Keelback and SLF, where have you been all my life?

Sonof Hibachi

Sonof Hibachi
Driving home from work this morning I decided that my Cobra and I had been getting a little bit close to grinding during my last couple of sessions, so I needed a distraction. I was ranking up in Imperial space as I like the look of their ships and I could probably afford to buy and fit an Imperial Courier if I got the rank, but I am not really one for the grind so thought I'd do something else for a bit.

Flicking through the shipyard in my current system, I saw the Keelback and the seed of an idea was born. Bought it, upgraded a few bits and then had to fly a few light years to get a fighter bay. Whilst in station I recruited Cole, a combat novice just like me, but at 55 grand and 6% I thought he'd be OK (if I'd known he'd have a North London accent, I'd have gone for someone else). Anyway, Cole is now first mate on the good ship Song to the Siren. I just wish he'd shut up once in a while!

I took a mission or two, launched and had a quick practice in the Taipan. After a bit of a struggle docking with my Keelback, I realised I was trying to do it upside down... made more sense to me that way but hey, what do I know about space?

Headed off on my first mission, got interdicted by an NPC, and I sent the first mate out in the fighter whilst I primed the Keelback's beams and cannons. The poor little Eagle MkII didn't stand a chance bless him. My beams melted his shields, my turreted cannons did their own thing and started shooting at space ducks and ghosts, but good old Cole swooped in with the Taipan to deliver the coup de grace. Completed the mission and on to the next one...

This time we (jeez, I am already thinking Cole is real, I'm saying "we") were interdicted by an Imperial Courier. I somewhat hesitantly left Cole at the helm of the Keelback and jumped into the Taipan. Bloody Nora it is scary when you are not in your ship but you can see an enemy doing it damage! However, the Taipan's fixed beams sorted the bad guys shields whilst the Keelback's cannons actually decided to shoot the enemy, and yet another naughty boy met his maker. As an aside, this little fighter might be a good way to learn how to use fixed weapons.

I am Sonof Hibachi, I am 46 years old and I think that in the last few hours, I have had more fun with a mouse and keyboard than I ever thought was possible.
 

Muzz UK

Muzz UK
I always found the Keelback to be underpowered or a little pointless I guess I just feel it needs another class 4 or 5 internal slot to make me look at it again.

The whole appeal is the fighter bay on a transport/trader ship making it a more tanky or combat focused option to the Type 6. 2 medium hard points are nice however the cargo size of the Keelback means I will never touch it. If it had another module slot with 16 to 32 cargo space I'd consider it for mining. There currently isn't a mining option in the small or medium class with a fighter bay.

The problem is you can trade with near enough the same cargo space in the Asp Explorer with excellent jump range and being as good at combat as the Asp is you don't need the fighter bay. The Keelback is meant to be a baby Type 9 but there's better ships.

The Asp has near enough the same cargo as the Keelback but with much better shields, weapons and speed so you don't need the fighters.

It sounds like you had a lot of fun it is indeed step up from the Cobra but that's where it ends.
 
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Sonof Hibachi

Sonof Hibachi
steve_muzz said:
I always found the Keelback to be underpowered or a little pointless I guess I just feel it needs another class 4 or 5 internal slot to make me look at it again.

The whole appeal is the fighter bay on a transport/trader ship making it a more tanky or combat focused option to the Type 6. 2 medium hard points are nice however the cargo size of the Keelback means I will never touch it. If it had another module slot with 16 to 32 cargo space I'd consider it for mining. There currently isn't a mining option in the small or medium class with a fighter bay.

The problem is you can trade with near enough the same cargo space in the Asp Explorer with excellent jump range and being as good at combat as the Asp is you don't need the fighter bay. The Keelback is meant to be a baby Type 9 but there's better ships.

The Asp has near enough the same cargo as the Keelback but with much better shields, weapons and speed so you don't need the fighters.

It sounds like you had a lot of fun it is indeed step up from the Cobra but that's where it ends.
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My friend, I believe you and I approach this game in different ways :D
 

Ouberos

Ouberos
I keep meaning to add a Keelback to my Pirate fleet.

