Anaconda PVE combat build

[Yank31]

Cmdrs,

I'm returning from a ~2 years break, I've been enjoying the new features. Currently in the process of unlocking the engineers, I have around 10 unlocked (last one was Palin).

I have this 800M battle Conda parked in the bubble, I'm planning to use it to get some bonds and some combat rank.

It's vanilla. It's 2 years old. Everything is probably wrong and outdated, so, in short :

-> what are your PVE combat builds* for Conda?


* by builds I guess I mean :
- weapons (type, slots)
- essential modules (mine is basically full A with reactive, if memory serves)
- optional modules
- and engineering ofc (even though this potentially is a big one...)


Bonus question : from what I've gathered, Conda and Corvette are basically the same ship when it comes to combat, is it true, or rather, is it sufficiently true that I don't have to grind Federation naval ranks? (really don't feel like it...)

 

[duckofdeath]

I don't have a current combat build for a Anaconda as I haven't used one for that since before 2.0, but, regarding the similarities with the Corvette I'd say they're very similar if you count kills per hour. They have the same size capacitor and very similar speeds. That said, the Corvette is a lot more manoeuvrable than the Anaconda. The Corvette also has two spare size 7 slots for shield cell banks, if you're into using those. The Anaconda can however hyper jump over twice as far as the Corvette. As a personal preference, I like the hard point placements on the Anaconda a lot more. It's easier to split "huge" fixed weapons for big targets on the bottom and the rest on the top, where gimbals gets free movement.

 

[CMDR Corlas]

My Anaconda currently has one huge and two large beam lasers, effecient modded, and two medium and one large fixed frag cannon, unmodded because I've not bothered to do so yet. I like it quite a bit.

Major combat parts are rounded out by a charge enhanced 8A distro, 7A dirty drives, C6 bi-weave shields, 4x A boosters, and a fighter bay. I forget the exact mods on the boosters, but I went for resistance. I don't bother with armor upgrades, just a lightweight armor with the heavy duty mod, because the shield don't really drop so why bother?

As for the Anaconda vs Corvette, that's a contentious call. I'm in the camp of "the Corvette is better", but it's pretty close to be honest. Corvette has the edge in agility, and still nothing is more fun than 2x C4 plasma accelerators. If you have a Conda and are happy with it though, and don't have the Fed rank, I don't think the Corvette is a "need" by any means.

 

[Stigbob]

The covette is a dedicated combat ship, much much better at that one thing. The anaconda's an all-rounder so it's better at everything else.

For a combat fit PVE anaconda huge and big multicannons one thermal one caustic bottom mounts, then efficient large lasers (whatever type you like) on the top, with efficient laser turrets on the small and medium mounts. Big bi-weave shield, fighter bay, SCB with a heat sink, loads of shield boosters. HRP's everywhere else, swap these with cargo bays for very heavily armed trading.

 

[[VR] Enexemander]

Cmdrs,

I'm returning from a ~2 years break, I've been enjoying the new features. Currently in the process of unlocking the engineers, I have around 10 unlocked (last one was Palin).

I have this 800M battle Conda parked in the bubble, I'm planning to use it to get some bonds and some combat rank.

It's vanilla. It's 2 years old. Everything is probably wrong and outdated, so, in short :

-> what are your PVE combat builds* for Conda?


* by builds I guess I mean :
- weapons (type, slots)
- essential modules (mine is basically full A with reactive, if memory serves)
- optional modules
- and engineering ofc (even though this potentially is a big one...)


Bonus question : from what I've gathered, Conda and Corvette are basically the same ship when it comes to combat, is it true, or rather, is it sufficiently true that I don't have to grind Federation naval ranks? (really don't feel like it...)

My PvE Anaconda is set up like this-
Weapons-Full gimballed multicannos with the exception of 2 medium beams on the side mount (Healing beams for wing antics). The multicannons are rapid fire, except the small which is corrosive and has the one with extra ammo capacity. Overcharged is the standard option for Multis, but I like the lower distributor draw of rapid fire, and better module sniping ability.
Distributor- Charge Enhanced (get the highest you can)
Drives - Dirty (Get the highest you can)
Shields - I go with A, with 4 shield boosters. There are resist breakpoints you want to hit, and then go with more capacity for engineering. I don't remember those breakpoints off the top of my head. Most people go with more shield boosters than me. I like having to maneuver a little.
SCBs- I go with two (A and B are both pretty good choices) unengineered. IIRC, engineering them comes with downsides.
2 SLF hangar- so you can launch one as soon as one dies, or have a buddy fly it with your npc also flying.

