So I haven't played in a very long time and lost my coriolis save for the PVE Cutter I was planning on and basically have forgotten what all it had plus if it was even viable with new gameplay. Now that I'm finally close to getting one I wanna start planning it out again so I was wondering, what do the PVE cutter pilots on here use. I mainly fly with FA on because I'm baby and don't play enough to learn how to fly with it off.
Ships Any good PVE builds for the Imperial Cutter
- Thread starter Shy'la Nesthorn
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With the big 3 you can pretty much do anything for PvE and it'll work.
Issue with getting a 'vette for me is that I am currently the lowest rep with the feddies and they shoot me on sight 
(Turns out they really don't like you killing their merchants)
And I've had my eyes set on the Cutter since 2014, I'm not exactly novice just not good with FA off, though I do toggle it for quicker turns and stuff.
(Turns out they really don't like you killing their merchants)And I've had my eyes set on the Cutter since 2014, I'm not exactly novice just not good with FA off, though I do toggle it for quicker turns and stuff.
Cutter works well for hauling and mining. It's not a good choice for combat, especially if you don't use FA off to turn, which is mandatoryfor the Cutter. You can use any ship for anything and have a modicum of success, but it's much better to have a ship that has characteristics that match the task in hand. A Cutter engineered as shield tank is virtually impossible t get blown up in, but you'll spend too much time bored out of your head while you wait for it to point at your target, so it's not fun to use it. A Corvette is a much better choice, or an Anaconda if you haven't unlocked the Corvette yet. Without at least engineering the shields, a Cutter would be a liability in combat.
yeah, that's why I was thinking more turrets and stuff
Most Cutter builds I've heard of usually uses a lot of turrets. The most common builds seems to be along the lines of a huge MC, two more MCs either large or medium, and all the rest are beams.
Yeah, flying a krait mk2 right now with a similar build. 3xgimballed multis and 2xfixed beams
Here's my cutter. I mostly haul cargo but she's happiest when pirate type 10's interdict her and she can bare her teethe. Those Type 10's pop into such nice mats.
s.orbis.zone
If I am operating away from my FC I drop a class 5 or 6 cargo rack for a fuel scoop depending on how far afield I'm traveling. When I get bored of running cargo I take her as is on assassination missions or pirate massacres.
When I'm in Thargoid space I replace the Pacifier frags and Hammers with medium gauss. If I remember, i switch out the packhounds for Flak. If not, it's no loss. Toss a few packhound volleys at a cyclops right before the killing shot. Yes they will bounce off it and scatter harmlessly in all directions before exploding. Every combat victory should end in a fireworks show.
The point is, fly a build that makes you happy and suits your play style. I don't often fly big ships but when I do i prefer my combat trader impromptu AX cutter. She's not a boring shield tank. She's not exactly nimble but is unexpectedly able. She has character and treats me well. Even in open.
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
s.orbis.zone
If I am operating away from my FC I drop a class 5 or 6 cargo rack for a fuel scoop depending on how far afield I'm traveling. When I get bored of running cargo I take her as is on assassination missions or pirate massacres.
When I'm in Thargoid space I replace the Pacifier frags and Hammers with medium gauss. If I remember, i switch out the packhounds for Flak. If not, it's no loss. Toss a few packhound volleys at a cyclops right before the killing shot. Yes they will bounce off it and scatter harmlessly in all directions before exploding. Every combat victory should end in a fireworks show.
The point is, fly a build that makes you happy and suits your play style. I don't often fly big ships but when I do i prefer my combat trader impromptu AX cutter. She's not a boring shield tank. She's not exactly nimble but is unexpectedly able. She has character and treats me well. Even in open.
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You haven't yet told us exactly what you want to do with it. PvE has a lot of meanings. I can see things that don't make sense with that build. A Cutter has the strongest shields in the game, so should never lose them. Why, therefore, do you want HRPs? It's the same with point defence: NPCs tend not to fire missiles until your shields go down, and if they do fire them, they won't do a lot of damage to a shield tank Cutter. Fiinally, you need heatsinks for SCBs. On some builds you can use beam lasers with thermal vent, but in that case you need the beams to be more controllable than turrets.
