (super pen and feedback) and the huge PA, G5 focused, although long range is great there too.

I can keep the two beams lit whenever the enemy is in my fov, and alternate between the rails and PA for sniping and absolute/splash damage.
The rails benefit from some "micro-gimballing" with the LR mod.

Vindicator Jones made a PA/FDL vid some time ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVoX2luuqTQ

 

[IndigoWyrd]

Thank you all for your advices

Force shell sounds fun but for a gimbal weapon the cannon just uses to much ammo but I rarely run out of ammo for the PA and I used plasma slug back then when flying an ASPX with two rails and recognised that FDLs fuel tank is too small for long combat

Force shell is a riot, but you're right about cannons not having nearly enough ammo, even with Extended Magazine mods, there's just never enough ammo. However, there is something to be said for a cannon volley that ends your enemies by exploding them against a rock.

 

[[VR] Frank_G]

The first general advice would be, to keep the 40% rule in mind. Look at your power graph - there is a red 40%. Bring your first power group down to below 40% and it changes to blue.
This will ensure, that your vital components stay active, when your reactor gets mauled badly and keeps your ship from shutting down.

A Fer-De-Lance in PvE is a pretty capable ship. I really need to get one myself... only flew one during Beta phases.

 

[Mean_Mr_Grinch]

The way I see it my pvp ship can pve, but a pve ship is gonna suck for pvp. So why not engineer it for pvp and just do it once?

I love plasmas for the fdl. It has very good hardpoint placement for it. I like to use a gimballed corrosive multi in the huge spot for debuff for my plasmas. It also helps to hit small fast ships. You only need to connect with the 4 plasmas a couple times to wreck little ships.

The power plant is the easiest part of the build. Put everything together, see what your power needs are, then gather sulfur and do a ton of g1 oc rolls until you get a god roll. You'll appreciate the heat saving compared to a g5 roll.

 

[viper1209]

The way I see it my pvp ship can pve, but a pve ship is gonna suck for pvp. So why not engineer it for pvp and just do it once?

I love plasmas for the fdl. It has very good hardpoint placement for it. I like to use a gimballed corrosive multi in the huge spot for debuff for my plasmas. It also helps to hit small fast ships. You only need to connect with the 4 plasmas a couple times to wreck little ships.

The power plant is the easiest part of the build. Put everything together, see what your power needs are, then gather sulfur and do a ton of g1 oc rolls until you get a god roll. You'll appreciate the heat saving compared to a g5 roll.

Would not mind if my FDL would be PVPable, would not use it for that purpose much tho so PVE is my main focus (if I'm into PVP I hope to find a match in CQC^^)
What would you recommend for a PVP build?
So you go 4x Class 2 PA and Class 4 MC?

The first general advice would be, to keep the 40% rule in mind. Look at your power graph - there is a red 40%. Bring your first power group down to below 40% and it changes to blue.
This will ensure, that your vital components stay active, when your reactor gets mauled badly and keeps your ship from shutting down.

A Fer-De-Lance in PvE is a pretty capable ship. I really need to get one myself... only flew one during Beta phases.

WOW and another very basic information I never learned about the game while playing for way over one year. Ever thought the power plant would either output 100% when ok or 0% when blown up. In wich state it outputs 40% (or something else)?
Can someone provide info please?

Weapons depend on what you are doing: if you are going to hazres then leave the multicanon as the ammo is very limited unless you have loads of synth materials.

Huge G5 efficient beam laser with thermal vent.
Four G5 rapid fire pulse lasers with phasing and scramble effects


You can run hazres forever this way.

Re armor: if you need it then you are doing it wrong. Save the weight and expense.

I also don't use SCB as the 4A is too small to matter and only gives 3 recharges. 5C biweaves with thermal resistance.

Shield boosters with resistance augmented and heavy duty. The single resistance types give penalties for the other resistances so are not logical imho.

