Video guide here:
And, as per forum tradition, here is the script:
And, as per forum tradition, here is the script:
Intro
The Anaconda, for me, began as an unattainable dream. When I first started playing, mind you this was during the original beta no less than a decade ago, credits were scarce. So scarce, in fact, that Anacondas were a rarity in the game.
In the rare cases where I did meet a player-owned one, I’d just stop and stare in awe, on one hand envious and on the other hand pondering the amount of grind it took that CMDR to own one, and the insane rebuy cost they would have to eat should they ever lose one.
When long-range smuggling came about, at the beginning of 2016, I finally mustered enough credits to purchase one (and I also made my very first Elite tutorial video … wow that was a while ago!)
I remember well the feeling of undocking it for the first time and taking it to a combat zone. I reasoned: “This must be like Captain Harlock felt when they first boarded the Arcadia.”
And while the Anaconda doesn’t quite have the main gun batteries of the Arcadia, it’s as close as it gets in the game.
Sporting the largest power distributor in the game, coupled with the most medium-and-above good-convergence hardpoints in the game, the most utility slots in the game, excellent internals and a fantastic jump range, the Anaconda is a true behemoth.
Like all behemoths, it does have to contend with drawbacks however, namely its terrible agility, limited speed, and humongous target profile.
This ship was built to be a tank. Slow, cumbersome, heavy-hitting, and meant to soak damage rather than avoid damage.
Fast forward a decade later, the world of Elite has fundamentally changed. Credits rain from the sky. Most anyone who wants an Anaconda can get one. Rebuys are hardly meaningful.
And the Anaconda has become a popular anti-xeno ship, for reasons both good and bad - as we will explain.
The Anaconda as an AX ship
You may have heard that, as a general principle, large ships do not fare particularly well in anti xeno combat.
Many factors play into that but, primarily, it comes down to the fact that Thargoid Interceptors hit extremely hard, and it is far more viable to avoid their damage rather than to tank it. For that, you want speed, agility and a small profile, essentially the opposite of what large ships offer.
That notion hasn’t prevented a lot of CMDRs from sticking to “what they know” as they approach AX combat, and “what they know” is, often, the tank-damage and use-big-guns approach that works so well in human combat zones and resource extraction sites.
It also hasn’t helped that certain irresponsible CMDRs (read: me) have foolishly popularized a particular variant of the AX Anaconda, the 6-modshards so-called “ShardConda”, as an exceptionally effective Cyclops murder machine.
Like it or not like it, AX Anacondas are now a common sight on the battlefield. They come primarily in three variants.
The ShardConda
By and large, the most popular variant of the AX Anaconda is the so-called ShardConda. The ShardConda mounts 6 medium modified guardian shard cannons.
The remarkable characteristic of the ShardConda is that, with such firepower, it is able to instantly destroy Cyclops interceptors - which certainly has a “wow factor” to it.
The main challenge with the ShardConda is that it is ill-suited to fight anything other than a Cyclops.
Interceptors have defense mechanisms to counter overwhelming firepower and while you can overcome them on the lowly Cyclops, you will eventually have to learn and understand the phases of the fight to be helpful with anything harder.
It is not uncommon to see less-experienced CMDRs in anti-xeno combat zones panic-shielding Basilisks, and even Hydras!, over and over and over again effectively making no progress in the fight.
Shardcondas further cannot be used in TitanSpace, and are vulnerable to Anti Guardian Zones, making them a debatable choice for spires, and a tricky one for anti xeno combat zones where Glaives spawn (which is to say, most of them.)
In the hands of an experienced CMDR, with a lot of trigger discipline, they CAN be used to battle tougher interceptors, but they will generally underperform medium ships in that role. They are also, counter-intuitively, likely to take a lot MORE damage than medium ships and, ultimately, rebuy a lot more often.
With all that said, we can appreciate the feeling some CMDRs embrace in putting together something that can splash a cyclops with just a few simple trigger pulls, whereas they might have a real hard time doing so with other ships.
Just don’t be fooled - the ShardConda is a hard ship to fly. Sure, you can gib clops with it, but if you want to be more than a nuisance in a Combat Zone, you will need to train and learn proper trigger discipline and timing. Or else, the only thing you’re likely going to accomplish with it is to off everyone else in your instance, when you panic shield that Medusa for the 5th time in a row.