That's about it. My shields haven't dropped since I got the thing, so armor and HRPs and whatnot are kind of whatever in PvE. Doesn't matter (imo). Go with more weight if you want to ram things.

Bonus Question- They are pretty different. The Anaconda has a lot of drift in the flight model, which lends itself well to boosting strafing runs. It also has a better pitch and roll than the Corvette in FA: OFF (which I fly that way exclusively so it's important to me.) The Corvette has almost no drift in comparison, and flies more like a medium fighter. DPS wise the Anaconda has more on paper, but they have different hardpoint sizes, blah blah blah. They are close enough to the same to not worry overmuch about it. Either will destroy whatever it is pointing at in seconds.

 

[timbero]

Cmdrs,

I'm returning from a ~2 years break, I've been enjoying the new features. Currently in the process of unlocking the engineers, I have around 10 unlocked (last one was Palin).

I have this 800M battle Conda parked in the bubble, I'm planning to use it to get some bonds and some combat rank.

It's vanilla. It's 2 years old. Everything is probably wrong and outdated, so, in short :

-> what are your PVE combat builds* for Conda?


* by builds I guess I mean :
- weapons (type, slots)
- essential modules (mine is basically full A with reactive, if memory serves)
- optional modules
- and engineering ofc (even though this potentially is a big one...)


Bonus question : from what I've gathered, Conda and Corvette are basically the same ship when it comes to combat, is it true, or rather, is it sufficiently true that I don't have to grind Federation naval ranks? (really don't feel like it...)

If you want a Fatboy:
https://eddp.co/u/wN37Vei8

Shield: 89/85/86 resistances with 4 pips to sys
Armour: 47/50/50 resistances with 3918 hull
Modules: 72% resistance with 610 hp protection

I suggest a weapon loadout like this one:

Spoiler

fast forward to 45 seconds

[video=youtube;YFCdgFkj8DQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFCdgFkj8DQ[/video]

 

[Yank31]

Thanks guys, good stuff so far [up]

One thing I do not understand : why bi-weave ? From what I understand they give less total shield, but regen faster (circles or when broken, or both ?). I would see them being a better fit on "hit & run" ships, like FDL, FAS or vulture...

What's the reasoning behind putting them on a slow and rather immobile ship that the Conda is?


One other thing that I don't get : why multi-cannons on a PVE build? They used to be a poor choice for "farming session", because of the ammo limit. Or do you embark materials and craft ammos on the fly?

 

[Daniel Cloudsifter]

Here is my Corvette build.

Here is my Anaconda build.

Both ships are nearly equally good at running missions, Haz Res bounty hunting, and Combat Zone missions (High or Low Intensity). The Corvette holds more fighters and the 2 huge beams are more fun. It also has slightly better maneuverability and visibility from the cockpit. The Anaconda has much better jump range and is easier to deploy SRVs from on planets (the bay is higher from the ground).

As for why Bi-weave shields: they recharge much faster. And the more pips you put into SYS, the faster they charge. Most battles in Haz-res sites usually leave me about 70% or higher shields left (depending on what I fought - size and number). Rarely ever drops below 50%. Put 4 pips in and they're back up to 100% very quickly. Also, Bi-weaves are cheaper than A-class shields and don't require as much power. As long as you can get them (via engineering, boosters, etc.) above a certain strength (I'd say 800 minimum, prefer 1100 to 1200) you'll be fine. Sure those guys with A class shields, all reinforced and massively boosted, will have stronger shields (3000 or higher), but when they get damaged, it takes a LOT longer to get them back up to strength. Plus resistances help a lot.

I can't remember the last time my shields dropped on either. It's been at least 6 months.

My Corvette once took on 2 Deadly and 1 Elite Anacondas in a wing. Yes, I did have to use the SCB in that fight (all but 1 charge), but my shields never went below 30% and I killed all three.