5A long range sensors for 13km reach

Chaff with extra ammo mod, 0B killwarrant

Never had ammo issues with the MC. Most of the time I still have 25% ammo left when I get bored and fly home (after about 1-1,5mio in HIGHRES, 0,5-1mio in HAZRES)
Tried cannons once and had to end a fight using PA only because I did not expect the ammo to be empty that far and didn't had an eye on it *shame*
Like the idea of your weapons. Seems I have to try lots of setups to find the one working for me.
And I'm sure I'm doing it wrong Being only Master I think I'm not a Noob anymore but far away from being "good". FDL is also not very forgiving when maneuvering badly^^
Also the High-Grade bulkheads let the spead only drop by about 6m/s, is it that much compared with the chance to be able to run for much longer when shields are down?

The G1 long range mod for the PA should be a consideration.
That and the focused are what I use on my PAs; they both increase shot velocity considerably.
Lasers really benefit from the long range G1 mod too, re: damage falloff.
I mix it up a bit on my FDL but my current favorite is 2 long range gimballed beams, 2 long range rails (super pen and feedback) and the huge PA, G5 focused, although long range is great there too.

I can keep the two beams lit whenever the enemy is in my fov, and alternate between the rails and PA for sniping and absolute/splash damage.
The rails benefit from some "micro-gimballing" with the LR mod.

Vindicator Jones made a PA/FDL vid some time ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVoX2luuqTQ

You mean they gain something like the parallax correction you see on other fixed weapons?

 

[Mean_Mr_Grinch]

Would not mind if my FDL would be PVPable, would not use it for that purpose much tho so PVE is my main focus (if I'm into PVP I hope to find a match in CQC^^)
What would you recommend for a PVP build?
So you go 4x Class 2 PA and Class 4 MC?

It's a pretty standard pvp build.
1 huge mc with corossive
4 small pa's with whatever effects you want.
Resistance shield boosters. You can throw in some heavy duty if you want higher total shields but I like resistance for all of them.
Save a spot for a kws if you want to make extra money. Or put a heat sink if you're using banks.
Hull is up to you. You can spend the dough for reactive surface. I think g5 thermal resist is popular, I can't remember. Or you can g5 thermal your stock hull to save some weight.
G1 A rated overcharged pp. Just enough to run everything.
G5 A rated dirty drive thrusters. No one uses clean thrusters.
G5 A rated charge enhanced distributer.
A rated sensors. Engineered for long range if you have extra time.
Whatever life support you're comfortable with. I usually go d rated.
If you plan to stay in the system a while you can use a smaller fuel tank for some weight savings.
Bi-weave shields with g5 thermal resist
2 class 4 b rated shield banks if you don't mind the extra weight.
A class 2 hull reinforcement with g5 heavy duty. This will give you the resistance buffs without the weight.
I can't think of what else you'll need off the top of my head.

As you can guess you want to keep a fdl light and fast. It's a shield tank so avoiding fire is key. Then practice, practice, practice, because it's a quirky ship that's hard to fly at first. I strongly recommend starting with a federal assault ship first then moving to a fdl. But it's up to you. Good luck man!

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

You mean they gain something like the parallax correction you see on other fixed weapons?

For the rails?
Not the language I'd use but the end
is greater accuracy and/or more damage landed for all of the things I mentioned.
I was all about the efficient builds before, ftr.
Pip management gets a little tighter but the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks ime.

 

[viper1209]

It's a pretty standard pvp build.
1 huge mc with corossive
4 small pa's with whatever effects you want.
Resistance shield boosters. You can throw in some heavy duty if you want higher total shields but I like resistance for all of them.
Save a spot for a kws if you want to make extra money. Or put a heat sink if you're using banks.
Hull is up to you. You can spend the dough for reactive surface. I think g5 thermal resist is popular, I can't remember. Or you can g5 thermal your stock hull to save some weight.
G1 A rated overcharged pp. Just enough to run everything.
G5 A rated dirty drive thrusters. No one uses clean thrusters.
G5 A rated charge enhanced distributer.
A rated sensors. Engineered for long range if you have extra time.
Whatever life support you're comfortable with. I usually go d rated.
If you plan to stay in the system a while you can use a smaller fuel tank for some weight savings.
Bi-weave shields with g5 thermal resist
2 class 4 b rated shield banks if you don't mind the extra weight.
A class 2 hull reinforcement with g5 heavy duty. This will give you the resistance buffs without the weight.
I can't think of what else you'll need off the top of my head.

