Time for a new ship thread!



With my bank balance on the rise, my long-time goal of becoming the owner of a shiny new Python is nearing fruition. Everyone knows someone who buys an old beater and keeps it in the garage or the barn and works on it on the weekends. After 3 or 4 years the thing is ready to hit the road. That's my Python. I don't have anywhere near enough money to make it good. But I thought I would keep it in the garage and work on it occasionally until it's ready to hit the spaceways.

My plan is to make it in to a heavily armed merchant cruiser and materials gathering vehicle. A top Python is 200m credits. But I thought about what sort of Python could be built on a budget and I threw this together. The weapons are mostly a placeholder until I know more about hardpoint placement and so on. It's all D-rated essentially, with a SRV and a mining laser. Only the FSD is A-rated at the moment, and I can engineer that for additional jump range. Will probably throw some limpets in there eventually.

Unengineered jump range is 21, it carries 192 tons of cargo, shields 448mj. Not too bad for 68 million, and that becomes 58m at a Li Yong Rui station. It's far from optimal, but the wallet isn't fat enough for that, just yet. And it could be fun improving it by bits and bobs. And who knows, maybe I'll hate it and want to sell it.

Starter Python

Sounds pretty nice! Lots you can do without a big weapons loadout. Combat isn't the main function of the game anyway.

Yes, agreed. I've already got a FDL, Vulture and Courier. The Courier is quickly becoming my favorite ship. So any combat capability in the Python will be defensive (or at least opportunistic) in nature. I won't purposely fly it in to RES sites, at least until I've dropped another 100m on it

My plan is to use it for mat gathering and cargo runs. The merchant cruiser concept I have in my head. A bubble-runner. Three class 6 and two class 5 optionals are amazing, and allow this ship to be whatever you want it to be. It's poor maneuverability and speed means I have little inclination to fly it in combat. Maybe once I'm at the bottom of the engineering rabbit hole I will think about it. Engineered thrusters would be a requirement, and I'm a long way from there.

It's probably the finest looking ship in Elite to my eye, and maybe also the most versatile? Owning one would allow me to purpose-fit my Asp for exploration, and maybe passenger missions if I find the Python ill-suited for those. With the lower jump range I think the Asp will still be used for sightseeing at least.

I may sell the FDL if I take to the Python, and buy another one later. That would give me the funds to do more with the Python. I think I will be really disappointed with class D thrusters in this ship.

Python was my end-game ship initially I just find this ship the best looking in Elite and I love the hardpoint placement too. It's a multi-purpose ship IIRC so it's not as gimped as combat ships in terms of jump range but it's bad-ass in a fight too. With Size 3 MCs, I was excited initially but I think Frontier must've nerfed the multi-cannons while I was away. The large hardpoint is on the underside but with a chin placement compared to a belly placement as in the FDL, the tracking is way, way better.

Makes me want to buy the Tactical paint pack and putting Tactical Ice on it

How much do those paint schemes cost in real world ducats?

My Python is mainly a cargo/Passenger vehicle with a good jump range courtesy of D-rating and Engineering. Had it blown out from under me several times during one Wing Cargo mission. Considering how formidable it can be when Combat Configured, I feel like I am flying around in a tissue paper ship. In my defense, one of those interdictions, I submitted, but the game acted as if I hadn't so by the time I got my FSD back online I was torn to shreds


Paint schemes vary in price but I think the packs (Tactical/Military) are about $4 for a set (tactical/military etc) and $3 apiece for fancy ones. More for Ship kits ($12) that add funny doodads..

https://www.frontierstore.net/usd/game-extras.html?ship_model=26

I bought the Tactical Packs for FGS and Python during a 20% off sale...

P.S. Your Starter Python looks a lot like mine actually. I think I have an even SMALLER shield to pack in more cargo. I am at 264 tons. Mostly do short hauls so I took out the Fuel Scoop as well. If I configure for Passengers, I put the Scoop back in. Sometimes combine the two with a couple of cabins and the rest Cargo Racks.

Recluse_Cargo Python

Thanks for the info Recluse.

How do you like the ship?

What sort of passenger missions are you running? Transport and sightseeing? What's your jump range?

I just noticed that I have an SRV in that build, but no planetary landing suite.

I see your jump range in your build.

What? They have a 20% off sale? When did that happen?

I used EDDB to search for the closest LRY system that sold the Python.. Starlace Station in Minerva came up. Same station I bought the FDL. But I have a short memory, because this station has a great ship selection amd LYR discount, but poor outfitting.

Flew there and sold off most of what I could from the FDL. I really like the FDL, and if I were forced to choose just one combat ship that would be it. I will buy another. I've really taken a shine to the Courier and am flying it for RES hunting more and more. Plus I have the Vulture which is simply more fun to fly than the Fer-de-Lance. The FDL is the best all around combat ship I've flown, hands down. But it's also quite valuable, and I decided to skip over the starter Python and go for a mid-range model. Couldn't sell off every core internal because of no stock, but traded the hulk for the Python and a 4m credit, err, credit.

