I want to start combat. What ship and what to outfit it with?

HipToss · Dec 22, 2014

I mostly have been trading (Type 9) and exploring (Type 6), but would like to start combat as my last combat was beta 2

and in a Sidewinder. Got killed too many times and gave up.

I have about 1 million credits I want to throw at it.
I use a HOTAS, and bought a standard sidewinder to practice flying, and got a few kills along the way.

Lets have some suggestions on what I can do with this. This will strictly be a combat ship, I do not plan on doing anything else with it.

Thanks Commanders!

Astardes · Dec 22, 2014

Cheapest and easiest way to start is an Eagle

Take a Burst laser for the Top fitting
Take 2 x Autocannons underneath
KWS
Shield Cell

You can with practice, take out everything up to Cobra/ Adder/ Asp. I managed to get a Federal Dropship down to 3% before it FS out.

If you want to spend more, take a Viper, twin lasers and twin cannons, KWS, Shield Cell but I'd start with the Eagle and work up, costs less if you muck it up as well.

Go have fun.

HipToss · Dec 22, 2014

Astardes said:
Cheapest and easiest way to start is an Eagle

Take a Burst laser for the Top fitting
Take 2 x Autocannons underneath
KWS
Shield Cell

You can with practice, take out everything up to Cobra/ Adder/ Asp. I managed to get a Federal Dropship down to 3% before it FS out.

If you want to spend more, take a Viper, twin lasers and twin cannons, KWS, Shield Cell but I'd start with the Eagle and work up, costs less if you muck it up as well.

Go have fun.

Thanks, they are dirt cheap. I have much in the bank, so I do not care about annihilating myself several times in combat.

parazaine · Dec 22, 2014

Currently the best dedicated combat ship is the viper....sling some gimbaled burst/pulse/beams and a couple railguns on it and upgrade all the other equipment and its probably your best combat ship atm

Ganjis · Dec 22, 2014

Definitely Eagle. I ran one with a beam on top and MCs underneath. Make sure you get a grade A power plant and distributor first. If you plan on running all A gear, you will run into power brown-outs IIRC, so power management is necessary. Set weapons, shields, scanners and any other combat gear to 1, set all FTL gear (drive, interdictor, fuel scoop etc) to 3 and everything else to 2. When you deploy weapons everything on the lowest priority will power down.

Eagle is nice and cheap to upgrade and insure, packs a decent punch and has incredible agility. The Viper is tougher and faster with sharper teeth, but is best taken up when you have the funds to really upgrade it and the combat experience to make best use of it. You may be one of those who fails to see the merits of this fine craft, so you may want to skip the Viper and go straight to Cobra.

As for weapons, I highly recommend fixed weapons for the extra power, but gimbals are fine if you are struggling at first.

HipToss · Dec 22, 2014

Ganjis said:
Definitely Eagle. I ran one with a beam on top and MCs underneath. Make sure you get a grade A power plant and distributor first. If you plan on running all A gear, you will run into power brown-outs IIRC, so power management is necessary. Set weapons, shields, scanners and any other combat gear to 1, set all FTL gear (drive, interdictor, fuel scoop etc) to 3 and everything else to 2. When you deploy weapons everything on the lowest priority will power down.

Eagle is nice and cheap to upgrade and insure, packs a decent punch and has incredible agility. The Viper is tougher and faster with sharper teeth, but is best taken up when you have the funds to really upgrade it and the combat experience to make best use of it. You may be one of those who fails to see the merits of this fine craft, so you may want to skip the Viper and go straight to Cobra.

As for weapons, I highly recommend fixed weapons for the extra power, but gimbals are fine if you are struggling at first.

Thank you for that detailed layout! From what I have been doing in game, I have not had to touch power management. Too bad my Freagle is about 300Ly away.

rmhepton · Dec 22, 2014

Don't rule out an Adder either .. only a little bit more expensive than an eagle but with one medium and two small hard points. Not the prettiest ship in the world but very capable.

HipToss · Dec 22, 2014

rmhepton said:
Don't rule out an Adder either .. only a little bit more expensive than an eagle but with one medium and two small hard points. Not the prettiest ship in the world but very capable.

Never flown it. Is it combat orientated?

rmhepton · Dec 22, 2014

HipToss said:
Never flown it. Is it combat orientated?

It certainly can be - same manoeuvrability as a Sidewinder and slightly more firepower than an eagle.

It's a bit of a jack of all trades ship trading, mining, combat think of it as the Cobra's baby brother.

Argus Leadhead · Dec 22, 2014

I wouldn't say it's mainly for combat. The view is quite restrictive from the cockpit. It is only slightly slower and less manoeverable than an eage but the medium hard point on top makes up for that and from my experience, it feels like it can take slightly more of a beating than an eagle once it's shields are down. Worth a try I would say.

TheFlatline · Dec 22, 2014

Flying an Eagle with class A thrusters is going to spoil you. I finally moved up from an eagle to a viper but I was having a blast in my eagle flying circles around everything.

Kolato · Dec 22, 2014

Definitly the Cobra, the Viper is good but the Cobra can manage so much more if you just spend a little bit more.

HipToss · Dec 22, 2014

Kola2 said:
Definitly the Cobra, the Viper is good but the Cobra can manage so much more if you just spend a little bit more.

Can I outfit it good with a total credit of one million?

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Argus Leadhead said:
I wouldn't say it's mainly for combat. The view is quite restrictive from the cockpit. It is only slightly slower and less manoeverable than an eage but the medium hard point on top makes up for that and from my experience, it feels like it can take slightly more of a beating than an eagle once it's shields are down. Worth a try I would say.

Maybe I should just buy one and give it a shot.

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rmhepton said:
It certainly can be - same manoeuvrability as a Sidewinder and slightly more firepower than an eagle.

It's a bit of a jack of all trades ship trading, mining, combat think of it as the Cobra's baby brother.

Thanks for the info. Getting a lot of kills with it?