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#4557210 - 02/22/21 03:35 PM My Cutter. How to improve?  
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Wigean Offline
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Oslo
Wigean`s Cutter

I`ve been hauling cargo, done missions and some RES fun, I done som mods on ships, but I have not studied how the possibilities have changed in the later versions of the game.
Here is my cutter. I`ll take any advice on how to improve it. I use it as a combined trader/combat version

I have no clue about Guardian stuff. biggrin
Yet.
Soon though. smile


“We are still in the age of legends. You and I will not enter the promised land. We who have begun always perish before Jericho falls.”
#4557216 - 02/22/21 04:08 PM Re: My Cutter. How to improve? [Re: Wigean]  
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Oh my, a build thread!! And of course it's a ship I've never owned. But you know that doesn't stop me. The last one was for Vettes. Maybe someday someone will ask about Couriers or Orcas or something I know about lol.

Had a look and what a beast! All the following is said without knowing which engineers and access level you have. So I take it to G5, even if you cannot as of yet.

And I i only really touched the core modules. I'll run 'em down

Bulkheads -- Heavy Duty is a great choice if you are keeping the stock alloys and not going for upgraded armor. This mod adds mass except when there is none to begin with, and is one of Elite's few 'free' mods. Every one of my ships uses G5 heavy-duty stock alloys. Deep plating is a good experimental to put on it. This would add 220 integrity.

Power Plant -- Save it for last, once the rest of the mock-up is done, so you know what power cost you need to cover. I dropped it to G3 Armored/Thermal Spread 7A, which is lighter and less expensive and has improved integrity. You can go over 100% power a little, and cover it with module priorities. But again, build out the rest, then do this last with whichever class and engineering you need to cover the costs.

Thrusters -- Gotta be 8A, with G5 dirty drags. Speed is life, although that is relative in a Cutter! But this change would take the build you posted from 266 four-pip and 426 boost to 324 four-pip and 519 boost. That's nearly 100 m/s faster . Did I say speed is life yet? Oh yeah....

FSD -- Only change I made is Mass Manager instead of Deep Charge. It isn't a big deal in the end, but Mass Manager uses less fuel, so your full-tank (unladen) jump range increases from 208 light years to 245. Not much, but could mean the one extra jump that gets you out of scooping hell.

Life Support -- I changed it to 7D G5 Lightweight. This drops mass from 80t to 4.8t. I couldn't believe it. A massive mass reduction, plus draws less power. Since life-support can be synthesized I cannot recommend such a heavy module for such a situational use. Combined with the other changes here, your jump is increased from 22 to 30.

Power Distributor -- G5 Charge Enhanced with Super Conduits. If you look at the TTD (Time to Drain) figure it is 21 seconds. This shows how long it would take the WEP capacitor to drain while firing all weapons with four pips to WEP. By engineering it this way the TTD become infinite, giving you way more time on the trigger, and having a knock on effect throughout the ship, including a 40% reduction in boost interval.

Sensors -- G3 Long Range on those Ds. G3 Long Range resolves ships out to around 11km, which is plenty I think. And if this is a combat ship you want decent range in your sensors.

I'll leave the optionals, hardpoints and utilities for others and for later. It's such a beast of a ship with so many moving parts. Like a Xeno scanner isn't needed here, with no AX weapons. Fighting Thargoids would require several changes and is more of a specialized build, and not something the Cutter is suited to really..

Here's your ship with only my core module suggestions applied, everything else stays the same

Wigean's Cutter-Beast, DBond-style



No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4557222 - 02/22/21 04:41 PM Re: My Cutter. How to improve? [Re: Wigean]  
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Back when I was collecting fees through nasty deeds, a docking computer was a dead giveaway of suitable prey.

#4557223 - 02/22/21 04:43 PM Re: My Cutter. How to improve? [Re: Wigean]  
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DBond Offline
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OK, one more thing for now. Weapons are such a personal thing, and there are a huge number of viable combinations. For multicannons I like to put corrosive on one, the biggest, and autoloader on the others, all overcharged. But that's my jam.

I wish Coriolis displayed DPM and not just DPS. DPM would be a better indicator of actual combat value, and autloaders are DPM stars. No reloading, and no out-of-synch magazines like you get with dissimilar engineering on identical multicannons. I hate that. Autloaders just keep on giving the good news.


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4557255 - 02/22/21 06:32 PM Re: My Cutter. How to improve? [Re: Wigean]  
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Wigean Offline
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Oslo
Thanks for the advices.
Here you can see my ingineers and Grades..
I have invites to Ischmak and Almanova.
May be I should expand a little.

[Linked Image]


“We are still in the age of legends. You and I will not enter the promised land. We who have begun always perish before Jericho falls.”
#4557265 - 02/22/21 06:58 PM Re: My Cutter. How to improve? [Re: Wigean]  
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All in good time. It's difficult to make suggestions with partial engineer access, trying to decipher what is open and what is not, so I just went full G5. The paths I suggested are viable I believe, even if done a few grades and not full. And my suggestions are done with my outlook on things. The next commander will have a very different view. Like Wingnuts is a big believer in A-rated sensors I think. My choices tend to prioritize speed, shields, jump and cool-running, in that order. Another commander might prefer firepower, integrity or hands-off operations for example.

