iCourier vs. FAS
- Thread starter Maelthor
- Start date
![[DOOK] Droogie](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/124/124078.jpg?1553527149){kind=avatar}
I don't use bulkheads, either. Depending on ship. The FAS and Clipper? Absolutely. They have horrible shields and good armor. The FDL and Courier have paper hulls even with bulkheads.
Just saying that flying a courier with a combat loadout as compared to even something without weapons is a drastic change. It shouldn't be that way on a fighter (which is really what it is).
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The FAS should make short work of the Courier. That doesn't mean the Courier is extremely flawed with no real advantages. It needs minor tweaks.
I would love to see some minor buffage; as you've pointed out, a class higher PD and a lower heat profile would make this an excellent little beast. But as it is I personally adore the handling; they're very forgiving for learning FA OFF flying.
Tbh weight reducing agility early is something that happens on most small ships. My clipper is the only ship I consider adding bulkheads to, though I refrained because by use of HRPs I can get a higher hull hp without touching my speed/agility at all, and then I get to save the cost of the bulkheads.
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I adore my iCourier, though my PvP experience is nil. I've got about 100 million credits, a Type-9, a few Clippers, but I just love that little Courier. I run Prismatics and an Imperial Hammer, along with Pulses.
Question on weight, as again I am no combat veteran:
I didn't know the weight was such an issue. Can a layman tell the difference? I've got an 85t Courier and a 100t. I usually fly the heavier one. Should I be flying the lighter one? It's a difference of about 60 MJ of shields (3A vs. 2A). Is cutting the weight worth the loss of the MJ's?
Question on weight, as again I am no combat veteran:
I didn't know the weight was such an issue. Can a layman tell the difference? I've got an 85t Courier and a 100t. I usually fly the heavier one. Should I be flying the lighter one? It's a difference of about 60 MJ of shields (3A vs. 2A). Is cutting the weight worth the loss of the MJ's?
Just play around with some builds on Coriolis.io. Pay attention to your jump range and top speed as you increase weight. It's pretty dramatic. Maneuverability is affected in the same way.
I run a very lightweight build for canyon runs in my courier. It has about 23ly range, so I can travel around a bit looking for good planets. I wouldn't be able to do it nearly as effectily with your build.
Coriolis is your friend
Recreate your builds in it and take a look at the speed difference, which directly correlates to your agility changes. For the record, PSGs aren't a great Courier shield. They're heavy, power hungry/heat inefficient and the Courier's recharge with them sucks. I sacrifice the "beast mode" shields a courier can have for Bi-weaves and it compliments the Courier very well. Medium weight decent sized shields that recharge much better and have a low power/heat profile.
For combat though...just don't skimp on shield class. Get the highest class shield you can and a couple of boosters (again, bi-weaves are complimentary here, and half the weight of the PSGs).
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Bi weaves are awesome. Prismatic are more for trade ships to open up a larger slot for cargo. I would never run them on a courier.
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With bi weaves, you only lose about 20% shield strength, but they recharge 50% faster. Well worth it.
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With bi weaves, you only lose about 20% shield strength, but they recharge 50% faster. Well worth it.
Thanks for the advice. I do use Coriolis, I just don't have enough true combat experience to "test" my builds with any level of competency.
Heavy: http://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial_...2f.AwRj4zKA.CwBhGYCYQRlmbUk0og==?bn=Swordfish
Light: http://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial_...==.CwBhGYCYQRlmaSdaxjiA?bn=Smuggling Courier?
Like I said, I usually run the heavy loadout. Too far from home to try the Light (fighting an Expansion) but I am curious about the Bi-Weave now. I guess I just thought, "the iCourier has good shields, let's make that strength even more pronounced."
Heavy: http://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial_...2f.AwRj4zKA.CwBhGYCYQRlmbUk0og==?bn=Swordfish
Light: http://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial_...==.CwBhGYCYQRlmaSdaxjiA?bn=Smuggling Courier?
Like I said, I usually run the heavy loadout. Too far from home to try the Light (fighting an Expansion) but I am curious about the Bi-Weave now. I guess I just thought, "the iCourier has good shields, let's make that strength even more pronounced."
