Anybody here have suggestions for an effective combat ship with good manoeuvrability? I purchased an Anaconda recently and while it is an extremely powerful ship I hate how heavy it feels. I'm looking for a ship that is relatively good in combat but at the same time not slow and sluggish.
I'd go with the Vulture.
It's (relatively) cheap, can pack some serious firepower with two large hardpoints, and IIRC, it's the most maneuverable ship in the game. When I'm not exploring with my AspX, that's what I use to fight with.
The only issue is power management, which can be sorted with a relatively basic engineer.
It's (relatively) cheap, can pack some serious firepower with two large hardpoints, and IIRC, it's the most maneuverable ship in the game. When I'm not exploring with my AspX, that's what I use to fight with.
The only issue is power management, which can be sorted with a relatively basic engineer.
Alright, I'll be sure to give it a try when I hop on next. What hardpoints would you suggest for that ship?
FDL is probably the top end. Vulture is the best but it's slow as hell, just turns faster.
Fed Assault ship is probably the next place to look if neither of those take your fancy.
Fed Assault ship is probably the next place to look if neither of those take your fancy.
So, you are looking for something that is good at combat and significantly faster and more maneuverable than the conda? Depending on your budget and how much faster and more maneuverable you want your ship to be, you have a whole bunch of options.
If you are looking for something really cheap, you can't go wrong with one of the Eagles or the Viper III, especially if you have some engineers and guardian tech unlocked. If you have a bit more cash to spare, the Cobra III, DBS, Viper IV, and Courier are all good picks, and can offer the potential for different tactics (800m/s combat fit Courier comes to mind).
As Pinda Gupta mentioned, the Vulture is also an excellent pick. It is arguably the best small combat ship, and for good reason. Good firepower, good defences, and excellent maneuverability. A good pilot in a vulture can and will kill a mediocre pilot flying any other ship in the game. Power management is an issue, but you shouldn't have any more issues once you have unlocked Marco.
The next big step up in price would be the usual suspects for medium combat ships. Namely, the Federal and Alliance ships as well as the Clipper, Krait, and FDL. Each of these ships offers good firepower along with effective armour or shielding. Each ship has their own advantages and disadvantages:
If you are looking for something really cheap, you can't go wrong with one of the Eagles or the Viper III, especially if you have some engineers and guardian tech unlocked. If you have a bit more cash to spare, the Cobra III, DBS, Viper IV, and Courier are all good picks, and can offer the potential for different tactics (800m/s combat fit Courier comes to mind).
As Pinda Gupta mentioned, the Vulture is also an excellent pick. It is arguably the best small combat ship, and for good reason. Good firepower, good defences, and excellent maneuverability. A good pilot in a vulture can and will kill a mediocre pilot flying any other ship in the game. Power management is an issue, but you shouldn't have any more issues once you have unlocked Marco.
The next big step up in price would be the usual suspects for medium combat ships. Namely, the Federal and Alliance ships as well as the Clipper, Krait, and FDL. Each of these ships offers good firepower along with effective armour or shielding. Each ship has their own advantages and disadvantages:
- The FDS isn't the most maneuverable ship here, makes up for it by having a metric &@!% ton of armour
- The FAS is tied as the most maneuverable ship here, features a good balance of firepower and protection, but has a tendency to drift to a stop
- The FGS is the least maneuverable medium ship, but comes with a fighter bay, good armour and shields, and LOTS of firepower
- The Chieftain is tied as the most maneuverable ship here, features a good balance of firepower and protection, but is a bit on the slow side
- The Challenger is slightly slower and less agile than the Chietain, but has better firepower and protection
- The Crusader is the slowest and least maneuverable of the Alliance ships, but comes with a fighter bay
- The Clipper is the fastest of the bunch, but needs a large pad and the poor hardpoint convergence needs gimbaled weapons to really work
- The Krait comes with a fighter bay, has good firepower, speed and maneuverability, but is a little bit on the fragile side
- The FDL comes with a huge hardpoint and ridiculous shields, but is hampered by poor jump range and an overly small fuel tank
Although it has middling agility an engineered Python can make a good medium combat ship, with a class 7 power plant and PD you can run pretty much any weapon array you like, one of mine has five PA's and it's a great big ship killer.
I've been updating the engineering on my armed trader Python and during a recent transport mission got interdicted by 4 times by deadly Anacondas, I lost shields and 20% hull due to one of them ramming me but with the other 3 I never lost shields and all this with 90 T of cargo on board!
