It's times like these, when you've skipped the carrier ride back from deep space to 'enjoy the journey home' that you find yourself with plenty of time to contemplate all the mistakes you've made in life what you're going to do next when you eventually make it back to civilisation. As I figure I'm about to hit Elite Explorer, and I'm not really in the mood for trading, AND all those explosions of fun are popping up all over the Bubble/Colonia I thought I'd try and dip my space-toes (just toes mind, the rest of the legs haven't been released yet) into some shooty-pew-pew combat. Fighting for liberty, freedom, and the right to fly my Keelback however I damn want and all that. So I thought I'd take some time to play about with builds and quiz the community on the subject.
You see, I really adore my Keelback. I love it so much I'm determined to use it for everything the game has to offer. Don't tell me it's not meta, or it's ill-suited for bumbling into CZs (been there, done that, seen the rebuy screen) or that the Python/Krait/whatever does it all so much better. I can't hear you over the sound of angelic voices singing 'Lakon' over and over again in my head. The other thing was, when I want a PROPER combat ship (my deep space explo jaunt was to help fund that) I've got my beady eye on a Crusader, and word on the hangar deck is that the Crusader flies somewhat like a bigger, badder Keelback (citation needed). So I thought I'd practice and see how fighting feels in the Keelback, eat a few sub-1mil rebuys which is fine and move on from there. Sounds sensible? Doesn't matter, because I'm going to do it anyway, but hopefully some assistance from the community will spare me too much embarrassment.
Here is my current build, some sort of hot-mess bodge-job that I ran about the Pleieades in doing some S&R stuff, occasionally picking on Thargoid Scouts and subsequently getting melted by Interceptors. I got a little advice on the build when I first knocked it together, and adapted it with whatever I could find as I went along; no engineering to speak of, but thats next on the agenda when I get back to the Bubble. I enjoy 'having' the fighter but prefer flying the Keelie myself, and I've heard her hull can be tanked surprisingly well. The plan is to do some bounty hunting, maybe poke my nose into the fringes of a low-CZ or something, send the fighter to pick on isolated targets and deplete their shields with gimballed pulses until the NPC is expert, then they can play with fixed beams. Meanwhile, I like the idea of pretending the Keelie is a warship with turreted multicannon on the medium hardpoints, and rail guns on the small; I've never used rail guns yet but love the idea of them, and they will allow me to stay at range and practice FA-off to git gud with fixed weapons. It's been a while since I've been inside her (steady on!) though and I've heard the convergence on the small hardpoints isn't brilliant, so I'm open to swapping one of the rails for a seeker perhaps?
With all that in mind, how does this look? This is just the result of some fiddling about on Coriolis, I'm not set on it and will happily take any advice on how to better beef up my darling Keelback. I've never tried a combat-specific build before so I don't know the correct ratio of hull to module reinforcements, though I've heard that hull reinforcments are better for smaller/weaker hulls that pop before the modules go. As for engineering, I've only unlocked Felicity so once I'm back in the Bubble I'll work on unlocking the others so I can start engineering my fleet and then the fun can really begin!
Thanks for your patience, both with my ramblings and my irrational love for the Keelback, and thanks for any and all advice on my build. Keep flying dangerously CMDRs, o7!
You see, I really adore my Keelback. I love it so much I'm determined to use it for everything the game has to offer. Don't tell me it's not meta, or it's ill-suited for bumbling into CZs (been there, done that, seen the rebuy screen) or that the Python/Krait/whatever does it all so much better. I can't hear you over the sound of angelic voices singing 'Lakon' over and over again in my head. The other thing was, when I want a PROPER combat ship (my deep space explo jaunt was to help fund that) I've got my beady eye on a Crusader, and word on the hangar deck is that the Crusader flies somewhat like a bigger, badder Keelback (citation needed). So I thought I'd practice and see how fighting feels in the Keelback, eat a few sub-1mil rebuys which is fine and move on from there. Sounds sensible? Doesn't matter, because I'm going to do it anyway, but hopefully some assistance from the community will spare me too much embarrassment.
Here is my current build, some sort of hot-mess bodge-job that I ran about the Pleieades in doing some S&R stuff, occasionally picking on Thargoid Scouts and subsequently getting melted by Interceptors. I got a little advice on the build when I first knocked it together, and adapted it with whatever I could find as I went along; no engineering to speak of, but thats next on the agenda when I get back to the Bubble. I enjoy 'having' the fighter but prefer flying the Keelie myself, and I've heard her hull can be tanked surprisingly well. The plan is to do some bounty hunting, maybe poke my nose into the fringes of a low-CZ or something, send the fighter to pick on isolated targets and deplete their shields with gimballed pulses until the NPC is expert, then they can play with fixed beams. Meanwhile, I like the idea of pretending the Keelie is a warship with turreted multicannon on the medium hardpoints, and rail guns on the small; I've never used rail guns yet but love the idea of them, and they will allow me to stay at range and practice FA-off to git gud with fixed weapons. It's been a while since I've been inside her (steady on!) though and I've heard the convergence on the small hardpoints isn't brilliant, so I'm open to swapping one of the rails for a seeker perhaps?
With all that in mind, how does this look? This is just the result of some fiddling about on Coriolis, I'm not set on it and will happily take any advice on how to better beef up my darling Keelback. I've never tried a combat-specific build before so I don't know the correct ratio of hull to module reinforcements, though I've heard that hull reinforcments are better for smaller/weaker hulls that pop before the modules go. As for engineering, I've only unlocked Felicity so once I'm back in the Bubble I'll work on unlocking the others so I can start engineering my fleet and then the fun can really begin!
Thanks for your patience, both with my ramblings and my irrational love for the Keelback, and thanks for any and all advice on my build. Keep flying dangerously CMDRs, o7!
so far the only time I've found ammo to be a problem was afore mentioned CZ-bumbling with the Keelback fitted out as a missile boat, I needed to scoot out and rearm and scoot back once or twice. Oh, and my ill-fated attempt to seal a distressed megaship hull while under fire from Thargoids. That got a little hairy, though I was spared the sound of my turrets spinning empty when an Interceptor showed up and nuked me! I know I've proposed a fixed/turret combo on my initial build, but so far in my experience I've not had too hard a time keeping gimballed guns on target in the Keelie so I was hoping (perhaps in vain) that I could manage fixed with a little determination.
