Ships Does anyone fly Diamonback Scout?

[Florenus]

After getting new account on Epic, I decided to concentrate on playing extremely slow.
I thought that in contrast to main main account, I'll try to be more of a combat pilot, where trading and exploration were my main areas of interest first time.

My initial idea was that I'll fly Imperial Eagle, but even if this is great, fast ship, it's just too small - I was thinking of something more multipurpose, so I would be able to do some cargo run once in a while and jump range wouldn't be a problem.
Cobra was my next thought, but Viper4 seemed better alternative - it has better cockpit in my opinion, much better weapon placement - but is otherwise very close to Cobra, even if less agile.

But then I discovered DBS. I completely missed that ship previously. And I mean that - I barely sat in it for a second, realized that it looks just like DBX, which was much better for exploration, so I never looked at it again. Until now.
It's simply great, fast, agile ship with great jump range. Compared to Cobra or Viper4 it has less cargo space, if you want to use it as multipurpose ship, but otherwise it's very similiar, if not better. It has 4 utility slots, which is more than those two and it's exactly as described on the box: "specialist combat explorer vessel."
How did I miss this little gem? I always thought it was useless.

According to Inara (and my own observations) it's one of the less popular ships, slightly above ASP Scout, Alliance Crusader and Cobra IV.
Noone flies that thing?

 

[Morbad]

The DBS is still fairly popular among small ship enthusiasts, which are admittedly rare in the current state of the game.

Also, the Vipers and Cobras are very different from each other in flight model, with the Vipers having radically better thrusters, but worse rotationals. The DBS is a good mix of both in this regard.

 

[Florenus]

Also, the Vipers and Cobras are very different from each other in flight model, with the Vipers having radically better thrusters, but worse rotationals.

That comparison is true in regard to Cobra and Viper3, but not necesserily when you'll look at Viper4. It has almost identical internals, speed is comparable, but when engineered, Cobra3 is much faster when boosting. Rotational thrusters of Viper4 are still worse though

But damn, that DBS. It has everything I need in small ship it seems.

 

[S0rkvild]

DBS is a very interesting and realiable combat ship. I f you look at the cost of A-rating the DBS it is 6 mil cr. compared to a-rated Viper worth 2 mil cr. and I think that is the main reason of a lesser popularity. Same applies to Asp Scout, besides being a total garbage Asp Scout costs over 15 mil.
I always drop in DBS during those CG war events. Runs cold as ice, shieldless, maximum hull, railguns and force shell cannons, you know what that means. Personally I think DBS > Viper mark 3 for many reasons. Agility, jump range, larger pp, thermal dissipation and retaining very good speed after being fully loaded. Main purpose of this ship is combat, but if you like a size 3 cargo and srv wouldn't hurt if you wish to do more versatile jobs.

 

[Vedmo]

I'm a Viper4 guy, so that has limited my DBS time, but I have gone back to one occasionally and it is a fun little ship. The heat efficiency can really stand out when swapping from an MKIV with rails to a DBS with rails.

 

[Morbad]

Having room for a lot of armor and also having one of the highest thermal capacities are what sets the DBS apart.

That comparison is true in regard to Cobra and Viper3, but not necesserily when you'll look at Viper4. It has almost identical internals, speed is comparable, but when engineered, Cobra3 is much faster when boosting. Rotational thrusters of Viper4 are still worse though

The Viper IV has poor rotationals, but has excelent translational thruster acceleration and is tied with the Viper III, FDL, and possibly Mamba (though this might still have an even higher 8.25x) for highest boost acceleration multiplier. Overall, I'd argue that it's more agile than the Cobra III, despite the peak velocity and rotational disadvantages.

 

[metatheurgist]

Been in my fleet since forever.

 

[[VR] Orodruin]

The DBS is hands down the best small ship for AX combat. It is essentially a mini-Chieftain for this purpose.

The first jump I did with my DBS (after transferring it to my carrier in the Pleiades) I got hyperdicted by a Cyclops. I went away with 100% hull and the Cyclops dead even though I forgot to stock up on repair limpets ...

 

[[VR] Orodruin]

The DBS is hands down the best small ship for AX combat. It is essentially a mini-Chieftain for this purpose.

The first jump I did with my DBS (after transferring it to my carrier in the Pleiades) I got hyperdicted by a Cyclops. I went away with 100% hull and the Cyclops dead even though I forgot to stock up on repair limpets ...

Just to elaborate on that, here's @Katie Byrne 's DBS review:

 

[Genoscythe]

Went Squad Assassinating pirate lords with two friends this week, one in a DBS, one in a Vette, me in my Krait2. DBS-man had the most fun out of us and managed pretty well, until I boosted into an enemy FDL to finish it off, hit the DBS because my ship deviated after the crash and took 50% of its hull away, accidentially killing my buddy.

If you fly it, don't take idiots with you.

On a serious note, it has an insane heat profile and definitely fills a gap in the small ships. It's just not a hyper-specialized ship like the viper, scout is pretty fitting, you'll have to make use of those utlility slots because you won't be bouncing around like a vulture.

