Newcomer / Intro Cobra III Build - unlocking engineers....

[Shadowscream]

I’ve started again on PC with my teenage son on a 2nd account,
We’ve both just reached Cobra III and unlocked Farseer.
—> Plan is to unlock a good number of Engineers including Tod Mcquinn (so need some Daka)
Any good starter Cobra builds - with at most Farseer Engineering?
Thanks!

 

[ethelred]

It's hard to go wrong with any cobra build tbh.

Speed is your friend, so stick to D rated stuff to keep your ship light (and better range), until you can afford to A rate everything (with the exception of power plant and jump drive).

Laser and multis will get you out of most NPC trouble and are enough to start earning bounties .

I only fly in Open so a good shield is also a must, but you could probably get away with a smaller one so long as you're not doing combat.

Fuel scoop is nice (for the meta alloy - going to Maia will also net you exploration credits) and metas are also available in Deciat too from carriers (for a couple of mill iirc)

Fly safe!

 

[Krieger]

Below I linked to a build for a fast Cobra MkIII relying on speed for trading and smuggling and capable of defending itself (somewhat). It only uses engineering available from Farseer. You can use it as a basis for your own experiments.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

 

[aRJay]

I’ve started again on PC with my teenage son on a 2nd account,
We’ve both just reached Cobra III and unlocked Farseer.
—> Plan is to unlock a good number of Engineers including Tod Mcquinn (so need some Daka)
Any good starter Cobra builds - with at most Farseer Engineering?
Thanks!

When I eventually traded up from a Sidewinder to a Cobra III my build was something like this when I was going to fight, I would swap out reinforcements for a scoop and cargo racks if I was travelling or trading.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

coriolis.io

 

[sinisalo]

Fun thread. Good builds above. I thought I'd have a crack at it too. Cobra III was my first purchased ship. Good choice Shadowscream.

With only Felicity's mods this is what I came up with

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

coriolis.io

A couple comments.... You didn't indicate how you'd like to use it. So I put some racks in it, along with a scoop. But these can easily be swapped around for HRPs for combat, or a rack in place of the scoop for cargo runs. A DSS for some bubble exploration. Without a known role, it's difficult to specialize it. You might prefer chaff and point defense over boosters. So it's just a mock up. The TTD is really short at 12 seconds, so it would need some PD engineering down the line. But it's fast, and speed is life, and has decent protection for what it is and with limited engineering.

 

[d8veh]

In case you want to go and do some combat, after lots of experiments, I figured out that the diamondback Scout is much better than the Cobra. It's cheaper, has two more utility slots so you can use a KWS, has stronger shields and best of all, the weapons are placed much better on the front, so you can use all 4 at the same time, which isn't easy on the Cobra with 2 above and two below. After a few hours in the high resource extraction site with it, you'd be able to get a DBX, which is much better for sorting out engineers and it's the perfect ship for unlocking Guardian stuff.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

coriolis.io

 

[Speedcuffs]

Currently using this in a HiRES. Only engineering is FSD.
will do Power Distributor next.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

 

[Krieger]

In case you want to go and do some combat, after lots of experiments, I figured out that the diamondback Scout is much better than the Cobra. It's cheaper, has two more utility slots so you can use a KWS, has stronger shields and best of all, the weapons are placed much better on the front, so you can use all 4 at the same time, which isn't easy on the Cobra with 2 above and two below. After a few hours in the high resource extraction site with it, you'd be able to get a DBX, which is much better for sorting out engineers and it's the perfect ship for unlocking Guardian stuff.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

coriolis.io

Totally true... but the Cobra MkIII is the iconic Elite ship you must own (at least) one.

 

[d8veh]

Totally true... but the Cobra MkIII is the iconic Elite ship you must own (at least) one.

That's true. I have one in a glass case in the foyer of my carrier.

Currently using this in a HiRES. Only engineering is FSD.
will do Power Distributor next.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

No chaff??????

How long does it last, or are you only shooting the ships that the cops are killing?