Bounty hunting, good ship for start.
- Thread starter Kepes
- Start date
Depends.
- how much money do you have available
- which engineers do you have unlocked
- do you want to go solo (i.e. Haz RES, CNBs) or with suppoert from the cops
- are you comfortable with fixed weapons
The Viper III is a good ship. One standard weapons loadout would be two medium kinetic weapons (fixed, e.g. multicannon) and two small energy weapons (also fixed - beams if you can engineer them, otherwise it'd have to be pulses). Going for enhanced thrusters usually doesn't pay out for the Viper, she's simply too heavy.
Stepping up from the Viper you can get the Vulture, and after that the various Federal and Alliance medium combat ships. King of the hill is still the Fer-de-Lance, and nobody yet is sure what to make of the Mamba (or if anybody knows, they're not telling).
- how much money do you have available
- which engineers do you have unlocked
- do you want to go solo (i.e. Haz RES, CNBs) or with suppoert from the cops
- are you comfortable with fixed weapons
The Viper III is a good ship. One standard weapons loadout would be two medium kinetic weapons (fixed, e.g. multicannon) and two small energy weapons (also fixed - beams if you can engineer them, otherwise it'd have to be pulses). Going for enhanced thrusters usually doesn't pay out for the Viper, she's simply too heavy.
Stepping up from the Viper you can get the Vulture, and after that the various Federal and Alliance medium combat ships. King of the hill is still the Fer-de-Lance, and nobody yet is sure what to make of the Mamba (or if anybody knows, they're not telling).
I got my BH start in a Viper mk.III as well, back when I was a complete novice at outfitting, but I managed to get by pretty well with twin small gimbaled cannons and twin medium lasers (can’t remember if they were pulse or burst off the top of my head, I’ll check later). I didn’t engineer much because, only a month out of the gate, I honestly didn’t really understand it yet.
2.5 years on, I’d recommend a mixed bag of kinetic and thermal weaponry. Twin medium PAs would be pretty good, plus twin small MCs with corrosive shell. Spare no expense when it comes to shields and thrusters, and definitely add an MRP for when it all goes horribly wrong.
As for the next step past the Viper, you really can’t go wrong with the Vulture as already mentioned. Give it a large PA and burst laser and it’s lethal to just about anything. Just be aware that the Vulture is somewhat short on power, so engineer the crap out of the powerplant.
2.5 years on, I’d recommend a mixed bag of kinetic and thermal weaponry. Twin medium PAs would be pretty good, plus twin small MCs with corrosive shell. Spare no expense when it comes to shields and thrusters, and definitely add an MRP for when it all goes horribly wrong.
As for the next step past the Viper, you really can’t go wrong with the Vulture as already mentioned. Give it a large PA and burst laser and it’s lethal to just about anything. Just be aware that the Vulture is somewhat short on power, so engineer the crap out of the powerplant.
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I started combat stuff in a Viper MkIV since it allowed extra shielding vs the MkIII. Then went to a Vulture - which I didn’t like at all since I had no engineers unlocked and hit power issues - before saving up and selling everything for an FDL, which felt far less compromised than the Vulture but, obviously, came with a hefty price tag.
I sold my FDL to buy a Mamba. It is objectively worse on pretty every measure apart from straight-line speed and you have to work the heck out of FA-OFF and/or up-thrust to get the damn thing to pitch round on stuff but the central pilot seat and placement of the C4 Plasma are much nicer for me so I am persevering with it.
However, at some point I will put my 1500MJ BiWeave / 3 beam laser / 2 PA Krait back together and wonder why I bothered with the Mamba at all ...
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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNunZJjg4BGLJq4C7jUr2vg/videos
although PVP it will give you good example of what you can do with the viper - this guy never used anything except viper
although PVP it will give you good example of what you can do with the viper - this guy never used anything except viper
The FdL is definitely worth it, though. It makes you feel invincible.
Rather fond of the Viper IV as a Hunter: https://coriolis.io/outfit/viper_mk...9mUDmQIAAA==.EweloBhBGA2EoFMCGBzANokMK4fiIA==
When you can afford it, either a Python or Krait II are nice steps up - basically the same ship, though the Krait II can carry a fighter bay.
I just dusted off my Vulture for pirate massacre missions. Kitted it out with an efficient beam (shields) and a rapid fire multi (hull), works a treat. You can stack up a couple of these missions fairly easily now (from different sources of course) and can easily earn 30M for a kill count in the mid 30's.
I never really got that ship when it first came out, but with engineered drives it's a lot of fun to fly.
If I'm doing pirate lord assassination missions where there's a single large target (usually a 'vette these days) then I go with my DBS, with efficient beans on the medium hard points and high capacity dumb fires on the smalls. I love that ship.
But if I want to go 'nade fishing in a Haz Res I just load up my Annie and let the turrets and the fighter melt everything in sight.
I never really got that ship when it first came out, but with engineered drives it's a lot of fun to fly.
If I'm doing pirate lord assassination missions where there's a single large target (usually a 'vette these days) then I go with my DBS, with efficient beans on the medium hard points and high capacity dumb fires on the smalls. I love that ship.
But if I want to go 'nade fishing in a Haz Res I just load up my Annie and let the turrets and the fighter melt everything in sight.