Ships Improvements or alternative ships

Myristyl

Myristyl
Good evening Cmdrs.

It seems that I have finally decided upon my favourite Things To Do in ED. Namely, community goals (rares & combat, I have a Clipper for larger cargo), missions, a bit of bounty hunting and landing on the odd interesting looking planet.
I tried kitting out my Asp but I really couldn't get to grips with it in combat, so, after a bit of research I settled on a DB Scout.

http://coriolis.io/outfit/diamondba...24120002040l4002292o.Iw1-kA==.Aw1-kA==?bn=DBS

I enjoy flying the ship but find myself doing a Brave Sir Robin more than I did in the Vulture ;) I wonder if there is a more efficient build or perhaps a better ship for the above? A little more cargo would be good. How about the Cobra IV or the Viper IV?


Any advice much appreciated.
 
Last edited:

PeachSlices

P
I am spec'ing one of these out at the moment, it will be a second ship for CG's etc, running bounty vouchers or combat bonds etc. and when my group gets big enough it will be the ship that will run others down if they high wake.

This is the build I will make tommorow.

I give you WhiperSnapper:

http://coriolis.io/outfit/diamondba...29296b.AwRj4yKA.Aw1kExQzK1A=?bn=WhiperSnapper

I think perhaps you could be forgiven for thinking that this can fulfil a few roles, it is a scout, it has a great range and doesnt need a fuel scoop for instance.

The instance when this thing would be perfect is if a big ship is running and you send this build after it.
 
Last edited:

Myristyl

Myristyl
I was thinking that the med weapons should be multi-cannons. It is a great ship but it does take a long time to destroy the larger ships.
I will try the bi-weave shield but do I really need the extra shield booster? I find the heat sink useful for escaping angry Annie's.

How does a Viper Mk IV compare? The speed and agility of the DBS is such an advantage.
 

RG-870

RG-870
You usually take out shields with energy weapons, then use ballistics (and energy weapons) for the hull / internals. Due to the penalty system (penalty against hull, no penalty against shields) it makes sense to use the hull crackers in your biggest hardpoints. You will see a big difference in taking down medium & bigger sized ship hulls with medium multi cannons compared to the small ones while the small beams still work well against shields and modules. On medium and large ships you should ALWAYS target their subsystems if you're using gimballed weapons. The power plant still is the best spot to take down bigger ships.
 
Last edited:

GammaZ

G
While DBS is excellent fighter, i find its internals to be by far too limiting for multipurpose use. And additionaly you cannot expect it to take large ships down fast/easy, it has only class 3 distributor after all...
Cobra IV/Viper IV... you can try them, but if you did not like ASP you will probably hate this ships, too slow and sluggish.
If you have enough money/ranks you can try FAS, while big this ship is surprisingly maneuverable/fast and have enough internals to add scoop/interdictor/cargo/SRV etc...
 
Last edited:

Myristyl

Myristyl
I have equipped medium cannons and small pulses. Although it takes a little longer for the shields to go down this is more than made up for with the hull damage. Thanks for the tip.
I have yet to try the bi-weave shields as there are no good outfitters in my current location.
The FAS looks great but very expensive to A rate. I just had a battle with one in my DBS which I only just won - limped back to the station with 30% hull and a blown canopy.

Good stuff :)
 

Myristyl

Myristyl
GammaZ said:
Cobra IV/Viper IV... you can try them, but if you did not like ASP you will probably hate this ships, too slow and sluggish
Click to expand...

So it seems that the Diamondback Scout is in a class of it's own as far as my needs go. I might try a Viper IV but as I am not an Ace Pilot I might have trouble staying alive.
 

GP40X

GP40X
You might give the Asp Explorer another try. Here is the ship and outfit I am currently saving for

http://coriolis.io/outfit/asp/35A5A...022tv6242f.Iw18WQ==.EwBj4ypBGEg=?bn=Cleopatra

Basically she is a more powerful version of my current ship, the Carol Joy

http://coriolis.io/outfit/cobra_mk_...0k0333B32i2f24.AwRj4yKA.IwBj4jXI?bn=Carol Joy

The Cleopatra can carry 40 ton of rares vs 16 with the Carol Joy and she is slower but two class one beams will strip most shields pretty quick then getting two class 2 and two class 1 multi cannons in the face or power plant will make an NPC have a really bad day. This build also has a pretty nice shield package with the Bi-weave and two shield boosters.

Here is the best build I can come up with for a DBS Rare Trader/Bounty Hunter.

http://coriolis.io/outfit/diamondba...=.IwBj4yKA?bn=DBS Rare Trader%2FBounty Hunter

I did a beam and a burst to keep deployed weapons power usage at 100%. HTH
 
Last edited:

Dunkel Reynolds

Dunkel Reynolds
A couple of medium cannons can put a hurting on the larger power plants, but the multicannons are obviously better for taking down smaller ships in a hurry just by chewing up the hull.