Turrets don't do much damage. They're fine in a low Resource Extraction Site, but lack damage in most other scenarios, especially lasers because of the damage fall-off with range. I think you're going to find that you're lacking in fire-power.
In most scenarios, I think you'd find this shield arrangement much better:
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
coriolis.io
Ah sorry, mainly just pirate hunting and combat mission running is what I meant for PvE.You haven't yet told us exactly what you want to do with it. PvE has a lot of meanings. I can see things that don't make sense with that build. A Cutter has the strongest shields in the game, so should never lose them. Why, therefore, do you want HRPs? It's the same with point defence: NPCs tend not to fire missiles until your shields go down, and if they do fire them, they won't do a lot of damage to a shield tank Cutter. Fiinally, you need heatsinks for SCBs. On some builds you can use beam lasers with thermal vent, but in that case you need the beams to be more controllable than turrets.
Turrets don't do much damage. They're fine in a low Resource Extraction Site, but lack damage in most other scenarios, especially lasers because of the damage fall-off with range. I think you're going to find that you're lacking in fire-power.
In most scenarios, I think you'd find this shield arrangement much better:
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
And everytime I've tried bi-weaves I've had bad expirences so I tended to avoid it
As for the HRPs it's because those slots are restricted so I figured I might as well put something in there instead of keeping them empty.
Also I have no idea what the guardian reinforcement packages are, I don't think those were a thing when I last played
Your build and mine both have the same shield strength on paper, which have approximately the same number of hit points, so there's no way you can get a bad experience with my build compared with yours, but mine is actually a lot stronger because the hit points are being continuously replenished/repaired, which makes the shields last longer in a single battle, but the main difference is that mine will completely recharge between battles and yours won't. In other words, yours will become weaker and weaker during a session, while mine will stay at full strength. Yours have some advantage in dealing with very stong enemies, like the special ops in CZs, but if things go downhill, you can always boost away from them in mine while they recharge.Ah sorry, mainly just pirate hunting and combat mission running is what I meant for PvE.
And everytime I've tried bi-weaves I've had bad expirences so I tended to avoid it
As for the HRPs it's because those slots are restricted so I figured I might as well put something in there instead of keeping them empty.
Also I have no idea what the guardian reinforcement packages are, I don't think those were a thing when I last played
For ultimate strength against a single onslaught, you need prismatics supported by double SCBs and heatsinks., which works OK on any of the big 3, though biweaves are better if you want to stay in the RES or CZ for a long time.
You get the Guardian shield boosters by unlocking them, which invilves running around Guardian ruins and doing some rituals. It's pretty straightforward and almost fun if you like this game. There are many Youtube vids on how to do that.
Okay, your build is a lot cheaper too so I'll probably go with that. Any suggestions on the armaments?
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D
If you want to rapidly increase your standing with the Feds, outfit a ship with as many Economy Class cabins as it can hold and start evacuating passengers from burning stations when you see them. Use Inara to find the station with Federation factions and pick up the passengers from them. Deliver them to the rescue ship right outside the station, rinse and repeat. By far the fastest way to pick up rank for either of the superpowers.Issue with getting a 'vette for me is that I am currently the lowest rep with the feddies and they shoot me on sight
And I've had my eyes set on the Cutter since 2014, I'm not exactly novice just not good with FA off, though I do toggle it for quicker turns and stuff.
In my book, the lady Cutter shine above all as fast and fat miner, or/and as heavy-load armed trader; as a miner, you can fill 512 tones very fast, no Pirate can dream to catch you and you can stand your ground even in Haz mining spots, if you are dealing with less than 2-3 pirates; If they swarm you in bigger numbers, you just can boost away laughing; As a trader, you drop at interdiction, then again boost away laughing.
The Vette on the other hand, have no rival in PVE materials harvesting, since she can deal with zillions of Pirates at once without much trouble, and yet, you have enough space to fill 2 class 5 collectors and harvest materials from them.
So - fighting - Vette and FdL ; trading / mining - Cutter all day long.