Very tricky one. I think, given access to only one ship, it would have to be the Cobra Mk4.
That's exactly what I'd expect a Thargoid to say...
Very tricky one. I think, given access to only one ship, it would have to be the Cobra Mk4.
Everybody has their own taste obviously and I have to say you won't be seeing it at its best (handling in particular) because I know you won't engineer it. Even without that though, it's the most ridiculously versatile ship in the game, I practically live in mine in the bubble. It's not so much that it's the best at anything, more that you can take off and do virtually anything you want without having to change a single piece of gear.
The last day I played in the bubble with my my general purpose Python I ran 208 tons of cargo (Ok, slaves) 10 jumps to a station including ADS scans in every system and detailed surface scanning a couple of planets to discover the ring types for future mining possibilities, undocked and went to fight in a high intensity combat zone around the nearby planet for 30 minutes, landed on the planet and got the SRV out to pick up some jumponium for my upcoming trip, then picked up a smuggling mission from the planetary base and delivered that to an outpost. All in exactly the same ship, not one piece of gear changed. Granted you can do exactly the same range of stuff in an Anaconda, but you can't land on medium pads which means you're not able to visit at least a quarter of the bases in the game and it handles like a pig in supercruise.
The internals in the Python are pretty much a perfect blend; 3 x class 6, 2 x class 5, 1 x class 4, 2 x class 3 and a class 2. It's things like having 3 x class 6 slots rather than a class 7 and a class 6 that make the difference for build versatility - I'd fly my Clipper a lot more if it had 3 x class 6 slots instead of a 7 and a 6, although I know players who are more combat focused would hate to lose that big slot.
Hardpoints are sufficient that you can pack some real wallop, 3 x class 3 and 2 x class 2 - I have a full set of multi cannons on mine (engineered obviously...) and it shreds anything. Four utility mounts is enough to stick at least one shield booster on it along with chaff and PD and have an option for the final one.
The core internals are all suitably high classes that none of them are really a bottleneck for overall performance; class 7 powerplant, class 6 thrusters, class 5 FSD, class 7 (!) power distributor and a decent sized stock fuel tank with 32 tons. With a 7A power plant in it you have to get really creative to manage to use all that juice. Then you need to factor in that in the configuration I used for that series of activities above (again, with engineering) it jumps a shade under 30LY empty and about 23LY carrying 208tons of cargo, all whilst boosting at 450
I own two, that one and a second one which is permanently built as a miner. I fully intend to build a third one up as a fully lightweight engineered explorer at some point. I can't stress enough that it's not as awesome without at least some engineering work (the jump range in particular is bang average without an enhanced FSD) but it's still a fantastically capable ship, I fell in love with them long before engineers were a thing, they just made what was already good into something amazing.
Oh and they're gorgeous:
http://i.imgur.com/pL2QA5p.jpg
Note - that's not the camera blur effect, it's the distortion field that the UA pumps out...
Especially in white:
Not sure whether a bubble-hater such as yourself will get as much use out of one but if you intend running missions and so on out in Colonia I really can't think of a better ship to do it in. I think longer-term I will also ship a clone of my general purpose one out there and just keep it garaged for when I need it.
And below that price tag? Is a T9 better than a Python?
Just asking because i think ill finally try mining.
Really? I was assuming the Python is great for mining. What would be a better ship?
And below that price tag? Is a T9 better than a Python?
Just asking because i think ill finally try mining.
Python definitely, though the Cobra MK IV runs it a close second![]()
But i guess i'd have to go somewhere where NPC pirates don't spawn.
Is there such a place? How far out of the bubble would you have to go? Mining has frustrated me after 6+ hours I only had 140t refined. Clearly i am doing something wrong.
Ah, so nice to see another CM4 supporter!![]()