With the AX Weapon Stabilisers now available, I thought maybe it was time to re-visit the meta-AX ship - the trust Alliance Chieftain. I've been barreling around in my FAS for a while now and, on the whole, it's been great but the weapon convergence betwixt top and bottom hardpoints causes me occasional consternation: if I have my Plasmas there, they can be a little too far spread for Scouts but, likewise, if I put the Shards there then sometimes only one will hit a Heart. The convergence on the Chiefs hardpoints - with the exception of the low C2 - seems far superior.
So, I kitted one out with a C2 and two C1 Mod Plasmas in the uppermost hardpoints and a C2 and C1 Mod Shard Cannon in the two immediately above the cockpit. For the lower C2, I chose a G3 LR TV Beam. Obviously, this involved a C3 Weapon Stabiliser which meant my hull dropped to just south of 4,000. For reference, my current FAS build runs at 4,600.
To be honest ... I was a bit underwhelmed:
- The three Mod Plasmas probably do moderately more damage against Scouts than two C2s. But there's not much in it and the tighter convergence (than top/bottom on the FAS) probably accounts for a good amount of just "more are actually hitting" rather than anything else.
- The C2 and C1 Shard Cannon - despite being right on top of each other - are no match for two C2s. I know, big surprise ... but it was genuinely more difficult to pop hearts due to the loss in damage.
- Hull seemed to evaporate much quicker - despite only being a 13% decrease. But some of that is likely due to my unfamiliarity flying the Chief - it certainly seemed to be improving by the end of the CZ.
So, for the time being I've reverted the Chief to a standard "mission runner" build but I have a few thoughts for other weapon configurations to try:
But before I start running Guardian sites and the like ... was wondering what setups others are using?
So, I kitted one out with a C2 and two C1 Mod Plasmas in the uppermost hardpoints and a C2 and C1 Mod Shard Cannon in the two immediately above the cockpit. For the lower C2, I chose a G3 LR TV Beam. Obviously, this involved a C3 Weapon Stabiliser which meant my hull dropped to just south of 4,000. For reference, my current FAS build runs at 4,600.
To be honest ... I was a bit underwhelmed:
- The three Mod Plasmas probably do moderately more damage against Scouts than two C2s. But there's not much in it and the tighter convergence (than top/bottom on the FAS) probably accounts for a good amount of just "more are actually hitting" rather than anything else.
- The C2 and C1 Shard Cannon - despite being right on top of each other - are no match for two C2s. I know, big surprise ... but it was genuinely more difficult to pop hearts due to the loss in damage.
- Hull seemed to evaporate much quicker - despite only being a 13% decrease. But some of that is likely due to my unfamiliarity flying the Chief - it certainly seemed to be improving by the end of the CZ.
So, for the time being I've reverted the Chief to a standard "mission runner" build but I have a few thoughts for other weapon configurations to try:
- 3x C1 Mod Plasmas, 2x C2 Mod Shards
- 2x C2 Mod Plasmas, 3x C1 (standard) Gauss
But before I start running Guardian sites and the like ... was wondering what setups others are using?