Be honest everyone. Who will most likely purchase the Python MkII..?

[Three Stars]

More like a Mamba with an extra hardpoint.. given the C6 PP/Distro C4 Fuel Tank and very limited internals.

My point was that the positioning (location on the hull) of the hardpoints seem to be exactly what they are on the Python, so for any preexisting hardpoints we should already know which ones work better fixed vs gimbaled. They’re billing this as a variant, so I suspect that each new ship will be based on the spaceframe of whatever it’s varying.

Based on my Chief that can feed one large, one medium efficient PA plus one large overcharged PA (~30 MW total distro draw), PII won't have problems with four efficient large PA-s (also ~30 MW distro draw). Or maybe even 5 efficient PA-s if yiu're feeling adventurous

As for railguns, generally you don't shoot them at the same time with PA-s so 2 mediums should be doable—RoF might be lower than with PA+Rail FDL due to needing to let the wep cap charge more between shots.

At least for pure PvE I tend to use a mix of distro-heavy and distro-light weapons on my Chief. For example, 4 beams in the small and medium HP-s for shield-stripping and 2 large SRB cannons for hull and module damage; or 3 PA-s for shield/hull and 3 small advanced missile racks with penetrator experimental for module damage. This way I can switch to distro-light weapons once the opponent's shield is down and fly 4-2-0 to recharge my own shield and still snipe the power plant/ wreak module damage in general. It's very effective, yesterday I managed to kill a Python at 97% hull left, which was absurdly hilarious

I wouldn’t consider an efficient PA a high draw weapon. For my example I’m talking things like Short Range PAs and APAs and non-efficient lasers. A SR PA in the lower large plus an advanced missile in the center small is a great power plant killer. From typical Chieftain range the shot speed difference doesn’t matter, and even if you don’t make your breach roll with the PA you’re still doing 20 module damage guaranteed with the missile.

A Chieftain can do double SR APAs, but a somewhat light touch on the trigger is needed.

 

[oblivionmanman 2476]

over the years i have accumalated thousands of arx points,apart from the paint jobs for my ships just kept them.so getting the python .2 is well in my range so ill get one as soon as available, why not.

 

[Shurimal]

I wouldn’t consider an efficient PA a high draw weapon. For my example I’m talking things like Short Range PAs and APAs and non-efficient lasers.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. But efficient PA-s are the most commonly used PA-s, especially on FDL, the main competitor to PII. So these are the kind of baseline for high damage weapons. As for lasers, rapid fire pulse lasers are quite fun and energy efficient. And efficient beams are definitely very good for shield stripping on nimble ships that can control the distance.

A SR PA in the lower large plus an advanced missile in the center small is a great power plant killer. From typical Chieftain range the shot speed difference doesn’t matter, and even if you don’t make your breach roll with the PA you’re still doing 20 module damage guaranteed with the missile.

A Chieftain can do double SR APAs, but a somewhat light touch on the trigger is needed.

...and now I need to buy and engineer another set of PA-s. As if I didn't have enough already. More than a dozen, I think. I seem to recall that I have some class 2 SRB-s in storage somewhere, so I might try that one out for giggles

 

[galahad2069]

Oh, yeah, absolutely. But efficient PA-s are the most commonly used PA-s, especially on FDL, the main competitor to PII. So these are the kind of baseline for high damage weapons. As for lasers, rapid fire pulse lasers are quite fun and energy efficient. And efficient beams are definitely very good for shield stripping on nimble ships that can control the distance.

...and now I need to buy and engineer another set of PA-s. As if I didn't have enough already. More than a dozen, I think. I seem to recall that I have some class 2 SRB-s in storage somewhere, so I might try that one out for giggles

You can add 1 c2 SRB PA (on fire button #2) to the mix of efficient ones, in order to proc TC, but that's it.

APAs have always been worse than regular PAs, virtually the only reason to use them was the constant TLB if you had 2 TLB APAs you were firing alternately, but that's no longer working since the TLB nerf.

