Corvette or Cutter? To Be or Not To Be?

I’m in a bind. I’m almost at Duke and will have enough cash for a cutter in a day or two. However, I was looking at Coriolis.io and I noticed that the Corvette, for combat, seems to be a much better option than the cutter but I’m far from the required rank in the federal navy for the corvette. Now hear me out, as I know I have seen people for both sides and seen some people say they are balanced and about equal for combat, but I don’t see how this is so.
Cutter Pros: better hull (but by the time shields drop I’ll probably be running anyway), it’s faster, and can carry more cargo (which I don’t need for combat).
Corvette Pros: Much better maneuvering, higher firepower esp when the new huge weapons come out, better distributer, better powerplant management (has lower energy-cost internals leaving you with ample play in your builds, whereas the cutter is tight and many builds you need to use B rated thrusters to save on MJs)
Same: Shields. What many people do not realize is that since the corvette has such better energy/powerplant, not only are there more options for builds and you can use something more energy intensive than pulses, but you can also stack more shield boosters allowing you to actually get the same strength shield as a cutter.

So what I see is the corvette has better firepower and maneuverability vs the cutter’s speed. It doesn’t seem balanced to me; am I missing something?
Someone please convince me why I should get the cutter as a combat vessel! or should I just suck it up and grind the federal navy rank? (And yes I know about boom-n-zoom vs turn-n-burn fighting)
 
Cutter: faster, more shield strength, better hardpoints, more cargo space

Corvette: more agile, more shield recharge, better weapon convergence, better distributor


Corvette looks way better to me, and most vets agree the corvette is better in PvP. I use 2 hammers/2 rails/2 gimballed multi/large PA and even though the cutter has better hardpoints the vette has better dps overall while also being more agile and tankier overall.
 
I’m in a bind. I’m almost at Duke and will have enough cash for a cutter in a day or two. However, I was looking at Coriolis.io and I noticed that the Corvette, for combat, seems to be a much better option than the cutter but I’m far from the required rank in the federal navy for the corvette. Now hear me out, as I know I have seen people for both sides and seen some people say they are balanced and about equal for combat, but I don’t see how this is so.
Cutter Pros: better hull (but by the time shields drop I’ll probably be running anyway), it’s faster, and can carry more cargo (which I don’t need for combat).
Corvette Pros: Much better maneuvering, higher firepower esp when the new huge weapons come out, better distributer, better powerplant management (has lower energy-cost internals leaving you with ample play in your builds, whereas the cutter is tight and many builds you need to use B rated thrusters to save on MJs)
Same: Shields. What many people do not realize is that since the corvette has such better energy/powerplant, not only are there more options for builds and you can use something more energy intensive than pulses, but you can also stack more shield boosters allowing you to actually get the same strength shield as a cutter.

So what I see is the corvette has better firepower and maneuverability vs the cutter’s speed. It doesn’t seem balanced to me; am I missing something?
Someone please convince me why I should get the cutter as a combat vessel! or should I just suck it up and grind the federal navy rank? (And yes I know about boom-n-zoom vs turn-n-burn fighting)

Go with whatever you enjoy most. Both ships are exceptional in combat with cutter having the benefit of being more versatile when it comes to other activities.
 
I disagree. I own a Corvette and think the Cutter is a better suited combat vessel. Their shields are unparalleled and their hard points are placed in way better locations. In a PVP 1v1 situation a cutter can't be mass locked, it's faster, and no matter what you control the situation. I can break a Corvette's shields with a wing. A cutter is a tougher cookie to crack and can generally get away before anything happens. Now if were talking PVE, pick whatever you like. I have my Corvette for PVE and it does a bang up job with 3 Class 3 Beam and the rest multi cannons. The cutter is also significantly more expensive because of its class 8 slot. It's always personal preference, but an A-rated Cutter can take on two A-Rater Corvettes and be the victor with a good pilot.

Reference:
[video=youtube;Q31Ww2mNpzQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q31Ww2mNpzQ[/video]
 
IMO, take it for what your paying for it :), in my original play through I made it to the Cutter and enjoyed the looks, the cargo space and fighting with it. Additionally, I did two CG's with it and placed within the top 5%, it is a great machine. Additionally, it looks awesome with its exterior lighting, ect. HOWEVER, after a while I found it no longer fun to fight in, or do many activities in. I flew my FA OFF and found that I could not keep the targets in front of me, thus I relied on the turrets. They are every effective, but boring.... On this play through, I basically stopped at the smaller ships. I have an A rated FDL, Clipper, FAS and ASP-E. I'm almost at Rear Admiral and will try the Corvette... For my play style, I might prefer the Corvette, even though the Cutter is an amazing machine.

