Ship Builds & Load Outs RES - Cobra or Viper?

Cervani · Jun 4, 2015

Currently i'm running a cobra with a mix of C and D internals.

My main question is, assuming an average skill level, which ship is better for RES? Which would take down ships easiest? Which is more able to survive?

The only issue I seem to have in my cobra seems to be condas, though I haven't seen any pythons or FDLs so I can't speak for them. But I haven't run vipers in a RES or against the higher tier of ships.

Any help or loadouts would be very appreciated.

Time Streamer · Jun 4, 2015

Those two can pretty much perform on a RES site. On the game actual state, speaking of fighters, your best choice is getting a Vulture. Cobra and Viper carry the same ordnance: two C1 and two C2 hardpoints. Cobra is a good multirole ship and Viper is solely for combat. Viper is faster than Cobra but Cobra has faster boosts. It's pretty much resumed to your skill and what weapons you carry. To improve weapon performance try upgrading you Power plant and power distributor to class A (if possible).

To tackle big targets you need a big punch, since you want to kill fast and rack up credits at an enjoyable rate. Your better option on those two ships is to carry a pair of lasers to take shields down and a pair of plasma accelerators to destroy your target's power plant (you might need a Class A powerplant to manage those). Cannons can do it too with a lower power requirement and heat, but they're weaker than plasma. If you decide to use the typical combo (two lasers and two multicannons) you'll do the job at a slower pace due to low damage and high ammo consumption.

Cervani · Jun 4, 2015

Sadly I have nowhere near the credits for a vulture. That was what I consider my next step up.

This is a ship I would be using solely for RES, so a pure combat ship would seem best. My questions revolve around which would be better for pure combat and survivability, the cobra or the viper?

Edit: Yeah I'm currently using the main loadout of two lasers and two multis. I've never used the plasmas before, are they difficult to aim? If I remember right they are pretty expensive.

Schattenbogen · Jun 4, 2015

Cervani said:
My main question is, assuming an average skill level, which ship is better for RES? Which would take down ships easiest? Which is more able to survive?

If you use gimballed weapons, the Cobra.
If you are good with fixed weapons, the Viper.

Time Streamer · Jun 4, 2015

Yep expensive and fixed only. You have to shoot straight. No "auto-aiming" here like the gimbals. To help, you can set "targeting mode" (I think this is how it's called) to "Leading", on your right screen. They are expensive, shoot straight and consume a lot of power. But it's the best option. Below that you get Cannons at a lower performance but they don't require so much power. Plus, you can get a gimbal version of those. Railguns, like plasma, are expensive and power hungry and they're lightning fast, but they have low ammo, just 30 shots, which make them useless on a RES site (think of them as a sniper rifle). Then comes all propelled explosives. Rockets, Missiles and Torpedoes. Those can be very expensive, useless against shields and they run dry fast. The shotgun like weapon, fragment cannon, doesn't do a dent at long ranges and it's a strange weapon at close ranges. Either it deals nice damage or it doesn't. Never understood them. After all this, what's left are the lasers but to run a full laser loadout and perform nicely, either in damage, power handling, heat control and time, you need a Vulture.

DextersIndignation · Jun 4, 2015

a top spec viper is 3 mill

a top spec cobra is 8-10 mil

A viper is actually better for res farming ( current build) and it's cheaper, but the viper is pretty poor for other missions.

If credits are a problem, I would suggest Viper...

Grind for a few hours and you will have enough for a basic cobra for missions, and a vulture for res farms.