With regards to the build, engineering an Anaconda is pretty straightforward.
For core modules, Military Grade Armor, Dirty Drives, Long Range Sensors, Armored Power Plant, Light Weight Life Support, Charge Enhanced Power Distributor and Increased Range FSD are the near-universal way to go.
As far as optional internals, the build has a lot of flex. As a shardconda’s primary hunting grounds are likely to be anti xeno combat zones, a shieldless build is preferred. We recommend bringing multiple AFMUs, as triple-module-repair-speed is a real beauty. The main choice is really between a Class 7 Repair Limpet Controller or a Universal Limpet Controller. I prefer the former (C7 RLC repairs a LOT more than the class 5) but any of the two choices can work. If you’re fighting at a port-based CZs where repairs (but not limpets) are available, drop the repair limpet and cargo hold for one each of an additional HRP and MRP.
Utilities have a lot of flex, though a ShardConda will typically kit a shutdown field neutralizer, an enhanced xeno scanner, a couple of caustic sink launchers, and fill the balance with heatsinks.
Firegroups wise, you’ll want to stagger your shards much like any ship, UNLESS you’re going for a cyclops gip - then you’ll be firing them all together; in that case, keep heatsinks handy, it’ll get toasty in the cockpit!
Interlude
As we move to the PlasmaConda, I wanted to take a minute to ask for your support. If you find these videos helpful, please take a moment to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell below. It really means a lot to us and helps us notice your support.
The PlasmaConda
A different and more specialized version of the AX Anaconda, the so-called PlasmaConda kits six medium modified guardian plasma chargers, or MPCs as they are often called.
MPCs are incredibly distributor hungry, which is why they work so well on the Anaconda, which has the largest power distributor in the game.
MPCs have the highest damage against thargoid hulls, but rather limited breach damage, which means that they aren’t very good at damaging interceptor hearts.
However, there is one particular interceptor variant which doesn’t have hearts at all … can you guess which one it is?
You probably guessed it - Orthrus interceptors, the main fare at spire sites, alert systems, and Titan Meltdowns, have no hearts and take brutal damage from MPCs, especially after their shields drop.
MPCs are so effective at dropping Orthruses in fact, that a wing of just three Plasmacondas can destroy Orthruses on spawn before they even have a chance to shield up. And even if they do shield up, sustained fire from a wing of PlasmaCondas will wipe the floor with an Orthrus before it has chance to trigger its anti guardian field (or otherwise limit damage from it to negligible levels.)
To this day, a coordinated wing of PlasmaCondas remains, far and wide, THE best way to hunt at spire sites. Nothing really comes close.
Plasmacondas can, in theory, also be used in AntiXeno Combat Zones and in solo combat, but they are even more challenging to use, and even more likely to panic shield interceptors, than their ShardConda relatives, which is why we don’t recommend them for such use.
Note that my older build for the PlasmaConda was the CytoPlasmaConda, which matched two Cytoscramblers to the six mpcs, but their benefit was marginal, and the power of concordant sequence in a shielded wing cannot be understated - you HAVE to try it for yourself. Hence the change in this updated build.
The Core, Optional, and Utilities vary somewhat from the shardconda. Most notably, this is a biweaves shielded build, with reinforce/lo-draw engineering. We swapped 2 of the 4 heatsink for an additional 2 caustic sinks - as the PlasmaConda doesn’t really need heatsinks (Plasma runs really cool with a fully charged distro), and you’ll likely be swimming in caustic soup a good chunk of your time at spires.
The additional powergrid requirements force it to drop from the enhanced version of the xeno scanner to the basic one, while uptiering the powerplant experimental from thermal spread to monstered. The build is the same in all other aspects. Note that the triple AFMUs are particularly important here, as you are likely to take AGF damage at some point.
The MCConda
The multi cannon variant of the Anaconda uses 4 large “Azimuth” pre-engineered AX MCs and 2 medium “Sirius” pre-engineered missiles racks or, if those aren’t within your reach, the far-more-accessible enhanced versions (MCs gimballed, missiles fixed).
