It's an entirely different kind of flying, altogether!

[Arvel Yael]

Meet the A.Y.S. Redoubt.

She's my main ship. Her job is to wander into RES sites, find the biggest group of bad guys, and fly in small circles while her turrets shoot at things above me, below me, and (as often as I can manage it), in front of me.

She's a beautiful girl, but she is not the star of this story.

Meet the A.Y.S. Lupus Rex.

You remember him right? I got him when I was fairly new, before I knew what engineering was, and expected a decent ship to make up for my deficiencies as a pilot. At the time, he didn't, and I left him - through no fault of his own - in the hangar as a failed experiment.

Well, coming up on the 2,500 hour mark and being eager for that Triple Elite badge, I decided after ratting in the belts for a couple of weeks in the big lumbering Redoubt, getting used to the glacial turn rate (and the fact that anything fired from anywhere in the belt would probably hit me) I decided I'd give something a little smaller a spin. So I spent most of today engineering the heck out of the FDL to give him the sort of build I wanted. He's a work in progress

I had a link to the fit on coriolis but it wasn't playing nice and would only link to the stock FDL fit. One moment...
Here we go.

Not perfect and doesn't show the engineering on each module, but it's a start.

He's intended to be a shield tank with a strong resistance to thermal weapons (since the pirates in the belt generally use lasers and whatnot, and missile launchers and autocannon are rare, there).
His weapons are 5x beam lasers, one class four, four class 2s. They have the Thermal Vent experimental effect so provided I hit what I'm shooting at, I have to wear mittens and a scarf on the flight deck. And just to be on the safe side, G5 dirty drives gives him a boost speed of 560m/s approx, so I can hightail it if I need to.

Took him into the belts and had a bit of fun just screaming around the asteroids at 560M/S. Eventually though, a few bad guys appeared and it was time to have a bit of a play around and see how things went.

At first, things didn't go well. I still had my Type 10 hat on, and I lost two rings of shields fighting a deadly FDL winged with a master FDS. But, I got the hang of it and started working my way through a few, then a few dozen pirates. At one point I was down to a single dim ring of blue on the shields, and damn they take a long time to recharge, but I survived and carried on fighting. The shields take a long time to recharge but they evidently take a long time to be battered down too.

It feels weird having to be pointing the ship at what I'm shooting at, having gotten so used to the turrets on the T10 practically doing the job as long as the bad guy was orbiting the same planet as me. I've gotten used to using a primary and secondary trigger again (rather than just a "you may fire when ready" button) but I'm still getting stuck in the space jousting routine where my opponent and I do figure-eights around each other.

The lasers are good out to about 4700m but that's hardly sporting.

So yeah. It's an entirely different kind of flying, altogether. Rather than doing loop the loops in the type 10, I find myself having to actually fly the FDL.

And you know, I think I like it. It's a lot more work, but there's a satisfaction to be had.

Now, if I could just get my fit perfected and work the kinks out of the setup. I'm sure I've made some glaring errors somewhere. Any advice on flying the thing, or even on fitting him, is appreciated.

But yeah, it's been a good day.

 

[Arvel Yael]

Day Two

The ship and I are getting used to each other now, and I'm starting to get accustomed to him.

First, the ship emphasises that just like last time, the FDL is a ship that rewards attention and finesse, and equally, punishes blundering in and knocking everything over. I'm beginning to develop a much lighter touch to keep the weapons pointing where I want them, and I've learned to be constantly on top of power management, switching quickly from four pips in weapons on the way in to four pips in engines on the way out. Rather than pulling up alongside and having a slugging match as I do in the T10, the FDL seems to be a case of in, hit, out, regroup, repeat.

There are exceptions - if I can get in the upper rear quarter of an Anaconda or Python - and stay there, they're down to 50% hull before they can land a hit on me. If things look like they're starting to get out of hand, I can boost out to about 5km, let them close the distance a little, and use another new trick I've learned - Targeting a subsystem on the ship gives you a nice red reticle that really makes the target stand out. Handy if you need to fly backwards and snipe from 4500m, which is perfectly doable in this build. The finesse and fine control I'm starting to develop really comes in handy here because even with the little aiming servos that fixed weapons have, you need a fine touch to snipe at that range. And, if I'm coming from a distance, I can use the huge beam to soften up the target before opening up at closer range with a variation on the In-Out tactic.
It's a work in progress but it seems to work well.

Of course, on smaller ships, a good alpha strike with all five weapons will really limit the amount of time they have to fire back before I can asplode them.

All five lasers firing and I'm at 23% heat. I frequently have ice on my cockpit windows while the other ship's controls are too hot to touch!​

I was going to swap out the fixed 4D beam for a gimballed 4D beam, but I decided not to. The rats round here pop chaff like it's going out of fashion, and I always like to imagine the bad guys there in their cockpits laughing as their chaff confuses the attackers, only for their smile to turn to a frown when my 4D laser punches right through it.

I still need to explore other options for the shields, because they soak up a lot of punishment but when they start to go down, they take minutes to bring back up to full strength.

But to say it's only the second day, I think the FDL is starting to turn into the sort of ship I always hoped it'd be!

