Hauling Cutter build against gankers?

geoffrey.hdt

geoffrey.hdt
EDIT: the title of the thread may be confusing...it should have been:

How to make encounters with gankers fun when you fly a Cutter?

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Hi Commanders,

I have been successful getting away from most gankers with my current Cutter build, which consists of enabling my SCB when I enter the destination system (which disables some modules, allowing me to keep an ultra cold temperature), and tanking fire from gankers (4 pips to SYS) while charging FSD to get back to supercruise.
Also have a system preselected so that I can high wake if one of them flies a Cutter and I am Mass locked, or after I have exhausted my SCB's before I reach the station (after multiple interdictions).

Planning to add an FSD V1 SCO for faster boot, since I once met a wing that fired FSD disrupting missiles at me, and I could have used a faster FSD boot time.

Now... I'd love to fire back something at them to make things merrier (there is not so much fun simply running away...) but not sure what could be remotely efficient?
Lots of drag missiles with a few reverberating cascade topedos in the mix, while doing reversely maneuver? Mines?
I would of course not be in position to have a reql fight with time unless I sacrifice my class 8 slots for decent shield and SCB's.
Just wondering what could delay them, or make them turn back?
 
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Riverside

Riverside
If you plan to run from player attack don't deploy hardpoints, you won't be able to charge your FSD with hardpoints deployed. Best I could suggest is PvE weapons for NPC pirates, or as a deterrent at least something that looks like it would be a hassle to engage even if you don't actually return fire.

If you have access to prismatic shields getting 2-3k of shield health should be easy, the more the merrier. I don't do powerplay so I use a c8 bi-weave that cuts into cargo capacity but regenerates a bit faster.

Fit reactive hull armour (it doesn't eat cargo space, only jump range) & engineer it to buff thermal protection, and fit HRPs/MRPs to the military slots since you can't use those for cargo anyway, this will all be handy if/when your shields go down.

Whatever you do have fun & try to learn from the experience, chatting with your aggressor after the event (send them a friend request, you can always unfriend them after) will probably gain you better intel than anything you get from this thread.

Good luck!
 

geoffrey.hdt

geoffrey.hdt
Well, I know very well about hardpoints vs FSD charge, learned that about 10 years ago already; )

Prismatic...yeah, I thought I could do without, but these naughty boys from the Krew Crew proved me wrong recently. I have defected from Lord Archon to join Aisling... :-/

Did you check my build? I think I'm good with hull. Made it the other day with 30% left after I lost my shield during the 4th interdiction from the same wing (had to high wake to the nearby system to get away = I lost basically).

Chat with the gankers? I would love to! But these guys have no manners nowadays, don't even respond (I mean, they do, with instant fire). ;)
 
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GroG79

G
I would not loose too much cargo space over it. Do use SCO as a defense before getting interdicted!

Best way to get rid of them is to high wake out!

Then hope they found another target when you re-enter your destination system. Avoid going in a straight line to your destination. Make a big curve around and use speed and you SCA to slam into the destination station instance.
 

Doctor Dread

Doctor Dread
geoffrey.hdt said:

Hauling Cutter build against gankers?​

Click to expand...

Here's the best build against gankers (if you have enough processing power)

options 2 and 3

8VMw5XD.png
 

shadowhand

shadowhand
Hm, It's less hauling than you know, smashing into them. Ramming speed. Nobody wants to be hit by 1100 tons of ship traveling at 500 meters per second... And that's without any equipment or cargo.

If you boost directly at an attacker, odds are that they won't be able to catch up with you if they were facing you head on, then just permaboost and leave. Uh, that said, I've never made a "hauling" build. I like my Size 8 shields, and my guns.
 

Stealthie

Stealthie
geoffrey.hdt said:
How to make encounters with gankers fun when you fly a Cutter?
Click to expand...

Not really sure it's possible.... at least not without sacrificing the original purpose of the ship.

Gankers don't want plucky, competent, adversaries who have a fair chance of victory.
They want to see your ship explode, cause your time and effort to have been wasted and then gloat about the inadequacy of "tinfoil builds".

If you do build a Cutter that can withstand a fair bit of abuse (which isn't that difficult) they're just going to attack you for a short time and then whine about how OP SBs are or how boring combat is when people are piloting flying anvils and then, eventually, you'll get bored and jump away.

I guess you might consider adding weapons such as mines or, possibly, torpedoes, if you're hoping to irritate attackers but when you're flying a cargo ship that cannot be prevented from jumping away, why would you bother to fight at all?


FWIW on a possibly related note, back when the Guardian modules first arrived, I built an up-armoured T7 specifically to attract gankers during CGs and it was kind of fun to fly, although ultimately a bit pointless.

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
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If you really want to mess with gankers at a CG, the easiest way to do it is to fly a 900m/sec Viper armed with an FSD interdictor. 😜
Once they know you're out there, they start block you like you're the ganker.
 

