Sidewinder for kicks .. anyone else?

Rather than treat this game as a treadmill to get 'the next big ship' - I've really had a lot of fun recently just pimping out a Sidewinder and seeing how far I can push it in Nav / RES combat. Wings of NPCs that you would wipe out in 2 seconds with a Vulture become a game of skill in a Sidey. And no matter how bashed your ship gets, it costs less than a mars bar to repair the things when you get back to base.

I've been running with a mostly A rated loadout (save for D rated sensors and life support) with 2 X gimballed beams. Looks great using Oculus Rift! Power has been a bit of a challenge in that you have to work the pips to keep the thing rolling in combat so I'm going to try a mix of beam and multi next.

Who else keeps a Sidewinder in the garage? What pro Sidey tips have you got for loadout? Do you bother with shield boosters / shield cells / hull reinforcement?

I love this little ship!
 
Last month, after an exploration trip in my Cobra MkIII, I got back in the Sidey (with its awesome mercenary paint job) all A-Spec, Gimbaled Beam and Gimbaled Multi-Cannon (because I'm a bad shot) and it was some of the best fun I had.
Now back in the Cobra but I know where to go if miss the Sidey.
 
I would say get fixed weapons, less power usage, and more damage, and the sidewinder has the turning speed to keep fixed weapons on the target 90% of the time.
 
I still get a buzz climbing into a Sidey. It brings back the wow factor from when I first played ED. I love flying the Eagle too. I wish there were more ships with small cockpits and great visibility - works really well on the DK2.
 
Flown nothing but a Sidewinder since Premium Beta until I switched to an Adder a couple of days ago.
Sidewinder is a splendid little ship.
 
Likewise. No matter what I end up flying for the focus of the time I'm not selling my Sidey or Cobey and I'll always come back to them.
 
Rather than treat this game as a treadmill to get 'the next big ship' - I've really had a lot of fun recently just pimping out a Sidewinder and seeing how far I can push it in Nav / RES combat. Wings of NPCs that you would wipe out in 2 seconds with a Vulture become a game of skill in a Sidey. And no matter how bashed your ship gets, it costs less than a mars bar to repair the things when you get back to base.

I've been running with a mostly A rated loadout (save for D rated sensors and life support) with 2 X gimballed beams. Looks great using Oculus Rift! Power has been a bit of a challenge in that you have to work the pips to keep the thing rolling in combat so I'm going to try a mix of beam and multi next.

Who else keeps a Sidewinder in the garage? What pro Sidey tips have you got for loadout? Do you bother with shield boosters / shield cells / hull reinforcement?

I love this little ship!


Completely agree. That is why I stuck too my pimped Sidewinder long after I already earned the money to buy a Viper.
But that is now behind me for quite some time. Having fun in my versatile Python now. But in the future I will no doubt return to a Sidey for a bit of fun.

I hope FD will think of a way to give the Sidewinder a longer life. Perhaps they could think of upgrades to make the early ships more viable in the long run.
 
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I still get a buzz climbing into a Sidey. It brings back the wow factor from when I first played ED. I love flying the Eagle too. I wish there were more ships with small cockpits and great visibility - works really well on the DK2.

I agree. I'd love to see a couple more little ships with lots of glass because they're a joy to fly. The Sidey cockpit in the DK2 really is something else. It's a bit of an Austin Allegro but just so much fun. And the Eagle is just plain smooth.
 
I bought this thing called a Shuttle, it has NASA written on the side. It don't go fast but it sure is fun bouncing off the atmosphere of planets. :)
 
Yup the Sidewinder is a brilliant ship
I keep mine for collect the "black box/artwork/transmissions" mission and other general fetch it deliver it missions for factions.
Still have its place in wings in war zones too, a Shield booster, full of Hull reinforcement and best shields and armour it is a tough wee scout ship for zipping about, orbiting even, larger ships and tickling them to death or chasing off the light fighter that harass you wingmen in their larger ships

I use a fixed beam and an turreted pulse laser
 
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Sidewinder pilot here, thing still earns its place in the hangar.
Fixed pulse/Gimballed MC (A rated sensors) seems to do the trick for me, shield cells and booster also.

Still not quite fully optimised yet, I'll get around to it.
 
Great idea ! I'll do this next time. A class A Sidey, to see how long i could survive in a low intensity conflict zone :)
We need to form a suicidal Sidey Wing ! (to go pirating around maybe...) Sounds fun !
 
I have a pimped-out Sidey someplace - it's a heap of fun to fly, but at the moment I am giggling heaps at mining wanted NPC's with a Hauler.
 
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