PvP I recently joined the dark side

[Sebastian Rooks]

My Frag is already double shot, and it wrecks hulls at knife-fight range. I haven't yet unlocked Palin for the sweet DD5s because unfortunately the scrubs below him have annoying unlock requirements for mods I don't even want. Current boost speed with DD3s is 394 m/s boost. It's not blazingly fast and it does force me to work on my aim. It's bittersweet, on one hand more speed would be nice, on the other hand I think it's helping my aim when I have to snipe smaller targets.

Sorry about the late reply Psymon. I had to gather up a few mats for the frags. I already had a nice supply of MEF. Otherwise it might have been a couple more days, lol.

I tested one of my suggestions to you; 1x C3 Frag + 2x C2 Frags, all G5 w/double shot screening shells and 2x iHammers with G5 sturdy mounts and SP rounds for module sniping. If you thought one Frag can wreck ships, then using 3 is something you may want to try. Thermals are not be a problem at all, even firing 2 Frag salvos followed by a single salvo from the Hammers. I never got a heat warning from mine, although that could vary with secondary rolls and lower tier engineering. I have not yet had the chance to upgrade a pair of Hammers to LR. That's next on my agenda.

Now regarding thrusters, I mentioned earlier that I had used my fastest C6 DD5s. I thought this would be really good for ramming. My first combat tests revealed more drift than I had expected and resulted in some minor maneuvering issues. Seriously, I'd turn and it just kept going without slowing down, lol. It wasn't too much different than just having FA off. I already knew the ship was kind of bad about it, but this opened my eyes a bit. I switched back to C6 DD5s at 133% with a max boost in the high 420s. I also had to vary my speed in turns, much more extreme than with other ships I fly. That corrected much of the maneuvering problem, slightly lowered thermals and I've got a slight mass reduction secondary on that one. You just might have a found a "sweet spot" with those DD3s. That may actually be a good balance for you. If you can really fly this thing, I tip my hat to you.

More in a few days, stay tuned...

I kept mine too [big grin]. I A rated it but haven't engineered anything. You'll have to let me know what you think of your build before I get to mine. The new engineering from ground up will be a slow process to risk disappointment at the end.

I did do some re-rolling on my gunship. Once I was done I figured out that I had put the better shield boosters on my courier at some point. I thought my resistance was oddly low! Either way, I've got 3 E boosters that are now at 15-16.5 near even resistance each. I also got my highest DD5 roll yet. It's not godly, but +37% was nice to finally see after 60 attempts. It's killing me not being able to try them all out on some wanted CG CMDRS!

The Buzzard gets 537 boost atm, and maneuvers like an Eagle II. There's so little drift that where you turn is pretty much where you go. I think it's just about ready for pvp. I may try out a pair of frags, after I finish up with the FDS. I doubt you'll be disappointed with any performance increase in yours. I foresee this becoming one of your small ship favs.

Yeah, the better SBs would have made a difference for sure. I think God Roll thrusters is considered to be 140%, but don't quote me. ryan_m has a thread in the pvp section that lists many known stats. With 137% DD5s, you should be boosting at +/- 400mps on your FGS. It's certainly not FDL/FAS/Clipper fast, but it's pretty good for a Gunship. You'll notice more power and responsiveness with the directional thrusters too. If you decide to get an FAS someday, that same thruster module could get you up in the 520s, possibly low 530s, depending upon your build. I've often thought about taking my FGS to a CG, but I'd never be able to take an interdictor with me on that rig. I'd have to build another power plant for it and I'm near critical mass on my storage as it is.

Rooks o7

 

[-Denali-]

Sorry about the late reply Psymon. I had to gather up a few mats for the frags. I already had a nice supply of MEF. Otherwise it might have been a couple more days, lol.

I tested one of my suggestions to you; 1x C3 Frag + 2x C2 Frags, all G5 w/double shot screening shells and 2x iHammers with G5 sturdy mounts and SP rounds for module sniping. If you thought one Frag can wreck ships, then using 3 is something you may want to try. Thermals are not be a problem at all, even firing 2 Frag salvos followed by a single salvo from the Hammers. I never got a heat warning from mine, although that could vary with secondary rolls and lower tier engineering. I have not yet had the chance to upgrade a pair of Hammers to LR. That's next on my agenda.

