Ships Help me choose a ship please

Phil3822

P
Hi all, I am pretty new ish to the game although not new to gaming as a whole. I spent some time in the Sidewinder for a little while before getting the Hauler which is where I am making a tidy sum. Anyway I wish to enjoy many aspects of the game but in particular enjoy smuggling, pve/pvp combat and a bit of hauling. More PVE rather than PVP. What would be the best ship? I had considered the Vulture and also the Imperial Courier. I will keep in my hauler doing what I am doing which is smuggling, hauling and exploring at present until I figure out what is next. Thanks all. I consider my main income to come from Smuggling and pve killing :)

I was born 1984 so not really experienced the first edition however know the brand and game well. Only live 30 minute drive from Frontier site in Cambridge.

All and any help would be great.
 

colprice2002

C
Hi & welcome.

The vulture is probably the best fighter around, though by the time you have it kitted out it could be 15 MCr. It will have a short jump range, small cargo space and needs careful power managemdnt.
The curier will be approx 6 MCr, has a smaller punch than the Vulture, but also has a smaller cross section and good shields. Mine has 20t cargo, and a significantly better jump range and total range than the Vulture.
For around 3.5 MCr you can have a fully A grade Cobra. This has a bigger jump range, total range and cargo space than the others. You can fit 2 medium weapons and 2 small weapons. It's also the fastest ship.

For PvE or PvP, I would choose the Vulture; include some trading (few tons) the Courier. For some trading, PvE ans smuggling, the Cobra is pretty good. It doesn't have as strong shields as the others, but it's a solid buy.
 

newman1702

newman1702
colprice2002 said:
Hi & welcome.

The vulture is probably the best fighter around, though by the time you have it kitted out it could be 15 MCr. It will have a short jump range, small cargo space and needs careful power managemdnt.
The curier will be approx 6 MCr, has a smaller punch than the Vulture, but also has a smaller cross section and good shields. Mine has 20t cargo, and a significantly better jump range and total range than the Vulture.
For around 3.5 MCr you can have a fully A grade Cobra. This has a bigger jump range, total range and cargo space than the others. You can fit 2 medium weapons and 2 small weapons. It's also the fastest ship.

For PvE or PvP, I would choose the Vulture; include some trading (few tons) the Courier. For some trading, PvE ans smuggling, the Cobra is pretty good. It doesn't have as strong shields as the others, but it's a solid buy.
Click to expand...


These numbers are a bit off. A fully kitted out, A rated Vulture will set you back around 25 million. Likewise you can't really A rate a Cobra for 3.5 million - depending on your loadout a fully kitted out Cobra will cost between 8 and 10 million. And that's assuming you're not upgrading bulkheads.. it's possible to make these builds quite a bit more expensive.

To answer the OP's question, a Cobra would be a relatively cheap upgrade to your current hauler; it's the best budget all rounder in the game, quite a good little ship of surprisingly good capabilities for it's price. A more expensive and more capable (for everything but smuggling, really) all rounder would be the Asp, but a fully kitted out one is comparable to an A rated Vulture in price. As said, a Vulture is a really good heavy fighter, but it's really only good at fighting. A Courier is a nice little ship, quite cheap for what it does - you can A rate it for about 8 million. It's quite a shield tank, possessing incredibly strong shields for it's size (better shields than the Clipper for a much smaller craft, at a fraction of the cost). However once it's shields are gone it's time to run really fast - it's hull is made of paper.

How much are you looking to spend? If you gave us your budget and what you want to do with it, we'd be able to be more specific :)
 
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Phil3822

P
Many thanks for your responses. My budget is 10mil really. That would then leave a bit in the bank. I could stretch a bit higher though. Only making about 500k a day in my hauler which is not great but don't play all day, between work and this is mostly smuggling mission from the BB. Also travelling a lot still learning and exploring. No combat at all in the hauler which is I don't like. I am not against the cobra as an idea at all. I wanted something that was solid all rounder but with good strengths in combat, in particular tanking.

I appreciate I am asking a lot however the things that are less important is jump range. I will be obtaining the Cobra IV when it is released and for some reason find myself not considering the cobra as much as I should be. I accept it seems the obvious choice and am willing to accept the advice given.

I could do with finding a more profitable use with my hauler as well which I may take a look into. Thanks again for the input.
 

Psycho Romeo

Psycho Romeo
I have to agree that based on what you want to do, the cobra is for you. It is an amazing smuggler, a reliable combat ship, gets from A to B quickly, and won't cost an arm and a leg to lose.
If you wanted a more specialized combat ship, I'd recommend the courier. The courier is surprisingly capable of holding its own against much larger vessels. It's pretty fast too. Do not be mislead by its multipurpose title. It can't do much else other than take punishment and smile.
The vulture is a heavy fighter and among the most powerful warships in the game. It has pretty good shields and hull, large hard points, and crazy high maneuverability. However, it's quite slow - you're not going to flee from something that really wants you dead. It's also much pricier at 20~30m. You won't want to even try building this ship without at least 20m on hand.
 