That fighter could come in quite useful for tackling the smaller ships I tend to ignore. I think I will probably never own one of the 3 big ships but it's been my experience that the small ships are where the fun is at.
 

goemon

goemon
there is something very satisfying about the keelback as a carrier... i have a gunship and a keelback, mainly piloting the fighter in RES and at comp nav beacons. build the keelback for levelling my npc crew, but actually enjoying it more than my maxed out gunship. with the keelback, me in the fighter is the lead, and i help my crew to get the bad boys down. really nice teamwork, and allowing me to pilot a small ship (which i love) and hit above its size (where my eagle is struggling). with the gunship i can as well sit and watch from the fighter.
 

Lightspeed

Lightspeed
There is a good balance between the Keelback and the fighter working together in a RES. I too have found it very enjoyable, and it's been useful to undertaking planetary scan missions too.

I like the low rebuy cost for the Keelback compared to the bigger ships .... it makes me less nervous in tackling criminals. [heart]

PS +1 rep to OP for a good read.
 

Pville_Piper

Pville_Piper
The Keelie and a fighter is a good, fun combination. Have fun my friend!

steve_muzz said:
I always found the Keelback to be underpowered or a little pointless I guess I just feel it needs another class 4 or 5 internal slot to make me look at it again.
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It must be so tough having to make MILLIONS BILLIONS that you can't enjoy a lesser ship. I have found that a 16 or 32 cargo space is plenty for general mission running. But then, I could care less about making gobs of money. Taking a couple small transport jobs and seeing where they lead me is an adventure. Even the though the Python is a great ship and I have multiple rebuys I don't enjoy mission running in it like I do my DBX, Keelie or Vulture. Just fun ships to fly and fun is what I'm after... Not mounds of credits. You should try it sometime.
 
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Muzz UK

Muzz UK
Pville_Piper said:
The Keelie and a fighter is a good, fun combination. Have fun my friend!



It must be so tough having to make MILLIONS BILLIONS that you can't enjoy a lesser ship. I have found that a 16 or 32 cargo space is plenty for general mission running. But then, I could care less about making gobs of money. Taking a couple small transport jobs and seeing where they lead me is an adventure. Even the though the Python is a great ship and I have multiple rebuys I don't enjoy mission running in it like I do my DBX, Keelie or Vulture. Just fun ships to fly and fun is what I'm after... Not mounds of credits. You should try it sometime.
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I actually don't own any large ships all my ships are small and medium and money isn't my objective you've judged wrong. I have an FDL and Gunship for combat engineered and an ASP that I use for passenger missions and mission running. I very rarely when bored take out my old Viper for a spin which I've owned since launch. I don't really trade or mine much but when I do it's in the Type 6 or 7 just for cargo space. Honesty don't believe the Keelback is good enough for mission running due to its shields. Perhaps the fighter with 2 med hardpoints is good enough....... I feel it's a trader ship or mining ship by class maybe small passenger one, of course you can use any ship for any task that's down the the player and the fun. Just saying on a personal note more ships do what the Keelback do so much better. If it had that extra 16 or 32 tonnes of space we'd see so many more of them.
 
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masCh

masCh
Love this post.. the Keelback was my first experience with SLF and it was tremendous fun. I now have a Gunship for powerplay upkeep and thought I'd go back to the Keelback for a cheap rebuy multicrew fun, but alas it is not meant to be.
 

Sonof Hibachi

Sonof Hibachi
Ouberos said:
I keep meaning to add a Keelback to my Pirate fleet.

That fighter could come in quite useful for tackling the smaller ships I tend to ignore. I think I will probably never own one of the 3 big ships but it's been my experience that the small ships are where the fun is at.
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Hadn't thought of this but this should surely be a great pirate combo, plenty of fire power to take down the mark and plenty of cargo space. I have never fired the first shot at another player, but now I am feeling evil...:D
 

Pville_Piper

Pville_Piper
steve_muzz said:
I actually don't own any large ships all my ships are small and medium and money isn't my objective you've judged wrong. I have an FDL and Gunship for combat engineered and an ASP that I use for passenger missions and mission running. I very rarely when bored take out my old Viper for a spin which I've owned since launch. I don't really trade or mine much but when I do it's in the Type 6 or 7 just for cargo space. Honesty don't believe the Keelback is good enough for mission running due to its shields. Perhaps the fighter with 2 med hardpoints is good enough....... I feel it's a trader ship or mining ship by class maybe small passenger one, of course you can use any ship for any task that's down the the player and the fun. Just saying on a personal note more ships do what the Keelback do so much better. If it had that extra 16 or 32 tonnes of space we'd see so many more of them.
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Okay,I'm wrong, I apologize... But with High Waking ANY ship can be a viable mission runner, which I define as just general tasks from the mission board, I tend to exclude combat type mission but that would be wrong by other people.

