The best ship is the one you get on with best. However, some ships are better for certain tasks, so (as you already have) start to build a fleet (but do NOT keep them in one place; you don't want to lose access to them if your station gets UA bombed!), and configure them for the purpose that you feel suits them best.
Horizons Which ship is suitable?
- Thread starter decemberance
- Start date
Just my 2 cents, lots of ships can be fun to play without engineers. My road was Cobra III, Viper, Vulture, ASPX, DBX, Fer de Lance, Python. The only ships that have mods in them are Python and ASPX and only lvl 4 FSD range and for Python I got also lvl 1 clean drive, both I am using them for smuggling. They are all fun ships to play with but any of those requires so time to learn the ship much or less. I am still having all the ships and still using the Viper for fun in some high res, without any mods, and have a great fun with it. The Vulture is awesome for combat and is doing an hell of a job in popping any ship I find in there, again without any mods in it. For combat also I was using the DBX but not as much and still had funny times, which makes me thinking to start using it again. FDL requires some time to practice but I will get there with it and I start to think is awesome to fly and to master. Did I told you about the sounds that FDL makes? oooohhh you have to try it, pure ear orgasm and it almost sounds better for me then the Viper which I fly especially for the engine sounds. So, better start finding the ship you like for the specific job, play with many as you can and find the one that you really like and try not to sell any of them and keep them to raise your fleet up. I only use the ASPX and Python for smuggling (more the Python lately) and the FDL, Viper and Vulture for RES combat. Beware as others said Vulture and FDL have an shameful jump range.
What? you mean at that station where Fraseer or Palin are I can buy an somewhat upgraded thruster? Great info, didn't knew about this
At what other engineers we can buy modified things? It needs to be unlocked for the option to buy? I guess the module is present in outfiting menu right?Just to clarify the enhanced thrusters:-
At Felicity's outfitting (and Elvira's), you can purchase enhanced thrusters up to module size 3 - that is, Adder, Hauler, Courier, Eagles, Sidewinder. These give a significant increase in speed and manoeuvrability.
The A3 thruster are upwards of 5 MCr, so it's not a cheap upgrade!
Once you have one, you can have your engineer modify it just like any other drive module.
The drawback is that the power draw is increased, as well as heat generation. On the Courier, you'll need to reduce the weapons and shield until you can get the enhanced power unit modification - the heat generation is something you have to manage..
For budget ships, the T6 with A thrusters, FSD and fuel scoop will do the Sothis runs without too many problems, Vulture for combat.
Upgrade to the Clipper for best trading and moderate combat (good weapons use gimballed, weak shields, but can run fast!). It's much cheaper than the Python.
For higher level combat, FAS or FdL, but you'll be reaching trader tycoon to have enough Credits for those.
At Felicity's outfitting (and Elvira's), you can purchase enhanced thrusters up to module size 3 - that is, Adder, Hauler, Courier, Eagles, Sidewinder. These give a significant increase in speed and manoeuvrability.
The A3 thruster are upwards of 5 MCr, so it's not a cheap upgrade!
Once you have one, you can have your engineer modify it just like any other drive module.
The drawback is that the power draw is increased, as well as heat generation. On the Courier, you'll need to reduce the weapons and shield until you can get the enhanced power unit modification - the heat generation is something you have to manage..
For budget ships, the T6 with A thrusters, FSD and fuel scoop will do the Sothis runs without too many problems, Vulture for combat.
Upgrade to the Clipper for best trading and moderate combat (good weapons use gimballed, weak shields, but can run fast!). It's much cheaper than the Python.
For higher level combat, FAS or FdL, but you'll be reaching trader tycoon to have enough Credits for those.
I took my Vulture to a hires Saturday and left with nearly 2 mil in bounties (not counting KWS bounties) and 100% hull, if that tells you anything.
What weapons do you use? In fact, could you post your config? I'm not sure whether to get one (the fact it only has 2 hardpoints puts me off, but they are "Large" - I'm not sure what exactly that means for weapon effectiveness vs. medium for example). The AspX has 6 hardpoints, so whilst they are smaller, how would they compare?
I know that if you attack a "Large" ship with medium/small weapons, you might as well be using a slingshot, whereas large weapons make a difference.
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C3 beam and C3 MC. The MC is engineer grade one upgraded. The fragment cannon also works very well. I need to get some more MEFs, lol. The only thing is, the Vulture is virtually useless for anything except bounty hunting.
Imagine the Vulture like a sneaky ninja that you know it's there but you can't actually see it. You can eat everything with it from Clippers for breakfast and Anacondas for desert if you stick your nose into their rear and target subsystems like power plant (no joke intended there really
). I use dual 3D gimbal pulses on it, you have some power management going on and needs some look at priorities at modules but when you get it right you stay in a high res for how much as you want, but, take care against those pack of wings as I seen those hard to take out if they are too powerful, and I only died against them. Overall, I never found a ship that I can't take out even if those cutters are sometimes a pain to keep on their and then I need to make most use of FA OFF but if you start playing with it you will get the use of it and you will know what I mean. Can't remember the outfit tho as I didn't modified it for some time but I know I was using beams and after that got to pulses. You could play with some fittings and see what is best for your style.
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Thanks for clarifying that!
I tried that but nearly died of boredom. Vulture can fire a single C3 beam all day. I've even continued to hunt with just the beam after running out of MC ammo.
Do you run any additional armor? I'm getting one as I type! My AspX just became a long-distance hauler/explorer!
That's it. My Asp Explorer can do it all- but not anything as well as trading and exploring.