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Ziljan

Ziljan
Grab a Cobra, then grab a Vulture so you can safely test out PvP. Once you learn to fly it, try out the other ships. The Vulture is a boring ship tbh, and you'll probably want to fly something faster, harder hitting, or more versatile in short order. Those two hard points to manage aren't enough to be interesting for long, and it is not really suited to anything except combat. Especially since it only shines with a single loadout (pulse lasers) which on that ship feel very insubstantial despite their huge damage.
 
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newman1702

newman1702
Yup, with a 10 mil budget get a cobra, you can spec it really well for that budget. I fell in love with mine back when it was my main go-to ship for everything (first I bought after the Sidewinder). What it can't kill it can outboost and run away - I had a few close calls with mine, mainly due to lack of experience, but she always got me home in the end. A capable little ship, and probably the first one making you have to learn how to fly it specifically - which makes it a good ship to learn on. Plus even fully A rated, even if you somehow get destroyed (which shouldn't happen unless you make some pretty big mistakes), it's cheap to replace. Honestly sounds like your best bet now.

As for grabbing a Cobra Mk.IV when it's available, that's still months off, and we can only guess on the stats. By then you'll probably be flying more expensive ships, anyway :)
 

Cmdr. Numa

Cmdr. Numa
I would get rid of that Hauler, with 10 million you can easily outfit a T6. 5 times the cargo capacity, twice the firepower (which is still pitiful) and a pretty decent explorer with good range. You can do rares trading with that, which is the fastest road to cash at that level. Come 20 million you can think about upgrading to an Asp, that will really get the game rolling.
 

ErichZann

ErichZann
Since you have the Hauler for cargo, and considering the budet, I would go for the Courier instead of a Cobra I think... More fun to me, especially for PvE combat.

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newman1702 said:
These numbers are a bit off. A fully kitted out, A rated Vulture will set you back around 25 million. Likewise you can't really A rate a Cobra for 3.5 million - depending on your loadout a fully kitted out Cobra will cost between 8 and 10 million. And that's assuming you're not upgrading bulkheads.. it's possible to make these builds quite a bit more expensive.
Click to expand...

Well, thats also a bit misleading, 25 million for a Vulture without bulkheads?

Look at this build, this is pretty decent at 16 mio, go to a discounted system and its 13.5. Ok, A thrusters would cost a few million extra, but with this kind of build they are not possible energy-wise anyway.
 
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newman1702

newman1702
Bulkheads don't protect your subsystems, so killing your powerplant is just as quick as without them. They also weigh and cost a lot, reducing your maneuverability and jump range, which is why I prefer to just focus on not losing shields, and don't bother with them.
 

despiser

despiser
Ok, here's what you need to know. 10M budget get a cobra and kit it out for what you need. I recommend smuggling. Swap out the smaller cargo holds for something useful and max size the biggest one for 16 tons.
 

antipodean

A
For a smuggler, the Asp is probably the best ship in the game:
PROS
- A high cargo capacity (up to 128 tonnes w/o shields, about 80 with decent shields)
- 6 weapon hard points (turrets set to "fire at will" lends to possibly engaging 6 targets at once in a conflict zone)
- Able to land at outposts
- Can jump 25+ light-years at a time, once equipped with an A-rated class 5 FSD (which is perfect for trading in rare goods, or for exploration)
- Readily adaptable to different roles

CONS
- Not as capable in combat as the Vulture (no large weapons, a little less maneuverable)
- Costs 1 million more than the Vulture

Of course, if you are doing smuggling properly, you need cargo space, not weapons
 

despiser

despiser
antipodean said:
For a smuggler, the Asp is probably the best ship in the game:
PROS
- A high cargo capacity (up to 128 tonnes w/o shields, about 80 with decent shields)
- 6 weapon hard points (turrets set to "fire at will" lends to possibly engaging 6 targets at once in a conflict zone)
- Able to land at outposts
- Can jump 25+ light-years at a time, once equipped with an A-rated class 5 FSD (which is perfect for trading in rare goods, or for exploration)
- Readily adaptable to different roles

CONS
- Not as capable in combat as the Vulture (no large weapons, a little less maneuverable)
- Costs 1 million more than the Vulture

Of course, if you are doing smuggling properly, you need cargo space, not weapons
Click to expand...

Asp is my favourite ship, though I'd like to trade those 4 small hard points for 1 large
 

simo2003

simo2003
I'd pick the Cobra, were I in your shoes. The Asp is great, but I think you'd be stretching your budget a little too far for it.

I did have a Type 6 for a while, but I wish I hadn't bothered. That said, I never used it for exploration and apparently it's quite good for that.
 

Phil3822

P
Hi all thanks very much for your replies, a couple of days after making this thread I purchased a cobra and made a pretty nice build from the forums. Used it for smuggling and a bit of combat. I then decided to buy a type 6 as well so now have both ships which is making me about 2 to 3 million a day at present. Decided to save up for a vulture as I would like to trade the cobra for something more combat orientated I think although still researching. One thing I would like to know though is how do I find these discounted stations? Will be returning to work in a week so things will slow down. Many thanks for all of your responses again, very helpful.
 
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