Troy_McClure
Banned
Totally depends on your fighting style!
I like to get up close and personal & rely on never being in a joust or hit by anything other than turrets, so for me the lighter, the better but it has to be balanced with a certain amount of defences in case things go pear shaped.
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All ships are at their most manoeuvrable when the ship mass is 50% of thruster 'engine optimal mass' (in outfitting stats) so the closer to that figure, the better! So according to the theory the best agility weight for the Courier is 60tns..even If I went on a diet..that isn't happening with my Courier!
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You should notice a huge difference between the ships characteristics at 85 tns compared to 100. Top speed will give an indicator though I'm not sure on the exact correlation with the thruster effects.
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The good shields still come through; you're getting respectably sized high recharge shields instead of weak high recharge shields. They're totally worth it.
As Droogie mentioned, Couriers are not a good multi-role ship. For this reason I'd kill any extra weight in modules you can and drop things like fuel scoops.
Here's an example build I might use. It's very much specialised for the ComNav I sit in.
http://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial_courier/03A3A3D1D3A2D2C1b1b1l000n0404B42525252525.AwRj4zKA.AwgsIyoo
No, there's no SCBs; I rarely find someone in a nav beacon shredding my shields down to the point I need them, and the heat management on the courier is so poor that I need to sacrifice a utility slot on heat sink launchers. also no I won't manage them priorities properly in coriolis
1D HRPs have the best weight to HP ratio, so they give the ship enough hull that they don't flop if shields do go down, but it's not an extortionate amount of weight. You could kill them and get a really nice top speed/agility, but you'd want to back up with SCBs/heat sink launchers and be really careful not to get ganged up on. Couriers aren't a great anti-wing ship, and once they're through the shields you'll go down in seconds without HRPs.
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It feels like a world of a difference going between my Viper and my Anaconda. The Anaconda feels like a big boat switching from my Viper. Granted, the Anaconda pitches better but you're not hugging asteroids with it as smoothly as the Viper.
And FAS are easy toast with a PvE Conda - I like batting them with the nose like a baseball
Sarah Jane Avory
Retro Queen
Please create a procedure for NPCs when they run into a little red T-6 they become all endeared with it and look with kindness upon it's battered hull after travelling over 100 thousand lightyears and go: "Hi Dilbert, good to see you. How was your trip?"They'll be as good as I can make them.
edit: On that note: Hi Sarah! Good to see you!
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They'll be as good as I can make them.
Hopefully not all of them. It'd be better if every single interdiction wasn't certain death for traders.
Hopefully not all of them. It'd be better if every single interdiction wasn't certain death for traders.
Sorry mate, but if we put it to a vote you'll get beaten by all the non-traders that want to watch some masterfully flown AI sidewinder chasing a poor T9 for all it's worth
They'll be as good as I can make them.
Which means "so good there will be much wailing in newcomers' forums and some people will suspect them of cheating" I suppose. [hehe]
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Whoops. that SCB was supposed to be a D2 Shield generator, of course. Missclick.
Hopefully not all of them. It'd be better if every single interdiction wasn't certain death for traders.
From previous SJA posts it seems she favours a sliding scale of NPC skill-level. Novices being easy meat up to Elite being capable of taking out experienced players.
Oh boy.
FAS is the only NPC enemy that makes me really think on how to take it on.
Is kind of the natural enemy of the FDL since it does not suffer from drifting when moving and turn faster too.
Makes us suffer please, but be fair. My best combat experiences are when I go back to the station with my ship in shambles and tired.
FAS is the only NPC enemy that makes me really think on how to take it on.
Is kind of the natural enemy of the FDL since it does not suffer from drifting when moving and turn faster too.
They'll be as good as I can make them.
Makes us suffer please, but be fair. My best combat experiences are when I go back to the station with my ship in shambles and tired.
It makes sense. Currently sitting in a ComNav, I can go a whole evening now and never look at the rank of the NPC I'm hunting. Looking back on it yes, the Elite NPCs are the ones more likely to pull a stunt that gets me in their sights, but for the most part I have the same sorta time wrecking a novice NPC as I do an Elite one - which just doesn't make sense.