Help me toward some Fer-de-lance love

[Dave Angel]

Ok, last month I bought a FDL, and excited I was about it too, I've wanted one since its release.

i had the money to kit it out, and have spent around 30m on options.

But, I'm back in my old vulture. I boost docked the other day from an obleak angle when someone knocked on the door - forgetting I was in the FDL not the nimble vulture , I wacked into the orbis, about six feet below the letterbox.

No matter what I do, I just Cannot feel the love for the big fighter. It's sluggish, I cannot put a decent gun in its class four raison d'etre, and I can't even get a really mind blowing load out like four beams in the class 2 slots.

ive cleared out a few strong signal sources in it, but I keep coming away thinking that would of been easier in the vulture.

alot of comments on here is that it's the only ship that can hold a candle to the anaconda in PVP, but I'm not seing it. What gives?

any ideas?

 

[Derath]

firstly the anaconda can't hold a candle to anything in pvp as everyone just ignores it. Fantastic turret though

Secondly you need to operate the FDL in quite an advanced way to get good power out of it, I always preferred stronger defense so went for something like this.

http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60O,5TE5Rg5Rg7OX7OX0_g0_g0_g0_g3we,2-7_7_6Q6u9Y6u5A,7SkmpT4_w9qI

Pretty sure you can run that with power management for FSD/Interdictor/Scoop/Hatch, if not you might have to drop one booster to a C but its pretty close.

If you want a truly pvp build i'd replace the cannons with frags and tweak the power accordingly, i'm fairly certain frags use a decent amount more than cannons but they are superb.

if you really want beams i'd go 1xC3, 2XC2 all on the interiors then two projectile gimbals of your choice on the furthest hardpoints, you'd have to drop several boosters for this though.

 

[Mereidos]

Help me toward some Fer-de-lance love

...the same goes for me. I bought an FDL, A-fitted it (including the FSD/Cargo/FuelScoop toggle when deploying weapons) ..but i can't seem to enjoy it. Just as the OP stated the Vulture just packs more punch and is way more agile - thus more fun.

Especially since the huge hardpoint is just awfully placed as it can only hit at about a tenth of your viewfield with a slow projectile =/ ...while the 4 mediums don't cut it either. Worse even that small(er) class weapons receive a dmg penalty vs. larger ships.

 

[Jackie Silver]

alot of comments on here is that it's the only ship that can hold a candle to the anaconda in PVP, but I'm not seing it. What gives?

The 'Lance is fast, it mass locks almost every other ship, it has very strong shields and many utility sockets, it has superior firepower to the Vulture (if you can't get the hang of a cannon or plasma gun, stick a class 3 weapon of your choice on the bottom slot; it's a fairly tight grouping with the front guns if you use fixed weapons; voila! one class 3 and four class 2 guns are better than two class 3 guns), it can operate in more places than a Clipper.

It does have many serious drawbacks and needs careful consideration given to power use, but it's stronger (and much safer, esp. in PvP) than the Vulture when you're used to flying it.

 

[Justicarab]

i've bought sold and rebought the FDL 3 times, i have so much money idk what to do... but what i've learned. the cost and worth of the vulture compared to the FDL is completely superior! i hate the vulture, and i smell a nerf, but as of now, you're better off with a vulture and extra cash.... the python is better aswell but will cost you 180M to upgrade.

 

[Raf von Thorn]

cannot put a decent gun in its class four raison d'etre

Think again:

[video=youtube;dBGplNaIXK4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBGplNaIXK4[/video]

FDL is NOT an "easy mode" ship like the Vulture. A pilot needs to feel it and develop his own tactics (not to mention loadout). Only the best pilots can make it work, and then its deadly (not that im a good pilot, im working my way there ). You have to know the game, physics, all the flight assist off tricks, simply- experience, to work around its cons.

As I said, Im pretty humble about my skills, but i killed a lot of Vulture players in the FDL. They dont seem to be any danger, to be honest.

