#4518246 - 04/26/20 04:52 PM
Krait II, or Three
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A few days ago I bought a Krait Phantom, with the idea of outfitting it to be a fast express and armed merchant cruiser, to replace the venerable Python I had just sold. To run VIP and bulk transport missions and boom time deliveries. High speed, good jump, nice view. I bought and built it but it soon became apparent the optional slot arrangement is less than ideal. Bigger is better as it puts more butts in seats or carries more cargo. My ships need to have good shields, high speed and jump. The Phantom is perfect in those respects, but the optional slots don't allow a good cabin arrangement, while still having good shields. In the Phantom, you either need to go class 3 shields, which are too weak in my view, or class 5, which eats one of the valuable cabin/cargo slots. So I got my Wingnuts groove on and bought a third Krait II. There are a lot of great ships in Elite, but for me the Krait II is the best of the bunch. It is just such a perfect blend of interior space, speed, agility, visibility, shields and firepower. It uses the same core slots as the Phantom, so I could have swapped them and sold the Phantom, but I'm going to hold on to it for a while and maybe turn it in to an explorer. I still want to get first-discovery on the rarest star types, and am motivated to head back out there. I could just use the DBX again, but it might be fun to build a more scientific exploration vessel and that's what I have in mind now for the Phantom, taking advantage of it's good jump and generous optional slots. The Krait II is much better suited to the fast express role because of two tiny optional slot differences. The Krait II replaces one of the Phantom's class 5 slots with class 6. And one class 3 slot with class 4. Such a small difference, but the effect on the suitability for these roles is huge. I can now use class 4 shields, which gives me proper shields, which in turn frees one class 5 slot for the role, and another is raised from 5 to 6. In this trim, it carries 192t of cargo, putting it in the Python's class. The Python can carry more, but boom time deliveries are never 200t+ so this build can run the best ones. I can then swap all racks for business class cabins and it seats 52 passengers. There are a lot of transport missions requiring 45 business class seats, and these pay well. So in the end I think it is ideally suited for the intended roles. It's a little slower than the Phantom, but with Dirty Drags it's still really fast. I named the new Krait Parabellum and armed it. My plan is to submit and engage any interdictors, and she has my standard efficient beams and overcharged MCs, with auto-loader on the mediums and corrosive on the large. I would usually go thermal vent on the beams, but here the only combat this ship will see is one v one really, so thermal vent isn't really needed. I'll kick around which experimental to apply to the beams. It's just the sort of Python replacement I needed. A ship like a Python, but faster, with better jump and visibility. It can still do all of the missions I used the Python for, but for pure bulk hauling it would come short. But that's something I don't do so it won't be missed and I feel like I improved everything I didn't like about that ship. So I have three Krait IIs now, one a dedicated miner, one a combat looter and HGE-Hunter, and one an armed merchant cruiser and rumble bus. Here is the new Krait in cruiser trim, but honestly what I am posting is unrealized. It shows all of the choices I made, but not all have been modded to the highest grade. It's close, but I need more mats to finish the G5 stuff. This ship is fast, with good jump and 900 mj and integrity along with reasonable shield resistances. Fully loaded with cargo or passenger cabins drops the performance, but it's still way better than the Python was. I did need to compromise on the scoop, but the missions the ship will run are usually one hop anyway. Parabellum
No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
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#4518325 - 04/27/20 12:59 PM
Re: Krait II, or Three
[Re: DBond]
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DBond
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Yeah PM, that's close to the max, unless you have the GFSDB unlocked, which adds 10 light years (class 5). My Phantom right now is getting 52 jump, but it's not really mission-configured yet and that may drop when fully outfitted, especially with SRV hangars and the like. All of my ships now use A-rated Dirty drives and those are 40t. Some folks like D-rated thrusters, especially in a long-range explorer build and that would add 2 light years to my ship, but I'll keep the high speed.
No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
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#4518332 - 04/27/20 01:18 PM
Re: Krait II, or Three
[Re: DBond]
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DBond
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That's interesting PM. I also sold my Anaconda and Python. A ship in mothball costs us nothing, though the proceeds from a sale can be useful. But I feel better having a small, tidy fleet. I could afford every ship in the game, as we all could really. But I've kept it to ten ships for a long time now. Bohemond was the one who got me thinking this way. His fleet has always been small, even when he could afford anything. Since we don't need the money, its interesting to me that some of us decide to sell unused ships.
As a result of all of my engineering and subsequent sales I ended up with a mountain of stored modules. But even that I have eliminated, some of it by repurposing to a new ship, and some of it sold. My entire module storage is now worth just 25 mil and it's almost entirely passenger cabins and cargo racks with a few highly engineered FSDs and thrusters that I just can't part with. I had tons of things like G3 efficient pulse lasers that I was holding on to for some reason. Well, the reason is clear, because there were mats tied up in that module haha. But eventually I just swept it out.
No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
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#4518335 - 04/27/20 01:32 PM
Re: Krait II, or Three
[Re: DBond]
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DBond
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Ah, but not so fast! Ship Assistance Program!
