Looking for a small railgun fighter

Sabier

Sabier
Hi CMDRs!

I want to get a small railgun fighter, but I'm not sure what ship will be the most fun (not really worried about getting lots of easy kills). Ideally it would be a little fast and nimble ship capable of holding 2 medium railguns, but I could settle for a single one. I am trying to decide between an i-Eagle, a Viper (mk-III or mk'IV?), a DBS and is the Asp Scout any good? I could also consider a Courier. Any advice on which of these ships would make the most fun ralgunner?

And since we are at it: has anyone engineer their railguns? I've looked at the possible mods, but they all seem a little bit meh... Any advice there?

Cheers!
 

askavir

askavir
I have a lot of fun with my 2 medium rail + 2 small missile Cobra III. You can't spam railshotsz though, because of heat.

Imperial Courier is probably better, haven't tried it with rails though.
 

Cmdr Esteban

Cmdr Esteban
Sidewinder with twin rails gets pretty hot, but is a lot of fun. Especially with enhanced performance thrusters modded with dirty drive tuning 3 and also modded long range FSD for getting about easier.

:)
 

CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost

C
I used a DBS with 4 rails pre-2.1, but now heat is making it almost impossible for me to use rails. 2-3 shots in a row and the ship (tested it on other ships too) overheats. Heat sinks would be the obvious answer, but since 2.1 they don't have ammo at all (ok, they have ammo but so few that it's a joke).

Now other weapons are more effective for me, but not as much fun.
 

Han_Zen

Han_Zen
DBS is probably the coolest running ship in the game. Haven't tried it with rails, but it might be a good option.

To big for enhanced thrusters though.
 

Sabier

Sabier
I think I would really like to try those enhanced thrusters, so I guess this shortens the list to Courier, i-Eagle or Viper. I want to fly fast!
 
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goemon

goemon
i have run a 2 medium railguns and 2 sall torpedos AspS Scout for assassinations - a good ship 1 v 1 pve, but a too large hitbox for wings in res or cz.

DBS is great for 2 medium railguns plus cannons or pulses. you want a more cool running DBS for that (low emission powerplant, maybe clean drive tuning...).

for BHing or CZ think about Plasma Slug - the DBS has a large fueltank, so you will never run out of Ammo.

Courier runs to hot imho, especially with enhanced drives.
 

Spaceburger

Spaceburger
I've been having a lot of fun with the Eagle mk3 (don't have the iEagle yet). If you engineer lvl 1 power plant you can stick 2 rails and a dumbfire missile rack on it and it's preeetty great :D
 

StiTch

StiTch
For rails, DBS and it isn't even a question. DBS has pretty much best heat management going and is in the eyes of many the best small fighter outside the iCourier/Vulture anyway.

It's a very nimble ship, especially with some drive mods. Really nice and easy to hit with the rails. As small ships go you still get the full 4 utility slots - important for the heat sinks on a rail build - it's still fast as well as nimble and is damn comfortable to fly.

iCourier is a beautiful, beautiful ship. But I wouldn't put it in as a rail ship. Heat management isn't wonderful on it, and on a personal level my rail attackers use the rails to do the shield popping and having two C1 slots means I can load two missile launchers on too.

iEagle is just a terrible ship for rails. Horrid heat management, only one utility slot for heat sinks, poor hardpoints for rails and loses much of the Eagle's awesome agility. I couldn't think of a worse ship that's combat oriented for rails.

EDIT: If you want a build, here's a template example for my kind of build:
https://coriolis.io/outfit/diamondback/0pataFdl8das8f42a2a2e2e00040202B4272727.AwRj4yKA.Aw1-kA==

Put on an A rated FSD and take out an HRP for fuel scoop if you need to get around quickly, remove chaff for another booster if you don't bother with chaff, etc. etc. With the right mods, that ship can hurt hard if you aren't against a complete SCB demon.
 
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Muetdhiver

Muetdhiver
For rails on small ships I concur that DBS is the best.

1) Amazing hardpoint placement
2) Amazing heat management
3) Good enough agility.

Too bad you can't put enhanced thrusters on this one. Would be neat, if not a bit OP.
I itch to try something like 4 rails on one of these.

iEagle will cook itself with rails. I tried, it's a pain to make it work.
The courrier can deal with one rail on the nose hardpoint. The other hardpoints
are not suited because : 1) too spread out 2) self cooking.
 
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StiTch

StiTch
Muetdhiver said:
For rails on small ships I concur that DBS is the best.

1) Amazing hardpoint placement
2) Amazing heat management
3) Good enough agility.

Too bad you can't put enhanced thrusters on this one. Would be neat, if not a bit OP.
I itch to try something like 4 rails on one of these.
Click to expand...

Good point about hardpoint placement, forgot that's another tick for the DBS.

Performance enhanced thrusters on it would be totally unfair. Already a demon with the right thruster mods.

Only thing to watch out for is the relatively thin shields compared to larger ships, in conjunction with an easy to hit canopy. But learning to mitigate damage to the canopy was an important part of my learning.

EDIT: But...only good enough agility? It's easily one of the most agile fighters going.
 
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Muetdhiver

Muetdhiver
StiTch said:
Good point about hardpoint placement, forgot that's another tick for the DBS.

Performance enhanced thrusters on it would be totally unfair. Already a demon with the right thruster mods.

Only thing to watch out for is the relatively thin shields compared to larger ships, in conjunction with an easy - to - hit canopy. But learning to mitigate damage to the canopy was an important part of my learning.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the weak shields are a bit of a problem with the DBS (and the FAS). With the SR nerf, and emissive being too good at what it does, plus buffed missiles, the DBS lost a lot of its shine for PvP.
For the canopy I agree, you cannot take hits in the face because any hits from the front seems to damage it. Still it was amazing fun to fly those in squads with rails and torps.
 

Wasp0

Wasp0
I have an iCourier with the ALD Powerplay weapon Imperial Hammer and boy that thing packs a whack. Heat Management is a bind, but boy it's fun!
 

Spaceburger

Spaceburger
I didn't find heat management with 2 rails on the Eagle that bad, even with chaff instead of heat sinks.. I found it quite fun actually.. you just can't fire your shots too quickly or you will cook yourself. I'm looking forward to trying rails on the dbs though, it sounds great from what you guys are saying.
 
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