From boy to man in a weekend

[zipline]

Well cmdrs,
I entered into this weekend with one thing on my mind ... combat ... it was time for the coward of the county to dust down his six shooters and give those NPCs what for.
Now before all of that excitement, I needed to do some engineering, so my trusty phantom which has served me well for exploration, mining, trading and missions was combat ready.
I had all the mats and engineers I needed, and after a very long session I had all the combat mods I had been researching.
So, I headed off to a low res extraction site to break myself in. On my very first attempt to engage, the heat of the battle got to me and in the fog I fired on the local security, got a bounty, everyone turned red and turned on me, so I legged it thanks to my phantom's boost and escaped to another system. After a bit more research, and a visit to an IFS in another faction's system, I was good to go again.
So back to same low res and was starting to get into a groove. I have all efficient beams with thermal vent and they were a joy in the low res, it was fairly easy to pop these NPCs plus I was even kill warrant scanning them and getting some good practice switching into FA off, and in no time I had enough bounties to unlock Todd and even rank him to L3 to get a few more engineer invites.
So today I decided to move onto a low intensity conflict zone to start collecting combat bonds for another engineer, well, I have to say, as a virgin elite combat pilot ... that was intense!
I dropped in and chose a faction, and boom ... all hell broke loose. I cannot believe it but I picked up a combat bond and we won that war, and at the end it was all calm with green NPCs circling around whilst my collector limpet gathered mats. As it had gone quiet, I went back to a station to get a bigger cargo rack for limpets and refuel/repair.
Second time in I thought I was doing well but I was finding that my beams were great at droppig shields but were taking an age to finish them off as the NPCs were in much bigger ships, and I stayed too long on one of them thinking he was gonna pop at any moment whilst his mate was pounding me. Well, I lost my shields and eventually my canopy, but managed to escape and limped back to the station for repairs, thank heavens for A-rated life support.
Third time I repeated my same stupidity, stayed on a target too long with my shields down ... hello rebuy screen.
Last time before my playtime was over, I did a liitle better and we won that war ... but no mats at the end :-(
So all in all I massively enjoyed it, but think I need to change weapons. I am planning on a split setup keeping my efficient beams on one side and MCs on the other for when their shields are down.
Thinking of making both MCs efficient with the large having auto-loader and the medium having corrosive shell.
Any advise cmdrs on those MCs or any other suggestions?

 

[Northpin]

I'd say to use a single large MC and keep 1 large and 2 medium beams.
I usually put overcharge with corrosive and use the MC in short bursts, mostly to keep their hulls debuffed, but if it's really needed - i will spray the entire clip.
After all, MC rearms in the field are quick and cheap - especially when you have only one.

 

[zipline]

I'd say to use a single large MC and keep 1 large and 2 medium beams.
I usually put overcharge with corrosive and use the MC in short bursts, mostly to keep their hulls debuffed, but if it's really needed - i will spray the entire clip.
After all, MC rearms in the field are quick and cheap - especially when you have only one.

Thanks cmdr, so use the one MC in bursts to soften their hulls but continue with the beams to finish the job?

 

[Northpin]

Yes, as long they are in one piece - finger stays on beams with added mc bursts when shields are down.
If you really need to finish the target fast, then keep the mc spraying

 

[Spaceman Si]

After owning the game for over 12 months, I only started combat last week

It is loads more enjoyable than the frustrating combat tutorial had me think it was.. I haven’t engineered any weapons yet, but I am finding 2 x size 2 Beam lasers and 2 x size 1 MC in my Viper MkIV tank very effective Originally, I had the MC and beam lasers round the other way, but I found the spin-up speed on size 2 MCs to be frustratingly slow - there isn’t any appreciable spin-up on the size 1s, which makes it easier to use when up close and personal

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

I'd suggest 2 lg frag cannons or PAs.

