I really like Scout is a good ship for the price if you cannot afford the Vulture, but man I love the freaking Viper, the engine sounds like my Dodge Charger Daytona edition. It is a freaking Hemi and good in combat, here one of my highlights flying in action.
[video=youtube;ZgH3kbTKfOg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgH3kbTKfOg[/video]
Not being able to afford something more expensive is not a choice. And when you are at the point where you would seriously consider using any ship as a throwaway ship for shenanigans, you are rich enough for it to matter very little whether your rebuy cost is, like, 100k or 200k.
And the reason why one would have chosen a Viper over the Cobra is that it is a better fighter. Not by a large margin, only slightly, but still. Now the choice is between Cobra and DBS, because any advantage the Viper had over the Cobra, the DBS has it even better.
I don't understand what you want to find out from this thread. If price isn't a consideration why are you not questioning what place the DBS has against the Vulture or the Eagle, two ships with similar roles?
IMO if you think from "better numbers" point of view any ship other than anaconda is pointless once you have money. Viper or DBS, does not matter, just stepping stones to anaconda.
But if you are choosing ship to have fun in, not considering price at all, numbers are not that important, you will choose what you like more.
Personally i do not like DBS because its cockpit, and i will definitely prefer viper, and i do not care that it is technically worse.
IMO if you think from "better numbers" point of view any ship other than anaconda is pointless once you have money. Viper or DBS, does not matter, just stepping stones to anaconda.
But if you are choosing ship to have fun in, not constidering price at all, numbers are not that important, you will choose what you like more.
Personally i do not like DBS because its cockpit, and i will definitely prefer viper, and i do not care that it is technically worse.
If you're in the "must upgrade to better" mentality then you'll miss out on the quirks of those ships that are but stepping stones to the 'Conda.
Me, I downgraded from a Vulture not because it was a bad ship (it was perfect for my combat needs) but because it was too easy for CZs/RESs and boring as shlump fly...
From what I can tell with ED shipyard, the viper has almost 25% more shield and speed. Half the weight and half the price, too.
On the other hand, the DBS has more utility slots, larger internal compartments, and the power to fill them. A third more agility and almost two thirds more armor and jump range. Four times more fuel too.
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I feel the two are fine. They're very different from each other. Those aren't small advantages at all. I don't move around much, and before 1.3, bounty hunting was my thing. The viper lets me do just that. So I would use the viper more often than the DBS. Were I to do something that required a little more all purpose functionality, then I'd absolutely use a DBS.
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I don't think there will ever be a ship to replace the viper at its price point. The DBS might be able to do some of the same things, but it doesn't at all do them in the same way.
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Viper
[Viper]
M: 2D/G Cannon
M: 2D/G Cannon
S: 1F/F Burst Laser
S: 1F/F Burst Laser
U: 0I Chaff Launcher
U: 0D Kill Warrant Scanner
BH: 1I Lightweight Alloy
RB: 3A Power Plant
TM: 3A Thrusters
FH: 3A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 2D Life Support
PC: 3A Power Distributor
SS: 3B Sensors
FS: 2C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 4)
3: 3B Shield Cell Bank
3: 3A Shield Generator
2: 2A Fuel Scoop
1: 1A Frame Shift Drive Interdictor
---
Shield: 178.50 MJ
Power : 9.13 MW retracted (76%)
11.91 MW deployed (99%)
12.00 MW available
Cargo : 0 T
Fuel : 4 T
Mass : 115.4 T empty
119.4 T full
Range : 12.92 LY unladen
12.92 LY laden
Price : 4,409,884 CR
Re-Buy: 220,494 CR @ 95% insurance
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DBS
[Diamondback Scout]
S: 1F/F Burst Laser
S: 1F/F Burst Laser
M: 2D/G Cannon
M: 2D/G Cannon
U: 0I Chaff Launcher
U: 0I Chaff Launcher
U: 0D Kill Warrant Scanner
U: 0A Shield Booster
BH: 1I Lightweight Alloy
RB: 4A Power Plant
TM: 4A Thrusters
FH: 4A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 2D Life Support
PC: 3A Power Distributor
SS: 2D Sensors
FS: 4C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 16)
3: 3A Shield Generator
3: 3B Shield Cell Bank
3: 3B Shield Cell Bank
2: 2A Frame Shift Drive Interdictor
---
Shield: 168.49 MJ
Power : 12.70 MW retracted (81%)
15.48 MW deployed (99%)
15.60 MW available
Cargo : 0 T
Fuel : 16 T
Mass : 244.9 T empty
260.9 T full
Range : 22.20 LY unladen
22.20 LY laden
Price : 9,860,696 CR
Re-Buy: 493,035 CR @ 95% insurance
The Viper has better shields and an extremely low profile. Very hard to hit from 1.2km and farther unless you have fixed mounts or de-select your target.[
I know that this is an old thread, but thought that I would post since I've been bouncing back and forth between the DBS and Viper here lately, and despite my fondness towards the DBS and it's advantages, I keep coming back to the Viper for the very reason you stated. When going against multiple ships or larger ships, I've noticed that my surviveability seems to be a little better in the Viper given that it's harder to hit. The DBS with mirrored composite holds up fairly well despite taking more hits, but it seems I loose my canopy more often with it. I'm only running with stock armor in the Viper to keep light, but I may revisit that and let the speed suffer a little.
I'm still torn... that DBS can really stay on those smaller fighters and if the Viper was as maneuverable, there would be no question which one I'd stick with, but it's not bad getting the Viper turned around with with FA-off to make another attack run on the larger ships with the plasma launcher and I've been equipping one seeker launcher to deal with smaller fighters which has been working well.
Since this thread has been revived I might post as well.
Avid Viper fan here. I do like the DBS scout but for combat I would choose the Viper any time of the day. I do a lot of PVE combat and I consider myself decent at it (no PVP). In my opinion another advantage of the Viper is, that it's speed and acceleration is less pip dependant than the DBS's is. That combined with greater straight line speed and great thrusters and acceleration make it a better fighter than the DBS in my opinion. Of course I could be wrong and it could be because I am used to flying a Viper and have two of them and no DBS but for my fighting style at least the Viper is the better option.
Try some rapid fire pulse turrets in the small hardpoints and your weapon of choice in the mediums, I tested a DBS and a Viper at the same CZ and the Viper had better survivability due to I believe better acceleration and smaller side on profile (and length) check the link for comparison, they're both great fighters but the Viper would be my choice.
