I'd have to check at home but I was only able to add some weapons, grade A FSD and some less valuable improvements. Damn, every grade A costs half a ship! I was thinking about finally looking at Engineers once I get the Python running, so far I had little problems with "vanilla" ships. I have an ASP X, a Vulture and a Python and all these seem to be worth keeping. Especially if FD adds some more meaning to smaller ships, otherwise the Vulture will have little value after getting a bigger combat oriented ship. It is fun flying it though!
Horizons Python Mission Build
- Thread starter Diamond llama
- Start date
I believe that A-rating everything is detrimental to a "missions" build. It makes the python too heavy and cripples the jump range. If you're hopping around from system to system doing brief encounters you want to lighten up.
Sure, it reduces your outright staying power in a CZ or REZ but the Python isn't the best ship for a combat-specialised build anyway.
Key things to note about the Python:
I have an 80M credit Python build that jumps >34LY and boosts to almost 425m/s. It lets me mine, SRV, passenger, skimmer mission, assassinate etc. For a general "any type of mission" it's superior to both my Trader-specific Anaconda and NH/CZ PVE Corvette, both of which are G5 engineered specifically for those purposes. For the 160M credit build you've linked, you could actually buy a better "missions-only" Python for 80M and spend the spare 80M credits on an FdL. An 80M credit FdL will be a better combat ship than a 160M credit Python, as someone who has hundreds of hours on both.
Sure, it reduces your outright staying power in a CZ or REZ but the Python isn't the best ship for a combat-specialised build anyway.
Key things to note about the Python:
- It has hull mass 350T, so "optimal mass" can be surpassed with only class-5 shields. Class-6 shields are more expensive, power-hungry, heavier and rob you of precious internal space for relatively small gains in shield strength.
- The low hull mass means that adding heavy things has a HUGE relative effect on the handling and speeds. You can get away with D-rated thrusters and dirty-drive tuning, or downsized A-rated thrusters. Both will have minimal impact on agility and top speed but offer big improvements in jump range and power requirements.
- If you're not planning on a long-stay hardcore CZ or REZ combat build, you can switch to low-distributor-draw weapons like missiles, cannons and MCs (mod to incendiary if you still want high thermal damage). The lower draw means you can downsize your distributor for reduced mass - and the engineer mods make a HUGE difference to distributors. Literally massive savings here!
- Since the power hungry parts of the build (6A thrusters, 6A shields, 6A sensors, 0A KWS) add relatively little value to missions, you can get away comfortably with a 5A powerplant and low-grade (rank 1 or 2) overcharged mod. Another 30T saved for more jump range.
I have an 80M credit Python build that jumps >34LY and boosts to almost 425m/s. It lets me mine, SRV, passenger, skimmer mission, assassinate etc. For a general "any type of mission" it's superior to both my Trader-specific Anaconda and NH/CZ PVE Corvette, both of which are G5 engineered specifically for those purposes. For the 160M credit build you've linked, you could actually buy a better "missions-only" Python for 80M and spend the spare 80M credits on an FdL. An 80M credit FdL will be a better combat ship than a 160M credit Python, as someone who has hundreds of hours on both.
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Your build sounds like what i came up for my own light-multirole python, which i posted on the first page, but i didn't really understand the relationship between hull mass and the weight of modules until reading your post.
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Thank you, Ziggi, guess engineering will be neccessary at some point.
Yep, it's the smartest type of loadout for a Python IMO.
I'm not sure I'd run all seeker missiles though: diificult to kill anything with PD or big shields, since shields are highly resistant to explosive damage.
For a more jack-of-all-trades fighter, mix in some thermal weaponry for stripping shields and kinetic damage to get past point defences or to speed up hull-tanky targets ike the FGS.
Fixed cannons have received a big buff this patch too, they're perfect for the lower-power, long-range Pythons if you don't mind aiming fixed weapons. Large gimbaled pulse laser, two fixed cannons and two seeker racks should be able to deal with any type of PVE target the game throws at you, especially since you won't need many pips to weapons. It's only really the laser that has any draw and you can stop firing that once the shields are down
PD does indeed shut the seekers down and hard shields can be annoying, but what i can't kill i can flee from.
I choose seekers so i can be lazy and not dogfight.
But i've been wanting to use cannons so i might give it a try sometime.Yes, it is no doubt very impressive. I suspect though that if you don't want to invest into the engineering that went into it you might have to make some tough compromises.
If you enjoy being lazy stick 3F Pulse Laser turrets on your large hardpoints. They're low DPS compared to fixed/gimbaled lasers, but on the upside they spend longer time on-target and they're very efficient in terms of damage per distributor draw.
The downside is that you're adding an extra 12T of mass (before lightweight mods) but it's a small price to pay for greatly-increased offensive capability and you're not "wasting" the class-3 hardpoints with class-2 weapons.
Felicity Farseer is the first and easiest engineer to unlock. Now that engineering commodities have been removed from the blueprints, I think you could get G1 overcharged powerplant, G3 Dirty Drives, and G3 jump range increase in under an hour and that includes the return journey to Maia to get the Meta Alloys you need to unlock her. Those three low-level mods make the biggest difference by far. I'm not saying you should stop there, but if you don't care for the engineers at all, you should still aim to get those three mods because they give you such a huge gameplay advantage for such a small investment.
The downside is that you're adding an extra 12T of mass (before lightweight mods) but it's a small price to pay for greatly-increased offensive capability and you're not "wasting" the class-3 hardpoints with class-2 weapons.
Felicity Farseer is the first and easiest engineer to unlock. Now that engineering commodities have been removed from the blueprints, I think you could get G1 overcharged powerplant, G3 Dirty Drives, and G3 jump range increase in under an hour and that includes the return journey to Maia to get the Meta Alloys you need to unlock her. Those three low-level mods make the biggest difference by far. I'm not saying you should stop there, but if you don't care for the engineers at all, you should still aim to get those three mods because they give you such a huge gameplay advantage for such a small investment.
Some very useful tips there! I've been flying my Python for a few weeks now, mainly mining, but she did me proud on the Hasling CG (Top 10%!), so I now have a few creds to spend on upgrades... I was going full-on A-rated, but now I might just work on Engineering lower-class modules for a bit and maximise that jump range.
Thanks all!
Either that, or I spend some money on a 2nd ship: A jumpy AspX to go exploring again, or a shooty Vulture to start building up that combat status... choices, choices!
Thanks all!
Either that, or I spend some money on a 2nd ship: A jumpy AspX to go exploring again, or a shooty Vulture to start building up that combat status... choices, choices!
Just went out with the Asp X. After being pretty disappointed with the Ram Tah's mission I needed some time off. I probably won't be going far though, 5kLY at the most.
For what it's worth, here's my tough little mission runner. It can do just about anything, PVE wise. It's got a fair amount of Engineering, all of which is included in the build here:
https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/pyt...eVcHFHuSh6a/wFGohNYAwIAAA==&bn=Artigan Python
The Python is an excellent and versatile ship!
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Yep. I use ED Market Connector. When you're docked, you can just click the name of the ship, and voila. Instant import to Coriolis or ED Shipyard, your choice.
https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/pyt...eVcHFHuSh6a/wFGohNYAwIAAA==&bn=Artigan Python
The Python is an excellent and versatile ship!
- - - Updated - - -
Yep. I use ED Market Connector. When you're docked, you can just click the name of the ship, and voila. Instant import to Coriolis or ED Shipyard, your choice.