Cant kill Elite Anaconda with my A-rated Cobra : am I bad ?

[Silmo]

Guys,

I have been trading / mining for a long time to buy a Cobra and equip it with all the best modules.
I have been pew-pew training at nav points and I can say I have pretty good aim (thanks to my warthog)

BUT I just cant kill those damn 150K+ reward Anacondas missions... I always end up with the target at 10% hull or so before I have to flee. I'm myself at less than 10% hull, no shield cells left, no missiles left, etc.

My loadout is as follows : 1x Gimballed Beam laser class 2 and 1x Gimballed beam laser class 1 + Dumbfire missiles class 2 & class 1, power management ON. A-rated modules everywhere else.

I'm trying to get behind the Anaconda and aim at its reactor but this damn ship always faces me ...

Any tips ? Should I try in a Viper ?

 

[JonnyC0mbat]

Target the power plant and you'll have more success. Trying to chip through the hull takes a long time.

 

[Eagle Eye]

Sure, should be easier in a Viper. What I always use is 4 gimballed MC, target FSD or Power Plant. Shield takes forever to down, but once its down its dead before it can regenerate

 

[YDS55]

I fly a Viper and I use the following: 2 fixed railguns class 1 and 2 dumbfire missile pods, one has 16 missiles the other one 24. I get right on his tail and blow away with the railguns, I only aim for his engines, because when they get damaged he's practicaly dead in the water, once the shield is down, blow away with all your dumfire missiles and he should be dust in about 10 seconds.

I only use this loadout for hunting the elite anaconda's, normally I use a different loadout.

 

[the100thmonkey]

When you weaken or drop the shileds, its behaviour changes and you can get closer.

Also, the Cobra is as wide as a barn door and is an easier target than the Viper.

I say kite the Anaconda till the shields are down, then move in dropping chaff when it turns and boosts to reposition. Stay on one of its rear quarters to minimise turret exposure (the bottom rear quarter is best) and aim for the thrusters.

 

[Captain Fizz]

I'd go with 2 x Class 2 lasers...
If happy with dumbfires, 2 x class 2's.

More firepower is always good.

I find Gimballed MC's in the class 2 slots (class 1 lasers) works for me.
Shields do not take long to drop, so class 1 for thermal.
Target powerplant in sub-systems, use MC's whilst shields are down (and lasers if you have the heat to do so)

Use lateral thrusters (up/down/left/right) whilst flying to aid manoeuvring

I ended up circling around them (constant thrust down) which makes the conda always keep turning to try to face me rather than the recommended "sit up his bum" method as I find that easier when using a 360 pad.
(I have a joystick, parrot also LOVES cables / buttons so it sits unused!)

 

[CMDR M Kozak]

My weapon setup is Class2 beams with class one dumbs.

Take down his shield with your beams, while you do this you are best to avoid his fire as much as possible. I usually make a few fast runs by him doing that, then turn around and come back.

Once the shields are down, I go in close and get on top of him for maximum profile. Thats when you unload your first full wave of dumbs. Keep the lasers going as well.
You may loose shields yourself, but if you have military grade armor this wont be too much of a problem. You can however get unlucky and have your canopy busted open, but if you have A grade lifesupport you still have 25 minutes of air. So dont panic at first.

This first wave wont kill him so you have to move off and away from the heat untill the your missile racks have reloaded. Then you do it again and he pops.
Sometimes you can get lucky and take out his powerplant with the first wave causing him to blow up.

Another move would be to take out his engines once the shield is down. This can be done without going too close and still avoid some fire. Once he is adrift you can easily laser him out. This "strategy" doesnt require dumbfires.

Note that you will need shieldcells for this. I have one class 4 cell bank on, along with some chaff.
4 pips to shields will make them stronger. But remember to switch to weapons when you can to use your lasers.
Im not too impressed with class 1 beams and would suggest you fit both class2 slots with the beams.

Good luck commander.

 

[teaurn]

Its easy enough in a cobra. I use 2 medium fixed beams to burn through the shields, then I have 2 racks of small dumbfires to kill him. Shield cells are good, I usually use a couple per encounter, but its all in the throttle and thruster control. I find voice attack is very useful for power management during the fight. Practice using thrusters to stay close to large objects, and try to anticipate his turns and burns. Practice makes perfect!

 

[RealNC]

I posted this in another thread. It's for a Viper, but it works the same way in a Cobra. It's a tad more difficult in a Cobra (due to the Viper being more agile), but I've done it enough times in a Cobra and I know it works the same way.

The most important thing in all of this boils down to: keep your distance as low as possible. Be right on top of them, your shields actually touching their hull from time to time. If you're getting blinded by their thrusters quite a bit, you're doing it right ;-)

Note: get rid of those missiles. The best setup to killing those is all multicannons, or 2x lasers + 2x rail guns if you also care about PvP. 2x lasers + 2x multicannons works too if you don't want to specialize 100% on killing Anacondas but also do PvE against Eagles and such (saves ammo.) It's *critical* to target their power plant subsystem so that you don't need to bring their hull down to 0%.

I'm not the best pilot either, but most of the time I kill those Anacondas with me taking 0% damage (chaff and shield cells.) I'm in a Viper too.

I just approach them with 4 pips in shields, ignore their initial shots at me, and land on them (a bit of strafing makes their plasma accelerators miss.) Like, actually touching down on top of them. From that distance, I just use vertical thrusters and roll to stay slightly above/below them but mostly behind them. This gives a clear shot to their power unit, which goes to 0% while their hull is still at 40% or so, and thus makes them go boom. I'm under 100m distance the whole time. They can't do anything. If they try to boost, I boost too with negative throttle in order to not crash into them.

*And* I'm just on mouse and keyboard.

It's like stealing candy from a baby, really

No matter how much money that makes me, farming elite Anacondas in a Viper should NOT be possible. It just doesn't feel right. Elite Federal Dropships are actually harder to kill than elite Anacondas...

And it's not that the Anaconda is weak. It's the AI that's the weakness here. It just can't get rid of a ship on its six.

 

[Sentenza]

Bring multicannons. Once you get shields down you want armor penetration and lasers are not that good at it. Dumbfires are very good (for now) "if" you can hit the target, which is not guaranteed.

 

[DDC]

I use a Viper with 2x Canons and 2X Beam Lasers. I thrust horizontally and vertically at the same time, so I'm constantly spiraling around the Conda, yet with the powerplant still in sight. The shield goes down in a minute or so with the beam lasers, then the powerplant pops after a couple of minutes with the beams and canons. I use 2-3 shield cells and return undamaged. If anything they're too easy!