What's this then? Had a bit of a cash surplus so decided to spend some of it. OK, well most of it. Here's what 210 million credits gets ya.




Partially engineered, and a long way from done. But in trader trim it carries 400+ tons. I debated getting a T-9 as I still have no dedicated freighter. In the mean time, the Anaconda will have to do

It's a great ship. In both senses of the word....

Took me a while to learn to fly it through the slot because of the big belly on it; I wound up putting a docking computer on it for a while so I could learn the "sight picture".

Same here, my first few times through the slot had some scraping. I've got it now though. Just a matter of acclimating to the pilot perspective. Not much room to spare however. I've not used a DC, and doubt I ever will. Portside operations are one of my favorite parts of the game. Which is no judgement of course about those who choose to use them. It's all good.

I've been running some trade loops in it to start to recoup the massive fee

Have you flown a T-9 yet? It's so wonderfully manoeuvrable

Not yet Chucky, but give me some time

The freighters just don't inspire me, but I believe I do indeed need one for the fleet. I've never owned an adder, hauler, T-6. T-7 or T-9. I skipped all of those ships. I did buy a Keelback, which is a great ship, but I immediately made it my planetary landing ship, so even if it is considered a freighter, or combat-freighter if such a designation exists, like the T-10s little brother, I've not actually used it for that. Speaking of which, anyone here have a T-10?

I will get a T-9 at some point, but first I must restore my bank balance a bit, and I still have some stuff to get for the Anaconda too.

And a Krait. Yeah, a Krait. I will have to get one, whatever it is.

The Conda is number 9, so a ways to go yet.

I normally don't use a DC either... that's why it was a big deal to use one at all.

Yes, I can understand that. Getting it lined up correctly on the landing pad has actually been more of a challenge to me. The ship is so big it hides the 'target' and ya gotta sort of feel it out. But in the end it's OK, even if it seems I'm a little drunk when I come in for a landing. This is one of the challenges of big-ship operations, and I like it.

I spent a few hours last night working out some trading techniques. Honestly, I've not done much. I reached Entrepreneur rank while having had only traded 9m credits over my career. Most of my rank came from missions like boom time deliveries and transport missions. But I was running basic meds to Outbreak systems for a healthy profit, and also stacking boom times deliveries. If I run scoopless I can carry 432 tons in this beast, and that means quite a few missions, if you can find good ones. I was back to hauling biowaste, since I could stack 6 of them to the same station. Earned back about 20 million of the Anaconda's cost anyway.

Even engineered, the old girl is rather on the slow side, has ponderous supercruise handling, and is challenging to dock. But it can carry a lot, has enormous firepower, it's highly configurable, and the view, to me, isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. The jump range is awesome. Yeah, you could make a 70 LY Exploraconda, but for me, the jump range is awesome because you can load the thing down with 400 tons and still jump 30+ light years, making running profitable trade loops a lot less painful than on other ships.

Have been flying this old girl 'round, running commodities and bulk transport. I can fit 60 first class seats (you could get a few more) with my configuration and that opens up some lucrative transport missions.

One of the less obvious roles though is shield booster shuttle. 8 utility slots! So I loaded it down with boosters and flew it off to Lee Cheung to engineer them. I then spread them around the fleet.

Which experimental are folks digging on their boosters?

The Conda may not swing around all that effortlessly, but I've submitted the last few interdictions. The most recent was an Expert Asp Explorer. What was this guy smoking? *Poof*. The firepower is awesome, and if you can get it pointed the right way, it's big trouble for those in her sights. I think eventually I will hire a crew member, give him the Anaconda, and I'll fly the fighter. What could go wrong?

Well for me I stay with Resistance Augmented combined with Super Capacitors. Yields 26% increase for each one used.

This is what my Python looks like in total battle configuration;
<a href="https://imgur.com/Ar9MzDQ"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/Ar9MzDQ.png" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

That's 4 Shield boosters
Hull reinforcement packs maxed and an interdictor added

Well for me I stay with Resistance Augmented combined with Super Capacitors. Yields 26% increase for each one used.

This is what my Python looks like in total battle configuration;


That's 4 Shield boosters
Hull reinforcement packs maxed and an interdictor added

Well, honestly Wingy, I don't think your Python can be destroyed A ship would run out of ammo before chewing through all of that!

My Python's shields are about the same. A little less mj and a little more resistances, in particular thermal. If I swapped the wake scanner for another booster I'd be right there. But your integrity is far higher than mine. Do you fly PvP?

I might throw in a HRP and MRP if I am off to an assassination, but that's only about 1,000 integrity and with stock armor resistances. I must be quite a bit lighter, but that might not make much difference. In assassination trim, my Python has a top speed of 388 and boost of 507.

48.98/152.01/16.89 for pitch/roll/yaw

This thing rolls like a 190.

DBond,
This is my assassination trim, battle load out. I had 5 assassination missions stacked as follow on's from contribution donations. I decided to take a couple at a time in the same system. Glad I put in the HRP's as they sent everything at me. Just to get to the first guy I had to go through 1 Anaconda and 1 T-10, then the Corvette mission objective. Same system on to #2 another Corvette and Anaconda. Made for an exciting outing to say the least.

No real PvP though I've been known to troll open looking for griefers.

You've got me on top speed mine is at 497. For maneuverability just can't beat that Chieftain. It's one slippery fish. I think that's why I stay with it, though I spend more time in the Python.

Well, 10 m/s is nothing, especially when you are bringing all that beef. I wonder how it affects the handling/agility. Probably not all that much the way optimal mass works in this game right?

I'll pick up another Chieftain at some point. I sold it before I began engineering. I just tend to stay away from the hull tanks.

I've been playing more open lately, last night I was in Open all the time, but not exactly in the hubs. Got interdicted by a cheeky commander in a FAS while I was flying gobs of goods to some far-flung outpost. I'm guessing he underestimated the old Python. Or maybe it was just one of those days