How To Build A PvE Combat Ship
- Thread starter ryan_m
- Start date
I'll be putting up a PvP one either tomorrow or Wednesday.
Bob Lighthouse
Banned
Just in time for Thanksgiving!
Good information here. I used the basic premise and refit my Eagle to sort of mimic the Viper PVE configuration. I'm absolutely useless at combat at the moment and hopefully this new combination of modules will help me survive a little longer and give me an opportunity to learn from my mistakes.
Ryan, would you consider putting your guide back up please? It was awesome and very helpful, esp. for folks new to engineering.
Thanks!
I second this!!!
Haven't FDev said they are going to remove the Drag issue and come up with a better solution in the future?
The community have complained. FDev have listened....
On a related note does anyone have a copy of the doc? I didn’t expect the author would get upset and yank the content due to a patch change he didn’t like, so I didn’t think to copy it. It feels a bit like being held hostage, what with the demands that we get on the patch notes thread and complain about drag munitions.
I see his point and a perma-snare is never good for pvp (hence diminishing returns on roots, snares, crowd control, etc. in other games). But you’re punishing the wrong people by yanking your generous volunteer work that helped us enjoy part of the game because you are upset at Fdev.
Hopefully he will reconsider and put the content back in.
Fdev may want to consider DR for snares and CC.
I read that they have already said that would change.
I see his point and a perma-snare is never good for pvp (hence diminishing returns on roots, snares, crowd control, etc. in other games). But you’re punishing the wrong people by yanking your generous volunteer work that helped us enjoy part of the game because you are upset at Fdev.
Hopefully he will reconsider and put the content back in.
Fdev may want to consider DR for snares and CC.
I read that they have already said that would change.
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Thanks Ryan, you are a gent!
Hey Ryan_m, question about armor for a FAS or any hybrid hull tank, really.
I've been using Thermal Resistant Reactive Armor with Deep Plating (coupled with multiple HD HRPs with Deep Plating and two MRPs) on my PVE FAS. I find that it produces an overall more balanced protection than a Military Lightweight or Military HD armor, while only sacrificing a few m/s of speed and a bit of jump distance (I have a fully modded G5 Dirty Drag Drives and fully modded FSD as well).
Is that reasoning flawed?
I've been using Thermal Resistant Reactive Armor with Deep Plating (coupled with multiple HD HRPs with Deep Plating and two MRPs) on my PVE FAS. I find that it produces an overall more balanced protection than a Military Lightweight or Military HD armor, while only sacrificing a few m/s of speed and a bit of jump distance (I have a fully modded G5 Dirty Drag Drives and fully modded FSD as well).
Is that reasoning flawed?
Yeah you have to use it as a hybrid really. Shields kinda suck and it doesn't move well compared to the FDL. There are better ships for that role, though.
Usually for PvE loadouts, I don't recommend reactive because of the cost involved. In PvP loadouts it's generally lightweight or HD reactives, bunch of HD HRPs, and the smallest HRP with thermal/deep plating. Gives roughly balanced resists over 50% and good survivability.
Got it, thank you! I’ve been running the same ship for... um... 3 year now or something? So the armor is already paid for many times over.
The loadout you linked to is similar to mine, except I slap on a 5-C Bi-Weave, some Resistance Augmented Boosters, and an AFMU. I use 3 fixed Efficient beam lasers and an Efficient PA on the top. It works quite well for PVE, and at brawling range it melts NPC Shields.
Thank you for your insight.
You might consider the chieftain. More HP than a FAS, more DPS, and just about as maneuverable.
I'm very glad you made this content available again, thank you @ryan_m. This guide helped me get started at feeling comfortable doing some combat (after my first explosive attempt in the sidewinder on day 1). I built an FDL exactly to the specs in your document and did very well at surviving and blowing the other ships up....something I wasn't doing so well prior to that.
Since then I have gotten comfortable enough to mess around with the weapon choices and was wondering if you could tell me of the downsides of my choices.
I like burst lasers better than pulse and really enjoy the thermal shock effect so I fitted 4 of those, rapid-fire with thermal shock onto the FDL to support the big corrosive MC. Heat and power distributor were both an issue though, so I replaced 2 of the rapid-fire bursts with efficient beams with thermal vent.
