Ships Fer-de-Lance Fer-de-Lance Owner's Club

simo2003

simo2003
http://coriolis.io/outfit/fer_de_la...4040m4d5d5d2o66.AwRj4zNEg===.AwhMJBGbqmdKIA==

I think this is my current loadout (I can't check due to the FdL being parked quite far off). As has been said in this thread already, the FdL benefits a great deal from being light and manoeuvrable - the magic weight to look for is 50% of the optimum for your thrusters, and thus mine is 413.7t.

You can run a plasma accelerator on the huge point at the expense of slightly less shielding, by switching an A-rated shield booster for a C-rated one. The kill warrant scanner can be switched for a frame shift wake scanner, or a heat sink, depending on what you're doing. If I'm going a long distance in the FdL, I swap one of the SCBs for a bigger fuel scoop.

I love my Fer De Lance.
 
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Hercules4

H
Hey gang, in case any of you wanted to see some FDL pvp, I just uploaded a new video.

I present to you: "Lord of the Pit" Part 3!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwYM7q0ypKI&list=PLlma6wUezqhuT63NRB3X7YRu6yXEH3_lW&index=18

Part 1 (4x MC 1x PA): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCXi5xgLx04&list=PLlma6wUezqhuT63NRB3X7YRu6yXEH3_lW&index=6

Part 2 (2x Rail, 3x pulse): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axv6iwiIejw&list=PLlma6wUezqhuT63NRB3X7YRu6yXEH3_lW&index=5

Any and all comments are welcome, fly safe o7

- Hercules4
 

Ziljan

Ziljan
Just re-bought my FdL after a couple months hiatus in Asp territory. I initially sold her because I had no idea how to fly an FdL and was just shy of the minimum amount of money to make her deadly. After a little training I have come to the realization that this thing is one dangerously beautiful killer, with engines that growl with the fury of righteous justice. I practiced my boost and flip maneuver and my station-viper-tailing maneuvers for about an hour, and now that I know all her sweet spots, this thing purrs so sweetly, and handles like a dream. It almost feels like I'm in a slightly sluggish DBS, but with much better acceleration, insane shields, and a vicious left hook - uppercut combo.


If she could jump 25LY I would be head over heals in love, but alas she can only jump at ranges shorter than an A grade Sidewinder.
 

Night Hawk

Night Hawk
@Hercules4 - that is some awesome combat footage, which should remind everyone how deadly the FDL can be in the right hands :) +rep.

I wish that I was half that good in combat with my FDL. At this stage, I cannot keep my weapons on target as well as you and I am using all gimballed!!

Thanks for the great videos - I will be studying them carefully to glean as much as I can and try to improve my skills, after watching you in action, I realise I have a long way to go.

Thanks
 

Ziljan

Ziljan
They are really good sniping videos, though the skills involved aren't necessarily complex.

1) pick a slow turning target with weak shields
2) master use of reverse thrusters and Mouse aiming
3) spam SCBs

#2 is where all the skills are for this style of fighting. It's a great way to kill off slow turning targets that can't outtank you, or don't know how to counter reverse thrust. Take note, none of the enemies tried to outmaneuver him or to use their faster speed, but were all flying as if they were still in Vultures or DBSs. A little hard to watch the slaughter tbh, but hopefully these CMDRs will learn their ships soon. It takes time and lots of practice imo. Most people (myself included) will blame the ship until they learn a few things that open their eyes to the depth this game offers.

Btw, I use a Hotas setup, which I feel gives more options than a KBM setup for thruster control, but I do miss the Mouse's superior sniping ability.
 

Night Hawk

Night Hawk
I also have a HOTAS setup (X52) - it really works well with Elite as I can basically fly the ship without using the KB or mouse. I am using a slightly modified version of the standard X52 profile that comes with ED.

Unfortunately I am not able to get that fine smooth control using the stick and thrusters, but at this stage I really dont want to go back to using a mouse as it seems like a retrograde step!

I am still rather uncontrolled with FA off, so I need more practise - at least with a well equipped FDL you can experiment and practise against "live" targets without the risk of losing your ship :)

To me the videos were still impressive though.
 

Ziljan

Ziljan
A good way to practice your FAoff skills is to try following a Viper police ship and keeping his engine in your window while following at a constant ~300m. Their motions are more predictable near a station. Try to keep your path roughly along their two contrails while keeping your nose pointed at his ship.

