PvP PvP Diamondback Scout Weapon Choice

[nosleepdemon]

I've engineered myself a lovely little hull tank DBS. She's sporting 1600 hull hp with 40% resistances across the board. I've gone and armoured her power plant and given her thrusters a g5 DD mod that brings the max boost speed up to a healthy 520 m/s.

That just leaves the weapons, and I think I goofed up.

I put a class 1 and 2 long range plasma slug railgun on her left side, and a class 1 and 2 rapid fire phasing burst laser on her right. Both weapon effects drop damage by 20% which I should have researched better. My damage is simply too weedy to fight shielded ships as my hp is not renewable.

Im thinking I might try two long range class 2 rails instead, with two class one burst lasers. Or swap one of the rails for a class 2 burst laser and use the super penetrator mod on the remaining railgun. Thoughts?

Finally, I really do like plasma slug rails - the DBS has a big fuel tank for this too. However, the only way this would be doable imo, now that I have seen how bad my damage is, is with the premium ammo trick. Does premium ammo still last forever on plasma slug guns?

 

[IndigoWyrd]

I've engineered myself a lovely little hull tank DBS. She's sporting 1600 hull hp with 40% resistances across the board. I've gone and armoured her power plant and given her thrusters a g5 DD mod that brings the max boost speed up to a healthy 520 m/s.

That just leaves the weapons, and I think I goofed up.

I put a class 1 and 2 long range plasma slug railgun on her left side, and a class 1 and 2 rapid fire phasing burst laser on her right. Both weapon effects drop damage by 20% which I should have researched better. My damage is simply too weedy to fight shielded ships as my hp is not renewable.

Im thinking I might try two long range class 2 rails instead, with two class one burst lasers. Or swap one of the rails for a class 2 burst laser and use the super penetrator mod on the remaining railgun. Thoughts?

Finally, I really do like plasma slug rails - the DBS has a big fuel tank for this too. However, the only way this would be doable imo, now that I have seen how bad my damage is, is with the premium ammo trick. Does premium ammo still last forever on plasma slug guns?

It does not, because it was never supposed to.
How about instead, sticking a pair of Cascade torpedoes and a pair of frag cannons on it. Granted not very original, but whatever gets the job done, right?

 

[Threeofseven]

I recommend cannons or frags. I like to put two mine launchers in the small slots w/G5 rapid fire (reverb and ion)

 

[nosleepdemon]

I recommend cannons or frags. I like to put two mine launchers in the small slots w/G5 rapid fire (reverb and ion)

Would cannons be able to punch through shields well enough? I find mines quite easy to avoid, are they meta in pvp nowadays? I fought a guy with mines last night and they seemed like a waste of time for him. He synthesized at least two reloads as well.

 

[CMDR Cknarf]

Plasmas and rails.

If anyone tells you otherwise, they are like, super wrong.

 

[Threeofseven]

Would cannons be able to punch through shields well enough? I find mines quite easy to avoid, are they meta in pvp nowadays? I fought a guy with mines last night and they seemed like a waste of time for him. He synthesized at least two reloads as well.

Yes they can. Especially for pvp because most have their resistances balanced fairly so there is usually no benefit in using thermals over kinetics. As others said, plasmas are superior but if you are going to be silent running then they are not recommended due to heat.

Mines are hard to learn, but if you get good with them they are deadly. The guy you fought was probably a beginner with mines,

 

[Morbad]

Unless you are ambushing non-combat vessels, or intend to function as a dedicated shield cracker for a wing, I wouldn't bother with the torpedoes or mines. They are both tricky to use and four cascade torpedoes is usually insufficient to knock out a larger thermal resist shield gen.

My vote goes for two rails (feedback cascade) and two PA (two TLB or a TLB and a dispersal field), or two sets of rails (feedback cascade on the smalls, and super penetrator on the mediums). All the rails should be long range and spun for solid (30-50%) thermal reduction secondaries. PAs should be focused (same velocity as long range, but less mass) if you intend to fight medium and small ships with them.

 

[CMDR Cknarf]

If you're going stealth, efficient PAs are a must.

Id recommend feedback cascade rails, as someone successfully banking is absolutely heartbreaking against a small ship.

 

[nosleepdemon]

Hmmmm interesting. Over the night I was thinking about quadding up the rails as mentioned with super penetrator and feedback cascade, but having a pair of plasma accelerators sounds entertaining. I farmed a few more biotech conductor thingies last night but just 6 attempts for long range rails with heat efficient secondary effects seems unlikely. How many rolls do you think Im looking at? I could just take my corvette over and farm for 10 rolls at a time and cash them in. For feedback cascade, is there a benefit to having both rails setup with it? Thanks for the advice thus far folks.

 

[Troy_McClure]

If you're going stealth, efficient PAs are a must.

Id recommend feedback cascade rails, as someone successfully banking is absolutely heartbreaking against a small ship.

Another great option if you know how to use SR, is frags: double shot & special effect: load time is not crucial with this tactic, hence the ubiquitous 'screening shell' effect isn't essential - take your pick, depending on your target type, but definitely have one corrosive on one of the c1s.

