So, initially when I got the Python as an upgrade from the vulture today, I was very excited. I bought it on discount for 48m credits. When I bought it, I had 58m credits. So I put 3xC3f beam lasers and 2xC2f rail guns on it. I the equipped it with cargo slots so I could do some armed trading and also because I literally only had a few thousand credits left. Definitely not enough for insurance. So I start trading, I then get interdicted by an adder "no problem" I think. I then realize to my horror that not only can he out maneuver me even when I reverse, and my capa curator is draining fast. I then jump away, embarrassed. Since then I have bought an A rated sheild booster, A B5 distributer (which according to the game is worse than the stock module and does not seem to make much of a difference anyway) . I also have a top rated fad and 10 minutes of emergency oxygen. I plan to trade until I can hold my own in PvE and PvP. But issue is, should I change my weapons setup? Is it viable at all? What should I seek to upgrade next and what the heck did I do wrong against that adder? I actually did fight off a courier and almost took down his shield in a single capacitor charge? let me add, I am a fixed weapons purist and prefer beam lasers over burst and burst over pulses.
An eager but a little disappointed Python pilot-CMDR Kbear
Heh, don't go back to a Cobra... Just realize, that a truly good Python setup costs ~150 million (the A7 power plant being 51 million of that)
And don't do size 3 beam lasers, especially if your Python isn't geared well yet. 3x size 3 gimbaled Pulse lasers and (depending on available power with your fitting) 2x size 2 beam turrets to kill those pesky small ships that you're too lazy to get into a turning match with. (You could do cannon turrets, but I prefer not to run out of ammo, which small ships are a waste of).
Then you need chaff launchers, heat sink and shield cell banks!
Your Distributor and Shield should be first to get maxed.
I find the maneuverability of my Python very good - relative to its size and the fact that its multi-purpose.
You may like an FDL better, where the maxed fitting tops out at 'only' 85 million, and its much more agile, but it won't do nearly as well as a Python against a whole pirate gang from one of those "strong signal source" instances, or say, a Conda assassination target sporting a dual vulture escort.
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=705,5...,2-B6A07_6uB69Y6k,7UI7k47k47iW7iW4-E7fO9qI0nE
This isn't a strictly min-maxed fitting as I'm lazy and have a docking computer on it as well as an 'unnecessary' fuel scoop.
Note that you don't keep all the shield cell banks turned on, and the worse your power plant is, the more creative you have to be with your power priorities.
Power setup example: Turn off the cargo hatch permanently and put it on
priority 5. Put one of the shield boosters and all but one shield bank on
priority 4, Put FSD, one chaff launcher, one heat sink launcher on and frame shift interdictor on
priority 3. Put the two beam turret on priority 2 and leave the rest at
priority 1.
This should minimize the times you have to turn stuff on and off manually. Bind shield cells to "B" (or some other key), heat sinks to "V" and chaff to "C". Now you can easily counter most things that could get you into trouble.
Next, if you can't get an Adder into our sights, you may want to check your grasp of the radar display (which I find very counter intuitive in comparison to radars from other space games). But that's what the beam turrets are for, to get rid of overly agile stuff with low hit points. ('fire at will' turret settings)
Note that turrets must be in a fire group to fire at all. I put my 3 pulses on MB1 and the 2 turrets on MB2. you have to hit the turrets once for a target and then they will keep shooting till its dead.
While shield cells will usually carry the day, they should not be taken as an excuse to ignore the flying with FA off combat training videos, which will enable you to avoid taking many hits by being glued to your targets' six.
I usually have 0.5 PIPs in engines (and fly throttled back to the middle of the blue range as the default) 1.5 PIPs in system and 4 PIPs in weapons. I adopted this because of fights against groups of enemies, where dodging the shots from one target doesn't really help a lot and dodging not being the greatest strength of the Python. For laziness, I do it the same against single targets and no single target lives long enough to bring my shields down (So no need to use shield cells against single targets)
Anything bigger than an ASP, you want to sub-target the power plant.
Then your greatest risk should be that your quarry charges up its FSD before you can finish it off, which is one of those truly annoying things to happen.