For fighters, I use the GU-97 with the fixed plasma guns. The high maneuverability plus those guns tend to wreck enemy ships fast - when flown by either by NPC pilots (Deadly and Elite), or when flown by a player using HOTAS.

 

[CMDR Corlas]

Regarding biweaves: Both the Anaconda and the Corvette are agile enough that you can avoid a lot of fire, and so get some shield recharge in combat. On top of that, with the biweaves you'll generally be topped up by the next fight, so it ends up working out really great. Some people like to go for as high as shield MJ value as possible, but I think that's mostly for bragging rights, not practicality. If you have shields left after a fight, anything over what you actually used is just fluff. Mega-shields just encourage lazy fighting and bad habits.

Apologizes to the poster above me, but biweaves (and all shields) recharge at a constant rate regardless of pips in SYS. All that pips in SYS does is keep your SYS capacitor full so they can charge. As long as you have capacitor charge left in SYS, your shields will always recharge at the same rate for a given shield, regardless of pips.

 

[Stigbob]

One other thing that I don't get : why multi-cannons on a PVE build? They used to be a poor choice for "farming session", because of the ammo limit. Or do you embark materials and craft ammos on the fly?

It's not the multicannon itself you need its the corrosive rounds mod which give's a 25% damage boost to your other weapons.

 

[Ervig]

Here is my Corvette build.

Here is my Anaconda build.

Both ships are nearly equally good at running missions, Haz Res bounty hunting, and Combat Zone missions (High or Low Intensity). The Corvette holds more fighters and the 2 huge beams are more fun. It also has slightly better maneuverability and visibility from the cockpit. The Anaconda has much better jump range and is easier to deploy SRVs from on planets (the bay is higher from the ground).

As for why Bi-weave shields: they recharge much faster. And the more pips you put into SYS, the faster they charge. Most battles in Haz-res sites usually leave me about 70% or higher shields left (depending on what I fought - size and number). Rarely ever drops below 50%. Put 4 pips in and they're back up to 100% very quickly. Also, Bi-weaves are cheaper than A-class shields and don't require as much power. As long as you can get them (via engineering, boosters, etc.) above a certain strength (I'd say 800 minimum, prefer 1100 to 1200) you'll be fine. Sure those guys with A class shields, all reinforced and massively boosted, will have stronger shields (3000 or higher), but when they get damaged, it takes a LOT longer to get them back up to strength. Plus resistances help a lot.

I can't remember the last time my shields dropped on either. It's been at least 6 months.

My Corvette once took on 2 Deadly and 1 Elite Anacondas in a wing. Yes, I did have to use the SCB in that fight (all but 1 charge), but my shields never went below 30% and I killed all three.

For fighters, I use the GU-97 with the fixed plasma guns. The high maneuverability plus those guns tend to wreck enemy ships fast - when flown by either by NPC pilots (Deadly and Elite), or when flown by a player using HOTAS.

What mods do you have on your corvette? It's hard to find out through coriolis (or I'm just not very good at looking). Grade 1 overcharged on power plant? What on weapons? Weapon enhanced power distributor?

 

[fus roh potato]

My favorite PvE builds for the big 3 usually all include 2 small rails (mediums with cutter) with G5 long range and slug rounds, then 2 medium G3 long range turreted healy beams. The rest is kinda whatever. If you go with fixed long range pulse on the bottom (or thermal conduit beams), you can continue to do damage to targets while simultaneously healing friends with the turrets. All the bottom weapons have a really good convergence zone for it. The other two top large points could take on some large burst turrets with g3 long range. That's a good build for longevity as it allows you to keep your opponents at a distance and doesn't run out of ammo. For something more bursty, you could put on a corrosive huge multi and 3 autoload multis, but they have to be gimballed if you want to continue gaining the dps advantage with the railguns. They don't work well against ships with chaff but they shred bigger targets much faster.

 

[[VR] Enexemander]

Thanks guys, good stuff so far [up]

One thing I do not understand : why bi-weave ? From what I understand they give less total shield, but regen faster (circles or when broken, or both ?). I would see them being a better fit on "hit & run" ships, like FDL, FAS or vulture...

