Even at 55% they do more damage than C3 PAs whilst having a 6000m/s shot speed …
Is the Python MkII worth trying ...
- Thread starter tolm
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I bought the PII Stellar for ARX. I replaced the cargo rack with a Size 3 or 4 FSD Interdictor, Then I G5 engineered just about everything. The rebuy is about 340,000CR, because its the stellar.
inara.cz
It boosts up to 562m/s or so.
It has 4 MCs and 2 Pulse.
I have used it for: "go kill so many of these passenger ships" missions, killing Federal System Security in a CG system, outrunning ATR when they showed up, outrunning "PvPers" at the CG, general bounty hunting and assassination missions. I'm currently at Deadly rank.
In all of that activity, I have died about 4 times in the PII. 3 to "PvPers" and once to stupidity...
For PvE, its good, kills would be faster with different weapons but it gets the job done, can take out roughly 6 to 8 Fed SysSec (with my current skill level) before hull starts getting low, the shield, and boosters are great. It has opened up parts of the game that I was hesitant to take on before now...
For PvP, it can run away from most, and possibly all, attackers...depending on strategy and situational awareness...I'm hoping the T-8 has enough speed to run cargo AND survive PvP interdictions...
For example gameplay, several of my recent YouTube videos feature the PII. In case its helpful, here is a playlist of them https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbtbZIB8TwfUCZuspot_As1phkpcc4W4r
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inara.cz
It boosts up to 562m/s or so.
It has 4 MCs and 2 Pulse.
I have used it for: "go kill so many of these passenger ships" missions, killing Federal System Security in a CG system, outrunning ATR when they showed up, outrunning "PvPers" at the CG, general bounty hunting and assassination missions. I'm currently at Deadly rank.
In all of that activity, I have died about 4 times in the PII. 3 to "PvPers" and once to stupidity...
For PvE, its good, kills would be faster with different weapons but it gets the job done, can take out roughly 6 to 8 Fed SysSec (with my current skill level) before hull starts getting low, the shield, and boosters are great. It has opened up parts of the game that I was hesitant to take on before now...
For PvP, it can run away from most, and possibly all, attackers...depending on strategy and situational awareness...I'm hoping the T-8 has enough speed to run cargo AND survive PvP interdictions...
For example gameplay, several of my recent YouTube videos feature the PII. In case its helpful, here is a playlist of them https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbtbZIB8TwfUCZuspot_As1phkpcc4W4r
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How do you figure? A fully charged mod plasma does (8.3*17) * 0.55 = 77.6 MJ of damage to NPC ships and costs a ton of power. A stock large (class 3) PA does 83.4 MJ of damage at base, and you can engineer that to your heart’s content.
Notably the stock Plasma Accelerator has 20% Thermal and 20% Kinetic available to be resisted partially, bringing its damage approximately the same as the class 2 modified Plasma Charger with its 50% Anti-xeno damage portion being 90% resisted.
Indeed from there, a Plasma Accelerator can receive damage-related engineering, meanwhile the Azimuth product could be considered to have a super-fast-shot-speed modification with a charge-it-up-in-advance experimental effect. Without that class 3 advantage, a more interesting comparison is with a class 2 Plasma Accelerator, which needs some damage engineering merely to catch up with the class 2 modified Plasma Charger!
Indeed from there, a Plasma Accelerator can receive damage-related engineering, meanwhile the Azimuth product could be considered to have a super-fast-shot-speed modification with a charge-it-up-in-advance experimental effect. Without that class 3 advantage, a more interesting comparison is with a class 2 Plasma Accelerator, which needs some damage engineering merely to catch up with the class 2 modified Plasma Charger!
I can’t remember which mod it was but it speeds up the plasma accelerator projectile is pretty essential.
The chieftain is very agile so it works really well. Not tried the new python yet so can’t say how that might work
This is what really irks me about the ship. Not only is it pretty much locked into the combat role the way it is set up, but also into that particular build, because the size 6 plant and distributor are so limiting. That said, I've come up with a laser/mc/rail build that barely manages without overcharging the powerplant.
