Combat Zone Cutter: Prismatics or Bi-weave?

[Catman3579]

Aloha CMDRs

Here's the low down. I love combat zones. I've got an A-rated Cutter that's a clean slate, not yet engineered. I want to turn it into a Combat Zone turret ship of doom. It'll be all lasers, and the huge will be a beam laser. Would it be better to run the low power/draw 8C Bi-weaves, or the 8A Prismatics? I've got access to the prismatics, but I'm not going to blow the money on them if there is serious power/draw/heat issues. Do the bi-weaves recharge quickly enough to be viable in a CZ? I'd like to run as cool a ship as possible because of the number of lasers. Any advice from experienced Cutterteers?

 

[Father Giliam]

To be honest, unless you intend to extremely engineer the ship, running efficient on all the lasers, the build you want is kind of a pipe dream. The Power Distrubutor drain is absurd. As for shields, here are the numbers (note these are current 2.3 beta numbers and would vary depending on your choice on boosters).

Bi-Weave: 763 MJ, 0:41 Recovery, 1:05 Recharge.

Prismatic: 1,123 MJ, 1:58 Recovery, 6:41 Recharge.

Again, unless you heavily modify the ship, the power requirement is insane. You could (A Rated, 8A SCB, 1 Heatsink, Turret Pulses + C4 Gimballed Beam) only throw on 2 0A boosters with Prismatics, 6 with a Bi-weave. Under those circumstances, the Bi-Weaves are infinitely superior. After Engineering though, it would be down to preference.

If you WERE to Engineer it heavily, it could work, but it would require alot of time to do so and a bit of luck with rolls.

 

[The New Number Two]

I run thermal resistant 8c Biweaves and all efficient bursts on top, with a C4 multicannon and medium rails underslung. The shield never drops, even in a CG. If it comes close I run a size 8 and 6 SCB and have firegroups for concurrent or single SCB activation, so I have options.

Because I don't PVP, and the shields are so sturdy, I have an overcharged powerplant with over 45 mw of juice to run it all, and clean drives to make up for the overheat potential.

Bear in mind that 2.3 is going to affect shields and boosters rather harshly, so be ready to adjust. In either case, I definitely recommend the much cheaper Biweaves for their flexibility.

- - - Updated - - -

I also highly recommend a G5 weapon focused distributor, rather than rapid charge. All that extra weapon power and recharge is far more important in an energy weapon-based cutter build. The only thing you'll ever need more power for absolutely immediately is your weapons. Weapon focused gives you that edge.

 

[jmp470]

I have an 8C Biweave modified to lvl 3, resistant. I run 4 shield boosters, 1 heavy, 2 thermal, 1 kinetic. On top are 4 lvl 3 efficient burst lasers. On the bottom are all lvl 3 MC's. My FSD is lvl 5 distance (25LY) and my drives are lvl 5 dirty (454 M/S). Pip management is dirt simple. 3 / 3 sys / weapons. If I need to boost, rarely I go 2/2/2. Oh and my distributer is fast recharge ( I forget the level, I think 5).

This ship is a dream to fly!!!!

 

[heliman001]

I would go with normal shields with grade 5 thermal for the recharge buff.
If your shields get low just boost clear and reboot,will bring you back to 2 rings.
Because of reboot extended periods of play in say a CZ no longer require SCB's,just boost clear set your fighter to defensive and reboot.
It also clears some slots for a tankier build.

 

[jmp470]

I have 16 SLF and I usually run out of those before I leave the CZ. Yesterday, I was jumped by a Corvette, 1 FAS and 2 Gunships, as they all spawned right next to me... I actually had to use my shield banks... as I stayed and fought, versus running. It was pretty intense and fun.

 

[Starbreaker]

Bi-weave for sure.

I tested this in one of those powerplay CZs, military strike (Patreus). Had an expert npc crew at the time, I let her fly the Cutter while I was flying the fighter, and at no point was the Cutter in any harm. The regen of a class 8 bi-weave is huge and it will drain a grade 5 charge enhanced capacitor with less than 3 pips to sys.

 

[Catman3579]

So I ended up going with the bi-weaves. Just finished over at Cheung too. 2900MJ with 50% kinetic resist, 35% thermal resist, and 65% explosive resist. Now time to make these lasers efficient.

I've got a deadly npc pilot with me in imp fighters too. I think I'll be fine in the CZ now.

Thanks for all the advice folks.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Make a stealth Cutter.

 

[Catman3579]

Make a stealth Cutter.

It's got vibrant orange paint and has paper thin hull. Think I'll stick with shields

 

[rockswift]

2 months late to the party with this response.

However, it's exactly how my cutter is setup. Hugh beam, 5 burst turrets (all efficient), and 1 corrosive high capacity MC turret (only use after shields drop).

Highly effective in CZs.

Biweave c8 for shields, thermal resist.
Plus 3x aug booster, 4x HD booster.

The regeneration rate is extremely high.

- - - Updated - - -

For PVP, i plan to switch to full overcharged gimballed MC loadout.

With 2x torpedo hardpoints. For shield busting.

C8 prismatic and 4/0/2 pips for maximum strength.

 

[SCSkunk]

Ahem...no proper Imperial pilot would fly a beautiful, clean and glorious Gutamaya vessel, built specifically to Bask...and adorn it with mundane shields that any filthy Fed can acquire. When I am looking down my nose at other CMDR's, it is through the green-hued lens of Prismatics.
[smile]


EDIT: Ah man! You made me an Accomplice to Necromancy! Ugh!

 

[Sombra N7]

bi-weave without any doubt. The problem with prismatic shields is when they are down, they are down for an insane amount of time compared to bi-weave. The best way I could compare the two would be: bi-weave is for endurance, since it recharges quickly you can stay in a conflict zone for a long time and if your shield is about to go down, just get away from the main battle for a few seconds and your shield is back to a 100%. Prismatic would be for short but intense situations, like pvp or just regular pve where you have to face off with 1 or 2 really powerful ship and then you just go on with whatever you were doing (trading, missions, exploration,...) so it can recharge.
I have tried both on my fully upgraded corvette and with shield boosters/engineering, the difference between the 2 is really small (5300mw for prismatic and about 4500mw for bi-weave), but the recharge rate makes all the difference, especially when you are under constant fire for a long period of time.

 

[CMDR Nef]

When my shields go down, I just restart my ship. Instant 1,500mj of shields. (Still engineering my ship, so only at 3,000mj of shields. Need those rank 5 boosters!)

And yes, I'm being serious. For those who do not know, going into your right panel, and selecting "REBOOT/REPAIR" from the functions tab with give you 50% of your max total shields. Even if they're down. (this does not stack, whenever you restart your ship, it defaults to 50% shield strength, even if you have 100% shields, or 0%.)

 

[Buckshotbill]

8A with grade3 reinforced and a quick charge 8B scb works fine for me the key is not so much the amount of hp your shields have as its your resistance that matters most. so set your shield boosters accordingly. i run all multi cannons on the belly. this way you can put 4 pips in shields and still have plenty for the turreted lasers on top large pulse med burst combo for maximum DPS. from there you can engineer away to your hearts content.