There is also the fact that the Burst laser has a short effective range of 500m above that and ‘scatter’ kicks in.
Good Ship for Bounty hunting (Currently mostly harmless Rank)
- Thread starter UA1456Y
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Something I'd forgotten until you mentioned that was how well an experienced player can keep a target at a reasonable distance. I've known seasoned PvP players advise not to fire plasma accelerators at a distance above 1km from the target, for example. I remember maintaining that kind of distance pretty much impossible unless the NPC was barreling towards me.
You said 'ANY' recommendations, I recommend a Keelback!
This is for learning only and not intended for any PVP encounters... wouldn't last 5 seconds in a real gank!
The Keelback is the cheapest ship with a fighter bay... If you park at the center of a rez site or nav beacon and deploy your fighter and give your mothership instructions to 'Hold Position', that gives your fighter 25Km in all directions. Almost all activity will take place within that range, however when you tell your mothership to 'Hold Position' if you get killed in your fighter you spawn back in your mothership which is often more than 5Km away giving you time to escape.
The big benefit to using fighters to learn, is that you have access to almost 20 different configurations for very cheap. There are 3 different ship types that all fly differently and 2 of the three even have different max speeds. you have access to fixed and gimbled weapons of different types as well as different utility protections. The way fighters are set up, it will force you to start learning pip management to survive. When you learn, you will be able to take down ships many times your size.
Another benefit to fighters is the loss of fear since you have 6 of them at a time. That loss of fear will allow you to push yourself to try things you normally wouldn't, like FA-off fighting and canyon running. Each of the fighter rebuilds takes 1 and a half minute so watch your scope if you didn't finish off your enemy... usually security forces will finish them off for you before they get to your mothership. In time you will use 'turn crimes off' so you can learn to fight without police help.
You mentioned that you got your first Engineer invite, so that should be Felicity. I put together a build only using Felicity below that should allow you to gather Ship and Foot materials as well.
This build has a point defense in the front so you can get your Guardian modules and weapons as well as a beam laser for charging up the Guardian Beacons to get the 3 additional Guardian fighters as well. The Operations multi limpet controller has 4 limpet control instead of the 2-limpets that could go in that space from a normal collector... it is a bit heavier, but in addition to the extra collection limpets, you also can use them as hatch breakers or recon limpets. I only put a size 2 cargo rack on because Synthesizing 4 limpets is pretty cheap to do. However, if you were trying out a little criminal activity you could swap out the fuel scoop for an additional 16 tons of space since you'd be local anyway.
The Dumb-fire missile also serves so clear out the pirates on ground if your doing power-restore foot missions or whatever. the Detailed surface scanner for the other planetary POI and for doing exo-biology. The price of this build without the Li Yong-Rui discount is 17+ Million... 14 Mill with discount, And since you're already an explorer, you know that's only 1 scan equivalent.
Here's the same build in EDSY and Coriolis...
https://edsy.org/s/vgUaNTa
https://s.orbis.zone/qAuE
Edit... I mentioned material gathering but forgot to mention that the dumb-fire missiles also work for surface gathering with sites like the Brain-tree forest just outside the bubble. this build is 35 LY jump range.
This is for learning only and not intended for any PVP encounters... wouldn't last 5 seconds in a real gank!
The Keelback is the cheapest ship with a fighter bay... If you park at the center of a rez site or nav beacon and deploy your fighter and give your mothership instructions to 'Hold Position', that gives your fighter 25Km in all directions. Almost all activity will take place within that range, however when you tell your mothership to 'Hold Position' if you get killed in your fighter you spawn back in your mothership which is often more than 5Km away giving you time to escape.
The big benefit to using fighters to learn, is that you have access to almost 20 different configurations for very cheap. There are 3 different ship types that all fly differently and 2 of the three even have different max speeds. you have access to fixed and gimbled weapons of different types as well as different utility protections. The way fighters are set up, it will force you to start learning pip management to survive. When you learn, you will be able to take down ships many times your size.