This variant trades raw damage potential to do away with most of the issues the other variants have.
It absolutely shreds scouts and hunters. It is immune to anti guardian zones and can be used in TitanSpace. It will never panic-shield an interceptor.
While its contribution to heart exertion will be limited, its ability to automatically track and fire at hearts means that it is likely to deliver even more damage to hearts than most guardian-equipped variants in a real-world combat scenario.
Yet, it still has more than enough firepower to solo a Medusa if it comes to it.
The missiles allow it to take on Banshees from the sky, and contribute good damage to Orthruses and the Titan’s thermal core. They are unlikely to hit fast moving targets however.
The MCConda is unquestionably the better build for less experienced AX CMDRs, as far as team contribution goes.
The core and optional internals of the MCConda very similar to those of the ShardConda. The triple AFMUs are less important here, as this ship is invulnerable to AGF, and you may safely swap out one or two of them if you so choose. The build also upgrades them to A-rated, as there is plenty of powergrid available here to do so, but if you want to keep the B-rated ones of the ShardConda that works too, the 11% repair capacity difference isn’t huge.
As far as utilities go, an Enhanced Xeno Scanner is critically important on this build, as without one you cannot subtarget hearts, and thus your build will be crippled. Beyond that, you’ll probably want a Thargoid pulse neutralizer for access to TitanSpace and shutdown field defense, and the usual mix of caustic sinks and heatsinks. Note that AZIs in particular do want heatsinks for sustained fire. Enhanced MCs run a lot cooler and don’t rely nearly as much on heatsinks.
Conclusion
The Anaconda is a beast. But it is a feral, wild beast. Taming it takes a lot of skill.
If you’re willing to embrace the challenge, you’ll be rewarded with the hardest-hitting AX ship in the game.
Just know that it will be a much harder journey than, say, learning to fight in the Krait or Chieftain.
Glory, To Mankind!
CMDR Mechan over and out
Appendix
Builds
Shardconda v1.1
https://edsy.org/s/vbX3rv9
Plasmaconda v1.1
https://edsy.org/s/vKaQcVo
AziConda v1.1
https://edsy.org/s/vC47s2r
The Anaconda, for me, began as an unattainable dream. When I first started playing, mind you this was during the original beta no less than a decade ago, credits were scarce. So scarce, in fact, that Anacondas were a rarity in the game.
In the rare cases where I did meet a player-owned one, I’d just stop and stare in awe, on one hand envious and on the other hand pondering the amount of grind it took that CMDR to own one, and the insane rebuy cost they would have to eat should they ever lose one.
When long-range smuggling came about, at the beginning of 2016, I finally mustered enough credits to purchase one (and I also made my very first Elite tutorial video … wow that was a while ago!)
I remember well the feeling of undocking it for the first time and taking it to a combat zone. I reasoned: “This must be like Captain Harlock felt when they first boarded the Arcadia.”
And while the Anaconda doesn’t quite have the main gun batteries of the Arcadia, it’s as close as it gets in the game.
Sporting the largest power distributor in the game, coupled with the most medium-and-above good-convergence hardpoints in the game, the most utility slots in the game, excellent internals and a fantastic jump range, the Anaconda is a true behemoth.
Like all behemoths, it does have to contend with drawbacks however, namely its terrible agility, limited speed, and humongous target profile.
This ship was built to be a tank. Slow, cumbersome, heavy-hitting, and meant to soak damage rather than avoid damage.
Fast forward a decade later, the world of Elite has fundamentally changed. Credits rain from the sky. Most anyone who wants an Anaconda can get one. Rebuys are hardly meaningful.
And the Anaconda has become a popular anti-xeno ship, for reasons both good and bad - as we will explain.
The Anaconda as an AX ship
You may have heard that, as a general principle, large ships do not fare particularly well in anti xeno combat.
Many factors play into that but, primarily, it comes down to the fact that Thargoid Interceptors hit extremely hard, and it is far more viable to avoid their damage rather than to tank it. For that, you want speed, agility and a small profile, essentially the opposite of what large ships offer.
That notion hasn’t prevented a lot of CMDRs from sticking to “what they know” as they approach AX combat, and “what they know” is, often, the tank-damage and use-big-guns approach that works so well in human combat zones and resource extraction sites.
