Horizons Best weapons Python and other ships

[Surfinjo]

Anyone have any opinions of the current best weapons layouts for a python?

The topic has been discussed in the past, but with so many recent changes, perhaps information can be updated.

I like Pulse Lasers myself, though recently they don't seem to pack the same punch as they used to. I get overwealmed by some oponents, quite quickly.

Are rail guns worth while? Cannons? Which type?

Thoughts anyone?

 

[GG7]

I prefer running dual gimbaled C3 Beam Lasers, Dual Medium Multi-Cannons (T), and Large Pulse Laser Cannon (T).

(T) stands for Turret

Here is my Coriolis file of my Python Build version 1: (A recent update to that website lost all my build saves but this one! ???)

https://coriolis.io/outfit/python/0...f24.Iw18eQ==.Aw18eQ==?bn=GG7 • PYTHON BUILD 1

I've tried most of the popular weapons load outs around and always kept coming back to Beams and MCs. They just work the best overall for me. Maybe not as neat or fancy as some of the more exotic load outs, but when it comes to getting the job done, I have yet to find a more effective combo than this one.

I use basically the same load out on my Federal Corvette.

 

[Surfinjo]

Thanks GG7. Good information.

If I may, can I ask how easy you find targeting with Turret weapons?

As you can see from my present layout, the vacant slot in under the cockpit. I was thinking this would be an ideal place for a kinetic weapon, but couldn't decide which. Weapons guides are mostly a year old and who know what the programmers are up to?

Also, apologies, I should have posted my own current layout. I've been building my ship up, putting as much as ide as possible and so far, this is what I have:

Military Bulkhead 1A 51,300,000
Power Plant 7E
Thrusters 6A 16,179,531
FSD 5A
Life Support 4A
Power Distributor 7A
Sensors 6E
Fuel Tank 32
Cargo 64 362,591
Cargo 64 362,591
Cargo 32 111,566
Cargo 32 111,566
Cargo 16
Empty
Advanced Discovery Scanner 1C 1,545,000
Standard Docking Computer 1E

Pulse Laser Gimballed Lg 3E 140,600
Pulse Laser Gimballed Lg 3E 140,600
Empty Lg
Pulse Laser Gimballed Med 2F
Pulse Laser Gimballed Med 2F

Heat Sink Launcher
Shield Booster 1A
Shield Booster 1A
Shield Booster 1A

My intention is to put a shield cell bank into the empty slot. Also, the power plant will definately need to be upgraded. At the moment, the lasers are all turned off.

The Docking computer and some of the cargo bays can also go, eventually, if I need the space. The sensor will almost certainly be upgraded to something with less mass. Experience has shown that, the only necessary upgrade is to its weight. The extra sensing power in negligible.

The 3 shield Boosters may seem to be over kill, but I'm still peeving after having a series of ships destroyed and loosing so much cash I was ready to declare bankrupcy! (Oh the shame for an Empire man. Volunteer for a few years of Imperial slavery................

 

[goemon]

beam turrett(s) combined with MC are quite amazing. you really want to have hard hitting laser turrets on your python, because pesky eagles can get a serious problem now.

 

[Mugur]

Look at my current all turreted Python:
https://coriolis.io/outfit/python/2...f05050437v4C0242f.Iw18eQ==.Aw18eQ==?bn=Python

Put a Fuel Scoop, D for life support and sensors and get a 6A Power Plant (if 7A is too expensive). Looks like you want to trade more than combat, judging by the build.

When I go back to my Python I want to try an all turreted kinetic loadout (with all M MCs or with 3 L Cannons + 2 M MCs). I'm using now 6 T MCs on my Asp and looks ok (I've killed Anacondas and FASes, deadly or dangerous) in NAV beacon or USS)

 

[GG7]

Glad you liked the suggestions!