If you wanted to do this, you can, in a way. It wouldn't hand over engineered modules of course, but you can give him the money, in an indirect way.
You go and fill a good sized ship with LTDs or something valuable. Have your friend meet you outside a station offering a good sell price. His Cobra could work, just max out cargo. You then abandon the LTDs and he limpets them up and sells them. He'd have millions in minutes.
No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
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#4518440 - 04/28/20 12:43 AM
Re: Krait II, or Three
[Re: DBond]
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DBond
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I can understand that. The Python is a great ship. In some ways it has no equal, being a medium pad ship. There were just a few things about it that I wished were different, jump, speed and visibility, which Wingnuts also mentioned. The Krait fixes all three at the cost of just cargo space so I'm happy with the decision. I didn't need to sell the Python, but I gotta keep my ships on their toes About the big miner... I guess it would have to be a Cutter, no? What else could qualify? T-10s no better than the T-9 I reckon, and who wants to mine in an Anaconda? Haha, who wants to mine in any big ship? J/k I get it, a ship like that can make a hell of a lot of space ducats. By the way, there's a 1.6 mil LTD station tonight. Just sold a load of LTDs. Fozard Dock in HIP 19934
No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
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#4518464 - 04/28/20 10:32 AM
Re: Krait II, or Three
[Re: Bohemond]
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PanzerMeyer
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T9 has worked ok so far, just absolutely hate it’s handling characteristics. But, I suppose I knew that when buying it. I've been using the T10 Defender for a long time now as my dedicated mining ship and it is an improvement in every category over the T9.
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
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#4518480 - 04/28/20 12:46 PM
Re: Krait II, or Three
[Re: PanzerMeyer]
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I've been using the T10 Defender for a long time now as my dedicated mining ship and it is an improvement in every category over the T9.
Well, except cargo capacity right? And that's the reason I would think commanders are mining in big ships. I also understand the T-10s hardpoints are better placed for mining and it's more survivable. Could be a viable T-9 miner replacement, but if it were me I'd go Cutter if I wanted a big miner, which I really do not
No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
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#4518481 - 04/28/20 12:52 PM
Re: Krait II, or Three
[Re: DBond]
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PanzerMeyer
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but if it were me I'd go Cutter if I wanted a big miner, which I really do not Using an Imperial Cutter for mining is like driving a Rolls Royce Phantom to your local Home Depot to pick up building materials for your new pool project. Just my humble opinion of course.
Last edited by PanzerMeyer; 04/28/20 12:53 PM.
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
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#4557109 - 02/21/21 06:55 PM
Re: Krait II, or Three
[Re: DBond]
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DBond
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Bringing this thread out of storage. I have four Kraits, with one a Phantom. I'll work all the builds in to this thread sooner or later, they seem to undergo constant improvement, chops and changes. Poison Whiskey, my combat sweeper, has until now used 6A Reinforced Fast Charge shields. These work great, especially since I only fly PvE. When I built this Krait, which was my first, I had these shields already in module storage, though I have no idea which sold ship they had come off of. So I slapped them on, found they were suitable protection, tried to balance out the resists a bit through the A boosters, and called it a day. Adding the GSR later boosted the mj another 215, and shields like this are not going to collapse in PvE unless you ignore the incoming fire. Kraits that four-pip at 400+ and boost to 550 shouldn't be relegated to face tanking, gotta take advantage of that speed and agility. So in this sense they are perfectly suited to the combat I engage in in Elite. But at the same time, I am a Bi-Weave man. That's what my combat ships use. I tend to look at it like this, use As for burst protection, and Bi-Weaves for sustained. Burst protection would be for ships I want to survive initial volleys and scoot, or ships I use for one v one combat like interdictions or assassinations and pirate lord missions Sustained for combat like typical CNBs, RES and CZs. A week or two ago I was looking through my module storage and noticed I still had a set of G5 Thermal Resistant Hi-Cap shields back at my old home of Fowler Orbital in Dvorsi, and again have no idea which ship they come from. So today I whistled for them and replaced the Reinforced A's. This drops mj considerably, and threw my resists out of whack, which was way too low for kinetic. So I bought a couple new A boosters and flew the ship to Didi for some work. Those thermal A boosters will find a home on a different ship. At Didi's shop I put G5 Resistance Augmented and Super Caps on both, which evened out the resists better, even if kinetic is still a little low. But in general I think anything above 40% is fine for PvE. And now I had significantly raised thermal resist from the old shields, giving them the elasticity I often cite. Recovery time drops from 2:32 to 1:47 and recharge drops from 7:49 to 2:32. So the Bi-Weaves have the same recharge as the old shields had recovery! Should be much better suited to furball combat. With the loss of so much mj though I wondered if this was really better. Comparing the "Shields Will Hold For" ratings for both revealed maybe not so much. The old setup has a rating of 13:59 and the new one 13:55. But with the much higher thermal I think they will prove in practice to be much better against the hits that do the most damage to shields. Aside from protection concerns, the new setup uses a little less power and has a lower cost. These are minor points at best, but still a factor. Here they are to compare Poison Whiskey with 6A Shields Poison Whiskey With Bi-Weaves
No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
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#4557188 - 02/22/21 01:22 PM
Re: Krait II, or Three
[Re: DBond]
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Took the shield-swapped Poison Whiskey out to hit some HGEs and do some bounty hunting. Scan the system, hit the HGEs and a couple Encoded, drop at the RES and shoot stuff, then scan again upon waking and hit the new HGEs. The shields performed impeccably, the high thermals preventing more than a few points off, and those are recovered in a blink. Perfect. Glad I finally got a round to making the switch. The lower power dropped my idle one point to 27% which most players wouldn't care about, but it pleases me
No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
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#4557289 - 02/22/21 08:42 PM
Re: Krait II, or Three
[Re: DBond]
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DBond
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I am honored sir!