It also hasn’t helped that certain irresponsible CMDRs (read: me) have foolishly popularized a particular variant of the AX Anaconda, the 6-modshards so-called “ShardConda”, as an exceptionally effective Cyclops murder machine.
Like it or not like it, AX Anacondas are now a common sight on the battlefield. They come primarily in three variants.
The ShardConda
By and large, the most popular variant of the AX Anaconda is the so-called ShardConda. The ShardConda mounts 6 medium modified guardian shard cannons.
The remarkable characteristic of the ShardConda is that, with such firepower, it is able to instantly destroy Cyclops interceptors - which certainly has a “wow factor” to it.
The main challenge with the ShardConda is that it is ill-suited to fight anything other than a Cyclops.
Interceptors have defense mechanisms to counter overwhelming firepower and while you can overcome them on the lowly Cyclops, you will eventually have to learn and understand the phases of the fight to be helpful with anything harder.
It is not uncommon to see less-experienced CMDRs in anti-xeno combat zones panic-shielding Basilisks, and even Hydras!, over and over and over again effectively making no progress in the fight.
Shardcondas further cannot be used in TitanSpace, and are vulnerable to Anti Guardian Zones, making them a debatable choice for spires, and a tricky one for anti xeno combat zones where Glaives spawn (which is to say, most of them.)
In the hands of an experienced CMDR, with a lot of trigger discipline, they CAN be used to battle tougher interceptors, but they will generally underperform medium ships in that role. They are also, counter-intuitively, likely to take a lot MORE damage than medium ships and, ultimately, rebuy a lot more often.
With all that said, we can appreciate the feeling some CMDRs embrace in putting together something that can splash a cyclops with just a few simple trigger pulls, whereas they might have a real hard time doing so with other ships.
Just don’t be fooled - the ShardConda is a hard ship to fly. Sure, you can gib clops with it, but if you want to be more than a nuisance in a Combat Zone, you will need to train and learn proper trigger discipline and timing. Or else, the only thing you’re likely going to accomplish with it is to off everyone else in your instance, when you panic shield that Medusa for the 5th time in a row.
With regards to the build, engineering an Anaconda is pretty straightforward.
For core modules, Military Grade Armor, Dirty Drives, Long Range Sensors, Armored Power Plant, Light Weight Life Support, Charge Enhanced Power Distributor and Increased Range FSD are the near-universal way to go.
As far as optional internals, the build has a lot of flex. As a shardconda’s primary hunting grounds are likely to be anti xeno combat zones, a shieldless build is preferred. We recommend bringing multiple AFMUs, as triple-module-repair-speed is a real beauty. The main choice is really between a Class 7 Repair Limpet Controller or a Universal Limpet Controller. I prefer the former (C7 RLC repairs a LOT more than the class 5) but any of the two choices can work. If you’re fighting at a port-based CZs where repairs (but not limpets) are available, drop the repair limpet and cargo hold for one each of an additional HRP and MRP.
Utilities have a lot of flex, though a ShardConda will typically kit a shutdown field neutralizer, an enhanced xeno scanner, a couple of caustic sink launchers, and fill the balance with heatsinks.
Firegroups wise, you’ll want to stagger your shards much like any ship, UNLESS you’re going for a cyclops gip - then you’ll be firing them all together; in that case, keep heatsinks handy, it’ll get toasty in the cockpit!
Interlude
As we move to the PlasmaConda, I wanted to take a minute to ask for your support. If you find these videos helpful, please take a moment to like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell below. It really means a lot to us and helps us notice your support.
The PlasmaConda
A different and more specialized version of the AX Anaconda, the so-called PlasmaConda kits six medium modified guardian plasma chargers, or MPCs as they are often called.
MPCs are incredibly distributor hungry, which is why they work so well on the Anaconda, which has the largest power distributor in the game.
MPCs have the highest damage against thargoid hulls, but rather limited breach damage, which means that they aren’t very good at damaging interceptor hearts.
However, there is one particular interceptor variant which doesn’t have hearts at all … can you guess which one it is?
