So, you want to get into Combat, part 2
01 Nov 2023Mana Takakura
That's all good, but what ship should you use? What a personal question to ask!The best ship is the ship you have, but not all ships are created equal.
The Viper III is a great ship for those who are good at flying and know how to keep out of the weaponfire, as is the FDL, Mamba, Chieftan and it's 2 brothers
There's great offering for those with Fed rep a well, such as the Federal Assault Ship with it's great ballance of hull, weapon placement, and decent maneuverability, and the Federal Gunship can pack alot of firepower into it's tanky hull.
Or for you slave traders Imperials, the Clipper is ( i guess) an option, but at that point why not go Cutter? no, i wont be talking about weaponising a Courier, that's a racing ship to me and that's about it (though it doesnt lose much speed when you weaponize it, so if that's your thing...) XD
And of course, i would be remiss if i didnt mention and applaud the Python. It's the combat ship that colonized Colonia, and Father Bill uses it to great effect for everything he does. Having a python turn-and-burn on interdiction and start spewing Frags is a BAD TIME for the interdictor.
Honestly, if you want to live out of one ship, the Python is one of the BEST choices in the game. Medium, so dock anywhere. Tanky, so shields dropping isnt a huge problem. ALL THE CARGO. Ph1lt0r had me buy one early in my E:D career and it's plated with GOLD now.
Gimballed weapons are great for beginners in medium ships, and since they tend to be more agile, turrets dont present a major increase in time-on-target for DPS. As you get better at keeping your reticle on the leading targets, you can switch to fixed weapons for more damage, but beware mixing weapons too much if you go fixed. Each weapon type will have different projectile speeds, leading to vastly spread-out leading targets. A good method is to gimbal one and fix the other, such as fixed beams and gimballed MCs or vice versa.
Or for max fun, Mamba with Frag Cannons!
Let's say you have the capital and the reputation with the Federation or the Empire, there's the big 3; Anaconda, Cutter, and Corvette (yes t10 we know you exist, and you have your merits, so here's you mention buddy)
There will ALWAYS be a fanboy or five to tell you why one is better than the other, but let's get clinical.
First, the most accessible one: the Conda. It's pricey, but it's an end-all be-all ship for many players. It has great weapon placement, good hull, and can be a great ship. I mean, come on, I am known for my Bananconda which i used for EVERYTHING. Nothing wrong with a good conda. The H and the first L are stacked near eachother so they are great places to have similar leading weapons, the other two Ls are top of ship in front of cockpit, Ms are on the sides of the nose, and Ss are underneath behind the HL stack, it's pretty easy to keep all of these on target
Second, the Shield Master itself, the Imperial Cutter. Clean, sleek, and can be set up to have the highest shields in the game! It carries one less L hardpoint, but swaps the conda's S mounts for M, so it tends to make up for the missing mount. My only gripe about this ship is the weapon placement; it can be a bit rough to deal with the hardpoints that are out on the engines. The two 8 Optional slots make this a great multi-role ship though, and bigger shield generator option is a big plus! Put an 8A Prismatic in it for maximum oppulence.
Last but not least is the Federal Corvette. Utilitarian, more agile than the conda, and a favorite of those who don't want to bask in the clean, sleek oppulence of the slave trade ship Imperial Cutter. The two Hs are directly behind the cockpit, and the weapon placements are all easy to keep on target. It has less hardpoints than the other two, but compared to the Conda it swaps two L slots for another H slot. This ship has better shields possible than the conda, but less hull. Better maneuverability than the conda which is a bonus!