My favorite ship, thus far, in ED is the FDL. But, I have not tried the Corvette yet. However, all this will / might change as engineers comes on line and as we get multi-crew.
 
I disagree. I own a Corvette and think the Cutter is a better suited combat vessel. Their shields are unparalleled and their hard points are placed in way better locations. In a PVP 1v1 situation a cutter can't be mass locked, it's faster, and no matter what you control the situation. I can break a Corvette's shields with a wing. A cutter is a tougher cookie to crack and can generally get away before anything happens. Now if were talking PVE, pick whatever you like. I have my Corvette for PVE and it does a bang up job with 3 Class 3 Beam and the rest multi cannons. The cutter is also significantly more expensive because of its class 8 slot. It's always personal preference, but an A-rated Cutter can take on two A-Rater Corvettes and be the victor with a good pilot.

Reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q31Ww2mNpzQ


Sorry but you're wrong. Majority of PvPers believe corvette to be stronger. Also there's no way a cutter can take on 2 vettes (or vice versa) unless the 2 pilots are both dumb and blindfolded.

and if you can break a cutter/vette's SCB with 4 people, you are fighting a terrible pilot.
 
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...also people keep saying the cutter's shields are better, when in actuality, with shield boosters, they are they same since you can put more boosters on a corvette before maxing the powerplant.
 
depends what you want to do with it, as the other posters have said corvette comes out ahead in combat - probably more so when the new huge hardpoints are added.

But I think the cutter comes infront at everything else, maybe the corvette for mining too (I really like the corvette for mining lots of smaller module slots)
 
My stance is that if you just want to do combat - Vette all the way.

If you're a generalist and are comfortable piloting with FA off/toggling, go with the Cutter.

Just remember, if you go cutter, you are flying a BIG ship. If you keep that in mind, you'll do fine in combat.

Oh, the HP's are better in the cutter and if you stick with Burst or Pulse lasers on the top HPs, you won't be affected by the C7 distributior.
 
Can make approx 50m / hour 'afk' trading in my cutter, been doing it most of the day today (sitting on sofa, laptop laying next to me - watched xfiles from amazon player, and now just watching LoTR!). After 3 hours, buy a Corvette with the proceeds.. best of both... Cant do that the other way around afaik
 
As a Corvette owner, I would suggest you buy a cutter to print money and a Vette to send your enemies to hell

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If I had the rank I would get both
 
Corvette is not a simple ship. I'm flying it since 1.5, and like it. Lemme persuade ya to buy it and tell it's details.

It has 2 x Huge hardpoints with excellent convergence, and it will become better as we get more huge guns. I put 2 x Large fixed Beams there, and they are perfect at sniping out small ships and modules. BUT, other hardpoints are not really well placed. 2 x small hardpoints are not much of use, but you can put missile racks or torpedo pylons there. 2 x mediums are okay, but 1 x Large is pretty bad placed - you have to raise your nose pretty high to land a shot with it, even with lasers, not to say that ship's nose will obscue target view in that case.

Another issue - is jump range. It takes soooo long to get anywhere, that you start thinking like strategist - "Is my time and efforts worth going there?". Big fuel tank doesn't help either, because of significant fuel consumption per jump. But you can get used to it, if you like this ship.

It's shields are pretty amazing! I expected Fed largest ship to have        shields and hardest armour, but it appears that it's vice-versa. Shields are really tough, and can be buffed even more. However, it's armour is bad. Like, really. 667 armour is 1.5x times less than Anaconda's 945. And it's considering the fact, that Corvette is 900 tons, while Conda is 400. Magic...

That's pretty much it. It's a good combat ship, and can do mining and trading as well, but not too effectively (mining is ok tho).
 
So what I see is the corvette has better firepower and maneuverability vs the cutter’s speed. It doesn’t seem balanced to me; am I missing something?
Someone please convince me why I should get the cutter as a combat vessel! or should I just suck it up and grind the federal navy rank? (And yes I know about boom-n-zoom vs turn-n-burn fighting)

You are not missing anything. The Corvette is simply a superior combat vessel to the Cutter.

Boom & Zoom is nothing more than an quick-made excuse to justify their decision on the Cutter's maneuverability. And soon its 'awesome shields' will be seriously compromised with the 'crack rails'. If NPCs start to cheat-use them, brace for the outcry on the forums...
 
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