Newcomer / Intro How do it stop my Beams from overheating so quickly/missiles of rail guns?

[Commander Jameso]

Hey everyone,

Just a quicky - I'm flying a mostly A-rated Viper picking up bounties at a local resource site. I've got beams up front but, whilst I like the damage they do, they do overheat quickly and go offline too. Is there any way to prevent or delay this?

I've also got 2 banks of missiles which I use to finish off ships looking to escape - they're expensive though. Would railguns or anything else do the job as better (bearing in mind the primary purpose is to finish off ships before they can get away)

Thanks...

 

[theEmohawk]

I'd suggest replacing the beams with burst lasers if you struggle with over heating.
Rail guns aren't so good to break through shields and with a Viper's power supply being a balancing act the high power consumption of the rails might be too much.

 

[Commander Jameso]

Thanks - I'd be sad to give up the beams though. I'll have a look at bursts.

You're right, rail guns would upset the precarious balancing act of power consumption....

 

[GJ51]

You can use them in short bursts to help a bit and make sure you allocate more pips when you can to help cool them down. You can also mix one beam and one pulse or burst to help minimize power and heat.

Also A rated Pwr Plant and Distributor help a lot.

HTH

 

[spacescrub]

I've got 2 medium beams and 2 small multi-cannons on my A-rated Viper. Very juicy.
Maybe you can post an image of your viper build using edshipyard build editor.
We'd have a better understanding of wheather it's pip management or something else.

However, can just do what theEmohawk said and swap to burst or just go full cannons or multi-cannons if your only fighting npc's.

 

[Commander Jameso]

I'm up to speed with the pip allocation (although occasionally I forget!) and firing in bursts - I'm flying in solo mode but am I right in thinking I need lasers to take down shields?

I'm sorry I wouldn't know where to start posting a image, insufficiently computer-literate!

I have the A rated power plant and distributor. Last venture brought home over 300,000 credits. I'm just being greedy, I guess.

I have a romantic notion of buying a cobra, but would I be right in thinking it's not the dog-fighter the Viper is? What should my next ship be?

 

[GJ51]

I'm up to speed with the pip allocation (although occasionally I forget!) and firing in bursts - I'm flying in solo mode but am I right in thinking I need lasers to take down shields?

I'm sorry I wouldn't know where to start posting a image, insufficiently computer-literate!

I have the A rated power plant and distributor. Last venture brought home over 300,000 credits. I'm just being greedy, I guess.

I have a romantic notion of buying a cobra, but would I be right in thinking it's not the dog-fighter the Viper is? What should my next ship be?

Cannons will take down shields, but not as quickly as lasers. Common practice is to use lasers to take down sheilds, then cannons to kill the hull, but that's just convention. I used 4 MC on a Viper for a while with great results.

What you get next depends a lot on what you want to do. The Viper is a dedicated fighter and not very good at anything else. The Cobra is a great all around multi-purpose ship that can do just about anything very well if you configure it for what you want to do. It's a good fighter with more power than the Viper, so it doesn't need to be as carefully managed to stay within the limits of the Power Plant. You can also max cargo space for trading and make good profits, or configure for max range and trade rares or go exploring.


Cobra is always fun to drive no matter how much cash you have or how many ships you own - can't go wrong.

Big PLUS - Fastest ship available.

 

[Razorwire]

Cobra can be a useful dog fighter, but it's not really an upgrade from a viper for combat. It is an upgrade in all other areas though. Vulture should probably be on your list as the next pure fighter.

Lasers burn shields faster than cannon, multi cannon and missiles, yes. I run dual fixed medium beams and dual gimballed small multi cannon on my viper. You're just going to have to use more trigger discipline to avoid overheat, or more weapon pips. Or both.

 

[Commander Jameso]

Thanks - I think I'll save up for an asp...that'll take a while!

 

[willowfan]

The Asp is a great PvE fighter with it's 6 hardpoints, especially now upkeep and repair costs have been drastically reduced. It's also quite useful as a trader with 80+ tonnes of cargo space.

 

[Commander Jameso]

I'm an eigth of the way there...

While I have your attention, can I ask about the auto field maintanence unit - I was hit by a dropship in the process of eaning some sserious bounty and thought the unit would repair me, but I couldn't work out how. Can anyone help?