Viper fitting for killing big ships

[wire2k]

Im flying an A/B viper with C1 Fixed Burst and C2 Gimbal Multis and its been doing good for bounty hunting but taking out elite 'condas can take a while. Id have to downgrade my modules to fit bigger weapons so have been thinking of fitting out a second viper fitting biggest guns i can specifically for blasting through elite 'conda assassination missions quickly.

Any suggestions for which weapons will go through anacondas quickly?
I was thinking dumbfires and beams but would rails and dumbfires fit/work well?
PAC???

 

[JonnyC0mbat]

I'm using two c1 beam lasers (surprisingly effective), and the biggest gimballed cannons available. Hands down the quickest way I've found so far to bring down condas (aiming for the FSD or Power Generator of course). I wasn't overly impressed with multi-cannons, although the ammo count is good the damage is woeful.

 

[butch_deadlift]

C2 Beam lasers to get through shields/precision targeting the subsystems. C1 dumbfire Missiles for the hull. Missiles are expensive, but disgustingly powerful, they rip through anything. Railguns use too much power, I don't use them in conjunction with other weapons.

Get a chaff launcher to counteract the turrets on the Anaconda too, those get annoying and can do some damage.

 

[Whiterose]

Dont use rail guns, use missiles if you can afford them, I still prefer beam lasers and multicannons, and as butch says, chaff launcher.

 

[Shads]

You'll need a good shield cell module too

 

[Ganjis]

Four lots of class 1 dumbfire launchers kills an Elite Anaconda 95% of the time.

You can do it with 2/3 of your ammo, but some just seem able to take more hits. You have to not miss and watch out for PD turrets ruining everything. Best results come from shooting at absolute point blank against the back or belly. Never let it point at you or plasma death will ensue. Watch out for them boosting as this will causes misses. When firing into their tail fire two shots at a time or you may miss a turn then make and waste ammo.

Most of the time you do not need a shield cell once you get the hang, but it is definitively a nice safety net.

You need no energy to fire them, so keep energy between shields and engines as situation dictates.

Until you actually open fire on them, they will hold off using their weapons except the plasma canon (BEWARE IT). Take your time to get the perfect angle on them before starting.


Do not use class 2 dumbfires, they literally fire backwards around half of the time with no discernible cause or pattern.

 

[nosleepdemon]

I use fixed c1 beams and gimballed c2 multi-cannons, takes a few minutes but gets the job done. You just need to boost after they boost to stay behind them and not risk getting into a strafing match - unless you are strafing around their roll axis of course, since their yaw is rather pitiful. How much does a load of missiles cost to bring down a 'conda? I am wondering if it's worth the time savings, since a large portion of the hunting missions is spent derping around USS.

 

[Rek Seven]

I use gimbaled beam lasers and gimbaled projectile weapons in combination. I try to stay on the Anacondas tail to avoid its main cannon and gimbaled weapons make it easier to apply damage while making the trick maneuvers.

 

[Craib]

I'm using two c1 beam lasers (surprisingly effective), and the biggest gimballed cannons available. Hands down the quickest way I've found so far to bring down condas (aiming for the FSD or Power Generator of course). I wasn't overly impressed with multi-cannons, although the ammo count is good the damage is woeful.

If you are targeting sub systems then you need to avoid using gimbals. They were tweaked to make them less suitable for sub system targeting as part of the fixed/gimbal balancing.

 

[CMDR Kolibri]

I use
Right: c1 beam laser/c2 beam laser (both gimballed) - weapon group 1
Left: c1 multi-cannon/c2 multi-cannon (also both gimballed) - weapon group 2

Best of both worlds.

 

[CMDR Vincent Cable]

If you are targeting sub systems then you need to avoid using gimbals. They were tweaked to make them less suitable for sub system targeting as part of the fixed/gimbal balancing.

Really? I use C2 gimballed MCs in my Viper, no problems targeting power module or FSD. Fastest I've taken a 'conda with no shields is 40 sec (ish. Might have been less), he just presented his power module to me, and didn't manoeuvre very well.

 

[JonnyC0mbat]

If you are targeting sub systems then you need to avoid using gimbals. They were tweaked to make them less suitable for sub system targeting as part of the fixed/gimbal balancing.

I've never found it to be an issue. I originally used fixed weapons and found it extremely tough to consistently hit certain components. Gimballed weapons certainly hit their target a lot more often, and with more precision.
-
Gimballed weapons also allow a wider field of fire which has saved me more times than I can count. The only drawback to them being reduced damage, range, and chaff.