As a dedicated combat ship or even say a black box mission runner she is indeed very poor... The Fighter won't be much help when you get jumped by 4-6 ships even if the shields were better. A bit slow, and not very nimble, but against interdictions she is fun to fly with the fighter and she is a solid ship and handles nicely without any real vices.

The Keelie is an odd fit... To weak for extended combat, to small with cargo (with a fighter) for trade, you can't mine with a fighter and while she's a decent miner, she needs much more space for mining gear and extra 32 cargo wouldn't help too much but would be a start.

I love to fly her on skimmer and surface salvage missions and small trade runs, but I also love to use DBX and Vulture as well. I used her to complete my 5000Ly requirement for Palin and do some passenger missions as well, she's got some decent legs. For some reason, I just can't sell her even though I have plenty of ships.

The Viper is another ship that I don't have a lot of use for... I own one, it is engineered, but I'm not keen to fight her due to the bad hardpoint placement but she has an interesting personality and is fun to fly with the 3a enhanced thrusters.

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masCh said:
Love this post.. the Keelback was my first experience with SLF and it was tremendous fun. I now have a Gunship for powerplay upkeep and thought I'd go back to the Keelback for a cheap rebuy multicrew fun, but alas it is not meant to be.
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I was disappointed that it wasn't available for multicrew... It would have been a fun ship for that.

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goemon said:
not sure whether Na'Qan is still flying his keelback in PVP, but he did so for several months: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwrq8qV6D4s
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Man, he makes me eats my words about the Keelie and combat! Against a Ferdie no less!
 

JW667

JW667
OP, just be careful if you hand over the helm to your crewmember.

My Keelback was destroyed by an Anaconda NPC while I was flying the fighter.
The rebuy was low but I lost a deadly crewmeber, ranked up from harmless..... ouch.
 

DragonIV

DragonIV
JW667 said:
OP, just be careful if you hand over the helm to your crewmember.

My Keelback was destroyed by an Anaconda NPC while I was flying the fighter.
The rebuy was low but I lost a deadly crewmeber, ranked up from harmless..... ouch.
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I'm pretty sure I wouldn't even *think* of taking on an NPC Anaconda in a Keelback! That's a bit beyond brave, bordering on crazy in my book.

My AI does rather well in my Anaconda, but I do pick my battles carefully when I'm in the fighter.
 

Grumpy jawa

G
After trying packhounds on several small ship, I ended up in a Keelback.. 2x nodded hi mag packhounds and two beams (rigged to shed heat)

Slip fighter was great and it was supprisingly a great small ship that didn't melt after firing a few bursts of packhounds.

I loved it
 

Pville_Piper

Pville_Piper
JW667 said:
OP, just be careful if you hand over the helm to your crewmember.
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I recently hired a competent crew member. I was very surprised at how aggressive she was and she handled the fighter very well. So I wanted to have a bit of fun with the fighter and launched near a city and went to go zooming about the buildings. After leaving the ship with 4 pips to the shields, 2 pips to the thrusters and ordered her to hold her position I was on my way... After 2 passes I heard the call "shields down"... When I swapped places I found that the ship had no shields and 35% hull left. Yup, not letting her fly the big ship anymore!

Apparently they didn't teach some of the basics like "don't fly into the ground" at NPC Pilot school. :rolleyes:
 
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CMDR Corlas

CMDR Corlas
I have a lot of ships, including my engineered Corvette, Python, Gunship, Assault Ship, and more. Flown everything in the game at some point.

My Keelback is my go-to for running missions and surface base assaults. Fantastic ship.
 
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