Newcomer / Intro need help on my viper loadout

delta873 · Dec 21, 2014

Ok so I have 2x small gimballed pulse blazers and 2 medium torpedo pylons (ones with 2 per weapon) for assaulting bigger ships that need to die if 30k is a small price compared to the bounty I will receive. Also have fuel scoop, fsd interdiction, cargo rack 8 for if they drop gold (I pirate players and haulers as a side job >.>) Also have a cargo scanner and the cargo hatch breaker. The problem I have is that I can't do enough damage to bigger targets such as andacondas even with all torpedoes fired when shields pop they still have over half health. What should I change?

Araviel · Dec 21, 2014

i would swap the torpedoes to multi cannons or railguns, make sure to target the subsystems of your target, primary their power plant

delta873 · Dec 21, 2014

Railguns on medium or small hardpoints?

Martin1956 · Dec 21, 2014

I found the torpedoes a waste of time. A decent cannon will work better. Also most of the bigger ships have chaff and other things to knock them off target. Okay to finish off something once it's shields are down and the weapons off line. Will be better when the ability to fly in wings comes in then have a wing with different weapons a bit like the battle of the Bismark.

DMLeeroy · Dec 21, 2014

I run 2 small fixed beam lasers and 2 medium gimballed multicannons on mine, it costs 5k to reload the multicannons from empty, so 1 average size bounty will pay for the entire hunt duration, the rest is pure profit! (Minus the fuel cost but that's negligible)

For me this setup takes out everything up to and including elite anacondas, I run it with a b3 shield cell bank, chaff and KWS, a3 distributor, a3 power plant, B3 shield generator, d class sensors, d class life support, reinforced hull, a class fsd, and have an 11LY jump range.

I love it.

DJS_UK · Dec 22, 2014

Sounds good. How much did that setup cost roughly?
I probably can't afford it at the moment so what modules would you recommend upgrading first?

Beld · Dec 22, 2014

I tried putting rails on my viper briefly, the power use seemed horrendous and i was worried i'd end up running out of ammo for them, so i went back to multicannons.

technophebe · Dec 22, 2014

DJS_UK said:
Sounds good. How much did that setup cost roughly?
I probably can't afford it at the moment so what modules would you recommend upgrading first?

I have a similar weapons setup to DMLeeroy, 'A' kit in everything except 'D' in life support, and no armor. That runs to about 3 million. But 'C' grade kit isn't that much worse than 'A' and it's so much cheaper, you could 'C' kit a Viper for less than a mill.

I'd upgrade the FSD first for travel convenience; or shields, power distributor & thrusters for combat.

DMLeeroy · Dec 22, 2014

DJS_UK said:
Sounds good. How much did that setup cost roughly?
I probably can't afford it at the moment so what modules would you recommend upgrading first?

All in this setup was about 2.5 - 2.8 million.

I recommend upgrading the power plant and distributor first, the stock plant in a viper is horrendous. Then get the FSD, the go from there.

I bounty hunted in my eagle to save up for these parts, took a little while but trading doesn't really interest me.
Currently saving for as asp, only 4 million to go! (Just for the hull mind you)