My Vulture is now like a Vulture on steroids, if those steroids were mixed with cocaine, Red Bull, and a nest of angry hornets!

Good lord. Engineering,yeah. This ship was already an amazing dogfighter. But now it's just insane. Cruises over 300, boosts over 500. Insane agility. 600mj BiWeaves, 21 jump, Overcharged power plant, and multi-cannons, with lncendiary and corrosive effects. Wake scanner, kill warrant scanner, all of my exploration scanners. And there is still a ways to go. Just nuts.

OMG!

haha, looking back on this thread to when I was just noob, and that first Vulture I posted, pre-engineering (for me). I was so proud and happy with it, and frankly it's sh!t!

Here's what I was flying in early 2018
Noob Vulture

Compare it to now

Arclight

Much better shields, faster, nearly double the jump, more firepower, like a completely different hull. How times have changed lol.

That first Vulture had 370MJ of thermal shield protection. Goodness gracious. I'm glad I post this stuff so I can look back and see what I didn't know yet

The Vulture is one of the few ships I've never owned. Nice to see it can be such a combat beast, if I ever get into combat.

So many ships right? 38 I think, and of those I've flown 16, so I know what you mean.

The Vulture's a one-trick pony. A whirling dervish of a combat ship, it's like a Spitfire, all turning and knife-fights. It has it's limitations as most ships do. Two large hardpoints seem both a blessing and curse. But if you like your combat up close and personal it's a fine choice. Is it Elite's most agile ship? It might just be. I guess only the Eagle could give it a run in terms of pitch rate, roll and the like. And the Eagle's way more fragile.

Between this and my Courier I have two very different small fighters. One for turning fights, and one for energy fights. A nice combo.

That can be a good or bad thing of course depending on the philosophy/approach of the player in question. I myself prefer to have dedicated single-role ships. For example, I don't have any cargo space or mining equipment on my Anaconda, Python or Fed Corvette because I'd much rather save those module slots for more shields or armor. I have my Type 10 Defender for mining and cargo hauling and if I get attacked I just simply run, drop mines and use chaff and that has worked for me 100% of the time.

That's a sensible approach and I more or less do the same, with specific roles for each ship.

Wingnuts takes it even further. For example he has four or five Krait IIs, all configured for their specific purpose.

I finally got my Imperial Cutter yesterday so right now I'm in the very long but fun process of getting the best possible modules and then of course engineering them. I am trying something new here with the Cutter by adding an 8E cargo rack (256 cap). I envision this as being a very well armed cargo runner.

Congrats on the Cutter. A magnificent vessel

Thanks, aesthetically it is indeed much better than the Fed Corvette.

Heretic!!!



Grats, PM

Personally I like the Imperial aesthetics better. That's the main reason I went Empire, which really only means I set up base in Imperial space. So naturally my ranks have gone a little faster on the Empire side.

But the Corvette is a great looking ship, mean looking, it just looks like danger. The Dropship and FAS maybe not so much and the FGS is sort of in the middle. Aside from appearance, it was the fact that Imperial ships seemed to make better shield tanks that made me lean this way. Of course you can great shields on Fed ships, especially the Vette. Plus only the Empire has fast, nimble ships like the Courier and iEagle which suit my style.

I take up the Empire banner for banter purposes, but really it doesn't matter. But if a superpower war broke out I'd enlist with the Empire. The Courier is such a good ship for me. I love the performance and the cockpit. The glowing blue piping goes well with my HUD colors.

The only Fed ship I'd really be interested in is the Vette, but I don't hunt the required rank so it's just not in the near future. I could buy a Clipper, but I can't really see why. What does one use a Clipper for? And while the Cutter was once a goal, it lost that status when I hit trade elite. I don't do trucking for fun so no real reason to spend all that money and engineering effort. I'd rather split it up between more modest ships, and even then I don't seem to want any new ones which kinda sucks. I had a look at the Mamba, but I don't think I'd like it for combat. It's like a faster FDL that turns like an Anaconda from what I've gathered. It does look cool though.

So all that said, the only 'superpower' ship I have is the Courier. And the iEagle is the only other one I've flown. Oh wait, that's not true, I forget about the Alliance. I owned a Chieftain for a little while.

