Hunting Big Snakes: What am I doing wrong?

[LTHalle]

I'm in a reasonably tooled Cobra (2.7 million credits) and have heard about people hunting Anacondas in such a craft (although some of them have all A's, but I have at least a B in everything important like shields). However, whenever I try to go against anything higher than a novice in an Anaconda I get absolutely destroyed (can't even break the shields, let along kill the damn thing.)

I've tried staying behind it. I've tried hyper-fast strafing runs. I've tried kiting it backwards (my cannons are useless at that range and my lasers miss enough that damage and shield recharge are at roughly equilibrium).

I have shield cells, but if I'm taking damage at close range they get popped fast enough by 5 class 2-3 beam lasers that the regen burst isn't enough. I have a chaff launcher (3,000 Cr but as far as I can tell there's no upgrades available for it) but it seems to do absolutely nothing at closer than 2 km (which is how close I need to be to deal reliable damage).

I thought I was kinda good at the game but being unable to take down big game like this, and not even putting up a decent fight while doing so, is really making me question that. What strategy should I be employing?

 

[Pulse]

Sounds like your cobra isn't up to the job. You're trying to take on a well equipped/well ranked top tier starfighter with a poorly equipped multipurpose runner. A fully kitted cobra comes in around 10mil, which should be able to take on an anaconda in around 10-20 minutes with a competent pilot at the wheel.

While you're heading for that, try popping into the menus and manually targeting the power plant and thrusters of the ship to disable it's ability to move.

 

[LTHalle]

Sounds like your cobra isn't up to the job. You're trying to take on a well equipped/well ranked top tier starfighter with a poorly equipped multipurpose runner. A fully kitted cobra comes in around 10mil, which should be able to take on an anaconda in around 10-20 minutes with a competent pilot at the wheel.

While you're heading for that, try popping into the menus and manually targeting the power plant and thrusters of the ship to disable it's ability to move.

I already do that, doesn't mean much when I can't pop the shields in the first place.
And I have a hard time believing that having another km range on my sensors and slightly better thrusters (do better thrusters boost maneuverability? because to me it just looks like they increase the total mass your ship can have) is going to be the difference between not scratching the paint and taking the thing down. I feel that 2.5 million is hardly poorly equipped since A ranked gear costs many times that of lower ranked gear, and as far as I know the effectiveness progression is roughly linear.

 

[Rall]

If I'm out hunting big prey I'll refit my Cobra with Class 2 railguns, dumbfire rockets or topedoes depending on mood I'm in (And my current back ballance). And have fixed beams in the class 1s.

It's a load out that's not much use against smaller ships, but it makes killing Pythons and Anaconda's much more bareable. Taking 30 minutes to grind down an NPC anaconda isn't my favorite way to spend an afternoon.

Once you railgun there drives, you can dance arround them poking faces which is always fun.

 

[ARZUMATA]

Shield cells OP... period




Beam Lasers to kill the shields. Boosting your own and keeping about 200-800 meters away.
Chaff to kill the hostile's aim.
Once done, cannons to fire at the power-plant and you're done.

4 minutes to kill Anaconda and could be even faster.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxpDF1Td_hs

 

[neogeo]

I already do that, doesn't mean much when I can't pop the shields in the first place.
And I have a hard time believing that having another km range on my sensors and slightly better thrusters (do better thrusters boost maneuverability? because to me it just looks like they increase the total mass your ship can have) is going to be the difference between not scratching the paint and taking the thing down. I feel that 2.5 million is hardly poorly equipped since A ranked gear costs many times that of lower ranked gear, and as far as I know the effectiveness progression is roughly linear.

Until you upgrade your ship, pick your game wisely. Scan the anacondas first and pick the ones you think you will be able to take down. Don't try and go for the well equipped high ranked anacondas no matter how tempting it is...OK, maybe if it is already being bombarded by local security and shields are down you can take advantage, but until you upgrade your ship, anacondas will always be a huge threat. Think of their loadouts and compare it to three sidewinders shooting at you at the same time. Is your ship currently able to take down three to four sidewinders shooting at you at the same time? When that happens in my currently mid-tier equipped Viper I run. I have managed to take a few Anacondas down, but those were all opportune moments. Ordinarily, it is a huge and dangerous fight to challenge them.