Cervani · Jun 4, 2015

Time Streamer said:
Yep expensive and fixed only. You have to shoot straight. No "auto-aiming" here like the gimbals. To help, you can set "targeting mode" (I think this is how it's called) to "Leading", on your right screen. They are expensive, shoot straight and consume a lot of power. But it's the best option. Below that you get Cannons at a lower performance but they don't require so much power. Plus, you can get a gimbal version of those. Railguns, like plasma, are expensive and power hungry and they're lightning fast, but they have low ammo, just 30 shots, which make them useless on a RES site (think of them as a sniper rifle). Then comes all propelled explosives. Rockets, Missiles and Torpedoes. Those can be very expensive, useless against shields and they run dry fast. The shotgun like weapon, fragment cannon, doesn't do a dent at long ranges and it's a strange weapon at close ranges. Either it deals nice damage or it doesn't. Never understood them. After all this, what's left are the lasers but to run a full laser loadout and perform nicely, either in damage, power handling, heat control and time, you need a Vulture.

Yeah, I have experience with both fixed and gimby weapons, so I'm not too worried. My current loadout uses 2x Fixed Multis on the mediums and 2x Gimballed Beams on the smalls, so I'm sure the plasmas won't be too much of an issue. What I think I'm going to do is ship down to the Viper, or maybe keep the Cobra and just buy a Viper and use that for RSE's. It seems it's the way to go since it's a pure combat ship.

DextersIndignation · Jun 4, 2015

for res farming, you really need all pulse.

You can fire all day long with pulse's.

Time Streamer · Jun 4, 2015

Cervani said:
Yeah, I have experience with both fixed and gimby weapons, so I'm not too worried. My current loadout uses 2x Fixed Multis on the mediums and 2x Gimballed Beams on the smalls, so I'm sure the plasmas won't be too much of an issue. What I think I'm going to do is ship down to the Viper, or maybe keep the Cobra and just buy a Viper and use that for RSE's. It seems it's the way to go since it's a pure combat ship.

If you already have the Cobra, fit her and take it for a spin. If i had to choose between the two i would choose Viper, because i'm a hunter and every inch of performance counts for me. But the Cobra on a RES can achieve the same results. The firepower is the same and the slim changes in performance between these two will only have an effect in your survivability. If you manage to hold your ground with the Cobra, there is no need to buy a Viper and fit her for combat, IMHO, since you'll only gain sub-booster (normal) speed.

Cervani · Jun 4, 2015

Time Streamer said:
If you already have the Cobra, fit her and take it for a spin. If i had to choose between the two i would choose Viper, because i'm a hunter and every inch of performance counts for me. But the Cobra on a RES can achieve the same results. The firepower is the same and the slim changes in performance between these two will only have an effect in your survivability. If you manage to hold your ground with the Cobra, there is no need to buy a Viper and fit her for combat, IMHO, since you'll only gain sub-booster (normal) speed.

I had already switched over to a viper by the time you posted xD. That being said, it's a pretty durable little ship. Granted, I haven't run into any conda's yet but I haven't had any issues (except for me someone becoming wanted for shooting a wanted person). Now it's just a matter of finding a Viper loadout I like, or does the most damage.

Time Streamer · Jun 4, 2015

Happy hunting then

Iskariot · Jun 4, 2015

Cervani said:
Currently i'm running a cobra with a mix of C and D internals.

My main question is, assuming an average skill level, which ship is better for RES? Which would take down ships easiest? Which is more able to survive?

The only issue I seem to have in my cobra seems to be condas, though I haven't seen any pythons or FDLs so I can't speak for them. But I haven't run vipers in a RES or against the higher tier of ships.

Any help or loadouts would be very appreciated.

Personally I felt much more comfortable in a Viper when bounty hunting in a RES.
But if you also do some trading then the Cobra has no competition in that price range. It is a great multi role ship.

I felt killing Anaconda's in a Viper was much easier than in an Anaconda. With good use of the laterals you can run circles around the Ananconda and never stop hitting the target. Anacondas used to get more hits on target when I was in a Cobra.

America Shaftoe · Jun 4, 2015

I have been bouncing between a Viper and Cobra in the RES recently and what everyone is saying syncs up.

