What's up with the Chief? Warning, cheesy picture included!
20 Feb 2021CMDR CWolfXUK
I have been using the Federal Corvette in a lot of assassination and other bounty hunting missions. The Twinfang Wolf can eat a wing of lesser ships with incredible efficiency. However, there is a cost to it when it comes to larger scale conflicts. The Corvette is as big a target as it is a threat and in conflict zones and other large scale battles I have been finding it a bit harder to maintain the balance between shooting things and making sure I don't get chewed up by a swarm of smaller ships. I do tend to target the larger craft, allowing others on my side of the battle to take our the smaller ships. Unfortunately this tactic can go a bit wrong when Spec Ops ships join in as a wing of three can outmanoeuvre even the surprisingly agile 'vette. I could probably tackle them a little easier if I replaced my weapon systems with turrets, as these can track the ships and help negate the agility and the fact that if there are three targets they can attack from three angles at once. I don't want to do that. I do have a pair of heavily engineered burst laser turrets that I occasionally use on the Cutter, the phasing sequence modification can hit a ship hull even through shields, which can be handy. I don't want to use these against the Spec Ops though as they are also significantly weaker than any other type of weapon mounting. No, what I need is to use a ship that can get into a one on one situation with a target, take them out, and then move onto the next in the wing whilst also being a smaller target to avoid getting caught between them.
My hangar, as mentioned before, has a variety of ships as I am a bit of a collector. My first thought was my trusty Vulture, the ship which is largely responsible for my earlier success. After trialling this idea I found that the more potent adversaries being used against me, due to my personal combat ranking, were a serious challenge in a full fleet battle. The Vulture just could not last it out. After doing some reading of various articles on the Codex and Infonet I decided to try the Chieftain out.
I remember when the Chieftain was first announced, it was the same time as the rather awesome Krait II and I was excited for it. I got one when they were released as a long time, old world ally to the Alliance. I didn't like it. Yes, it was manoeuvrable and had great weapon placements but tat did not satisfy me. My Federal Gunship was better armed and armoured as far as I was concerned. This time, over three years later, I was approaching the Chieftain from a different angle. For one, I had been using the fixed cannon system, learning to aim properly instead of relying on the rapid fire and aim assisted multicannons. I had discovered the joys of well engineered cannons and the serious issues they could cause to a target, knocking them off course and generally causing massive damage. So for my new Chieftain build I fitted a pair of large fixed mount cannons, three small multicannons - gimballed - and the medium slot I fitted a very special seeker missile launcher I had gained fighting on behalf of an Engineer. I modified pretty much every internal system of the ship and also the armour plating, something I had not done so much the last time I had flown one.
I took the new Chieftain out to a Res site to see what I could do. Several kills later I return to my home station. The ship was incredibly agile, I had managed to out fly everything out there and done quite well against small ships and some medium ships, however, it was taking too long to complete a takedown of some ships, resulting in escapes or me taking more damage than I should. So now it was time to try another new thing, well, new to me. Another weapon I had not really played with much was the Plasma Accelerator, finding the shot speed to be slow and the heat to be a pain. Again I had done some research into what Engineers could offer. This time the two large Plasma Accelerator guns I fitted were engineered for faster and more deadly shots, able to also fire faster. The three multicannons I have I also engineered, rigging them to fire continuously. Now it was time to give the ship another proper test.
I flew to the nearby Haz Res and started hunting. A wing of three ships came up as targets and I locked on. The lead ship, an Asp Explorer, got pulled apart very quickly. The second was a heavily engineered Eagle, the engineering di not save it as I was able to keep locked on until it blossomed into fire. The third, a Viper MKIII tried to run. It did not have a chance, the four powerful drives of my ship keeping the Viper in range until it too exploded. My fighting caught the attention of an anaconda and it started firing at me, I swung around and powered past it, getting behind the larger ship and hammering at its drives. My shield warning flashed up and my scanner picked up a new target pulling behind me, a fighter had been launched from the 'conda. As I flipped my guns to face the fighter I took a volly of shots from the 'conda. I fired a shield cell to instantly restore my own shields to full, dropped a heat sink and then let the multicannons tear the fighter apart. Quickly flipping back to the 'conda I locked it's drives again and pounded it with the Plasmas. The shields fell from my target and I kept the multicannons relentless assault on the big ship. I watched as the drives spluttered out of action, meaning my target was now unable to doge anything. I boosted up over the stricken vessel and unleashed several plasma rounds into it, watching plating fly from it. I must have hit the main reactor as the craft suddenly exploded in my face, rolling me backwards and heavily draining my shields. Before I could fully register what happened I then got hit again by something else. Quickly boosting out of the debris I spotted a Federal Corvette firing at me, it's second volley of shots removing my remaining shields before I could compensate. Now it was a real test of both the ship agility and my own skill. The Chieftain did not let me down, possibly the most responsive flight since my sidewinder got engineered. I dodged and weaved, letting my shield systems reload. Realising that this would not last, the likelihood that I might get either killed by this new opponent or another deciding to pick on a shieldless ship, went for the kill instead. As I streaked over the battleship I fired all guns, raking a line of energy and solid ammunition into the shields of my target and moving faster than it's weapons could follow me. Before it could turn to get a lock I immediately flew back, this time under the ship and avoiding the most deadly weapons. I did take hits and my hull armour did drop a few precious percent as I turned for another strafing run. I landed a few more hits and the great ship lost shields. Now it was a battle of hull versus hull. I switched weapon groups, bringing the special missile rack online. Instead on another close range sweep this time I boosted a bit further away, giving myself more room to avoid shots. The plasma guns were just in range and did some damage to the enemy and their internal systems as the heated the 'vette up. The real killer was the string of missiles, all targeting the power subsystems. Another solid hit rocked my ship and I watched the hull of my chieftain drop heavily, my computer warning of some system damage. I boosted straight for the Corvette, ignoring the warning of overheating as I fired everything, switching all power from the shields - which were still offline anyway - to the weapon systems. I was getting very close now and unlike the Cutter this was not a ramming capable ship! My guns ran dry my missiles malfunctioned, the last plasma shots flew from my guns. The corvette broke in half, fire and debris flew all around me as I flew through the new gap, my ship being rocked by the enormous explosion behind me.
I engaged my supercruise and aimed for the station, once safely moving away from the site I went through my system checks. Most of my internal systems were fried, my hull was at twenty percent. My canopy was covered in massive cracks, yet, it held. My drive systems worked and I was still alive. Limping into the station I landed a little heavily, scaring myself a little as I knocked another one percent off the hull register.
It had not been a flawless flight, it had been an incredibly fun flight and after checking the bounty counter - it was a very profitable flight. The Chief is going to be my new battlefield runner!