One thing I might suggest is to not make it both a cargo ship and a combat ship. Specialize one or the other, and then optional module swap for role. For example you might build a combat Cutter with fighter bay, FSDI, HRPs, MRPs, SCBs and GSRs (acronyms, yeah!), and that could all become racks when it's time for hauling. The ship will then be better suited to each role, rather than a compromise between each.

Better yet.... build two! biggrin

And then you'll need a mining Cutter, you know....


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4557278 - 02/22/21 07:49 PM Re: My Cutter. How to improve? [Re: Wigean]  
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Wigean Offline
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Or an explorer....? biggrin

Thanks DBond. I appreciate the advices.
I think I will work on engineer access.
Have to find out where to start.
Until now I have not prioritized certain aspects of the game and I see there are things I can do to take the game experience to another level.

I know a combined may not be perfect. Sometimes tactics have saved me when alone, but I try to avoid such situations. Also depending on the security level in the system.


“We are still in the age of legends. You and I will not enter the promised land. We who have begun always perish before Jericho falls.”
#4557282 - 02/22/21 08:05 PM Re: My Cutter. How to improve? [Re: Wigean]  
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NooJoyzee
Anytime, hope it helps.

We should talk shields at some point, that seems very important on such a big target.

For engineers, Inara is good. Click on any to see what you need -- invite, unlock. Like to get to Didi (G5 shield boosters) you need Selene Jean, who requires the Blaster. I'd suggest building this ship out in full in Coriolis, identify which engineers you need and there's your path. If an engineer does not mod anything on this ship, they can wait, unless you need them for one higher up the chain.

You already have Felicity at G5. I'd be looking to get G5 access at

Lei Cheung (Shields, Sensors, DSS)
Selene Jean (Armor ,HRP)
Professor Palin (Thrusters)
Dweller (Power Distributor)
Blaster (Multicannons)
Broo (Beams, Pulses, Bursts)

Someone like Liz Ryder is useless to me really, but you need to go through her to get to others.


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!
#4557283 - 02/22/21 08:20 PM Re: My Cutter. How to improve? [Re: Wigean]  
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Here's what I'm using for now; https://s.orbis.zone/cqsw

I honestly do not run much freight though. But when I do this is my baby. Always submit for the extra cha-ching. For something this size maneuverability is fair, perhaps a margin better that a Vette.

Definitely work on those engineers. They really help your builds.


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#4557284 - 02/22/21 08:21 PM Re: My Cutter. How to improve? [Re: DBond]  
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Wigean Offline
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Oslo
Originally Posted by DBond
Anytime, hope it helps.


Hehe,
To say that I now have got my hands full is an understatement. biggrin


“We are still in the age of legends. You and I will not enter the promised land. We who have begun always perish before Jericho falls.”
#4557444 - 02/23/21 06:52 PM Re: My Cutter. How to improve? [Re: Wigean]  
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DBond Offline
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Yeah, it's a lot of effort. Just do it at your own pace. Keep in mind that most engineers take stuff other than engineering modules to raise access rep. For example Selene Jean takes exploration data. Unlock her, sell her a few million in explo data and boom, G5. Pin a blueprint and then remote engineer at your leisure. Saves going back to the engineer base if you are unable to get G5 right away, which is usually due to mats onboard, and I've checked on Inara and you will need mats. So getting to G5 in other ways (some take commodities, and so on) can make the whole process easier and give you the ability to pin G5 blueprints which will benefit the whole fleet without flying them all out there.

The main issue with blueprint pinning is you can only pin one per engineer, and you cannot apply experimentals remotely, must go to the engineer. So if you're like me and like to use different blueprints on different ships, there is a big opportunity cost to which one you choose. Early on I made the choice by both deciding which one would be used the most, and which ones would I want to apply to ships with the lowest jump range. haha, that was to save having to fly my 13 jump FDL (in those days) out to Maia or wherever Palin used to be. Then I could just go to Felicity to apply the Drags.

One thing that works in my favor is I only use MCs and beams on my ships. Yeah, I know, but it also keeps the blueprint % for weapons to a minimum, meaning I can pin other things instead. I think I have three shield blueprints pinned for example -- thermal, reinforced and low emissions. Last spring I decided to visit Colonia to unlock the engineers there. Mostly it was to get four additional blueprints. I won't be going back anytime soon, I don't think, but carriers have changed the paradigm a bit haven't they? Mel Brandon is the best engineer in Elite, wish he were closer! I wrote an unpopular guide to unlocking the Colonia engineers which can be found down the fourm.

At this point there are just two engineers I have yet to unlock, Chloe Sedesi and Bill Turner. Hey, a new goal!


No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!

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