Engineered Lightweight FDL for dogfighting?

Cenon

Cenon
Greetings

Been driving with the Fer-De-Lance for some hours now, and while it's very versatile for fighting business, It seems to drift a lot for my tastes on it's current form: https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/fer...h8AnJFQPtMAAAA=&bn=Multi-purpose Fer-de-Lance

My raw estimate is that with some serious lightweight engineering and switching some systems from A to D (frame shift drive, Shield Cells) i think i could drop the FDL mass to somewhere around 420 tons vs. the current 469t.

I understand that such modifications will affect my ship armour, and render the FDL very vulnerable if shields are shot down, but my aim is to get more agility in dogfights and avoid damage in 1vs1 situations. I loved back in the day how I could drop Anacondas with my Viper MKIII just because I could tailgate the biggies and thus avoid the gimballed & fixed monsters. Ofc FDL can't have any of that, but if it could have even some of that small fighter agility back, it'd be worth the effort.

I have no gut feeling on how much the weight difference would affect on the FDL manueverability, and getting the engineers to help means a bit grinding for me since i'm not yet friends with them all. So, If anyone you experts have insights whether I'm on a fool's errand or not, I'd deeply appreciate it!
 

Dariiem

D
Fellow FDL pilot here :)

I accually like the way it drifts. It allows you to make some interesting turns in combat. Its an interceptor, hit and run type of ship. Not a true dogfighter. Its greatest weapon is its speed combined with pretty good damage potential (you can get really creative when it comes to weapons).

I have mine engineered like this:

5x Multicannons - grade 5 overcharged (huge with corrosive effect because this effect limits ammo and C4´s fire rate is mcuch slower)
PP - grade one overcharged (dont need more pretty much)
Thrusters - grade 3 dirty (because im too lazy to grind for Palin anytime soon :) )
FSD - Grade 5 long range (because 12 ly is painfull :) )
Power Distr. - Grade 5 charge enhanced (im used to switch power priorities alot so it helps to have high recharge rate)
5A shields - G 5 reinforced (for the number)
4x A shield boosters - all g 3 resistance augmented (and it is extremly effective, used to use Heavy duty... not any more)

Military grade armor is usefull when out of luck and shields at the same time :)

and the rest is usual bounty hunting stuff: kws, interdictor, srv bay!!, and chaff.



With this build i fully use my vertical thrusters while chain boosting with throttle set to half and i can rung rings around any big ship with nasty dps, the rest just dies.
Ofc this is my pve build, im not into pvp.

Enjoy, shes a beast. :)
 
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NCFCpaul

N
I've recently been trying out a Python for combat, so far the FDL has been by far my favourite... My personal view is the Python is a really bad combat ship, even if it's a good all-rounder.

The FDL can happily not just lose weight but even put some on and can still out manoeuvrer almost anything, especially if you're better at managing pips than I am.

Maybe it's just my style but I don't get it when people describe it as unforgiving. Like I say, it's about the only thing I can fight in!
 

testmate

testmate
Cenon said:
Greetings

Been driving with the Fer-De-Lance for some hours now, and while it's very versatile for fighting business, It seems to drift a lot for my tastes on it's current form: https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/fer...h8AnJFQPtMAAAA=&bn=Multi-purpose Fer-de-Lance

My raw estimate is that with some serious lightweight engineering and switching some systems from A to D (frame shift drive, Shield Cells) i think i could drop the FDL mass to somewhere around 420 tons vs. the current 469t.

I understand that such modifications will affect my ship armour, and render the FDL very vulnerable if shields are shot down, but my aim is to get more agility in dogfights and avoid damage in 1vs1 situations. I loved back in the day how I could drop Anacondas with my Viper MKIII just because I could tailgate the biggies and thus avoid the gimballed & fixed monsters. Ofc FDL can't have any of that, but if it could have even some of that small fighter agility back, it'd be worth the effort.

I have no gut feeling on how much the weight difference would affect on the FDL manueverability, and getting the engineers to help means a bit grinding for me since i'm not yet friends with them all. So, If anyone you experts have insights whether I'm on a fool's errand or not, I'd deeply appreciate it!
Click to expand...

Hi!
I had the same intention long time ago, I like my ships light and agile ... (PvE). One of my ships is a FDL and I fitted and engineered her like that: http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=A0OC,...xQe4x92AqIxEqIxIqIx10iHp50wWN4yIVAqVMEqKfIqKf

412t mass! Very agile and I like it a lot (but FDL is not my main ship, for sure there a real FDL-experts out there with another opinion)

D-rated shield boosters (heavy duty) keep the ship light, and shields shouldn't drop in first place. If they do, I'm out (fitted HRP and heavy duty lightwight armour give a little extra HP)
 

NCFCpaul

N
Am I right in thinking people prefer small lasers with huge multicannon? Generally engineered as much as possible? Personally I've always liked the huge PA which, I believe is getting a buff?
 

goemon

goemon
NCFCpaul said:
Am I right in thinking people prefer small lasers with huge multicannon? Generally engineered as much as possible? Personally I've always liked the huge PA which, I believe is getting a buff?
Click to expand...

if you like it, use it :)

generally, and pve, multicannons are just too good.

i sometimes use it, if i want the challenge of hitting with it, which can be very satisfying.

you could also try a whole PA loadout, maybe with a single medium MC for additional damage.

but i'm anyway back to flying smaller ships after hitting elite in combat. full mc eagle, double PA or railgun DBS, speed frag courier, double PA vulture...
 

Cenon

Cenon
Thanks for the advice gentlemen/women

This conversation lifted up my spirits and made me do some serious mining along the way just to get to the good side of Selene Jean, the armor engineer.

Todo: Visit nebulae and get some serious meta-alloy to access dirty drives.

I will report the experience when I've tuned the FDL
 

Baby

Baby
Quality suggestions! I'll have to try these, since I'm still not decided on a FDL loadout. Currently running 4xc2 efficient Burst + c4 efficient PA, all fixed. I'm not sure this combo works all that well, since I have to make such a big effort on maneuvering in order to produce a somewhat reliable firing solution for the PA, while still needing pips to weapons often enough.
goemon said:
full mc eagle, double PA or railgun DBS, speed frag courier, double PA vulture...
Click to expand...
I have the exact same fleet (no wonder since goemon and others are advertising these builds all the time) plus a double pacifier vulture and a pacifier/burst FAS. Give the pacifier a try! I did and fell in love. Currently using high capacity (on the FAS) and overcharged (on the Vulture), but that's pure preference and subject to change. So much fun that I have to go slightly off topic:)
 

StiTch

StiTch
The FDL simply takes a little familiarity to be used to its handling but is remarkably agile, particularly FA Off. You'll also find you gain a much greater survivability with pip management, as this thing definitely wants to keep shields up so prefers a player that can keep moar pips in SYS when being fired on.

For PvE though most weapon loadouts will perform well. Depends on how active you want to be with it and whether you intend to make a few quick kills for a given purpose, or are just gonna be camping a RES all evening.
 

Cenon

Cenon
Update:

dropped weight from 480 tons to 430. No access to dirty drives yet, but already I feel more agile and I am able to manuever away from fixed weapons terrors. Hopefully the dirty drive tuning, and maybe a -10 ton weight sneeze makes another noticeable leap in the performance
 
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