 

[Rock Hunter]

An all laser set up is good, and fun, against smaller ships and I’ve set up a few smaller fighters with such set ups for fun in Res Sites but against the bigger, tougher opponents efficient beams and multi cannons is a great way to go if you need to take them down faster. I always have my fire groups set up so one trigger fires lasers and the other fires both lasers and multi cannons. Any extra damage done is a bonus as far as I’m concerned but whether the combat experts would agree with that approach I don’t know.

I had two good pieces of advice given to me, one regarding the KWS and the other re Combat Zones that have worked well for me. Putting the KWS on the same fire group as my lasers means it scans as I start firing at my target, having already discovered the ship is wanted from a ship scan I can just get on with taking the target down - though I always try to ensure I have plenty of power from my distributor so there’s no issues there. The second was to choose High Intensity zones rather than Low as you will have more chance of being a ‘small fry’ ship for longer meaning npcs go after other npcs rather than immediately targeting you. It certainly seems to have worked so far.

I’ll readily point out that I’m a still just short of Deadly so no expert and firmly PvE for now, perhaps forever when I see videos of just how good some PvP’ers are

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

After owning the game for over 12 months, I only started combat last week

It is loads more enjoyable than the frustrating combat tutorial had me think it was.. I haven’t engineered any weapons yet, but I am finding 2 x size 2 Beam lasers and 2 x size 1 MC in my Viper MkIV tank very effective Originally, I had the MC and beam lasers round the other way, but I found the spin-up speed on size 2 MCs to be frustratingly slow - there isn’t any appreciable spin-up on the size 1s, which makes it easier to use when up close and personal

The reason people suggest against that is because there is a damage penalty for doing it that way.

 

[Spaceman Si]

The reason people suggest against that is because there is a damage penalty for doing it that way.

Ah.. So more damage with the size 2 MCs, but you get the spin-up time to cope with?

I might have a try out of the frag cannons you suggested instead, they sound fun..

Thanks for the info, as always, Bob. None of this is obvious to a combat newcomer, the weapon choices are somewhat bewildering to start with

 

[Mohrgan]

Next step: The Man!

 

[jnTracks]

I loved my Phantom for everything except combat. I was running 2 lasers, 2 MCs, (one of each size) to balance the damage. I found the damage output was just not enough to keep up. It turns well and is fast for its size, but it's a huge target and I was finding it tough to keep up. Ended up trading it in for Krait II and that extra large laser made a huge difference.
After getting into it some more I swapped some things around and now that ship runs 3 pulse lasers in the size 3 hardpoints and 2 railguns in the size 2s. Rails don't suffer damage penalty against large ships so there's no downside to the size 2 hardpoint with those in place.
I also found that I couldn't quite keep my positioning well enough (fast and maneuverable as the krait is) so I found that I actually pop ships faster with Long Range mod on the lasers since I spend so much time unable to keep close enough to targets. So long range melts the shields from far away, then when I get in close they get a blast from the railguns. Those HP are in a good position for fixed weapons, too. Oh, and my rails I gave short range mod to, and plasma slug so I didn't have to think about ammo, at all! People skip over short range mod, but I would find it super hard to hit with the rails at any longer range than that anyway, so I only fire them when I'm up close and likely to land the shot. 60% more damage is huge for me.

This is my current highest damage output for Krait II. In my hands, at least.

 

[Hacker#451563]

Some broad advice in general.

Don't be afraid to swap weapon loadouts like a teenage girl swaps crushes, buying and selling a mod or weapon costs nothing, you get he full value back as long as you're legal status is clean. If you find more than one loadout you like then think about storing the mods/weapons.

Hoover all the mats you can in REZ sites, it's much easier than in CZs.

CZs are NOT for making money. They are to achieve a BGS goal to test a fitting vs. tough opponents or to have a wicked shooty time for the hell of it.

Practice pulling NPCs out of SC with a Frame Shift Drive Interdictor (FSDI) it's good practice for some missions and can actually make you feel like a bit of a badarse.

Find a system with an IF within easy jumping distance of your normal stomping ground and 'Bookmark' it, if it's a station capable of handling large ships, so much the better. However it shouldn't be your 'Home' system in case you accidentally kill someone you shouldn't.

