Fast, fierce and effective bounty-hunting with a Mamba.

[Aleks Zuno]

Hail.

For those so inclined, I present:

Hunter
A first-hand account of fast, fierce and effective starship combat for the 34th Century.

Chapter 0: Preparation
Introduction and overview.

Chapter 1: Formulation
Hardware, engineering and Fire Groups demonstration with reasoning and justification.
Even with partial engineering and no further guidance, this alone can make for a better bounty-hunting experience.

Chapter 2: Aviation
Flight exercises designed to build fundamental understanding of the starship functions which induce or affect movement.
With relatively little effort, the Mamba can be made to move, stop, flank and turn much more quickly than many pilots imagine.

Chapter 3: Conflagration
Where to hunt, how to acquire targets efficiently, and demonstrations of several means to help tear them apart.
Not for lack of trying, I have been unable to construct anything else which comes close to being this destructive.

Use it well, and enjoy credits and encoded materials aplenty.
Adapt it for high-intensity conflict zones, and any mercy you thought you had will never burden you again.

CMDR Aleks Zuno
Imperial Navy Intervention and Rescue

 

[Gold Trygger]

Hail.

For those so inclined, I present:

Hunter
A first-hand account of fast, fierce and effective starship combat for the 34th Century.

Chapter 0: Preparation
Introduction and overview.

Chapter 1: Formulation
Hardware, engineering and Fire Groups demonstration with reasoning and justification.
Even with partial engineering and no further guidance, this alone can make for a better bounty-hunting experience.

Chapter 2: Aviation
Flight exercises designed to build fundamental understanding of the starship functions which induce or affect movement.
With relatively little effort, the Mamba can be made to move, stop, flank and turn much more quickly than many pilots imagine.

Chapter 3: Conflagration
Where to hunt, how to acquire targets efficiently, and demonstrations of several means to help tear them apart.
Not for lack of trying, I have been unable to construct anything else which comes close to being this destructive.

Use it well, and enjoy credits and encoded materials aplenty.
Adapt it for high-intensity conflict zones, and any mercy you thought you had will never burden you again.

CMDR Aleks Zuno
Imperial Navy Intervention and Rescue

Thank you, this is very insightful and brilliantly explained!

 

[Aleks Zuno]

Thank you, this is very insightful and brilliantly explained!

You are most welcome; use it well!

 

[Elliot Coleman]

I've pinned this to my squadron's discord. Very well presented.

 

[Aleks Zuno]

I've pinned this to my squadron's discord. Very well presented.

Thank you most kindly for sharing it. With enough Commanders seeing what it can achieve, a background hope of mine is to reverse the prevalent myth that the Mamba is not worth using, when in reality I honestly cannot hand the massacre award to anything else.

 

[[VR] Mad Life Crisis]

From what I've seen of the first link, it's very nicely done. Shortcut-ed to desk top.

 

[Elliot Coleman]

Thank you most kindly for sharing it. With enough Commanders seeing what it can achieve, a background hope of mine is to reverse the prevalent myth that the Mamba is not worth using, when in reality I honestly cannot hand the massacre award to anything else.

You're most welcome.

Having been a Chieftain pilot for quite some time, I decided to give your Mamba build a try. My own is only moderately engineered, but I must be honest...my poor Dullahan (my Chieftain) may have become a hangar queen.

 

[Aleks Zuno]

You're most welcome.

Having been a Chieftain pilot for quite some time, I decided to give your Mamba build a try. My own is only moderately engineered, but I must be honest...my poor Dullahan (my Chieftain) may have become a hangar queen.

Good embedded point; it doesn't cover engineering priorities prior to completion.
Aside from keeping the Power Plant afloat as you go, mine would be:

1. Power Distributor recharge by far; a class 4 Beam Laser will not feel properly supported without it
2. Weapon effects enabled, especially Thermal Vent
3. Thrusters power and Sensors range together; their purpose is co-dependent
4. General damage and defence
5. Minutiae, such as Kill Warrant Scanner and Shield Cell Banks

 

[Elliot Coleman]

Good embedded point; it doesn't cover engineering priorities prior to completion.
Aside from keeping the Power Plant afloat as you go, mine would be:

1. Power Distributor recharge by far; a class 4 Beam Laser will not feel properly supported without it
2. Weapon effects enabled, especially Thermal Vent
3. Thrusters power and Sensors range together; their purpose is co-dependent
4. General damage and defence
5. Minutiae, such as Kill Warrant Scanner and Shield Cell Banks

I've done as much as I had the patience and materials for...jump range is my only complaint with the Mamba thus far, but as a dedicated combat ship, I won't be travelling much after its it's done.