The differences are not huge on DPS but the rebuy cost of my near fully fit (few A's and mostly B's) Viper is under 93K. I have a few A4 (FSD, Power Plant etc) on my Cobra so my rebuy is north of 175K creds. When I am bouncing my credit balance off the low end (buying a new A4 or expensive module when I get sufficient monies for it and buyback) I tend to use the Viper...Cheaper if I make a mistake etc for roughly same performance in RES.

Thasarion · Jun 4, 2015

I got my RES career going in a Viper with quad multi-cannons. I had the most trouble getting the medium guns on the target because they are positioned pretty far behind the cockpit, making a small area where I could get all 4 guns on target. Now, I would reccomend small gimballed beams, and two gimballed cannons with the cannons in fire group 2.

I toyed around a bit and I think this would work for you
[Viper]
M: 2D/G Cannon
M: 2D/G Cannon
S: 1G/G Burst Laser
S: 1G/G Burst Laser
U: 0I Chaff Launcher
U: 0E Kill Warrant Scanner

BH: 1I Military Grade Composite
RB: 3A Power Plant
TM: 3C Thrusters
FH: 3E Frame Shift Drive
EC: 2E Life Support
PC: 3A Power Distributor
SS: 3B Sensors
FS: 2C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 4)

3: 3A Shield Generator
3: 3C Shield Cell Bank
2: 2E Frame Shift Drive Interdictor
1: 1C Auto Field-Maintenance Unit
---
Shield: 178.50 MJ
Power : 9.34 MW retracted (78%)
11.90 MW deployed (99%)
12.00 MW available
Cargo : 0 T
Fuel : 4 T
Mass : 124.1 T empty
128.1 T full
Range : 5.54 LY unladen
5.54 LY laden
Price : 2,393,299 CR
Re-Buy: 119,665 CR @ 95% insurance

Also, I would upgrade to a Vulture ASAP. (P.S. the interdictor is just in case you come across a pirate in SC that you want to take down)

Cervani · Jun 4, 2015

Whelp, I took out the Viper for a spin and had a hilarious time. The RES didn't seem to like spawning 'condas (I think I killed three all told, with 3-4 clippers) but I ended up making out with 1.8m in bounties. Running 2x Multis in the mids and 2x Beams in the smalls, the only issue I ran into was when I ran out of ammo for the multis! And even then, I stuck around and poked at the power plants of two 'condas and two clippers with just the beams and no multi ammo.

Either way, I'm sitting pretty at 2mil or so... almost halfway there to the Vulture.

Fireclown · Jun 4, 2015

Cervani said:
Either way, I'm sitting pretty at 2mil or so... almost halfway there to the Vulture.

Enjoy the journey to the Vulture.
Even though it is way more potent against big ships and will earn you credits faster it is also
far less fun than Eagle/Viper after you've got over the initial wow factor of it's firepower and agility.
As your eyes glaze over in boredom to the sound of continuous pulse laser fire as the 50th novice Anaconda
blows up with no risk to yourself I bet you will miss your Viper days

Cervani · Jun 5, 2015

Thasarion said:
I got my RES career going in a Viper with quad multi-cannons. I had the most trouble getting the medium guns on the target because they are positioned pretty far behind the cockpit, making a small area where I could get all 4 guns on target. Now, I would reccomend small gimballed beams, and two gimballed cannons with the cannons in fire group 2.

I toyed around a bit and I think this would work for you
[Viper]
M: 2D/G Cannon
M: 2D/G Cannon
S: 1G/G Burst Laser
S: 1G/G Burst Laser
U: 0I Chaff Launcher
U: 0E Kill Warrant Scanner

BH: 1I Military Grade Composite
RB: 3A Power Plant
TM: 3C Thrusters
FH: 3E Frame Shift Drive
EC: 2E Life Support
PC: 3A Power Distributor
SS: 3B Sensors
FS: 2C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 4)