Another benefit to fighters is the loss of fear since you have 6 of them at a time. That loss of fear will allow you to push yourself to try things you normally wouldn't, like FA-off fighting and canyon running. Each of the fighter rebuilds takes 1 and a half minute so watch your scope if you didn't finish off your enemy... usually security forces will finish them off for you before they get to your mothership. In time you will use 'turn crimes off' so you can learn to fight without police help.
You mentioned that you got your first Engineer invite, so that should be Felicity. I put together a build only using Felicity below that should allow you to gather Ship and Foot materials as well.
This build has a point defense in the front so you can get your Guardian modules and weapons as well as a beam laser for charging up the Guardian Beacons to get the 3 additional Guardian fighters as well. The Operations multi limpet controller has 4 limpet control instead of the 2-limpets that could go in that space from a normal collector... it is a bit heavier, but in addition to the extra collection limpets, you also can use them as hatch breakers or recon limpets. I only put a size 2 cargo rack on because Synthesizing 4 limpets is pretty cheap to do. However, if you were trying out a little criminal activity you could swap out the fuel scoop for an additional 16 tons of space since you'd be local anyway.
The Dumb-fire missile also serves so clear out the pirates on ground if your doing power-restore foot missions or whatever. the Detailed surface scanner for the other planetary POI and for doing exo-biology. The price of this build without the Li Yong-Rui discount is 17+ Million... 14 Mill with discount, And since you're already an explorer, you know that's only 1 scan equivalent.
Here's the same build in EDSY and Coriolis...
https://edsy.org/s/vgUaNTa
https://s.orbis.zone/qAuE
Edit... I mentioned material gathering but forgot to mention that the dumb-fire missiles also work for surface gathering with sites like the Brain-tree forest just outside the bubble. this build is 35 LY jump range.
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Thanks people for feedback above - So I arrived from my exploration expedition and cashed in like 50 million credits. Although completely off the topic I managed to get Cobra MK3 ship and have customised it for Laser mining. I must say mining is quite lucrative, If you mine any of the most valued minerals - there are some good credits to be made. I am going to have a look at deep core mining next!
Yes, and that wasn't by mistake. Las weapons are the easiest fixed weapons to hit with, and burst lasers are the best ones to put on the Eagle.
As you, somewhat disingenously, ignored the second half of what I said I'll reiterate: I started using fixed weapons early in my elite playing. And as a new player I tweaked and tested my Eagle MkII way more than the wast majority of players evidently did. So I can by personal experience tell you that an Eagle MkII with with fixed burst lasers is not hard to learn to use effectivly for a new player.
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Get a Keelback for the core mining. Most pleasant core miner in the game. And its slow and smoth pitch rate and really good yaw make it excellent training for fixed weapons when using the seismic charge launcher.
Also, I recommend going for void opals. It's not the one that has the highest payout, but it's less frustrating to mine than the ones that is. And it will still be about 30 mil per hour.
Or he could just use three gimballed multies with incendiary to balance the resistances up and have a considerably more generous damage falloff. Just because something works for you doesn't make it the objectively best thing for everyone.
Yeah, sure, if you want to use half your ammo just breaking shields. And against small ships with weak shields that longer dmg falloff is somewhat...
hit-and-miss. You're also not taking the rather poor overlap of the Eagle's hard points when using gimbals into account. Though, I will admit it forces you to learn how to use your yaw in an easy fashion.
Also, how much time did you actually spend in an Eagle MkII as a new player, and how much since you became an "experienced" player? Because I think it's very little, if any, for the first part of that question, and, at best, barely at all for the second part.
Yes, yes, you're the eagle god. I mainly fly a viper mk4 when I'm doing small ship stuff. Note that when I suggested a ship earlier in the thread I recommended the courier. Now that one I did spend a lot of time in.
Gimballed weapons are somewhat inferior to fixed...so says the internet.
One thing cmdrs do is they look at the offencive stats of a build and often fail to take into consideration ToT (Time on Target).
If a fixed weapon has 20% more dps than it's gimballed cousin but you get 50% more ToT with a gimballed weapon then you will do more dps using gimballed and your victim will go boom is less time. It does depend on your play style though. I've found fixed to be a pain while engaging in CQB, ToT can fall off dramatically, more so when using non hit-scan weapons.