 

[Clav]

I already do that, doesn't mean much when I can't pop the shields in the first place.
And I have a hard time believing that having another km range on my sensors and slightly better thrusters (do better thrusters boost maneuverability? because to me it just looks like they increase the total mass your ship can have) is going to be the difference between not scratching the paint and taking the thing down. I feel that 2.5 million is hardly poorly equipped since A ranked gear costs many times that of lower ranked gear, and as far as I know the effectiveness progression is roughly linear.

A4 thrusters on a Cobra are really good. They boost your speed and manoeuvrability a lot.

 

[Althure]

I tried twice with my Cobra, Gimbled burst (class 1) lasers + Auto cannons (class 2). First one vaporized me, second try got him down to 30%, my canopy broke and thrusters failed, I didn't even get mercy killed as Navy jumped in and while they kept him busy I spun out of control slowly suffocating to death... I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE! My modules are about D's max so, I would recommend trying with better gear/ship.

Edit: But I did kill that gen. whatshisface for empire rank (Knight now) with that cobra and that was a tough fight, most modules were at around 1-3% health by the end. Also the times people say sound too much, the anaconda fights were around 10 min max and the gen. was 5 min tops...

 

[Defacto]

Try to stay in the blind spots, at least most of the time. Power management is critical, too. With a beast like an Anaconda, a single pip in the right place might mean the difference between dropping their shields or being blasted to bits yourself.
Oh, and shield cells, of course. You're fighting a craft with 10 times the tonnage and 40 times the price of your ship. If you don't pack the shield potions, you're going to be swatted like fly, unless you are extremely lucky, an ace pilot, or the AI ship is a complete idiot.

I'm not sure, but I think Torpedoes do quite a lot of damage against Anacondas. Beware of PD, though. Most of the times, the big ships that I meet have at least two PD turrets.

I've managed to take out an Anaconda with my Cobra once, but that was with the help of two police Vipers, and even then, it was pretty close.

 

[Redshift OTF]

Maybe a Viper would do the job better? I have all C class equipment on mine, apart from the FSD, plus 1 basic shield cell. I use small gimballed burst lasers and 1 medium and 1 small gimballed cannon. The burst lasers are enough to take the sheilds down and the cannons make me get in close. With extra pips to shields I can get in close and balance my speed with my turn rate so I am always on top of him.

 

[Defacto]

Maybe a Viper would do the job better? I have all C class equipment on mine, apart from the FSD, plus 1 basic shield cell. I use small gimballed burst lasers and 1 medium and 1 small gimballed cannon. The burst lasers are enough to take the sheilds down and the cannons make me get in close. With extra pips to shields I can get in close and balance my speed with my turn rate so I am always on top of him.

Cannons are great for large ships. They make short work of both hull and modules.
I think a Viper would be better, especially if piloted by a pilot who knows how to use the manueverability of the Viper.

 

[Hamerstein]

Maybe a Viper would do the job better? I have all C class equipment on mine, apart from the FSD, plus 1 basic shield cell. I use small gimballed burst lasers and 1 medium and 1 small gimballed cannon. The burst lasers are enough to take the sheilds down and the cannons make me get in close. With extra pips to shields I can get in close and balance my speed with my turn rate so I am always on top of him.

It's certainly doable in a Viper. Mine was A-rated though. Just don't make the mistake of letting your shields drop (or if they do, run away and let them recover), those Elite 'Condas have a fetish for destroying thrusters.

It's much easier in a Cobra though, mine's mostly A-rated, except for C rated shields and no armour, and I have far less problems than I ever did with a fully tooled Viper.

 

[Apec Valorian]

I have shield cells, but if I'm taking damage at close range they get popped fast enough by 5 class 2-3 beam lasers that the regen burst isn't enough.

Shield cells are the key to success against Big Game; it may be that you'll need to experiment with them to find the right time to trigger them. If you're experienced and disciplined enough in that respect, you can feed your shields entirely on cells, leaving you more energy for weapons. Make sure to get B-rating cells, the A-rating ones seem to pack less charges for some mysterious reason.

In my experience, maneuvering is of lesser importance against Big Game, so only two pips to engines (except in the first phase of the fight, where I use all four pips to close in fast). Stick as close to your enemy as you can; try to get behind it, but don't worry too much if you can't; just make sure you don't end up in front of it. That way, you usually suffer only part of the enemy's firepower; his fixed weapons can't hit you, and of the gimballed or turretted weapons half are on the other side. Most of all, keep your weapons blazing, so full pips there.

