Ships Good beginner hardpoints on FDL?

[Colton5]

Noob here, just wondering what some good hardpoints are on the FDL? Currently I'm using 4x 2f MC's and 1 x huge Burst laser (gimballed) which seems a lot better than the beam laser.
keep in mind I'm still learning things, I've tried the plasma cannon/rail setup and can see why its meta but with joystick controls it feels bad when aiming.

 

[shadowhand]

I like 4x medium gimbaled beams (efficient, with the thermal vent experimental on all 4), and a huge gimbaled overcharged MC with the corrosive shell experimental.

The advantage of this setup is that the beams will strip shields fast, and cool the ship at the same time, and that the huge MC doesn't have any spin-up time, so it fires the moment you pull the trigger for it. Also the ammo capacity decrease matters less on a huge MC. In addition, if I have to synthesise ammo, it's only for one gun.

Sure, gimbals can be temporarily confused by chaff, but you can either just wait out the chaff while you maneouver to a better firing position, or you can use them as fixed guns by de-selecting your target until the chaff is gone.

Overall I prefer the gimbals to fixed as it's a lot easier to keep a target in your sights with them 90% of the time. - And time on target = time to apply that dps.

But play around with all the guns in the game and see what fits your playstyle. And your purposes. My FDL is purely for PVE and haz res, compromised nav beacons, and conflict zones. If I were to make a PVP loadout, I'd pick plasmas and rail guns instead. And for thargoids, I'd bring another ship.

 

[Colton5]

Thanks for the advice ill have to give it a try!

Whats wrong with fighting thargoids in an FDL?

 

[sinisalo]

This is my Fer de Lance

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

coriolis.io

Two medium efficient thermal vent beams
Two medium overcharged autoloader multicannons
One huge overcharged corrosive multicannon

The huge multicannon is a cool weapon as shadowhand alluded to. The fact it has no spin-up time makes it unique. It's not a rotating gatling-gun sort of arrangement. One of Elite's most glaring limitations in my view is the fact we can only have two firegroups. The huge MC with no spin up makes me feel almost like I have three firegroups. By putting it on the same firegroup as the medium MCs, I can use the huge MC selectively with quick trigger pulls. Each pull spits out a single corrosive shell. If I want to add the outboard autoloaders I just hold the trigger down a little longer so they complete their spin-up.

This in effect creates a dual-stage trigger, allowing me to apply corrosive as needed, while being selective with autoloader ammunition expenditure. So for example you're giving the good news to a ship that's down to it's last few points of hull and you're holding the beams on him to save MC ammo. A quick pull of the trigger spits out that corrosive shell to boost the beam damage.

Two medium beams isn't quite enough shield-stripping power for me, but it does the trick. I could have gone for four medium beams, but I love multicannons and especially autoloaders, which I think are very underrated.

 

[sinisalo]

Sure, gimbals can be temporarily confused by chaff, but you can either just wait out the chaff while you maneouver to a better firing position, or you can use them as fixed guns by de-selecting your target until the chaff is gone.

This. I've made the same point before too. Just de-select. Simples.

 

[RBHM Spoons]

99% of all Try Hard FDL PvP pilots out there use 3 PAs and 2 rails...
Pas have TC...coz meta. And they can't rely on other ships to win battles... Coz meta...

 

[Cmdr. Numa]

Noob here, just wondering what some good hardpoints are on the FDL? Currently I'm using 4x 2f MC's and 1 x huge Burst laser (gimballed) which seems a lot better than the beam laser.
keep in mind I'm still learning things, I've tried the plasma cannon/rail setup and can see why its meta but with joystick controls it feels bad when aiming.

For an unengineered FdL that is as good as it gets.

 

[Dragsham]

Just my tuppence worth.
If you become proficient with rails. And practice makes perfect...
X4 rails and a huge rapid firing corrosive mc (Or long range)
The rails all super pen short range.
And alot of heatsinks. Mine has 16.
Sounds nuts but boy does she pack a punch. The full volley Is ouch. Pop a sink and 4 pips to weps at close range their deD
Oh.. and each of those 16 sinks is about 4 volleys and target lock broke too whereas rails don't need a target lock

 

[GJ51]

I use 2 gimballed on the outside and 2 fixed beams on the inside mounts

OC autoloader MC on the Class 4 mount - gimaballed or fixed as per comfort level

Gimballed and fixed on separate triggers - switch between when the chaff flies.

Mostly a PvE build - not a PvP meta

 

[Colton5]

Just my tuppence worth.
If you become proficient with rails. And practice makes perfect...
X4 rails and a huge rapid firing corrosive mc (Or long range)
The rails all super pen short range.
And alot of heatsinks. Mine has 16.
Sounds nuts but boy does she pack a punch. The full volley Is ouch. Pop a sink and 4 pips to weps at close range their deD
Oh.. and each of those 16 sinks is about 4 volleys and target lock broke too whereas rails don't need a target lock

that does sound fun

 

[Dragsham]

I will add a precautionary note.
Run out of sinks and fire a few times you'll soon see why the fdl is the best combat ship bar none.
I've got her as high as 600% and still firing (until the rails melted).
Remember module reinforcements do not protect against heat you generate.

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

Thanks for the advice ill have to give it a try!

Whats wrong with fighting thargoids in an FDL?