3: 3A Shield Generator
3: 3C Shield Cell Bank
2: 2E Frame Shift Drive Interdictor
1: 1C Auto Field-Maintenance Unit
---
Shield: 178.50 MJ
Power : 9.34 MW retracted (78%)
11.90 MW deployed (99%)
12.00 MW available
Cargo : 0 T
Fuel : 4 T
Mass : 124.1 T empty
128.1 T full
Range : 5.54 LY unladen
5.54 LY laden
Price : 2,393,299 CR
Re-Buy: 119,665 CR @ 95% insurance

Also, I would upgrade to a Vulture ASAP. (P.S. the interdictor is just in case you come across a pirate in SC that you want to take down)

Have to say I'm loving this build. I subbed out the bursts for beams, and with full pips to weapons I can pretty much fire them almost constantly. The cannons are nice too, since if you land a hit with both shots they can shave off a nice bit of HP off a subsystem (around ~25% on a dropship is what I'm finding out). I just wish they could hold more ammo =/. Oh well, I'll just have to make sure I HAVE the shots and only use them on the power plant, try and stretch the ammo.

Rankaze · Jun 11, 2015

Advantages of the Viper:
Much better shields
Faster non-boost speed
Better hardpoint placement
Smaller cross-section
Better acceleration and lateral/vertical thrust.

Advantages of the Cobra:
Tougher hull
More power
Better pitch rate
More convertible to non-combat roles
Better boost speed

To me, Viper wins every time for combat work.

PhoenicianSon · Jun 30, 2015

Here is a solid build for a Viper, but also notice the power management. After all, if you want those SCB's to help you out if you get into a bind, you have to manage your modules to support the additional power. Not a big deal though, you just shut off your Cargo Hatch, since you do not need it anyways if you don't have cargo modules, and set both your FSD and your FS Interdictor to Priority 2, since you cannot use either of these modules while your hardpoints are deployed, you will not be missing out on anything or have to sacrifice these modules for combat...

Otherwise, if you want to stay out there longer, you can swap out the MC for PL to spend more time out RES farming not having to worry about rearming. Honestly, I never bothered with the MC's and stuck with thermic weapons until I got my FDL, which has the B4 Cannon - that I only use for "big game" - so I can stay out farming in CZ's, RES and Nav Beacons:

http://coriolis.io/outfit/viper/03A...4405a6d-.AwRj4yyA.EwBhEYy6so==?bn=Viper Build

If you need to work up to this build, you can sacrifice the non-essentials, like the FSD and just have to jump more often, the Interdictor - only necessary to perform assassination missions anyway unless you want to interdict a Wanted ship at your discretion - and the SCB, since it is just a backup in case you find youself in a pickle, and the shield booster, which you can also work up towards purchasing. The other parts are essential, like the A class Distributor, thrusters and powerplant. The three latter modules should be your highest priority if you are tight on cash, and in that order.

AndyPC · Jun 30, 2015

Why not try out a Diamondback scout, lovely maneuverability and gun positions have a wide arc. I'll post my build if I get the time today. One note, I think the hull might be a bit weaker than a Viper, so no 1 on 1's with an Imperial Clipper without the local authority backing you up. Good against Pythons, Federation Dropships, etc though.

Currently using one to bounty hunt in Sons (the Alliance system), working up 500,000cr roughly before reloading, and there's a repair depot on the edge of the rings.

My current Diamondback Scout BH build http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=70h,5Ap5Ap7u57u53wK0_q0-80mI,316Q726Q3S4s3I6k,7PcmpU0nE - although I'm looking into replacing the multi cannons with beams, as long as I can get the time to death (TTD) about the same as with the multi-cannons, nothing like throwing those out at the underside of a Python to see the Power Plant % dive down.

EDIT: Build not quite right, thrusters should be 4A or A4 + new build with Beam lasers replacing Multi Cannons, haven't tried it yet : http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=70h,5Ap5Ap4yH4yH3wU0__0__0mI,316Q6Q6Q3S4s3I6k,7PcmpU0nE