Ships Need some shipbuilding help....I think?

[DanielKT]

Current Ship

I'm flying an Anaconda. I don't usually have an issue using fixed weapons like plasma accelerators, cannons, ect.
I'm having some issues putting out damage....I think? It's also possible my expectations aren't accurate on what I'm supposed to be able to do.
I have somewhat limited access to engineering, having roughly the first 8 or so in line (game is updating at the moment, so can't be exact)

Would beam lasers do a better job than the plasma accelerators I have on currently?

Any suggestions?

EDIT: I've been soloing since I started which includes ship design. I've been winging it to figure out mostly on my own, so if I have a massive screw up somewhere, please be constructive about it.

 

[tolm]

Plasmas are fun but I always find the damage slightly underwhelming - even with two Huge ones hitting from my Vette.

Rails with Feedback Cascade are super-effective for stopping serial SCB’ing NPCs.

But, overall, I find it’s hard to beat TV Beams and Overcharged MCs for raw DPS.
I’m sure folks who can hit time and time again - at the fastest fire rate - with plasmas/rails might think different!

 

[Aleks Zuno]

The Anaconda can fit more total firepower than anything else; the general problem is getting all of that ordnance into position with something so immobile. Plasma Accelerators and Cannons are somewhat duelist weapons; incredibly fun to use with the right starship such as a Fer-de-Lance, though only a video would convince me that such is more effective than other options in a Resource Extraction Site, Compromised Nav Beacon, or a Conflict Zone. In those scenarios, it is likely that you will find it more effective to start with all Multi-cannons, then perhaps swap particular hardpoints for something else if it has a specific purpose.

Take a look at the available experimental effects from those engineers, noting that not all weapons can have all effects. A Beam Laser can give you Thermal Vent for cooling your heat away, and a Multi-cannon can give you Corrosive Shell for making all your other weapons deal additional damage to hull. In an Anaconda, probably the most devastating approach would be one based on Thermal Conduit weapons, for which you overheat yourself deliberately in return for extreme damage.

I use one Beam Laser myself; it is heavy on the Power Distributor management, but it gives a lot of versatility for a loadout which thrives mostly on Fragment Cannons—though not in an Anaconda, mind. Generally I avoid heavy starships, and favour the medium approach of having a bit less total weaponry but a lot more scope for moving it around. Typical hunting for me looks like this, and I take down large targets like this.

 

[DanielKT]

The Anaconda can fit more total firepower than anything else; the general problem is getting all of that ordnance into position with something so immobile. Plasma Accelerators and Cannons are somewhat duelist weapons; incredibly fun to use with the right starship such as a Fer-de-Lance, though only a video would convince me that such is more effective than other options in a Resource Extraction Site, Compromised Nav Beacon, or a Conflict Zone. In those scenarios, it is likely that you will find it more effective to start with all Multi-cannons, then perhaps swap particular hardpoints for something else if it has a specific purpose.

Take a look at the available experimental effects from those engineers, noting that not all weapons can have all effects. A Beam Laser can give you Thermal Vent for cooling your heat away, and a Multi-cannon can give you Corrosive Shell for making all your other weapons deal additional damage to hull. In an Anaconda, probably the most devastating approach would be one based on Thermal Conduit weapons, for which you overheat yourself deliberately in return for extreme damage.

I use one Beam Laser myself; it is heavy on the Power Distributor management, but it gives a lot of versatility for a loadout which thrives mostly on Fragment Cannons—though not in an Anaconda, mind. Generally I avoid heavy starships, and favour the medium approach of having a bit less total weaponry but a lot more scope for moving it around. Typical hunting for me looks like this, and I take down large targets like this.

I never got the hang of Frag Cannons on any size ship. I understand the concept that they are basically a shotgun, but any time I used them, they didn't seem to do much. Even at point blank range.

I'll take a look at your suggestions. Well; assuming I have the available engineers for it.... Still updating lol

As far as mobility, i've not had it be much of an issue so far. Between the boost and using the flight assist to change direction, it's not been a huge issue even vs the smaller ships.

 

[tolm]

I never got the hang of Frag Cannons on any size ship. I understand the concept that they are basically a shotgun, but any time I used them, they didn't seem to do much. Even at point blank range.

