Ships General Purpose Anaconda

[Cliffson]

I've recently sold my A-rated T9 and moved onto the Anaconda. My current build is:

http://coriolis.io/outfit/anaconda/...050504040403030353.Iw18ZlA=.Aw18ZlA=?bn=Conda

Next thing to upgrade is thrusters I feel but that's a way off yet.

I'm after a general purpose build which I can just hop in and play, I'm not in any rush to grind up to anything now so trading with <400t is not an issue. Generally I like to wander around doing missions, finding new trade routes, the odd bit of combat.

I'm thinking about adding a few class 4 SCBs, so it has some more staying power in CZ / PvP but not sure what else to do.

I guess I'm looking for any advice for tweaks to the load out, weapon suggestions and so on.

Enjoying it so far, handles a lot better than I thought it would and the fire power is awesome.

 

[hs0003]

Well, the Conda can do it all(except for pirating as most ships can flee), I suggest getting enough credit to throw half a billion at it and trying out all the odd weapon loadouts you can come up with.

 

[Hector]

I would suggest changing to the following build:

http://coriolis.io/outfit/anaconda/...4a5j5j03030301.Iw18ZIAxkA==.Aw18ZlA=?bn=Conda

1-by downgrading the shield but upgrading your SCB's you gain more charges and more actual shield restored with actually a relatively small drop in the maximum charge of your shield but overall you have MORE shield to burn through once you take those SCB's into account.

If you find you don't need both SCB's you could replace one with a cargo hold again of course.

2-Reduce the powerplant to a C rating, you don't need the additional power so you're LITERALLY hauling around dead-weight for no actual reason (the change to your shield set up helps with this as well)

3- I altered your weapons so that your large pulse weapons are all turreted rather than gimballed, replaced the MC's with cannons for med's and smalls with pulse lasers.

The reason for getting turrets rather than gimbals is that, ESPECIALLY with D rated thrusters your turning rate will be HORRIBLE (i speak from recent experience here ) and smaller ships especially things like vultures will just sit on your ass and slowly burn off your shields with you being able to do absolutely nothing about it what so ever. By replacing these with turrets you can INSTEAD pretty much guarantee that no matter where your enemy is you can hit them with at least 1-2 large pulse lasers and the 2 smalls just help hit smaller targets and discourage people from sitting on your ass. (i also find that firing kinetics when you can't see how your enemy is moving is far less effective)

Replacing the med MC's with cannons i did because the reality is that if the ship is small enough to avoid you then your lasers will melt their hulls very quickly anyway. If they're large enough for that NOT to work then they're also most likely SLOW enough for you to get nose-on to them... at that point you want something that hits HARD and is good for sniping power plants. Mc's are good for smaller ships but relatively weak VS pythons and Conda's... and that is where the cannon steps in. Gimballed to help with aiming but still powerful enough to take chunks out of enemies if you can get the angle just right.

As an additiona bonus with this weapon set up. If your enemy is towards the side of you, i've found a good angle for YOU is to turn side on as if you're an old Ship of the Line type vessel... because then the turretted weapons you have on both your upper and lower hull can fire at the same time for maximum fire power.

 

[Clumsywordsmith]

Alternately, I've found gimbaled to be quite effective on the Anaconda -- why face the enemy sideways when you can present a much lower profile head on? Besides, even with D-rated thrusters you should have no problem getting your sights aimed and keeping them steady on anything. Even Eagles/Vultures/Etc. Just keep your distance and don't close to the point they can run circles around you.

You'll have to aim a little high -- keep them just above/below the bow of your ship to concentrate firepower from all guns at once. Just make sure to manage power effectively, so that you can always boost into a turn. Going with gimbaled will let you easily fly FA off all the time, and the anaconda is one of the easiest ships to do it with. You'll all but need to, otherwise you really will struggle to turn.

It's not really a ship of the line, and seems well suited to just using throttle to keep distance, while maneuvering with lateral thrusters. Against AI, anyway...

 

[Hector]

If you're flying an Anaconda there is no point thinking about trying to dodge enemy fire... you're the largest and least manoeverable combat-capable ship in space.... and nothng any pirate is flying will be slower or have any trouble putting them in a position to fight you.

The reason i recommend turrets is (ESPECIALLY if you play on Open) things like the Vulture and DBS will DEFINITELY be able to sit on your butt and avoid your front if they want to... if you're gonna go with purely gimballed weapons you might as well just hit your self-destruct button because you won't be able to dictate the fight at all (unless they are truly clueless players)

 

[Clumsywordsmith]

The Anaconda pilot would have to be equally clueless if they couldn't just turn around and walk home when things weren't working out.

I don't think anything in the OP's post implied he was looking to fight other players.

And in all seriousness, how often does one actually get attacked in open? I'm still relatively new to this game, but in something like 250+ hours in open -- most of it in a defenseless trade Python stacked with palladium -- I've been attacked by another player exactly once. Most often it's a rare enough thing to see another player, let alone one who wants to brawl with an Anaconda.

