Newcomer / Intro Which SLF do you like best?

ArchAngelofDeath

A
I was using the F63Condor Gelid F 42DPS pulse lasers. Seemed to work ok but I was recently in an Alliance system and for the heck of it swapped out for a Taipan AX1 F with 55DPS multicannons. I forgot it has no utility mounts and I guess this matters because since I swapped my crew pilot keeps getting destroyed (same hired crew as before so it's not difference in pilot skill). I've only been in 3 fights since I swapped so I don't want to jump to early conclusions but so far I'd say the extra 10DPS damage of the Taipan isn't worth it because he dies too quickly.

What are you using for an SLF and why do you think it's best?
 
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Chris Simon

Chris Simon
I generally use the imp fighter with fixed beams. That, for me, is the most combat-effective variant. I prefer fast and agile over tanky (although "tanky" is relative in case of SLFs)

Though when out exploring, I usually bring Taipan. It's handling (subjectively) better under gravity and I love the cockpit and pieces of the ship you can see.
 

mossfoot

mossfoot
sinisalo said:
I like the Taipan with dual beams. Perfect complement to the main ship as a shield stripper.
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I'm in the same boat. Shield stripper. And if you're flying it instead of your co-pilot it works even better when you pop a heatsink as soon as you run out of charge.
 

Dommarraa

Dommarraa
Depends on the situation. If it's a cz, then it must have point defence. If an NPC is flying, I like the repeating plasma thingy, but if I am flying, a laser cos I am a crap shot
 

aRJay

aRJay
If I can work it out I go for the one in the background of the pilots picture on the hiring board.
 

Nero Tacitus

Nero Tacitus
Biggest issue I had with SLF selection was the template system, which forces you to choose between utility, weapon and model preferences.

First is the model:
Imp Fighter is fast/agile, but made of glass. Overall a good performer as evasiveness is the most important defense for a fighter. Issue is it takes all of 2 seconds to get blown out of the air when someone does gets weapons on it.
Condor is a happy medium, not quite as agile as the Imp Fighter, but more resilient for when the AI auto targets it with bot aim.
Taipan is tanky, comparably, but it pays for it with poor handling. Push comes to shove, agility is more important to a fighter than slightly more shields/armor, and the Taipan simply lacks here.

Weapons:
Like normal craft, the old fixed vs gimballed argument is present. However, due to the fighter's natural agility, and the DPS difference between fixed/gimballed being much greater in SLFs, I'm inclined to lean heavily toward fixed. Unless your crew is ~harmless, or you're not comfortable with fixed at all, gimballed DPS is just too low.
This leaves Beams / Pulses / PRs / MCs.
Beams have the highest DPS, decent sustain, easiest to aim.
Pulses actually have lower DPS than beams, and also lower sustain (no idea what's going on there). No real pros over beams.
PRs have good DPS, good sustain, and are fun to aim (IMO)
MCs are the only kinetic weapon on SLFs, and have great sustain.

Utility:
Keep in mind that all the utility slots come with the same ammo as their ship counterparts. So Chaff has 8 shots, Heatsinks 3 etc.
Heat sinks are great for short combat (assassinations etc), but for bounty hunting, are basically worthless as you run out of ammo after 3 fights.
Chaff is a great addition for a SLF to avoid their nemesis, gimbals/turrets. Great in PvP, but in PvE the AI will still aimbot them.
Point Defense is actually more useful than I thought it would be. It makes the SLF basically immune to missiles (their less common enemy), and the range means it will often intercept missiles aimed at the mothership.

So, now you have to choose. The problem I ran into was I wanted a Condor, with Plasma Repeaters, and chaff. Nope! Can't. Want PRs and chaff, has to be an Imp Fighter. So due to the template system, you often get to choose 2 out or 3, model - utility - weapons. You'll either have to pick 1-2 of the 3 that you absolutely love, and then be flexibile elsewhere, or luck out, and get a template that has everything you want.

I ended up going with the Condor with PRs and PD as my default. I mean, 'Vette = Condor automatically, but I did some trial and effor and found the Condor just survived the longest. PRs because they are fun to use, Thermal/Kinetic and offer a good balance between DPS/DPM, and as I said, I've been pleasantly surprised with the PD's usefulness. I also keep a Beams Imp Fighter in storage for assassinations (when I can be bothered swapping it in, why do SLFs still lose customizations when switched!?). Depending on your job, I think these two are the top tier.
 

Chris Simon

Chris Simon
LazarusNecrosis said:
I know what DPS is, but what is DPM? Damage per Module? Damage per MJ from Distributor?
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Damage per minute. While DPS (damage per second) is a nice number, it doesn't mean much in Elite. Beams have big DPS. Then you run out of energy after 10 seconds and now what.
Another example - Frag cannons. They have MASSIVE DPS (in thousands, if you have something like full frag Gunship) But you run out of ammo in a couple of minutes and then you're screwed. :D
Pulse lasers, for example, have lower DPS, but because they don't drain your WEP pool so quickly, you can actually get better DPM out of them, especially if you have weaker distributor that simply cannot handle high energy weapons like plasma accelerators, beam and the likes.

There is actually a third, even more important number - DPE - damage per energy "unit", i.e how much damage you can dish out on one distributor charge. High DPE weapons are great for budget builds, stealth builds and everything that isn't very energy efficient.

With projectile weapons there are other numbers you need to take into consideration, too. Damage per magazine and overall damage per one load of ammo. It's great that you can take out two Anacondas in the span of couple dozen seconds, but if you then have to return to base to re-arm or spend resources on ammo synthesis, it's gonna hurt your most important number of all in Elite (according to some, at least. Not me) - Credits per hour. :D
 
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LazarusNecrosis

L
Chris Simon said:
Damage per minute. While DPS (damage per second) is a nice number, it doesn't mean much in Elite. Beams have big DPS. Then you run out of energy after 10 seconds and now what.
Another example - Frag cannons. They have MASSIVE DPS (in thousands, if you have something like full frag Gunship) But you run out of ammo in a couple of minutes and then you're screwed. :D
Pulse lasers, for example, have lower DPS, but because they don't drain your WEP pool so quickly, you can actually get better DPM out of them, especially if you have weaker distributor that simply cannot handle high energy weapons like plasma accelerators, beam and the likes.

There is actually a third, even more important number - DPE - damage per energy "unit", i.e how much damage you can dish out on one distributor charge. High DPE weapons are great for budget builds, stealth builds and everything that isn't very energy efficient.

With projectile weapons there are other numbers you need to take into consideration, too. Damage per magazine and overall damage per one load of ammo. It's great that you can take out two Anacondas in the span of couple dozen seconds, but if you then have to return to base to re-arm or spend resources on ammo synthesis, it's gonna hurt your most important number of all in Elite (according to some, at least. Not me) - Credits per hour. :D
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Thanks for clarifying. Per Minute and per Magazine were two of my other thoughts but per mag doesn't work with lasers so I figured that wasn't what you meant.
 
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