My plans for 2.3 and looking for advice on a build or two.

Agony_Aunt

Agony_Aunt
Been mulling things over, and with the arrival of the Dolphin in 2.3, and being a long time fan of the Orca (and its upcoming change is going to be nice), i've decided to become a Saud Kruger only (more or less) pilot.

Please bear in mind this is all for Private Group PvE only. I had been toying with getting involved in some PvP but these new plans override that, and non of these ships are really going to cut it for PvP anyway.

My current shipyard and plans are:

Beluga (keeping)
Fed Gunship (much as I love it, its going to be sold)
Python (Awesome ship, but another fatality)
Asp Explorer (selling)
Cobra Mk4 (i can't sell it, love the ship, will keep for planetary bombardment missions - currently fitted with 5 mine launchers)
Cobra Mk3 (one simply does not sell their Cobra Mk3)
Eagle (Selling)
Sidewinder (Selling).

Unfortunately, i cannot simply mothball them, for when i inevitably change my mind in the future as credits are an issue in relation to my plans. I will put some of the better modules into storage though.

Moving forward, these are my planned ships.

1) Beluga #1: Trade/Passenger/Exploration - not too much hassle to have a vareity of modules in storage to quickly switch between these roles.

2) Beluga #2: Multicrew combat ship. Size 6 Fighter hangar and weapons suitable for MC. <-- This is the one i need the most advice about. Suggestions?

3) Orca #1: Piracy/Mining - its fairly simple to convert between Piracy and Mining since they share a lot of features in terms of loadout with simple changes like FSD Interdictor <-> Refinery (both size 4) and Hatch Breaker <-> Prospector Limpets, and of course weapons.

4) Orca #2: Exploration/Passenger missions. No questions here, easy descisions. The mass reduction of the Orca coming in 2.3 makes it much better for exploration.

5) Orca #3: Solo combat ship. Suggestions welcome on this build. Ramming will be less viable in the Orca due to mass reduction but probably still ok. Shields are an issue. Suggestions?

6) Dolphin: Passenger Missions. Simple loadout.

With regards to (5) i'm thinking of a single large beam and 2 canons, or possibly 3 frags. With frags (rapid fire or double shot) basically jousting (as its fast) and unloading pain at close range. Shields won't hold up much, so of course HRPs and MRPs required. Better suggestions?

With regards to (2) i'm thinking again will need the reinforcements on the internals, bi-weaves (since shields are sucky anyway... that thing really needs size 7 shields), not sure SCBs will be of any use, if under serious attack shields will drop before an SCB can even take effect and the Beluga does struggle with power, not sure will be able to afford SCBs. Weapons wise, could go simple, 5x size 2 pulses? Or perhaps some combo of lasers and missiles. General idea is to hang back and let the fighter(s) do the most of the work. Perhaps then long range modification on any lasers....

Anyway, input would be appreciated on these builds.
 

hunvagy

hunvagy
The problem with a Beluga combat vessel is that the Beluga's shields are made of wet tissue paper. And with the booster changes it won't look a lot better even with heavy duties.

EDIT: maybe this? https://eddp.co/u/sAErSoq5

Needs a TON of engineering though :p
 
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Agony_Aunt

Agony_Aunt
hunvagy said:
The problem with a Beluga combat vessel is that the Beluga's shields are made of wet tissue paper. And with the booster changes it won't look a lot better even with heavy duties.

EDIT: maybe this? https://eddp.co/u/sAErSoq5

Needs a TON of engineering though :p
Click to expand...

Yeah, i noted the shield issue. Shields are probably going to be more just there to deflect incidental damage. Its going to have to be a hull tanker. I might need to consider B rated modules instead of A as well. I'm most likely not even going to consider 4 shield boosters. I suppose i could go for 4 (or more?) E/D rated boosters and stack resistances, although not sure how much that might help. Might just be better to get chaff and PDTs and a couple of boosters (if any).
 

hunvagy

hunvagy
Agony_Aunt said:
Yeah, i noted the shield issue. Shields are probably going to be more just there to deflect incidental damage. Its going to have to be a hull tanker. I might need to consider B rated modules instead of A as well. I'm most likely not even going to consider 4 shield boosters. I suppose i could go for 4 (or more?) E/D rated boosters and stack resistances, although not sure how much that might help. Might just be better to get chaff and PDTs and a couple of boosters (if any).
Click to expand...