I prefer hotas to KBM and find that fixed weapons aren't an advantage for KBM as long as we have gimbals. Especially once we master all the uses of side/reverse thrust and FAoff.
 

Maxwellou

Maxwellou
I "downgraded" from a Warthog back to the X52 yesterday because of the lack of Twist yaw in the joystick: it was way too painful using fixed with it.
But, even with the X52, fixed weapons are really hard to get a hands on.

When I'm against Eagles, Side, Viper or Cobra, it always takes me way too much time to kill them even though I'm using FaOff when it needs to be.
That's where I saw this video (great piloting BTW).

I tried, but I find FaOFF to be quite a burden to use 100% of the time and I just can't accept that this is the "top of the line skill to get" that makes you "invulnerable". I try really hard not to go of course while using FAoFF but I get angry at it pretty quickly lol :)
It's just really, really hard (wich is good) but I, infortunately, do not want to practice for an insanely huge amount of time trying to master it. I'm sure I'm not the only one and surely, you can always do something against an opponent who managed to master 100% FaOFF.

That being said, I try different tactics, by using lateral thrusts combined with FAOff in order to keep myself out of range of turrets or in order to keep my opponent in front of me. Reverski is a valid tactic but I always find it to be pretty boring and I'm only using it when in a critical situation.
Against Anacondas, Python or FDL (NPC or Players), it's very hard not to be in the typical crappy situation "both charging at each other, he gets pasts me, FaOFF, both charging at each others again etc".

In other words, I always have the feeling that I'm not getting better :(
And damn, Fixed weapons are really really hard to master !
(PS: I have ~500h of play time with approximately 60-80% of it doing combat)
 
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Night Hawk

Night Hawk
Yeah, I am in the same situation as you and its frustrating to say the least!

After spending 2 weeks only flying the FDL, I felt that I was not making any progress in developing my skills and then I see those videos and realise that I have a long way to go. As you rightly point out, going up against small ships can be be a real battle to manoeuvre into a good firing position, even with FA off and gimballed weapons - I have yet to try fixed weapons on the FDL, but I am pretty sure its going to be hard work!

In fact I decided to park the FDL and swapped to my Vulture, just for a break - well after struggling with the FDL, its a refreshing change to be able to keep those bandits in front and pulverise them with those large pulses :)

I have had my X52 for nearly 7 years and apart from doing the magnet mod and removing the throttle detents, its worked flawlessly and more to the point, it really does work extremely well with ED, having the twist yaw and the thrusters on the throttle makes docking and maneuvering very easy and intuitive.

Certainly not giving up and I will definitely not part with my FDL, but for now I am enjoying some fun pew pew!!
 

Maxwellou

Maxwellou
2 Weeks ? Man if only you knew... I'm in the FdL since 1.2 came out. Love this ship, it's not the classic "combat ship" like the Vulture (wich I hate excessively mostly due to its insanely low price) and you have to think of it's purpose.
I truly think that it is designed to be in a Wing. This is exactly the ship that would protect her big friends against other big fishs and be able to go help quickly another friend if needed.

Using her in solo is pretty enjoyable but you can't avoid thinking something like "Man, if only I had a friend in a more agile ship to get rid of this stupid Condor/Eagle/Viper/Cobra/Vulture in a matter of seconds, allowing me to actually focus on the big ones".
Using the FdL without being in a wing almost always forces me to use gimballed weapons, because when you have 3-4 ships shooting at you, you can't just allow yourself to spend too much time on each ship while using 100% FaoFF in order to train yourself and try to aim with your fixed weapons altogether.

I swear I had to flee from 2 eagles one time because they attacked me while I had like, 1 ring and a half left, no SCB left, and it was way too difficult for me to shoot at them with nearly 100% accuracy.
I can't remember the last time I had to flee from 2 Eagles... I have to admit, it was a frustrating moment. I do not want to be in that mood 90% of the time because I have to train in 100% FAoFF with fixed weapons.
I just can't and won't accept the fact that 100% FaOFF and Fixed weapons are the "ultimate setup" (but I admire people who manage to do that).
That's where I thought "the hell with Fixed, I'll use gimballed except for the Huge PA".
I just can't entirely rely on fixed weapons and that way, I have atleast a bit of fun.
 
