Viper Loadout - NPC Bounty hunting.

[Ghostile]

I've been trying to find a proper weapon-fit for my Viper in the past few days, but I don't feel like I was looking for the right thing.

I've tried the following:

Medium Multi-cannon
Medium Multi-cannon
Small Multi-cannon
Small Multi-cannon

This takes the shield and the hull down in an acceptable speed, nothing too fast with the shields tho.

I've also tried

Medium Multi-cannon
Medium Multi-cannon
Small Multi-cannon
Rail gun

and

Medium Multi-cannon
Medium Multi-cannon
Small Burst Laser
Small Burst Laser

This took the shields down in great speed, but left the hull grinding a bit too slow.


So, what do you suggest for viper?
Worth it to use lasers for shields, or should I just go for all multi-cannons?

 

[Darth-Simba]

x2 C2 gimballed multi cannons and x2 C1 beams.

 

[Snooze]

lasers/beams are more effective on shields
cinetic ammos are more effective on hulls

make your choice

 

[Rall]

x2 C2 gimballed multi cannons and x2 C1 beams.

I always ran with this on my Viper when churning up NPC for sweet cash moneys. It's a economical load out, but still has a enough firepower to chew through small ships pretty quickly. If you've got a good aim and the mufti’s are fixed, you'll also have enough ammo to hang around a Nav beacon or Resource site for at least 30 minutes of continuous combat.

 

[CMDR Solarisjock]

i am Currently loving the crap outta my 2 C2 Fixed pulse lasers, paired with 2 C1 Dumbfire missile's. the C2 beams make decently short work of Cobra's and smaller, where as a full spread of 16 rockets (full magazine from each) is enough to knock ~40-50% off an elite anaconda. missiles are mildly pricey at 250 a pop, but most bounties that need em are worth 20K+ so it dont matter to me.

ohh, i also put a pair of missiles into a no shields cobra and dropped it to ~35% hull from 100%

 

[Drey]

Gimballed beams in all 4 slots, I have tried cannons, multi cannons, fragment cannons in combination with beams... cannons work the best for kinetic but that means I need to dock and reload all the time, so I just stick with gimaballed beams, if I was specifically wanting to take on anacondas all the time I would fit cannons, but for small ships the beams vaporise them pretty quick and I can sit in a nav beacon all day without the need to reload. I would never use fixed weapons, despite having less damage on gimballed weapons you get far more "weapon time" on the target, effectively making the DPS better.

 

[Ghostile]

lasers/beams are more effective on shields
cinetic ammos are more effective on hulls

make your choice

I made the thread so I could ask the wiser.

So far, 4 multi cannons seem to be the best, but I feel like I'm doing something wrong.

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i am Currently loving the crap outta my 2 C2 Fixed pulse lasers, paired with 2 C1 Dumbfire missile's. the C2 beams make decently short work of Cobra's and smaller, where as a full spread of 16 rockets (full magazine from each) is enough to knock ~40-50% off an elite anaconda. missiles are mildly pricey at 250 a pop, but most bounties that need em are worth 20K+ so it dont matter to me.

ohh, i also put a pair of missiles into a no shields cobra and dropped it to ~35% hull from 100%

Missiles + laser sounds interesting.

 

[CMDR Solarisjock]

i say go for it, i also just love boosting in on a bounty with the missile's firing. Something about it is just more awesome then the usual laser/cannon runs.

 

[Ghostile]

Would 2 gimballed C2 beams + 2 C1 dumb fire missiles be worth a try?

 

[Snooze]

Pure dog fight lovers will tell you:
Bro dont use those lame lasers they re like Maglites "saying hello i m here you spotted me"
but cannons i mean big ones cost a lot in ammos, you ll think twice before pulling the trigger while closing your eyes

 

[Ghostile]

Pure dog fight lovers will tell you:
Bro dont use those lame lasers they re like Maglites "saying hello i m here you spotted me"
but cannons i mean big ones cost a lot in ammos, you ll think twice before pulling the trigger while clothing your eyes

Part of me wants to go for 4 cannons just for the pure giggles.

 

[Macgyver]

depends what you are fighting.

beams + missiles when you want big bounties.

Gimballed beams all if you re just money grinding small to medium.

gimballed is better dps because no missed shots

 

[Ghostile]

depends what you are fighting.

beams + missiles when you want big bounties.

Gimballed beams all if you re just money grinding small to medium.

gimballed is better dps because no missed shots

Usually fighting Cobras or vipers, sometimes ASP with rare Python+ ships.