Of course I'd really like it if you did. Would love to hear your assessment of my ship having flown and fought it. That's a rare thing in this game.
No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
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#4559144 - 03/09/21 03:09 AM
Re: Krait II, or Three
[Re: DBond]
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DBond
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That's a nice Krait Bo. The rover's a nice touch. Good speed, protection, jump. PAs for all occasions. Do you fly this ship often?
No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
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#4559171 - 03/09/21 02:20 PM
Re: Krait II, or Three
[Re: DBond]
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DBond
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I'd be flying that one the most haha. Here's my combat Krait, now with bi-weaves, GSR, class 6 scoop and the double engineered FSD Poison Whiskey DEFSDI might re-jig the boosters a bit, kicking it around. I have a few megawatts to play with at the mo. Looking at Bo's Krait gave me an idea. Instead of spending that power on boosters, how about sensors? Bo's build shows me that G5 lightweight 6A sensors weight just 8t. My G3 Long-Range 6D sensors weigh 25.6t. Detection range as shown on Coriolis is pretty close for those two mods, although the long range Ds are a bit longer. Presumably the better resolution of the As would offset the slight range disadvantage, and anyway in practice should be around 11km max, which is plenty for me. With the 3-plus MW I have to play with I think I'm going to give that change a go. It would make my Krait a little faster, jump a little farther, and maybe get better sensor performance in busy combat spaces. Not a big change, but speed is life, even if it is only 2 m/s better haha. Thanks for posting your boat Bo. Gave me something to work on. Here's the same Krait, with only the sensors change. Total mass, just 605t. Heat would go up slightly, but so would agility. Poison Whiskey G5 LW Sensors
No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
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#4559196 - 03/09/21 05:40 PM
Re: Krait II, or Three
[Re: DBond]
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DBond
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That was an interesting test. I flew to Jameson to install the A's, and had enough mats on hand to G5 lightweight. The power draw put me barely over the limit, so had to shuffle priorities to prevent the cargo hatch from shutting down on hardpoints deploy. Idle increased a single point, to 28%
Speed, agility and jump are all boosted nicely. The ship does feel even more maneuverable. I like all these benefits.
The sensor performance took me by surprise a bit. In the descriptions of both a G3 long range D, and a G5 lightweight A, the range is shown as 7+ km. A little higher for a Ds, but we're talking just a few tenths of a KM. In practice though I was getting a hard limit on the As of 8km. I was unable to pick a ship up beyond this range. The G3 long range Ds, even with an equivalent range rating, can lock ships up out to 11km. 3km isn't a huge deal, but as I know from my interest in submarines, increasing search radius even a little, increases the area that be covered by a lot. Then again, I don't necessarily use the sensors to find ships, but to identify them. Still, the greater range gives more ships to 'target next' through.
If A sensors are superior against cool ships it was not apparent to me. A DBS could still be lost even 3 km away. I am not saying this advantage does not exist, but only that I am unable to see it, in an admittedly small sample.
So I am torn about this. On one hand I like the performance boost I get by swapping sensor type. On the other I lose the power overhead to maybe improve protection through different booster choices.
What I should have done is engineer the As to G3 lightweight first, tested those, then go to G5. There may be a preferable middle ground here somewhere.
No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
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#4559294 - 03/10/21 03:30 PM
Re: Krait II, or Three
[Re: DBond]
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DBond
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Yeah, those sensors weigh 160t haha. I can understand opting for lightweight!
I miss the enhanced range of the G3 long-rang Ds in the Krait. No doubt it's better. An extra 3 km search radius means an additional area covered of 179 square kilometers, if my math is accurate.
So using Area = πR2
8km radius = 201 square kilometers
11km radius = 380 square kilometers
So a 37% increase in in radius equals nearly double the area that can be covered.
Still, I really was digging the performance of my Krait in this lightweight trim. I dropped one fuel tank class, for 16t, and cut another 17t with the sensors. The agility is amazing, at times it felt Vulture-like. So at this point I don't know what to do. It's a matter of opportunity cost between speed, agility and jump (and inferior sensor ability) versus retaining the power overhead to spend on increased shield protection (and increased sensor ability). Decisions, decisions.
No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
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