Ships Light Weight Courier Build Discussion

fergal · May 29, 2015

I've started this thread to get away from the general Courier discussion to focus on what seems to be working in the lighter versions that others have tried.

Specifically a Courier that has A3 Thrusters and FSD, one shield and at least one weapon.

The A2 shield is only 10% weaker than the A3, so is a no brainer to save weight, and the 4 size power plant is overkill too, so I get rid of that.

Moving the shield to a size 2 frees up the size 3 bay, which is normally good news, but this is my problem. What is everyone putting in there?

I've got an A3 fuel scoop in the other size 3 slot, D1 interdictor (0.5T) in a size 1 slot.

Autorepair has 0 mass, but I don't know if I would ever use it. What to do with the 2 x 2 and 1 x 3 slots?

puca · May 29, 2015

Why do you want a lighter build?

fergal · May 29, 2015

puca said:
Why do you want a lighter build?

Speed and jump range.
The 390 speed and 14LY jump range when you build heavy or "normal" doesn't really make the ship excel.

Starender · May 29, 2015

this ship has a lot of weight punishment, which is ironic because of the high amount of internals/weapons/utility

i understand this post cause I've been trying to get a decent build myself

Edit: this is the most balanced build i can think of http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=707,4yH4yH7u53wU01Q0_g0_g,2-6Q4s4s2C4s3I5A,mpU7O27dg

Edit2: a pirate/bounty hunter build http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=707,4yH4yH7u53wU01Q0_g0_g,2-6Q4s4s2C4s3I5A,4zM05U7O27dg03w5PU
the jump is 16 it's decent, the rest is good

fergal · May 29, 2015

I see an empty sidewinder in you edshipyard links.

AntiDisco · May 29, 2015

Seems like ED shipyard has removed the Courier and DB for now. Try http://coriolis.io/
Looking forward to this discussion, looked at some builds myself but without the possibility to fly it myself it doesn't make much sense.

fergal · May 29, 2015

AntiDisco said:
Seems like ED shipyard has removed the Courier and DB for now. Try http://coriolis.io/
Looking forward to this discussion, looked at some builds myself but without the possibility to fly it myself it doesn't make much sense.

That website is quite nice.

This is close to what I was using from what I remember:
http://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial_courier/03A3A3A1D3A2D2C1b1b0r0707000m022t013r0169

All the cargo racks are just there to fill up the slots, not sure what to put in.

Starender · May 29, 2015

here is what i would do if i were you: http://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial_courier/03A3A3A1D3A2A2C271b1b0606000l432t55--69

the shield of a vulture, the speed of a viper, enough weapons to kill anything (strong dps, low burst), average damage but very long sustain (use multicanon to regen)

18.6 jump range
a decent shield cell bank
the best sensor
a C rating KWS

you can choose between pulse, multicannon, and the other low power comsumption weapons

i don't think we can do better than that

Mephane · May 29, 2015

fergal said:
The A2 shield is only 10% weaker than the A3, so is a no brainer to save weight, and the 4 size power plant is overkill too, so I get rid of that.

Woah, I did not know that. I just tried the site others have used here, and with this knowledge, i could make a very, very tasty build. A rated everywhere, 500MJ shields, a plasma accelerator and still 12 ton cargo space. that's what i call a well-armed, well-protected...

Courier.

fergal · May 30, 2015

Mephane said:
Woah, I did not know that. I just tried the site others have used here, and with this knowledge, i could make a very, very tasty build. A rated everywhere, 500MJ shields, a plasma accelerator and still 12 ton cargo space. that's what i call a well-armed, well-protected...

Courier.

Yeah, the shipyard stats show the actual stats of your stored ships now. I was swapping out parts, swapping to another ship, then looking at the values to see what was going on. Very clunky, but miles apart from the previous system that tells you nothing.
If they can get them to show on the outfitting screen things will be much better, especially if you lose 10% on sale of parts now.

I took a dual plasma accelerator courier out to a res site, had real problems hitting eagles (as expected) but clippers and dropships got smashed.
Not something I think I would really use, but it was fun to try it out.

fergal · May 30, 2015

I've ran a few numbers, some are out slightly, might have written them down incorrectly, or there has been minor tweaking between patches (I doubt though)

Looks like for every 1T of mass you lose about 1 m/s from your boost speed and about 0.5-0.7 m/s form the 4 pips speed.
The formula isn't linear, but is fairly close for the values I used.

Starender · May 30, 2015

i compared everything, it's a good ship, but i still prefer my vulture (more damage, longer shoot, same shield, more agility, almost same speed)

Gwyvern · Jun 1, 2015

How did you get two beam lasers on this thing? I tried and it cant run them for more than a few seconds with a maxed distributor, which kills its damage potential.

Also in general I sort of want to ask the same thing as the first response, why lighter? I understand the reasoning that building it as heavy as you can makes it an inferior vulture, but as a combat ship, stripping its utility and defense seems like it would just make it even less capable, since speed typically translates to an ability to enter/leave combat at will, rather than more evasiveness.

Id like to know your thoughts because truth be told I really want this ship to replace my Vulture, which I honestly don't enjoy very much. (and ive had a bit of success at matching a low end vulture's capabilities with a heavy courier build using two multicannons and a beam laser, But it really is frustrating, almost as if this ship was meant just to be a stepping stone between the viper and the vulture.

Oh yeah, and lets not forget about how it explodes whenever it gets near a sun, I'm just hoping that is a bug, because if it isn't I'm not sure any amount of build ingenuity will bring out long term usefulness in it.

fergal · Jun 1, 2015

Gwyvern said:
How did you get two beam lasers on this thing? I tried and it cant run them for more than a few seconds with a maxed distributor, which kills its damage potential.

Also in general I sort of want to ask the same thing as the first response, why lighter? I understand the reasoning that building it as heavy as you can makes it an inferior vulture, but as a combat ship, stripping its utility and defense seems like it would just make it even less capable, since speed typically translates to an ability to enter/leave combat at will, rather than more evasiveness.

Id like to know your thoughts because truth be told I really want this ship to replace my Vulture, which I honestly don't enjoy very much. (and ive had a bit of success at matching a low end vulture's capabilities with a heavy courier build using two multicannons and a beam laser, But it really is frustrating, almost as if this ship was meant just to be a stepping stone between the viper and the vulture.

Oh yeah, and lets not forget about how it explodes whenever it gets near a sun, I'm just hoping that is a bug, because if it isn't I'm not sure any amount of build ingenuity will bring out long term usefulness in it.

You want this ship to replace your Vulture? The Vulture is one of the 2 best combat ships in the game, that might not change with more ship additions. If you like combat the Vulture or FDL is your ship.

You can put 2 beams on the Courier, just like you can on a Cobra or Viper, not sure what you mean.

The reason to make the ship lighter is because a ships speed and maneuverability is important in combat. Its much better to avoid getting hit than have a large shield tank.
You want to tank damage, buy an Asp and fill it with shield cell banks.

Gwyvern · Jun 1, 2015

I wont comment on the vulture, thats another topic that I cant adequately explain in stats and charts.

As for speed, no amount of speed has ever dodged me a laser, so I am not quite sure what you are referring to.

fergal · Jun 2, 2015

Gwyvern said:
I wont comment on the vulture, thats another topic that I cant adequately explain in stats and charts.

As for speed, no amount of speed has ever dodged me a laser, so I am not quite sure what you are referring to.

You should use your lateral and vertical thrusters more

I dodge getting shot all the time.