Fly evasive & toggle SR on your first strike-run if your opponent has visuals on you > hit hard from close range > go silent as you pass > boost FAOFF in a random direction while flipping to face opponent again > start run again while manoeuvring around target's mk1 eyeball view...your opponent will have no idea where you are unless they have emissive (a counter that will seriously scupper your plans with one slight error!) - rinse & repeat

It's almost cheating & prepare to be sworn at in comms - a lot![big grin] - because only the very best can cope with this tactic without emissive.

I do it in my FAS (my 1v1 CG win:loss ratio is insane - not piloting skill btw, I've beaten better pilots many times)...let the salt-inducing hilarity &/or combat logging, commence! Some people take this game very seriously indeed![haha]

 

[nosleepdemon]

I do have some doubleshot frags stored on my FDL. My choice of them over PAs will likely be determined by how much getting this Alioth permit for the privelege of meeting Bill Turner does my nut in.

 

[bladebss]

I have tryed 4 rails on a dbs, even with super seconderys on thermal the heat is problematic, i think mainly due to cap drain.

2 med rails is enough imo. And then the smalls can be cannons or frags or.. well take your pick but i like utility from my small hard points more than damage.. the 2 rails can snipe modules and deal with shields quite well. But not if you die trying.

Or the classic 2 small rails and 2 efficent plasma is always an option.

 

[CMDR Cknarf]

I ran four rails for a short time on mine too, but it was too easy to make a mistake and roast yourself lol.

 

[Morbad]

For feedback cascade, is there a benefit to having both rails setup with it?

Against big SCBs it takes five small or three medium cascade rail hits in that ~5 second spool up window to reach maximum effect. This is essentially impossible to achieve with a single railgun.

Against ships with smaller SCBs, fewer hits are needed, but smaller SCBs restore so little compared to the larger sizes that I almost consider feedback cascade a waste.

 

[nosleepdemon]

Against big SCBs it takes five small or three medium cascade rail hits in that ~5 second spool up window to reach maximum effect. This is essentially impossible to achieve with a single railgun.

Against ships with smaller SCBs, fewer hits are needed, but smaller SCBs restore so little compared to the larger sizes that I almost consider feedback cascade a waste.

Ah right, hmm. I do think I'll be going the PA route for main weapons, assuming I'm not awful with landing the shots, as I had poor luck rolling railgun mods and only managed to break even on heat efficiency. I still have to mine 50 bromellite for Bill, which is a bit of a pain. I might just steal it from someone instead. If I did end up with railguns and PAs, I wonder if having one of them modded for super penetrator might be useful? Then again, I don't suppose a class 1 super penetrator would... Uh, penetrate, very far?

 

[S-O-nar]

1) "Big game"
Medium hardpoints: Longrange Railguns (both with superpenetrator mod).
Small hardpoins: Mines (extended mag) with anti-shield modification.
How to use - first attack by mines for destroying shield generator. Then shoot directly to FSD (first) and Power Plant. BOOM!

2) "Reverski F**got Edition".
1st Medium hardpoint - Fixed Pulse laser with scramble effect
2nd Medium hardpoint - Railgun with superpenetrator effect
1st Small hardpoint - Fixed Pulse laser with emmisive effect
2nd Small hardpoint - Railgun with feedback cascade effect.
All weapons are longranged.

3) GitGud edition
Medium hps: Plasma accelerators (efficient) with TLB and dispersal mods. You can try a focused, but need godrolls.
Small hps: LR railguns (feedback & superpen).

 

[Morbad]

Then again, I don't suppose a class 1 super penetrator would... Uh, penetrate, very far?

Even a class 1 superpenetrator rail will shoot all the way through pretty much any ship in the game and hit every module in it's path.

 

[nosleepdemon]

Even a class 1 superpenetrator rail will shoot all the way through pretty much any ship in the game and hit every module in it's path.

This is true, and convenient as my last roll happened to land on that effect. PACs with rails it is then. Cheers!

 

[Wasp0]

My Little Tiddles (DBS), is a solid Stealth, cool running ship i use to totally frustrate griefers. It runs at 17% heat and with 12 heat sinks and Silent Running i can dissapear and stay behind any large ship firing my 4 Frags. The big ships just panic trying to find me.

Great Fun. Ultimately it lacks the power to destroy a tanky shield ship, but i can really annoy a Griefer or group of griefers for ages.

 

[nosleepdemon]

My Little Tiddles (DBS), is a solid Stealth, cool running ship i use to totally frustrate griefers. It runs at 17% heat and with 12 heat sinks and Silent Running i can dissapear and stay behind any large ship firing my 4 Frags. The big ships just panic trying to find me.

Great Fun. Ultimately it lacks the power to destroy a tanky shield ship, but i can really annoy a Griefer or group of griefers for ages.

One problem I forsee with rails and PAC builds is fighting anything with a fighter bay. Those little things would be amazingly difficult to punch out, especially if the enemy cmdr hops into one. You would need to put huge pressure on their main ship or be an exceptional shot to survive that one. To that end once I get a better feel for rails and plasmas, I might diversify into frag cannons. They've a big enough spread to probably take those fighters out, maybe. Then again I doubt a DBS has any business blowing up the big three in the first place.