Alright,
i have been surfing through this forum and reddit, reading all those different threads about cobra vs viper. Unfortunatly, most of those threads are mostly based on the following sentences "viper is the better fighter", "cobra is good for longer travel" or stuff like "Cobra doesnt overheat that much".
The issue i do have is, that most of those have no real background and i am always not sure if they are dependend on real experience with both ships or just a general "feeling".
So, what i want to do here is gather as much information about both types of ships as possible, to help deciding which IS the better fighter.
Therefor, we should, first of all, theoretically speak of both ships fully equipped with A rating stuff for the best of their class.
Now some questions to help going on in this thread:
1. Shield Strength: According to the Wiki (http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Ships), the Cobra has 80 Shieldpoints (SP) while the Viper has 105. This is their stock shield strength. How does that compare to fully equipped Ships with both having Rank A shields? Does the Viper still has more Shieldstrength when boith ships are fully equipped? And: How much difference do 25 Points acutally make in a real combat situation?
2. Hull Strength: Here the Cobra has the better of the two: Cobra having 120 Hull, while the Viper only has meagerly 70 Hull. How does that compare? From my experience so far, when the shields go down, things blow up really fast. Do 50 Points of Hull make a huge deal? Is there a way to deal with that with the Viper?
3. Overheating: I read in several posts, that the Viper has overheating problems. But on the other hand, i read that having a A Rank Power distributor makes up for that. Is that true or has the Cobra the better, sustainable firing output?
4. Speed and Maneuvrability: For maneuvrqability, both Ships are on par (6), but than again, i dont trust the wiki in this regard, as the Asp should have the same value, but is definitly not as agile as the smaller ships. Any experience on that? I heard so far that the Viper is more agile and, of course, faster than the cobra, but how important is that really and is there that much of a difference?
5. Hardpoint allocation: Yeah, most people agree that the viper has the better hardpoint allocation as the cobra, but i had no problems most of the time shooting stuff... if you know your ship, you know how to aim. Which brings us
to an important question
6. Skill: The Viper is smaller, is therefor harder to target and has the better Hardpoint allocation, which should mean, that it would be easier to evade fire at all and hit the better. The Cobra needs some know-how where to aim and how to handle your ship itself. On the other hand, if you turn with your cobra, you are a big, fat ugly target. Which ship needs more skill to handle? IF the viper is squeeshier than the cobra, surely the viper. But IF the Cobra has a harder time to maneuver and get its hardpoints pointed at the enemy, than the Cobra needs more skill? Or are they both on par?
What i dont want to know: Jumprange (you are a fighter, not a trader), cost (cost is a problem that you have when you start out, this post is more related to people who have the money anyways)
This post should be from a complete point of combat view.
i have been surfing through this forum and reddit, reading all those different threads about cobra vs viper. Unfortunatly, most of those threads are mostly based on the following sentences "viper is the better fighter", "cobra is good for longer travel" or stuff like "Cobra doesnt overheat that much".
The issue i do have is, that most of those have no real background and i am always not sure if they are dependend on real experience with both ships or just a general "feeling".
So, what i want to do here is gather as much information about both types of ships as possible, to help deciding which IS the better fighter.
Therefor, we should, first of all, theoretically speak of both ships fully equipped with A rating stuff for the best of their class.
Now some questions to help going on in this thread:
1. Shield Strength: According to the Wiki (http://elite-dangerous.wikia.com/wiki/Ships), the Cobra has 80 Shieldpoints (SP) while the Viper has 105. This is their stock shield strength. How does that compare to fully equipped Ships with both having Rank A shields? Does the Viper still has more Shieldstrength when boith ships are fully equipped? And: How much difference do 25 Points acutally make in a real combat situation?
2. Hull Strength: Here the Cobra has the better of the two: Cobra having 120 Hull, while the Viper only has meagerly 70 Hull. How does that compare? From my experience so far, when the shields go down, things blow up really fast. Do 50 Points of Hull make a huge deal? Is there a way to deal with that with the Viper?
3. Overheating: I read in several posts, that the Viper has overheating problems. But on the other hand, i read that having a A Rank Power distributor makes up for that. Is that true or has the Cobra the better, sustainable firing output?
4. Speed and Maneuvrability: For maneuvrqability, both Ships are on par (6), but than again, i dont trust the wiki in this regard, as the Asp should have the same value, but is definitly not as agile as the smaller ships. Any experience on that? I heard so far that the Viper is more agile and, of course, faster than the cobra, but how important is that really and is there that much of a difference?
5. Hardpoint allocation: Yeah, most people agree that the viper has the better hardpoint allocation as the cobra, but i had no problems most of the time shooting stuff... if you know your ship, you know how to aim. Which brings us
to an important question
6. Skill: The Viper is smaller, is therefor harder to target and has the better Hardpoint allocation, which should mean, that it would be easier to evade fire at all and hit the better. The Cobra needs some know-how where to aim and how to handle your ship itself. On the other hand, if you turn with your cobra, you are a big, fat ugly target. Which ship needs more skill to handle? IF the viper is squeeshier than the cobra, surely the viper. But IF the Cobra has a harder time to maneuver and get its hardpoints pointed at the enemy, than the Cobra needs more skill? Or are they both on par?
What i dont want to know: Jumprange (you are a fighter, not a trader), cost (cost is a problem that you have when you start out, this post is more related to people who have the money anyways)
This post should be from a complete point of combat view.
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