Newcomer / Intro Fighter Hangar and NPC's

[Marvin the Martian]

So I'm putting my Corvette together following this build.

The fighter hangar has two fighters in it. Am I better off hiring two NPC pilots to fly those or what? How does that work, exactly?

 

[Para Handy]

As I understand it you can only have one NPC fighter active at a time. The main benefit of carrying two in the hangar is that you can have an immediate replacement launch on fighter destruction - instead of waiting for a new one to be "printed" in the hangar. (You can also carry different types of fighter in those bays.) If you want to deploy 2 fighters you need to rely on multiplayer crew.

Of course I could be well off the mark here as I don't use them since giving them a "go" when they were introduced.

 

[metatheurgist]

Para has got it right. The best you can do is one human and one NPC.

 

[Marvin the Martian]

I hired a novice so he wont take so much money. I plan on using the fighter more as a distraction if I get into trouble than anything else.

So far, I'm loving the Corvette. It's not even half way developed yet and it's just awsome.

 

[Codger]

I'll chime in here -- be aware that your NPC crewmembers take a cut of all your earnings, even when they are inactive. Additionally, while active they take half your combat experience as well (so you rank up slower).

They can be fun, but whether the cost is worth it is something each CMDR must decide.

 

[d8veh]

I'd do it like this unless you want to take on special ops at CZs,where your proposal might work better. - much stronger shields and simpler to operate:

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

You can save yourself a lot of time and incoming fire if you set your fighter on targets before you open fire and wait forit to land a shot (target turns red). The target will then chase the fighter instead of you, which gives you free shooting at it.

 

[aRJay]

I'd do it like this unless you want to take on special ops at CZs,where your proposal might work better. - much stronger shields and simpler to operate:

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

You can save yourself a lot of time and incoming fire if you set your fighter on targets before you open fire and wait forit to land a shot (target turns red). The target will then chase the fighter instead of you, which gives you free shooting at it.

An additional advantage of this technique is if the fighter has fixed weapons the target will tend not to use chaff until near the end of the fight which is good if like me you use turreted and gimballed weapons.

One thing to look out for if you are swapping ships is you don't get a reminder to activate your NPC when you swap back to a ship with a fighter hanger.

 

[d8veh]

An additional advantage of this technique is if the fighter has fixed weapons the target will tend not to use chaff until near the end of the fight which is good if like me you use turreted and gimballed weapons.

One thing to look out for if you are swapping ships is you don't get a reminder to activate your NPC when you swap back to a ship with a fighter hanger.

Yes, that's a massive advantage. I normally mention that, but I forgot. the fighter has to have fixed weapons. I think the multi-cannons work the best. I tried other ones, but the NPC pilot seems to take much longer to land the first shot with them, which becomes very frustrating. i find myself shouting at her, " shoot the F thing".

 

[aRJay]

Yes, that's a massive advantage. I normally mention that, but I forgot. the fighter has to have fixed weapons. I think the multi-cannons work the best. I tried other ones, but the NPC pilot seems to take much longer to land the first shot with them, which becomes very frustrating. i find myself shouting at her, " shoot the F thing".

Not tried those yet, I used to use fixed plasma but have recently switched to beam and pulse lasers, the beams are very quick to first hit the pulse are a little slower. They both seem pretty effective.

 

[Marvin the Martian]

Thanks for the tips, guys.

 

[Ashnak]

Not tried those yet, I used to use fixed plasma but have recently switched to beam and pulse lasers, the beams are very quick to first hit the pulse are a little slower. They both seem pretty effective.

If/when your pilot is somewhat more experienced, get them a XG-8 Javelin.

Yes, the gun is slow firing, has limited ammo and is hard to aim outside of point blank range. But oh boy, does it pack a punch.

 

[aRJay]

An additional advantage of this technique is if the fighter has fixed weapons the target will tend not to use chaff until near the end of the fight which is good if like me you use turreted and gimballed weapons.
...

I have been paying more attention to this as well as getting some Dangerous and above targets, it looks like higher ranked NPC targets will go to chaff much earlier.

I had one target ranked Dangerous in that fearsome combat ship the Dolphin start using chaff as soon as the fixed mount fighter opened fire.

 

[d8veh]

I have been paying more attention to this as well as getting some Dangerous and above targets, it looks like higher ranked NPC targets will go to chaff much earlier.

I had one target ranked Dangerous in that fearsome combat ship the Dolphin start using chaff as soon as the fixed mount fighter opened fire.

In a RES or CZ, the target NPCs will sometimes start chaffing if another ship shoots them before your fighter, which you probably wouldn't see, and other times if you're too quick to shoot after the target turns red. It's best to wait a second before opening fire.

 

[0threeleven]

I had one target ranked Dangerous in that fearsome combat ship the Dolphin start using chaff as soon as the fixed mount fighter opened fire.

Thats hilarious, like taking a school bus to a drag race, I haven't had the opportunity to destroy a Dalphin yet.

 

[Ashnak]

Thats hilarious, like taking a school bus to a drag race, I haven't had the opportunity to destroy a Dalphin yet.

You knew someone would do this:

 

[aRJay]

You knew someone would do this:

In many ways the Dolphin I mentioned was more like Clint Eastwood’s bus in The Gauntlet at least in terms of how many shots were needed.

 

[0threeleven]

You knew someone would do this:

I wonder if the aerodynamics of that bus effect it's quarter mile time? That guys quite the showmen, I was wondering how the heck he could see anything sitting way in the back until I watched the video and saw that he rode a wheelie the entire 1/4 mile. He must be looking through the floor.

You got me hooked on this stuff, I just watched a school bus figure 8 race, pure mayhem.

 

[Marvin the Martian]

You knew someone would do this:

LMAO!!!

The instant I read his post I was going to open another tab and go get a video of that. Then I read your post.