S0rkvild

S0rkvild
Essential for trader - 3000+ MJ shields. Composite armor? I don't think so. Extremely heavy and super expensive. This will both hurt jump range of your cutter and transfer prices of ship. If you have shields strong enough like 3000+MJ, lightweight armor + heavy duty, fill restricted slots with hrp's + heavy duty and this will do.

From now on you have several options depending on your combat skill and prowess.

1) if you would like to face them and try how tough they are - A) all missile build. Light 'em up with missiles, if their shields are still pretty strong against it, just charge fsd and jump out. B) all multicannon build C) multis + missiles. D) specialist laser all phasing sequence build - eat em up from inside, super fun against mambists, mk2 python-ists and fer de lancers - they usually have minimal hull and maxxed shields. But beware of all frag gankers, monitor your shields if they go down to quickly just high wake.

2) all mine launcher build. Mines laden with different effects for extra spice. Pitch up and down and lay em, or face the ganker, kick in reverse thrust and make 'em eat mines, requires practice.

3) no weapons (you will gain some extra jump due to reduced mass), just ignore them and jump out.

From my pirate experience mostly done in medium ships like Krait mk2, FAS, Python. Facing missile cutters was worst thing to deal with.
From my trader experience. Some of them gankers were tough I had to run away, some were not and got destroyed, nevertheless I have never seen a rebuy in my Cutter.

Here is my open trade/CG Cutter

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A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
s.orbis.zone s.orbis.zone
 
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Agony_Aunt

Agony_Aunt
I don't quite understand your post @geoffrey.hdt since you talk about using SCBs to remain cool. That's heatsinks, not SCBs, but you don't have any heatsinks fitted.

Unless you're really wanting to get into combat, the only weapon I can recommend are mines to act as a distraction and catch out anyone boosting right up behind you. The cutter can have every hardpoint with mine launchers and you're generally safe from being hit by your own mines as long as:

a) You're travelling fast enough to get out of their way before they arm.
b) You're going straight.... some of the hardpoints are in positions where if you turn too much, you might bang into them.

I don't advise reverskii for mines, because the Cutter takes an age to turn and your main aim is to get away.

Having said that, some other good advice in this thread. The Cutter is a chonky boi, and the more mass you add, the better the rammer it is. So, one option, at least when faced with gankers in some ships is to line it up and smash into them.

But mainly, you just want enough defences to get away without being killed, which is really to load on those shield boosters, guardian shield boosters, and of course prismatics if you have them, so that its simply not possible for them to take you down before you can jump.

Main risk is Grom bombs slowing down your escape. So boost, boost, boost to keep ahead if you can and be ready to wake as soon the effect wears off... you have a small window between the effect expiring before the next effect can take hold. Assuming your opponent is faster than you, then maybe combine with ramming technique to keep them off your back or judicious use of mines until the Grom bomb wears off.
 

Greasetrap42

Greasetrap42
I'm a bit surprised you find it better to run cold and have 8D thrusters, than run normal and have Armored PP with A-Rated Thrusters and Distributor allowing much more speed and and boosts. Obviously you prefer running cold with SRBs without heatsinks.

Edit:
With your cold running power plant you will be pretty limited in any weapons you can add to your ship without removing shield boosters.
 
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geoffrey.hdt

geoffrey.hdt
Greasetrap42 said:
I'm a bit surprised you find it better to run cold and have 8D thrusters, than run normal and have Armored PP with A-Rated Thrusters and Distributor allowing much more speed and and boosts. Obviously you prefer running cold with SRBs without heatsinks.
Click to expand...
I actually thought about this.
My current build goes 266 m/s top speed & 439 boost (laden).
With 8A thrusters, I would need to change my power plant to armored. Add to that a 7A distro. Resulting in 304 & 513 m/s.

So that is an increase of 38 & 74 m/s. Not sure that will make a difference: I will still be flying a fat whale ;-)
And the thermal would increase from 16.1% to 28.8%. So not so safe for extended use of SCB's while attempting to charge up the FSD.

Last but not least: I AM ALREADY GOOD TO RUN AWAY FROM GANKERS! :)
The point of this thread is how I could spice up, make my encounters more fun (seriously considering a missile build)

PS: I went hunting for Titan Drive Components yesterday, to kill the time after accidentally gaining notoriety from an innocent NPC, and found one (after 30-45 min, could not believe it, eh eh). Now my FSD boot has been reduced from 10s to 2s. I will really not have any issue running away when the gankers disrupt my FSD.
 

Greasetrap42

Greasetrap42
geoffrey.hdt said:
Yeah, I know, I would need to swap for an armoured power plant.
But worth it, if it makes things fun.
Click to expand...
Swapping to an armored PP throws away the cold build concept, requiring heat sinks for the SRB. But of course you can now have weapons, along with A-rated thrusters and distributor. IMO a more traditional build.

Edit: A-rated thrusters and distributor is likely preferable if you are desiring to engage gankers. I would think you would want (a) better ship handling and (b) an ability to run away after your big alpha strike. Or when things go bad.
 
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