Ships Looking for weapons loadout for a multirole medium ship that can reliably take out wing assassination missions

[Innocentius]

Howdy,

I normally get these things sorted, but now I am kind of at a loss. I built a multirole Python build that is kind of a "Millennium Falcon" feel: capable of doing all kinds of things, something as the underdog, but finally at the end managing it. It is a fine ship and capable of doing a lot, but when I take some wing assassination missions solo (Threat 6) I am at a loss at times on how to take out the target. I need to go back to base and get one of my large ships for those missions. Is there some loadout that works reliably on these? I tried a frag cannon loadout and that was fine with large ships, but then with FDL + 3 Vultures it did not work at all as I could not keep close enough to the FDL to keep up good pressure. Anyhow this is what my ship has looked like most of the time:

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Then I have currently switched the larges into efficient PAs and I have not tried that yet. Before that I had them as Frags, but that had the issue with smaller ships like FDLs just being too tough to take out reliably and fast enough. Do you have any recommendations for ships like this. I would like to keep the multirole aspect of this ship. I know I can build it purely for combat only and get to that level by just beefing it up by using all of those internals, but I think I need to find a solution on the weapons front here to keep the feel of the ship that I want it to have.
Any help is appreciated, thanks.

 

[Ethaidan]

The answer you seek is.... Krait mkII.

 

[Northpin]

Why would to take a multirole in a though combat?

A multirole can do a lot of things, but none of them good enough
It will have a hard time taking on a wing of engineered ships as it happens with wing assassination missions
It will not be able to take in a 180t cargo missions

IF you really want to use that python, I would use gimbaled beams for on-top hardpoints and 1 single large mc with corrosive.
After you drop the target shields, target the PP and use everything you got on it...

A Krait will be better if you actually use a SLF crew since it can take some of the heat of you.

 

[tolm]

Yeh, I reckon a Krait MkII is your best bet. This is my multirole build: which I use for Planet / Data Scan, Salvage, Courier, small volume cargo and non-wing assassination missions. It would definitely have the firepower to take out a Wing Mission main target but not sure the shields would hold up against their wing-mates whilst you were doing it? At least, not with my flying! If you have prismatics available then that might be an option? Also can’t remember the last time I actually used the SRV so I’m considering dropping that and downscaling the collector limpet controller to get another Guardian shield Booster in.

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[d8veh]

Yeh, I reckon a Krait MkII is your best bet. This is my multirole build: which I use for Planet / Data Scan, Salvage, Courier, small volume cargo and non-wing assassination missions. It would definitely have the firepower to take out a Wing Mission main target but not sure the shields would hold up against their wing-mates whilst you were doing it? At least, not with my flying! If you have prismatics available then that might be an option? Also can’t remember the last time I actually used the SRV so I’m considering dropping that and downscaling the collector limpet controller to get another Guardian shield Booster in.

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You can make your shields significantly stronger with minimal re-engineering:

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[Innocentius]

I disagree with all the Krait comments as they make zero sense in this situation. There is no additional firepower by going with Krait Mk II. It has the same hardpoints and the same distributor. Sure I could use a fighter, but that would mean losing one one additional internal besides the one I already would lose by the ship switch. At least PS5 Tolm suggested a weapons loadout with PAs and beams: yeah that is what I currently engineered into during the last session, but have not yet tested them.

For Northpin: why do I want to have a multirole medium ship that is capable of this? I already have large ships that can do these missions easily. I can also do them easily on this one if the ship I am facing is one of the bigger ones like a Corvette, but against FDLs the frag loadout I last tested does not work. I am currently pledged to get some Pacifiers to see if those do the difference, but I was hoping that some non-powerplay loadout would work. I still need to test my current PA loadout and after that maybe I should try torpedoes or some mines to see if those would do the trick.

Maybe I get this sorted out, but it seems that it is not a very common goal amongst the community.

 

[tolm]

You can make your shields significantly stronger with minimal re-engineering:

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coriolis.io

Yeh ... it’s using Boosters I had lying around but were really designed for BiWeave use ... I should definitely get some Heavy Duty ones rolled up for it at some point!!

 

[tolm]

I disagree with all the Krait comments as they make zero sense in this situation. There is no additional firepower by going with Krait Mk II. It has the same hardpoints and the same distributor. Sure I could use a fighter, but that would mean losing one one additional internal besides the one I already would lose by the ship switch. At least PS5 Tolm suggested a weapons loadout with PAs and beams: yeah that is what I currently engineered into during the last session, but have not yet tested them.

