Ship Builds & Load Outs Getting my ..behind... kicked in CG - help with my Vulture loadout?

ZXdunny

Z
Hi all -

To add to the number of people looking for help with their ship, here's mine:

http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=70N,4yH4yH0_g0_g,2-6Q8S6a5U4s6Q5A,7Sk05U2Uc0nE4wE

I'm not a combat veteran, and my skills are probably not what they should be. I'm fine in any RES I try, but the CG at Maausk is really getting me down. I can take down maybe one or two pythons and a couple of Eagles, but as soon as I try to leave to cash in I get my backside shot off me and it's back to the station again with a rebuy. So far, that's cost me about 3/4 million credits!

I only have about 1.5 million left, so I'm looking for advice on how to augment my ship to maybe mitigate my poor performance.

Any suggestions as to what I should equip? And more importantly, where I can get the parts (local stations don't have much at all) as I'm new to this region of space.

Thanks,

D.
 
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Rocky-451

Rocky-451
Any reason why you're using a Class 2 weapon in a Class 3 slot? The 3E G Pulse is very popular and is actually cheaper than the 2D G Beam you're using now.

Add some chaff and the best SCB you can afford, and use them liberally - they cost much less than insurance! On the Vulture, space is precious and you should get rid of the docking computer!
 

ZXdunny

Z
Rocky-451 said:
Any reason why you're using a Class 2 weapon in a Class 3 slot? The 3E G Pulse is very popular and is actually cheaper than the 2D G Beam you're using now.
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No idea! Weaponry and classes and such are pretty much a mystery to me - is E better than A? What's the difference? Also what does class actually mean? I do know that the beams really heat up quickly, but they do strip shields off very fast.

Add some chaff and the best SCB you can afford, and use them liberally - they cost much less than insurance! On the Vulture, space is precious and you should get rid of the docking computer!
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Thanks for that - I only bought the DC for the music :)

Is the SCB used like the D-Scanner? I'm afraid I've been just messing around a lot in ED rather than really getting to grips with it.

D.
 

Ceekay

Ceekay
I don't use SCB's myself but I believe they have to be fired just before the shield totally collapses, after that the cell does nothing so timing is important.

The equipment you fit on your ship is divided into classes and grades, the class refers to the equipment slot the ship can support e.g. class 5 can fit class 5 and below (not generally recommended as power, speed, DPS etc will be reduced).

Each class has 5 grades E to A, E is what's fitted to the stock ship, D grade has better performance and is lighter, it's believed that C along with better performance runs cooler, B is heavier but is armoured, A is lighter but has the best performance and most expensive.

Generally life support and sensors can be D grade, the power distributor; should be A, thrusters; depends on the ship on an Asp you need A on a Vulture D is fine, the power plant; needs to be big enough to supply the fitted equipment so it's possible to use a lower class or grade, FSD; really down to how far you want to jump, shields; I prefer to use a 5D shield and several boosters as the shield will rebuild quicker with the boosters switched off

The Vulture is a superb fighter but it's main weaknesses are power and speed, power especially limits the range of weapons that can be used successfully, the dual 3E G pulse loadout mentioned by Rocky-451 is popular for a reason, it's power efficient allow a balanced build for the rest of the ship.

I'd suggest using Coriolis for ship's like the Vulture as it has a power usage function that let's you try different power priorities to see what works best, here's what I'd suggest as a decent starting point for your Vulture

http://coriolis.io/outfit/vulture/0...242h.AwRj4zyA.Aw1-AjJxA===?bn=Vulture current

TBH I've had great fun using a Viper at combat zones, it's small, powerful and agile enough to take down most targets and more than fast enough to get out of trouble, this version has a small FSD (low power and mass) so it's limited to a single system but you'll just be flying between the station and the CZ, the turrets work on the shields until you can align the main weapons and fire both together.

http://coriolis.io/outfit/viper/03A3A2D2D3A3D1C1b1b19190404-40-24.AwRj4yyA.AwiMIzNI?bn=Viper CZ
 

ZXdunny

Z
Cheers folks, that's great. I specced out the ship with appropriate class equipment and went for A if possible apart from the mentioned pulse lasers. My, they do work don't they? They're not as good at stripping ships apart as the beams were, but they keep firing for longer so I suppose it balances out.

Just made 1.5million in just under an hour popping anacondas and pythons. Still need to choose my battles wisely - don't jump into a pack, hang around and take on the loners more than anything. I can just about hold my own against a python, so I prefer for the bigger ships to get involved with at least one of my friendlies against those.

Just got to learn how to fight now :)

D.
 

hs0003

Banned
hs0003
ZXdunny said:
My, they do work don't they? They're not as good at stripping ships apart as the beams were, but they keep firing for longer so I suppose it balances out.
D.
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1 large gimballed pulse laser deals 18.56 MJ of shield damage per second for 3.27 MJ of weapon capacity energy, the medium gimballed beam lasers only does 13.85 MJ of shield damage per second for the same capacity drain. So your dps and sustained damage went up.
 

ZXdunny

Z
hs0003 said:
1 large gimballed pulse laser deals 18.56 MJ of shield damage per second for 3.27 MJ of weapon capacity energy, the medium gimballed beam lasers only does 13.85 MJ of shield damage per second for the same capacity drain. So your dps and sustained damage went up.
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Not doubting what you're saying - they're very effective. But I'm not seeing it in combat - they're taking an absolute age to strip shields down, whereas the beams removed shields (on anything smaller than say a Clipper) in less than a minute.

It's more fun though, and I'm learning to vary my attacks as I can no longer just sit there and pour damage into the target!

D.
 

Ceekay

Ceekay
Beams are much better at stripping shields but not so good on hull damage (opposite of pulse), bursts are meant to be a balance but do take more power quite close to beams in fact, from testing I've found that the 5A power distributor can support around 2.5 MW of weapon drain (3-4 pips) allowing significant continuous fire times (15 - 20 secs) with class 3 pulse.

To fit burst or beam you'd need to lose a shield booster or SCB and accommodate the reduced firing duration, on larger ships like the Python and FDL you can have a mix of shield and hull focused weapons but they're hugely expensive compared to the Vulture, the upcoming Federal Assault Ship is worth checking out flies like a Vulture with two additional hard points but weaker shields.

Other weapon options you could try are a mix of beam and pulse or beam and cannon/m-cannon, use the beam on the shields and the pulse/cannon/m-cannon on the hull, set up one on trigger 1 and the other on trigger 2, I find mixing two sighting systems (ballistic and line of sight) a bit distracting but give it a try, also consider fixed weapons as they deliver better DPS but need more work to keep on target.
 
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