Takao

Named after the Japanese heavy cruiser. Callsign Tango Alpha Kilo. Love that stuff My ships are named after WW2 warships and I go with ships somewhat comparable in class. The Courier is named after a destroyer for instance and the just-sold FDL was named after another cruiser, Undaunted. If I get a Corvette or Anaconda, it will be battleships from which I select the name.

Anyway, with some extra funds I was able to do some good with the build, and not just D-rate it. Currently outfitted with SRV and collector limpets, 160t of cargo, the scanners I need. Multi-role indeed. But I had to leave Starlace to get most of this stuff and it was a struggle just to reach a jump range of 10 light years with what they had on hand. So avoid Starlace for bigger ships is my advice. Once I got it to 10 I could actually plot a route to a different station to get the rest of what I needed. It's essentially A-rated, aside from power plant and sensors. I have enough to buy the 33m PP, but not enough to cover the 5m re-buy too. So that will need to wait. I'm under the power limit as it is. The 7A PP gives a whopping 5 MW increase over the 7C I have in there. So still plenty of room to grow with this ship.

The 5A FSD got a grade one range modification and I didn't reflect that in my Coriolis build, but jump range now stands at 20.

When I took it out of Starlace to go find some decent parts, I wasn't prepared for the woeful pitch authority. Ya gotta understand this is the biggest ship I've flown, and it's not nimble at all. With 6E thrusters anyway.I knew it lacked maneuverability, but that was even less than I had imagined. I now have 6A but decided to post before I took it out again. Gotta go find some sulphur to engineer the Courier's power plant so I can make it my wake scan ship. So who knows how long it would have been before I could let everyone know I have a Python?

I put turreted Pulse Lasers on the roof. I've never used a turreted weapon, but I guessed they may be a good choice if I can't ever pull lead on a target. Multi-cannons are in the other hardpoints, all gimballed. If I do some mining, which is likely at some point, the mining laser would go on the chin.

6A shields with two A boosters gives 557mj which is workable. This isn't my combat ship, but you never know who may jump you. So it's 114m as outfitted on Coriolis, but 97 at Li Yong Rui, and after a few missions the power plant will get upgraded, bringing it to 130 if done in a LYR system. It's a beautiful ship, and I love the versatility. I can see why folks make this their main ride. What can't it do at least well? Like the F-16 it's jack of all trades, master of none. But being the best jack of all trades is probably a quality all it's own. Not a fan of the cockpit because of the lack of overhead visibility and the crossbar. That's like the place I spend half my time looking out of in other ships, or so it seems. I've never hit a star, but if I do, it will be in a Python.

It was a long time ago.. Nov 2017 Holiday sale.

Guess it depends on your Home system but the closet LYR systems to me where I usually buy ships and outfitting is Lichtenberg Terminal in ANU, Hawking Port in Maikoro or Papin City in 7 Andromedae

Don't remember where I bought the Python, but it was during a CG when I decided to join the Cargo CG as well as the Bounty Hunting CG and needed a bigger Cargo hauler..

What can I say,
My Python can do 433, can jump 28Ly, can load 226 Tons of cargo and with shield of 1480 Mj. And all of this without have to change any module and on a medium size ship.

Its the ultimate multi-purpose ship. I have mine for a long time and is finally A-rated and with some engineers upgrades also. It can't mach any of the big threes on pure grinding (both cargo and combat) but as an all around ship is second to none.
It took me a lot of time to have it as it is now but it worth every penny.
Even fully loaded, I can deal on one on one with every AI ship, whatever rank. This says alot of this ship.

My Python

My LYR stations are bookmarked. Why should I have to remember anything? There are two stations that sell most ships I want, and then there are two nearby systems with stations that have most modules that I want. Would be nice if there was a one-stop-shop for everything, but that's called Founder's World and I don't have access to that yet



Yeah, Coriolis is poor with mods. If you use the Beta Coriolis site, it's slightly better but it still can't do mods and experimental effects. My suggestion for now is to use ED Shipyard and use their "new look" site, that place is awesome!! No import/export stuff yet though but the dev said he's working on those right now



Leave your expectations at the door when you get a new ship, especially when you are comparing an old A-rated one with a new non-A-rated one.

Maneuverability aside, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the Python's ability to put weapons on target based on weapon hardpoint placement compared to the FLD. Might be nice if you used the same types of weapons as with the FDL.



Waste of hardpoint. You'll want two mining lasers at least, and they only come up to Size 2 (Medium). And you may want more than 3 collector limpets out otherwise you'd be waiting beside your empty asteroid for quite some time.



That's a very interesting critique coming from someone who's just flown a FDL. Makes me start to wonder if they've changed the FDL's canopy frames?