I went WEP focused with the enhanced charge rate experimental on the distro, based on the power needs of the size 4 beam. I still have to sometimes remind myself to keep up with my pip management, since in my Chieftan I can run the full gamut on 2 pips.

I managed to touch on everything except the KWS, which will come in its own time.

One question I did have that you may have covered in the article, is shield and shield booster engineering.

I went with a bi-weave, as recommended, relying heavily on thermal resistance (with fast-charge), with my boosters augmenting kinetic and explosive resistance to balance them all out in the 40-50% range, with I think the final two boosters giving straight MJs.

This worked well in the couple of hazrez hunting trips I've made in it. Only lost shields once due to involuntary contact with a rock.

I will say, however, myself and a somewhat less-experienced wingman did have some issue when being swarmed in a mission signal source, which is what prompted us to hunt the hazrez instead, where we could pick our targets.

All-in-all, I really like this build so far, even with about half the engineering done.

Thanks again!

 

[Aleks Zuno]

I've done as much as I had the patience and materials for...jump range is my only complaint with the Mamba thus far, but as a dedicated combat ship, I won't be travelling much after its it's done.

I went WEP focused with the enhanced charge rate experimental on the distro, based on the power needs of the size 4 beam. I still have to sometimes remind myself to keep up with my pip management, since in my Chieftan I can run the full gamut on 2 pips.

I managed to touch on everything except the KWS, which will come in its own time.

One question I did have that you may have covered in the article, is shield and shield booster engineering.

I went with a bi-weave, as recommended, relying heavily on thermal resistance (with fast-charge), with my boosters augmenting kinetic and explosive resistance to balance them all out in the 40-50% range, with I think the final two boosters giving straight MJs.

This worked well in the couple of hazrez hunting trips I've made in it. Only lost shields once due to involuntary contact with a rock.

I will say, however, myself and a somewhat less-experienced wingman did have some issue when being swarmed in a mission signal source, which is what prompted us to hunt the hazrez instead, where we could pick our targets.

All-in-all, I really like this build so far, even with about half the engineering done.

Thanks again!

When the goal is hostile situations such as Wing assassinations or springing an ambush (as opposed to fast bounty claims), you will need to deviate a bit and sacrifice the Kill Warrant Scanner for a second Chaff Launcher instead, remembering to adjust the fire groups. I can do the former well enough with a single Chaff Launcher if I interdict the target, however the latter (your case) requires speed to evade the entire group and pick them off one-by-one with swift strikes, very inefficient without that second Chaff. The second Chaff Launcher enables me to complete many more Wing assassination contracts consecutively (solo).

The Weapon Focused modification only gives you a larger capacitor as opposed to faster WEP recharge, and comes at the severe expense of the ENG and SYS recharge rate from using Charge Enhanced. Sustained battles, or even just rapid removal of single targets in quick succession, will shift the value significantly towards recharge over capacity if you want to keep the shields up and continue boosting.

Regarding Shield Generator and Shield Boosters, check again the links at the end of Chapter 1:
Original loadout
Reinforced shield (requires Guardian module)
Kinetic resistance (requires Guardian module)
Thermal resistant Shield Generator, and Shield Boosters with three Resistance augmented and Force block, one Heavy duty and Super capacitors.

Fight well!

 

[ShadeDust]

I just spent the last evening working my way methodically through your chronicle, and I have to say that beyond being very informative and well-written in a factual sense, it was a particularly nice read. Not only did I learn a lot; I also enjoyed a very nicely presented story, for which you deserve praise and commendment. Although I'm not nearly as nimble and agile when flying my Omen as you are in your Hailstorm, I'm learning and adapting all thanks to your lessons. So thank you, for all what it's worth!

 

[Aleks Zuno]

I just spent the last evening working my way methodically through your chronicle, and I have to say that beyond being very informative and well-written in a factual sense, it was a particularly nice read. Not only did I learn a lot; I also enjoyed a very nicely presented story, for which you deserve praise and commendment. Although I'm not nearly as nimble and agile when flying my Omen as you are in your Hailstorm, I'm learning and adapting all thanks to your lessons. So thank you, for all what it's worth!

Yours was a particular warming read, and you are most emphatically welcome.

