Run-Away Cobra and Data/Cargo delivery missions

CMDR Harada

CMDR Harada
I'm trading my way up the Fed rank ladder in my 'Cutter. The ONLY thing that makes this possible is the monster shields with a bucket full of boosters. I've learned I can outrun most pirates or outgun them. The shields will give me enough time, as long as I choose the right one. The FDL seems to be the enigma... fast enough to catch me and mean enough to kill me after 4 or 5 interdictions if the turrets don't do their job. I'm not a n00b in combat ( 7% Deadly ). The 'Cutter just turns toooooo slow. What a pig. I hate this ship ! But... 536 tons of cargo.... at 1.2k profit per ton, per stop, on my 12 minute round trip trade route.... I love this ship ! I think I'll name it the "Gutenburg", in honor of the creator of the printing press and all the money it's made me.

So, I'm looking at missions, and I constantly get the "Ship too big" in missions that are unavailable and have huge payouts of 300k+. Money isn't the problem, I want the rep and rank those emissions bring. Hmmm. I could re-buy a Python, just punch thru the pirates and supplement with cargo runs... Maybe an FDL ? No, no cargo at all. Vulture ? Too slow, no jump range and no cargo. And I don't want to fight my way thru, the AI has gotten pretty nasty lately.. Asp ? Too slow. Clipper ? Fast, but can't land on medium pads.. Keelback/T6/T7 ? HAHAHA ! Might as well just self destruct on the pad..

And then I remembered the run-away cobra idea from an old thread. 40 cargo is fine, and the thing is FAST. So, as a data delivery or small cargo ship it's perfect. All shields/boosters, military armor, no weapons, max'd FSD and thrusters... Let anyone interdict, I can out-boost ANYTHING if I'm not going to fight. I'll just run away. And if I get interdicted multiple times by the same idiot ? I could just dance around at 4km and wait for system security to perforate the pirates hull..

Best of all, IT'S        G CHEAP ! Insurance for it is less than I make on one leg of my trade route, or even the payout for one data delivery run! I'll be trying this out for the next week or so and post back.
 
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goemon

goemon
yes, i use a cobra for running those missions, too - but with weapons and all. if things go south, you can still run.

an alternative would be a courier with performance enhanced thrusters, if you have access to engineers.

btw. - i have run a multipurpose vulture for some time - class cargo rack, class 4 shield.... so "no cargo" isn't all true.

but cobra is more fun :) need for speed!
 

ROSS-128

ROSS-128
Yeah, speedy cobra is pretty good at getting out of interdictions. Federal Dropship and Federal Assault Ship also can be surprisingly fast in a straight line, because as long as you have enough pips to engine (~2.5 is often enough) you can perma-boost. Since the AI doesn't perma-boost even in ships capable of it, those two Fed ships can outrun basically any interdiction if you hammer the boost button enough.
 

Noddie

N
Hah!

With the new enhanced drives, I reckon the lowly hauler can get you out of trouble fast.

Can't carry much, but...
 

goemon

goemon
Noddie said:
Hah!

With the new enhanced drives, I reckon the lowly hauler can get you out of trouble fast.

Can't carry much, but...
Click to expand...

still the basic speed applies... you can get 160% max speed now, e.g. a hauler can "only" boost to 480. main problem with hauler and adder is that their powerdistributor is one size smaller than their thrusters... so no constant boost - if you don#t engineer those. good thing with hauler is its small hullmass and small internals ---- you won't even get close fully laden to lower value of mass, here the perfomance thrusters loose efficiency.
 

Silaz

Silaz
Fedex data and small cargo in my Cobra is what I have mostly been doing today. Pitiful as it is I have only just began ranking up in Empire space, I want that Cutter! Can I have yours, it will save me some time?
 

Ouberos

Ouberos
Recently switched back to a Cobra 3 and am really enjoying relearning it.

For instance earlier I got low and fast in Felicities canyons. (Only a couple of dings, how good are those bridges for weaving between at high speed?!) After that I did a little light thieving (Got thoroughly busted but affordable rebuy for the win! Then I managed to shake a persistent Pirate by hitting boost and giving him a victory roll fly past.

Everyone loves a Cobra!

Tomorrow I might even try to earn some money.
 

DrakeAurum

DrakeAurum
So far my FAS has been utterly reliable for me - tough enough to take a pounding, mean enough to give it back. No running when a mission NPC jumps me - they're just extra bonus credits.

I even stripped out the shields and hull reinforcements to make a couple of 96-ton cargo runs on the Morning Afer CG, just to get my foot in the door. That was the closest I've come to losing the ship since the patch - two interdictions in a row left me on 34% hull.

I know I've been lucky - if any of those interdictions had been by wings, I'd have been toast - but so far it's serving me well for bounty-hunting and a variety of missions.

I did try a Courier fitted with the souped-up thrusters, and that was pretty good - having a Courier that boosts like a Cobra is great fun. However, it's still somewhat flimsy. I got in trouble in a HIRES against a dropship, tried to boost out, and he shot out my thrusters. The only reason I survived, on 22% hull, was because the police kept him occupied long enough for me to run a repair'n'reboot and jump out.
 
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Tarman

Tarman
I like my Cobra but I leave in the teeth. :E

Cobra is great for data runs and weapon smuggling, along with some properly-selected bounty claiming. I've got 32t of cargo space and C2 beam and MC with twin C1 multis on the belly for fish smaller than me and for fighting my way out, plus a decent enough scanner to make a good sidepay with amateur exploration. With good use of FAO with the boosting I can get away from most things if I don't hang around and get eaten up first, and the weapon setup for me at least lets me fight just a bit above my weight class. Also in an act of desperation to shake a persistent NPC pirate who followed me down to the planet surface, I lost him by boosting at nap-of-the-earth height across the planet surface until he hit something and went off my scope.

The unarmed full-on speedster version isn't so much a primary build for me but I respect the need for speed. A souped-up Cobra would be like greased lightning and excellent for playing up a more courier-centric approach to the game.
 

CMDR Harada

CMDR Harada
Tried it out tonight for a session. Made 1.7 million credits over an hour delivering data and small packages. If I had bothered to really mission stack and jump between Solo/Group/Open, I would have made a lot more. My big score was sourcing and returning 16 units of palladium for 275k credits profit. Had a few NPCs try to catch me, but most weren't fast enough in SC. A little elite Sidey tried twice. Got two shots off before I left him in the dust.

This is a very successful way to earn, and new people could do it easily.

Gained 2% Fed rank ( 17% Lt now )... BUT... I LOST 1% combat ? How does that work ? I was 7%.. now I'm 6% ? Meh, I'll figure it out from the captains chair of my shiney new 'Vette in a few weeks.
 

OMIKRONXI

OMIKRONXI
goemon said:
yes, i use a cobra for running those missions, too - but with weapons and all. if things go south, you can still run.

an alternative would be a courier with performance enhanced thrusters, if you have access to engineers.

btw. - i have run a multipurpose vulture for some time - class cargo rack, class 4 shield.... so "no cargo" isn't all true.

but cobra is more fun :) need for speed!
Click to expand...


Courier with Class 2 Prismatic Shields: provides a minimum of 370 mj shield strength plus a "huge" 24 tons cargo capacity when using a class 1 fuel scoop. [yesnod]
 
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