What's the reasoning behind putting them on a slow and rather immobile ship that the Conda is?


One other thing that I don't get : why multi-cannons on a PVE build? They used to be a poor choice for "farming session", because of the ammo limit. Or do you embark materials and craft ammos on the fly?

I just really like multicannons, man. But seriously, there are very few PvE NPCs who have shields strong enough to stand up to a couple medium beams for an extended period. You can pop the shields easily, and then snipe out the power plants (on bigger ships) or just chew their hull on smaller guys. Since NPCs don't have engineered resistances, kinetics do like 20% more damage to hulls. I have a disciplined trigger, so I'm really only firing the multis when they're going to do the most damage. I'm not just spraying into chaff or whatever. I find the ammo lasts a long time that way.

The other big benefit to kinetics is a very low distributor draw. With a big ship, 4 pips to shields is a given. So would you rather have the 2 remaining pips in ENG or WEP? I would rather have them in ENG for maneuvering (love those boosting strafe runs), but it's just preference.

 

[Daniel Cloudsifter]

Apologizes to the poster above me, but biweaves (and all shields) recharge at a constant rate regardless of pips in SYS. All that pips in SYS does is keep your SYS capacitor full so they can charge. As long as you have capacitor charge left in SYS, your shields will always recharge at the same rate for a given shield, regardless of pips.

Hey, if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I'm not going to get upset about it. However, I've read in numerous places over time where people claim extra pips make bi-weave (but not other shield types) regen faster when they're up.

The best reference I can find right now is from the wiki: http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Bi-Weave_Shield_Generator

This line would seem to imply it - "However, it recharges itself 2.4x times as fast as a normal shield generator does, although the power draw from the SYS capacitor is multiplied as well." - though that could also mean that they recharge fast and get the defensive bonus of 4 pips in SYS when hit.

Also, one of the followup posters on that page indicated this:

"
Normal shield + 2pips: 0:17 , 1:09 , 1:09 , 2:25
Normal shield + 4pips: 0:18 , inf , 1:09 , 2:23
Bi-Weave shield + 2pips: 0:16 , 0:36 , 0:59 , 2:10
Bi-Weave shield + 4pips: 0:17 , inf , 0:47 , 1:25
Conlusion: The initial waiting time seems to be unaffected. With 4 pips on the capacitor it took 46% less time after the initial wait to full shields, which means almost DOUBLE regeneration speed. However with 2 pips on the capacitor it took only 12% less time after the initial wait to full shields,"

My personal experience is that they charge faster with 4 pips in SYS between battles. However, I have not sat there with a stop watch an empirically tested this.

I'll try to do that in the next few days, for my own edification if nothing else. If anyone else has any hard data, please feel free to share.

 

[Daniel Cloudsifter]

What mods do you have on your corvette? It's hard to find out through coriolis (or I'm just not very good at looking). Grade 1 overcharged on power plant? What on weapons? Weapon enhanced power distributor?

I think the PP is a G3 Overcharge. Power Distributor is a G5 Charge Enhanced.

C4 Beam lasers are G5 Efficient with Thermal Vent. C3 Multicannon was a G5 Efficient. I can't remember if it is still that, or if I upgraded it to a G5 Overcharge with autoloader in the last couple of weeks. Both C2 MCs have G1 High capacity with Corrosive ammo. Both missile launchers are G5 High ammo capacity; these are slated to be replaced with G5 High ammo capacity AND drag munitions special effect.

The Anaconda is similarly equipped, though I haven't yet done the re-engineering to make the beams have Thermal Vent, missiles to have drag munitions, and the C4 Multicannon to switch from G5 Efficient to G5 Overcharge with autoloader.

I go back and forth between the Corvette and Conda as to which I tend to use for months a time. I just recently switched back to primarily using the Corvette after using the Anaconda from 12/16 through 5/17.

 

[CMDR Corlas]

Hey, if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. I'm not going to get upset about it. However, I've read in numerous places over time where people claim extra pips make bi-weave (but not other shield types) regen faster when they're up.