The agility depends greatly on how you use the laterals, landing gear, Flight Assist and Power Distributor during the boost. Occasionally I still notice new intricacies or become incrementally faster in ways which are difficult to describe, although this time it definitely is for lack of heeding my own advice to present more videos. A few comments I would add regarding those in-boost improvements are:

• It seems to help to use laterals do to something during those turns, even if the intermediate nose direction is otherwise fine in the context of directing your acceleration. If need be, use laterals to pull sideways then back again.
• Landing gear is almost universally great at the start of a boost, though there is also a lot of room for making good choices with when to retract or pulse. Mostly I had been timing the retractions so they give just the appropriate amount of extra speed at the end. More recently, I have been attempting to close distance quickly at the start then deploy at the end to kill that speed and make a sharp corner, at some risk of inducing a dance.
• Associate Flight Assist off with turning and Flight Assist on with velocity redirection. I get the most out of the Mamba's luxurious 3-second interval by using the first 1.5 to 2.0 seconds for turning with FA off, then the last 1.0 to 1.5 seconds for redirection with FA on.
• Associate most boosts with giving your ENG capacitor a least a short burst of power at the start, both for keeping the energy flowing and for enhancing the turns. With Flight Assist also off during that, a turn you begin with 4 to ENG will continue at that rate even if you change to SYS or WEP within a second.

 

[Dragsham]

So the Lance isn't as quick as the mamba.
I've never flown one, a mamba, that is. Might work for a build I have in mind.
But l thought I'd share "Jack Palance", with you all.
FDL oh yes.
She's fully engineered.
G5 armoured power plant
G5 prismatics reinforced high cap.
G5 thrusters dirty drag.
G5 Charge enhanced dizzy.
G5 Shielded thermally spread fsd (she's carrier based).
G3 reinforced life support and G3 Long range sensors.
Various module and hull reinforcements over a reactive G5 hull.
A huge and 2 medium G5 plasma accelerators focused thermal conduit.
2 G5 long range rails with plasma slug.
Alot of G5 Shield boosters.
No cell banks not enough power.
Designed specifically for high combat zones. I can kill at least a dozen ships before the PAs and fuel needs a synth.
2 extra ammo heatsinks ensure l don't overcook.
Nothing in elite handles heat better than a fdl. So she's able to handle those volleys of heat inducing chaos.
Focused pas have twice the shot speed of conventional pas.
Learning to use em is hard work. Alot of fa off And pips managed flying.
Killing ships in combat zones quickly.
But the main reason is flying back and assessing the internals damage which is sometimes quite substantial.
I prefer my railer build. But that's another story.

o7

 

[Aleks Zuno]

So the Lance isn't as quick as the mamba.
I've never flown one, a mamba, that is. Might work for a build I have in mind.
But l thought I'd share "Jack Palance", with you all.
FDL oh yes.
She's fully engineered.
G5 armoured power plant
G5 prismatics reinforced high cap.
G5 thrusters dirty drag.
G5 Charge enhanced dizzy.
G5 Shielded thermally spread fsd (she's carrier based).
G3 reinforced life support and G3 Long range sensors.
Various module and hull reinforcements over a reactive G5 hull.
A huge and 2 medium G5 plasma accelerators focused thermal conduit.
2 G5 long range rails with plasma slug.
Alot of G5 Shield boosters.
No cell banks not enough power.
Designed specifically for high combat zones. I can kill at least a dozen ships before the PAs and fuel needs a synth.
2 extra ammo heatsinks ensure l don't overcook.
Nothing in elite handles heat better than a fdl. So she's able to handle those volleys of heat inducing chaos.
Focused pas have twice the shot speed of conventional pas.
Learning to use em is hard work. Alot of fa off And pips managed flying.
Killing ships in combat zones quickly.
But the main reason is flying back and assessing the internals damage which is sometimes quite substantial.
I prefer my railer build. But that's another story.

o7

For a moment I thought to shoo you away, but in the end I smiled at the story of Jack Palance, albeit knowing not what it means to synthesise fuel.

If I may suggest, you have for yourself quite the duelists' weapon there, at the expense of a few other properties which otherwise would double your efficacy in a Conflict Zone. In that scenario, either weapon loadout should be comfortably above the threshold for damage where having more of it adds little, however the ammunition capacity of Fragment Cannons and the speed of a Mamba will each work to reduce greatly your time between kills.

In preparation for a Conflict Zone, I replace my Kill Warrant Scanner for a second Chaff Launcher and switch the class 1 Rail gun to one with Feedback Cascade for use against an enemy Captain. My count in a typical high intensity Conflict Zone then is closer to two dozen without any sort of synthesis. This is close to the limit of enemy losses before they are defeated, and such a conflict lasts approximately ten minutes.

Do keep Jack Palance around, though!