After seeing a few threads pop up recently questioning the role of the Vulture - especially in an age where we have the FAS and Chieftan, with many people also pointing out that it sometimes gets dumped on here, I decided to provide my review of the ship as of Beyond 3.2 (no Mamba yet!).
Overview
The Vulture is a small landing pad combat ship. Pricewise it lands between the Viper Mk4 and the Federal Assault Ship/Chieftan.
Combat
PVE Bounty Hunting
The Vulture sports 2 large hardpoints, providing the potential highest DPS output of all the small ships. Running the numbers through Coriolis or EDSY, the Viper Mk4 2M+2S hardpoints and similar load outs can provide slightly lower DPS numbers to the 2L of the Vulture against small ships (2L provides about 15% more damage vs small ships when using multicannons). This gap widens significantly once you are attacking higher armored medium and large ships (63% more damage against medium ships, and 100% more damage vs large ships). The only way to overcome this disadvantage on a smaller fighter is to equip either PA's or Rails - which then only draws the DPS to near even with the vulture similarly loaded. Only having 2 hardpoints limits your weapons mix, forcing you to choose only 2 weapons to meet all of your Bounty Hunting needs. This limits the potential for special effects application that the 2S hardpoints can give you on other ships (i.e. Feedback Cascade rails), and also somewhat forces you to tailor your loadout for your chosen prey. When I plan on fighting smaller ships (Cobras and Vipers) I will always load out at least one gimbaled hardpoint, because those ships can be very difficult to hit with fixed weapons. I will otherwise loadout 2 fixed weapons (2 PA's are fantastic!).
In terms of Raw Damage the Vulture sits well beyond the Cobra, Viper and Asp, especially vs medium and large ships. The Vulture undeniably falls short against much bigger fighting ships such as the FAS, FDL and the Chieftan. The Chieftan's Hardpoint configuration results in 51% higher DPS vs small ships, and 28% more DPS vs large ships. It is then clear that the Vulture sits firmly by itself in the gulf between the Viper Mk4 and Chieftan/FAS in the echelon of fighting ships with respect to potential damage output. Ships like the FDL, FAS and Chieftan can also use a variety of special effects on their weapons that the Vulture cannot duplicate.
The Vulture sports at 57% higher hardness than a Viper Mk4, as well as sporting 7% higher hull HP. This means that small and medium Hardpoint ships will do signficantly less damage to you in a Vulture than a Viper or Cobra (You will suffer 35% less damage from a medium pulse laser in a Vulture than you would in a Viper Mk4). On top of this, the stock Vulture has nearly 3 times the shield capacity (243% more A-rated capacity) of a Viper Mk4. This means that the Vulture can take signficantly more damage and abuse than any other small fighting ship.
The Chieftan by comparison has 18% higher hardness than the Vulture. While nowhere near as big a gap as the smaller fighters saw compared to the Vulture, it still provides for slightly more damage mitigation in favor of the chieftan. The Chieftan also has significantly smaller shields than the Vulture (38% less shielding) but compensates by having 75% more hull with an 18% higher hardness (damage mitigation). This makes the Chieftan (and FAS) more of a hull tank with paper shields compared to the Vulture.
The Vulture sports some of the highest maneuverability in Elite. It sports FAR more maneuverability than the Vipers, slightly more than the Cobra, and is only matched by the DBS and beaten by the Eagle. The Vulture is however significantly slower than either the Cobra and Viper, but speed counts for very little when Bounty Hunting, as maneuverabilty counts for A LOT when trying to keep weapons on target.
The Cobra, Eagle, Viper and Vulture (small fighters) all present very small targets for ships fighting them. The Vulture retains this hard-to-hit characteristic. Because of this, the Vulture sits astride both worlds, dishing out and recieving almost as much damage as the medium fighters, but is hard as heck to hit in a dogfight. Hitting any of the medium fighters in combat is significantly easier than the small ships. This helps tip the scales back evening out the Vulture with the larger ships with regards to survivability. This is exacerbated in PVP when the person you are dogfighting against is using fixed weapons, as a Vulture (along with the other small fighters) is infuriatingly difficult to hit with fixed weapons.
The Price (and rebuy) of the Vulture sits almost directly between the smallest fighters and the medium fighters. This means loss of the ship is less devestating, and the ship can be fitted much more cheaply than a Chieftan or FAS.
Bubble Mission Running
The Vulture sports very few internals compared to other ships in the same price range. Combined with a very low jump range, the Vulture is generally a poor multi-purpose ship. This can be somewhat evened out by engineering and Guardian FSD boosters, but the lack of internal space remains for anything requiring hauling cargo. For this same reason, the Vulture is a poor fit for Piracy and Exploration.
Conclusion:
I own almost every ship in the game. My Vulture is my go-to bounty hunting ship (outside of Haz Res). When I think I am in danger of getting annihilated by murder hobos in/near a combat CG/event, I will usually use my Vulture due to the pain in the butt nature of them trying to murder me. The Vulture is the most fun combat ship I own - period. This is due to the combination of high survivability, high maneuverability, high damage output that no other ship can duplicate. Your bigger ships have slightly higher DPS and damage absorption, but are easy to hit, not as maneuverable and cost more. The smaller ships are hard to hit, but put out significantly less damage and can take a fraction of the damage before crumpling.
If you already have a Chieftan or FAS and like it and don't mind the higher rebuys, the Vulture will likely be a downgrade for you. If you don't have these bigger ships but want a very capable fighter, this is the ship for you. If you have the bigger fighters but want to buy a fun, fast, nimble and high damaging combat ship - this is the ship for you. For it’s niche no other combat ship duplicates the Vulture or renders it obsolete.
