Tips for Combat

[MadDogMurdock]

Lasers require higher time on target so even with overcharged beams you may see your time to kill go up.

Have you considered frags?

I've never used them - are they the shotgun option?
What's the ammo capacity on those?

I figured that I'd get more time on target with lasers because aiming directly at a ship is easier than leading it plus the continuous fire.

 

[Devari]

DDs will chew past 100% power when I apply it, no?

The G5 dirty drives are rather power-hungry but the performance is well worth it. I would adjust the rest of your build to find the power and assume that a G5 dirty drive mod is going to be necessary for a Vulture. Really I think they should be applied to any ship but the Vulture in particular relies on its speed and maneuverability in combat to give it an edge over other ships.

 

[Non Grata]

Ok, I'm enjoying the dual PA loadout on the Vulture and I think my accuracy is improving, but I think I need to decrease the engagement time and stay in the field longer.

Any recommendations for a fixed laser loadout for this ship?

Efficient Beams (or Long Range/Focused Pulse if you struggle to stay close).

 

[Phisto Sobanii]

Ok, I'm enjoying the dual PA loadout on the Vulture and I think my accuracy is improving, but I think I need to decrease the engagement time and stay in the field longer.

Any recommendations for a fixed laser loadout for this ship?

Consider pulse lasers with the focused upgrade (increases range and armor piercing value). Anything above 75 armor piercing will be redundant though.

Use them to strip shields and then sub target the power plant.

Efficient is really nice mod too. Makes any gun just plain better.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

I've never used them - are they the shotgun option?
What's the ammo capacity on those?

Yes, poor but you can synth it.

I figured that I'd get more time on target with lasers because aiming directly at a ship is easier than leading it plus the continuous fire.

But higher ToT is required as well.
Just crossing the reticle is enough to get a PA shot off and on target.
You need to hold it there a bit to get the equivalent damage from a laser.

Taotoo and Phisto's suggestions are good if you must use lasers.

 

[MadDogMurdock]

The G5 dirty drives are rather power-hungry but the performance is well worth it. I would adjust the rest of your build to find the power and assume that a G5 dirty drive mod is going to be necessary for a Vulture. Really I think they should be applied to any ship but the Vulture in particular relies on its speed and maneuverability in combat to give it an edge over other ships.

Yup, I've maxed out DD5 now, but Bob was right - OC3 on the PP wasn't quite needed.
It's not doing me any harm though.

 

[MadDogMurdock]

Yes, poor but you can synth it.



But higher ToT is required as well.
Just crossing the reticle is enough to get a PA shot off and on target.
You need to hold it there a bit to get the equivalent damage from a laser.

Taotoo and Phisto's suggestions are good if you must use lasers.

Synthesis is out at the moment - I'm low on Raw Mats.
It's not a case of having to use lasers, but they will definitely help me stay in the field longer.

Plus - there's no harm in having a nice variety of engineered Class 3 weapons in stock is there.
I'll give the Focused Pulse a go for now and come back to Frags after my next raw mats collection effort.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Not at all, I have loads of different setups.
Try them all I say.

Look into phasing sequence and scramble spectrum for the pulses.

 

[NecasekO]

I have had good experience with "focused" fixed pulse lasers, although on large variant the increased piercing value might be wasted - check the long range mod for large and huge lasers, it probably provides higher overall damage output.

Also, if you can spare some power (probably not on a Vulture) burst lasers can deal slightly more damage than pulse with similar energy efficiency (DPE), and bursts also have the focused mod available.

Emissive special might be a good option on one of your pulse lasers since it will prevent NPCs going off scanner when they use heat sinks.

For shields, I found that around 500 MJ (with increased resistance) is enough to survive pretty much any 1 or 1 fight with NPCs. If you can get your shield that high, you don't really need any HRPs at all.

If you are limited by power consumption, consider using smaller (D or even E rated) shield boosters. With engineering, four E rated boosters can provide some serious shield boosts (both heavy duty and resistance modded) at very low weight and power consumption. I ended up using 4 boosters (I think it's 2xA and 2xD) on my DBX, which seem better than using chaff - shield boosters help against all incoming damage, while chaff is useless against some of the most dangerous weapons like PAs or rails.

 

[XW_Ziggy]

There's lots of good advice in this thread, but people make sweeping statements that FA-off is better, period.

It is not. It improves turn agility and acceleration in some directions whilst removing all cornering traction, direction damping/stability and reducing the effectiveness of your lateral thrusters countersteer abilities (call it deceleration, if you will).

A good pilot will actually have FA-off on a toggle and use it when required but not all the time. Sure, it's an achievement to be able to pilot a ship with FA permanently off, but you are not making the most of your ship's abilities, or maximising your combat effectiveness if you do this.

I use FA-off as a hold-down binding, and I grant it high-priority on the second button (mouse or stick, depending on where I'm playing). Even in the middle of a fierce dogfight with a lot of 5-axis strafing, I probably spend about two-thirds of the time with FA-on.

 

[Morbad]

It's not doing me any harm though.

Unless you lose shields.

The vulture's PP is quite easy to hit, though this is less of an issue fighting NPCs.

 

[MadDogMurdock]

Unless you lose shields.

The vulture's PP is quite easy to hit, though this is less of an issue fighting NPCs.

Why would OC3 be a bigger problem than OC2 in this case?

 

[Phisto Sobanii]

Less integrity.

Look into Armored plants. The blueprints are very good now - more power, better heat management, more integrity, negligible mass increase.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Yes, integrity, also it's an "opportunity cost".
If you can put something even stronger in there and still meet your power requirements, better yet.

 

[MadDogMurdock]

Less integrity.

Look into Armored plants. The blueprints are very good now - more power, better heat management, more integrity, negligible mass increase.

Aha - thanks, I'll take a look.

 

[Drelthar]

Point ship at other ship.

Press trigger.

 

[Spacecat]

1. Don't forget to use the throttle and directionals.

2. FA off when needed.