5 x PA, it's got some Guardian shield reinforcement package since this build was put together
http://www.edshipyard.com/new/#/L=C...34wPcasPcgy000AA008c016y016y023u022K02UI00nE0
armed trader
https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/pyt...AA=.EweloBhBmVZApgQwOYBsEhARgnoA&bn=Python BH
I've been updating the engineering on my armed trader Python and during a recent transport mission got interdicted by 4 times by deadly Anacondas, I lost shields and 20% hull due to one of them ramming me but with the other 3 I never lost shields and all this with 90 T of cargo on board!
5 x PA, it's got some Guardian shield reinforcement package since this build was put together
http://www.edshipyard.com/new/#/L=C...34wPcasPcgy000AA008c016y016y023u022K02UI00nE0
armed trader
https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/pyt...AA=.EweloBhBmVZApgQwOYBsEhARgnoA&bn=Python BH
A well engineered challenger is a beast, good manouverability, almost no drift, good shields, excellent armor and extremely versatile in armaments.
My challengers 4 focused burst lasers will chew any shield, and snipe any module. The large MC will chew any large hull. And if you go up against a ship that spam SCBs, use the railguns. It’s also quite energy efficent compared to beam setups or anything with overcharge. Base dps is so high anything above is overkill. And you can always switch to the rails if need be.
In this base configuration it’s a great mission runner.
My build:
https://coriolis.io/outfit/alliance_challenger?code=A4pktkFflmdpsff47l7i7i7i12292904040400B13d0229v62f1J2b2J.Iw18ZQ%3D%3D.MwBj4yIFjXyA.H4sIAAAAAAAAA42SP0vDYBDGr6YpSVPzzzZNi1K1UUFE6ugiHRQcxMlJHBR0cXJQ6NDBUZxExC5F%2FAiOfgA%2FhIOzOHRwcFBp77yL5EWkkGZ4eOD33OXueAENABjoLP1rFmvvi8i7%2BCaK7h0AyuCa8KzwNosR9okcdwEgeNMA%2FGaOQ2MYqCanLE7E9cUeS0mahA9cXj8pc1LDqkq2kqT%2FaAEU2yVOvjChLK5ISBO%2B%2BcG8%2B0pEOq6q0nMWs4BE%2BRsPYEbcrLg5cfPiKIcHSRNffr3c%2BCSqxMjAXdVJuL41BVBp9Yjq8c4m7iSl%2FUuWcrPG%2FIonry9lmOdTuJXCCyl8%2FHe%2B%2BOaHMl83ZL7%2FzvPJpcj%2Bw4%2BGcAc31H5dOaJc1W%2Bc8X2fTIDas80hd5SQN0poArfVOscSkiG89QE%2FIVd4gIuqya08sTu29vQkh8T5cvNIHFX%2FJzsq2VFJcUQw5PsB9pDhDMwCAAA%3D.IwegTCDMIAwsA2EAOEBTAhgcwDZpPDEUA%3D%3D%3D&bn=Gamsir%20Challenger
Coriolis is way off on manouverability and speed. At 2 pips to eng turn rate is about 49-50˚/s whis is very good. Especially without drifting. Boosting is just shy of 500. Base top speed with 2 pips is about 280 I think.
A less known feature of this ship is that you don’t really loose any turnrate setting thrusters to 75% compared to the sweet spot in the blue (50%). What you gain is a higher base speed that helps with less speed management during combat. It’s very rare that you need to speed boost during combat.
My challengers 4 focused burst lasers will chew any shield, and snipe any module. The large MC will chew any large hull. And if you go up against a ship that spam SCBs, use the railguns. It’s also quite energy efficent compared to beam setups or anything with overcharge. Base dps is so high anything above is overkill. And you can always switch to the rails if need be.
In this base configuration it’s a great mission runner.