Yes, it is much worth trying. Do this and you will get very little sleep:
s.orbis.zone
Add collector limpets for the juicy mats. This thing seems to attract
endless wanted T-10's and Anacondas.
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
s.orbis.zone
Add collector limpets for the juicy mats. This thing seems to attract
endless wanted T-10's and Anacondas.
Hmm … maybe I’m off / have been comparing to C2 PAs …
Even so … that 77.6 is all absolute so no resists to account for.
PA is 60% absolute, 20% Thermal and 20% Kinetic so depending on resists the overall damage per shot could drop significantly. Assuming 30% resist for one only (depending on hull vs shield) that’s 50 + 16.7 + 11.7 =~ 78
Then there’s mag size and reload speed - both of which are in the Mod Plasma Chargers favour.
All of which I believe means the DPS will be higher for the Mod Plasma Chargers but perhaps not by as much as I was initially thinking.
The power requirements are obviously a huge drawback, though.
But actually hitting is the main thing: 6000m/s makes it trivial and you can’t engineer a PA anywhere near that.
Also … the damage is coming from your C2 hardpoints … meaning you have some C3s spare for something that would otherwise have been smaller: be it Lasers or MultiCannons, etc.
Still, no one chooses to use a stock PA unless they have no engineer access or are in some kind of self-imposed challenge. So, comparing a pre-engineered MGPC against a stock PA is stacking the deck in favor of the MGPC.
For the Python Mk 2 specifically, I’d probably compare it against an efficient c3 PA as the practical choice since there’s not much power or PD headway to stack non-efficient PAs. For an actual damage comparison I’d choose either an Overcharged or Short Range PA as the basis of comparison, since MGPCs have Overcharged in their mix.
The shot speed is nice for the MGPC, but learning how to hit with a projectile that isn’t moving at 6000 m/s is part of the learning curve of the game.
For me it depends what I want to hit:
- ASP upwards a PA is fine
- Anything smaller & faster … MGPC
Will probably be end up with Beams and MCs as I always do … dull but it works!
It runs on rails, but thats it. It has a C6 powerplant and a C6 distro (while a krait has them both in C7), and less internals than a Fer de Pants.
That extra large hardpoint is nice, but you struggle to find the power for it.
Optimized for SCO, it runs away very nice. Maybe thats its best defense after all.
That extra large hardpoint is nice, but you struggle to find the power for it.
Optimized for SCO, it runs away very nice. Maybe thats its best defense after all.
I enjoy the P2. Its zippy and handles the ECO thrust (as it is supposed to). Also, it looks nice. Doesn't feel like it is made of paper.
You have a highly manueverable ship with four size 3 hardpoints with good convergence, and you don't put APA's on it...
And yes, a size 1 fuel scoop would be usless, but auto-dock is less than useless. A hull reinforcement would help you balance resistances. Or you could use a FSD intertictor. It wouldn't have any range, but it would still be infinitely more usefull than a docking computer.
And yes, a size 1 fuel scoop would be usless, but auto-dock is less than useless. A hull reinforcement would help you balance resistances. Or you could use a FSD intertictor. It wouldn't have any range, but it would still be infinitely more usefull than a docking computer.
I still find a use for the auto dock on some of my ships. If I'm finishing up a gameplay loop, say BH'ing, BGS missions etc, I often use it too land my ship whilst I goto the toilet, make a cup of tea, grab a chocolate biscuit or 3. Then when I come back to the keyboard I can hand in bounties/missions, change ship and be out and start something different.
Anything that speeds up the acquisition of chocolate biscuits is a win in my book.
While not disagreeing with the important point in your post I have to say that on the ships that have it I almost never let the DC run unsupervised.
Well, tonight didn't go as expected ... I downloaded the update and picked up a Python MkII, fully expecting to begrudging like it and have yet another ship to sit alongside my Mamba, and Chieftain to jostle for "combat barge" duties. I tried it with a C3 Beam under the nose, three C3 MCs and then either two Mod Plasmas or two Rails. Sure, it was effective but it felt a bit "meh" to be honest: the cockpit looks exactly like the MkI and the left-hand pilots seat it just weird.
