Ship Builds & Load Outs Viper for dog fighting and Bounty

SteveX

S
Hi Guys,

Thought I would join the community here :)

Long time Elite fan, had it on the C64 and Amiga, one of my all time favourites. Just picked up the PC remake two weeks ago (was waiting until I got my flight control, and was also waiting for CV of rift as I sold my DK2, but couldn't wait any longer!).

I've put a few hours in and had great fun so far (around 50 hours).

Well, I picked up the Viper in the first couple of days, from searching online it seemed it was better suited to my needs than the eagle. But I've been struggling with upgrading (power limitations of the 12mw plant). I'm not ready to upgrade and it's going to be a while before I have enough money for one of the much more substantial ships (and I have already invested a few mil into this ship) So I'd really appreciate some feed back on how to tweak my setup :)

My current loadout is as follows:

Hardpoints

M - MultiCannon Gimballed F 2 x2
S - MultiCannon Gimballed G 1 x2
Shield Booster A 0
Shield Booster E 0 (due to power limites)

Internal

Military Grade Comp I 1
Power Plant A 3
Thrusters A 3
FSD B 3 (due to power limits can't have A 3)
Life Support E 2 (due to power limits)
Power Distributor A 3
Sensors D 3
Fuel Tank 4
Shield Cell Bank B 1 (due to power limits)
Shield Generater A 3
FSD Interdictor D 1
Cargo Rack 2 (have to have something for a little salvage)


So overall stats:

Available MW 12, Deployed 12.87
Cargo 2T
Fuel 4T
Mass 121.5 / 180
Jump Range 10.58 / 10.41


Power Management

Thrusters, weapons, all shield components 1
Sensors and life support 2
FSD, Interdictor and Cargo hatch all 5

So when I drop out or interdict I deploy hardpoints and shut down FSD + hatch. That gives me enough power to run everything I need in battle, if I want to run / regroup with my wing I can retract hardpoints and FSD is online and shield cells can be used.

For the most part the viper seems to be pretty capable in battle as long as I take advantage of disabling flight assist to manoeuvre or turn tightly to stay with my target, but I wonder if there is anything I should be looking at changing out?

I used to use the fixed beams and gimballed MC's on the bottom, but at the moment I honestly find the DPS of 4x MC's better, especially as when up close it's sometimes hard to keep with the target.


Any advice appreciated :) I don't feel like ditching the Viper and going for a Cobra yet, as I like the speed and feel of the Viper, and I've put a bit of cash and time into it, so would really just like to optimise it now.



Thanks!

- - - Updated - - -

Oh yes and instead of going to the Cobra I feel I should really just keep saving for one of the more expensive options now.
 

Stealth Gamer92

S
SteveX said:
Oh yes and instead of going to the Cobra I feel I should really just keep saving for one of the more expensive options now.
Click to expand...
Try out the Scout before going to the million cr ship's, it's a blast to fly. About 9 mil. investment after purchase to get it to reach it's full potential.
 

I and I Redeye

I
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=70M,7u57u57sh7sh01Q0_g,2-4s4s4s3m4s5K3c,7Pc7fY7dq9ok

Viper is a great little fighter.
This is my build I used for combat. No cargo rack but you can remove w/e to fit one.
I ran 2 x SCB but thats cos I mainly pvp in open but rarely need more than one per fight.
I think chaff is more important than the extra booster.
My build is very lightweight so is very agile. Add armour if you like.
If you can do it with fixed wpns then I think you can increase the SCB rating to B. Much more useful in a strong fight.
 
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SteveX

S
Thanks for the replies.

Driver, I guess it's not essential, I've been hunting for a bit and normally divert most power to engines and sys then boost away to recharge and then get back in and engage, although with the scb I can get three up right off the bat and get back into the fight quicker. Thanks for the link.

Stealth, I saw the scout, wasn't sure of it's capability but have seen a few youtube videos of interesting combat in it, may be worth having a play around then? Any ideas on cost and loadout to get it as a reasonable fighter?

Thanks Redeye, yeh I ran without a rack for a bit, but missed out on a few nice bits of cargo (gold) and so decided I needed a little something if the opportunity arises, although as it is primarily for fighting I understand I can't have it all.

Chaff is something I would have liked, maybe drop the weak SB and grab one? It's only a small .08 due to the power restriction I am having to manage anyway.

I used to have higher rated fixed beams, very satisfying when you really let them have it, and a great combo for taking down the shields then drilling into them with the MC's, but I also found myself in a few frustrating fights where I just couldn't keep them centred and switched to the less damage but more constant DPS with the MC's and have got on well with it for now.

I think I will have a tweak, maybe switch out the SCB and a booster for chaf and see how that works?


Cheers!
 

