Ships Combat ship progression suggestions

[CMDR-Cthulhu]

Hi everyone, I am looking for a bit of input on combat ships as I expand and evolve my little fleet.

Currently I have a Viper MkIV that I have been using for light combat/bounty hunting and other odd jobs that involve hunting for specific ships or entering areas that are a bit risky.

It's a nice little ship, it handles great and is agile but I am keep eyeing up some of the guns that pack more of a punch which I cant power with the current rig I have on it.

My budget to start with is still a little tight as I work my way to funding a better fleet over all. Between doing sightseeing trips in my Diamondback explorer, courier and trade runs in my type-6 I am now more able to bring in cash but not super fast.

I am also eyeing up an AspX for more explanation/sightseeing and other odd jobs, just stuck on combat life with out grinding like a madman to get an anaconda. Any suggestions for ships to use on my way to one of those big budget ships would be great.

 

[Vardaugas]

Typical progression is Vulture and Fer-de-Lance for combat ships. Could skip the Vulture for an Imperial Courier and use a Python instead of FdL, but those are in general less efficient in combat than the other two.

 

[wrmiller]

My 'progression' was via ships that could do missions and small cargo runs and still fight.

After the MkIV, I jumped into a DBE. Great little fighter.

Then I jumped into a AspX. Good ship for missions and small cargo runs, but not a great fighter.

Then I bought a FAS. Yea. Great for mission running, and can carry a small bit of cargo. But man, what a fighter!

Next in line was a Python. Wow. IMO the best 'armed trader' available. Mine can carry 150T or so of cargo and take out any NPC pirate stupid enough to interdict me. Mine is modestly engineered though.

After that I bought a conda. Sold it a day later and went back to my Python. I tried this a couple more times, but kept selling the conda. It's just not for me. When I finally made the rank, I bought a vette. To me, it's like the Python's big brother. As an armed trader it can do short range missions (mine has 20Ly jump range), and can vaporize anything stupid enough to get in it's way. It is significantly more agile than a conda, to the point that you don't even need turrets. Gimbals work just fine. And it can haul a bunch of cargo. Not as much as a Cutter, but I can do three or four complete turns in the time it takes that thing to do one. It's worse than the conda.

So now I have a AspX for exploring, a Orca for passenger missions, a FDL for 'fun' bounty hunting, my Python for general mission runs, and my Corvette for serious haz res and CNB killing.

To each their own of course, but this is what works for me. Oh, and have fun!

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

Also consider the Gunship, if you are already ranking at the Feds.
Seven hardpoints with a 7-sized distributor to keep all of the well supplied, SLF bay and military slots for a 'tasty' strong hull - which works pretty well with bi-weave shields. It is slow, but turns and drifts nicely.

I'd go as far to say that it is much better than the FDL in the hands of mediocre pilots (like me), who can't properly play the FDL's superior agility.

 

[ForeverN00b]

If you are looking for more firepower I recommend a Clipper or any of the Fed ships. Yes, there is the FDL or the Python but those are a fair bitmore expensive to outfit than the ships I mentioned. Clipper and FAS are great value.

On a tighter budget you could go with a vulture. That ship is power starved and it is highly recommended to overcharge the powerplant, even a g1 overcharge can give you close to 20% more power.