Ships Give me a Corvette build that can compete against the FdL scourge

[Soothsayer]

This thread might be better suited to the "elite retrofitting" subforum, but that place is a bit of a ghost town.

Anyway, let me start by opining that the Fer-de-Lance is overpowered for its price and role. Really, it is. It's despicably overpowered for PvP. It's far too fast and maneuverable for a "heavy fighter," and it shouldn't have been buffed to the extreme level that it's currently at. It can leisurely fly along in its "blue zone" at speeds the Corvette has trouble boosting at. Its vertical thrusters are mind-bending. Its shields, while not as strong as those of a larger ship, are still extremely formidable.

But, alas, here we are.

I have a fully engineered Corvette that's aching to get into PvP with halfway decent pilots, but I'm optimized for close range PvE, not PvP. I was told that I needed an FdL myself (or a FAS, or some other rubbish) to get into the "serious" PvP crowd, or else I'd have to "get used to" the rebuy screen. I hope that's not true, and that with the right loadout and some skill, I can compete against FdLs.

But what should I do? Aside from carrying two SCB defeating railguns on my C1 hardpoints, I'm not sure where to start. Rapid fire or overcharged incendiary fixed C4 multicannons? Frag cannons with drag munitions? Long range PAs in my C4 hardpoint slots, perhaps?

 

[CMDR Corlas]

I don't PvP in Elite, so grain of salt, but basic tactics seem to dictate that if your goal is to fight specifically "against FdLs" flown by those in the "serious PvP crowd", you need to recognize their main strengths - the speed and agility to dictate the terms of a fight - and either negate it or use it against them.

I can see how someone not wanting to fight can use that against them to create an avenue to escape, but given the PvP environment in Elite (no real in-game goals or anything, just brawls), I don't think you can use their speed against them.

So I'd focus on negation - long range weapons, engine disabling weapons, maybe drag weapons.

As it currently stands, I think the Corvette is a great ship for fights that don't really exist in Elite. It's great at controlling a specific area. But until content is released that actually makes it worthwhile for players to control a specific area, your biggest strength is negated by game design, and your biggest weakness is amplified by it.

 

[Gorr]

My biggest concern is your time on target, as FDL is really fast and agile. Whatever you put on your Vette doesn't matter much if you are unable to turn fast enough to unload your arsenal.

 

[Cdr Voorheez]

Combine the FDL's speed and agility with its very good shields and a good pilot using FAoff and fixed weaponry very effectively then a Corvette is essentially dead it just doesn't realise it yet.
Ultimately it's all down to the pilot. If he/she is good with the above skills you are basically toast.
Answer: no build will prevail against a well equipped well flown FDL.

 

[Soothsayer]

Combine the FDL's speed and agility with its very good shields and a good pilot using FAoff and fixed weaponry very effectively then a Corvette is essentially dead it just doesn't realise it yet.
Ultimately it's all down to the pilot. If he/she is good with the above skills you are basically toast.
Answer: no build will prevail against a well equipped well flown FDL.

Well, I'm not particularly experienced in PvP, but I've seen enough to know that's simply not true. An Anaconda recently roasted a (supposedly good) FdL who was using the latest "meta" fad, which is a PA build. Here's the vid.

The Anaconda was using 4 point defense turrets, which did absolutely nothing for him. He could've been much, much tankier with more shield boosters.

 

[Cdr Voorheez]

Fair one mate I should stop using definitives. Good vid. What I should have said was it's all down to the pilot.

 

[Soothsayer]

As it currently stands, I think the Corvette is a great ship for fights that don't really exist in Elite. It's great at controlling a specific area. But until content is released that actually makes it worthwhile for players to control a specific area, your biggest strength is negated by game design, and your biggest weakness is amplified by it.

Ship launched fighters negate the agility disadvantage to a large degree, since it seems like most players ignore them. You do raise an interesting point about big ships being "great for combat that doesn't really exist," though. We're in this bizarre situation where literally every ship, right up to the playable warships, has to be a dogfighter using the same basic maneuvers as every other ship.