First off, unfortunately as we discuss this, the Turret firing system in-game is currently broken! It got borked during the .03 update development and unfortunately made it all the way out to the public release. There is a work-around, but this bug does make things more difficult for those running turrets because your setting within:

FUNCTIONS/TURRET WEAPON MODE:

Is no longer getting saved and/or the game is always changing that setting to "FIRE AT WILL". If you use that setting already, you obviously won't notice a problem, but many of us who do serious combat with Turrets, tend to go with either the TARGET ONLY or FORWARD FIRE option. Until the bug is fixed, you will need to go into Functions and reset your Turret Weapon Mode each and every time you come out of SuperCruise. Using your FSD is what causes the mode to be reset to FIRE AT WILL. [rolleyes]

As far as Targeting Goes... If we are talking about the NON-BUGGED Turret Targeting System... I have no problems with its accuracy and ability to stay on target as long as you stick with TARGET ONLY. The Beam/MC loadout is famous for its ability to strip even the toughest shields and then cut through the hull to specific modules like a hot knife through butter! I have the C3s assigned to firegroup #1 and everything else over on FG #2.

Goemon is absolutely correct in his comment above about the power of Turret based Beams! But believe it or not, Beams is the only weapon system I don't put under automatic tracking control in my builds. As you can see from the Coriolis build URL I provided, I prefer to run Gimbaled C3 Beams alongside Turreted Medium MCs and large Pulse Laser Cannon. This arrangement stems from concerns about power management during heated combat engagements when you can't always focus on your PIPS at all times.

I find keeping the C3 Beams under my control eliminates any power drain issues. If you have ever used large Beam Lasers then you are well aware of how power hungry they can be if left to their own devices! lol! But when you match them up with a solid Power Plant and Distributor load out, along with MCs being your other main weapons system, PIP management tends to not be as crucial as other builds out there.

I tend to focus my Beam use of stripping shields and then let the Turreted weapons do their stuff in grinding down the enemy hull. Once the enemy ship's hull is down to 25%, I open up on them a second time with the C3 beams, and one sustained burst usually finishes off the target.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

 

[Surfinjo]

Thanks everyone so much for the advice. I went for the pulse for their power and gimbaled for its aiming, but can now see I might be better thinking along different lines.

Something along these lines to think about:

Beam Laser Gimballed Lg
Beam Laser Gimballed Lg
Pulse Laser Turret Lg Or possibly a Cannon
Multi Cannon Turret Med. Or possibly Fragment Cannons.
Multi Cannon Turret Med. Or possibly Fragment Cannons.

With this layout I was thinking I could have Lg Beams together and the other three on the other button.

I read a short article written by CMDR wootiown, dated about a year or possibly more ago. He described the weapons available and gave a short assessment of each. Below is a reprint of it.

I found it quite useful as a guide, but of course, with recent updates, is somewhat obsolete now.

What was especially useful was his comparison, with each weapon, against larger and smaller ships.

Does anyone feel the assessments as described, are still useful?

The three main cannons, Cannon, Multi-cannon and Fragment-cannon for example. Has anyone got any comparitive experience of the merits of each against different ships?

Pulse laser. Arguably the best laser, as it takes very little energy and produces very little heat. Lower DPS than other lasers, however when fighting large ships it deals more constant damage resulting in a higher total DPS.
Good against larger ships, weaker against smaller ships.

Multicannon. Cheap and easy to use. Destroys the hull of any small ship. Rather weak against larger ship hulls. Ammo is abundant and cheap.
Good against smaller ships, weak against larger ships.

Burst Laser. Fires about 2x faster than the pulse laser, but also generates 2x more heat and takes up around 2.5x more power per shot.
Great against small ships, weak against larger ships.

Beam laser. Generates loads of heat and wastes power. Has a massive DPS, however it drains the capacitor so fast that its nearly useless on anything larger than an adder.

Cannon. Deals very high damage if it hits its target. Works very well for hitting subsystems. Best used on fast or agile ships, as cannons are nearly useless over 750m. Decent ammo.
Weak on smaller ships, fantastic on larger ships.

Fragment Cannon. Commonly considered very weak. Deals extremely high damage if fired at close range (<500m). Generally best if they're fixed. Low ammo.
Okay on smaller ships, fantastic on larger ships.

Railgun. Deals large amounts of damage to both shields and hull. Low and expensive ammo. Only small agile ships are good with railguns.
Very weak on smaller ships, great on larger ships.

Plasma Accelerator. Low damage to shields, very high damage to hull. Abundant but expensive ammo. Takes a lot of skill to aim, but if they hit an unshielded target they can drop large ships quickly.
Useless against small ships, decent against larger ships.

Missile Racks. Both dumbfire and heatseekers are equally useless. They're very difficult to aim, expensive, and you only get enough ammo to take down one python at max.
Useless against small ships, okay at larger ships.