I'll take a look at your suggestions. Well; assuming I have the available engineers for it.... Still updating lol

I put all the ones I could fit on a Cheiftain once and then went after an Elite NPC Anaconda … get up close and it’s over almost before it’s begun!

But, like, no ammo reserves.

And the naffest “throwing wet sand” sound ever.

 

[Three Stars]

I wasn’t comfortable with plasma accelerators on an anaconda until I made them Long Range. The doubling of shot speed makes it doubly easier to hit with.

Eventually I ended up with three Long Range 5 Advanced Plasma Accelerators (from Denton Patreus powerplay) in the large hardpoints. I call it the Triangle of Doom.

 

[Aleks Zuno]

I never got the hang of Frag Cannons on any size ship. I understand the concept that they are basically a shotgun, but any time I used them, they didn't seem to do much. Even at point blank range.

Take a look at the videos I linked; I am sub-targeting the Power Plant and using gimbal Fragment Cannons so that they converge on it and a massive proportion of fragments all hit it at once, causing it to detonate. They still do plenty of damage versus hull, and obviously if modules are of no concern then a fixed-mount version would be better.

As far as mobility, i've not had it be much of an issue so far. Between the boost and using the flight assist to change direction, it's not been a huge issue even vs the smaller ships.

Good job! During a boost, disabling Flight Assist is great for facing a different direction, and indeed enabling it is great for changing trajectory. There are two more mobility components to include, at least one of which I imagine you know/discovered:

• Boosting empowers your sideways movement as well, vertical and horizontal.
• Deploying your Landing Gear during the boost effect will make that lateral mobility even more powerful, and will limit unwanted speed from boosting. If you then retract it just as the boost effect ends, your speed should be right in the blue zone.

All of those together—boost, lateral thrust, toggling Flight Assist and toggling Landing Gear—give superior movement. This is related closely with why I fly a Mamba; its direct agility is not particularly great, however its boost is unmatched in acceleration (380 m/s²) and duration (3 seconds) combined, and those agility-related numbers do not account for gear-boosts.

 

[WeComeInPeace]

I never got the hang of Frag Cannons on any size ship.

Try them one day on a Vulture. Eng them with G5 Rapid Fire / Screening Shell. Make sure to be at very short range (Vulture=Agility), and fire away, bam-bam-bam. They have a reload time of less than a second, and they are deadly against anything. On a Conda, they are mostly useless, because of the wide angle shots. Also, they eat ammo faster than you can synth it.

For the Conda, I would go for Long Range gimballed Beams, and MCs with autoloader. If you are lazy like me, you can either fit both to the main trigger, or even drop the MCs and go all in with the lasers. That demands a cold power plant.

 

[DanielKT]

Try them one day on a Vulture. Eng them with G5 Rapid Fire / Screening Shell. Make sure to be at very short range (Vulture=Agility), and fire away, bam-bam-bam. They have a reload time of less than a second, and they are deadly against anything. On a Conda, they are mostly useless, because of the wide angle shots. Also, they eat ammo faster than you can synth it.

For the Conda, I would go for Long Range gimballed Beams, and MCs with autoloader. If you are lazy like me, you can either fit both to the main trigger, or even drop the MCs and go all in with the lasers. That demands a cold power plant.

I was looking at the possibility of fixed beams on the larger mounts and railguns on the size 1 and size 2 mounts.
Probably overcharged/TS on the size 4 beam, efficient/TS on the size 3 ones and Long Range/super penetrator on the railgun mounts.

Is that likely to be viable or will it suffer massive issues somewhere?

 

[Kayvan]

Concerning Frags, check out Zachary's PP weapon. Pacifiers are fixed frags with much less spread and higher shot speed, making them much more accurate and therefore usable, but ofc still best against large targets.
They're one of my fav weapons on my fav PvE ship, engineered to Rapid Fire / Screening Shell for maximum DPS.
Combine with a smol corrosive MC for another 25% boost and increased Piercing.

In combination, a Chieftain with 2 Pacs can squeeze out an effective ~340 burst damage in 0.25 seconds and reload in 0.88s. The Sustained DPS is the single highest one in the game. But ofc it's Kinetic, so hull only; and the damage pool is much lower than most alternatives.

