Crappy Ship Challenge: Pimp My Keelback!

mossfoot

mossfoot
The Keelback, much like the T-6, is one of those ships that a large portion of the galaxy sees as pointless and worthless, and another smaller portion cling to like it was their own baby.

I'm sort of the latter. Hey, some people love an underdog, right?

Visually, the KB appeals to those who are looking for a ship that has a rugged utilitarian look to it. We all know it's drawbacks - it's got one of the worst pitch rates going and unlike its T-6 cousin, doesn't have the speed to make up for it. The upside for this if you're into PvE is that even a single interdiction can be a hair-raising experience (I barely escaped an NPC clipper with 4% hull and another time lost my ship due to a Cobra sporting railguns that I just couldn't keep a bead on before he regenerated his shields).

So why use it at all?

Well, for some it's got that Millenium Falcon vibe - that "piece of junk" they want to make "special modifications" to. Unfortunately, until 2.1 comes out those modifications are pretty limited.

But, in all seriousness, I'm looking for suggestions to make it suck LESS. My thoughts

Utility Mounts - Chaff, obviously, but also heat sinks - if you're desperate to get away and it happens to be a PC you're running from, I figure it couldn't hurt to go silent running. Third utility slot for point defence - not so important now, but after 2.1 NPC missiles will be used correctly, and therefore something to worry about.

Weapons - I keep coming back to the same "effective" combo - Gimbled C1 beams for shields, and gimbled C2 multicannons for hull. But that requires firing one and then the other to work with power management. Another idea I had was C1 Burst instead, so that it can be fired with the multicannons at the same time. The power drain is significantly less, and in theory the MC damage would make up for the damage lost melting shields, meanwhile the burst damage would increase the MC's effectiveness against hull. And you wouldn't have to keep four pips in weapons all the time, allowing for more in shields and engines as necessary.

Internals - First the obvious - A rated everything (except Sensors and Life Support which should be D). If you're inside the Bubble, you might as well get used to not having a fuel scoop. Sure it can save your butt, but looking to the future you're going to want to make the most of your internals. Also looking to the future, if you can get info on a system by scanning its nav beacon, you might also be able to ditch the discovery scanner as well. Currently it's a must have on missions due to the number of times I end up in a system I haven't scanned yet (though it's only a serious problem if the target is a planetside base since space stations I think are always shown).

Shields - I'm not sure bi-weave is the way to go with this ship - it's got pitiful protection and the fast recharge isn't going to help it much. If your intention is to survive a single encounter (either by running away or fighting) I think you'd want that initial shield to last as long as possible. So I'd say Class 3 normal or even prismatic shields (the power plant can handle it).

Armor - An absolute must. If you have spare internals go for the hull reinforcement. If you can't spare any, add the military armor if you can. You kind of have to assume you're going to take a pounding and plan accordingly.


Now, while those are my thoughts, I'd be interested to hear yours. How would you make the most of a sub-par ship?
 

Fox White

F
Are talking about making it suckless with what we have now or what buffs would make it better?

As far as buffs I think a major speed and manuverability upgrade would put it in its place. Those rotating engines just look like it should be pushing that t6 frame to the stress limit. Use it for convoy protection darting in and out keeping attackers busy or as a cool little smuggling craft.

Using it though... novelty maybe? Same reason I use the DBX so I cant say much. Take it exploring and have some pretty screenshots. Or maybe its meant to be flown in a wing rather than solo.
 

anikaiful

anikaiful
If there just was a Red Cross paintjob for Keelback ... I'd so use it for rescue missions et al :D

And, the far I've noticed - Keelback's not made of tissue paper like T6 (and their bigger cousin, T7) is.
 
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Ouberos

Ouberos
Am I right in thinking it will be able to launch a fighter later this year?
It would defo suck less then. It will be a really cheap way to get the fighter experience.

Same with the Federal Dipship.
 

Eldrazzi

Eldrazzi
mossfoot said:
The Keelback, much like the T-6, is one of those ships that a large portion of the galaxy sees as pointless and worthless
Click to expand...

Woah woah woah, lest we forget that the T-6 is a small ship, that can boost to 400 while holding 70+ tons of smuggled Robigo slaves thus taking your comment out of context and making the rest of the galaxy's opinion and the Keelback irrelevant :cool:
 

mossfoot

mossfoot
Eldrazzi said:
Woah woah woah, lest we forget that the T-6 is a small ship, that can boost to 400 while holding 70+ tons of smuggled Robigo slaves thus taking your comment out of context and making the rest of the galaxy's opinion and the Keelback irrelevant :cool:
Click to expand...

MOST people only see the T-6 as a ship that has 2 class 1 hard points, crap shields and armor. You're not most people. Hell, I got to Elite in Exploration using just a T6. These ships have their fans, but most people only see usefulness in terms of maximum pewpewpew or cargo potential ;)

And to above comments, I'm not talking about what needs to be buffed. I'm asking you to look at what we have and come up with ideas about how to make the most of it. For example, a Keelback will never be GOOD at combat, but what loadout would make it suck LEAST, offensively and defensively?
 

