First time I've seen Keelback and "good ship" used in the same sentence.
Good ship, still killed immediately
- Thread starter zacharath1
- Start date
You're gonna need a better ship.
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I have to admit that happened to me some days ago, too.
I love the Keelback for the ship's looks and the cockpit, so I got me one.
3A Prismatics, fighter bay for fun, rest outfitted as material collector.
Dropped into a "thread 0" USS, I think combat aftermath but not sure. It was thread 0, I wasn't
really paying attention, deadly conda dropped in behind me, deployed weapons, bamm - rebuy.
Fighter pilot dead too - thank god only a bought expert.
Man I was very p... angry
I blame my situational awareness, I was simply not paying attention to my surroundings *at all* except for the materials there.
I love the Keelback for the ship's looks and the cockpit, so I got me one.
3A Prismatics, fighter bay for fun, rest outfitted as material collector.
Dropped into a "thread 0" USS, I think combat aftermath but not sure. It was thread 0, I wasn't
really paying attention, deadly conda dropped in behind me, deployed weapons, bamm - rebuy.
Fighter pilot dead too - thank god only a bought expert.
Man I was very p... angry
I blame my situational awareness, I was simply not paying attention to my surroundings *at all* except for the materials there.
Well I think you should think of the Keelback as more of a funship than gunship, the VW camper of ED as it were. Throw a surfboard on the roof, an SLF in the bay, a couple SRV's in and a hold full of beer and off you go. Nice cockpit view and half decent jump range to get to the planet of your choice and all the toys to enjoy it.
Keelback is a great ship, just not sure fighting is its thing.
Keelback is a great ship, just not sure fighting is its thing.
Hi,
Ima go in depth because a lot of posts whilst accurate aren't really helpful for learning for the future.
So, Elite shields. Elite uses a shield value, this is based on the shield generator size and quality, the ships inherent base value and a few other smaller factors. Size of shield (number) is the biggest factor, followed by quality (letter).
I'm guessing you had a setup something like this: https://eddp.co/u/a3dZHpSy
Shield value 153Mj. The hull value is next to it at 676.
Bear in mind a sidewinder with a 2A shield and a 2d hull package gets 68Mj and 298 shield points so your ship strength is somewhere a touch over 2x sidewinder strength.
Here's the kicker, a corvette or Anaconda or Cutter can be in the range of 2000-3000Mj of shielding with hull integrity of over 3000 when engineered. Oh and put out 99 consistent damage points every second even before engineering. The keelback can definitely hold it's own and is not a bad ship for the class it is in. However, it is not a good ship going up against things bigger than it. The Keelback is a big ship and easy to hit and whilst ok is by no means good.
Distress beacons are pretty heavy and can pit you against many many high level enemies all at once. For example I wouldn't go into one in anything less than a Vulture unless I really fancied a massive challenge and then would take a courier/viper or something similar. It's also possible you warped out right into another ship, I've seen that happen although it's rare.
The other thing worth mentioning is pips, having pips in systems dramatically increases shields raw strength. Data here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/138536-SYS-PIP-Shield-Damage-Resistance-Tested
So what can you do?
Don't do distress beacons is a good start. Res sites and the like are still accessible but the high threat supercruise indicators are probably something to avoid... Or explore in a sidewinder to find out what they are.
Changing up to a 5A generator would move this to 230Mj, almost double. You could also put military armour on which would almost double the hull value to 1135.
Going for a full combat build you could throw in an A grade boosters and a few more hull packages for something like this:
https://eddp.co/u/EG1ovHVj
Thats a good picture but engineering can push the hull value much higher and give you resistance against certain damage types like shields can be made thermal resistant so laser weapons do up to 60% less damage to your shields.
This engineered defence build: https://eddp.co/u/pUoKYRvQ
gets 358Mj shields (almost 3x your current) but with additional 60% resistance boost against laser weapons. And gets 1980 hull integrity, again almost 3x your current.
Alternatively a combat ship like a Vulture would be a good option as it has a lower profile and is harder to hit.
Final notes: The only further advice or thoughts I can throw out there are: Elite has an odd aggressive behaviour in the AI. Best seen in combat zones, you are minding your own business picking off one or two enemies at a time then the game decides "Tag, you are it" and suddenly the nearest 6 ships all turn and face and decide that you will be next to die. Still not worked out what the pattern is but even the biggest most tanked engineered defence ship struggles to handle the heat of numbers.
Not much you can do about this apart from keep an eye on the radar and if all the red triangles start flashing then run and prepare to die
Also use coriolis shipyard to play about with ship builds. A good 15-20 minutes playing with that and understanding the numbers will actually allow you to make much better decisions in game r.e. build. Personally I plan each ship out before I buy/outfit it.
If possible using a rewind software like shadowplay that records the last 10 minutes of gameplay at the touch of a button is fantastic. Really helps look back and see things you missed in the heat of the moment. I once thought I'd been killed by a cheater. On reviewing the footage I realised he had an ally I hadn't noticed on the radar who had snuck up behind me and presumably managed to plant several shots and a raming attack on me which is why I died as fast as I did. Easy to tunnel vision in these moments.
Hopefully this helps somewhat despite being a bit of a deeper dive i've tried to make it understandable in a way I wish someone explained to me years ago when I first started and thought my Adder was the bees knees
Dropships have a lot of good hardpoints.
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Goodship lollipop more like!
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They're everywhere bro. Just check out USSes as you fly.
I was taken out fairly quickly in my AspX once by an NPC. However I know it was my fault, I was defnitely outgunned. It was a multicannon+Frag cannon FAS. We jousted 4 times. I wasn't familiar with the ridiculous agility of the FAS and just how good a hull tank it can be. By the 4th pass my shields were down and he blew out my canopy. I know better now... When I see an FAS interdict me, I RUN.
What he said.
I find them endlessly lately whilst looking for other types of USS I really need
try something like this :
https://eddp.co/u/fUP3ppux
if you can't engineer, stick with military bulkhead
https://eddp.co/u/fUP3ppux
if you can't engineer, stick with military bulkhead
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The Keelback actually is a very good ship - just not a very good combat ship.
I used one for a very long time as a freighter. Enough armor and shields to let me escape any pirates - though back when mines were great, I had more pirate kills with this than I did my combat ships.
I have one rigged for hauling caustic materials as well, great ship.
And with enough heavy-duty engineering it CAN hold up in a fight, but it's kind of like having a pomeranian as a guard dog - it will make some noise, but it's only really effective if you actually hit an attacker with it.
I used one for a very long time as a freighter. Enough armor and shields to let me escape any pirates - though back when mines were great, I had more pirate kills with this than I did my combat ships.
I have one rigged for hauling caustic materials as well, great ship.
And with enough heavy-duty engineering it CAN hold up in a fight, but it's kind of like having a pomeranian as a guard dog - it will make some noise, but it's only really effective if you actually hit an attacker with it.
+1 That's the truth, both the Keepback and dog.��
Powderpanic
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