 

[Northpin]

That's probably because they already have multiple options of doing all multiplayer activities without fear of anything.

For example:

• they can click on the PG button
• they can realize that the number of star systems in this game is several orders of magnitude larger than the number of gankers, so the chance of being interdicted by a ganker is practically zero in nearly all of the 400 billion systems, with the exception of 2 or 3 hotspots
• they can realize that being afraid of their pixel spaceships going boom is ridiculously silly
• and last, but not least, they can of course put some minimal effort into gitting gud enough to become nearly impossible to shoot down (or even a little bit more to be able to fight back)

They (the other they) can realize not anyone is willing to play targets for pvp players and that open is a social playground and social is a lot more than pvp

Anyway block still works

 

[Three Stars]

Oh, yeah, absolutely. But efficient PA-s are the most commonly used PA-s, especially on FDL, the main competitor to PII. So these are the kind of baseline for high damage weapons. As for lasers, rapid fire pulse lasers are quite fun and energy efficient. And efficient beams are definitely very good for shield stripping on nimble ships that can control the distance.

...and now I need to buy and engineer another set of PA-s. As if I didn't have enough already. More than a dozen, I think. I seem to recall that I have some class 2 SRB-s in storage somewhere, so I might try that one out for giggles

The way that breach damage works in this game (breach roll success? --> Breach damage), I've always subscribed to the idea that I want to be doing as much damage in one hit as I possibly can to maximize a breach success. An SRB PA is about as overwhelming a single module hit as you can get, and since AFAIK module damage is affected by hull resistances, having a large portion of that damage be absolute and irresistible is a big help. Corrosive also boosts module damage by the usual 25%. For a good time, compare the breach damage of Large and Huge SR PAs plus the corrosive bonus against the module integrity of various Power Plant sizes. There are a lot of ships that can be one shot with a lucky breach roll on the first shot after shields are down. Even if the target has module protection those MRPs have to absorb damage 1:1, so you're draining them faster.

Long story short, if there's a nicely centered large hardpoint somewhere on a ship, I'm more inclined to make that an SR PA instead of an Efficient one so I'm maximizing the effect of a successful plant hit.

I don't think a lot of people know that Missiles have 100% breach chance. I will happily take 100% chance to do 20 damage to a power plant on every hit.

Rapid pulses are helpful in a different way. Their per-shot module damage isn't great, but you do get a metric craptonne of hits per second. Once the plant is at 0% and a malfunction means death, having more hits per second means more dice rolls for malfunction, and that means a generally faster destruction of the target. It doesn't even matter what damage the pulses are doing.

You can add 1 c2 SRB PA (on fire button #2) to the mix of efficient ones, in order to proc TC, but that's it.

APAs have always been worse than regular PAs, virtually the only reason to use them was the constant TLB if you had 2 TLB APAs you were firing alternately, but that's no longer working since the TLB nerf.

The only ship that I genuinely enjoy APAs is an Anaconda with 3 Long Range APAs in the larges. The Triangle of Doom. The distributor is strong enough to handle them, the range means I can do a lot of damage before a target closes, and there are enough other hardpoints to do a combo of lasers and multicannons to have a legit secondary option.

 

[galahad2069]

The only ship that I genuinely enjoy APAs is an Anaconda with 3 Long Range APAs in the larges. The Triangle of Doom. The distributor is strong enough to handle them, the range means I can do a lot of damage before a target closes, and there are enough other hardpoints to do a combo of lasers and multicannons to have a legit secondary option.

The main strength of PAs (besides absolute damage) is the high alpha damage. APAs have higher rate of fire, but lower per shot damage than their regular counterparts, which pretty much makes them a time-on-target weapon. This is not ideal for PAs, because there's only a limited period during the boost cycle (the short window of stall) when PA volleys have the highest chance to land. While the opponent's boost is active, they are more likely to miss.

NPCs may be dumb enough to stay in front of you, but players* will not give your Conda the necessary ToT to make use of the (on paper) marginally higher DPS of APAs, which means your DPS will be significantly lower than what you could achieve using regular PAs.

