Ships Next combat ship after Viper Mk III is Mk IV?

Cohen the Worrior

Cohen the Worrior
I only have three ships at the moment
  • Viper Mk III for combat
  • Cobra Mk III for trading and in the future for mining
  • Dolphin for tourist and deep space data gathering missions combined with exploration
    doubles as a cargo hauler on occasion and also for getting around in the bubble
So I have been saving up for my next ship and as I want to progress in combat, the Viper Mk IV seemed the obvious choice. However, it seems the Viper Mk IV really is a harder Cobra Mk III, and as such more useful as a blockade runner.

So no, this is probably not going to be my next combat ship.
 

Zannry

Zannry
Wow, my two suggestions have already been made. The Courier is small, fast, fun and well shielded. Needs imperial rank to unlock but definitely worthwhile. The vulture is cheap, agile, has a really deep HP pool for a small ship and mounts two large hard points for some serious teethe. The next upgrade from either of these though I would strongly suggest an Alliance Chieftain.
 

Cohen the Worrior

Cohen the Worrior
Ok, the Courier looks nice, I don't know why anybody would chose the Viper Mk IV for looks when there's the Courier.

Struggling a bit with the Courier build though. It's not finished but this is how far I got. It jumps farther and has more optional slots than the Viper Mk III but the firepower is very similar or am I wrong? Also, I would have to grind Imperial rank.

The same problem with the Vulture I'm afraid. Overall a better ship but just not more DPS.

What am I doing wrong?
 

Bigmaec

Bigmaec
You're not using engineering.
The iCourier has similar firepower.
With the Vulture the thing is it uses large weapons, so they have a much higher piercing versus the medium/small weapons of the ViperIII.
Against basically any medium or higher ship your Viper deals less damage due to armor hardness and piercing. The Vulture gets a lot less damage resistance by that.
 

Tifu

Tifu
baudelier said:
I feel that the Viper Mk IV is Elite' answer to Slave One or the Razor Crest. A small multi-role ship that just happens to be perfect for bounty hunting.
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Also pirating (with hatchbreakers). The additional optional slots, military slot, decent jump range (for a combat ship) give it great flexibility role-wise.

Cobra 3 is faster and more agile, Viper 4 is tougher and hits harder due to better weapon convergence.

Cobra 3 is a great smuggling ship though ⚔️
 

Ydiss

Ydiss
On my second account (now gathering dust), my commander progressed 100% on combat and went Sidewinder, Eagle, Viper then Vulture.

The Vulture is so cheap it's really not necessary to have any stepping stone between. Once you've got the Vulture you can pretty much go get any ship you like with just combat, these days. More so if you wing up.
 

Tifu

Tifu
Frillop Freyraum said:
Incidentally, I found the Viper Mk IV is a pretty good compromise if you are looking for a small miner but have no access to the Cobra Mk IV (go from here if you want a definition of "slow". The Viper Mk IV isn't really slow then :p). And it actually can do some combat, though my choice would also be the Vulture for that...
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Frankly, if Elite were launched today, it would be better if the Sidewinder was a museum piece and either the Cobra 3/4 or the Viper 3/4 were the new player's starter ship.

Things have changed so much ingame so that anything smaller is virtually useless.

Still love my golden Sidewinder though.
 

CMDR Cknarf

CMDR Cknarf
Hard to beat the Vulture if you're sticking with a small. Handling wise, its very user friendly, but it does have some powerplant issues depending on what kind of modules you're running. In the right hands, This un-engineered Vulture is capable of taking on any single NPC you might encounter, outside of assassination targets and thargoids.
 

Slange Lands

Slange Lands
There is nothing like the FDL. The vulture is adorable but has only two large hardpoints and not the greatest plant. If you love the Viper 3, then you will love the FDL. The FDL is meta for a reason. You can fly a variety of hardpoints with unsurpassed defenses. In FA off it is the Baryshnykov of the mediums. I cannot stand to fly other ships in dense asteroid fields because the lats and pitch of the FDL are soooooo responsive and all the other mediums feel like riding lawnmowers. If you are considering serious PvP, you must have one. I have five fully engineered ones for all different circumstances.

It is not easy to fly, without proper pip management you will stall, and in PvP that means getting hit more often than not. Although the FDL permaboosts, you still have to plan your boosts. And it does fly hot, although sadly, that is not so much of an issue anymore. Lots of suicide burn silent runners these days.

The mastery of the FDL is my joy and reason why I play this game.

:)
 

Bigmaec

Bigmaec
Slange Lands said:
There is nothing like the FDL. The vulture is adorable but has only two large hardpoints and not the greatest plant. If you love the Viper 3, then you will love the FDL. The FDL is meta for a reason. You can fly a variety of hardpoints with unsurpassed defenses. In FA off it is the Baryshnykov of the mediums. I cannot stand to fly other ships in dense asteroid fields because the lats and pitch of the FDL are soooooo responsive and all the other mediums feel like riding lawnmowers. If you are considering serious PvP, you must have one. I have five fully engineered ones for all different circumstances.

It is not easy to fly, without proper pip management you will stall, and in PvP that means getting hit more often than not. Although the FDL permaboosts, you still have to plan your boosts. And it does fly hot, although sadly, that is not so much of an issue anymore. Lots of suicide burn silent runners these days.

The mastery of the FDL is my joy and reason why I play this game.

:)
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Progression Slange, progression... can't have him jump to the best right from the start ;)
 

Deleted member 121570

D
Ca$hback said:
. It's slow, turns slow and the only advantages it has over the Cobra III are hardpoint convergence and smaller cross section
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No offence, but if you think the Viper 4 turns slow - you're flying it badly. That ship can turn like it's on rails.
It's got a HUGE boost multiplier and duration - way above Vulture etc, and it's super weight-friendly. I'm glad it's your favourite, but honestly - it definitely doesn't turn slowly.
It's my favourite small ship for combat tbh. Versatile and stupid agile on boost. But it does need to be flown on the boost - like the FDL really.
 

Cohen the Worrior

Cohen the Worrior
Thanks for the advice guys. I'll definitely return to the Courier later, but it is not really an upgrade from to the Viper Mk III so lets go with the Vulture instead.
Heard Li Yong-Rui has a couple of hardly ever used ones, so tried my luck there.

Not using a lot of engineering, because I only have access to Felicity and Elvira and now Tod "the blaster".
A bit nervous about fixed weapons, only been using gimballed and using mouse and keyboard I worry a lot of my shots won't connect. So I'll try the beam laser and multi canon combo first.

I have about 26 MCr to spend and this is the build I came up with. Care to comment?
 
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Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
Cohen the Worrior said:
I have about 26 MCr to spend and this is the build I came up with. Care to comment?
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Same problem as a lot of unengineered Vulture builds: you don't have enough power for both weapons at once :)

Back when I was flying one (in 2.0, so no engineering even as an option) I downgraded the thrusters to 5B - the Vulture isn't all that sensitive to the exact grade, so if you do that and downgrade one of the shield boosters to B, you'll have enough power. (Also put supercruise assist on priority 5, of course)

Alternatively, since you have access to Farseer, you can Overcharge the Power Plant to level 1 for 1 or 2 Sulphur. This gets you an extra 2MW, which is plenty to power both weapons at once without downgrading modules. The integrity loss from Overcharged 1 isn't significant.
 
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