 

[WeComeInPeace]

Concerning Frags, check out Zachary's PP weapon. Pacifiers are fixed frags with much less spread and higher shot speed, making them much more accurate and therefore usable, but ofc still best against large targets.
They're one of my fav weapons on my fav PvE ship, engineered to Rapid Fire / Screening Shell for maximum DPS.
Combine with a smol corrosive MC for another 25% boost and increased Piercing.

In combination, a Chieftain with 2 Pacs can squeeze out an effective ~340 burst damage in 0.25 seconds and reload in 0.88s. The Sustained DPS is the single highest one in the game. But ofc it's Kinetic, so hull only; and the damage pool is much lower than most alternatives.

I have a Vulture with frags (Rapid Fire / Screening Shell). Never had the patience for getting the pacifiers. Because the Vulture only have two hardpoints, I use only frags. My point? They rip shields to pieces!

I use the Vulture for assassination missions, and for PvP. It's not a good PvP ship, but it does offer something special, like the time I was being ganked by three kids in Cutters. I managed to cling onto the back of one of the Cutters (Vulture = Agility), and his friends couldn't hit me, without hitting him. I was hanging there with four pips to wep, firing the frags, while he was like "Get him off me!", until the Vulture finally gave in and exploded. Great fun!

 

[WeComeInPeace]

I was looking at the possibility of fixed beams on the larger mounts and railguns on the size 1 and size 2 mounts.
Probably overcharged/TS on the size 4 beam, efficient/TS on the size 3 ones and Long Range/super penetrator on the railgun mounts.

Is that likely to be viable or will it suffer massive issues somewhere?

Fixed beams on the Conda? That depends on how good a FA Off pilot you are I guess, but for a big slow handling ship, I would personally go for gimballed or even turreted in some cases. Your goal is to deliver damage. Even though DPS is higher for a fixed weapon, you'll hit your target for a longer sustained time with a gimballed version of the same weapon.

 

[cmdr milesred]

I was looking at the possibility of fixed beams on the larger mounts and railguns on the size 1 and size 2 mounts.
Probably overcharged/TS on the size 4 beam, efficient/TS on the size 3 ones and Long Range/super penetrator on the railgun mounts.

Is that likely to be viable or will it suffer massive issues somewhere?

easily
one of mine has 2 class 3 fixed Overcharged beams with tc and 3 short range hammers with super pen and 2 class1 turret long range corrosive mc's
works very nicely
no issues imo

as another person mentioned about thermal conduit, it makes the fixed beam laser the mist powerful weapon in the game.

I have many ships
my most used is my 5 rail conda - I bounty hunt
I can kill at any speed in it...hammers are nasty

I use my vettes a lot too, 1 built similar to the conda with beams and rails

usually anything with 3 rails can toast anything rapidly, adding more weapons just makes it faster.

I can say similar about the vette, but its 2 x class 4 slots makes it rare,
but 2 class4 fixed LR beams with TC and a hammer and a few LR MC's can also kill at pretty much any speed

many variations
but you can probably tell, I prefer big beams and hammers.
I have all the PP weapons and all the normal weapons
and my tests led me to using mostly the 2 deadliest weapons in game. imo.

by speed btw, I mean I can kill a ship in 30 seconds, or 3 seconds...

 

[DanielKT]

Fixed beams on the Conda? That depends on how good a FA Off pilot you are I guess, but for a big slow handling ship, I would personally go for gimballed or even turreted in some cases. Your goal is to deliver damage. Even though DPS is higher for a fixed weapon, you'll hit your target for a longer sustained time with a gimballed version of the same weapon.

So far after setting up an all beam laser setup (all fixed except the class 1's on turrets), I haven't really had an issue keeping the beams on the target since even the fixed weapons do have a tiny gimble.
Still; you make a decent point about the gimbled weapons likely having more time on target than the fixed beams even then.

As far as fixed beams on an Anaconda; I was using fixed cannons and then plasma accelerators. I don't think I'm that good of a pilot but it hasn't really been that hard. but that said, i've playing vs AI. They like to do that bit where they directionally strafe you and stay on the same vector for awhile while they do. Haven't seen a single difficulty level that doesn't seem to have this built in to their maneuvers and it makes them fairly vulnerable to being shot at by fixed weapons.
I'm honestly wondering if fixed weapon difficulty is simply given a scary reputation as being hard to use.

