1. Up to you, the practical difference is that A rated sensors have a larger range (will see ships further away) than D rated.
2. Yes, shield cell banks generate a lot of heat, you will want to use a heat skink to dissipate this when you use a SCB.
3. No reason why not. Again, the difference in size and grade just relates to the interdictors range. Some missions do indeed say you can use an interdictor to pull your target out of SC, but you will always be able to find them in other ways. Pirate lords for example will interdict you, and other mission targets will also be found in a mission specific signal source.
Edit - I suppose one reason for going for A rated sensors would be if you are planning on putting long range engineering on any weapons, and want to be able to target ships at the weapons maximum range which is a bit over that of D rated sensors.
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My combat ships use long-range Ds, usually around G3. This gives a range of around 11km and the Ds are not just lighter, but draw less power which works well with how I like to build my ships.
Aside from better range I think A sensors resolve cool ships better. But the long-range Ds give plenty of range for me.
Edit: To add that when I first started playing I flip-flopped between these two sensors. In the end I decided that A sensors are especially useful for mission profiles where you are looking for specific ships. Like wading through a RES looking for ships from a specific faction for a massacre mission. The longer range and presumably the better accuracy with cooler ships is useful to efficiently sort the many ships there. For me though that's an edge case, and I'm generally bounty hunting in CNBs and RES sites and there are always lots of targets near by and I am not so discerning about finding specific targets.
So since Ds are good enough and have the added benefit of lower power, cost, mass and heat, the choice was easy in the end. Plenty of commanders use As and for good reasons, but for me the trade-offs tip the scales over to Ds.
Aside from better range I think A sensors resolve cool ships better. But the long-range Ds give plenty of range for me.
Edit: To add that when I first started playing I flip-flopped between these two sensors. In the end I decided that A sensors are especially useful for mission profiles where you are looking for specific ships. Like wading through a RES looking for ships from a specific faction for a massacre mission. The longer range and presumably the better accuracy with cooler ships is useful to efficiently sort the many ships there. For me though that's an edge case, and I'm generally bounty hunting in CNBs and RES sites and there are always lots of targets near by and I am not so discerning about finding specific targets.
So since Ds are good enough and have the added benefit of lower power, cost, mass and heat, the choice was easy in the end. Plenty of commanders use As and for good reasons, but for me the trade-offs tip the scales over to Ds.
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1) D-rated long range is meta I guess. No need for more then g2 or g3 honestly.
2) Yes. Either use heat sinks or thermal vent beams to counter the heat. Or use thermal conduit PAs ^^
If you use two banks, you can use bank one, fire heatsink, wait to be under 40% heat, and fire bank two.
3) I mostly use 1A interdictors, sometimes larger ones make sense, but it's usually enough.
2) Yes. Either use heat sinks or thermal vent beams to counter the heat. Or use thermal conduit PAs ^^
If you use two banks, you can use bank one, fire heatsink, wait to be under 40% heat, and fire bank two.
3) I mostly use 1A interdictors, sometimes larger ones make sense, but it's usually enough.
Predominantly but if you're doing pirate massacres solo in a haz while piloting a slower ship like the vette or conda (which is my main ED activity, and while I dont know if he's into pirate masscres, Im pretty certain Bradman has mentioned elsewhere on the forums he's a solo mode player), the extra range of G5 helps identity and track down mission target pirates. And one could argue if thats the situation you're in, G5'd A rated are the better option, but peronally I find the extra weight of A's cuts too far into the vette's/conda's turn rates.
I dont do CZs often, but last I was in one yeah, I did swap in some G3 sensors. Way back when bounty CGs were a regular thing and I had mates playing, I'd usually let my wingmates carry the heavier long range sensors, and Id go swap in some G5 lightweight.
Yep, for pure haz res a g5'd long range sensor is perfect.
Absolutely fine especially with expanded arc mod from engineers.
1. As already said d-rated long range G3 are a good compromise, less power draw and still a good range. I only have D-rated sensors and life support on all my ships.
2. yep, normal. If it's for Solo/pg only, specialized engineering with boss cell special could be enough to keep the heat in check. This is not advised for any kind of PvP encounters, there you want to use rapid charge with recycling cell or flow control plus heatsinks.
3. yep, works fine. If you do the kill whoever missions, using an interdictor gives you the advantage of being able to get some 1 on 1 time with the target as they spawn in SC in the target system then you enter. Pull them and no system security or all the other riff-raff around like in the signal sources.
My two cents:
Combat is the single role where no expense can be spared, no corners cut. IMO everything should be A-rated, sensors and life-support too.
(1) See above.
(2) Yes: Deploy SCB, immediately deploy heat-sink(s). Fit an extra heat-sink launcher if using SCB.
(3) For most things A-rated is best, think of it as "Acme" brand modules.
Ok, thanks guys, This is all helpful
This is phase 1 off my build, this is what im working torwards. Its going to take ages gathering all these materials!
coriolis.io
Phase 2 will be weapons and senors testing.
This is phase 1 off my build, this is what im working torwards. Its going to take ages gathering all these materials!
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
coriolis.io
Phase 2 will be weapons and senors testing.
Thanks, didn't realise, this is my build again
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
coriolis.io
Thanks, didn't realise, this is my build again
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
C'mon, you're wasting class 7 internal with that fuel scoop. Leave it for another scb. For fuel scoop class 4-5 will do just fine.
Im in the middle of upgrading the ship, the scoop is mainly for getting to engineer bases
I think the real question for this vette build is, what exactly will Bradman be equipping on the large hardpoint?
It just feels so useless most of the time, unless you're exceptionally good at keeping your target right in line on the nose of the vette. Targets a little high off the nose and the size 3 stops firing, too low under the chin and the huge hardpoints stop. A single seeker rack will get shot down by point def more often than not. I've had a packhound rack in there before but to earn its keep it burns through syth ammo mats. I've got scramble turret in there at the moment but its really just an after thought.
It just feels so useless most of the time, unless you're exceptionally good at keeping your target right in line on the nose of the vette. Targets a little high off the nose and the size 3 stops firing, too low under the chin and the huge hardpoints stop. A single seeker rack will get shot down by point def more often than not. I've had a packhound rack in there before but to earn its keep it burns through syth ammo mats. I've got scramble turret in there at the moment but its really just an after thought.
I got bored of material gathering so i put 5 multi cannons in the empty slots. I'm really surprised for a larger ship how agile the ship is, so i find it easy keep my weapons fixed on a target, and also surprised how quickly 2 4a beams destroy enemy shields. If they use a chaff, i don't target them i can still hit them manually
Biggest disappointment on the Corvette for me, that large hardpoint. Just makes no sense to me as a HP placement on a combat ship as it will not play nice with the other HPs - why is it not up top?!
My ideal - on paper - weapons loadout on a ‘vette would be all thermal vent beam lasers apart from the two huge HPs which would both be PAs. But without that large HP reliably firing, your damage against smaller craft drops to that of a Cobra / Viper which is just stupid.
My ‘vette is for mining now (with two Huge Beams for swatting unsuspecting pirates ...) but the last combat build I had used the large HP and small HPs for three small rail guns which were at least useful for sniping ships that tried to run.
