Chieftain was my first step up from Vulture on the dedicated combat path. I was a bit earlier in the game experience and I didn't yet have a feel for my own preferences, nor much of a stick-hand for fixed weapons.
I didn't track the build so I can't link, but I remember thinking "like the speed over the vulture, but it doesn't feel like a positioning upgrade (didn't know how to fly yet), the shields are garbage and I hate taking hull damage (not that Vulture's are big, but I was a bigger target), and what are all these small hardpoints for? Useless!"
So I sold it and against most of the advice out there went straight to the FDL. That's how I learned that I love shield tanks and that small/med hardpoints can be useful on shields when paired with something powerful for hull... and also took the time to learn fixed weapons and harder shooting like plasma accelerators.
But I wasn't thrilled with the range on FDL and I always felt restricted with where I can go and what I can do. Combat only.
So I was back to trying to find a potent combat ship that can still move around the galaxy and do more than just one thing. I'm not thinking any mission, but I want to at least be able to kill things AND go places AND land without having to switch to a different ship for that. Then it was time to unlock guardian modules: FSDboost and ShieldRP.
Tried a Courier with a similar setup to my FDL: PA + Beam lasers with max shields. This think is fine and jumps 22ly while still having SRV. Respectable and I can tangle with most combat situations, even if it's just avoiding fire against a high skill wing until authority ships arrive to distract. But that only jumps slightly farther than my FDL and with way less firepower, but it has SRV. Next I tried out Krait Phantom with Frag Cannons (so that I can shrink the PP and loose as much weight as possible. This guy jumps 44ly, carries a bit of cargo and has SRV and collectors, and can dish out quite a bit of damage. But not the most fun in combat for the slower turning.
But now with this knowledge I go back in for a Chieftain and I think I landed on something really great for me!
Built this last night and tested it to great success!
s.orbis.zone
This build has Pacifiers (doubleshot + drag + dazzle) and the med/smalls are all rail guns (long range + penetrator + feedback). Has interdictor, plus surface scanner and SRV so it can keep up it's own mats for reloads --which it needs often! Over 1kMj bi-weave shields with decent resistances and still jumps juuuuuust shy of 40ly!
I built it and jumped around to put all the experimentals on last night. Didn't take too long jumping 40ly (and doing some jet cone boosting where I could).
I spent about an hour in HASREZ testing and it does kill things very fast. Blasts away shields in the first volley (or two for bigger ships) while making me harder for gimbals to hit, and then if they manage to evade a kill long enough for drag munitions to wear off I boost out and fly backwards to finish off with rail shots while they're too far away to hit me. Very effective with that cluster of 4. I knocked out a couple SCBs, to my delight.
My favorite part of all of this is that the WEP never needs more than 1 pip to stay full. Gives me room to simplify pip management to just back and forth between ENG and SYS, but I found most big things don't even get to turn on me once before they die so I only really need any SYS if a smaller ship evades me for a minute.
I expect the PvP folk would take me out behind the shed with my solitary focus on shields, but I feel like I could drop the SRV stuff and put in module reinforcements if I was going to PvP. Then I might also put PAs (or my advanced PAs) in the large hardpoints. Or do pacifier frags have any relevance in PvP? I guess that might depend on the opponent.
Anyway, that's my tale! I'm super happy and plan to fly this around for a while as my main runner/gunner, doing combat and missions that don't need cargo.
I didn't track the build so I can't link, but I remember thinking "like the speed over the vulture, but it doesn't feel like a positioning upgrade (didn't know how to fly yet), the shields are garbage and I hate taking hull damage (not that Vulture's are big, but I was a bigger target), and what are all these small hardpoints for? Useless!"
So I sold it and against most of the advice out there went straight to the FDL. That's how I learned that I love shield tanks and that small/med hardpoints can be useful on shields when paired with something powerful for hull... and also took the time to learn fixed weapons and harder shooting like plasma accelerators.
But I wasn't thrilled with the range on FDL and I always felt restricted with where I can go and what I can do. Combat only.
So I was back to trying to find a potent combat ship that can still move around the galaxy and do more than just one thing. I'm not thinking any mission, but I want to at least be able to kill things AND go places AND land without having to switch to a different ship for that. Then it was time to unlock guardian modules: FSDboost and ShieldRP.
Tried a Courier with a similar setup to my FDL: PA + Beam lasers with max shields. This think is fine and jumps 22ly while still having SRV. Respectable and I can tangle with most combat situations, even if it's just avoiding fire against a high skill wing until authority ships arrive to distract. But that only jumps slightly farther than my FDL and with way less firepower, but it has SRV. Next I tried out Krait Phantom with Frag Cannons (so that I can shrink the PP and loose as much weight as possible. This guy jumps 44ly, carries a bit of cargo and has SRV and collectors, and can dish out quite a bit of damage. But not the most fun in combat for the slower turning.
But now with this knowledge I go back in for a Chieftain and I think I landed on something really great for me!
Built this last night and tested it to great success!
Coriolis EDCD Edition
A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
s.orbis.zone
This build has Pacifiers (doubleshot + drag + dazzle) and the med/smalls are all rail guns (long range + penetrator + feedback). Has interdictor, plus surface scanner and SRV so it can keep up it's own mats for reloads --which it needs often! Over 1kMj bi-weave shields with decent resistances and still jumps juuuuuust shy of 40ly!
I built it and jumped around to put all the experimentals on last night. Didn't take too long jumping 40ly (and doing some jet cone boosting where I could).
I spent about an hour in HASREZ testing and it does kill things very fast. Blasts away shields in the first volley (or two for bigger ships) while making me harder for gimbals to hit, and then if they manage to evade a kill long enough for drag munitions to wear off I boost out and fly backwards to finish off with rail shots while they're too far away to hit me. Very effective with that cluster of 4. I knocked out a couple SCBs, to my delight.
My favorite part of all of this is that the WEP never needs more than 1 pip to stay full. Gives me room to simplify pip management to just back and forth between ENG and SYS, but I found most big things don't even get to turn on me once before they die so I only really need any SYS if a smaller ship evades me for a minute.
I expect the PvP folk would take me out behind the shed with my solitary focus on shields, but I feel like I could drop the SRV stuff and put in module reinforcements if I was going to PvP. Then I might also put PAs (or my advanced PAs) in the large hardpoints. Or do pacifier frags have any relevance in PvP? I guess that might depend on the opponent.
Anyway, that's my tale! I'm super happy and plan to fly this around for a while as my main runner/gunner, doing combat and missions that don't need cargo.