Cobra III Fixed Weapons loadout suggestions (PvE)

GreyAreaUK

GreyAreaUK
Morning all. On my alt-PC account I'm currently in a Cobra III and experiencing the joys of non-A-rated modules and not being able to just buy whatever I want - one of my rules for this account is that I'm not allowed to take missions or go mining, so money is tight. This is actually pretty awesome - it's been ages since I had to think about whether or not to upgrade a module due to the affect it'll have on my cash reserves. Mind you, since another of my rules is "no rebuys" then it's kind of a moot point sometimes! However, I digress...

I've made myself yet another rule that I should stick to fixed weapons and I'm currently running two medium pulses and two small rail guns. It's working quite well (and will be better once my aim improves) but the time-before-firing on the rails is bloo...it's inconvenient.

I've never used frags though, and looking at Coriolis the damage they do seems to be impressive, if I'm reading the numbers correctly (or even the correct numbers). For a purely PvE build would swapping the rails for frags be a good idea?

Oh - I currently have no access to engineering either, so these have to be stock weapons.

Thanks.
 

Snarfbuckle

S
I would say, go with the CLASSIC Elite setup.

Two medium sized lasers of your choice and seeker missiles on the wingtips.

If it was good for CMDR.Jameson 30 years ago it's good enough for us.

Allthough, you might want to engineer the Seekers for plenty of more ammunition.
 

GreyAreaUK

GreyAreaUK
Snarfbuckle said:
I would say, go with the CLASSIC Elite setup.

Two medium sized lasers of your choice and seeker missiles on the wingtips.

If it was good for CMDR.Jameson 30 years ago it's good enough for us.

Allthough, you might want to engineer the Seekers for plenty of more ammunition.
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That appeals simply for the 1984-ish-ness of it, but I also need to be effective and missiles aren't what they used to be (or that's the impression I get). Also, Engineering is a looooong time in the future so I need to make the best I can with stock stuff.

Might give it a try though, simply for the nostalgia :)

Thanks.
 

Deleted member 182079

D
Interesting timing!

Last night I tried my Cobra Mk3 in combat for the first time in a while, and decided to take part in a Pirate Lord mission (which spawned a single Corvette).

Fitted G4'd Plasmas into the size 2 slots, and G5'd Frags into the size 1's. (so YMMV, without engineering).

Rest of my ship was fitted to be a mission runner, with only one size 4 HRP, the rest included all sorts of stuff such as SRV, Pax cabin, etc. so by no means a combat build. Shield engineered for thermal so only about 100 strength.

First attempt, the Vette got me down to 5% hull, in part thanks to me boosting into it by accident. After repairing and restocking, had another go, and managed to whack it, surviving with about 50% hull. Most fun I had in combat in a while.

The Cobra is such a versatile little ship, love it.

Edit - for the record, I switched back to 4x frags as I only wanted to try out the Plasmas to see how they work with the Cobra. Prefer the frags to be honest and can worry much less about pip management and distro draw.

Edit 2: given the Cobra is a fast ship, you could try 4 unengineered frags for drive by shooting enemy ships - get as close as you can when passing, and before they get back at you you're already further away recharging your shields etc.
 
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GreyAreaUK

GreyAreaUK
CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost said:
Just buy them and test them. Since you can sell modules at no loss you can just experiment with modules without having to worry about credits (as long as you have the credits in the first place).
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* nod * oh for sure, but I'm at work at the moment in a "hurry up and wait" situation, so thought I'd just sound out the idea.
 

Vardaugas

Vardaugas
Maybe as main weapons something like military lasers, for example burst lasers and engineer them for inertial impact to get 50/50 thermal/kinetic for better efficiency against hulls. Then a pair of torpedo pylons on the smalls should you need some additional bang. Guess that would be 1984 style.
 