Stealth Gamer92

S
SteveX said:
Stealth, I saw the scout, wasn't sure of it's capability but have seen a few youtube videos of interesting combat in it, may be worth having a play around then? Any ideas on cost and loadout to get it as a reasonable fighter?
Click to expand...
I maxed it's comabat capabillities, without SCB, at a price range aroun 8-9 million. With 3 Shield Booster's and power priorities set right the shield's are about the same as the Viper's non-Shield Boosted A strength shield but you get far inproved manuverabillity and better weapon placement so good tradeoff imo. Like the Viper speed's your friend, but added benefit of the manuverability as I said before. I affectionately call it the poor man's Vulture as it is kind of like a mini-Vulture. ;)
 

Psycho Romeo

Psycho Romeo
SteveX said:
My current loadout is as follows:

Hardpoints

M - MultiCannon Gimballed F 2 x2
S - MultiCannon Gimballed G 1 x2
Shield Booster A 0
Shield Booster E 0 (due to power limites)

Internal

Military Grade Comp I 1
Power Plant A 3
Thrusters A 3
FSD B 3 (due to power limits can't have A 3)
Life Support E 2 (due to power limits)
Power Distributor A 3
Sensors D 3
Fuel Tank 4
Shield Cell Bank B 1 (due to power limits)
Shield Generater A 3
FSD Interdictor D 1
Cargo Rack 2 (have to have something for a little salvage)


So overall stats:

Available MW 12, Deployed 12.87
Cargo 2T
Fuel 4T
Mass 121.5 / 180
Jump Range 10.58 / 10.41
Click to expand...
Huge viper fan here. Have some suggestions for you.
.
Drop the boosters. Seriously. People love boosters but in reality, they are not that good. Your boosters are giving you maybe 36MJ of shielding or so at A0. This is what, three or four seconds of small pulse laser fire? On the other hand, a chaff launcher will protect you from all gimbaled weapons for 10x10 seconds.
.
As a bounty hunter you're going to want to pick up a KWS. This thing throws money at you. Before you leave your area, spend half an hour turning in nearby bounties and you'll net yourself an extra 10-20% profit or so.
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Drop the bulkheads. The only ships in the game that can really justify bulkheads would maybe be the FDS or the orca (for nothing other than ramming). Maybe the DBS too, if you ran a silent running build. Bulkheads are way too heavy and you're not adding a lot of defensive capacity - a viper's armor is way too low to begin with.
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Quad gimbaled multi-cannons are fun and simple to use, but I think a viper's strength is its shields and its engines, so I wouldn't recommend running four MC as this would be too demanding on the WEP capacitor. The viper I ran used two fixed small bursts and two gimbaled medium cannons - this gets the job done very quickly, punches well above its weight, and needs only 0.5 to 1.5 pips in WEP to run effectively.
.
Your viper is simply way too heavy.
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Here is my build and what I suggest would work great for you. It worked great for me as a combat pilot/bounty hunter.
[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: 3D 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 : 8.92 MW retracted (74%)
11.70 MW deployed (98%)
12.00 MW available
Cargo : 0 T
Fuel : 4 T
Mass : 109.4 T empty
113.4 T full
Range : 13.60 LY unladen
13.60 LY laden
Price : 4,356,684 CR
Re-Buy: 217,834 CR @ 95% insurance
You can drop the sensors down to save some weight if you want to go lighter. Also, I prefer fuel scoops to fuel tanks, but this is a personal preference thing.
 

Morbad

Morbad
Though my ideal Viper build differs considerably from Psycho Romeo's my overall sentiments regarding the OP's setup are similar.

OP's setup is too heavy and makes too many needless compromises for the shield boosters.

This is the Viper setup that I occasionally use: http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=70M,5Rg4yG5QG4ws01Q01Q,2-4s4s4s3m4s5K22,4zM7Pc7dg02M (hatch, FSD, and scoop disabled when hardpoints deployed). Obviously, it's geared toward PvP, but a few minor changes and it can fill most combat oriented roles.

777Driver said:
Do you really need a SCB on a Viper?
Click to expand...

An SCB is a lot more useful on a Viper than shield boosters or armor.
 
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SteveX

S
Cheers guys, like the suggestions, I've made a few tweaks, namely in dropping a booster to get chaff which seemed like a good trade off.

I've dropped the armor and gone to 2x pulse 2x mc's.

I also bought a Diamondback to try, spent some time in the seat and really enjoyed it, have ended up spending 5mil on it, it's not as fast as the viper, but the gun placement is very nice and it can travel. When I am in it I miss the vipers speed, especially boosted as it can outdrag most enemies. But I like the jump range and gun placement.

I'm trying to make up my mind whether the Viper will be the BH ship now or the Scout, although the scout seems to be more suited to long range missions and exploration, with very good dog fighting capability if needed.
 
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