 

[soma]

There are already some good FDL threads in the forums, although they are a bit hard to find:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=132257
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=136347

In one of them I posted this:

I agree that the Vulture is completely sufficient if you just want to kill NPCs. However when it comes to fighting other players I would take my FDL over the Vulture every time.

With the current state of game mechanics I think that in PvP encounters disabling the enemy shields is the deciding factor. Usually the commander who loses shields first, tries to flee to supercruise... and killing a fleeing ship can be pretty hard unless your vessle is really fast and can masslock the enemy. The FDL is very well suited to do that. (But as I am not out for blood I have decided that I will count driving the opponent off as a "win")

I currently run this setup: http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=60O,5T...A,7Sk4_w7go9qc It gives you almost 900 MJ shields (plus an emergency shield cell which I activate when my shields are almost empty and the shield boosters are useless). It also has a full pulse laser outfit.. this is quite efficient at destroying shields but allows me to keep 4 pips to SYS for most of the fight. The central hardpoints are extremely well suited for fixed weapons, which is very useful when the enemy tries to throw off your aim with Chaff.

I have made very good experiences in PvP with this build. Your shields are so strong that you can basically ignore anything smaller than an Asp. Against Vultures you can simply throw your rig into reverse and eat through their shields (yes I know its cheap but it works like a charm). Against Pythons I have found that Chaff and creative use of FA-off + Vertical thrusters makes their shields go pretty quickly. And the superior shields and hardpoint placement makes the FDL practically run on Clipper tears. The only opponents that have given me any trouble so far are players in other FDLS.. and player Anacondas of course.

Just my 2cent. Your mileage may vary of course

Its been 2 weeks since, but my opinion has not changed drastically. Pythons can be more of a problem than I originally thought (especially when they have boosted shields and rely on the reverski maneuver), and I am currently playing around with a second Chaff launcher because I had a few fights where I felt that one Chaff did not sufficiently neutralize the advantage players with full gimbal loadouts have.... But thats most likely more the fault of my inferior piloting skills than the fault of the FDL in general..

 

[Poseidal]

Class 4 Plasma Accelerators have more fun.

I probably wouldn't pick a fight with a player using one though.

 

[lonewarrior]

Class 4 Plasma Accelerators have more fun.

I probably wouldn't pick a fight with a player using one though.

I use a plasma accelator and 4 Multicannons, 3 class A shield boosters, 4 pips to shields and 2 on weapons for most fights, I also have 2 A class 4 shield cells that are offline until I need them, this gives me very tough shields and low weapons thermal output, constant rate of fire and when the shields go to 2 rings on big ships then you release the Plasma cannon, it's a scary combination
-
The reason I chose this loadout is because a player in an ASP interdicted me with similar loadout and almost beat me in my FDL, so far it proven very effective, I even gave 2 players in their FDLs a run for their money the other day and they both had 4 shield boosters and 5 pulse lasers in their loadouts

 

[Morbad]

The Vulture is a better brawler than the FDL, even in PvP, but the FDL is tougher, faster, and more versatile.

The huge hardpoint can slot any weapon in the game, and while the huge weapons available are most useful against large AI targets, you can easily stick a large weapon in it, to very good effect.

My biggest challenge has been balancing burst damage vs. staying power. I've been erring on the side of the latter, and have never really felt at serious risk of losing my ship in combat, but some vessels are just too tough for me to take out on my own if they are competently piloted. I had a very interesting series of engagements with a fully padded clipper (A7 shields + quad A boosters) who must have had nearly every module slot equipped with SCBs. While alone or with minimal assistance, I just could not get his shields down before having to disengage myself...and I saw him fire off at least eight SCB charges during our longest engagement (I suspect 2x B4 and 2xB3 SCBs, using one of each in tandem until depleted, then switching to the other set...quite possibly with another B6 in there as well). Python can be similarly problematic, but the slower speed of that ship makes them easier to wear down if they decide to stay, even if I have to be more careful about taking hits from it's superior weapon's loadout. Either of these ships is generally easier to go toe to to with in the Vulture, as it's nimble enough to stay mostly out of their arcs of fire (unless they are turret setups), while the FDL is not quite nimble enough to guarantee this.