For Northpin: why do I want to have a multirole medium ship that is capable of this? I already have large ships that can do these missions easily. I can also do them easily on this one if the ship I am facing is one of the bigger ones like a Corvette, but against FDLs the frag loadout I last tested does not work. I am currently pledged to get some Pacifiers to see if those do the difference, but I was hoping that some non-powerplay loadout would work. I still need to test my current PA loadout and after that maybe I should try torpedoes or some mines to see if those would do the trick.

Maybe I get this sorted out, but it seems that it is not a very common goal amongst the community.

Krait is more agile than the Python and can boost almost at will. It also has a central pilots seat which I much prefer for combat but is less of a tangible advantage.

But, yeh, there’s not a huge amount in it.

 

[tolm]

Could also be worth trying some rails with feedback cascade to reduce the time it takes to drop shields on targets which are spamming cell banks. I’d probably keep the 2 medium beams and pop a single FC Rail on the central large but you could go for two rails and a single large Beam ... either way, the Thermal Vent effect on the beams can keep you cool whilst hitting with the Rail for shields or the PAs for hull.

 

[S0rkvild]

Wing assasination missions require a ship with very powerful shield because your target will have an escort consisting of thrtee to four beefed up Vultures. You wont do them in a multi role Python. Unless you fly a Cutter of Vette don't bother with such missions. It is easier to stack some non-wing assasination missions e.g. kill a pirate lord in a Vette. You will be one on one with them, you can stack a few of these mission in a system and there will be more rare materials to sweep up.

For assassination missions I'm using my bgs workhorse Python which is basically a 210t cargo ship. I'm using three double-shot + screening shell frag cannons (two medium frags, one large) and two large gimballed multis (both short range, corrossive shell on 1st multi 1, incendiary on 2nd multi). Such loadout kills very, very fast and only requires ONE pip on wep bar, rest can go to eng and sys. You can also go with all frag load as well. In either case with frags you will able to overload your target shield cell bank before thing deploys which saves lot of time. Don't bother with lasers, ditch 'em, they are weak and require a good portion of distributor energy. Only lasers I tolerate as a cmdr are long range huge beams and cytroscramblers, oh and small pulse turrets with scramble spectrum/emissive are also super useful. Generally frag cannons provide the best dps even on unengineered ships and ammo will last enough to kill three to four pirate lords.

 

[Northpin]

I disagree with all the Krait comments as they make zero sense in this situation. There is no additional firepower by going with Krait Mk II. It has the same hardpoints and the same distributor. Sure I could use a fighter, but that would mean losing one one additional internal besides the one I already would lose by the ship switch. At least PS5 Tolm suggested a weapons loadout with PAs and beams: yeah that is what I currently engineered into during the last session, but have not yet tested them.

For Northpin: why do I want to have a multirole medium ship that is capable of this? I already have large ships that can do these missions easily. I can also do them easily on this one if the ship I am facing is one of the bigger ones like a Corvette, but against FDLs the frag loadout I last tested does not work. I am currently pledged to get some Pacifiers to see if those do the difference, but I was hoping that some non-powerplay loadout would work. I still need to test my current PA loadout and after that maybe I should try torpedoes or some mines to see if those would do the trick.

Maybe I get this sorted out, but it seems that it is not a very common goal amongst the community.

I also suggested that you could keep the Python as it is, but using 2 large and 2 medium gimbaled beams on top and 1 large corrosive under the nose (post #3)
Reason for that: strip the FDL's shields asap, then target its PowerPlant and fire everything you got at it. If you drop it's PP to zero integrity there is a chance it will explode before hull reaching zero.

If you had troubles with frags, PA will be even more troublesome. But that is for you to experiment and there is nothing wrong with that.
Edit: Frags DO work, but you need to properly engineer them and, most important, fire them really really close, 300-400m tops. The closer the better.

I said that multipurpose does not really work, based on my own experience.
What i usually end to do is i stack missions.
I stack cargo missions and i do them in a full cargo python - 280t of cargo.
While i do cargo missions, i stack combat missions.
Then i switch to a combat ship (or switch the loadout for combat) and do the stacked combat missions and in the meantime i again stack cargo missions (and pickup/liberate missions)
And so on.