My build:
https://coriolis.io/outfit/alliance_challenger?code=A4pktkFflmdpsff47l7i7i7i12292904040400B13d0229v62f1J2b2J.Iw18ZQ%3D%3D.MwBj4yIFjXyA.H4sIAAAAAAAAA42SP0vDYBDGr6YpSVPzzzZNi1K1UUFE6ugiHRQcxMlJHBR0cXJQ6NDBUZxExC5F%2FAiOfgA%2FhIOzOHRwcFBp77yL5EWkkGZ4eOD33OXueAENABjoLP1rFmvvi8i7%2BCaK7h0AyuCa8KzwNosR9okcdwEgeNMA%2FGaOQ2MYqCanLE7E9cUeS0mahA9cXj8pc1LDqkq2kqT%2FaAEU2yVOvjChLK5ISBO%2B%2BcG8%2B0pEOq6q0nMWs4BE%2BRsPYEbcrLg5cfPiKIcHSRNffr3c%2BCSqxMjAXdVJuL41BVBp9Yjq8c4m7iSl%2FUuWcrPG%2FIonry9lmOdTuJXCCyl8%2FHe%2B%2BOaHMl83ZL7%2FzvPJpcj%2Bw4%2BGcAc31H5dOaJc1W%2Bc8X2fTIDas80hd5SQN0poArfVOscSkiG89QE%2FIVd4gIuqya08sTu29vQkh8T5cvNIHFX%2FJzsq2VFJcUQw5PsB9pDhDMwCAAA%3D.IwegTCDMIAwsA2EAOEBTAhgcwDZpPDEUA%3D%3D%3D&bn=Gamsir%20Challenger
Coriolis is way off on manouverability and speed. At 2 pips to eng turn rate is about 49-50˚/s whis is very good. Especially without drifting. Boosting is just shy of 500. Base top speed with 2 pips is about 280 I think.
A less known feature of this ship is that you don’t really loose any turnrate setting thrusters to 75% compared to the sweet spot in the blue (50%). What you gain is a higher base speed that helps with less speed management during combat. It’s very rare that you need to speed boost during combat.
Agility rather than just speed you alos have the ASP-Scout and the Viper IV. Both have silly good lat/vert thrusters and crazy acceleration.
The Vulture is also a beast but with only two weapons it relies pretty much on raw damage to actually kill things. The 2M+2S of the ASP-s and Viper IV allows effects from the smalls which can often leaded to enhanced kill time with the mediums.
The Vulture is also a beast but with only two weapons it relies pretty much on raw damage to actually kill things. The 2M+2S of the ASP-s and Viper IV allows effects from the smalls which can often leaded to enhanced kill time with the mediums.
These ships all have the same maneuverability, but only one stands out, truly. The Vulture. From a manueverability-firepower-to-shield/ Hull durability stand point, it's perfect.
Sidewinder
Eagle
Cobra
Diamondback Scout
ASP Scout(say what? It's a brick)
Imperial Courier
Vulture
Imperial Clipper
The FDL is a notch down on maneuverability, but is probably the next perfect ship. I have always been curious about the Diamond Scout. It has has horrible shields, but I like the aesthetics lol.
Sidewinder
Eagle
Cobra
Diamondback Scout
ASP Scout(say what? It's a brick)
Imperial Courier
Vulture
Imperial Clipper
The FDL is a notch down on maneuverability, but is probably the next perfect ship. I have always been curious about the Diamond Scout. It has has horrible shields, but I like the aesthetics lol.
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I assume you are just looking at the manoeuvrable stat... Because I can definitely tell you those ship have nothing like the same manoeuvrability.
The stat is some arbitrary number assigned by some of FDec weird ship physics maths. In actual flight ships are more manoeuvrable depending on a huge swath of factors. Turn rates, speed, thruster performance and most importantly the nut in control of the stick!
Here is a spreadsheet with a lot of research done into ship manoeuvrability done my one of my group.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1UKvWx-Po1erSwAFomEpSJvB5vRbYn_A2t0T9lNhMst0/edit#gid=0
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This will obviously be a matter of opinion, but if you want a fast and fun combat ship.. the Krait Mark II is absolutely fantastic.
I have bought and sold back a number of ships and never really found one that I enjoyed playing that wasn't an Anaconda or a Corvette.. but even those got boring because they're so powerful. My salvation came with the release of the Krait Mark II.
I only have Grade 3 Dirty Drives on mine (Drag Drives) and it handles like a dream. I vastly prefer it to the Fer De Lance (which is a good ship, it's just my personal preference.)
The Vulture is fun to fly, but to me doesn't have enough firepower. I recently fought an NPC Anaconda in my Vulture and it was awful. He couldn't hit me and I couldn't get his shields down.. it just doesn't have enough fire power even with engineering. I fought him for 30 minutes and then got bored and boosted out. The Krait eats up anything in no time and looks great doing it.
