Like a fully kitted Anaconda is any faster? (It isn’t, certainly not from my experience)
Are medium ships going to viable for AX for much longer?
- Thread starter tolm
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I think you posted videos but for some reason I can’t see ’em … will check on a different device later but appreciate you going to the effort!Despite the many mistakes I made in the fights (I usually don't use a shutdown neutralizer, so I missed the timing almost every time), it had no problem taking out two cyclops. I dumped the rest of the ammo I had on a Medusa just to see if I could make any progress (I couldn't). On the whole, it is a blast to fly with the very different flight model.
Shreds Glaives nicely too.
So, I guess to answer OP's question - I don't think medium ships are outdated in AX.
A big thing that is starting to change my mind was moving to a Challenger / Chieftain with TV beams which helps keep heatsink usage down meaning I can get away with only one. I still think it’s a shame I had to drop the FAS, though - it would be nice to have an AX-centric refit for that ship …
I have a new hybrid Chief build to try this weekend if I get a chance which, I hope, will have enough human-AX firepower to deal with Glaives whilst still having some of the Guardian “fun factor” for the general rank of Interceptors that show in CZs.
No idea - never had any interest in flying one. I know the Cutter is much, much faster for, er, reasons …
Okay - videos worked when I quoted them!!Despite the many mistakes I made in the fights (I usually don't use a shutdown neutralizer, so I missed the timing almost every time), it had no problem taking out two cyclops. I dumped the rest of the ammo I had on a Medusa just to see if I could make any progress (I couldn't). On the whole, it is a blast to fly with the very different flight model.
Shreds Glaives nicely too.
So, I guess to answer OP's question - I don't think medium ships are outdated in AX.
Hadn't realised you were flying a Mamba. With shields!! That’s a bold choice - which I applaud. I love the Mamba and having 6 utility slots is certainly a boon. Have you already shared the build and I missed it?
Makes me wonder if it would hold up in a CZ … hmmm …
Cutter just has an oversized thruster assembly. Possibly the only one to use size 8 thrusters? Conda and Corvette both have S7 thrusters and roughly the same top/boost speed in an identical configuration. Yaw/roll/pitch rates vary, naturally. Dunno about lateral for those two.No idea - never had any interest in flying one. I know the Cutter is much, much faster for, er, reasons …
I’ve certainly used a Corvette to some effect in AX CZs(eg doing most of the work on a Medusa). The convergence of the medium hardpoints is a bigger issue so you’d either have to forgo heart accuracy for DPS on interceptor hull(or fit AX MCs), or get less damage for better convergence through the small hardpoints. Ran it with 5 modshards, three medium and two small. Never got to test it against a Hydra with other players around but it worked well enough.
That said, still wouldn’t recommend it unless you just like the ship too much(like I do). There’s no real drawback to picking the Conda for AX as far as I can tell.
I really like the Corvette, I just get very frustrated by its lack of speed and - for a dedicated combat ship - unhelpful hardpoints. I mean, yeh, the two C4s are great but the rest is very meh … I wound up using C4 beams simply because otherwise the DPS against shields from 2x C2 / 2xC1 (the C3 is in a useless position for me) is very poor.
Lose the C3, increase the C2s to C3 and the C1s to C2 and I‘d love it. Proper “big FDL” at that point where lasers on the smaller hardpoints would do very decent damage, allowing more fun with the C4 choice.
Though still too slow …
You had a bit of bad timing with the SFN, but you also have to remember to put 4 pips to Systems, or else it will drain fast and it will not stop the SF.
Actually, in the first part of the fight, you did ok, being able to exert the 1st heart and then reducing it to 27% health.
But on the second part, after the heart stopped being exerted, you forgot to select the hull of the Medusa again and you were just shooting at the heart and not exerting it. So, the ammo you used then was wasted. It was not because the Medusa was invulnerable to EN AX MC damage.
They were some nice fights. A mix of boost jousting and cold orbiting.
Nice aggressive jousting. The best technique against the Glaive.
But they are, for sure, weaker.So, I guess to answer OP's question - I don't think medium ships are outdated in AX.
BTW, I can't see the videos either. Only quoting your post, can I see the links.
A huge eAXMC would be fine, but I woud prefer some more interesting ideas.
I did but I wound up changing some things around. Here is the version I've settled on. The real idea of the build is to be able to keep a CZ open if glaives show up and my wing has to go repair guardian modules or to just go kill some cyclops in control systems or maelstroms, but it's a really fun ship to fly so I might play around with it more. This build works with zero pip management and is dead simple to fly well - 1:2.5:2.5 in the pips and just keep boosting past instead of a stable cold orbit.
If you mean an AXCZ - that's what I was testing in. It works well for Cyclops but I couldn't exert a Basilisk solo. Only has enough ammo for 4-5 cyclops then you either need to synth or leave - by that point phasing will have chewed up the hull anyway, and it would be tricky to carry a repair kit without giving up something else. So it certainly can't solo a CZ, but I found it was ammo limited not hull or shield limited. If your shields get low, just run for a bit and do a reboot cycle to bring them back to 50%.
Going to try this out too. The size 3 shards are very low heat so the beams alone should be able to cool them, and the Mamba's boom-and-zoom style should work well with them. Then use the gauss to pop hearts. I doubt the Mamba becomes my full-time AX ship (that will probably be a meta-chief with MC's in the L slots instead of gauss, still testing that too), but it's a blast to fly.
ETA: screwed up the build links the first time.
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Ah … Prismatics … explains the high shields.
The prismos are key to keeping the shield from draining your SYS capacitor with their lower recharge rate. I tried with biweaves first, but I had to keep power in SYS way too often for my tastes.Ah … Prismatics … explains the high shields.
(They're also key to annoying the hell out of gankers with builds optimized for hull tanks.
)Yeh - I tried 8C BiWeaves on my AX Cutter but the SYS drain was very problematic.The prismos are key to keeping the shield from draining your SYS capacitor with their lower recharge rate. I tried with biweaves first, but I had to keep power in SYS way too often for my tastes.
(They're also key to annoying the hell out of gankers with builds optimized for hull tanks.
The majority of the exert at the start was done by the NPCs, not me. The MCs do work decently against medusa hearts if they get exerted, though.
Weird that the videos don't show up, they do for me.
Were they reinforced with fast charge engineering? Maybe I underestimate how hungry the Cutter’s biweaves are at max size, but usually enhanced low power + lo-draw really cuts down on distributor draw, while the primary engineering still increases raw/absolute strength of the shield. So it should need less/only one pip dedicated to it.
They were indeed Reinforced and Fast Charge.
Bang on. Absolutely zero way to coordinate or join an effort in-game. Beg for an invite in Global or hope for decent randoms at the CZ. I like needing to coordinate and having a role within a team, but ED provides zero methods to get that in-game so it's odd to drive play in a direction to require it.
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