 

[rrobes]

It is traditional to refer to ships using the “female” gender. The ship is considered a mother figure that protects her crew.

But times change and maybe “male” ship gender deserve equal opportunity.

But keep your “he” ship away from my “she” ship, don’t trust spacers!

 

[The Roofus]

It is traditional to refer to ships using the “female” gender. The ship is considered a mother figure that protects her crew.

In English, sure. All French ships are masculine, as are Russian afaik.

In German ships are neutral gender, except when they're warships and are named after someone in which case they're referred to as masculine (ie, it's der Bismark, not die Bismark)

 

[ekbot]

I just want to tell you both, "Good luck." We're all counting on you.

 

[Quantis Trap]

Good job OP! It's always hart warming to see when commanders start making the journey from mindless turret tanking to actual fighting!

 

[Arvel Yael]

It is traditional to refer to ships using the “female” gender. The ship is considered a mother figure that protects her crew.

But times change and maybe “male” ship gender deserve equal opportunity.

But keep your “he” ship away from my “she” ship, don’t trust spacers!

Other comments notwithstanding, for the most part I agree. But it would be a bit weird to name a ship Lupus Rex and refer to it as a she, wouldn't it?
He'd be a she if he was named Lupus Regina, but he's not, so he's a he! I spose I could have named him Der Wolfskönig to hammer the point home, but hey!

 

[CMDR Serra]

It's an entirely different kind of flying, altogether!​

"It's an entirely different kind of flying."

 

[Arvel Yael]

Day 3: Learning to take advantage of those long-range lasers.

But first, I was going through the specs on the FDL. Looks like when I upgraded the drives, I forgot to add an experimental effect. So I dragged him all the way out to Palin's Palace (well what I actually did was fly out there in the AspEx and pay to have the FDL (with its ridiculous 18LY jump range) transferred over). Down to the planet and time to add those experimental effects.

5A Thrusters, Grade 5 Dirty Drives, Drag Drives experimental effect. Cruise speed is higher, at the expense of a (very slightly) reduced boost speed. 410ms and 553ms respectively.

It came in handy earlier when I opened up on a Vulture without checking who his wingmate was, and ended up with an Elite Anaconda chasing me across the belt. I couldn't take them on at the same time, so I ended up kiting the vulture out away from the Anaconda and shooting him down first, by which time the enemy Anaconda was surrounded by a number of System Security anacondas, whos sole role in the situation was to watch him ineffectually flinging plasma accelerator bolts across the kilometers seperating us and go "Ooh, I wonder what he's doing. Should we do something?" "Nah, COPS is on HyperTV".

But the FDL's excellent engines meant that I can move backwards faster than the anaconda can move forwards, and when I use it by itself (it's mapped to a seperate fire button), the main gun can be fired indefinitely without overheating. Which came in handy

4km away, an Anaconda pilot is getting a little hot under the collar.​

I wasn't very pleased with the way that fight went - ducking out to 4km+ away feels like a cheap shot, but I guess there's no point having long range beams if you're not gonna use them, right? As a shield tank with poor armour, I was on one ring of shields with an elite anaconda's guns pointing at me and so frankly, I didn't want to take the risk. It's not stupid if it works, discretion is the better part of valor, whatever platitude works for you I suppose.

I'm having some second thoughts about the gimballed 2Ds, they don't seem to do a whole lot - In a quartet and particularly when teamed with the 4D they work well but they seem a little weedy without the huge laser... But I spend a lot of time in the belts and having to sod off back to the station every 20 minutes or whatever to refill with ammunition would get old really fast.

That aside though, I'm really pleased with the FDL. He doesn't quite take down targets in the industrial quantities that the T-10 does (though he's not far behind), but instead I have the opportunity to give each kill that personal touch - when the enemy ship explodes, my nose is pointing at it and my finger is on the trigger.

For a change, I swapped ships later on, and took the Komatsu round grabbing materials to try and replace the large amounts of various materials I used when engineering the balls out of the Lupus Rex.

The Komatsu is a fine ship too
​

Apparently there's an issue on Coriolis at the moment where it won't preserve/display engineered modules when ship loadouts are exported by Inara. When that's fixed I'll share the build as it currently is, and gratefully field advice on the build to see how it can be improved. I'm wondering if I can make it even better, and if I've made any scary mistakes.

So far though, I'd say that the FDL continues to be effective. If the T10 is a warhammer - solid, chunky, packing a punch, then the FDL is a stiletto. Small, fragile, easily snapped if abused, but devastating if used properly.

I wouldn't call myself a good FDL pilot by any accounts, but things are going pretty damn well!

 

[Ted Striker]

This is my kind of thread

 

[Riverside]

I wouldn't call myself a good FDL pilot by any accounts, but things are going pretty damn well!

You are having fun learning, that's what's important

 

[EvoBeardy]

Surprised you're not running Rails and Frags on your FDL, if going by its namesake (if it's what I'm thinking it is...).

My Vulture Exia has Frags because of the focus on CQ.

 

[Bigmaec]

I suggest adding a corrosive multicannon.
Shortens your ttk considerably.