Now regarding thrusters, I mentioned earlier that I had used my fastest C6 DD5s. I thought this would be really good for ramming. My first combat tests revealed more drift than I had expected and resulted in some minor maneuvering issues. Seriously, I'd turn and it just kept going without slowing down, lol. It wasn't too much different than just having FA off. I already knew the ship was kind of bad about it, but this opened my eyes a bit. I switched back to C6 DD5s at 133% with a max boost in the high 420s. I also had to vary my speed in turns, much more extreme than with other ships I fly. That corrected much of the maneuvering problem, slightly lowered thermals and I've got a slight mass reduction secondary on that one. You just might have a found a "sweet spot" with those DD3s. That may actually be a good balance for you. If you can really fly this thing, I tip my hat to you.

More in a few days, stay tuned...



The Buzzard gets 537 boost atm, and maneuvers like an Eagle II. There's so little drift that where you turn is pretty much where you go. I think it's just about ready for pvp. I may try out a pair of frags, after I finish up with the FDS. I doubt you'll be disappointed with any performance increase in yours. I foresee this becoming one of your small ship favs.

Yeah, the better SBs would have made a difference for sure. I think God Roll thrusters is considered to be 140%, but don't quote me. ryan_m has a thread in the pvp section that lists many known stats. With 137% DD5s, you should be boosting at +/- 400mps on your FGS. It's certainly not FDL/FAS/Clipper fast, but it's pretty good for a Gunship. You'll notice more power and responsiveness with the directional thrusters too. If you decide to get an FAS someday, that same thruster module could get you up in the 520s, possibly low 530s, depending upon your build. I've often thought about taking my FGS to a CG, but I'd never be able to take an interdictor with me on that rig. I'd have to build another power plant for it and I'm near critical mass on my storage as it is.

Rooks o7

I honestly don't bother to interdict people. I wait around stars like a pirate, wait for some real pirate to interdict a trader and then follow them down from SC. It works really well and you get the advantage of distraction. You can usually pick up a few fights with people harassing pilots near stations too. Those are riskier though. With heavy traffic you have to aim real careful and there's mass lock from the station.

 

[Sebastian Rooks]

My Frag is already double shot, and it wrecks hulls at knife-fight range. I haven't yet unlocked Palin for the sweet DD5s because unfortunately the scrubs below him have annoying unlock requirements for mods I don't even want. Current boost speed with DD3s is 394 m/s boost. It's not blazingly fast and it does force me to work on my aim. It's bittersweet, on one hand more speed would be nice, on the other hand I think it's helping my aim when I have to snipe smaller targets.

My apologies for the late response. RL and snow storms have kept me away from the KB.

I've tried 2 weapon configurations; 4x LR iHammers 1 with feedback and the other 3 SP rounds + 1x C3 DS5 Frag w/screening shells, and 1x C3 DS5 Frag + 2x C2 DS5 Frags + 2x LR iHammers. (same effects)

First, and you probably already know this but I went with Hammers for the base thermals. C2 RGs have a stock base thermal rating of 20. C1 RGs are rated at 12. Hammers start at 11. They fire 3 rounds p/shot and IF you hit with all 3, you'll get a 9% bonus to damage, barring any reduction secondary after engineering. There usually isn't any reduction if you're upgrading them with long range. The only thing I can think that might apply here, is when you add feedback as a special effect. It does make a good argument for becoming allied with Arissa for a month to get them.

The 4x Hammer build works, but you will have to darn near god roll all four for reduced thermals on the secondary. (50% or better) That takes a lot of time and mats, but might be worth it with the way the new engineering system appears to be shaping up atm. I had 2x 48% 1x 52% and 1x 58% thermal reduction. I got heat warnings firing just one salvo (85%), but they hit like a Mack truck, man! Even with 4 pips to weps, there was still some required time between fire/cool down. You'd have to get used to it, but I think it's just manageable. You'd probably be struggling to get 4 C2 RGs to work on your FDS. 3 "might" be possible though.The single Frag works well for those pesky shields.

The other config, 3x Frags and 2 Hammers is one I like for this ship. With good thermal rolls, I can fire 3 consecutive salvos before a necessary slight cool down and easily without damaging my reactor. With a god rolled CE5 Distributor, I'm sure I could squeeze in a 4th salvo... But, let me ask you this. Why bring a knife to a knife fight when you can just use a machete instead? 3 Frags strip shields. IF one of your RGs is feedback, you can handle those pesky SCBs too. For my money, this is probably going to be the easiest, more practical, and effective gun rigs for what you're doing. You also don't have to change much from your original build.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. I had fun building this thing. I'm still not sure I'll stick with it, but it gave me some ideas I hadn't thought of. Thanks for the inspiration lordpsymon! Good hunting sir.


Rooks o7