Torpedo Pylons. Deals an insane amount of damage, however you get very few shots and each shot costs... $15000! A multicannon or cannon works much better for much cheaper.

Mining laser. Unless you're mining, don't even think about it. Simple as that.

My loadouts generally contain half laser and half kinetic weapons. On my Clipper, I use two turreted burst lasers (as the Clipper dissipates heat and has a good power distributor, and the large hard points have a great firing radius) and two gimballed cannons. I have also tried 2 fixed frag cannons that worked very well as well.
Your loadout is your own opinion, but this guide hopefully helped you understand what you should outfit your ship with!
Check me out on YouTube, rxbots -CMDR wootiown

 

[Mugur]

Very outdated guide. Very.

Cannons were buffed in 2.1 (same speed and no more drop in damage), MCs are better than ever (including turrets). Missiles are not useless anymore, even in dogfights.

Beams should be more used now than pulse as main weapons when time to hit an NPC is smaller for higher ranks (so you cannot maintain for a long time the target in your sights). There is almost another game than 1 year ago, at least IMHO.

Frag cannons are ok only if you can get close enough to spit on your opponent's cockpit.

 

[GG7]

Very outdated guide. Very.

Cannons were buffed in 2.1 (same speed and no more drop in damage), MCs are better than ever (including turrets). Missiles are not useless anymore, even in dogfights.

Beams should be more used now than pulse as main weapons when time to hit an NPC is smaller for higher ranks (so you cannot maintain for a long time the target in your sights). There is almost another game than 1 year ago, at least IMHO.

Frag cannons are ok only if you can get close enough to spit on your opponent's cockpit.

I was going to say the same thing about the info in that guide. It is old and all the weapons mentioned have gone through significant changes since that was written.

My advice on all this would be to try running with my Dual C3 Gimbaled Beams as your #1 Fire Group, and then your Dual Medium Turreted Multi-Cannons and the single Large Turreted Pulse Laser/Cannon on your #2. So, the only weapons system you really need to focus on would be your #1 running your C3 Beam Lasers.

All you will need to do at the start of combat with this load out would be the following:

1) Lock onto Enemy Target

2) Fire your #2 Firegroup with a single pull of the trigger (Once activated using Target Only, these will take care of themselves and fire on the target as long as they have a firing solution. They won't stop until the target is either destroyed, your get out of range with the target or you run out of ammo on your MCs.

3) Use your C3 Beams on your #1 FireGroup to strip shields of target and whenever you have a good firing solution.

You won't appreciate the benefits of this load out until you actually use it in combat.

EDIT: Oh! And take note of the Power Plant and Distributor I am using on that Coriolis Build. Its vital that you run with those in order for your Beam Lasers to perform properly.

 

[El Dragoon!]

Anyone have any opinions of the current best weapons layouts for a python?

The topic has been discussed in the past, but with so many recent changes, perhaps information can be updated.

I like Pulse Lasers myself, though recently they don't seem to pack the same punch as they used to. I get overwealmed by some oponents, quite quickly.

Are rail guns worth while? Cannons? Which type?

Thoughts anyone?

i use 2 large beam 2 medium missels and 1 large phased pulse
a rated ofcourse

it works extremely well with how i handle things, i target weapons systems instead of PP , much more effective, because your enemies DPs is more than cut inhalf
most of the time rendering them harmless

 

[Surfinjo]

Thanks tons.

So, re-done my layout a bit:

Pulse Laser Gimballed Lg 3E 140,600
Pulse Laser Gimballed Lg 3E 140,600
Empty Lg
Multi Cannon Turret Med 2F 1.292,800
Multi Cannon Turret Med 2F 1,292,800

Heat Sink Launcher
Shield Booster 1A
Shield Booster 1A
Shield Booster 1A

Military Bulkhead 1A 51,300,000
Power Plant 6A
Thrusters 6A 16,179,531
FSD 5A
Life Support 4D
Power Distributor 7A
Sensors 6D 222,444
Fuel Tank 32 97,754

Shield Generator 6A 16,179,531
Cargo 64 362,591
Cargo 64 362,591
Cargo 32 111,566
Cargo 32 111,566
Cargo 16 34,328
Shield Cell Bank 2A
Advanced Discovery Scanner 1C 1,545,000
Standard Docking Computer 1E

Still using Pulse Lasers on large because I can't afford the beams yet.

