I've recently discovered the super strong cytoscrambler, and for some reason nobody talk about them. They're nuts in pve, you get literally huge pulse laser DPS but in small slot. For the price of small jitter and no hull damage (irrelevant since you are free to use the bigger slot for hull pewpew).
The jitter is also irrelevant, because the biggest shield around are also the biggest ship. Hitting a cutter at 600m is hardly a challenge.
So I've been playing new ships recently to play those little monsters. The Mamba, chieftain and challenger. And since I'm a really evil person, I'm playing them as shield tank. Yes, even the crusader and chieftain. I tried with hull tanking and I went poof, so.... Eventually I prefer the Challenger over Chieftain, more tanky IMO.
I could have used frag on them for even more boom boom, but that meant more engineering. Maybe some other day.
Inara->coriolis is kinda buggy ATM, so some engineering can be a bit bugged.
Mamba
Challenger
I guess I kinda came full cricle, with my first combat ship being a crusader
For combat I usually use my Krait MKII. Not too long ago I unlocked the packhound and they are very funny. Unfortunately, they have basically no ammo. Which mean I can't really use those in CZ and the like (but I have the vette for that). Still fun though.
Krait
Old screenshot after a Thargoid fight, wearing those scars like a champ :
Otherwise I play it with regular lasers or incendiary MC + regular MC.
And for Odyssey settlement attack, I made another krait, with a funky build. Allowed me to try the APA, since I never used plasma before. The idea is to use the 2 small slot for dumb rocket for ground assault (conveniently placed below the ship), and the APA are made to teach other ships that I still have teeth. The fighter helps in a fight.
It's not engineered and not really good in a fight, but it serves well nevertheless.
Krait ground assault
In action:
Finally, I have been trying to branch out for exploration. Now that I use a FC as a way to get outside the explored space, I can use explo ship with less range. Also, exobiology changed the deal, where small ships are more valuable than big one, since some plants are really hard to land nearby (fungoid for example).
With the free holidays courrier, I used that one the last time, but the front view is bad. The ship itself was awesome, and super fast above ground, which was really fun. Zooming from one biome to another at super high speed was cool. Plus dumb amount of shield, so if (when) you impact the ground it's OK.
Courrier
So for next time, I will try a dolphin instead, I'll see if it's better.
Dolphin
My first Explo ship was an asp, and I still have it. Such a wonderful little ship. So mandatory "asp in front of things". My first planetary landing, for an engineer (it was awesome)
Customization are basics, I don't buy ARX, and kits are way too expensive for my taste. Some paintjob I like best vanilla (courrier, krait MKII), and my explo ship I never repair the paint. I wear that look with pride ! Ironically, my phantom is the only one with a custom paint (a red one).