So I wound up tweaking my Mamba build instead and landed on something I found quite fun ...
Core Internals
The usual A-grade / D-Grade combos engineered appropriately - including a G5 Armoured PP with Monstered for a nice cool 35% but plenty of power
Optional Internals
5C BiWeave (Reinforced / Fast Charge) + 2x Thermal Boosters and 4x Resistance Augmented Boosters
4A Fuel Scoop
3H FSD Booster
2x 2E Cargo Racks
1B Collector Limpet Controller
Hardpoints
3C and 1E Beam Lasers (Long Range / Thermal Vent) on the LHS
3C and 1F MCs (Overcharged / AutoLoader and High Capacity / Corrosive) on the RHS
4A Plasma Accelerator (G2 Focused) up top
This gives a 30LY jump range and a decent scooping rate (without overheating) for getting about the bubble along with enough cargo space to take a couple of salvage missions simultaneously alongside any megaship/planetary scan or courier missions you want to augment your earnings with.
It also gives 1000MJ of shields with 50% resist for Thermal, 68% Kinetic and 73% Explosive alongside a frankly disturbing level of firepower ... the two LR Beams take care of shields nicely and for anything small/fast/low-level the MCs are all you need to finish them off. But when something bigger comes along the PA packs a great punch both to augment shield stripping and also against hull ... especially if the corrosive effect has been applied from the small MC before you fire the big gun.
And, of course, you get the Mamba's lovely cockpit and 610+ boost ...
So I wound up tweaking my Mamba build instead and landed on something I found quite fun ...
Core Internals
The usual A-grade / D-Grade combos engineered appropriately - including a G5 Armoured PP with Monstered for a nice cool 35% but plenty of power
Optional Internals
5C BiWeave (Reinforced / Fast Charge) + 2x Thermal Boosters and 4x Resistance Augmented Boosters
4A Fuel Scoop
3H FSD Booster
2x 2E Cargo Racks
1B Collector Limpet Controller
Hardpoints
3C and 1E Beam Lasers (Long Range / Thermal Vent) on the LHS
3C and 1F MCs (Overcharged / AutoLoader and High Capacity / Corrosive) on the RHS
4A Plasma Accelerator (G2 Focused) up top
This gives a 30LY jump range and a decent scooping rate (without overheating) for getting about the bubble along with enough cargo space to take a couple of salvage missions simultaneously alongside any megaship/planetary scan or courier missions you want to augment your earnings with.
It also gives 1000MJ of shields with 50% resist for Thermal, 68% Kinetic and 73% Explosive alongside a frankly disturbing level of firepower ... the two LR Beams take care of shields nicely and for anything small/fast/low-level the MCs are all you need to finish them off. But when something bigger comes along the PA packs a great punch both to augment shield stripping and also against hull ... especially if the corrosive effect has been applied from the small MC before you fire the big gun.
And, of course, you get the Mamba's lovely cockpit and 610+ boost ...
Meh
I've now abandoned all aspirations of "general purpose" from this build and switched the cargo / limpet controller for GSBs to increase shields for a pure hunter-killer!
For a general use mission-runner I've repurposed my long distance Krait Phantom ... 32T cargo plus repair, refuel and collector limpets; 5A pre-engineered FSD / 5H FSD booster (50 LY range) + a 5A fuel scoop; 6C bi-weave reinforced shields, 2 resistance augmented boosters and a single GSB (650 MJ shields); an SRV and a couple of point defences for doing Guardian sites; 6A engineered thrusters for around 425 top-speed / 590 boost; and a pair each of C2 Efficient / TV Beam Lasers and C3 Overcharged / Corrosive MCs in the event it needs to defend itself... stone me it don't half handle well!! This one feels like a proper "home ship" to go off and explore the bubble and it's small enough that it should be able to land pretty much anywhere to cover on-foot Odyssey missions, too.