I also find gimballed far superior to fixed when targeting modules, which I do in 99% of my engagements.
I prefer looking the enemy in the eyes when I blow them up so where possible I opt for gimballed weapons with the short range mod (better than overcharged imo) and target their PP. This allows for more piloting and fast paced maneuvers while still dealing out a lot of DPS and avoiding incoming fire. Usual dog fighting range is 400-800m.
I don't speak for all cmdrs, but for me I find combat much more fun this way...not a fan of long range sniping, jousting or reverski.
...and as for best ship for bounting hunting...Vulture all the way, Short Range TV Beam and Short Range Corrosive Multi, both gimballed. Nothing it can't handle from PvE, PvP (slightly lacks dps against much larger ships when solo fighting), 4 man wing gank and can even tackle wing assassination missions. Can solo clear a high CZ in 8mins. The vulture has been my primary combat ship now since the very beginning. It's a small agile tank with teeth!
Python Mk2 kitted out to be a shield tanking frag boat is also very fun, but a little too over powered for my liking...but my gosh it's fun to see ships pop with a few volleys of frags.
Again though it really comes down to personal preference and there's no one ship to suite all in ED.
Now for some controversy...For me, the worst ship in the game is the FDL...hate that thing. Like how it looks, detest the way it flies.
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I'm a big fan lately of a phantom with 4 efficient plasma slug PAs on it. Not something for taking out small agile fighters with but it hits like a truck and you can get that sucker to boost 591 and jump 45ly while still having 4-digit shields and hull. Fantastic ship for when you want to go punch someone in the face but they're really far away.
Not a ship I'd recommend to beginners though
If you're going to fit fixed weapons onto a small ship and don't want a vulture, you might as well just skip faffing around with lasers and go rail/PA on one of the 2M2S fighters. Feedback cascade on the rails for cancelling banks and efficient/PS on the plasmas are a fantastic combo for punching up against pirate lord 'vettes and anacondas.
I originally read that as:
Combat Phantoms can be quite fun. The large PD allows for some interesting builds...plus the cockpit looks better than the Mk2.
I used one for AX combat for about a year before switching to the Chieftain.
There's another good combat ship, the Chieftain. Fast, nippy and packs a punch.
I’ve still never tried those … Overcharged / AutoLoader and Corrosive on the other hand …
You never really want to engage with multis over 1.5-2km...too many misses. Not to say you can't, but in my experience it can be a waste of ammo.
Going Short Range instead of overcharged gives you more dps minus the drawbacks of overcharged.
No...just someone that tested all this on an Eagle when he was a new player; without prior knowledge or advice...
Yeah, imp courier , because of the hard point placement and how weirdly slowly it turns, encourage you to use gimbals. I would never suggest it as a ship to start using fixed weapons in.
Well, that very much depends on what the "internet" mean when they say that "Gimballed weapons are somewhat inferior to fixed...". Depending on what you're in and what you're shooting at, gimbaled weapons will generally have a higher effective dps than fixed. But that doesn't even take into account the weapons that doesn't have a gimballed option.
So on the Eagle i suggested using 3 fixed burst lasers; because that ship with that loadout is very good for learning to use fixe weapons. Bit that isn't the loadout i use on mine. I run it with a Cytoscrambler with a pair of Enforcer cannons. And that load out doesn't just have a 20% better dps than any gimbaled loadout you can come up with for it.
On my Keelback's small hard points I run short range plasma slug rails. Way higher effective dps than any gimbaled option were able to offer; that despite the Keelback being about as agile as a beached whale.
And while plasma weapons definitely are tricky to use against small targets, they're brutally effective agains medium and large ships. I'm not saying an anaconda with plasmas on every hard point that can take it is the most relaxing combat ship, but the chunk dmg is brutal. Then we have the advanced plasma accelerators; a weapon that was probably designed with the vulture in mind...
In the end, regardless of any of the above, how fun us it to run the same gimbaled TV beams and multi-cannons on every build?