Best ship for role of blockade runner?

[Loskene]

Thanks for your responses. It sounds like my cobra would fit the bill out of the ships I have now, assuming fsd cooldown stays the same after submission. What if people camp the station itself and open fire when you are lining up for the toaster? I'm worried about the shields on it, maybe I should take the weapons off and fit shield boosters and a cell bank? How fast does an A-spec cobra go down against say two vultures?

Out of interest, what did the people who won the graphics cards fly? They must have thought this through too and succeeded against determined opposition.

If you're taking fire all the way to the station, the Cobra is still your best option. Small, nimble, and very very fast. Nothing better for blasting through the slot at 440 and slamming down on the landing pad as quick as your thrusters will carry you. Vultures I generally don't worry about when I'm flying a faster ship. You'll probably lose shields but you'll make it out of their weapons range before they can seal the deal.

 

[Wizz]

I'd rather did it in a clipper, but getting docked without getting scanned might be a problem

Strangely enough I found the clipper very easy to dock without being scanned.
The great speed and surprisingly good yaw and pitch rate makes it easy to dock at high speed.

 

[Rankaze]

Thanks for your responses. It sounds like my cobra would fit the bill out of the ships I have now, assuming fsd cooldown stays the same after submission. What if people camp the station itself and open fire when you are lining up for the toaster? I'm worried about the shields on it, maybe I should take the weapons off and fit shield boosters and a cell bank? How fast does an A-spec cobra go down against say two vultures?

Out of interest, what did the people who won the graphics cards fly? They must have thought this through too and succeeded against determined opposition.

If you're that worried about it, A-Rated Thrusters, A-Rated Shield Generator, as many shield boosters as your power plant can fit (A rated powerplant suggested), no weapons (reduce mass), Military bulkheads, D rated sensors (for mass), D rated Life Support (for mass), consider some hull reinforcement, but otherwise nothing that adds mass (fuel scoop, AFMU are OK, both have 0 mass) other than your one cargo rack. But I really have to wonder what you are planning to do that you think you will need this much preparation for.

 

[5AmpFuse]

8t only? The Cobra is quick and can be armed well. Top FSD thrusters and power distribution a must.

8t because I want to try out exploration mining in the next update, I'm hoping to get some of those valuable new minerals.

- - - Updated - - -

Plus exploration data of course, which is worth a lot, certainly in terms of time spent.

 

[5AmpFuse]

If you're that worried about it, A-Rated Thrusters, A-Rated Shield Generator, as many shield boosters as your power plant can fit (A rated powerplant suggested), no weapons (reduce mass), Military bulkheads, D rated sensors (for mass), D rated Life Support (for mass), consider some hull reinforcement, but otherwise nothing that adds mass (fuel scoop, AFMU are OK, both have 0 mass) other than your one cargo rack. But I really have to wonder what you are planning to do that you think you will need this much preparation for.

Thanks, I worry about my defensive posture a lot, because I don't like to die, ever. It's part of my role play.

 

[Kayweg]

Thanks, I worry about my defensive posture a lot, because I don't like to die, ever. It's part of my role play.

Sounds to me like perfectly sensible risk aversion and survival instinct, more than any sort of RP....quite natural really.

There are far more perceived, imagined and "constructed" risks/threats in this game than real ones.

 

[Huros]

Stock Sidey. No one will think you have the stones to even try.

 

[Jackie Silver]

Cobra.

Clipper and 'Conda can't land on outposts, both have OTT requirements.

I regularly run blockades in a Lance, but it doesn't have much cargo space.

Both ships are slightly vulnerable if chased by an equivalent ship or wing of equivalent ships, but not vulnerable to any other ship (Cobra can outrun anything, Ferdy can jump away from anything it can't outrun. If you wanted to hunt down a Ferdy you'd have a Clipper, Cobra or Viper paired with a chasing Ferdy. If you wanted to hunt a Cobra you'd have several Cobras. Goons don't usually fly Cobras 'cause they're stupid and think Vultures are teh bestz0rz, so you're not likely to find a wing of several pirate Cobras. Cobra is probably your best bet.)

In any case, you want to be very alert when you drop in system; immediately fly a twisting course away from the star while rapidly scanning through enemy ships. Discount anything which can't threaten your ship, lock on whichever threatening ship is nearest to you and make sure you're pointing tangential to it, even if that means your course is going to take you into the middle of nowhere - it doesn't matter, you can always loop back to your destination station once you're well away from danger.

 

[-SOVEREIGN-]

[...]
Out of interest, what did the people who won the graphics cards fly? They must have thought this through too and succeeded against determined opposition.

I don't know what exactly they were using, but especially in that case I would have used the tank-Anaconda build. If you get to the station, you only have to surivive a few kilometres with the strongest shields available while spamming cell banks. The timespan is too short for any realistic setup to destroy you in that time. Sure, you *can* land in an instance with 10 Condas and Pythons waiting...

 

[5AmpFuse]

In any case, you want to be very alert when you drop in system; immediately fly a twisting course away from the star while rapidly scanning through enemy ships. Discount anything which can't threaten your ship, lock on whichever threatening ship is nearest to you and make sure you're pointing tangential to it, even if that means your course is going to take you into the middle of nowhere - it doesn't matter, you can always loop back to your destination station once you're well away from danger.

So when I'm in supercruise, I use "cycle next ship" to cycle through the ships on my radar. But this tends to select each and every ship on my radar in turn, even the ones in front, when I'm more worried about the ones near or behind me. I wish there was an easier way to select specific ships, but I don't know how a mechanic like that could work with the radar.

What's the maximum angle of incidence between interdictor and interdictee that can sustain a frame shift tether?

 

[Vasious]

I am going to go with the Eagle

8 Ton Cargo Bay
Class 2D shield
Fuel Scoop

If they manage to get the tether on you, you have done something wrong in terms of controlling the engagement.

 

[Jackie Silver]

So when I'm in supercruise, I use "cycle next ship" to cycle through the ships on my radar. But this tends to select each and every ship on my radar in turn, even the ones in front, when I'm more worried about the ones near or behind me. I wish there was an easier way to select specific ships, but I don't know how a mechanic like that could work with the radar.

What's the maximum angle of incidence between interdictor and interdictee that can sustain a frame shift tether?

Yes, I'd like a way to preferentially select certain targets on the radar - either ships behind or other CMDRs! It does become a mad scramble to hunt through them when a system is busy or filled with targets.

One incidental thing is that the places where I'm running through in the Old Worlds I have so antagonised certain factions and am so loved by others that everything on the supercruise radar is either red (NPC, hostile, can be ignored) or green (NPC, loves me, can be ignored) or yellow (CMDR) which makes picking out the CMDRs from the NPCs a bit easier. Probably not helpful for you though!

I think the required angle of incidence is around a 20 degree cone but that's just a guess; might test that in a bit. Obviously anyone with hardpoints out is a worry, likewise anyone who tries to adjust their ship to follow yours when you turn.

If they manage to get the tether on you, you have done something wrong in terms of controlling the engagement.

Depends if there's only one or if there are several CMDRs out to get you!

(edited to add) Though admittedly you do have the option to immediately force-drop out of supercruise and hightail it to another system if you jump in somewhere that's crawling with hollow triangles, so yeah.