Hey guys, I've read that the Federal ship line is good for creating a strong hull tank combat ship, and as this outfitting approach sounds interesting and I've never done this before I wanted to give it a go, using the Federal Gunship. The main purpose is to engage in power play combat-wise and to compete with other players who constantly pull me over and pound me into oblivion since I joined a power play faction. What is your experience with hull tank playstyle? I really like the idea of an extremely hardened flying tank, I planned to outfit something like this, maybe even without a shield at all. Further, I would engineer all armor-specific modules as far as possible for even more hitpoints and later enhance thrusters and frame shift drive to compensate for the huge ship mass. Will hull tanking work out or is it a complete waste of time? Thanks in advance o7
Federal Gunship as all hull tank - Worth it?
- Thread starter Symbiont
- Start date
Oh, don't mind the shield, I put this in first expecting that the general power consumption would exceed the available power for way too many MWs and forgot to adjust shield class after I was done. Yes, missiles are unusual and another thing I never did before, wanted to check this out. Why are they bad as PVP weapon?
My experience in PvP is rather limited, but I find missiles mostly useless even at PvE (except maybe to disable weapons on trade ships when pirating, but that's using them as a tool rather than a weapon)
They're slow, easy to avoid and deal rather low amount of damage. Being explosive, it usually means, they're extremely weak against shields too.
It's actually not bad, especially against other hull tanks. Mixing in a few reverberating cascade torpedo launchers also makes it viable against unsuspecting shield tanks, who get caught by the torps disguised in the missile barrage.
I planned on adding the experimental effect for dealing shield damage to the launchers though
That sounds actually interesting, but I never used torpedos so far, isn't it annoying that they run out of ammo so extremely fast?
How about this: https://s.orbis.zone/4rop
You might wanna have an eye on the module protection, it seems to be the soft spot of the FGS.
You might wanna have an eye on the module protection, it seems to be the soft spot of the FGS.
Your build is not too far away from my own so I'll vouch that it can take punishment. I've not got access to packhounds though, MC's and Beams on mine so about half the DPS. I'll upload it when I get home.
P.S FGS is by faarrr my favourite ship. Embrace the drift and hold the trigger
Might want to swap out the class 1 missiles for rail guns or something?
You probably want something that isn't missiles for the shields - though to be fair, thats a LOT of missiles...
That will also utterly crush weapons and thrusters on a ship that has no shields in seconds. Bare that in mind for yourself and check an enemy load out before engaging - if you have no shield, and they have missiles, you might wanna think twice.'
As for torpedoes, you need FIVE to take out an 8A prismatic shield on a cutter. That's more than one entire hardpoing taken up for one kill. Amazing if you manage it though.
I took out anacondas shields with four torps the other day, not sure what class/size shield it was though.
For smaller ships, you can do it with three or less.
Bare in mind, they are hard to hit with - if the enemy knows they are coming, and know what they are doing, they can easily outrun them.
Also, they need to travel about 1Km before they arm.
The best way to get these things to hit, is by firing them while the enemy is boosting towards you, from about 1,5-2km away (I've found) preferably with some other ordanence thrown in to confuse the situation.
You probably want something that isn't missiles for the shields - though to be fair, thats a LOT of missiles...
That will also utterly crush weapons and thrusters on a ship that has no shields in seconds. Bare that in mind for yourself and check an enemy load out before engaging - if you have no shield, and they have missiles, you might wanna think twice.'
As for torpedoes, you need FIVE to take out an 8A prismatic shield on a cutter. That's more than one entire hardpoing taken up for one kill. Amazing if you manage it though.
I took out anacondas shields with four torps the other day, not sure what class/size shield it was though.
For smaller ships, you can do it with three or less.
Bare in mind, they are hard to hit with - if the enemy knows they are coming, and know what they are doing, they can easily outrun them.
Also, they need to travel about 1Km before they arm.
The best way to get these things to hit, is by firing them while the enemy is boosting towards you, from about 1,5-2km away (I've found) preferably with some other ordanence thrown in to confuse the situation.
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To not fit a biweave to an fgs is a sin. Best recharge rate of all. It also severally lacks speed and maneuverability making you an easy target for the big hull and module damagers, rails and PAs. I have a hybrid fgs which is fun in pve, but unfortunately, lacking in everything except firepower and yaw for pvp. Love that yaw though.
A properly outfitted all PA Gunship with 2 small missile racks and bi weave shields is more than a match for most other ships in PvP 1v1, not so much 1v3 or more gank situations. That depends on the pilots skill, of course.
It is not actually my build, since I don't have access to PH either. Stuffed to the brim with MCs or Pulse Lasers should be also fine, maybe Rails on the two small hard points.
With the Gunship you need to really make use of those hardpoints and the C7 PD, because you will be outtanked or outmanoeuvred by most other ships in PvP.
I tried rails but it's rate of turn is too slow to take full advantage of them, it's more my skill level and it was before id sunk my teeth into engineering properly.
Might be time to try again
Might be time to try again
I've one I used to make Thargoid paté.
Just depend on how much you like flying around in a low jump range wheel chock.
Just depend on how much you like flying around in a low jump range wheel chock.
No. Unless you harden the thrusters, too.
Here is a good unengineered one, plenty of power, you should use a biweave shield on this ship, it recharges fast
s.orbis.zone
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
s.orbis.zone
Thanks everyone for the replies! Some opinions lead me to a more general question, is the Federal Gunship best suitable for a hull tank approach with medium ships or is it better to consider doing this with one ship of the Alliance ship line, too? It almost certainly seemed that the Gunship is best for this role of a bulky hull tank when doing some research beforehand, but I'm not finally sure about that. Any other suggestions on that?
Here is a good unengineered one, plenty of power, you should use a biweave shield on this ship, it recharges fast
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
First time I got a Gunship before engineering I had a build like that. It used to shred ships in seconds. Not so sure about these days but probably still fun