Overview
The Vulture is a small landing pad combat ship. Pricewise it lands between the Viper Mk4 and the Federal Assault Ship/Chieftan.
Combat
PVE Bounty Hunting
The Vulture sports 2 large hardpoints, providing the potential highest DPS output of all the small ships. Running the numbers through Coriolis or EDSY, the Viper Mk4 2M+2S hardpoints and similar load outs can provide slightly lower DPS numbers to the 2L of the Vulture against small ships (2L provides about 15% more damage vs small ships when using multicannons). This gap widens significantly once you are attacking higher armored medium and large ships (63% more damage against medium ships, and 100% more damage vs large ships). The only way to overcome this disadvantage on a smaller fighter is to equip either PA's or Rails - which then only draws the DPS to near even with the vulture similarly loaded. Only having 2 hardpoints limits your weapons mix, forcing you to choose only 2 weapons to meet all of your Bounty Hunting needs. This limits the potential for special effects application that the 2S hardpoints can give you on other ships (i.e. Feedback Cascade rails), and also somewhat forces you to tailor your loadout for your chosen prey. When I plan on fighting smaller ships (Cobras and Vipers) I will always load out at least one gimbaled hardpoint, because those ships can be very difficult to hit with fixed weapons. I will otherwise loadout 2 fixed weapons (2 PA's are fantastic!).
In terms of Raw Damage the Vulture sits well beyond the Cobra, Viper and Asp, especially vs medium and large ships. The Vulture undeniably falls short against much bigger fighting ships such as the FAS, FDL and the Chieftan. The Chieftan's Hardpoint configuration results in 51% higher DPS vs small ships, and 28% more DPS vs large ships. It is then clear that the Vulture sits firmly by itself in the gulf between the Viper Mk4 and Chieftan/FAS in the echelon of fighting ships with respect to potential damage output. Ships like the FDL, FAS and Chieftan can also use a variety of special effects on their weapons that the Vulture cannot duplicate.
The Vulture sports at 57% higher hardness than a Viper Mk4, as well as sporting 7% higher hull HP. This means that small and medium Hardpoint ships will do signficantly less damage to you in a Vulture than a Viper or Cobra (You will suffer 35% less damage from a medium pulse laser in a Vulture than you would in a Viper Mk4). On top of this, the stock Vulture has nearly 3 times the shield capacity (243% more A-rated capacity) of a Viper Mk4. This means that the Vulture can take signficantly more damage and abuse than any other small fighting ship.
The Chieftan by comparison has 18% higher hardness than the Vulture. While nowhere near as big a gap as the smaller fighters saw compared to the Vulture, it still provides for slightly more damage mitigation in favor of the chieftan. The Chieftan also has significantly smaller shields than the Vulture (38% less shielding) but compensates by having 75% more hull with an 18% higher hardness (damage mitigation). This makes the Chieftan (and FAS) more of a hull tank with paper shields compared to the Vulture.
The Vulture sports some of the highest maneuverability in Elite. It sports FAR more maneuverability than the Vipers, slightly more than the Cobra, and is only matched by the DBS and beaten by the Eagle. The Vulture is however significantly slower than either the Cobra and Viper, but speed counts for very little when Bounty Hunting, as maneuverabilty counts for A LOT when trying to keep weapons on target.
The Cobra, Eagle, Viper and Vulture (small fighters) all present very small targets for ships fighting them. The Vulture retains this hard-to-hit characteristic. Because of this, the Vulture sits astride both worlds, dishing out and recieving almost as much damage as the medium fighters, but is hard as heck to hit in a dogfight. Hitting any of the medium fighters in combat is significantly easier than the small ships. This helps tip the scales back evening out the Vulture with the larger ships with regards to survivability. This is exacerbated in PVP when the person you are dogfighting against is using fixed weapons, as a Vulture (along with the other small fighters) is infuriatingly difficult to hit with fixed weapons.
The Price (and rebuy) of the Vulture sits almost directly between the smallest fighters and the medium fighters. This means loss of the ship is less devestating, and the ship can be fitted much more cheaply than a Chieftan or FAS.
Bubble Mission Running
The Vulture sports very few internals compared to other ships in the same price range. Combined with a very low jump range, the Vulture is generally a poor multi-purpose ship. This can be somewhat evened out by engineering and Guardian FSD boosters, but the lack of internal space remains for anything requiring hauling cargo. For this same reason, the Vulture is a poor fit for Piracy and Exploration.
Conclusion:
I own almost every ship in the game. My Vulture is my go-to bounty hunting ship (outside of Haz Res). When I think I am in danger of getting annihilated by murder hobos in/near a combat CG/event, I will usually use my Vulture due to the pain in the butt nature of them trying to murder me. The Vulture is the most fun combat ship I own - period. This is due to the combination of high survivability, high maneuverability, high damage output that no other ship can duplicate. Your bigger ships have slightly higher DPS and damage absorption, but are easy to hit, not as maneuverable and cost more. The smaller ships are hard to hit, but put out significantly less damage and can take a fraction of the damage before crumpling.
If you already have a Chieftan or FAS and like it and don't mind the higher rebuys, the Vulture will likely be a downgrade for you. If you don't have these bigger ships but want a very capable fighter, this is the ship for you. If you have the bigger fighters but want to buy a fun, fast, nimble and high damaging combat ship - this is the ship for you. For it’s niche no other combat ship duplicates the Vulture or renders it obsolete.
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