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Kestril

Kestril
I find gimballed weapons are necessary if you want to effectively engage anything smaller than a Clipper.

I think the official forums has too much of a fixation on fixed weapons. Gimballed is very handy in a knife-fight-- just be sure to throw pips to ENG if they want to play the "reverse and snipe" game. I've skirmished with other group members extensively (and normal Pvp'd don't worry) and we found that a mix of the types of weapons (fixed/gimballed, fixed/turrets, depending on your ship of choice.) often produces the best results.

Right now I'm in love with 4 gimballed multicannon/1 fixed beam laser. Usually, my targets run dry on chaff by the time their shields drop, so it doesn't too much matter.

So don't worry too much about running all fixed weapons. Find what works best for you.
 
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Ziljan

Ziljan
HINT: Flying with FAoff 100% of the time is not how FAoff masters actually fly. The FAoff tricks are many and varied, and I won't spoil the surprise by telling you how to do them explicitly. Half the fun of ED is in figuring it out how to do this kind of stuff on your own.
 

Night Hawk

Night Hawk
Oh I have had my FDL longer than 2 weeks - since week 1 of PP actually, when I found that I could purchase the ship and fittings at 15% in Li Yongs area. Could not afford to fully A rate it at the time so I kept on with the Vulture to help fund my FDL. I knew that I would need to have the ship properly fitted out to maximise its potential.

I still remember the first time I lifted off the pad and pointed the nose of the ship toward the slot and throttled up - the sound of the ship is pure joy and those big thrusters :)

Since then I have spent as much time as I could in the FDL trying different loadouts and learning how to handle it in combat. I also picked up a Courier recently and spent some time playing with that along with the Vulture, just to mix things up a little.
re
You do need to be wary of those small ships in wings, especially when they a Dangerous rating or above as they tend to be packing more powerful weapons along with shields and possibly bulkhead upgrades. I always try to scan the wing and take out the highest rated one first then concentrate on the the others.

There is no shame in leaving the fight when the the odds are not in your favour - I think some pilots tend to push on the the attack in a bad situation, when they should break off and regroup.

I agree that a mix of fixed and gimballed weapons is a good compromise between the PvP guys and what you need in PvE, I guess it comes down to what is the best setup for you and your flying style.

Thanks for your comments and thoughts, its good to know that other FDL owners feel the same about the ship and how to pilot it.

Cheers
 
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Logan 5

Logan 5
Rebel801 said:
Oh I have had my FDL longer than 2 weeks - since week 1 of PP actually, when I found that I could purchase the ship and fittings at 15% in Li Yongs area. Could not afford to fully A rate it at the time so I kept on with the Vulture to help fund my FDL. I knew that I would need to have the ship properly fitted out to maximise its potential.

I still remember the first time I lifted off the pad and pointed the nose of the ship toward the slot and throttled up - the sound of the ship is pure joy and those big thrusters :)

Since then I have spent as much time as I could in the FDL trying different loadouts and learning how to handle it in combat. I also picked up a Courier recently and spent some time playing with that along with the Vulture, just to mix things up a little.
re
You do need to be wary of those small ships in wings, especially when they a Dangerous rating or above as they tend to be packing more powerful weapons along with shields and possibly bulkhead upgrades. I always try to scan the wing and take out the highest rated one first then concentrate on the the others.

There is no shame in leaving the fight when the the odds are not in your favour - I think some pilots tend to push on the the attack in a bad situation, when they should break off and regroup.

I agree that a mix of fixed and gimballed weapons is a good compromise between the PvP guys and what you need in PvE, I guess it comes down to what is the best setup for you and your flying style.

Thanks for your comments and thoughts, its good to know that other FDL owners feel the same about the ship and how to pilot it.

Cheers
Click to expand...

FDL..... MEH....Bought it, played with it, sold it....

Vulture for NPC and Clipper for PVP....

But each to their own ;-)

Have fun!
 

Maxwellou

Maxwellou
Ziljan said:
HINT: Flying with FAoff 100% of the time is not how FAoff masters actually fly. The FAoff tricks are many and varied, and I won't spoil the surprise by telling you how to do them explicitly. Half the fun of ED is in figuring it out how to do this kind of stuff on your own.
Click to expand...


The most obvious one would be switching to FAoff, when in the blue zone, to try keeping your foe in front of you ? :)
 
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