You can fight Thargoids in an FDL, it's just not the optimal choice as it's a very different form of combat.
Setting aside the issue that finding Thargoids means travelling a few hundred light years and the FDL isn't exactly renowned for decent jump range, there is the following:

The "meta" for fighting the hardest Thargoids that deal so much damage no amount of shield MJs and hull reinforcements can save your ship, is a shieldless Chieftan. Krait II with shields is another popular choice. Chieftan uses it's reasonably good speed, manoeuvrability and staying cold with a mix of a small long range beam laser with thermal vent, heat sinks and silent running. Being cold (20% or less heat) means the Thargoid cannot target you to shoot at you and you evade the damage. Engaging silent running means shields drop, so no point in having them, plus certain Thargoid weapons bleed damage through the shields. You can have shields and rely on heatsinks and the beam laser, but heat sinks can run out of ammo (so sythesising more is needed) and the beam laser is not going to work all the time during the fight.
Whether with or without shield, the best Thargoid fighters are hull tanks - stuffed full of hull and module reinforcements. 2 module reinforcements of size 4 or 5 is good, 3 is better. Then fill up with hull reinforcements. If running shields, they will be down at times in the fight so these reinforcements are needed. You can see the problem with the FDL here, yes? With what size 4 and 5+ internal slots in an FDL would you fit this many and this size of module and hull reinforcements?
The Chieftan and Krait II have a good mix of jump range, speed, agility and internal slots for the job, plus a decent number of the right sized hardpoints.
That doesn't mean you shouldn't give Thargoid hunting in an FDL a shot for the challenge some day, just start with a more suitable ship until you get the hang of it. There are those out there crazy and good enough at AX combat to beat some levels of Thargoid Interceptor (https://elite-dangerous.fandom.com/wiki/Thargoid_Interceptor#Variants) in a Sidewinder or Hauler.
So don't let anyone tell you not to do it in and FDL

Source: https://youtu.be/0IKCYLOjYo0

 

[Colton5]

thanks!

 

[SergMx]

This is my Fer de Lance

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

coriolis.io

Two medium efficient thermal vent beams
Two medium overcharged autoloader multicannons
One huge overcharged corrosive multicannon

The huge multicannon is a cool weapon as shadowhand alluded to. The fact it has no spin-up time makes it unique. It's not a rotating gatling-gun sort of arrangement. One of Elite's most glaring limitations in my view is the fact we can only have two firegroups. The huge MC with no spin up makes me feel almost like I have three firegroups. By putting it on the same firegroup as the medium MCs, I can use the huge MC selectively with quick trigger pulls. Each pull spits out a single corrosive shell. If I want to add the outboard autoloaders I just hold the trigger down a little longer so they complete their spin-up.

This in effect creates a dual-stage trigger, allowing me to apply corrosive as needed, while being selective with autoloader ammunition expenditure. So for example you're giving the good news to a ship that's down to it's last few points of hull and you're holding the beams on him to save MC ammo. A quick pull of the trigger spits out that corrosive shell to boost the beam damage.

Two medium beams isn't quite enough shield-stripping power for me, but it does the trick. I could have gone for four medium beams, but I love multicannons and especially autoloaders, which I think are very underrated.

I would put an auto-loader or similar in 4. (so there would be no reduction in ammo)
and replace one of the 2 with a corrosion + increased ammunition.

 

[sinisalo]

I would put an auto-loader or similar in 4. (so there would be no reduction in ammo)
and replace one of the 2 with a corrosion + increased ammunition.

Great! Let me know how it works out. But I'll keep my configuration

I explained why I like this set up.

 

[Trollymctrollerson]

Everyone will tell you something else but my preference is to be efficient with weapons distro to save juice for engines. On one of my FDL builds I have 2 C2 efficient gimballed burst, 2 efficient class 2 plasma and a huge overcharged fixed cannon. Cannon and plasma fire together for a hard punch and lasers fire forever for sustained damage.

 

[Stabby_Dave]

Full plasma load out with focused/thermal conduit and the world's supply of heat sinks.

 

[Frags]

One huge efficient beam with thermal vent
Four short range plasma with dispersal field target lock breaker, thermal conduit x 2

 

[Henoch]

One huge efficient beam with thermal vent
Four short range plasma with dispersal field target lock breaker, thermal conduit x 2

I will try that.

 

[AEBRAM]

A coincidence this thread about beginner setup for the FDL came up. I decided to rework my FDL with different hardpoints.

• 4x Modified Guardian Plasma Chargers and 1x Huge LR/Regen Beam was one group support hardpoint setup. The biggest CON is the Power Distributor does require 3+ pips in Weapon Systems to have a cycling offense with the weapons. The PRO in casual PVE/BH will let you 2-3 shot ships. Sometimes, up to 4 or 5 (Anacondas).

Note: The hardpoint setup does mean you ballet dance with the target to continually land your shots and your hardpoints have different purposes.

Edited: The 4x MGPC deal massive burst damage hits. You have to handle the incoming damage for the final shot.

A 5C Bi-Weave (Reinforced/Fast Recharge) + 4x OA Shield Boosters (HD/SC) begins with an 1,800 MJ raw shield with the option to use either 2x 4D Guardian Shield Boosters or practice using SCB cycling to recover shield MJ. For the casual player, I suggest at least 1x 4D Guardian Shield Booster for a 2,200 MJ shield minimum. Then use the standard 1x OA SB (Resistance/SC) with 1x OA SB (Thermal/SC) to level out shield resistances reach about 2,900 raw MJ shield.

You could drop the 1x OA SB (Resistance/SC) and install a Warrant Scanner with the same fire control as your Guardian Plasma Chargers, which would allow you to scan the target while building up the charge of the hardpoints. Convenience in one button and earn more credits.

EDIT: The downside of the FDL is the Huge weapon location being on the bottom side since most jousts pitches the ship over the topside of the FDL.

The Huge hardpoint is tricky to pair with the MGPC. A MC is too slow and situational, Plasma is awkward with the significant projectile speed difference, Cannon could be useful since LR begins damage at 9k distance and does decent module sniping damage. A 4c Pulse would not be bad choice since it is hit scan direct fire weapon.