 

[Romaan]

Hello friends,

A-kitted viper with 2xc1 beam, 2xc2 mc

I drool every time I find elite anaconda missions. It's a ~15 minute total time spent payday, in most cases.

* Provided the bounty works and killing the NPC actually awards me the objective completion.

 

[MrDoe]

I really like to have 1 railgun on my ship especially for killing condas.
2x beam and 1 mc is enough for everything smaller than a python.

First i strip their shields with my lasers then I add mc and railgun.
If i hit the powerplant precisely enough with my railgun the condas pop at as much as 80% hull!

But I guess it really is a personal preference. I couldnt hit a corealis with a cannon xD

 

[Poseidal]

Is an FSD wake scanner important for these?

 

[Adaris]

My Viper's equipped with a pair of Size 1 gimballed beams, a Size 2 Plasma Accelerator Cannon, and a Size 2 Guided Missile Launcher. For Anacondas, I use the beams to quickly dispose of the shields, and then the PAC tends to deplete 8-10% of the hull's integrity every hit. Generally I use 12-15 of my 100 ammunition for the PAC to destroy the Anaconda. It's possible to attack from the sides and target the generator, and if you're sufficiently skillful, you can drop the Anaconda in even less hits than that.

Against Anacondas, the guided missiles are about useless unless you're at point blank range (and then, they're actually very useful), but as the Viper can in no way handle the power requirements of two PAC's--both in terms of capacitor and in terms of actual generator power--the missiles add a stunning amount of versatility to the loadout. I've taken out more than one fleeing player by firing a couple of missiles at them with ~30% integrity while they try to frameshift and boost away.

 

[J.R.Ehman]

Can you outfit a Viper like a Battlestar Galactica Viper? That would be 2x Multicannon and 2x Missiles. For the new series it would have to be 2x fixed Multicannon and 2x Heatseeker Missiles, but I think if Gimballed MCs and Dumbfire Missiles are that much better, I could overlook that discrepancy. The question is simply if ED allows enough freedom of weapon choice to make a loadout without a single beam weapon feasible.

 

[Adaris]

Can you outfit a Viper like a Battlestar Galactica Viper? That would be 2x Multicannon and 2x Missiles. For the new series it would have to be 2x fixed Multicannon and 2x Heatseeker Missiles, but I think if Gimballed MCs and Dumbfire Missiles are that much better, I could overlook that discrepancy. The question is simply if ED allows enough freedom of weapon choice to make a loadout without a single beam weapon feasible.

Yes, absolutely. I just personally prefer beam lasers because of their ability to cut through shields quickly without expending ammunition, but there are many people that use all-ballistic setups.

 

[wire2k]

Thanks for the advice.
My current setup of C1 Burst and C2 Multis is great for bounty hunting and while i can take down condas the low damage of bursts and multis means even targeting power/fsd it can take a while and with the big 100k payouts of the conda assassination missions ammo costs isnt much of a problem.

So far my ideas for fitting out my second viper for conda assassin missions.
2x C2 Beams 2x C1 Dumbfires
2x C2 Beams 2x C1 Rails
4x C1 Dumbfires (i tried C2 dumbfires a while ago but they so dumb they fire backwards!?!)
2x C1 Dumbfires 1x C2 PAC (for shields) 1x C2 Rail (for power/fsd)
Frag cannons?? has anyone tried these on condas, easy to get close and hard to miss???
And of course KWS, chaff and SCBs

Mostly im just looking to fit out the viper to kill condas a quick as possible, i tend to gather 1 or 2 conda missions and go off and do them but want to take it a step further and look to go to a few stations and rack up 4 or 5 missions at a time and then work my way through them (with station stops for rep/reload) would be nice to hand them in at once for a nice 500k payday.
Plan is to later on trade in this viper towards an Asp that would do the job much better.

 

[wire2k]

Just been trying out my assassin viper with quad C1 dumbfires, takes a few volleys to take out a condas shields but once theyre down the dumbfires tear through hull. Takes out condas in about half the time it took me with bursts and multis.
Taking down the condas quicker also means ive hardly needed more than on sheild cell.
Ammo can be costly about 24000 to reload but with KWS the condas bounty is usually enough to cover the ammo leaving the missions 150k
Fit would be rubbish for bounty hunting as have to reload often but for assassination missions worked great.
Blasted my way through a good few condas and quickly earned enough to swap out one of the dumbfires for a C2 PAC which im hoping will take the shields down faster.