Ships Engineering an Imperial Courier

Darth Wonko

Darth Wonko
CMDRQuainMarln said:
I just looked at the engineering on the MCs after you said that. Both have corrosive shell, only one of them needs it for the effect you need. Swap corrosive shell for autoloader on one of them to eliminate reload delays and up the DPS a bit without losing anything on the corrosive shell effect you want. Only down side is the autoloader MC will go through ammo faster that the corrosive shell MC.
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Oh... I didn't know that. Thanks for pointing it out! I'll definitely look into re-engineering the MC.
 

AlSki

AlSki

Blue Mars

B
Darth Wonko said:
Here's the starting build.

I'm using this to jump around the bubble doing Odyssey engineering grind and general on-foot missions. I like the handling, I like the size and I like the cockpit.

Right now, when I fuel scoop, the ship heats up extremely quickly.

Here's what I plan on doing to the engineering.

Some advice, please:
  • How do I solve the heat problem with the fuel scoop? Is it just "get a smaller one", or is there some other formula?
  • What do you recommend for weapons? I've been running Beam Laser x 2 and a Multi-Cannon and I can handle NPCs in any small ship and about half of the medium ships. I'd like to start learning some of the other weapons that are more effective.
  • What other general engineering tips do you have?
Any advice is appreciated.

o7
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An Duke in the Empire !
o7 Duke .. you are the one to teach the future ranks how to lower the heat problem..

teach us how to be ..
less trigger happy...
 

sinisalo

sinisalo
Blue Mars said:
you are the one to teach the future ranks how to lower the heat problem..
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Heat in Elite is a function of power draw and heat efficiency. Simply put, the more power your ship requires, the hotter it will run. Different power plant classes and engineering have some mitigating effect, and some ships are inherently more efficient than others, but in general, if you want to run cool, drop the draw.

The original ship Darth Wonko posted was packed to the gills with power-hungry modules, and the power plant was G5 overcharged, the hottest possible. Class 3 prismatics and heavy-duty A-rated shield boosters for example have a big effect on power requirements, and therefore heat, not to mention speed due to the extra mass.

The latest build cut some of that out, and looks better to me. Shields dropped one class, and boosters converted to Es will go a long way to increasing speed and lowering draw and heat. For me, power plant is always done last, engineering it run as cool as possible while just covering the draw.

So the bottom line is if you want to lower heat, lower your power requirements, use A-rated power plants (best efficiency) and throw on some thermal spread for a small gain too.

Clean Drives are a special case. I think they are an engineering trap. I've tested it, and they do indeed run cooler when thrusters are employed. It's a couple of percentage points at most, and it's maybe missed that Clean Drives draw more power than Dirty, giving back some of the gain you might think you are getting. Trading so much performance for such a small gain does not work for me, and I'll never mount them again. Clean Drives don't make a difference in supercruise (and therefore scooping performance), and are not even really noticed unless maneuvering. When the ship is in a steady state (speed and attitude) both thrusters revert to the same temp. In my testing the only time Clean Drives really stood out as better was chain boosting, where the additional heat from Dirty Drives stacks much higher.

It's just my opinion, but Clean Drives are a trap.
 
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Darth Wonko

Darth Wonko
sinisalo said:
Heat in Elite is a function of power draw and heat efficiency. Simply put, the more power your ship requires, the hotter it will run. Different power plant classes and engineering have some mitigating effect, and some ships are inherently more efficient than others, but in general, if you want to run cool, drop the draw.

The original ship Darth Wonko posted was packed to the gills with power-hungry modules, and the power plant was G5 overcharged, the hottest possible. Class 3 prismatics and heavy-duty A-rated shield boosters for example have a big effect on power requirements, and therefore heat, not to mention speed due to the extra mass.

The latest build cut some of that out, and looks better to me. Shields dropped one class, and boosters converted to Es will go a long way to increasing speed and lowering draw and heat. For me, power plant is always done last, engineering it run as cool as possible while just covering the draw.

So the bottom line is if you want to lower heat, lower your power requirements, use A-rated power plants (best efficiency) and throw on some thermal spread for a small gain too.

Clean Drives are a special case. I think they are an engineering trap. I've tested it, and they do indeed run cooler when thrusters are employed. It's a couple of percentage points at most, and it's maybe missed that Clean Drives draw more power than Dirty, giving back some of the gain you might think you are getting. Trading so much performance for such a small gain doesn't not work for me, and I'll never mount them again. Clean Drives don't make a difference in supercruise (and therefore scooping performance), and are not even really noticed unless maneuvering. When the ship is in a steady state (speed and attitude) both thrusters revert to the same temp. In my testing the only time Clean Drives really stood out as better was chain boosting, where the additional heat from Dirty Drives stacks much higher.

It's just my opinion, but Clean Drives are a trap.
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Thanks for the feedback!

I tend to engineer the power plant last, too. Your post makes me want to go back and revisit the build and see that I've done it correctly.
 

sinisalo

sinisalo
Yes, I like the changes you made. A few comments....

You now have far less MJ than the original build, sure, but it's much lighter, and therefore faster, and the power draw was lowered enough to drop PP class, again boosting the speed plus jump. All good. Heavy duty on the bulkheads, added a HRP, right on. You did nice work on your resistances, especially thermal, which is key in my view. Your shields have an apparent 1236 MJ against thermal weapons, making them actually more effective than the original 1140 MJ version was. That, combined with the speed, makes it defensively sound I think. And the mass savings you did dropped you in to optimal mass for the EPTs. Nicely done.

However, the revised build is inferior in collision protection, since raw MJ is what counts, resistances mean nothing. And as I always say, collision is the main threat to a well-flown, fast Courier, especially as I imagine this ship makes quite a few planetary landings. That HRP is insurance, and my Courier does the same.

Still though, by dropping power plant class you were forced to go G5 overcharged once again, so it's still running a bit hot I reckon? Your Courier idles at 35%, cruises at 40% and jumps at 64%, all of which are hotter than I like, but not too hot for everyday use. EDSY says it's 61% heat with all weapons firing.

I think your Courier has good speed, jump and defensive capability. Not bad for a 1438.35 MPH mat collector.

Just as an alternative, here's your ship with no weapons. By all means use them if you want to. But as a mat collector it might be fine without. Look at the speed and jump gains. Power draw drops enough to reduce overcharge to G3. G1 covers it with module priorities and the hangar and cargo scoop powered down.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
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