Ships Looking for a budget Combat ship

Wcscgw

W
I recently decided i wanted a dedicated Combat ship, as doing bounty hunting with my cobra mk3 isn't that effective (it can still work though). I have around 2,5 million to mess around with, but i can aquire more if needed. My current candidates are diamondback scout, keelback, viper 3 and 4. I left out Vulture because of the power issues and outfitting costs. Any suggestions?
 
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Tadeus72

T
If not Vulture than iCourier. The rest isn't really a big improvement if you don't do some heavy engineering to it. The iCourier does everything right and is easy to fit.
 

VR andysonofbob

VR andysonofbob
Here you go!

https://eddp.co/u/zPTjThT3

Viper.

Perfect weapon placement. Manoeuvrable. Tough. Ideal for 60-90 minute Bh sessions.

I am doing a series of cheap ship gameplay videos. I use this build (actually a slight downgrade of this one) for opportunistic HazRes gameplay.

If you don't mind going to travelling to Maia to pick up some meta alloys and then going to see Farseer (lvl1 beginner engineer) she can upgrade thrusters to lvl 3 making them 25-30% faster and better! That's nuts!
 

XOSHI

XOSHI
I would recommend the iCourier as well. Fast and manoeuvrable Tiny ship (not much larger than a Sidey), not to expensive and with comparable compartements to the Viper3 or the iEagle, it has a class4 PP and Bulk comparable to the Vulture (mine has unengineered 560MJ shields and 850 integrity). Since this PP is so oversized, you can easily combine Prismatics, PAs and High Performance Thruster as well.

Only downside is the Shield regen rate. Once they are down, you´ll have to wait quite a long time.
 
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YinYin

YinYin
Courier and Vulture aren't within the 2.5m budget.
Even the DBS/Keelback/Viper IV become quite expensive due to their larger modules if you want to properly fit them.

The Viper up there is good, but I would recommend some module reinforcements to keep your internals together, maybe even an AFMU to patch things up.
 

Wcscgw

W
Thanks for all the quick replies! Will get myself a viper 3 soon. As soon as I have enough credits I'll buy a Courier, Keelback or a Vulture. :D
 

Maymo

Maymo
Last time I was in your position I actually went with an Imperial Eagle and had a great time. It’s a good looking ship (IMO) and it’s very quick (420 boost) to get in and out of danger. A class 2 gbl beam laser on top and a pair of small cannons works very nicely.

I feel you have to enjoy some of these small ships while you can, as your credit balance increases it becomes illogical to keep them.

A good game plan for you would be to buy an iEagle and then set yourself up in a decent empire system with a high RES. Each time you return to the station to repair/restock ammo and hand in your vouchers have a look through the mission board for cheap donations (25k - 100k), these will easily get you to master rank with the empire and then you can upgrade into a Courier.

The Courier is a keeper, you’ll never want to sell that. Plus unlocking the first rank in empire also contributes to unlocking two very useful engineers, Hera Tani & Broo Tarquin.
 
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Wcscgw

W
CMDR Maymo said:
Last time I was in your position I actually went with an Imperial Eagle and had a great time. It’s a good looking ship (IMO) and it’s very quick (420 boost) to get in and out of danger. A class 2 gbl beam laser on top and a pair of small cannons works very nicely.

I feel you have to enjoy some of these small ships while you can, as your credit balance increases it becomes illogical to keep them.

A good game plan for you would be to buy an iEagle and then set yourself up in a decent empire system with a high RES. Each time you return to the station to repair/restock ammo and hand in your vouchers have a look through the mission board for cheap donations (25k - 100k), these will easily get you to master rank with the empire and then you can upgrade into a Courier.
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Thanks! The nearest empire system is quite far away, sadly (150ly+). I'll compare the imperial eagle to the viper on coriolis.io and find out what fits me best.;)
 

ZeroAi

ZeroAi
tbgilje said:
I recently decided i wanted a dedicated Combat ship, as doing bounty hunting with my cobra mk3 isn't that effective (it can still work though). I have around 2,5 million to mess around with, but i can aquire more if needed. My current candidates are diamondback scout, keelback, viper 3 and 4. I left out Vulture because of the power issues and outfitting costs. Any suggestions?
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Viper Mk3 is my choice hands down.

Check out Coriolis.edcd.io and you'll see why :)

Then a Vulture after that.
 

Gamsir

G
Edit: Ceekay got the jump on me [up]

Check this thread, a few days old...

