Alliance Chieftan with Guardian Tech

[tolm]

Sooooo ... still really hoping the Mamba will be a central-pilot-seat replacement for my FDL but in the mean time I’ve been trying some other ships out for size. Tried a FAS but hull was too much for even a Guardian Shield Reinforcement backed 5C BiWeave to hold up long on and, TBH, I’m not that keen on the hardpoint placement.

So, current combat ship of choice is my reworked Krait MkII with 2x C3 Focused PAs, 1x C3 Efficient Thermal Vent Beam and 2x C2 of the same. Loaded with a 6C Fast Charge Thermal Resist BiWeave and a bunch of Shield Boosters / guardian Shield reinforcement modules, it’s pretty good. But I’m wondering if I could do better ...

I remember flying the Chieftan when it first dropped and it was very manoeuvrable and great fun to fly but a little light on shielding for my tastes. Now that I have the Guardian modules unlocked ... I’m wondering about something like this:

https://coriolis.io/outfit/alliance...nlcg1gEAAA==.EweloBhBGA2EoFMCGBzANokMK4fiIA==

1500MJ BiWeave shields with 55% resists, a quad of beam lasers and those two top mounted large PAs will both line up better and deal more damage than the single Huge on an FDL. Assuming it’s as agile as I remember it should be immense ... the downside? I don’t have the engineers unlock to use a standard PP to power all that gear, so I’d probably look to use a spare Guardian Module Blueprint to grab a Guardian PP ... don’t mind doing that but what do folks reckon to that build for PvE Assassination missions, res site hunting, etc?

 

[Trollymctrollerson]

Sounds hot. I'd swap the beams out if you have dual large plasma with gaurdian power plant. Thermal vents might keep you going if you have that engineer unlocked. Cheiftain shields are almost identical to FAS so not gaining much in the shield department.

 

[tolm]

Yeh, I’d be Thermal Venting all the beams to keep the heat down but the .50 efficiency on the Guarfian PP does worry me a little. Advantage over the FAS for shielding is it’ll take a 6C BiWeave so (1) it’s MUCH faster to recharge than a 5C and (2) the Hull is actually within the mass range so hopefully the shields won’t collapse under fire like I’ve found the FAS shields do ...

 

[CMDR Corlas]

1500MJ seems like wild amounts of overkill for PvE, so I don't think anyone would have any problem fighting in that. Seems like it would get boring fast though, being unable to do anything else.

 

[Hacker#451563]

A 3m30sec re-boot duration when your shields drop is not optimal for a Bi-weave set-up IMO. If you're waiting longer than a minute 30 then you might as well go for the thicker shields anyway and then get a better %%% on the boosters.

Unless you have an all energy weapon load-out that lets you stay in a REZ site for...ever....then you can wait for the shields to recharge a bit quicker than the normal (or prismatic) types ços you are not returning to a station.

 

[tolm]

1500MJ seems like wild amounts of overkill for PvE, so I don't think anyone would have any problem fighting in that. Seems like it would get boring fast though, being unable to do anything else.

Yeh, very possibly ... I’d probably switch out one of the internal shield reinforcements for an SRV so I can use it as a general purpose combat / mats gathering ship. I have other ships for running Cargo missions ... or, I did, before my Krait got combat ready so that would likely go back to my mission runner if I use something else for combat.

 

[tolm]

Okay, maybe a slightly more realistic build ... I have the 6A Monstered PP and slightly engineered FSD ready to go. Not 100% sure about switching the PAs to Plasma Slug but having the Fuel Scoop means I can rearm for free and the extra fuel tank means I can sit in a res site for longer. Also stuck an SRV on there for gathering materials ... leaves me at just under 1000MJ for shields, which is a little less than my FDL had and about 300MJ less than my Krait currently has but hoping the extra agility means I won’t need as much?

https://coriolis.io/outfit/alliance...s49XdzECAAA=.EweloBhBGA2EoFMCGBzANokMK4fiIA==

Dunno ... seems like more compromises than my Krait ... but if the agility is much better it may be worth it.

 

[Ethaidan]

A Chieftain... without three LR Rails? Why I never.

 

[tolm]

I did think about Rails ... I just really like PAs ...

 

[CMDR CPT. Boris]

i tend to prefer hull strength over shield
i prefer to see my shield melt rather than my hull

 

[CMDR Corlas]

My combat Chieftain build has 305MJ, so I think your updated build will still be fine.

 

[Ethaidan]

I did think about Rails ... I just really like PAs ...

Both?

Mine has (testing) 2 large PAs and 3 small rails.

 

[Conch]

A Chieftain... without three LR Rails? Why I never.

The chief shines best with dual pacifier on it

 

[tolm]

Both?

Mine has (testing) 2 large PAs and 3 small rails.

Nice! I’ve actually gone back to my Krait MkII ... not as agile as the Chieftan by any means but the larger PP and PD mean I can always fire when I want to whereas I was finding the beams were draining the C6 cap too much for the PAs to always fire on the Chief.

Now running my Krait at 1266MJ shields with a single C3 Beam Laser (G3 Efficient with Thermal Vent) and then 2x C2 Rails (G4 Lightweight with Plasma Slug) and 2x C3 Plasma Accelerators (G2 Focused ... still deciding on which experimental to go for) and it’s a lot of fun in a Haz Res. The fixed weps keep things interesting - Rails for smaller / faster craft and the PAs for clobbering the big ‘uns - and the Thermal Vent Beam keeps everything cool.

Had much more success with this than the Chief where I needed a big hull repair (down to 27%!) following a scrap with an Elite Anaconda whereas I came out of the equivalent fight in the Krait with only half a ring of shields gone. Maybe with more practise I’d be better with the Chief but, at least for now, the Krait seems to suit my flying style. TBH - I think it’s as much down to my dealing damage quicker as to any better defence.