Assuming similarly competent builds and piloting, a corvette can out 1v1 any other ship in the game other than the cutter, or certain long range setups in the hands of a pilot that willing and able to carefully control engagement range for the absurd length of time required.
The reason for this is simple: the vette hits harder than anything other than the anaconda, and can take more punishment than anything other than the cutter, while still being agile enough to achieve passable time-on-target against even much smaller and faster vessels. A peer-level pilot in a good small or medium combat vessel will definitely have better ToT, but not by enough to overcome the vette's durability and firepower advantages...at least not without longer range weapons and a willingness to use them near maximum range for the whole fight.
Sure, an idiot in a vette is in real trouble against a solid small or medium pilot, but that says more about the pilots involved than the limitations of the ship.
Anyway, to hold your own 'against the majority of the Open crowd', you'll need a lot of experience. A big ship in the hands of a novice is just a big target.
I would also suggest not starting with a vette. In order to do well against smaller ships, you have to have flown them in real combat yourself, you need to know what they can do. I'd suggest starting with a Viper III or something, then work one's way up through the combat and multi-purpose vessels roughly in order of tonnage.
The reason for this is simple: the vette hits harder than anything other than the anaconda, and can take more punishment than anything other than the cutter, while still being agile enough to achieve passable time-on-target against even much smaller and faster vessels. A peer-level pilot in a good small or medium combat vessel will definitely have better ToT, but not by enough to overcome the vette's durability and firepower advantages...at least not without longer range weapons and a willingness to use them near maximum range for the whole fight.
Sure, an idiot in a vette is in real trouble against a solid small or medium pilot, but that says more about the pilots involved than the limitations of the ship.
Anyway, to hold your own 'against the majority of the Open crowd', you'll need a lot of experience. A big ship in the hands of a novice is just a big target.
I would also suggest not starting with a vette. In order to do well against smaller ships, you have to have flown them in real combat yourself, you need to know what they can do. I'd suggest starting with a Viper III or something, then work one's way up through the combat and multi-purpose vessels roughly in order of tonnage.
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