--
* unless they are flying some slow brick, that is

 

[Cmdr. Numa]

The only ship that I genuinely enjoy APAs is an Anaconda with 3 Long Range APAs in the larges. The Triangle of Doom. The distributor is strong enough to handle them, the range means I can do a lot of damage before a target closes, and there are enough other hardpoints to do a combo of lasers and multicannons to have a legit secondary option.

Vulture

 

[galahad2069]

Vulture

Yeah, that was the one (before the TLB nerf).

 

[Three Stars]

The main strength of PAs (besides absolute damage) is the high alpha damage. APAs have higher rate of fire, but lower per shot damage than their regular counterparts, which pretty much makes them a time-on-target weapon. This is not ideal for PAs, because there's only a limited period during the boost cycle (the short window of stall) when PA volleys have the highest chance to land. While the opponent's boost is active, they are more likely to miss.

NPCs may be dumb enough to stay in front of you, but players* will not give your Conda the necessary ToT to make use of the (on paper) marginally higher DPS of APAs, which means your DPS will be significantly lower than what you could achieve using regular PAs.

--
* unless they are flying some slow brick, that is

Oh, I'm certainly not saying that APAs are good. That's why the only way I've learned to enjoy them is on an Anaconda. I also agree that trading a high single hit for 3 lesser hits that hypothetically might be higher is a terrible idea if your goal is module damage, since you're then at the mercy of three breach rolls rather than one.

 

[galahad2069]

They (the other they) can realize not anyone is willing to play targets for pvp players and that open is a social playground and social is a lot more than pvp

The other they have realized that ages ago, that's why one of them enumerated several very easy ways how not to be a target in the very post you replied to

 

[Northpin]

It's May 7 already - cannot see the Mk2 in the store.
Did I missed it? It's already gone?

 

[Northpin]

The other they have realized that ages ago, that's why one of them enumerated several very easy ways how not to be a target in the very post you replied to

Well, those advices doesnt make them less of a target. Only will help them to survive by running away - which is not in the benefit of whatever pve agenda they may had
Block helps more in this regard

So, between fly sturdier ships and block - i'd say both (just to be safe)

 

[GJ51]

Same here - no sign of it yet...

 

[Three Stars]

Update 18.04 Release Schedule | Tuesday 7th May

Greetings Commanders! We will be releasing Update 18.04 on Tuesday 7th May 2024. Here is the planned release schedule: (All times in UTC) 5AM - In game messages 7AM - Maintenance Begins and live/4.0 servers unavailable 2PM - Servers and Update 18.04 available Please be advised that these are...

forums.frontier.co.uk

Until it’s 2 PM UTC at the very earliest, you aren’t going to see a Python Mk II.

 

[Moirai]

It's May 7 already - cannot see the Mk2 in the store.
Did I missed it? It's already gone?

It's already SCO'd out of here...

 

[sanitieta]

不，我愿意在经济上支持他们，但不是这样

No, I would like to support them financially, but not like this

Please post in English, unless posting in one of the language specific sub-forums.

I actually wanted to send it in English, and the browser translator translated it back

 

[DYSEQTA]

不，我愿意在经济上支持他们，但不是这样

If anyone is wondering:
"No, I would like to support them financially, but not like this"

 

[Northpin]

Update 18.04 Release Schedule | Tuesday 7th May

Greetings Commanders! We will be releasing Update 18.04 on Tuesday 7th May 2024. Here is the planned release schedule: (All times in UTC) 5AM - In game messages 7AM - Maintenance Begins and live/4.0 servers unavailable 2PM - Servers and Update 18.04 available Please be advised that these are...

forums.frontier.co.uk

Until it’s 2 PM UTC at the very earliest, you aren’t going to see a Python Mk II.

Ah, i forgot it may be tied with U18.04

 

[Taimaru]

I will definitely be buying the Python Mk II for my main account today. I'm not sure about my alt accounts yet.

I can't wait... Are we there yet? Are the servers up?