It's a bloody good ship to be fair, one issue is that it was released the same time as the Krait II so it got completely overshadowed and not many people have given it much of a chance since...
As Madrax573 says it got forgotten due to the all round excellence of the Krait 2, but it has one more optional internal slot than the Krait 2 (granted 3 are military locked) it's a bit slower but more agile, harder armour and more of it, a bit less shielding and around half the price (and no fighter bay).
It also makes a great DC miner with it's low speed agility and multiple hard points, if it had a class 7 PD it's be perfect (and totally overpowered!)
https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/all...A2EoFMCGBzANokMK4fiIA==&bn=Challenger B2R5 6A
https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/all...2EDM8CmBDA5gG2SGF8hRFA&bn=Challenger DC miner
It also makes a great DC miner with it's low speed agility and multiple hard points, if it had a class 7 PD it's be perfect (and totally overpowered!)
https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/all...A2EoFMCGBzANokMK4fiIA==&bn=Challenger B2R5 6A
https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/all...2EDM8CmBDA5gG2SGF8hRFA&bn=Challenger DC miner
On this page if you sort by agility the Challenger is rated 148 while the Krait II is rated 126.
https://inara.cz/galaxy-shipyard/
What I'd like is a ship that has better maneuverability than an FDL with as much firepower as possible. I looked at the Krait II and it's a larger ship than I'd like, the FDL is the largest ship I have. The FDL has a good amount of firepower, but it's a little big and sluggish as fighters go.
https://inara.cz/galaxy-shipyard/
What I'd like is a ship that has better maneuverability than an FDL with as much firepower as possible. I looked at the Krait II and it's a larger ship than I'd like, the FDL is the largest ship I have. The FDL has a good amount of firepower, but it's a little big and sluggish as fighters go.
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I love mine. Fun to fly, 7 hard points, very agile. FWIW, I hated it's sister ship the chiefton, but love the Challenger. Excellent Lakon cockpit as usual too.
Buy it.
I have one use it for pirate killing missions and killing thargoid scouts. 4 PAs and 3 small rails. If you run efficient PAs it doesnt have heat and packs a pretty hard punch.
Love all the alliance ships only issue I have with them is their canopies get broken a little too easily, especially when fighting bigger ships that will face tank you. I'm guessing this is because of the canopy being in the front of the ship, but I dont have this issue in my krait and it seems just as exposed.
I prefer the chieftain since its got a bit more speed which protects the canopy a bit more, but the challenger is a lot more tanky. Finished lots of fights with a broken canopy in it.
Love all the alliance ships only issue I have with them is their canopies get broken a little too easily, especially when fighting bigger ships that will face tank you. I'm guessing this is because of the canopy being in the front of the ship, but I dont have this issue in my krait and it seems just as exposed.
I prefer the chieftain since its got a bit more speed which protects the canopy a bit more, but the challenger is a lot more tanky. Finished lots of fights with a broken canopy in it.
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I would say no. Hybrid build is probably better, fast charge Bi-weaves and hull tank it.
Obviously it's down to individual combat style.
YMMV.
Shield-wise, the Challenger has shields that are somewhere between the FGS and Clipper. With a 6A shield and 4x boosters, you can get around 530 MJ of shield without engineering. With engineering and guardian shield boosters you can probably make a decent shield tank with some hull tanking ability thrown in for when your shields go down.
For example, almost 1k shields with a bi-weave, 6A SCB and 1.7k hull with MRPs
That said, if you want a shield tank there are other ships that work better.
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I wouldn't recommend it against Thargoids. I don't know other pvp/pve stuff. Guess it depends on your playstyle.
Great agility, good hull.
Ok shields, ok speed, ok cockpit visibility. Those green screens look like they are some stickers on a cheap toy though, lol.
Hardpoints are not good for AX stuff but they are placed close to each other, good for fixed weapons. Also the large one's firing arc is pretty wide too. The small hardpoints placed on top of the ship can fire a little bit below of the cockpit too, you can have all hardpoints at the target at the same time.
I had my shields went down rather quickly but that hull can definately take some beating.
Great agility, good hull.
Ok shields, ok speed, ok cockpit visibility. Those green screens look like they are some stickers on a cheap toy though, lol.
Hardpoints are not good for AX stuff but they are placed close to each other, good for fixed weapons. Also the large one's firing arc is pretty wide too. The small hardpoints placed on top of the ship can fire a little bit below of the cockpit too, you can have all hardpoints at the target at the same time.
I had my shields went down rather quickly but that hull can definately take some beating.
Is the hull as strong as the Federal Assault Ship's hull? Could I build it with no shields like I've seen other people doing with Federal Assault Ships?
You can, but just like similar FAS's you're gonna be in for a world of hurt if someone shows up with Packhounds and emissive rounds. Like, kiss your engines, defensive modules, weapons, and shortly thereafter powerplant goodbye kinda hurt. You'll end up with more HP and a bit better resistances than a FAS, but your options for toughening up your modules ends up around the same. Overall you end up with around maybe 700~ more hull HP, and a 1k or so more EHP, give or take some fine tuning, than a FAS.
Overall, I've only had one shot out from under me thus far, and that was only 'cause I had the bright idea of running way to many Packhound launchers. Probably would've had the 'Conda I was after if I hadn't boiled myself. It was in the single-digit percents when I popped. Haven't lost one since putting significantly more armor and much cooler-running weapons on it, and have gotten away from a fair few close scrapes since. That said I'm, uh, not the person to ask about flying it in a fair fight.
You can get a thicker hull of the Challenger than the FAS, and you get a harder hull too (65 vs. 60).
I would not recommend going completely shieldless with the challenger. Shieldless FAS use their good speed to control the engagement and avoid taking too much damage (often in conjunction with silent running). The Challenger is too slow to be able to do this reliably, as it struggles to get much past 500 m/s boost compared to most FAS with around 550m/s boost.
I would recommend using at least 1 of your size 6 slots to mount a shield generator. If you were to go with a size 6 thermal bi-weave and a pair of resistance boosters, you would effectively get a regenerating ~320 MJ initial buffer for your hull and a ~160 MJ heal 44 seconds after your shield goes down (assuming you have 2 pips to SYS). When you compare this to having an extra 740 hull from a 5D HRP, having the shield generator will make up for the slightly thinner hull quite quickly. This is where the Challenger really shines; as a hybrid shield-hull tank.
Frags? Me like shottas... but (me ar' on XBOX) a bit too much drftin' with alliance boats so shifted to plasma or minicannon builds... nevar tried on the Challanger...