The Lance is also a solid choice, but personally.. for combat I like the Krait Mk II over everything else. It's just a genuinely fun ship to fly.
I have bought and sold back a number of ships and never really found one that I enjoyed playing that wasn't an Anaconda or a Corvette.. but even those got boring because they're so powerful. My salvation came with the release of the Krait Mark II.
I only have Grade 3 Dirty Drives on mine (Drag Drives) and it handles like a dream. I vastly prefer it to the Fer De Lance (which is a good ship, it's just my personal preference.)
The Vulture is fun to fly, but to me doesn't have enough firepower. I recently fought an NPC Anaconda in my Vulture and it was awful. He couldn't hit me and I couldn't get his shields down.. it just doesn't have enough fire power even with engineering. I fought him for 30 minutes and then got bored and boosted out. The Krait eats up anything in no time and looks great doing it.
The Lance is also a solid choice, but personally.. for combat I like the Krait Mk II over everything else. It's just a genuinely fun ship to fly.
Type 9 battle cow
My first question would be to ask if you have engineered those anaconda thrusters to G5 dirty drive and drag drives? There is a huge difference between unengineered anaconda thrusters and engineered ones.
After that I see that many of the suggestions go towards the super-agile small and medium ships. Those are indeed great for pure combat roles (especially if you have access to the guardian shield reinforcements as many of them have pretty poor base shields):
- Vulture, FAS, Chieftain (FDL is great for pure combat, but it is a bit of an acquired taste with its drifting and stalling mechanics)
EDIT: I personally use this pve super fun shield tank FAS when I want to have fun and fast combat:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...ed-weapons-training?highlight=fas+shield+tank
Of the bigger medium/large ships that have pretty good maneuverability and true multirole capability you have at least:
- Krait Mk II, Clipper (base shields suck for clipper, you need to boost them most likely) and I personally use Python in this category, but it is notorious for flying capabilities. I have just gotten used to it and the engineering helped it so much that I am not bothered anymore.
And then you have the larges:
- Many people that do not like anaconda, like federal corvette instead. They say that it maneuvers "so much better". It has less drift than anaconda, but the turn rates are not that different (if at all). And on this category I use both anaconda and federal corvette. I think they are equally capable, but they are fully engineered.
After that I see that many of the suggestions go towards the super-agile small and medium ships. Those are indeed great for pure combat roles (especially if you have access to the guardian shield reinforcements as many of them have pretty poor base shields):
- Vulture, FAS, Chieftain (FDL is great for pure combat, but it is a bit of an acquired taste with its drifting and stalling mechanics)
EDIT: I personally use this pve super fun shield tank FAS when I want to have fun and fast combat:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...ed-weapons-training?highlight=fas+shield+tank
Of the bigger medium/large ships that have pretty good maneuverability and true multirole capability you have at least:
- Krait Mk II, Clipper (base shields suck for clipper, you need to boost them most likely) and I personally use Python in this category, but it is notorious for flying capabilities. I have just gotten used to it and the engineering helped it so much that I am not bothered anymore.
And then you have the larges:
- Many people that do not like anaconda, like federal corvette instead. They say that it maneuvers "so much better". It has less drift than anaconda, but the turn rates are not that different (if at all). And on this category I use both anaconda and federal corvette. I think they are equally capable, but they are fully engineered.
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The Chieftain is just wonderful in my opinion.
My build:
https://s.orbis.zone/1i8e
It's quite fast, very nimble, covered in guns, and can take a serious beating. Only the biggest vessels can stand up to the continuous beam fire backed up by the corrosive turret for long, and against those ships, it's easy to just sit above them and melt their power plant. Rails are there for knocking out SCBs and incidental DPS when necessary. The PA is there mostly because I had it laying around and didn't know what else to put there, but it comes in handy quite a bit in CZs. I also swap the KWS out for another Point Defense in CZs, because the AI gets really missile-happy when your shields drop.
My build:
https://s.orbis.zone/1i8e
It's quite fast, very nimble, covered in guns, and can take a serious beating. Only the biggest vessels can stand up to the continuous beam fire backed up by the corrosive turret for long, and against those ships, it's easy to just sit above them and melt their power plant. Rails are there for knocking out SCBs and incidental DPS when necessary. The PA is there mostly because I had it laying around and didn't know what else to put there, but it comes in handy quite a bit in CZs. I also swap the KWS out for another Point Defense in CZs, because the AI gets really missile-happy when your shields drop.