I had considered building a Dolphin because Saud Kruger, right? I can get really good performance out of it, but it's just a little short on optionals. I wanted to build it for bulk transport, there are a lot of missions that pay well but require 45 economy seats and I cannot get that out of a Dolphin. I thought it would be good to have a second passenger ship so I could run bulk and sightseeing without having to reconfigure. Have a ship for each. It's really what I should do with my Python, which I have mothballed since buying a Krait II. It would make a perfect bulk hauler, good optional slot space in that ship. Hey, that's a good idea....

Re: Fed vs Empire

It’s all just good nature’s banter as you say, D. I stick with the Feds mostly because that’s where I made my home. In the near future I plan on workin on my Imp rank. Don’t really care about getting a Cuttter, but I have “completion-itis” so I’ll grind it out.

I'm pledged to Aisling Duval but I often do missions for the Federation and I have a 100% friendliness rating with both the Empire and the Feds. You can say I sleep around! LOL

I just wish the Alliance had a ship on the same level of power as the Corvette or the Cutter.

The Chieftain's a pretty good ship, and caused a bit of a stir when it came out, but people seemed to forget about it fairly quickly. It has 6 hardpoints which is cool for a ship it's size. I wasn't engineering yet and didn't care for the drift so I sold it and bought a FDL. With high-grade engineering I bet it's a fine one. The other Alliance ships seem like dogs but I've no experience with them. They re very unpopular and seem like they never really had a niche. I'm sure some guys like them. I really like how the Chieftain looks with the four thrusters lighting up. Looks awesome in the dark

After my last post I did indeed bring the Python out of mothball. Using stuff I had in storage I cobbled together an acceptable Python and loaded it with business class cabins and flew a number of bulk transport missions, getting Empire rank moving a bit and taking a lot of G5 mats as rewards. I want the Inara Captain's medal of all things and I'm getting there lol. It takes 5,000 passengers, which is a lot. If there were burning stations I could be going a bit faster on this.

I had the Chieftain for a couple of months early last year. It looked nice but the firepower just wasn't there. It was a huge jump for me when I went up to the Python.

I felt like the Chieftain had a nice hardpoint arrangement, putting out a concentrated cone of fire with a nice convergence. But it's more hull tank than shield tank and like I said, it was a bit of a drifter un-engineered.

I qualify for a Gunship, but not a fire-lighter for me. Recluse has a nice one. So the Cutter and Corvette are the only two left rank-locked for me. I expect them to remain so for a long time

I bought another iEagle yesterday, so my superpower ship count is now two (again)

I said earlier I don't do trucking missions for fun. But there's about zero difference with bulk transport missions. It's more of a roleplay thing.

I’ve had both Chieftain and Chally. Different sides of the same coin. I think both are awesome medium combat ships. Unfortunately, when I got my Krait Mk II they were both outclassed. I’m sure I agree with PM about the Python having more effective firepower than the Alliance vessels. I feel the better agility of them more than compensates for any perceived dearth of dps vs the Python. I found I could keep my fixed beams on target much easier in my Chieftain than in my Python, hence better actual damage output.

Outclassed in which ways?

I mentioned Rec's FGS, because I've seen it up close. But looking on Inara I see that Bo has one too, and engineered to the nines. Every last turn of the wheel to G5. Lots of mats in that one eh?

Got a Coriolis build of that Gunship?

DBond, I think it is because;
* Chieftain weapons 3-1-2
* Challenger weapons 3-3-1
* Krait MKII weapons 0-2-3
* Engineered Krait MKII is faster and will cold boost twice (Cold meaning NO pips in ENG)
* Krait MKII handles better than the Chieftain, Challenger and Python once engineered
* Weapon layout has great convergence on Krait MKII

My Skittle machine has awsome DPS https://s.orbis.zone/6as6


Wingy

D, Wingy’s pretty much nailed it. In my experience, the Krait is superior in every way that matters to the Alliance boats. Mind you, this is just my feeling as I’m not one for theory crafting and number crunching.

Regarding my FGS, I’ll try and post a Coriolis link tonight when I get home from work. I use it strictly for surface strikes. That’s why it’s armed only with 2 small beams and 5 dumbfire racks. It is prolly WAY over engineered for it’s intended use. I just hate the thought of not having all modules at G5, even if I know it’s a waste of mats