Am i missing something with the FDL?

Catman3579

Catman3579
Commanders,

To facilitate this week's CG in Neits, I bought a FDL. I normally use my Americonda for everything, and have gotten good enough with FAOFF that I can fight any kind of ship without issues. But since it needs a large pad, I was having to leave Neits, get in a sidey, and fly back in to the station to hand in my imperial scum vouchers. Only an inconvenience really.

The FDL seemed like the best choice. Bought one, outfitted it with A-class stuff and all the bells and whistles. I tried a few different loadouts over the last couple days, but didn't feel good with any of them. Earlier today, two commanders in FAS's caught me off guard in one of the conflict zones and I went boom.

Am I missing something with the FDL? The FAS seems to do everything the FDL can, but for a fraction of the cost.

Should I just use my Americonda? Make my decision for me, Commanders.


If the two Commanders who got me are on here, let me say, thank you. I needed to get put back into place. I hadn't died in a looong time. Enjoy the creds.
 

tafkabb

T
I was going to delete what I wrote below because I don't have that much PVP experience really, but I'll leave it there because I have flown both, and I know when I'm beat. In a FDL vs 2xFAS situation the trick is to not be the FDL.

Discounting the huge hard point because the opposing Assault Ships are impossible to hit with a PAC, that leaves you 4 medium hard points. The FAS have two mediums and two large each. You're already outgunned before taking into account their superior handling and hulls. Your shield won't count for much if there's two of them.
You could probably take one on its own (with all rails or maybe 2 beams and 3 multis) but not together.
 

tafkabb

T
Crusina Luachra said:
Everyone fawns over the FAS and I've never been able to bring myself to enjoy using it.
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The FDL is more fun, for sure. It's sexy, sounds great and the huge PAC makes things go pop. The FAS is functional but gets the job done. It has power to spare and you can have pretty much any weapon combination you want.
 

Catman3579

Catman3579
Here's what I'm gonna do.

1. Sell FDL
2. Buy military composites for the Americonda.
3. Never buy a medium landing pad ship again.

Thanks for the help, Commanders.
 

B Wald

B
Ferd's a great ship, but there aren't many things that can stand alone vs. 2x FAS with good pilots.
 
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Crusina Luachra

Crusina Luachra
BongoBaggins said:
The FDL is more fun, for sure. It's sexy, sounds great and the huge PAC makes things go pop. The FAS is functional but gets the job done. It has power to spare and you can have pretty much any weapon combination you want.
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I made a mistake. I can't stand the FDL and I love the FAS. I just mixed them up when I typed.
 

ThatRubberDuck

ThatRubberDuck
I used a large beam in the huge slot, seemed better overall as had more dps, the pa is fun to use and does a lot of damage but for small ships it's no use really unless you open with it or they do the spin of death that said I'll probably go huge mc all pulse once the new hard points come
 

Hordriss

Hordriss
The primary difference is with the FDL you can really tank the shields and with the FAS you really tank the hull. And the FDL does a load of damage with 4 medium pulse lasers and then a huge PA as a finisher.

They both do the same job and both equally as well in my opinion so the FAS is better value. It cost me around 68*m to buy and outfit my FAS including military grade composite and around 85m for the FDL without the military composite.

Plus both have awful jump range. But they are very good at making stuff go pop.
 

UnhappyDev

UnhappyDev
I love the FDL but there is no way I could survive against 2x cmdrs in assault ships. Maybe a very good pilot (i.e. not me) running a stealth build (5x railguns + heatsinks) would do some damage, but I would take the sane course of action and run


Catman3579 said:
Here's what I'm gonna do.

1. Sell FDL
2. Buy military composites for the Americonda.
3. Never buy a medium landing pad ship again.

Thanks for the help, Commanders.
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Even an A spec conda would struggle against 2 fed assult ships - mil spec bulkheads don't help much if they target your powerplant
 
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JimMaddog

J
FDL is a solid ship. You just made a bad call. Even Bruce Lee only fights people one at a time 😉.