It's a jump from a 6 million ship to a 24 million ship. No, I'm not getting a Python, which is the next step. I could afford *one*. That's a lot of credits riding on "22 black" on the RNG.
Sidewinder>Adder>Cobra 3>Asp Explorer. Each is an all-rounder, with limits. If your want to do *one thing only*, you will have to pursue another track.
Example: Eagle>Viper 3>DBS>Vulture.
Example: Sidewinder>Adder>Cobra 3>T6. Skip the T7.
Do you run any additional armor? I'm getting one as I type! My AspX just became a long-distance hauler/explorer!
I forget. I think I have military bulkheads and that's all. It's a module challenged ship and the jump range sucks. I have an extra fuel tank and grd 5 jump range upgrade in mine. My advice is park it in a system with good RES sites, and leave it there, lol. As for the AspX, it's a great cargo hauler/mission runner/multipurpose but not great at combat, though it can be done. I earned my money for my FAS bounty hunting in mine. I'm running 2 C1 beams, 2 C1 MC's and 2 C2 MC's. DD booster upgrades help and weapon upgrades help it A LOT, as with the Cobra III.
The jump range was a shock, lol.
Here are my current ships:
Vulture: https://coriolis.io/outfit/vulture/2patfFalddksif30v7l-03--4a2b532525.Iw19kA==.MwBhCYysEZqoA===
AspX: https://coriolis.io/outfit/asp/2pftfFflidfsnf50r272020241004040403054a0202020101.Iw18WQ==.Aw18WQ==
I'm thinking of stripping out the bulkheads from the AspX and downgrading the thrusters for additional jump range, but it has saved me in the past (yesterday
) from interdiction. That however was before I put the weapons on it and started fighting back. Downgrading to D thrusters and removing the composite bulkheads increases the jump range by 4 Ly, to 31.46 Ly (max).Between fighting back AND running, I find you have a better chance than if you only run (depends how fast the ship is at running though). I'm definitely going to keep the weapons on it - it is not bad when you're forced to fight, and makes waiting for the FSD to cool-down that bit easier to handle. It definitely gives NPCs something to think about ("Hey! I'm taking damage!"
).I need to find a better way to make credits though. I burned 4 M cr in ships this evening fighting in the Vulture (totally worth it though!). Not sure how many ships I killed (I wasn't counting). My combat rank is now 88% "Mostly Harmless" from Harmless though, so not bad.
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The jump range was a shock, lol.
Here are my current ships:
Vulture: https://coriolis.io/outfit/vulture/2patfFalddksif30v7l-03--4a2b532525.Iw19kA==.MwBhCYysEZqoA===
AspX: https://coriolis.io/outfit/asp/2pftfFflidfsnf50r272020241004040403054a0202020101.Iw18WQ==.Aw18WQ==
I'm thinking of stripping out the bulkheads from the AspX and downgrading the thrusters for additional jump range, but it has saved me in the past (yesterday
Between fighting back AND running, I find you have a better chance than if you only run (depends how fast the ship is at running though). I'm definitely going to keep the weapons on it - it is not bad when you're forced to fight, and makes waiting for the FSD to cool-down that bit easier to handle. It definitely gives NPCs something to think about ("Hey! I'm taking damage!"
I need to find a better way to make credits though. I burned 4 M cr in ships this evening fighting in the Vulture (totally worth it though!). Not sure how many ships I killed (I wasn't counting). My combat rank is now 88% "Mostly Harmless" from Harmless though, so not bad.
I changed your outfits a bit as I am using them as they work pretty well for me, maybe you could play with it to see how it fits. For Vulture I think military grade is way too much of a drop down on ship maneuverability so I use reinforced alloy and with 2x gimbaled 3E pulse I hardly waste time getting out from a res for refill until I get overreacted and attack packs of wings and I waste all my shield banks and chaffs. KWS (kill warrant scanner) is there to boost your income so its most welcome. Please note, if something is going wrong don't blame me as it is some time from when I was using Vulture (on the FDL if I need pew pew).
Vulture: https://coriolis.io/outfit/vulture/1patfFalddksif31e1e00020m04B22b532525.AwRj4zyA.IwBhrSuo
For ASPX it's the same build that I use for Robigo smuggling (I have FSD range lvl 4 engineer modification so I advise you get that too after some time) and I will go for some dirty drive for a better run when interdicted and I don't use mines as others are using, I found out I can manage my run away without those. When interdicted, submit, boost while waiting for FSD cooldown and warp away. I never had any problems so if it works for me I guess it will work for you too. With this outfit you could make around 30 - 40 mil per run, and this is if your standing with the 2 factions (CDE Corporation and Robigo Cartel) is at maximum. With not a single modification you can do a run in around 1 hour and a half, depending on how much time you spend gathering the best cargo per single mission.
ASPX smuggling:
https://coriolis.io/outfit/asp/0pctfFflidfsnf5--------02000504402t02012f.Iw18WQ==.Aw18WQ==
Ouch. 4m?! Be aware, you have to actually survive to cash in the bounties to make any money bounty hunting. My best advice is go to res or hires (make sure you don't have any cargo) and let the cops do most of the work. Once they take the shields down on a wanted ship, swoop in for the kill. Just make sure not to shoot the cops or unwanted ships (easy to do-I just did it the other night).
So I am wondering, why would you choose Dirty Drive over Clean drive, and how does it improve combat? Just a little more speed/accel? It doesn't add to agility does it?
Dirty Drives and Clean Drives do basically the same thing, but Dirty Drives will give an ever greater performance boost over clean at the cost of increased thruster heat generation (compared to clean's reducing heat).