 

[magillag]

i've bought sold and rebought the FDL 3 times, i have so much money idk what to do... but what i've learned. the cost and worth of the vulture compared to the FDL is completely superior! i hate the vulture, and i smell a nerf, but as of now, you're better off with a vulture and extra cash.... the python is better aswell but will cost you 180M to upgrade.

I envy you.

I'd love to fly the FDL but I just can't seem to make the money to buy one. Trading is a bit too boring, so I've been BHing a local RES. I'm at 11Mill after about 6-10hrs of work. Which is about two weeks with a family and work.
I Hunt in solo mode because my RES is popular and I don't want to share my profits. I probably average a 100,000 per kill, I generally make about 700,000 before I have to head out and reload at the local station.

I've tried rares, and Thrudd's, but It seems like I'm maxed out at about 100,000 profit per delivery in my T6.

What should I do??

 

[Jerakeen]

It's a nice ship but it'd be so much better with two large hardpoints instead of the single huge one. The only thing worth putting on there are the plasma accelerator and the cannon so that point is virtually useless against anything smaller than a Python which means that your only effective weapons are the 4 mediums.

I bought one and ran it in parallel with my Python but I found that I was using the Python much more than the FdL so i sold it again.

 

[Kryoten]

I love the FDL. Only had to run from one PvP fight in it, and that was because the guy had an FDL... along with 3 friends. 2 of which were also in FDLs.

 

[NeoMorph WTH]

I envy you.

I'd love to fly the FDL but I just can't seem to make the money to buy one. Trading is a bit too boring, so I've been BHing a local RES. I'm at 11Mill after about 6-10hrs of work. Which is about two weeks with a family and work.
I Hunt in solo mode because my RES is popular and I don't want to share my profits. I probably average a 100,000 per kill, I generally make about 700,000 before I have to head out and reload at the local station.

I've tried rares, and Thrudd's, but It seems like I'm maxed out at about 100,000 profit per delivery in my T6.

What should I do??

Get yourself a Vulture... I tend to do 2-3m profit per session in a RES and it's a lot more fun.

 

[Mnemoch]

I loved the FdL, but I am back in a Python. Might go back after the fuel tanks come out; this was my biggest gripe. Python does kill faster though in PVE too however.

 

[Cosmos]

I like the Fer deLance but I think it could do with a little tweaking. I'd be happy if it had a bigger jump range - its kinda terrible at present. Perhaps increasing its agility a tad too..

 

[Skuli]

I found nothing of the FdL to be particularly appealing beyond the high speed and masslocking.

Python has been significantly more fun for me in every measurable way.

 

[Squid Torgar]

Where the FDL excels is its speed. Speed is under rated (which is why I stayed in my Cobra for so long). Speed allows you to dictate your terms in the fight. If its going badly, you can boost away and fight again another day. If its going well it will stop your opponent from being able to retreat. The Vulture is able to punch way above its weight, but once its in a fight, its effectively committed for better or ill.

 

[Morbad]

The Vulture is able to punch way above its weight, but once its in a fight, its effectively committed for better or ill.

I takes 8 seconds to hyperspace to another system, and this avoids masslock.

 

[PotatoOverdose]

FdL is Excellent speed + Excellent shields + Excellent masslock with reasonable firepower - especially if you use a C3 Fixed Beam instead of one of the ... less reliable ... C4 options.

The vulture can't masslock anything worthwhile (not even an asp), and is pretty slow with a meager top speed of 380.
The python can't catch anything that isn't another python, type 9, or anaconda.
The clipper has crap shields and poor hard point convergence - chaff guarantees that at least 3/4 clipper hard points will miss.


The FdL can run commanders down with ease and moonlight in Res sites and assassination missions. If you like killing other commanders, the FdL is really good at doing just that. If you don't like pvp, you'd probably want to skip the FdL.