I started with this Python build. The universal mission runner.
It can do 180t cargo, it can do planetary missions, it can do megaship missions, it can do pickup / liberate missions, it can do normal (non-winged) assassination missions
But it cannot do any of those as good as a dedicated ship and eventually, as mentioned above, i ended up stacking missions and altering the ship's outfitting to match the mission type.

 

[Innocentius]

Thanks S0rkvild, PS5 tolm and Northpin. Yeah, that Frag loadout works nice on those bigger targets. Maybe once I get the Pacifiers it works nice against smaller ships also. Stacking non-wing missions is certainly the way to go for efficiency in both credits and materials, I just want to find a way to do what ever mission there is. "No job is too hard." (Except those "haul 10 000 tons of biowaste" ones :-D ). I got some ideas from this discussion so far

• Go full kinetics: frags and MCs and see how that works (I need to address the distance part first those against those smaller ships)
• Go more into beams: 4 beams and 1 multi to punch through those shields fast and then just take my time with hull (this is pretty PD intensive)
• I could try 1 beam + 4 long distance rails and then just snipe away, boring but would probably work just fine and I would keep training FA off and Thargoid hunting skills by doing this.
• I will try that PAs + beams setup (all efficient) but I am bit skeptical that it may not have fast enough punch before I need to retreat from the wing support
• Torpedo boat approach - I have no idea if this would work well, but it might be pretty erratic also
• Maybe I am overcomplicating. There are very few problems in galaxy that cannot be solved by just adding more multicannons.

Anyhow. I will keep on testing, thanks all.

 

[BarFly]

Hello,

i also have a multirole Python, but i focus on running trade missions and fighting the opponents, which are coming quite often.
220t cargo and still easy fighting the single 'Dangerous'/ 'Deadly' Anas, which appear.
There are often 4 in a row, so i use a 6C Bi-Weave (Thermal/Fast Charge). Usually i loose a maximum 2 shield rings.
My 2 Beam Turrets are set to 'fire at will' because they start firing as soon as the attacker switches to 'hostile'. They never hit a 'system security ship'! In a combat zone i change this to 'only my target'. The 3 gimballed multi canons are loaded with premium ammunition which gives them 30% more punch.
Ok, if there is more than one 'Deadly' or 'Dangerous' opponent - i'm running away. But that is only the case when i don't manage to shoot down one before he escapes into SC and comes back later. Or if i have stacked a couple of missions and even than, the other opponent is (usually) waiting until i have finished the first. There are the Bi - Weaves helpful. Pips are set 4 to system and 2 to weapons.

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[AlSki]

Slightly off-topic, but...

It is easier to stack some non-wing assasination missions e.g. kill a pirate lord in a Vette. You will be one on one with them, you can stack a few of these mission in a system and there will be more rare materials to sweep up.

Even better, stack lots of these up in a single system. When you drop from supercruise for one, quite a few of the others will appear as well, and being anarchic pirates, they don't form an orderly queue or even team up against you. Instead they pick on the first ship they see, generally fight amongst themselves, and you clean up what's left over.
It's particularly satisfying in a small ship if you wanted to say that you took out 6 Corvettes, 3 FDLs and a couple of Pythons in one go in just your Courier. Of course I'd never do that

 

[S0rkvild]

Slightly off-topic, but...


Even better, stack lots of these up in a single system. When you drop from supercruise for one, quite a few of the others will appear as well, and being anarchic pirates, they don't form an orderly queue or even team up against you. Instead they pick on the first ship they see, generally fight amongst themselves, and you clean up what's left over.
It's particularly satisfying in a small ship if you wanted to say that you took out 6 Corvettes, 3 FDLs and a couple of Pythons in one go in just your Courier. Of course I'd never do that

Yep and no fsd interdictor is needed. You're not looking for them, they are looking for you instead

 

[badibeat]

Something fun to try: Four Efficient Burst Laser turrets with Inertial Impact and a Multi-Cannon turret, Short Range with Corrosive Shell. Runs endlessly on just 1.5 pips, leaving 4.5 pips for shields and thrusters. This does a decent amount of damage to shields and hull if you can stay real close. The turrets allow to hit the pesky FDLs sticking at odd angles I find hard to reach with gimbals. Chaff doesn't really matter all that much with the jitter of Inertial Impact.