Bummer! Well, £3 for a skin pack isn't too much, but I want a few packs. Damn this game. Where is RK so I can properly blame him for my sudden lack of productivity???!!?!?!?



This man speaks the truth! I've always said the Python was my initial end-goal ship and that was just based on looks; I didn't know much of the game at that time so I simply chose it based on the sexy build. When I got the ship, it never disappointed me at all, which is saying a lot and I'm looking at you, FDL!!

In my other thread, I'm considering getting a second Python so I can keep one in a pew-pew fit and keep another in a miner fit and so far, I don't see any downsides to this idea.



What are the big threes?

Why burst and pulse? You have lots of power for beam lasers.

Big threes: Anaconda, Corvette and Cutter.




Beam lasers are much more thirsty to power distributor than bursts and pulse and when I build my Python, there weren't available "efficient" upgrade to lasers so with my current build I have 13 seconds of continuos fire with 106.3 of DPS and if I replaced my burst and pulse for beams I'll have 7.5 seconds of continuous fire with 96.1 DPS, a much weaker punch. I know I'm comparing engineered weapons to stock ones but has I sad a few months ago there weren't any engineer upgrades to Beams to make them less thirsty. With current "efficient" upgrade, beam lasers are much more interesting but even so I always check these numbers to ensure I have the best balance damage/time of continuous fire.

And what does each of the big three ship do? I'm guessing Corvette for pew-pew, Cutter for mining/trading, and Annie for multi-role?

As for DPS, are you tracking enemies for longer than 7 seconds? Also, swapping for Beams with the same mod level (Overcharged 3-4), you get 121.3 DPS for 5.2s, useful for those jousting attacks. If you can track enemies for longer, then fair enough.

Realized I never answered the Passenger Question:

Not sure what the state of Passenger Missions is at present, but when they were first introduced, they were very lucrative. I basically took VIP's and Tourist for 1-2 jumps worth of transport for MILLIONS of credits per mission, stacking 3 or 4 at a pop to the same or nearby systems. Occasional sightseeing missions if the Payout was good and the one-way Jump was 100 LY or less to the tourist beacon. Was pulling down 20-30 million per night of play. Nothing compared to the various exploits that have come and gone, but very steady and profitable.

Lately I have only done a few and the multi-million credit runs for short hops (at least for NON-CRIMINALS) had dried up. I read that they supposedly buffed them back up for 3.04 so I will take another look. Been mainly using HIGH PAYING Transport missions for Credits. Getting nice runs for shipping 180 tons of Palladium and the like for 1 jump at 6-8 million credits. Mainly finding them at Extraction economies (Liu Baja is closest to my 'home' system). With 264 tons in the Python, I can sometimes find another mission for 75-80 tons of something for a few million more in the same trip.

Nice!! I guess I ought to buff my Python a bit and sacrifice a few tons for the security of knowing I can kick butt on interdictions...

Thanks Recluse, I've been doing the same, and now that I have the Python, I can kick my bus mission game up a notch.

Wow alex, that's awesome and I hope my Python gets there too.

Ice, the cockpit is way worse than the FDL, for me. The FDL might be a little annoying, blocking the distance timer or whatever. The Python blocks entire planets. I spend alot of time flying 'inverted', especially when landing, or flying around stars, and looking out of the top of the canopy. All of my ships have great overhead visibility, except the Python. I can forgive this, but I'd pay millions to have at least a sunroof installed.

Ice,
These big threes are so big and powerfull that any of them can do combat and trade very well, but you are right. Cutter being the sluggish but faster and with big cargo is better at trading. And corvette and anaconda are a bit more multi-role being the corvette the best fighter and anaconda a bit better all around. Anaconda is also the best explorer money can buy.
My corvette can carry over 500 tones so is also ok at trading .

Honestly I never count how many seconds I stayed in sight with one target but I know that when I'm on an heavy fight, power distributor becomes an issue very fast. No matter how big and powerfull is your ship you should always care about efficiency. Having 13 seconds of fire over 5 or 6, means even if you didn't drain all your power, you'll have half the time to fully recover because you waste half the energy and if we talk about less that 4 pips on guns, which is desirable on many situations, this issue becomes even more important.
There are a lot of situations in where you have to fire a lot of time before your target is dead. If he's faster and using boom'n zoom against you and putting distance between both, your lasers become much less deadly. Over 1000 m, Laser, no matter size, almost don't do any damage meaning you have to fire for a long time to slowly melt its shield. If he's using chaffs the same. You have to continuous fire for a long time to let some of the hits count. If he is bigger the same or if you fighting a wing. Almost every heavy combat situation requires a lot of firing time. And if your guns suck half the power, than that means half the time to recover.
When fighting one kill ships, Beams are better because your targets die faster, but I always finetune my ship to heavy hard combat, because there's where I can die.