GreyAreaUK

GreyAreaUK
Vardaugas said:
Maybe as main weapons something like military lasers, for example burst lasers and engineer them for inertial impact to get 50/50 thermal/kinetic for better efficiency against hulls. Then a pair of torpedo pylons on the smalls should you need some additional bang. Guess that would be 1984 style.
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Can't do Engineering for a long time yet, possibly ever (might be a self-imposed rule). Stock only for now.
 

Neutrino Sunset

N
I'm using two small fixed Beams and two medium fixed Cannons on a Cobra MkIII atm and finding it quite good, but I wonder whether I should be using Frags or Rails instead?

I've tried frags briefly but didn't like the damage reduction at medium range and assumed the spread out damage would be less effective at module sniping. I figured that the delayed firing mechanic of rails would make them much harder to aim effectively when using fixed mountings.

I'd be interested in any advice on this though as I have no actual experience.
 

Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
The classic lasers+seekers combination is what I use on my Cobra. Lasers+torpedoes would probably match the original Elite better, of course.

Seekers are pretty powerful against NPCs, especially the smaller ones, provided you wait until their shields are down before firing. The catch is the ammunition reserve - it's fine for a single fight, but for sustained combat you're basically giving up half your firepower. Seekers also sort out the fairly poor convergence for fixed weapons on those small hardpoints.

Frags would certainly be more effective, though.
 

Aashenfox

Aashenfox
2 medium railguns, 2 small gimballed frags, or 4 gimballed frags. The reason I would add the railguns is cause they do good damage for their size and with feedback can cancel the shield cells of NPCs, but also because I like to have something to do while turning the ship around for another pass (couple of lng range rails, then close in again for more fraggy goodness). Rails also allow you to use the main advantage of the cobra, speed, and pepper your enemy from a distance.
 

GreyAreaUK

GreyAreaUK
Aashenfox said:
2 medium railguns, 2 small gimballed frags, or 4 gimballed frags. The reason I would add the railguns is cause they do good damage for their size and with feedback can cancel the shield cells of NPCs, but also because I like to have something to do while turning the ship around for another pass (couple of lng range rails, then close in again for more fraggy goodness). Rails also allow you to use the main advantage of the cobra, speed, and pepper your enemy from a distance.
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Ah, but keep in mind no engineering and fixed only. Does that alter anything significantly? (Guessing not but always worth asking!)
 

Stealthie

Stealthie
Honestly, I'd say you should give up and get some engineers unlocked rather than wasting your time.

A Cobra probably could be a nice little interceptor with rails, PAs or frag's but, without engineering, all those weapons are either going to be almost ineffectual against most ships or they're going to generate so much heat that you won't be able to use them often enough to do a lot of damage.

I am/was in a similar position with my alt-account and taking a mostly un-engineered Krait into a CZ was, literally, the most frustrating experience I've had in ED.
It was like firing peashooters at flying anvils.
 

Aashenfox

Aashenfox
GreyAreaUK said:
Ah, but keep in mind no engineering and fixed only. Does that alter anything significantly? (Guessing not but always worth asking!)
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You can't use anything fixed except mines on the outer hardpoints. Way too separated. Fixed frag cannons then I guess. Why not vm4? Same internals and hardpoints just better positioned and not quite as fast.
 

GreyAreaUK

GreyAreaUK
Stealthie said:
Honestly, I'd say you should give up and get some engineers unlocked rather than wasting your time.
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It's not a deliberate decision not to Engineer (considering it but I'll probably reject it), it's more that I've literally only just got the invite from Felicity, so I need to trek out somewhere for meta-alloys, which means I first of all need to ensure I can survive the trip (no rebuys allowed), so I first of all need to raise some cash (can't do missions or mining), so I need to upgrade my stock weapons to be as effective as possible.

It's very restrictive but I'm loving it. Credits actually mean something again!
 

GreyAreaUK

GreyAreaUK
Aashenfox said:
Why not vm4? Same internals and hardpoints just better positioned and not quite as fast.
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Can't quite afford one yet - my cash reserves are just under 200,000Cr and I'd rather not sell the Cobra as I'd like a reasonably capable ship to fall back to in the event that I get melted :)
 
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