Viper vs. Cobra

Commander Azriel

C
I realize the Viper is a dedicated fighter so I expected it to be better than the Cobra. But is it that much better?

I started bounty hunting, so I put my Cobra in storage and bought a new Viper. It's nice, but I'm starting to miss my Cobra. With the 32 tons of cargo space, and 16 tons of fuel I feel like I'm missing out on some opportunities.

I'll stop for repairs and find a good mission delivering goods to the very station I was heading towards to cash in my bounties. And then I'll remember...only four tons the storage space. Or I'll find a great price on goods that are needed at the system I'm heading towards. Once I blew up a hauler full of slaves, at least a dozen. I thought I would scoop them up and smuggle them into a station with a black market for some extra cash. Then I realized it wouldn't be worth it for only four.

I'm wondering if I'd be better off going back to my Cobra? Keep in mind I'm not going after pythons and anacondas at this point. Is a Cobra decent enough for bounty hunting?
 

preacher403

P
If the cargo bay is in the same place it was when you bought the Viper, it can actually be upgraded to an 8 slot cargo bay. Not sure that'll really help you, but might a little.
 

lexandro

lexandro
If your not dedicating yourself to bounty hunting alone, the the Cobra is the more sensible choice. The Viper is combat focused so should be used as a close range combat ship, rather than a jumping around looking for trouble. That's more the Cobra's area of expertise.
 

Agony_Aunt

Agony_Aunt
Vipers have it a little tougher in terms of power management and slightly flimsier.

They are a bit more manouverable and quite importantly, are a smaller ship, therefore presenting a smaller target profile.

So in terms of combat it definitely has the edge. The cobra on the other hand is designed as a multi-role ship. Pretty good at everything, and its still one of the best combat ships in the game.

So if you want to trade and fight, then Cobra beats the Viper hands down. For pure pew-pew, then the Viper is an excellent choice.
 

DimGook

D
In PvE it's harder to stay on an Anaconda's 6 in a Cobra. Anything smaller there's really no difference between the two.
 

Goilveig

Goilveig
Only other thing to keep in mind is that to fully fit a Cobra is about 2.5-3 times as expensive as a Viper. That also means rebuy costs go up proportionally.

Anyhow, for NPCs, you might struggle on Anacondas or Pythons (if they're well ranked) but that's about it. I bounty hunt in a Cobra all the time.
 

simon terlecki

S
The way i see it, and what others have at least alluded to, is that it depends on how you use your ship and what type of actual role you care to take part in while paying. If you stay within a few system radius, go to nav points, extraction sites and take on kill missions and want to have an affordable ship, the viper is excellent. If you want more leeway on your travels, and do get some bounties while on passage from A to B, the cobra is better.

If you prefer fixed weapons, the viper is better, but the cobra has an edge with gimbals.
If you know how to manage your power, the viper can be powerful, but the cobra has more power to spare and more slots to add stuff in.

for pure combat, they are pretty evenly matched, the cobra is a little bit more expensive, but gives you more options for that price.
 

BigDaddio

B
I really do not like the placement of the 2Slot hardpoints. It does give you a slight power disadvantage over the cobra. In the Cobra the 1 slot guns are under the wings, and in a support position. In the viper your stongest guns are under the wings, you have to stay way ahead of your target to hit ot with the more powerful guns. That said I still like it lots.
 

ralfidude

ralfidude
You seem to have the idea of picking up cargo.

The Viper is not that kind of a ship.

It's a pure fighter.

If you want to pick up cargo, stick with the Cobra.

I even got rid of all my cargo space and replaced it with something else.

Now I'm struggling with power management because the Viper can't have many nice toys, and I have everything level A class 3.

As for combat.... well, i'll say this.



Shields- Viper wins (Cobra shields I believe can be brought down quicker than Viper shields)

Turn rate- Cobra wins (This is high bull right here as the Viper is a dedicated fighter that is smaller and lighter but the Cobra somehow has the advantage here, though slight)

Weapons- Cobra (Packs a meaner punch, more of everything essentially. Usually sticks to gimbals vs Vipers who can't use gimbals as effectively as the Cobra can. Viper Jousting will get you killed a lot of times against a well kitted Cobra).



It appears that what you want is an AC-130J, which would be the Cobra, while the Viper is more like an SR-71 with guns. Or better yet, the A-12.
 

Valethar

Valethar
I used my Cobra for a long time as a hunter, before I got my Asp. While the stock shields weren't as good as a Viper's, overall it packed a decent punch one you got it kitted out. And it could haul cargo to help pay for it's upkeep.
 

Acarin

Acarin
ralfidude said:
It appears that what you want is an AC-130J, which would be the Cobra, while the Viper is more like an SR-71 with guns. Or better yet, the A-12.
Click to expand...

A better analogy might be that the Cobra is like an F-15 Eagle, ideally suited to multi-role use, whereas the Viper is like an F-16 dedicated air-superiority fighter.

The AC130J would be the Python :p
 

Yabba Addict

Yabba Addict
The Viper wasn't designed to be an intergalactic ship, it's supposed to be a star system based combat craft. You can set it up for longer jumps, you can try and A rate everything, but it's not at its' best like that. A rate the thrusters and power distribution and then try and save weight everywhere. And then learn how to pilot it, get at least a 100 kills. Then fly in a cobra, you'll feel a huge difference in responsiveness.
 

vonvonbraun

Banned
vonvonbraun
The cobra is a more bounty hunter ship for me because you have the ability to hunt but also use the ship in opportunistic trading and smuggling situations, a la boba fett
 

ralfidude

ralfidude
Acarin said:
A better analogy might be that the Cobra is like an F-15 Eagle, ideally suited to multi-role use, whereas the Viper is like an F-16 dedicated air-superiority fighter.

The AC130J would be the Python :p
Click to expand...

NOOOOO no no no no no.

No.


F-15C is the dedicated Air superiority fighter in the world across many countries.

F-15E, sure, that's a different story.

F-16 as an air superiority fighter?
It was designed as a short flight intercept due to it's extremely low fuel level and messed up air combat configuration, but it has been used as a multirole fighter like the F-15E. (But it can do air to air fantastically well, just not like the f-15 in distance)
 

Moonwalk

M
Don't even bother buying a Viper if you want to have a Cargo Hold. It's a valuable equipment slot that you could fill with something far, far more useful to the Viper than 2,4,or 8 tons of commodities. Not to mention the fact that the cargo hatch should be one of the very first things that gets disabled for the sake of power consumption when you deploy your hardpoints (a whole 5% of the power supply going to the hatch? that's huge) along with the FSD and anything that can only be used during FSD.

The viper is an extremely dedicated single-role ship. Play one when you know you want to fight and only fight.

If you want to dabble in any role that isn't combat, the Cobra is the obvious choice.
 
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Perjoss

Perjoss
From personal experience, staying on the tail of an elite anaconda is so much easier in a viper compared to a cobra. And as mentioned before the cobra is a bit gimped with those outer hardpoints, it kind of forces you to go gibal and they do less damage than fixed. The viper hardpoints are all well suited for either fixed or gimbal.
 
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