Which is the better combat vessel: Dolphin, Orca or Beluga?

[Krash]

I've been mat farming the past few days with this in mind, but I'm not sure which is best. I have many of the standard combat ships and thought I should add one these passenger liners to have a bit of fun with it for combat purposes. I prefer large ships, but not exclusively as I have fun in Viper, Vulture, FDL, Mamba, Krait and other small to med ships. Which one would you choose for combat?

 

[Northpin]

Beluga definitely

 

[Nasc]

Which is the better combat vessel: Dolphin, Orca or Beluga?

Human.

 

[Retropolitan]

I've really been wondering what the New Refrigerated Dolphin could do with shock cannons....

 

[Red_Beard_98]

I have a combat Beluga, it's a lot of fun.

I use mine exclusively for assassinations. If you're looking for suggestions, here is my build.

That build isn't complete but it's a start.

You could change the Pack hounds to Frag cannons if you don't have them unlocked. I think Mr. Rick6549 runs a frag cannon Beluga if I remember correctly. He is the foremost authority on Beluga's in these parts.

 

[Bryan K]

That’s a bit like asking “Which is a better tool for brain surgery: a fork, spoon, or butter knife?”.

Definitely not the Dolphin. I tried it once. Never again.

 

[Krash]

I have a combat Beluga, it's a lot of fun.

I use mine exclusively for assassinations. If you're looking for suggestions, here is my build.

That build isn't complete but it's a start.

You could change the Pack hounds to Frag cannons if you don't have them unlocked. I think Mr. Rick6549 runs a frag cannon Beluga if I remember correctly. He is the foremost authority on Beluga's in these parts.

That link is broken for me, but I get the idea. I have most combat PP modules unlocked. I can see a packhound beluga as a nice support role in a wing.

 

[baudelier]

I'd consider the orca the best. Load it with a set of plasma accelerators and hull reinforcements and, make with the ramming speed.

 

[Red_Beard_98]

Yeah sorry, Coriolis is being weird for me today. It won't generate shortlinks and the regular links aren't working well.

The gist of it is:

• All packhounds with extra ammo and various experimentals
• 6A Armored, monstered PP (Don't go with overcharged, heat is an issue with this thing)
• size 6 fighter bay
• 6C biweaves. Build them for max resistances. The Beluga will never get high absolute numbers so go for fast recharge.
• The rest of the internals are HRP's and MRP's. This thing can hull tank pretty darn good. 5K+ absolute and around 10K with resistances.

 

[Cpt Shadow Wolfe]

The Orca makes a great combat ship without guns, just beef up the shield and use it to ram the targets, works great. And they can't catch you if you run away.

 

[Krash]

The Orca makes a great combat ship without guns, just beef up the shield and use it to ram the targets, works great. And they can't catch you if you run away.

What is a good engineered boost speed with the Orca?

 

[Bigmaec]

Orca.
Beluga works too, especially if you're @Rick6549, but Orca is just more fun (sorry rick)

 

[Lightspeed]

The Orca makes a great combat ship without guns, just beef up the shield and use it to ram the targets, works great. And they can't catch you if you run away.

I recently built and am now using a harmless Orca Explorer. When I am done with exploring, I shall remember this and try it out. I've never deliberately rammed ships to death, so it will be a new experience

What is a good engineered boost speed with the Orca?

Looking at builds with dirty drives, it was promising about 500 straight line speed and almost 650 boost !

I'm using clean drives at the moment for exploration, and the ship is cool enough to start jumping before fuel scooping has finished.

 

[Layne Vakarian]

I demand you retitle the thread to read 'Which Passenger Liner is Best at Combat'.

 

[Lightspeed]

I demand you retitle the thread to read 'Which Passenger Liner is Best at Combat'.

You mean "Which Combat Passenger Liner is Among the Top 1% of Combat Passenger Liners Out There?"

 

[Layne Vakarian]

You mean "Which Combat Passenger Liner is Among the Top 1% of Combat Passenger Liners Out There?"

Exactly!

 

[sandkid]

The Beluga, far and away, is the superior ship for general combat. 5 medium hardpoints and SLF alone give it a huge offensive advantage when compared to its siblings. Couple that with its laughable armor and hull (which has seen it used more for ramming than passenger ferrying), and its an astonishingly effective beast considering it was never meant to be combat-oriented in the first place.

The Beluga Liner is my second favorite ship (after my beloved DBX) and among the many reasons I love it is the fact it handles itself well in most PvE scenarios when needed. Fully kitted and engineered for defense, it's a strong multi-role (that shouldn't be) that looks good, too.

Dolphin has its uses but isn't terribly capable except in light-combat.
Orca simply lacks the necessary hardware and stats to really shine in combat. Can you fight in it? Sure, you can fight in anything - even a Hauler - but would you?

 

[Krash]

I recently built and am now using a harmless Orca Explorer. When I am done with exploring, I shall remember this and try it out. I've never deliberately rammed ships to death, so it will be a new experience



Looking at builds with dirty drives, it was promising about 500 straight line speed and almost 650 boost !

I'm using clean drives at the moment for exploration, and the ship is cool enough to start jumping before fuel scooping has finished.

Yikes! I think i'm leaning towards the Orca for this test.

 

[Macros Black]

Out of the 3 choices, I'd definitely go with the Federal Corvette for combat.

 

[Just Paul]

Orca is the best "combat ship" of the 3. But I enjoy my Beluga with all beams. It's a good compliment to Ricks with 5 frags. Nothing more fun than a pod of Belugas going hunting in Colonia. Nobody will complain either, they are all to embarrassed to admit that they got beat by the top 1% liners out there.