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/388267-The-two-most-comparable-ships-in-the-game

The Viper mk 4 can do anything a cobra 3 does, but fights way better (strong thrusters, better shields, armor and weapon placement). You do need to put a little engineering into thrusters.
The Viper 4 basically brings you a heavy fighter that hauls cargo like a cobra and brings you a lot of versatility.

Don’t have the cash? Go to a station that sells Viper 4, store any modules that can be transferred between cobra 3 and viper 4. Buy a sidewinder, sell your cobra and sidewinder, transfer all your modules from your old cobra to your new viper 4 (sell sidewinder...).

Enjoy game with Viper 4, learn to fly/fight with FA-on/off, go earn 25 mil cr and unlock some more engineers. Buy and upgrade Vulture if you still want a more dedicated effective fighter style ship (this thing takes down elite corvettes).
 
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JetsonRING

JetsonRING
tbgilje said:
I recently decided i wanted a dedicated Combat ship, as doing bounty hunting with my cobra mk3 isn't that effective (it can still work though). I have around 2,5 million to mess around with, but i can aquire more if needed. My current candidates are diamondback scout, keelback, viper 3 and 4. I left out Vulture because of the power issues and outfitting costs. Any suggestions?
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Eagle. I have rediscovered the joys of combat in an A-rated Eagle. Less firepower but enough maneuverability I can get behind my target and stay there until he or she is destroyed and it is definitely combat on the cheap. o7
 

XOSHI

XOSHI
This Cobra Setup looks good, IMO Viper3 would be a downgrade. I´m using nearly the same build for my combat Cobra3 (Beams instead of pulse), but I´d recommend BiWaves instead. No real difference in defence but a much faster regenrate.

The DBScout has a smaller PD, which will cause your weapons to drain faster, and also slows down your shield- and boostregen.

The Viper 4 is a bit slower and less manouvreable then your Cobra, but with nearly the same compartments (you can use everything, except the LS, and one of your Cargoracks) it has nearly doubled Shields and about 100 more integrity. for comparison: https://eddp.co/u/Dke2bGCK

I personell would prefer the Cobra after all, but, as you see in my Signature, it´s one of my favourites, so don´t take this too serious. But on Paper, go for the Viper.
 
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Wcscgw

W
XOSHI said:
This Cobra Setup looks good, IMO Viper3 would be a downgrade. I´m using nearly the same build for my combat Cobra3 (Beams instead of pulse), but I´d recommend BiWaves instead. No real difference in defence but a much faster regenrate.

The DBScout has a smaller PD, which will cause your weapons to drain faster, and also slows down your shield- and boostregen.

The Viper 4 is a bit slower and less manouvreable then your Cobra, but with nearly the same compartments (you can use everything, except the LS, and one of your Cargoracks) it has nearly doubled Shields and about 100 more integrity. for comparison: https://eddp.co/u/Dke2bGCK

I personell would prefer the Cobra after all, but, as you see in my Signature, it´s one of my favourites, so don´t take this too serious. But on Paper, go for the Viper.
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If you look away from the power distributor, is the DBS better for combat? I find it a very interesting ship because of its agility and low heat output. Some people argue that it has weak shields, but the same can be said for cobra mk3. The vipers have stronger shields (especially mk4), but are less manoeuvrable. Kind of struggling to land a decision here.:S
 

XOSHI

XOSHI
I can’t say that actually. I never tested the DBScout for real battle, and, since you‘re using Pulse and MCs, which are quite pleasend to your PD, I‘m not sure the PD would be that problem with your Loadout. But you are right, heat-management is top, jumprange is one of the best, and defence is not much worse than a Cobra3.

Since you’re not loosing any money by selling Modules, you can check easy if its a ship you like, if yes, then keep the DBScout, if not, you can still buy the Viper4 without large money loss, by just clean out all modules before selling it.
 

Wcscgw

W
XOSHI said:
I can’t say that actually. I never tested the DBScout for real battle, and, since you‘re using Pulse and MCs, which are quite pleasend to your PD, I‘m not sure the PD would be that problem with your Loadout. But you are right, heat-management is top, jumprange is one of the best, and defence is not much worse than a Cobra3.

Since you’re not loosing any money by selling Modules, you can check easy if its a ship you like, if yes, then keep the DBScout, if not, you can still buy the Viper4 without large money loss, by just clean out all modules before selling it.
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Ah, forgot that i could just sell my modules back for the same price. :D The ship can also be sold with a loss of only 10%. Anyway, thanks for your help! [smile]
 
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