 

[CATPAIN KIRK]

The Anaconda pilot would have to be equally clueless if they couldn't just turn around and walk home when things weren't working out.

I don't think anything in the OP's post implied he was looking to fight other players.

And in all seriousness, how often does one actually get attacked in open? I'm still relatively new to this game, but in something like 250+ hours in open -- most of it in a defenseless trade Python stacked with palladium -- I've been attacked by another player exactly once. Most often it's a rare enough thing to see another player, let alone one who wants to brawl with an Anaconda.

Pretty much this - I use my Anaconda pretty much the way the OP wants to use his, I have flown it for six months mostly in open now without ever getting killed by a player or NPC in it.

Of course I don't PvP in a multipurpose Anaconda - if you get interdicted it's usually a wing of players because they expect it to be filled with SCBs to the brim, 7A prismatic shields and whatnot and they expect to be able to beat that. So since I'm not Han Solo, I just high-wake at the first sign of hostility. This fit works pretty well for me doing assassination and trade missions and anything not involving outposts.

 

[Cliffson]

Thanks for the responses all.

Not sure where the Gimbals discussion came from, as I had fixed in the original (well one gimbal on the H hardpoint to help convergence) but some good points. I don't really want to go all turrets as I'm worried about being shut down by Chaff.

While I'm not actively after a PvP Conda (currently too poor to max everything and afford the rebuys) I want something I can potentially use at short notice to wing up or which can handle individual pirates, I'll probably swap out the Category 4's for SCBs once I've done printing money, I mean trading. Like Kirk said if you get jumped by a wing it's high wake time.

I've not had any issues using D-thrusters so far against NPCs as I find it pretty easy to FA-off flip over if they get behind me and the D's allow me to boost almost constantly which helps.

I'll probably try something like this for a bit see how it goes:

http://coriolis.io/outfit/anaconda/...045d5d5d53.Iw18ZlA=.EwBhrSunYRgUA===?bn=Conda

 

[Hector]

I think going for fixed would be a significant mistake.... you're not in a Vulture or a DBS where you dictate the pace and direction of the battle. yes you can get a decent turn rate when you use A grade thrusters, A grade PD and FA-off BUT thats only good relative to your ship size. When i was flying Vultures (which CAN be a threat to you) i could easily stick behind/to the side/above conda's meaning all your fixed weapons will be useless. I think if you're always finding it easy to engage your fixed weapons so far its more the luck of the fight than anything else... and though you may not be ACTIVELY wanting to PvP, if you play on open and a player comes across you i think you'll really struggle to have as much success engaging them.

Furthermore all your turretted weapons in that build are on the bottom of your 'conda', so, again, you've got a very limited angle for firing constantly. In a ship like the Conda the additional damage of the fixed weapons is entirely lost when compared to the fact that turretted or even gimballed weapons will be able to fire more often and land more hits.

If you're going to have anything 'fixed' for that power-house hit then the best options are your Med and Huge slot and leave your small and large slots as flexible all-round hitters.

 

[Cliffson]

I think going for fixed would be a significant mistake.... you're not in a Vulture or a DBS where you dictate the pace and direction of the battle. yes you can get a decent turn rate when you use A grade thrusters, A grade PD and FA-off BUT thats only good relative to your ship size. When i was flying Vultures (which CAN be a threat to you) i could easily stick behind/to the side/above conda's meaning all your fixed weapons will be useless. I think if you're always finding it easy to engage your fixed weapons so far its more the luck of the fight than anything else... and though you may not be ACTIVELY wanting to PvP, if you play on open and a player comes across you i think you'll really struggle to have as much success engaging them.

Furthermore all your turretted weapons in that build are on the bottom of your 'conda', so, again, you've got a very limited angle for firing constantly. In a ship like the Conda the additional damage of the fixed weapons is entirely lost when compared to the fact that turretted or even gimballed weapons will be able to fire more often and land more hits.

If you're going to have anything 'fixed' for that power-house hit then the best options are your Med and Huge slot and leave your small and large slots as flexible all-round hitters.

Well I don't think it's so much Luck and more the fact the AI is not very challenging.

I've not got much PVP experience and none in the Conda so far so I guess I'm going to have to go get my nose bloodied. I would have thought that small ships would be running double chaff though making turrets about as useless as fixed though?

Thanks for the points though, I've decided to go for a mixed approach for now with turrets on one top large, bottom Huge and smalls and the rest (2 L 2 M ) fixed.

- - - Updated - - -

And in all seriousness, how often does one actually get attacked in open? I'm still relatively new to this game, but in something like 250+ hours in open -- most of it in a defenseless trade Python stacked with palladium -- I've been attacked by another player exactly once. Most often it's a rare enough thing to see another player, let alone one who wants to brawl with an Anaconda.

I tend to hang around the CG's at the moment which usually attract a fair few Pirates and PVPrs