Horizons Newbie to combat... what ship?

[Andy Whapham]

Ok so I bought my ASPX and love it!!

but...

I wanna get into a bit of combat and such...

Is the MKIV Viper worth a punt for this? or is there a better suited ship?

Cheers

Andy

 

[Flimley]

Hello. What is your budget ?

Flimley

 

[xondk]

Ok so I bought my ASPX and love it!!

but...

I wanna get into a bit of combat and such...

Is the MKIV Viper worth a punt for this? or is there a better suited ship?

Cheers

Andy

Pick one, you can afford to lose, you can begin combat with near any ship, just scale your expectations on what you can kill equally to the ship.

 

[MickyG1982]

The ASPX is combat capable if well set up & looked after, though it is limited to places such as Nav Beacons & low Res sites (it can do high but you really need to fire on what the police are firing at).

For the most fun out of combat you could go for the Eagle, it might only have small hardpoints but it is hands down the most fun cheap combat ship out there & when it pops it only costs a couple of quid to rebuy.

I would choose it over the Viper Mk III any day of the week - I'd also rather have a Cobra Mk III over the viper too, but that is just me.

 

[rrobes]

Work up to a Vulture, that is the one I enjoyed the best for small ship combat.

 

[colprice2002]

Best value at the budget end in the Viper 3.
It's fast so you can "fire and zoom", don't hang about, strike and get out of their range fas

The Sidewinder can be good - you'll need to A rate everything but the FSD, and add armour. It's manoeuvrable, so get in close and stay at the back of the attacking ship. If you lose that position, run! (I once managed to take down an NPC Conda, but that was several versions ago).
No matter what you buy, you'll need to have sever rebuys in your budget. I've not found combat very profitable.

 

[EzeThieL]

Don't use the ASPX for combat is it sucks big time. That ship isn't suited enough for it. Go for a Viper MK III at start and build up for a Vulture. You could use the Cobra III, but it's a lot more sluggish then the Viper but if you can test them both and see what style you like most.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Viper III kinda sucks - it's too heavy for the internals it can sustain. It turns like a brick but is reasonably fast. The small reactor requires you to use some power management and may limit your choice of weapons.
It's so heavy, it can't even make use of those performance thrusters - it actually loses performance. Well done FD.
I'd take it over the AspX for combat anytime, though.

Vulture is nicely manouverable, has some power management issues, but isn't as limited as the Viper. It's not as fast, but can pack two large weapons and can stack some serious shield power. For dogfights I'd take this.

However, with engineers all this is pointless anyway.

 

[Shadowdancer]

Get an Eagle and "support" law enforcement at nav beacons or RES against small ships to get a feel for combat (read: steal police kills; try not to hit the fuzz). Learn to stay behind enemies, try different types of weapons. Even with an A-rated Eagle you will have very low rebuy value, so you can make mistakes.

The Viper Mk4 is a bit weird. It's not so much a primary combat craft, but it can take a severe beating at a low price while still carrying decent firepower and getting good jump range, I used it for retrieval missions.

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

Get an Eagle and "support" law enforcement at nav beacons or RES against small ships to get a feel for combat (read: steal police kills; try not to hit the fuzz). Learn to stay behind enemies, try different types of weapons. Even with an A-rated Eagle you will have very low rebuy value, so you can make mistakes.

The Viper Mk4 is a bit weird. It's not so much a primary combat craft, but it can take a severe beating at a low price while still carrying decent firepower and getting good jump range, I used it for retrieval missions.

Viper Mk4 is excellent for fast planetary operations with ground vehicles. Its small landing footprint allows it to easily find a landing sit even in rougher terrain while retaining decent hardpoints for all your missile systems.

 

[JetsonRING]

One word: Vulture

Asp-X is a great ship, a good all-around earner but nobody is going to mistake one for a combat ship, even though it can in fact fight it's own way out of a paper bag (and run away). If you want a dedicated combat ship to take out to the HazRes then I suggest a Vulture. Probably the only (besides "fighters") small, dedicated (mostly to) combat vessel. A good, tough bird, just stay behind your opponent. Eagles and the other "glass-cannons" are cheap stepping stones to a Vulture.

 

[EzeThieL]

Asp-X is a great ship, a good all-around earner but nobody is going to mistake one for a combat ship, even though it can in fact fight it's own way out of a paper bag (and run away). If you want a dedicated combat ship to take out to the HazRes then I suggest a Vulture. Probably the only (besides "fighters") small, dedicated (mostly to) combat vessel. A good, tough bird, just stay behind your opponent. Eagles and the other "glass-cannons" are cheap stepping stones to a Vulture.

Exactly this. With a Vulture you will do just fine in a HazRes.

 

[goemon]

there are 2 ships to get started with combat imho:

1. eagle. the eagle will teach you a lot, but you will also loose it a lot in the beginning. the eagle is not especially fast, and it doesn't have good shields or hull for tanking - but it will teach you skill - to outmanouver enemies, to think ahead

2. viper mkIII. both shield and hull tanky for its size. probably the best "starter" combat ship.

take one of those to a nav beacon, pick your targets, and learn by experience.

if you have severe problems in the beginning (like i had), fit a small beam turrett with other weapons - it will show you where to turn to, and get the right distance.

after that, you might want to invest in a DBS, a courier or later a vulture.

 

[Spacecat]

An AspX is a great multipurpose but not fantastic at combat. I'd buy a Vulture for combat and use the Asp to do other stuff.