Weapon choice and arrangement may also play a role. No matter what ship I'm flying, I always pack both lasers and multicannons, all gimballed, and I always put the multicannons on top to better allow them to lead the target.

As for other equipment, I think the most crucial part is the power distributor; you should go for nothing but the best there.

 

[LTHalle]

I have E rated thrusters that I didn't bother to upgrade because I was under the impression that all they did was boost your max load, that might be why :X

I guess I'll grind small fry bounties until I have enough for a better power plant so I can power better thrusters

 

[Sargon]

LaSalle.. You don't need to lower its shields before affecting its subsystems.

 

[Pulse]

Props to op for taking on such a condo with such a ship though, takes some balls!

 

[Trader Pat]

I have E rated thrusters that I didn't bother to upgrade because I was under the impression that all they did was boost your max load, that might be why :X

I guess I'll grind small fry bounties until I have enough for a better power plant so I can power better thrusters

A thrusters and sensors (especially with gimballed weapons), adequate Power Plant, A shields or C one class above (if it originally a class 2, get a class 3, much sturdier), A Power Distributor, Shield Cells.
The game is not to have class A all the way, it is to increase maneuverability by keeping the total weight as low as possible with the best components you can afford where it counts.
Fire load-out is what suits you, see above for the excellent advice from good hunters! Some lasers for shield bashing then some kinetic, MC/Railgun/canon for the hull. And yes targeting the right component mercilessly makes all the difference, as good power management. Fixed weapons pack more punch/need less power, so consider that big snakes are not that nimble and let you align your shots more easily.
Good Hunting!

 

[TargetLost]

You can do it with 3 mil cobra. But it requires some effort to find a good tactic that works for you. It's a callange and people do it different.
~
My first tactic was to stay out of its range and only head on for bit by bit takeing down his shild and have mine recovered. I didn't even have shild cell then. But that was really though one fight lasted 1 hour and my first 2 attempts with the Anaconda vanishing after it got out of 8km range with a hull of 10%. That was by far the most challanging thing to avoid this happening with this tactic.
~
Now that I have some shild cell and better weapon (gimbal beam laser class 2 and multicanon class 2) and 2 rack of dumpfire Missile (hard to aim but fired int he right moment when teh shilds are down they are extremly powerfull against anacondas) my Tactic is much more agressive and it doesnt takes so long anymore.
~
Somewhen in the middle I had a tactic where I used 4 pipes in engine and run circles (backward spiral lock) with the anaconda. Somehow the anaconda seemd to use all its power to match the speed and run out of power for it's lasers. If that happens it was a save lock and a win. But I think tehy changed it. Never had an anaconda running out of firepower anymore.
~
Most time now I just run in .. and use up my shild cells and hope to get its shild down then use the multicanon and when the position of the anaconda (very close range) is just right the dumpmissiles in dual fire mode. But I mostly take a lot of damage doing this because I can't get the shild of it down fast enough. The bad point about the cobra is that the dumpfire missile are so much apart that makes it tricky.
~
So I geuss the better tactic is to first safe bring its shild down by keeping distance doing short attacs and recover and when the shild is off going fully in into close combat.
But I left Anaconda fighting and do normal bounty hunting now. Almost normal I do that different than most... but that's secret.

 

[eozkucur]

I can hunt them reliably with my Cobra outfitted with C and B rating stuff. Only power distributor is A.

Some of my experiences:
- You have to target power plant.
- The fight requires more focus to stay behind (and above/below) him than any other npc fight. So aiming fixed weapons to power plant is harder. I use 4x gimballed multicannon setup.
- Try to stay close behind him at all times. If you get a beating and your shield gets low, do not retreat, use chaff and shield bank generously, move to the other side of his turrets. If you retreat, it can target you with front weapons in the next merge. I got one-shot by his plasma accelerator once.

 

[Sgt Doom]

Before I had upgraded my Cobra to do more than tickle an Anaconda's shields; I would make sure reporting crimes against me is turned on, let the Anaconda take the first shot, and wait for the local police to show up to distract the ship and chip away at it's shields. Then i'd go for the FSD, since destroying it also immediately destroys the ship, and a damaged FSD is more liable to malfunction and prevent escape.

Also, against the gimbals and turrets of an Anaconda, engaging at maximum possible range means it's more likely to miss you due to gimbal/turret wobble, which can effectively reduce the damage it does to you by quite a lot.