As you can guess you want to keep a fdl light and fast. It's a shield tank so avoiding fire is key. Then practice, practice, practice, because it's a quirky ship that's hard to fly at first. I strongly recommend starting with a federal assault ship first then moving to a fdl. But it's up to you. Good luck man!

Nice build, hard to get it to work tho. Even with only 4 resistance shield boosters, a E rated KWS and a 6A PP G1 overcharged with "best" roll I still need pretty good rolls on PAs efficient to get enough power as the class 2 PA just uses SO much energy.

Also, don't get me wrong, I'm not new to FDL or planning to buy one, I already fly it for several month and I'm, let's say, "ok" in flying it. It's just that I'm still flying stock and now want to improve my ship woth better loadout and engineering

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Re: LR mod.
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/363279-The-need-to-adjust-dropoff-on-LR-Discuss

 

[Mean_Mr_Grinch]

Nice build, hard to get it to work tho. Even with only 4 resistance shield boosters, a E rated KWS and a 6A PP G1 overcharged with "best" roll I still need pretty good rolls on PAs efficient to get enough power as the class 2 PA just uses SO much energy.

Also, don't get me wrong, I'm not new to FDL or planning to buy one, I already fly it for several month and I'm, let's say, "ok" in flying it. It's just that I'm still flying stock and now want to improve my ship woth better loadout and engineering

It's about as vanilla as a fdl build comes. Lots of pvpers using or have used this build, or a very similar variation. I don't see why it would be hard to make it work. I mean, if you can't get a g1 god roll for your pp then go for a g2. It just takes a little practice with the plasmas to git gud, but once you can hit reliably there won't be an npc that's a challenge. I can rack up a couple million in bounties before I need to rearm. What more could you ask for in a combat ship?

 

[yolomcbobbinz]

Very nice one. I really like the "look and feel" of beam lasers but never made them to work properly, because they just emptied my capacitor and burned my ship in heat without dealing much damage. But if you say yours work I think I will at least try it
Is there a reason why you only applied G3 to beams "Efficient" and shield boosters "Resistance Augmented"? Especially as "Efficient" has no downside. Switched one booster with a warrant scanner set all on G5 and did my "worst test" seems to work fine.

I only have g3 because I don't have access to g5 same with the boosters, if you do definitely use g5. Thermal vent will stop it from over heating, I don't know if it stacks, but with all 4 my heat doesn't rise past 40% until the capacitor is just about to drain, but you know charge enhanced will recharge the cap in a few seconds.

 

[CMDR IPL Victim]

Here is what I run, I highly recommend it.https://eddp.co/u/lZqyUPCH
If you have no interest in using it then let me give some advice, you don't see many plasma accelerators on pve builds because of their low ammo count and high power and heat generations. Target lock breaker is kinda pointless because the NPCs have aimbot

As for the multicannons you were talking about using 2 corrosive don't get 2 because they don't stack trade it in for an incendiary or something. Since I advised against the plasma I'd run 2-3 lasers at least and rest multi cannons.

As for the utilities there's no reason to use point defenses because thanks to the FDL's kinda squishy hull if your shields get low you should leave and recharge them.

My PVE FDL Build, FWIW. Quad PA, Efficient Beam.

 

[yolomcbobbinz]

My PVE FDL Build, FWIW. Quad PA, Efficient Beam.

Looks good, but I'm not a fan of anything other than biweaves for the fdl I do want to play around with plasma accelerators more but I need to get around to unlocking the engineer to get efficient

 

[WR3ND]

Well, considering I find it sufficient enough to manage PVE in a decent Cobra Mk. III build, whatever tickles your fancy, really. I mean, really...