Newcomer / Intro Time to trade in my ADDER and VIPER for a COBRA?

Not quite ready for a Vulture yet, my assets are around 9.4 mil.

I am having fun with my VIPER and with my ADDER - when I use it, but very infrequent do I use it nowadays.
I figure with 9 mil, I can outfit a COBRA nicely , and it can serve both roles my VIPER and ADDER currently serve.

I think starting out I want to outfit the COBRA for combat, then later, perhaps repurpose for other activities.

I figure a starting load out might look like this - suggestions please?
[Cobra Mk III]
M: 2F/G Multi-cannon
M: 2F/G Multi-cannon
S: 1F/T Beam Laser
S: 1F/T Beam Laser
U: 0A Shield Booster
U: 0A Shield Booster


BH: 1I Lightweight Alloy
RB: 4A Power Plant
TM: 4A Thrusters
FH: 4A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 3B Life Support
PC: 3A Power Distributor
SS: 3A Sensors
FS: 4C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 16)


4: 4A Shield Generator
4: 2A Fuel Scoop
 
with what you have posted id say you like combat for the most part, just now id stick to your Viper its better in combat than the Cobra, the Cobra is better for everything else over the Viper though, but id stick to Viper till you have enough for either a kitted out Cobra or the next ship i would go for personally would be the Vulture or Asp, thats my 2 cent worth hope it helps

i went sidewinder - viper - Asp - t7 - Python pre 1.2 ,now i would have bought a Vulture before the Asp, only reason i would entertain the cobra over the Viper is if i planned on doing rare trade runs, if not no need for it over the Viper.
 
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Turrets are more trouble than they're worth. Go for gimballed beams instead.

When you say you have 9 million, are you also including the value of your current ships?

Im inclined to agree that you should wait before buying the Vulture. I'd just hit up a RES for a couple of sessions (assuming 1.5mcr/hr in bounties and a four hour session) until I had about 22mcr in assets, then liquidate them and buy a top spec Vulture. You can safely A-spec the Viper and sell the components before you upgrade to get back maximum credits.
 
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I chose Cobra over Viper mostly because of the class 4 power plant - Viper only has class 3. With A rated shield boosters and things, power would be very tight. I was also switching between trading and combat loadouts.

As to your Cobra setup, I would also switch from turrets to gimballed mounts. I'd stick in a Kill Warrant Scanner because I like to get the most from my kills and even with 1 A class shield booster, have never died in combat. There may also be power issues with 2. I'd drop the sensors and life support down a few ratings - usually D rating for less weight, more speed/maneuverability and less cost/insurance.

I did very nicely in a 15mil Vulture. You can probably do it for a bit less and add modules as you go. It's a great little ship, even half-built! I recently bought a T7 for trading, so I'm going to upgrade the Cobra to a Vulture when I've got the credits.
 
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Can't understand peoples aversion to turrets. I use them all the time - beam lasers - and have never had a problem. They eliminate having to set up a different firegroup for lasers and kinetics.
It is important to set them to 'Target Only' though as has been mentioned elsewhere.
I too would stick with the Viper over a Cobra for combat.
 
Can't understand peoples aversion to turrets. I use them all the time - beam lasers - and have never had a problem. They eliminate having to set up a different firegroup for lasers and kinetics.
It is important to set them to 'Target Only' though as has been mentioned elsewhere.
I too would stick with the Viper over a Cobra for combat.
Turrets works fine for me too ;)
 
Go straight to Vulture....9 mill is easily enough to kit it out fairly well......its much tougher than Viper and Cobra.... I can take down Anaconda , i get so close up its rear end whilst blasting its PP ,,, and stick there like a fly on shi*....great fun....:)
 
Not quite ready for a Vulture yet, my assets are around 9.4 mil.

I am having fun with my VIPER and with my ADDER - when I use it, but very infrequent do I use it nowadays.
I figure with 9 mil, I can outfit a COBRA nicely , and it can serve both roles my VIPER and ADDER currently serve.

I think starting out I want to outfit the COBRA for combat, then later, perhaps repurpose for other activities.

I figure a starting load out might look like this - suggestions please?
[Cobra Mk III]
M: 2F/G Multi-cannon
M: 2F/G Multi-cannon
S: 1F/T Beam Laser
S: 1F/T Beam Laser
U: 0A Shield Booster
U: 0A Shield Booster


BH: 1I Lightweight Alloy
RB: 4A Power Plant
TM: 4A Thrusters
FH: 4A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 3B Life Support
PC: 3A Power Distributor
SS: 3A Sensors
FS: 4C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 16)


4: 4A Shield Generator
4: 2A Fuel Scoop

If you are good in combat, try RES anc conflict zone to make your living. If not, put as much cargo as you can in your Cobra then trade runs all the way!
 
I'd say you've got enough to start having fun with a vulture easily. I think I took it up with 7m behind me. Upgrade Shields and thrusters before weapons. Just switch to gimbled if you need. It's a great ship with really tough Shields so almost too easy to fight with. If you start to die, full power to engines and rest to Shields, boost out of there and get to warp.

- - - Updated - - -

I also think you should go for D life support. In most cases 7.5 minutes is enough to get to a base easily. It will save weight, so make you maneuver better.
 
Can't understand peoples aversion to turrets. I use them all the time - beam lasers - and have never had a problem. They eliminate having to set up a different firegroup for lasers and kinetics.
It is important to set them to 'Target Only' though as has been mentioned elsewhere.
I too would stick with the Viper over a Cobra for combat.

I think without an A rated scanner, the turrets are less accurate and sometimes hit the wrong guy, at least that's what I experienced.

I also ran into an "always on" situation which contributed to overheating... that is until I took into consideration the hardpoint positioning, nosing down to enable the lasers and once shields are down, then nosing up to work on armour.

Those units spec'd are 500k each which is very pricey indeed but, and even though they are "always on" in certain situation, use less energy than comparable gimbled, or at least that's what I saw on my VIPER - then again a better alternative may not have been available at the station.

Finally, those 500k lasers are pretty damn good once you get a feel for using them. In my Viper I can take down NPC Anaconda shields fairly quick.
 
Overall - I think I want to upgrade to the "next ship" sooner rather than later because I'm feeling somewhat aimless right now.
I have:
1) a ship that is sitting around being lazy (the ADDER)
2) a VIPER that is somewhat of a 'one trick pony'.

So it seemed, an upgrade to a COBRA would knock out the two issues above, and even though I spec'd the COBRA for combat, I did make note that I'd repurpose it as needed. Right now, if I need to go from a combat mission to a cargo mission, I have to change ships. Upgrading to a Cobra who just be a loadout change, and again, as needed.

Goes without saying but then again... The credit grind is driving me bonkers. Having banked credits not working for me, also drives me kinda nuts. In a way, I am being rash to want to upgrade NOW rather than waiting for the Vulture to become realistically within my sights.
 
If you want flexibility your upgrade path should probably be Cobra -> Asp.

If you think the Viper is a one trick pony, the Vulture is just as much one, all be it awesome at that task.
 
I thought the game (or maybe the wiki) state the opposite. ..for gimballed (and prob turrets ) better scanner allows for better tracking and less missed shots. I'm on my phone now or I'd check
In outfitting it states that the sensors are responsible for gimballed weapon tracking.

It's easy to then infer that better sensors = better tracking, but it's actually not a valid inference. The game only gives you one premise, not the second.

Sensor quality has no impact on gimballed weapon performance.
 
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