 

[Deleted member 182079]

In German ships are neutral gender, except when they're warships and are named after someone in which case they're referred to as masculine (ie, it's der Bismark, not die Bismark)

This isn't true I'm afraid. It's similar as in English, while the noun for "ship" is indeed gender neutral, as soon as a vessel is referred to by their name that switches to feminine. So it's indeed called "Die Bismarck" and this applies to all ships not just war ones.

Good thread OP. I got into the FdL very late in my game (hating it for being the PvP meta) but recently built an AX version and it's a lot of fun (and very capable).

 

[sidereal6]

(well what I actually did was fly out there in the AspEx and pay to have the FDL (with its ridiculous 18LY jump range) transferred over).

How much did that cost you? Had to transfer it out there, then transfer it back, right?

here’s a tip for next time: that AspX you flew out there also has grade 5 thrusters. So, you install the fdl thrusters on the AspX and you’d have no transfer fees at all.

Until you get a fleet carrier, it’s worth your while to have the following three ships in lightweight, stripped-down, long range configurations:

1. a DBX. It has a large hard point. Use it to engineer most weapons. Fly the DBX to the engineer and transfer the weapons not the warship

2. an AspX for the situation described above.

3. a conda (if you can afford it) for engineering huge weapons. If you do this a lot it will eventually pay for itself. Remember, you don’t even need shields. Just a good jump range and that huge hard point. Maybe some fuel tanks.

 

[The Roofus]

This isn't true I'm afraid. It's similar as in English, while the noun for "ship" is indeed gender neutral, as soon as a vessel is referred to by their name that switches to feminine. So it's indeed called "Die Bismarck" and this applies to all ships not just war ones.

I stand corrected - I'm just going on what I read in a memoir, that the captains of both Bismarck and Prinz Eugen referred to their ships as male and demanded the crew did similar.

 

[Arvel Yael]

How much did that cost you? Had to transfer it out there, then transfer it back, right?

here’s a tip for next time: that AspX you flew out there also has grade 5 thrusters. So, you install the fdl thrusters on the AspX and you’d have no transfer fees at all.

Until you get a fleet carrier, it’s worth your while to have the following three ships in lightweight, stripped-down, long range configurations:

1. a DBX. It has a large hard point. Use it to engineer most weapons. Fly the DBX to the engineer and transfer the weapons not the warship

2. an AspX for the situation described above.

3. a conda (if you can afford it) for engineering huge weapons. If you do this a lot it will eventually pay for itself. Remember, you don’t even need shields. Just a good jump range and that huge hard point. Maybe some fuel tanks.

About 700k out to the space station closest to the planet, and another 500k from there to my...

...Fleet Carrier.

This one in fact.

I like your idea about swapping the modules over though, that never occured to me. I will probably do that in future, particularly re: the Anaconda. I can fit the weapons to my exploraconda which has a 70Ly jump range, go and engineer them, and then come back and put them on my FightyConda which doesn't have a 70Ly jump range.

 

[GraXXoR]

It is traditional to refer to ships using the “female” gender. The ship is considered a mother figure that protects her crew.

But times change and maybe “male” ship gender deserve equal opportunity.

But keep your “he” ship away from my “she” ship, don’t trust spacers!

I always presumed they were referred to as shes because you ride them...

But seriously, the whole concept of managing, maintaining, looking after, stocking etc... is called husbandry... So it stands to pass that traditionally the captain was "married" to their ship, hence the traditional epithet "she".

TBH, I always found the concept of calling machines "she" a bit weird.... I'm definitely an "it" person for sure.. And that includes not anthropomorphising animals with "he or she" and come to think of it, sometimes babies, for that matter...


As an afterthought, calling cars a she, particularly, considering they have a stiff, gleaming rod that you have to grip firmly with your palm and tug on repeatedly (in the case of a manual) to get any action, I always considered rather ironic.

 

[xzanfr]

Thanks for posting this.
I've got an FDL but struggled to find a loadout that worked with my (low) skill level, so left it moored up. Reading through this has given me encouragement to fire it back up and experiment with a similar loadout to yours.

Apparently there's an issue on Coriolis at the moment where it won't preserve/display engineered modules when ship loadouts are exported by Inara.

If you use ED market connector to upload directly to INARA you can click on the name of your ship (highlighted in the image below) and it brings up coriolis with the ship and all engineering in place.

 

[Arvel Yael]

Thanks for posting this.
I've got an FDL but struggled to find a loadout that worked with my (low) skill level, so left it moored up. Reading through this has given me encouragement to fire it back up and experiment with a similar loadout to yours.

If you use ED market connector to upload directly to INARA you can click on the name of your ship (highlighted in the image below) and it brings up coriolis with the ship and all engineering in place.

View attachment 225523

I'm glad you found it helpful. The FDL is pretty fun when it's set up properly. Be aware that my ship has a lot of engineering on it - G5 thrusters and FSD, G5 power distributor, G3 lasers, G5 shields, G3 shield boosters etc... So you won't get the same results out of the box. When I can eventually upload the engineered loadout, that will be handy.

Speaking of which I had a look at EDMC, I'm so tired right now half of it went over my head. I won't be messing around with it today, heh.