The best reference I can find right now is from the wiki: http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Bi-Weave_Shield_Generator

This line would seem to imply it - "However, it recharges itself 2.4x times as fast as a normal shield generator does, although the power draw from the SYS capacitor is multiplied as well." - though that could also mean that they recharge fast and get the defensive bonus of 4 pips in SYS when hit.

Also, one of the followup posters on that page indicated this:

"
Normal shield + 2pips: 0:17 , 1:09 , 1:09 , 2:25
Normal shield + 4pips: 0:18 , inf , 1:09 , 2:23
Bi-Weave shield + 2pips: 0:16 , 0:36 , 0:59 , 2:10
Bi-Weave shield + 4pips: 0:17 , inf , 0:47 , 1:25
Conlusion: The initial waiting time seems to be unaffected. With 4 pips on the capacitor it took 46% less time after the initial wait to full shields, which means almost DOUBLE regeneration speed. However with 2 pips on the capacitor it took only 12% less time after the initial wait to full shields,"

My personal experience is that they charge faster with 4 pips in SYS between battles. However, I have not sat there with a stop watch an empirically tested this.

I'll try to do that in the next few days, for my own edification if nothing else. If anyone else has any hard data, please feel free to share.

It just means that the biweaves drain your SYS faster due to the faster recharge. Basically the SYS cap per MJ regened remains equal across shield types, but the biweave regens faster, so it drains SYS faster. Unless modified by engineering, each shield (broken down by type and class) has a static recharge rate.

 

[ThriveInDark]

I just made my first Multi Role (Can do literally anything)/Bounty Hunter Conda and so far I quite love the build. All the mods are entered and accurate to my current rolls. https://eddp.co/u/SxYophVx

TL;DR on the weapons:
Huge Efficient Beam (Gimbal)
Bottom Large Rapid Fire Multi-Cannon (Gimbal)
2x Top Large Long Range Pulse Lasers (Turret)
2x Medium High Capacity Multi Cannon (Turret)
2x Small Long Range Pulse Lasers (Turret)

Essentially, I use the med/smalls on smaller ships, and everything against big ones. I really like having everything on turrets but then leaving myself the Beam and Large MC for (mostly) manual fun. I just have a strong preference for Multi Cannons personally.

 

[GunnerBill]

You'll be needing multicannons then. Lots of multicannons.

 

[Daniel Cloudsifter]

It just means that the biweaves drain your SYS faster due to the faster recharge. Basically the SYS cap per MJ regened remains equal across shield types, but the biweave regens faster, so it drains SYS faster. Unless modified by engineering, each shield (broken down by type and class) has a static recharge rate.

I've now empirically tested the results and you are correct.

I did a reboot and repair with my anaconda to take the shields down and then bring them back at 50%. I then timed how long it took for them to get back to 100%.

2 Pips: 2 minutes, 43 seconds (possibly less, as it is hanging at 99%)
4 pips: 2 minutes, 33 seconds (stopped as soon as it hit 99% because of this weird hang)

Looks like I can stop putting 4 pips into sys between conflicts! Hurray!

As a side note to the OP: Pro-tip - if your shields do go down and you finish a fight, don't wait for them to come back online normally. Just do a reboot and repair (functions menu/right panel) and your ship will shut down for about 5 seconds and then come back online with 50% shields (assuming you aren't under attack). Much faster than waiting for them to rebuild when you've got a lot of shield boosters bogging them down.

 

[rrobes]

The Anaconda and the Corvette can share components. I have both.

I've had luck w/ the following, all A's and 5's:

Overcharged PP, charge enhanced PD, reinforced shields (pick your mod, opinions vary), long range FSD, DD's, shield boosters at least 4 varied (HD, thermal, resist augmented), lite sensors (saves tons), 1 PD, shield boosters x2 (for CZ's, not needed for other NPC's), asst. HRM's (pick your mods, opinions vary), D&E module protection (1 ea.).

Armaments vary, I use rails, PA, lasers and MC's in combo. Rails and PA's punch above their weight in the smaller hardpoints, 4 MC's in huge are quite effective, at least one fixed.

You should kill every NPC's in sight, of every rank and ship type, I use my Corvette for combat and in PvE, wings of 3 elite Anacondas are no match.

Good luck.