 

[CMDR Solarisjock]

Would 2 gimballed C2 beams + 2 C1 dumb fire missiles be worth a try?

maybe? i stay away from gimballed lasers, less damage and cost more for extremely little benefit, to me at least. I really want to find C2 fixed burst lasers, but i dont know if they exist

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Usually fighting Cobras or vipers, sometimes ASP with rare Python+ ships.

I would certainly recommend the C2 fixed pulse laser missile combo then, with my Class A power distributor and 2 pips in weapons i can usually kill a cobra before it drains all the power.

 

[Snooze]

i think "above" Cobra you ll need cannons/missiles or you re really good at aimming and could go for those monster heating lasers, or you could go for every ship's engines above said Cobra to turn them into no moving targets

 

[TheNameIsJambo]

I gots me a Cobra, but I use 3x Gimballed Multi-Cannons (C2 [60K Cr], C2 [60K Cr], C1 [14K Cr]) and 1x Gimballed Beam Laser (C1 [70K Cr])

I have the MCs assigned to firegroup 1 and the beam on firegroup 2. I basically just mash down both fire buttons.. The beam does help strip the shields, in conjunction with the cannons, and then flakes away the hull as well.

If you target the 'Power Plant' [Press Y on the keyboard to target sub-systems] on larger/tougher ships [Asp, Orca, etc. etc.] it's always fairly near the 'Middle', so you're pretty much guaranteed to hit the ship anyway. The Power Plant sub-system is slightly off the 'default' aiming zone [which is the centre of gravity/rotation of the craft]. Once the plant goes, the whole ship goes. I got an Asp to blow earlier with 35% hull remaining!

The beam laser is especially effective at hitting single areas [once it's settled]. It really nails your sub-target with pinpoint accuracy!

I use gimballed weapons on the Cobra due to the fact that the hardpoint spacing is incredibly wide. When targeting smaller ships you can't even hit them with a full compliment of weapons. You'd need to assign one side of the vessel [right/left] as one firegroup and then go from there when they cross the path. I prefer it if I could/can just blast all 4 firegroups at my targets. Since I think that having 4 slightly weaker weapons all attacking [and striking] at once is better than having 2 weapons maybe hitting because my aim is off!

 

[wire2k]

I have 2 main rules for my weapon loadouts.
1. NO ALL Gimbals (Is a real pain having target in your sights but cant hit with any weapons at all because of chaff)
2. NO ALL Ammo (Is also very annoying having a juicy target nearly dead and your weapons run dry)

At the moment i have my viper with
2x C1 Fixed Beams (For smaller ships and popping shields)
2x C2 Gimbal Multicannons (For tearing through hull and quickly finishing off smaller ships charging FSD)

This has worked quite well for me so far both bounty hunting around nav beacons and taking on assassin mission 'condas.
I find the top mounts are closer together and better for fixed weapons and being C1 wanted lasers as i find getting through shields is easier than hull and so wanted the more powerful C2 mounts to be kinetic.
I know some say gimbals are better for top mounts but i havent had any real issues with the lowers being gimballed, even though you cannot see an enemy below you cockpit you can see the reticules for you gimbles snap down when they can target them.


I still have some power to play with and have been thinking about downgrading my beams to bursts so i can up the multis to something with more punch so can take down the big targets faster.
That C2 Laser C1 missile loadout sounds interesting though.
Also i havent tried cannons or rails yet so not sure about them, i saw in vids where rails had an ammo supply but in outfitting today the weapon stats shows no ammo info, do the rails no longer use ammo?
Has anyone fit a Plasma Accelerator on a viper, i imagine that would make short work of 'condas?

 

[Ghostile]

Also i havent tried cannons or rails yet so not sure about them, i saw in vids where rails had an ammo supply but in outfitting today the weapon stats shows no ammo info, do the rails no longer use ammo?

I had a rail on my Viper a while back, had 10/30 ammo if I remember correctly.
Could be changed tho.


Took the viper for a spin with 2 gimballed beams and 2 fixed multi-cannons.
The targets didn't last but seconds with power plant targeted.

 

[s20dan]

I'm currently using two C2 Gimballed Beam lasers and two C1 Gimballed Cannons with a lot of success.
I find that gimballed multicannons just don't cut it anymore against heavly armoured opponents such as the Anaconda.

Edit/ Although I never tried targetting the powerplant when using multicannons.

 

[CMDR Solarisjock]

I'm currently using two C2 Gimballed Beam lasers and two C1 Gimballed Cannons with a lot of success.
I find that gimballed multicannons just don't cut it anymore against heavly armoured opponents such as the Anaconda.

Edit/ Although I never tried targetting the powerplant when using multicannons.

I found C1 Gimballed MC's targetting the Anaconda's plant usually kills it when it is at ~50-60% hull, but Anacond's usually have Chaff that makes it a pain with gimballs