 

[Gully Foyle]

That comparison is true in regard to Cobra and Viper3, but not necesserily when you'll look at Viper4. It has almost identical internals, speed is comparable, but when engineered, Cobra3 is much faster when boosting. Rotational thrusters of Viper4 are still worse though

But damn, that DBS. It has everything I need in small ship it seems.

I have a couple of them and use them a lot for smuggling, data hacks and general mayhem.

 

[Madrax573]

That comparison is true in regard to Cobra and Viper3, but not necesserily when you'll look at Viper4. It has almost identical internals, speed is comparable, but when engineered, Cobra3 is much faster when boosting. Rotational thrusters of Viper4 are still worse though

But damn, that DBS. It has everything I need in small ship it seems.

Sorry but the Viper 4 will outfly a cobra III every. day. of. the. week.

The only thing a Cobra III has over the V4 is boost top speed. And that is not really any advantage outside of running away.
The boost modifier and profile of the V4 simply makes it one of the best handling ships in the game and it's a tough little, hard hitting package as well.

The DBS has nice speed and rotationals etc but massively limited internals and a really bad boost modifier and profile where you'll barely be able to reach max speed before slowing down and don't expect it to do a full speed 180 under boost. V4 will go 180 from full speed to full speed.

 

[Florenus]

Sorry but the Viper 4 will outfly a cobra III every. day. of. the. week.

The only thing a Cobra III has over the V4 is boost top speed. And that is not really any advantage outside of running away.
The boost modifier and profile of the V4 simply makes it one of the best handling ships in the game and it's a tough little, hard hitting package as well.

The DBS has nice speed and rotationals etc but massively limited internals and a really bad boost modifier and profile where you'll barely be able to reach max speed before slowing down and don't expect it to do a full speed 180 under boost. V4 will go 180 from full speed to full speed.

I have fully engineered V4 on my main account and I've used it often - liked it very much. I found it better alternative to Cobra3. But in my new playthrough, when I started flying it without engineering, I had problems keeping up with my targets - it's turn rate was just too low.
But I'm not the best pilot - your post made me realize I probably should utilize boost for turning more (or start doing that).
No such problems with DBS and I guess it might only get better with tuning.

The DBS is hands down the best small ship for AX combat. It is essentially a mini-Chieftain for this purpose.

The first jump I did with my DBS (after transferring it to my carrier in the Pleiades) I got hyperdicted by a Cyclops. I went away with 100% hull and the Cyclops dead even though I forgot to stock up on repair limpets ...

I'm rather far from engaging Thargoids with this alt, but that's interesting to learn that this ship is appreciated and actually useful for that. For some weird reason I thougt it's something like ASP Scout - just little worse and cheaper than it's bigger brother. And I'm discovering new things now, after all those years with the game...

 

[Viscera]

DBS and Viper mkIV are both great ships.

DBS I use as my pvp ship. It truly is a ship that handles well. Just a blast to fly.

I guess it is important to note something here: I do not use fa off.

After a lot of flight time with both ships, I can state the DBS provides me a better fixed weapon platform than the Viper mkIV, due to its better agility in fa on play. Small rails, medium plasma is a great load out for me on this.

Viper mkIV is terriffic for gimbal play on the smalls, to keep pressure on, with some fixed mediums to add big hits (Rails are good here as you can learn when to press fire as you boost turn with laterals to "drift" onto target).

 

[Madrax573]

I have fully engineered V4 on my main account and I've used it often - liked it very much. I found it better alternative to Cobra3. But in my new playthrough, when I started flying it without engineering, I had problems keeping up with my targets - it's turn rate was just too low.
But I'm not the best pilot - your post made me realize I probably should utilize boost for turning more (or start doing that).
No such problems with DBS and I guess it might only get better with tuning.

I'm rather far from engaging Thargoids with this alt, but that's interesting to learn that this ship is appreciated and actually useful for that. For some weird reason I thougt it's something like ASP Scout - just little worse and cheaper than it's bigger brother. And I'm discovering new things now, after all those years with the game...

Yeah the V4 needs the engineering (TBH I automatically assume full engineering for ships nowadays).

Non boost the DBS is one of the best ships in game. Boost wise however it is seriously lacking compared to the V4. Also don't forget to utilise scoop boosting in ships to get the maximum rotationals without the uncontrollable speeds.

 

[Kulgrinda Kosmarjus]

There is no ship I have enjoyed more than the DBS since its appearance a few years ago, the only thing is, my shield gen mines and long range super pen rails have been deemed as legacy, and provide little fun in both pvp and pve since silent running has been nerfed with emissive, night vision and absurd arming time on mines.
And i'm still struggling with finding what hardpoints to use as a fun replacement.

 

[[VR] Orodruin]

And i'm still struggling with finding what hardpoints to use as a fun replacement.

Gauss cannons. Come and kill some space flowers with us!

 

[Kulgrinda Kosmarjus]

Gauss cannons. Come and kill some space flowers with us!

But them aliens are our friends!

 

[[VR] Orodruin]

But them aliens are our friends!

It’s a computer game. I am not going to skip the only really challenging pve content because of lore reasons ... if that makes me ”bad”, then so be it.