The true strength of the FDL imo; if you can't kill it you can out run it & you can kill any ship that can out run you.

Tried running away in a FAS? Python? Conda? When it's crunch time those ships are a one way ticket to a rebuy screen.

Just out of interest, how confident would you have been taking on those two CMDR FAS' in your Conda?
 

Ca$hback

Ca$hback
I joust with this ship using a 4B g/cannon, two D3 t/beam lasers and two C3 g/beam lasers. My turrets harass shields while I jockey for position. Once in position I FAon and cut the shields with all 4 beams as I accelerate toward the target. At 1.5km I change to my cannon and usually get two shots off per pass. I hit about 1/3rd of the time. I can kill most NPCs if I hit them with both while their shields are down. I find the ship to be a jouster that can tussle for a bit but it's like cavalry and it's strength is in charging and disengaging. I've never used the FAS but fighting two of any ship makes it way harder to joust. OTH, imagine how poorly one FAS will fare against two Murders.
 

DustyArne

DustyArne
The FAS is a major upgrade form a Vulture. And even in a Vulture i have no issues with FDL's. (PvE)


Now with the new weapon systems in 1.6, the FDL might get some more kickback (4 bursts 1 Huge MC anyone :D), but pre 1.6, it was underpowered.
 

znôrt

znôrt
Catman3579 said:
Am I missing something with the FDL?
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practice?

you are comparing hundreds of hours in your conda with minutes in a fdl, which is a tricky ship to fly.

also, having to run from 2 fas is fairly normal unless they are npc.

so i'm guessing you usually do pve and your dominant tactic relies on huge shields and superior firepower, aka face tanking. that's obviously not going to work in a fdl, and even less against average skilled cmdrs.
 

Nerwan

Nerwan
There are several reasons why a lot of PVPers consider the FDL to be the best ship in 2.1, here's a few:

1. It has great lateral/vertical movement (compared to the FAS), the FAS will always win a pitching battle but an FDL pilot can dodge much more effectively with boost.
2. It's quite hard to hit for such a powerful ship and even more importantly it's modules are quite hard to hit (compared to a FAS for example) and certainly compared to any of the big ships.
3. It has very nice hard point placement (you can put 5 fixed weapons on it and focus them all) unlike the FAS where you usually need a different weapon on the top one.
4. In 2.0 it's weapon configuration meshes very well with the most popular PVP weapons (you can put 5 fixed medium rail guns and MCs)
5. It has fantastic acceleration
6. If not running silent it has very strong shields making it a very good 1v1 ship or silent for wing fights..

These things together have made the FDL the PVP king of 2.0. We'll see what 2.1 brings.. I still think it's going to be right up there.

I should add, the FDL may be the ship of choice for the elite pilots but I don't actually think it's the easiest ship to get into PVP with because a FAS will kick your ass if you let it get close to you since it can ram an FDL to death super quick and has more armour.
 
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Catman3579

Catman3579
JimMaddog said:
FDL is a solid ship. You just made a bad call. Even Bruce Lee only fights people one at a time ��.

The true strength of the FDL imo; if you can't kill it you can out run it & you can kill any ship that can out run you.

Tried running away in a FAS? Python? Conda? When it's crunch time those ships are a one way ticket to a rebuy screen.

Just out of interest, how confident would you have been taking on those two CMDR FAS' in your Conda?
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I'd feel very confident. The Americonda is very natural and graceful, and is meant to take a load of pews. At least imo. Plus I have a delicious loadout of 2 large beams and 5 multis, so most things melt quick.

Edit: I should note that an increase in confidence does not mean the end result would have changed.

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znôrt said:
practice?

you are comparing hundreds of hours in your conda with minutes in a fdl, which is a tricky ship to fly.

also, having to run from 2 fas is fairly normal unless they are npc.

so i'm guessing you usually do pve and your dominant tactic relies on huge shields and superior firepower, aka face tanking. that's obviously not going to work in a fdl, and even less against average skilled cmdrs.
Click to expand...

Couldn't have said it better myself haha. Just gonna stick with the Conda. I've got planets to land on.
 
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