Ships It's called the Phantom because it's undead!

[CMDRQuainMarln]

This is what happens when you start a second CMDR account, forget you don't have engineered shields of 1000MJ+ (only about 300MJ) and lay into a wing of one Anaconda plus 3 sidewinders.
Fortunately Prof Palin has been let loose on this Phantom, so a speedy escaped was JUST possible.
Remaining hull strength was...

 

[Eeka]

I feel that taking a Phantom to combat is like bringing a ballerina into a MMA octogon.

Why not bring her jacked twin, the MK2, instead?

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

I feel that taking a Phantom to combat is like bringing a ballerina into a MMA octogon.

Why not bring her jacked twin, the MK2, instead?

My primary commanders main ship is a Krait MKII max engineered to last through high intensity CZs.

This Phantom is specifically designed to be fast and as agile as it can be for "special operations" missions for adding influence to factions. The extra speed over the Krait II makes it quicker to get out of mass lock and saves time.
I do use a iCourier for this type of activity, but it's not really big enough to carry the limpets for a bigger stack of black box recovery missions and it's even worse than Phantom for combat in a light weight 850m/s boost set up. It's amazing at winning elections with simple data courier missions - never wait to dock at an outpost.
The Phantom is set up with everything for special operations and multi cannons and missiles so only one pip needed on weapons. More pips for engines to make it agile. For combat, it's meant for single target assassination missions (stacked with other missions needing limpets etc.) and I admit I used it for pirate massacre which it's not really designed for and I almost paid the price....

 

[exarp]

I feel that taking a Phantom to combat is like bringing a ballerina into a MMA octogon.

Why not bring her jacked twin, the MK2, instead?

Phantom has fewer weapon slots than Mk II but ruthless overcharging weapons is possible in comparison
The agility and the additional boost is especially noticeable with fixed weapons, targets are easier to hit

Neither the Mk II nor the Phantom is better suited for combat, it depends on the purpose and fighting style

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

Phantom has fewer weapon slots than Mk II but ruthless overcharging weapons is possible in comparison
The agility and the additional boost is especially noticeable with fixed weapons, targets are easier to hit

Neither the Mk II nor the Phantom is better suited for combat, it depends on the purpose and fighting style

My main account (Quain) has used a Phantom as an explorer for months now.
Dressing up a Phantom for combat is a fairly new experience. I'm not sure about using the Phantom in CZs yet, but as a ship for one on one combat with a pirate interdictor, or a pirate/terrorist assassination/kill order mission, it might actually be better than the Krait II. With multi cannons and missiles I can have 3 or 4 pips on engines giving a far better turn rate than the Krait II using power hungry weapons. That and the fairly substantial speed and boost turn rate advantage gives the Phantom more time on target.
I think I'll take the Krait II for CZs, though. The extra shield strength and shield cell bank capacity (class 6 Vs Phantom class 5) matters in this environment, and you have more bigger slower ships to fight where the extra large hard point on the Krait II helps.

 

[exarp]

when you wanna try
this builds for example works (for me) great in c.z:

Krait Phantom
https://s.orbis.zone/ihwm

Krait MK II
https://s.orbis.zone/ihwu

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

when you wanna try
this builds for example works (for me) great in c.z:

Krait Phantom
https://s.orbis.zone/ihwm

in comparison a similar build
Krait MK II
https://s.orbis.zone/ihwu

Interesting that you are going for weaker shields and hull tank. I find that I get ships like the DBS or ASP Scout with rail gins or similar sniping the weapons off my ship in PVE if I don't keep shields up. Mind you, circa 700MJ shields is not terrible. I'm still hopeless with railguns, and OK with PAs, but still do better with gimballed lasers and MCs.
I'm experimenting with missiles right now and should get access to pack hounds in a week or two.

My (Quain's) Krait II which has stopped evolving now, but I feel as if I'm always in it and I've had it from very early on in the game: https://s.orbis.zone/ihww
This one won't get pack hounds, the Phantom on my other account will.

 

[exarp]

Have so good as always fixed weapons on my builds, for practice (find plasmas easier too) and against chaff launcher
good rail tips: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/aiming-rails-with-xbox-controller.599400/

gimballed weapons can also be used rigidly by switching the target, but I find it difficult to hit targets / easy to lose the overview in the c.z
all in all it's about the ship feeling good for you, no doubt the mk II, you fly a great ship

 

[SergMx]

Some time ago gankers were very fond of the phantom. Playing reverse they shot and used auto-targeting rails.

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

Some time ago gankers were very fond of the phantom. Playing reverse they shot and used auto-targeting rails.

Where do I find auto targeting rail guns??

 

[SergMx]

Where do I find auto targeting rail guns??

I think it's the difficulty of translation. I mean the follow-up of the shot.
The further away the more accurate ...

 

[Three Stars]

Microgimbaling is the word you’re looking for.

I like the Phantom in principle for combat, but in practice I have trouble finding weapons that don’t work better either on the Mk II or on another ship entirely. APAs are pretty good. I’d love to do large fixed OC bursts or another abnormally low DPE thermal weapon because I could get away with it…but the large hardpoints are too widely set for my tastes for pure fixed.

It’s also juuuuust a bit slow in the turns. Certainly better than the mk II, but not as good as the Millennium Falcon it resembles.

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

Microgimbaling is the word you’re looking for.

I like the Phantom in principle for combat, but in practice I have trouble finding weapons that don’t work better either on the Mk II or on another ship entirely. APAs are pretty good. I’d love to do large fixed OC bursts or another abnormally low DPE thermal weapon because I could get away with it…but the large hardpoints are too widely set for my tastes for pure fixed.

It’s also juuuuust a bit slow in the turns. Certainly better than the mk II, but not as good as the Millennium Falcon it resembles.

Krait II and Phantom are both good at boost turns - you choose when to speed up the turn and hit boost. Run 4 pips on engines and all MCs and you get better turn rate without boost, but the MCs with incendiary rounds (so no autoloader) having to reload gets annoying. The FDL chooses when it wants to turn quicker when its at its sweet spot speed for turning well. I've not learned the FDL well enough to use it at its best, so find boost turning (the lazy option) is working better for me. Chieftain is also fun and has amazing boost strength compared to the Kraits if you like flipping 180 degrees and going back in the other direction. The ships are all so different.

 

[Three Stars]

Krait II and Phantom are both good at boost turns - you choose when to speed up the turn and hit boost. Run 4 pips on engines and all MCs and you get better turn rate without boost, but the MCs with incendiary rounds (so no autoloader) having to reload gets annoying. The FDL chooses when it wants to turn quicker when its at its sweet spot speed for turning well. I've not learned the FDL well enough to use it at its best, so find boost turning (the lazy option) is working better for me. Chieftain is also fun and has amazing boost strength compared to the Kraits if you like flipping 180 degrees and going back in the other direction. The ships are all so different.

The beauty is that you don’t even need pips in ENG to get several boosts out of it. The PD is so large and strong that it’s got tons of reserve. I think they hooked up that espresso machine in the cockpit to the thrusters.