I haven't done much PVP though and I suspect it would be an entirely different situation if I had to deal with PVP pirates.

 

[DanielKT]

easily
one of mine has 2 class 3 fixed Overcharged beams with tc and 3 short range hammers with super pen and 2 class1 turret long range corrosive mc's
works very nicely
no issues imo

as another person mentioned about thermal conduit, it makes the fixed beam laser the mist powerful weapon in the game.

I have many ships
my most used is my 5 rail conda - I bounty hunt
I can kill at any speed in it...hammers are nasty

I use my vettes a lot too, 1 built similar to the conda with beams and rails

usually anything with 3 rails can toast anything rapidly, adding more weapons just makes it faster.

I can say similar about the vette, but its 2 x class 4 slots makes it rare,
but 2 class4 fixed LR beams with TC and a hammer and a few LR MC's can also kill at pretty much any speed

many variations
but you can probably tell, I prefer big beams and hammers.
I have all the PP weapons and all the normal weapons
and my tests led me to using mostly the 2 deadliest weapons in game. imo.

by speed btw, I mean I can kill a ship in 30 seconds, or 3 seconds...

I sadly don't have any of the power play weapons and only about half the engineers.

 

[cmdr milesred]

regular rails are just as nasty as hammers
imo hammers are better
but its is more about how they fire
rail = press fire, it charges and shoots
release fire and press fire to fire again

Hammer = press fire, it charges and shoots continuously.
and then it gets fun
reduce the power and the hammer starts misfiring. (this makes the rails fire unsynced)
increase the power and pour on the heatsinks
now it is a machinegun of rails and super nasty, tears ships apart in seconds.
you can't do that with a regular rail.

but the thing about either type is super penetrator.
means the shot goes through everything in its path
so 2 or 3 rails and 1 beam, melts everything very fast.
2 is great 3 is better 4 is overkill 5 is please don't point that at me. 7 is not enough heatsinks to keep it cool but fun trying.

wonder why there is no class 3 or 4 rail?
2 class 1 rails on a vette, still slaughters everything in front of it, easily.
class 1 rail and cytoscrambler are amazing for class 1 weapons

 

[cmdr milesred]

thrusters are most important, without engineering running or chasing is useless.

if you need or want some help, just ask in here.
engineering is easy, but I am not new and I am very good at getting the mats I need...usually overflowing.

the conda of mine you used in your post, was the first fighting ship I made in my third account from earlier this year.
I built that because I knew I had to do CZ's and tons of bounty hunting, all for materials and rank. So that ship is the same design I have in my other 2 accounts and is very deadly.
a conda can put more damage in 1 spot than any other ship
it also has the toughest hull
flys the farthest
carry a lot of cargo if it needs to
somehow can keep up to any npc easily, even the fdl assassinate mission ships are chew toys for this ship.
and before I got the hammers unlocked, regular rails, because they are just as nasty.
most things were barely engineered at first, then finally as I got the mats, fully engineered. 100% is not necessary.
thrusters @ 100% yes
boosters and shield, if you fight a lot
distributor asap but not required
power plant...depends on the modules.

that account went from 0 to multi billionaire with a carrier with over 100 ships with over 2 dozen fully engineered in 3 months, now has all the PP modules, over 300 ships with about 80 fully engineered.
all that means is I know how to make credits fast and I know how to build a very deadly ship easily and quickly.
having done the engineering unlocks 3 times... this takes about 1 week..depends. but makes it easy when you have done it a few times and helped many others unlock as well.
having carriers means I have lots of useful things in cargo that helps with lots of engineering
and of course being able to fly any ship or number of ships 500ly at a time on a carrier makes going to an engineer super easy lazy...

 

[DanielKT]

thrusters are most important, without engineering running or chasing is useless.

if you need or want some help, just ask in here.
engineering is easy, but I am not new and I am very good at getting the mats I need...usually overflowing.

Current Ship

Assuming that link works... that is what I'm using/testing at the moment.