Getting Notoriety (by committing murder, CMDR or NPC) is not the end of the world, chillout, and find a system nearby that's low sec. or anarchy and fly around popping USS's for mats and data for a couple of hours, it can be really useful sometimes.

You can attack ground installations and blast them and, as long as you don't kill a clean spacship, you won't get Notoriety. It can be dangerous, of course, but base attack runs can be a lot of fun.

Brave Sir Robin lived to tell his tail for a reason.

o7

 

[Tikanderoga]

I'd suggest 2 lg frag cannons or PAs.

PAs are great fun, but you really have to have good aim with them. Frags are great but lots of shrapnel that can cause some collateral damage in a CZ.

 

[Viajero]

I loved my Phantom for everything except combat. I was running 2 lasers, 2 MCs, (one of each size) to balance the damage. I found the damage output was just not enough to keep up. It turns well and is fast for its size, but it's a huge target and I was finding it tough to keep up. Ended up trading it in for Krait II and that extra large laser made a huge difference.
After getting into it some more I swapped some things around and now that ship runs 3 pulse lasers in the size 3 hardpoints and 2 railguns in the size 2s. Rails don't suffer damage penalty against large ships so there's no downside to the size 2 hardpoint with those in place.
I also found that I couldn't quite keep my positioning well enough (fast and maneuverable as the krait is) so I found that I actually pop ships faster with Long Range mod on the lasers since I spend so much time unable to keep close enough to targets. So long range melts the shields from far away, then when I get in close they get a blast from the railguns. Those HP are in a good position for fixed weapons, too. Oh, and my rails I gave short range mod to, and plasma slug so I didn't have to think about ammo, at all! People skip over short range mod, but I would find it super hard to hit with the rails at any longer range than that anyway, so I only fire them when I'm up close and likely to land the shot. 60% more damage is huge for me.

This is my current highest damage output for Krait II. In my hands, at least.

Your long range pulse lasers, are they fixed or gimballed?

 

[GreyAreaUK]

On my Krait II I'm running one large beam, two medium beams (all efficient/thermal vent) and two large MCs, overcharged (one corrosive, one autoloader (I think)). For PVE stuff it's working extremely well. I think of it as my itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny-makes-things-'splode-a-lot-machiney.

One thing I've noticed recently - sometimes the authority ships in RES sites will start firing on me despite me not having clipped them or carrying illegal cargo. No fines, no bounties. They just decide they don't like me.

Odd.

 

[zipline]

Next step: The Man!

Would love to be that, but currently only just made novice, so a lot of learning ahead of me.

 

[zipline]

After owning the game for over 12 months, I only started combat last week

After owning the game for over 12 months, I only started combat last week
It is loads more enjoyable than the frustrating combat tutorial had me think it was.

Yes, those tutorials really created all of my initial anxiety, plus the prospect of rebuy focuses the mind when money's too tight to mention!

 

[zipline]

I'd suggest 2 lg frag cannons or PAs.

OK, so would just 2 efficient beams still get shields down pretty quickly?
I like the look of the frags with double shot mod, but the lack of any range bothers me plus don't they miss quite a bit? As for PAs, don't think I can handle fixed yet!

 

[zipline]

I had two good pieces of advice given to me, one regarding the KWS and the other re Combat Zones that have worked well for me. Putting the KWS on the same fire group as my lasers means it scans as I start firing at my target, having already discovered the ship is wanted from a ship scan I can just get on with taking the target down - though I always try to ensure I have plenty of power from my distributor so there’s no issues there. The second was to choose High Intensity zones rather than Low as you will have more chance of being a ‘small fry’ ship for longer meaning npcs go after other npcs rather than immediately targeting you. It certainly seems to have worked so far.

Thanks cmdr, love that KWS tip and will deffo use it and I will try high intensity CZ next weekend for sure.

 

[Vardaugas]

For an easy to handle starter kit, I'd use two large lasers, either efficient beams or focused pulse and a pair of multicannons, high capacity with corrosive experimental. The corrosive effect of the MCs will make it easier for the lasers to damage hull, too.