Thetele

T
Because Keelback has those rotating engines it should rotate its engines when you use vertical thrusters, so maybe with little delay it could get same power to up and downward movement because the engines can rotate to boost them. Then it would have delay transition back to forward thrusting.
 

goemon

goemon
i'm not sure about that heatsink, but it might be handy in case you take on a smuggling mission

i'm also not sure about pointdefence, in case you are not running shieldless...

anyway, i'd go with an additional shieldbooster for your 3A shield. plus chaff. plus heatsink/pointdefence.

concerning weapons: i found at least one turret not bad for constant pressure on an interdicting target.

everybody will say dps and all, but not damaging the enemy, because he is out of your firin arc results in zero dps.

so - 1 turret small beam. or even medium.

speed of the keelback means, an enemy can run. also you'll dock often. so: seeker missiles, to kill those pesky eagles after shields are stripped down by your turret.

definitely a medium gimbal multicanonn.

this leaves us with either a small or medium hardpoint free. if you went for the medium beam, put a turetted cannon there, to kill larger targets fast. if you went for the small beam, put a medium burst there.
 

Momoka Azuka

Momoka Azuka
Make the Keelback better? Buy a Cobra MK III :p

In all seriousness maybe I would do light weight armor to keep the speed as high as I can get it. Maybe going as far as building it like it's a canyon runner, D grading the FSD. Maybe D grade the powerplant or even dropping it a class as well. Then going all multi cannons to save power. I've done a similar thing to my second Cobra and I could really notice the change in how it flies.

If it's not your only ship and you can afford it that's what I'd do if I'm gonna fly it at all.
 

Canasta

Canasta
Eldrazzi said:
Woah woah woah, lest we forget that the T-6 is a small ship, that can boost to 400 while holding 70+ tons of smuggled Robigo slaves thus taking your comment out of context and making the rest of the galaxy's opinion and the Keelback irrelevant :cool:
Click to expand...

Yeah OP, lay off the T6, i earned a FDL in a weekend with one of those.

Let's all be upstanding and offer a salute to the T6 and the cash cow that is Sothis
 
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Ziljan

Ziljan
If you're mostly fighting NPCs and fleeing from PVP, this turret build maximizes your overall DPS and matches it with staying power. Lasting long enough for your shield to regen several times during a tough fight.

Don't let the 15.3 MJ/s fool you. This ship can fire this DPS continuously, only stopping to reload. So the effective DPS is more like a combat Asp. And it has just enough agility to keep all the turrets locked on. It is a small-medium ship slaying machine. You could also use it to trade punches with 1-2 Anacondas in a row, but you'll get a bloody nose for sure.

http://coriolis.io/outfit/keelback/...22d2t292727.AwRj4zKA.Aw18UA==?bn=Turtle Power
 
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Belthize

Belthize
Thetele said:
Because Keelback has those rotating engines it should rotate its engines when you use vertical thrusters, so maybe with little delay it could get same power to up and downward movement because the engines can rotate to boost them. Then it would have delay transition back to forward thrusting.
Click to expand...


That's an illusion. The Keelback's engines are fixed, it uses a modified frameshift drive to rotate the universe around them.
 

Warmaster Will

Warmaster Will
A T6 boosts to 400....wow glad I picked one up as a miner...whenever I get around to using it,Nice to know it has some pepper in the tank
 

kofeyh

kofeyh
chaff, 2x shield booster. 4 pips to shields. it roughly halves incoming damage. Better to be able to soak the hit and jump out, then try to run and die.

for extra fun try frag cannons; they have very high DPS, at the cost of needing to be quite close; they are hard on ammo but given you are typically transiting between stations when trading, that ceases to be a concern. But to sort out some unruly locals who are all about the interdiction? they can't be beat. Strip the shield then get in close and let 'er rip. Locals will be turning tail and bailing in no time. :)
 
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CMDR Zarniwoob

C
I skipped the gimbaled and fixed weapon layout on my Keelback and just go for turrets. So now the npc are constantly under fire, when you perform some roll maneuvers during the fight. It gives you enough time to run away, while the npc tries to avoid the hits. I also euqiped A-sensors... i red somewhere the sensors rating effects the turret accuracy.

Anway, even with this layout you will have problems with Condas, Phytons, Clippers, etc... but at least it should give you enough time to run from a Cobra
 

mossfoot

mossfoot
So this is what I'm currently using...

http://coriolis.io/outfit/keelback/...2f.Iw18AzkA.IwBj4yVUg===?bn=Viaticus Rex II.I

the prismatic shields are like having a shield booster as it is (or one size higher, take your pick), so that frees up the utilities a bit. I wanted to try the Pack Hound Missiles to see how well they work in tandem with the rest.

The lasers are burst to save capacitor drain, since I fire it with the multicannon. Missiles only get used once shields are down.

downsides of this configuration - you WILL overheat once missiles come into play, so those heat sinks are a must. Even then you'll take some subsystem damage.

funny thing was, I took out a high ranked NPC Clipper pirate in this... Down to 60% hull, but I didn't even expect to survive. The extra hull plating helped me survive the encounter. At least it was a thrilling encounter!
 
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