Newcomer / Intro Rank Progression: eliminating a General

cmdr lowest · Apr 26, 2015

flAzer said:
Guess I'd be looking at something like this, easily within reach: Cobra MK III

But I see that I can't upgrade Power past A3, and that makes outfitting for combat I think a little difficult.
I say that because my Viper is using an A3 and my power usage is fairly maxed out.
So adding modules in type 4, not really sure I can use to benefit combat...

Not really. The Cobra does have medium hardpoints but it's not a dedicated combat ship. It can hold its own and is incredibly fast (good at running away) but not ideal for taking on Elite Anacondas. You need something with more manouverability. The Cobra is a flexible ship for a range of different professions (I use mine for exploration) but it doesn't excel in combat at this level.

Try a Viper - save for a Vulture for a combat-orientated career.

cassog · Apr 26, 2015

cmdr lowest said:
Not really. The Cobra does have medium hardpoints but it's not a dedicated combat ship. It can hold its own and is incredibly fast (good at running away) but not ideal for taking on Elite Anacondas. You need something with more manouverability. The Cobra is a flexible ship for a range of different professions (I use mine for exploration) but it doesn't excel in combat at this level.

Try a Viper - save for a Vulture for a combat-orientated career.

Toying with the idea of switching to a Vulture. What weapons loadout would you recommend in one?

cmdr lowest · Apr 26, 2015

cassog said:
Toying with the idea of switching to a Vulture. What weapons loadout would you recommend in one?

Big multicannon and smaller pulse lasers for stripping shields. That's what I have on mine.

You'll want the most expensive power distributer you can get and shields but I can't recommend a full combat loadout - I play mainly as an explorer. I'm not in the game for the combat.

willowfan · Apr 26, 2015

Vulture - two class three pulse lasers - will make mincemeat of anything quickly including anacondas (at least npc ones).

cassog · Apr 26, 2015

Willowfan and Cmdr Lowest -- thanks for the help guys.

Universal Evil · Apr 26, 2015

cassog said:
Toying with the idea of switching to a Vulture. What weapons loadout would you recommend in one?

This is my one of my vultures(have two of them) the one I'm flying at p.t : (if you're interested...

)

[Vulture]
L: 3E/G Burst Laser
L: 3E/G Burst Laser
U: 0C Shield Booster
U: 0A Kill Warrant Scanner
U: 0I Chaff Launcher
U: Emty

BH: 1I Military Grade Composite
RB: 4A Power Plant
TM: 5D Thrusters
FH: 4A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 3D Life Support
PC: 5A Power Distributor
SS: 4D Sensors
FS: 3C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 8)

5: 5A Shield Generator
4: 4B Shield Cell Bank
2: 2A Fuel Scoop
1: 1D Hull Reinforcement Package
1: 1C Advanced Discovery Scanner

--- Shield: 439,00 MJ Power :
13,58 MW retracted (87 %)
20,08 MW deployed (129 %)
15,60 MW available
Cargo : 0 T
Fuel :8 T
Mass : 374,6 T
empty 382,6 T
full Range : 15,14 LY
unladen : 15,14 LY
laden : : 15,14 LY
Price : 22.666.687
CR Re-Buy: 1.133.334 CR
@ 95% insurance

Jim Steinman · Apr 26, 2015

In my Empire progression missions I've been using the Viper quite well. The clippers take a little beating, but easily doable.

Adept · Apr 26, 2015

I did such a black op for the Feds, and the target was in a very well flown Dropship. My Cobra could handle it, but it wasn't an easy fight.

cassog · Apr 26, 2015

Universal Evil said:
This is my one of my vultures(have two of them) the one I'm flying at p.t : (if you're interested... )

[Vulture]
L: 3E/G Burst Laser
L: 3E/G Burst Laser
U: 0C Shield Booster
U: 0A Kill Warrant Scanner
U: 0I Chaff Launcher
U: Emty

BH: 1I Military Grade Composite
RB: 4A Power Plant
TM: 5D Thrusters
FH: 4A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 3D Life Support
PC: 5A Power Distributor
SS: 4D Sensors
FS: 3C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 8)

5: 5A Shield Generator
4: 4B Shield Cell Bank
2: 2A Fuel Scoop
1: 1D Hull Reinforcement Package
1: 1C Advanced Discovery Scanner

--- Shield: 439,00 MJ Power :
13,58 MW retracted (87 %)
20,08 MW deployed (129 %)
15,60 MW available
Cargo : 0 T
Fuel :8 T
Mass : 374,6 T
empty 382,6 T
full Range : 15,14 LY
unladen : 15,14 LY
laden : : 15,14 LY
Price : 22.666.687
CR Re-Buy: 1.133.334 CR
@ 95% insurance

Interesting that you've chosen to go with just lasers and no kinetics.
Any problems against the bigger ships?

willowfan · Apr 26, 2015

cassog said:
Interesting that you've chosen to go with just lasers and no kinetics.
Any problems against the bigger ships?

None at all, because they are class 3 they suffer no damage penalty against the big ships and with the A grade distributor you can keep firing constantly until the ships go down.

Anacondas go down really quickly, especially if you target the power plant, and anything smaller including pythons take seconds.

It's not even worth targeting subsystems on anything smaller than a python and for them it is barely necessary.

Universal Evil · Apr 26, 2015

cassog said:
Interesting that you've chosen to go with just lasers and no kinetics.
Any problems against the bigger ships?

As willowfan says it's not an issue at all with large lasers. I can take down an anaconda(NPC) in less than a minute... Sure I may be able to upgrade my shieldbooster a little with a kinetic weapon on one of the two hardpoints but in my vulture I prefer to use the secondary firebutton for shield cells instead of kinetic weapons. So I chose to go with pure lasers and No need for rearming when in WZ or RES'.....