So far, so good, running with the Big OC Corrisive MC, 2 rapid fire thermal shock burst lasers, and 2 efficient thermal vent beams. Only occasional issue is I can drain my weapon power if my time-on-target is long. I'm not a good enough flier that I manage that regularly though, and I can always just lay off the lasers on and off.
Wondering if you (or anyone else) has any cautions in terms of these weapon choices. Like is there something I am missing that makes them a bad idea? Especially how I am mixing burst and beam...I never see that done in builds I've looked at, but my time using them I couldn't figure out why it was not okay.
Since then I have gotten comfortable enough to mess around with the weapon choices and was wondering if you could tell me of the downsides of my choices.
I like burst lasers better than pulse and really enjoy the thermal shock effect so I fitted 4 of those, rapid-fire with thermal shock onto the FDL to support the big corrosive MC. Heat and power distributor were both an issue though, so I replaced 2 of the rapid-fire bursts with efficient beams with thermal vent.
So far, so good, running with the Big OC Corrisive MC, 2 rapid fire thermal shock burst lasers, and 2 efficient thermal vent beams. Only occasional issue is I can drain my weapon power if my time-on-target is long. I'm not a good enough flier that I manage that regularly though, and I can always just lay off the lasers on and off.
Wondering if you (or anyone else) has any cautions in terms of these weapon choices. Like is there something I am missing that makes them a bad idea? Especially how I am mixing burst and beam...I never see that done in builds I've looked at, but my time using them I couldn't figure out why it was not okay.
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Thermal shock doesn't actually affect NPCs so it's kind of a wasted effect. Bursts are alright as long as you manage your cap well.
As for thermal vent, efficient is actually the worst possible mod for them. Vent works off of the base thermal load of the weapon, so the higher the thermal load, the more venting the weapon can do. Efficient cuts the thermal load of the weapon down, decreasing effectiveness. Lightweight is actually the best mod for it because it retains base thermal load and has a -30% distro hit which helps with managing cap. Vent usually works best on the largest hardpoint you have. Here's an example of a build I use in PvP.
Doh! I knew there were things I didn't know. Especially about the beams, I shoulda read your guide more closely before engineering.
The thermal shock, I think I had already read that it doesn't effect NPC's, but it does make them glow which is entertaining.
Thank you for the schooling! Back to the engineering board!
The thermal shock, I think I had already read that it doesn't effect NPC's, but it does make them glow which is entertaining.
Thank you for the schooling! Back to the engineering board!
Nice guide.
Couple of points.
1) You should clarify between sustain vs. burst dps PVE roles.
a) Sustain for res and cz /farming.
b) Burst for assassination missions.
2) Agree with many others LR fixed beams paired with MCs (including one corrosive) (usually gimballed) for sustain dps farming. Thermal vent is nice for making you less of a target or when using rails or large numbers of PAs, but definitely not required.
3) I don't see any mention of Guardian Shield boosters. It's a straight add to shield points, and in sustain farming they're pretty nice.
4) You might include links to video guides within the text as illustrative of your points. In particular with optimum thruster setting for maximum pitch and yaw, and when to and not to quick click to FA off to increase these rates. A common behavior is boost turning which can result in jousting, so an in-text video link to show how to avoid this would be nice.
Couple of points.
1) You should clarify between sustain vs. burst dps PVE roles.
a) Sustain for res and cz /farming.
b) Burst for assassination missions.
2) Agree with many others LR fixed beams paired with MCs (including one corrosive) (usually gimballed) for sustain dps farming. Thermal vent is nice for making you less of a target or when using rails or large numbers of PAs, but definitely not required.
3) I don't see any mention of Guardian Shield boosters. It's a straight add to shield points, and in sustain farming they're pretty nice.
4) You might include links to video guides within the text as illustrative of your points. In particular with optimum thruster setting for maximum pitch and yaw, and when to and not to quick click to FA off to increase these rates. A common behavior is boost turning which can result in jousting, so an in-text video link to show how to avoid this would be nice.
Thanks, but no, I refuse to use a Chieftan. I’ve been using this FAS since it came out in 2015 (?). She’s gotten me this far, I’m gonna stick with her.
Plus I find the Chieftans addition to the game as an easier to obtain, clear straight-up upgrade at the same price point as the FAS, a direct middle finger to the FAS and everyone who spent hours grinding rank to get one.
Plus I don't like the cockpit.
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