You probably guessed it - Orthrus interceptors, the main fare at spire sites, alert systems, and Titan Meltdowns, have no hearts and take brutal damage from MPCs, especially after their shields drop.
MPCs are so effective at dropping Orthruses in fact, that a wing of just three Plasmacondas can destroy Orthruses on spawn before they even have a chance to shield up. And even if they do shield up, sustained fire from a wing of PlasmaCondas will wipe the floor with an Orthrus before it has chance to trigger its anti guardian field (or otherwise limit damage from it to negligible levels.)
To this day, a coordinated wing of PlasmaCondas remains, far and wide, THE best way to hunt at spire sites. Nothing really comes close.
Plasmacondas can, in theory, also be used in AntiXeno Combat Zones and in solo combat, but they are even more challenging to use, and even more likely to panic shield interceptors, than their ShardConda relatives, which is why we don’t recommend them for such use.
Note that my older build for the PlasmaConda was the CytoPlasmaConda, which matched two Cytoscramblers to the six mpcs, but their benefit was marginal, and the power of concordant sequence in a shielded wing cannot be understated - you HAVE to try it for yourself. Hence the change in this updated build.
The Core, Optional, and Utilities vary somewhat from the shardconda. Most notably, this is a biweaves shielded build, with reinforce/lo-draw engineering. We swapped 2 of the 4 heatsink for an additional 2 caustic sinks - as the PlasmaConda doesn’t really need heatsinks (Plasma runs really cool with a fully charged distro), and you’ll likely be swimming in caustic soup a good chunk of your time at spires.
The additional powergrid requirements force it to drop from the enhanced version of the xeno scanner to the basic one, while uptiering the powerplant experimental from thermal spread to monstered. The build is the same in all other aspects. Note that the triple AFMUs are particularly important here, as you are likely to take AGF damage at some point.
The MCConda
The multi cannon variant of the Anaconda uses 4 large “Azimuth” pre-engineered AX MCs and 2 medium “Sirius” pre-engineered missiles racks or, if those aren’t within your reach, the far-more-accessible enhanced versions (MCs gimballed, missiles fixed).
This variant trades raw damage potential to do away with most of the issues the other variants have.
It absolutely shreds scouts and hunters. It is immune to anti guardian zones and can be used in TitanSpace. It will never panic-shield an interceptor.
While its contribution to heart exertion will be limited, its ability to automatically track and fire at hearts means that it is likely to deliver even more damage to hearts than most guardian-equipped variants in a real-world combat scenario.
Yet, it still has more than enough firepower to solo a Medusa if it comes to it.
The missiles allow it to take on Banshees from the sky, and contribute good damage to Orthruses and the Titan’s thermal core. They are unlikely to hit fast moving targets however.
The MCConda is unquestionably the better build for less experienced AX CMDRs, as far as team contribution goes.
The core and optional internals of the MCConda very similar to those of the ShardConda. The triple AFMUs are less important here, as this ship is invulnerable to AGF, and you may safely swap out one or two of them if you so choose. The build also upgrades them to A-rated, as there is plenty of powergrid available here to do so, but if you want to keep the B-rated ones of the ShardConda that works too, the 11% repair capacity difference isn’t huge.
As far as utilities go, an Enhanced Xeno Scanner is critically important on this build, as without one you cannot subtarget hearts, and thus your build will be crippled. Beyond that, you’ll probably want a Thargoid pulse neutralizer for access to TitanSpace and shutdown field defense, and the usual mix of caustic sinks and heatsinks. Note that AZIs in particular do want heatsinks for sustained fire. Enhanced MCs run a lot cooler and don’t rely nearly as much on heatsinks.
Conclusion
The Anaconda is a beast. But it is a feral, wild beast. Taming it takes a lot of skill.
If you’re willing to embrace the challenge, you’ll be rewarded with the hardest-hitting AX ship in the game.
Just know that it will be a much harder journey than, say, learning to fight in the Krait or Chieftain.
Glory, To Mankind!
CMDR Mechan over and out
Appendix
Builds
Shardconda v1.1
https://edsy.org/s/vbX3rv9
Plasmaconda v1.1
https://edsy.org/s/vKaQcVo
AziConda v1.1
https://edsy.org/s/vC47s2r