Turreted Multi Cannons in Medium

Put in a 6A power plant, down from 7E, gives me 25 MWatts and a less mass.

Lowered Life support to 4D and changed Sensor to 6D, again for mass.

Installed a Shield Cell Bank 2A. I felt the mass of the large one didn't sufficiently justify it.

Anyway, had my first kill. A Eagle for 77,000 cr, so not bad. Feeling a lot more confident now. I did have a bit if a problem at first when I realised I'd spend so much I didn't have enough for an insurance payout. Managed to rectify that quite quickly, thanks to a system which thinks I'm OK. (The fools!).

 

[Nephatia]

where are y'all finding all these class A modules? is there a helpful url for searching?

 

[Arim]

where are y'all finding all these class A modules? is there a helpful url for searching?

Browse here: http://roguey.co.uk/elite-dangerous/equipment/

 

[Bigglesof206]

Depends what you are planning to do.
I'm doing lots of missions (Sirius permit) and carrying quite a lot of engineer stuff, so some of my HRPs etc have been sacrificed to give me cargo space. My main armament requirement is for defence - so a couple of mine launchers and three gimballed multi cannon do the trick for me. I get inrterdicted and sit with the NPC on my 6, spamming mines at them, until they are looking really second hand...at which point I FA off, flip to face them, and fly backwards MC ing them to junk.

I donb't think an NPC has had my shields down since fitting out this way, and I've killed rather a lot of them.

Dave

 

[5miley]

Might want to think about getting an Engineer to mod your thrusters
Dirty drives will give you extra speed and more importantly, agility .... keeps you on target

 

[CATPAIN KIRK]

I've been doing fine with the layout I use since early 2015: fixed large pulses and 2 med rails. Now that the AI occasionally tries to evade I'm considering fitting fixed bursts/beams to achieve higher peak damage. Briefly considered going all fixed MCs because I've been getting good results using all fixed MCs on my Corvette, but the spin-up for the C3's is too long.

 

[JetsonRING]

Here's my general ship-build/weapons loadout:

Anyone have any opinions of the current best weapons layouts for a python?

The topic has been discussed in the past, but with so many recent changes, perhaps information can be updated.

I like Pulse Lasers myself, though recently they don't seem to pack the same punch as they used to. I get overwealmed by some oponents, quite quickly.

Are rail guns worth while? Cannons? Which type?

Thoughts anyone?

I bought a Python then watched a good YouTube video on outfitting it. The biggest A7 Powerplant is the most thermally-efficient, gives enough power to run about anything including 3 particular lasers AND multi-cannons without draining the WEP capacitor AT ALL. Two (2) large TURRET PULSE lasers and two (2) medium TURRET multi-cannons on top and a big swingin'-d### TURRET BEAM (3F) laser on the chin-mount. Just remember to map a button to fire-mode so you can set forward-fire when your opponent drops chaff.

With an A7 power supply and power thrown to WEP you can hold down both triggers all day long and the WEP capacitor will not drop a single bar which means you can divert some power for ENG and SYS. Slightly reduced short-term (5 sec.) damage (turreted weapons) but much greater over medium (>10 sec.) and long-term (>20 sec.) since you do not have to wait for cool down (A7 power baby!) or re-charge, just keep holding down those triggers. Turreted weapons mean you do not have to point at or even be looking at the target to destroy it but a bug is causing turreted weapons to repeatedly change firing-mode to "at-will" instead of "target only" or "forward fire".

 

[goemon]

I bought a Python then watched a good YouTube video on outfitting it. The biggest A7 Powerplant ... without draining the WEP capacitor AT ALL.

powerplant size and grade is totally unrelated to WEP capacitator draw.

powerdistributor does it.

 

[JetsonRING]

Yes and the A7 powerplant handles the heat. Perhaps I mis-spoke. PYou can hold doen the triggers all day, power never runs out AND you never over-heat.

 

[JetsonRING]

[yesnod]I FOUND A WORKAROUND![yesnod] for the "fire at will" problem. If you like to run all turrets you need to swap out a single weapon for one that is either fixed or on gimbals. The fixed/gimballed weapon acts like a "master" and now, the "target only" setting will remain persistent. On my Python I switched out the chin-mounted turret beam laser (3F) for the gimballed (3C?) one and problem solved! At least until a permanent fix is found.