FDL - Big Beam or PA?

NCFCpaul

N
Hi guys, I was wondering your collective thoughts on what is the best outfitting for an FDL?

I'm not much good at combat but I've made lots of cash mining so I'm making myself something for fun at HazRes sites, popping helpless NPC's.

Despite being in Colonia I have A rated modules shipped over so I've basically A rated everything. Thrusters are Dirty drive level 5, distributer level 5 weapons focused.

I've gone bi-weave level 5 with Thermo block with a mix of shield boosters all level 3 all with either Thermo block or resistance augmented.

I'm happy with this- I think! I've so far got four overcharged multi-cannons, one with corrosive and the rest thermal.

Should I get a large Beam laser, probably with thermal vent? Or should I get a huge PA with long distance? Possibly experimental effect of oversized?

Alternatively, have I done it all wrong and should I start from scratch? As I say I am not good at combat so need something to get better in and have fun brutally exploding NPC's!
 

Bigmaec

Bigmaec
If it's PvE it doesn't matter really.

Use a beam to have that comfy "brzzzzz" feeling, use a PA to show off your awesome fixed aim skillz, use a corrosive Multi for that extra fast hull devastation.
As you like.

If you aim to do PvP you'd propably have to learn to hit with a PA, if you're as hopeless as I am with that, good luck :D
 

Stigbob

Stigbob
I go for a pair of twinned vent beams on the outer upper slots, and a huge corrosive MC.

The two inner upper slots I use for fun guns swapping seekers / PA / rail / plasmacharger /cannon / shockcannon. Depends what mood I'm in.



Edit : inner upper for the fun guns as they are the best hardpoints for fixed as they are close together.
 
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Trollymctrollerson

T
I kind of like the class 4 cannons but that's just me. I have 2 fixed medium multis, 2 medium plasma and a huge cannon. Plasma and cannon are linked together.
 

dm06

dm06
class 4 fixed mc (corrosive/overcharged/high capacity what ever), because even stock those are just "micro cannons", their damage is just amazing.
 
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DeletedUser191218

D
NCFCpaul said:
Hi guys, I was wondering your collective thoughts on what is the best outfitting for an FDL?

I'm not much good at combat but I've made lots of cash mining so I'm making myself something for fun at HazRes sites, popping helpless NPC's.

Despite being in Colonia I have A rated modules shipped over so I've basically A rated everything. Thrusters are Dirty drive level 5, distributer level 5 weapons focused.

I've gone bi-weave level 5 with Thermo block with a mix of shield boosters all level 3 all with either Thermo block or resistance augmented.

I'm happy with this- I think! I've so far got four overcharged multi-cannons, one with corrosive and the rest thermal.

Should I get a large Beam laser, probably with thermal vent? Or should I get a huge PA with long distance? Possibly experimental effect of oversized?

Alternatively, have I done it all wrong and should I start from scratch? As I say I am not good at combat so need something to get better in and have fun brutally exploding NPC's!
Click to expand...

Efficient big beam ftw
 

Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
If you're out in Colonia, then I'd go for Beam or Multicannon over Plasma, because the local engineers are better (G4 or nearly) in case you want to change the base blueprint beyond what your pins allow (e.g. efficient or long range beam)

NPCs you don't really get a lot of benefit from plasma because they rarely have the sort of high-resistance shields and hulls where absolute damage is useful.

I find a feedback cascade rail to be very useful in shortening fights against the big NPCs. Long-range 1 on the main blueprint is available locally.
 

Dillon Fallon

Dillon Fallon
I've gone for the PA on mine. Generally this is for bigger ships with 4 medium gimballed beams for dealing with the small ships and shield stripping (my go to ship for when I just want to blow up a few npcs).

I don't think the PA is the efficient choice for PvE, but it is satisfying when you connect with something.
 

NCFCpaul

N
I ended up getting the PA first- while it's really hard to hit anything I had an obliging Anaconda hold still enough for me to get him from basically point blank. It does help the the FDL can fly rings around Anacondas.

Level 1 engineered huge PA really caused all sorts of problems! His shields were knocked out immediately and he lost about 10% of the hull.

Quite how the hell you go about hitting anything much smaller is beyond me! I'm pinging these things all over the place!
 

biohazard15

B
For mass-murder PVE (Scout hunting, RES hunting) go for four medium beams (efficient+thermal vent) and huge MC with corrosive rounds.
For assassination PVE, go for four medium cannons (FIXED, overcharged+oversized) and one huge beam (efficient+thermal vent, use it to strip shields).
 