 

[DanielKT]

thrusters are most important, without engineering running or chasing is useless.

if you need or want some help, just ask in here.
engineering is easy, but I am not new and I am very good at getting the mats I need...usually overflowing.

the conda of mine you used in your post, was the first fighting ship I made in my third account from earlier this year.
I built that because I knew I had to do CZ's and tons of bounty hunting, all for materials and rank. So that ship is the same design I have in my other 2 accounts and is very deadly.
a conda can put more damage in 1 spot than any other ship
it also has the toughest hull
flys the farthest
carry a lot of cargo if it needs to
somehow can keep up to any npc easily, even the fdl assassinate mission ships are chew toys for this ship.
and before I got the hammers unlocked, regular rails, because they are just as nasty.
most things were barely engineered at first, then finally as I got the mats, fully engineered. 100% is not necessary.
thrusters @ 100% yes
boosters and shield, if you fight a lot
distributor asap but not required
power plant...depends on the modules.

that account went from 0 to multi billionaire with a carrier with over 100 ships with over 2 dozen fully engineered in 3 months, now has all the PP modules, over 300 ships with about 80 fully engineered.
all that means is I know how to make credits fast and I know how to build a very deadly ship easily and quickly.
having done the engineering unlocks 3 times... this takes about 1 week..depends. but makes it easy when you have done it a few times and helped many others unlock as well.
having carriers means I have lots of useful things in cargo that helps with lots of engineering
and of course being able to fly any ship or number of ships 500ly at a time on a carrier makes going to an engineer super easy lazy...

So far it's turning out to be less than stellar using the fixed beams. While I can keep them on target, they are turning out to be slower to kill targets than the cannons or plasma weapons while spiking heat significantly more due to the sustained fire vs the burst fire for the plasmas.

Also, the range is fairly disappointing and I may as well ram the target with the massive Anaconda if I have to put the beams mostly in their face anyway.

 

[cmdr milesred]

you have too many beams.
never said that before

you need a mix, you need a mc or 2 or a rail or 2
all this ships is, is a power sucker.
more importantly, efficient is not the best choice, long range or overcharged is better
there are many options
mine uses
2 class 3 fixed beams long range with thermal conduit
1 class 4 fixed MC overcharged with corrosive
3 class 2 rails short range blaster with super pen
2 class 1 MC's turret long range with corrosive

the main weapons are the 2 beams the 3 rails, the others help but are not vital to death

I actually do not use a class 4 beam on anything but fdl, cutter, vette
it works fine on a conda but power and mix of weapons is important
2 class 3's are more than enough, 3 takes too much power, can be done but is not as efficient as this build.
these 2 beams are enough to melt things all by themselves
adding 3 mc's makes it a bit faster
adding 3 rails makes it a whole lot faster.

I don't use point defence. I do use 2 heatsinks the rest shield boosters
I use rapid charge with flow control on scb's - I use 2 6a's or 2 6b's depends on the ship.

I would replace the extras with hull or shield reinforcement
like fuel scoop - only when it is going several hundred LY away from home...
srv - only when it is needed
collector - I get it, but just temporary, no need to always have one. I use a class 3 multi-limpit, but only when I am super low on materials.
supercruise assist - never, not on any ship. that's my job.
docking computer - if you have to, fine.
I have multi-tasking ships, but I tend to use my specialized ships more, as they are better at one thing.
this is meant to be a killer, not an explorer, freighter
.
know that using thermal conduit, you have an overcharge ability brought on by extreme heat, also why I need 2 heatsinks - to cool fast and try to prevent too much self damage.
bringing the temp up to 400% and higher is melting time for anything the beams touch. the higher the temp the faster they melt.
the beams alone will slowly get hot and hotter
use of the rails or firing an scb without a heatsink is usually enough to bring on the heat.
practice, gets better and causes less damage to your own ship.
imo this is the single most powerful weapon in the game.

this build can kill other condas in 3 seconds, average is around 11 seconds (as in relaxed)

on a vette, I use the class 4, 1 or 2. either is very deadly
on a conda, it is not the same weapon.

also it is important to build according to target, if all targets are tiny fast, this is a waste of ship
adding a long range mc is often enough to help take on the tiny fast ships. the bullets are faster so they hit more often.