Yeah, on the bright side there's not much else you can put into the restricted slots then HRPs, so there's that xD And from coriolis it seems with resistance augmented it can take a few hits. Oh and it's from testing in beta this weekend, 360 degree heat seekers are hillarious :D I swapped my class 1 lasers for those on the Anaconda.
 

CMDR Ahab

CMDR Ahab
Only problem I can see now with using the Orca in any sort of combat is as a unintended side effect of losing half it's mass, it also loses it's ability to be a very effective battering ram (please don't let FD hear this!!) when your quarries shields are just too strong. ;)

I really need more practice at this piracy malarky myself...

P.S. anyone know how to get Coriolis builds copied from Beta? Managed to knock together a Battle Orca together with dual rails and a PA and still has a boost speed of nearly 600 with a 30ly range :D

- - - Updated - - -

Oh yeah, and remember to get your Alioth permit, Orca's are on sale constantly for 20% discount at Irkuts (can't remember the spelling) station ;-)
 

Lawlazyboy

L
hunvagy said:
Yeah, on the bright side there's not much else you can put into the restricted slots then HRPs, so there's that xD And from coriolis it seems with resistance augmented it can take a few hits. Oh and it's from testing in beta this weekend, 360 degree heat seekers are hillarious :D I swapped my class 1 lasers for those on the Anaconda.
Click to expand...

Do you get 360 fire arc for torpedos aswell? &#55357;&#56834;
 

goemon

goemon
(2) i can second the missiles for multicrew... probably two seeker racks, and two longrange beam turrets for shieldstripping? also ... can't you use the restricted slots for MRP/HRP?

(5) as for the solo orca ... someone is flying a full PA orca, that isn't a bad idea. from it's speed, which will even get buffed, i could also imagine a full frag orca ... maybe with overcharged frags (I'm no fan of the double shot...)? frags have such a low distributor draw, you can fly it with 4 pips to shields all the time... and you can make up the hull-loss by fitting heavy duty HRP into the restricted slots.
 

XW_Ziggy

XW_Ziggy
You have a credits shortage, yet the Eagle and SW can't be worth much at all. Why sell those?

The FGS could be worth 150M in full combat spec, that's three hours of surface scan missions.
The Python is probably worth 120-200M depending on whether it's multirole or combat spec. Again, 2-4h of missions
The AspX is worth 40M tops.

I can understand you selling perhaps the FGS, the Python, or both for credits, but surely you can hang on to the AspX, Eagle and SW? You can probably earn their credit value from missions in less time than it takes to procrastinate on which modules to sell.
 

DukeIronHand

D
Not to be a wet blanket here - and perhaps I am feeling the after effects of just selling my beloved T-series fleet as they proved worthless as traders compared to other ships - but...

Does it seem strange to anyone that suddenly with 2.3 we are flooded with combat/explorer/miner builds of supposedly dedicated and purpose built passenger ships? Ships made from the ground...err...deck up to transport passengers?

Perhaps the whole idea of the ships internals (number, size, purpose) and how we design ships, and what they are supposed to do, needs a rethink?
 
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IndigoWyrd

IndigoWyrd
The Orca has long been one of my favorite ships.
If you mean to use it as a fighter, I'd suggest a highly engineered version of this: https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/orc...20404012d2dm9B23258m227.Iw18SQ==.IwBj4z1Mg===.

The Combat Beluga, if you're planning to crew up: https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/bel...m2d2d2d2d3258m5m4m5.AwRj4yukg===.Aw18WCMZA===.
Likewise, it will take rather extensive engineering to bring it's power up to spec and keep it cool, but once you get there, it makes for a very satisfying ship.
 

Bran Tse Mallory

Bran Tse Mallory
DukeIronHand said:
Not to be a wet blanket here - and perhaps I am feeling the after effects of just selling my beloved T-series fleet as they proved worthless as traders compared to other ships - but...

Does it seem strange to anyone that suddenly with 2.3 we are flooded with combat/explorer/miner builds of supposedly dedicated and purpose built passenger ships? Ships made from the ground...err...deck up to transport passengers?

Perhaps the whole idea of the ships internals (number, size, purpose) and how we design ships, and what they are supposed to do, needs a rethink?
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's just like how passenger liners get converted to hospital ships when there's a war on. But for the above example I have to ask is there anything the Beluga can do which the others cannot? After all - no hospital ship ever gets used as a passenger liner ;)
 

DukeIronHand

D
Well I was going to throw out "the 747 is a passenger plane if I wanna fight I'll take an F15" kind of thing but...yea...the whole ship thing, and even how they are worked into the game, seems...off to me.
Did I mention I miss my Lakons already? :)
 
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