Clifra Jones

Clifra Jones
NCFCpaul said:
I ended up getting the PA first- while it's really hard to hit anything I had an obliging Anaconda hold still enough for me to get him from basically point blank. It does help the the FDL can fly rings around Anacondas.

Level 1 engineered huge PA really caused all sorts of problems! His shields were knocked out immediately and he lost about 10% of the hull.

Quite how the hell you go about hitting anything much smaller is beyond me! I'm pinging these things all over the place!
Click to expand...

Tips on hitting with the PA.

1. Get closer. It is a low "projectile". Your target can maneuver out of the line of fire. (Long range mod provides faster projectile speed)
2. If all the moving lead circles confuses you (Gimbaled MCs) put the PA on a fire group by itself or only with beams.
3. Put the cross hairs in that circle and fire. If you can line up to have an above or below profile of your target you have a larger surface area to hit.
4. I find I have better hit ratios when I am drifting with lateral thrust. Lining up the lead circle in the sight.

Obviously, larger ships are easier to hit. Smaller ones are much harder.
 
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Vedmo

Vedmo
I think you'd be better off with a charge enhanced PD rather than weapons focused, but if it's working for you and you're not SYS/ENG starved then it probably doesn't really matter.

I built a FDL out there with local engineers and went all MC with thermal on a couple of the mediums and it is pretty much overkill for PVE, even with my crappy skills, and I rarely have more than 1 pip in weapons.

You asked Beam or PA though! If you're running 3 thermal MC's already, then the PA, you'll need something to help punch through hulls in combat zones.

If the PA isn't working for you (I suck with them) and you go large beam, I'd drop the thermal on those 3 MCs and go autoloader or something else.
 
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Jenner

I wish I was English like my hero Tj.
Jenner
Some good pointers in here. I'll have to try this on my own FDL as I suck with it so far. I've been trying to rock the PA but I'm not fooling anyone with my 'skillz'.
 

Stigbob

Stigbob
NCFCpaul said:
I ended up getting the PA first- while it's really hard to hit anything I had an obliging Anaconda hold still enough for me to get him from basically point blank. It does help the the FDL can fly rings around Anacondas.

Level 1 engineered huge PA really caused all sorts of problems! His shields were knocked out immediately and he lost about 10% of the hull.

Quite how the hell you go about hitting anything much smaller is beyond me! I'm pinging these things all over the place!
Click to expand...

If you have the cash get a corvette pop a pair of fixed huge PA's engineered for plasma slug in it along with an extra fuel tank and fuel scoop. Now find a CNB where you can practice with your now limitless ammo.

Once you can reliably hit with huge ones from the corvette hitting with the smaller ones in more maneuverable ships is a doddle.

You can also one shot anything smaller than an asp, which is fun.
 

Stealthie

Stealthie
It kind of doesn't matter.

A C4 hardpoint provides roughly the same DPS as a pair of C2 hardpoints so it wouldn't really matter if you fitted, say, a C4 beam and a pair of C2 PAs or the opposite.

My own philosophy is that most weapons should be suitable for most combat.
That actually works out better on the Mamba 'cos it means I can fit, say, a C4 beam, a pair of C2 MCs and then put rails in the C1 slots - knowing that I'm not sacrificing a lot of efficiency in return for the big-hit that the rails can provide if I get it right.

All that being the case, I don't actually bother fitting rails/PAs to my FdL cos they'd always use up too much DPS "real estate" (if I fitted a pair of C2 or a single C4 weapon) so I just have beams and MCs.

If I was determined to fit a PA to an FDL I'd probably go with a C4 beam, 3x C2 MCs and 1x C2 PA.
 

BL1P

BL1P
OilyFlimsyIchthyostega.webm
5 Multicannons
1 Huge overcharged + autoloader
3 Medium Overcharged + autoloader
1 Medium Overcharged + caustic

Because you can never have enough Multicannons !

Z39gk.jpg


:)
 

Bryan K

Bryan K
BL1P said:
5 Multicannons
1 Huge overcharged + autoloader
3 Medium Overcharged + autoloader
1 Medium Overcharged + caustic

Because you can never have enough Multicannons !



:)
Click to expand...
Think of all the dps you’re wasting on shields, though.
 
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