With the small shield strength we're talking about here, I think the bi-weave is the way to go...you don't lose that much overall strength, but they regenerate quite a bit faster.
 

CariadocThorne

C
+1 for Bi-weave, when you fly something as quick and nimble as the DBS, you shouldn't find it too hard to stay mostly out of your opponents crosshairs for the short time it takes the shields to regenerate, add a little armor and you will barely take any damage before the shields are back up.

Something a lot of people miss when making builds for the DBS is that you often don't need a class 4 powerplant. Dropping to a 3A, or even a 2A (with everything non-essential shutting down while weapons are deployed), saves weight, and you really want the DBS as closs to 210 tons as possible. At around 210 tons, the DBS is one of the fastest ships in the game (significantly faster than a totally min-maxed FDL, close to clipper/courier/orca), and is fantastically maneuverable. It's also quite easy to get at least close to 210 tons without sacrificing much.

Edit: This is the build I'm currently using to train myself to hit more with fixed weapons
http://coriolis.io/outfit/diamondback/02A4A4D2D3D2D3C1a1a--0003--43252t69.Iw1-kA==.CwBjEYxAmXvSMTGEA===?bn=FW%20Trainer%20Mk.1

This is a build I often use for farming RES, or other PvE combat
http://coriolis.io/outfit/diamondback/03A4A4D2D3D2A3C272718180003--B4252t69.Iw1-kA==.CwBjEYxAmXvSMTGEA===?bn=RES%20Farmer




 
Last edited:

Kaybe

Kaybe
I've flown and love the Diamondback Scout. That being said, it's internals are very limited.

Assuming you can get Rank 3 with Empire, have you considered the Imperial Courier? It has a decent number of internals and you can get a fuel scoop, a small bit of cargo space for running missions, a single SRV hangar, and some shields. I also added an Advanced Discovery Scanner because I hate not knowing what's in a system I've never been in ;) And A rated, it's cost is around the same as the Diamondback Scout.

http://edshipyard.com/#/L=707,7u57u54yG01Q0_g0_g3wU,2-6Q4s4s2C4s3m5A,05U4zM7O21IM03w2UI

Please note that the Courier is a VERY light ship, so it suffers more than nearly any other ship in terms of added weight. In fact, you can really strip down it down for exploration and get an over 25LY jump range. In this regard, the Diamondback Scout is better as it can be fully combat boosted and still retain an over 20 LY jump range.
 

stigvader

S
I really liked the diamond back scout as a starter exploration ship. But now it feeling its limitations. If it had 1 more class 1 bay to fit the discovery or surface scanner it would be fixed otherwise its not fit for horizons exploration unless you drop the shields or fuel scoop.

Next step up is the diamond back explorer or grinding ranks for a courier. - neither of these really qualifies as a starter explorer

I wish they would move scanners to dedicated utility mounts instead of "wasting" internal compartments
 

Serephina

S
I've just started using a DBS and I absolutely LOOOOVE it! :) Originally I was using multi-cannons for small and beam lasers for medium hardpoints... Then I read the comment about multi-cannons doing a lot more damage to hull in the medium slot, which actually makes sense and sounds like a really good idea. However, when I've gone to swap them around I've found that it takes my power use over the limit... Isn't there some kind of cool power management thing you can do to get them to work rather than having to swap around my internals around to give me more power?
 

RG-870

RG-870
Use priorities and set everything not required for combat (Cargo Hatch, Fuel Scoop, FSD etc.) to higher priorities. Those modules will then go offline if you deploy hardpoints. You can check on Coriolis shipbuilder if this helps. If not, you have to downgrade some equipment.
 

CariadocThorne

C
I've been playing around with weapons recently to find a setup which lets me play to the DBS's strengths (speed and maneuverability) by minimising the strain on my WEP capacitor, allowing me to put more pips to engines.

The loadout I came up with eventually was a plasma accelerator and 3 frag cannons (2 class 1s and a class 2). It sounds like an odd combo, but the DBS has the speed and agility to stick to a target at point blank range, where the PA can quickly take shields down and the frags absolutely shred hulls, and can even do quite a lot against shields, which helps with tricky targets like eagles as the spread catches them nicely where the PA would likely miss.

Flying with 2 pips to WEP, I never overheat my weapons, and I can put 3.5 pips to engines for serious speed.

It's been destroying opponents as fast as any loadout I've run with 3 or 4 pips to WEP, I'm getting hit a lot less in 1v1, and it's the most fun I've had flying the DBS in combat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom