Fer-de-Lance

Had a good day today with the grand opening of my new interstellar sightseeling venture. The extra cash, and some changes to the fleet, and now I have a new bounty hunter.



I sold my Cobra for about 8m, and the Chieftain for about 61m. Flew the Asp X to a Li Yong Rui system and bought the FDL for 43. It's now all A-rated, and really only needs armor, but that's a lot of space ducats. It took a while flying to 3 or 4 stations to get all of the modules. No place seemed to have more than one or two. But total price to this point is 67m, which is great, when you consider what a freakin' throughbred it is. The speed and acceleration are fantastic. The jump range is poor and the fuel tank is a joke. But it has power for anything, amazing performance, hits like a freight train. I put a pulse laser on the huge HP and multi-cannons on the four mediums. Not very adventurous choices I'll admit, but goodness it shreds. There is so much power headroom on this ship that any weapons can work. Any anything could work.

With a Bi-weave and four boosters the shields are almost 700. 6 utility slots. Boosts over 400. I like the sounds, the ship feels unique in many ways. Rolls like a Focke-Wulf 190. The cockpit view isn't the best, but the pit itself is cool. As equipped, the jump range is only 13, which is poor. You can see in the screenshot how much power there is still to play with. Might even be able to get away with a 5A and save 10 tons and the cash along with it. My first foray in to a RES ended with me thinking of selling the Vulture. I know I'm not the first to fly one, but the FDL might be what I had been looking for

You **SOLD** the Chieftain? Why?

12LY jump range. Ouch. That just screams engineers to me.

Also never really liked the hardpoints on the FDL, the guns look tiny on them. Still want to like the FDL though. Might have to give it another try sometime. One of my peeves was that for the target to be engaged by all hardpoints, it has to be around the area in the cockpit that' perfectly blocked by a canopy frame. See if that's still there? Also would like to hear your thoughts on getting the belly hardpoint to track targets.

Why, to get a FDL of course!

I don't know, it's a good ship, the Chieftain. But I just don't get on with the flight characteristics all that well. I can be effective in it as I talked about in the review. It's not a bad ship, just maybe not for me. I wanted to check out the FDL, and this was the way to make that happen.

Jump range is poor yes, but it doesn't concern me that much. I'm in the habit of parking it next to some RES sites and using it for bounty hunting when I feel the urge. So it doesn't need to travel much, unless it's CG. My Vulture has 10 JR, so this is a luxury I can forgive the JR for this sort of speed and awesome acceleration.

I found the FDL hard points excellent. Four medium multi-cannons really make broadside 'Condas sparkle!

For a crazy time, try loading the FdL with all Cannons (fixed for max impact). If all 5 projectiles hit, many smaller ships become one hit kills, even when they have shields up!

This loadout has it's downsides, but it's a load of fun.

OK Adlabs, I'll give it a go. What other combinations do people like on the FDL? Does anyone else currently have one in their fleet? What's your build?

I couldn't get over the insane acceleration in this ship last night. Nothing can scoot away. Some ships may have slightly higher top end, but I wonder if anything gets there quicker than the FDL? Sounds like an old Indian motorcycle. I never thought I would spend money on ship aesthetics, but if I decide to keep it, which it looks like I will, I will have to do something about the paint. No red ships for me. Cop-magnet

I had gone on Coriolis and was playing with a few builds and decided to have a look at the FDL. I put all the modules in as I thought I would like it for bounty hunting, and scrolled down to see the cost, expecting to see 92 million or something like that, and it was 65m. I thought, well I can swing that with a bit of fleet adjustment. And so it proved. Compared to some other ships, like the Chieftain or Python, the cost to get it A-rated is quite reasonable. I spent 42m in upgrades on the Chieftain, but only 24m on the FDL (albeit all in LRY systems). It's not done yet, but all of the most costly upgrades are in place, aside from armor.

I've still got mine, but I rarely fly it lately. Also tinkering with the FAS and FGS (for anti-Thargoid combat).

My FdL has a 5A shield, a 4A SCB, and then some armor/module packs. I all core modules are "A" rated, and then I "B" rate my drives and Power Plant, on the strength of their added armor integrity, just in case.

I've tried a few weapon combos, all Multi Cannons, all Cannons, all Lasers, and then some weird combos. One setup I recall testing was 1 huge and 2 med beam lasers, with 2 med rail guns. Gets toasty fast when firing, but it's a serious bit of firepower.

The maneuverability is fantastic on the FdL (and very similar on the FAS). It can turn so tightly that it will actually "stall" inside it's own forward acceleration.

Thanks man. I've read about potential heat problems, but not experienced that yet. Four MCs helps to keep it down. I had actually looked for a station selling the size 4MC, but none had it. I could have just searched EDDB for it. But at that stage I had it ready to go and was itching to take it in to combat. I stayed up after 2 AM to have some fun with it. Paying for it today. One of the guys was still up, night owl like me

I really enjoyed flying and fighting in the FDL. Over the past few weeks I've been lamenting the fact that no ship was calling me, none screamed 'this is the ship for me'. Python was, and I suppose remains, my goal. But having strapped the FDL on, my initial thoughts were that this ship is ME. Hard to explain, but I suppose everyone knows the feeling. I felt like I instantly took to it, like I had been flying one for a long time. Old glove sort of stuff. 'Lance romance, maybe. I don't know that I'll have reason to fly the Vulture now. I hate the thought of selling it, but I may just do, to help kickstart the Python fund. Can get about 20m for it, so that's good. And I could always buy another. But for bounty hunting and kill missions, I doubt I'll fly anything other than the FDL for the forseeable future.

The vertical thrusters on this ship are fantastic. 'Coordinated turns' with thrusters make it a a match for the Vulture in maneuverability in my opinion. But a lot faster, harder hitting and a much better shield tank. Plus I find it visually appealing, unlike the Vulture. The Vulture is probably the best value in Elite. But once you can afford to move beyond that, the FDL is a sharp step up.

I had been looking to expand my fleet, but after today I might be down to just two.

Yea, when you get one of the Class 4 MCs installed, the sound of it's 4 barrels blasting away is incredible!

I'm just concerned with the ability to drop shields with a build like that. But ya know, in PvE at least, I don't need to single-handedly destroy a ship. As long as some hits are scored I'll share in the bounty. An all-multi build sounds like fun for sure. I'll let you know how I get on with it, once I've found one that is. I could just shadow, wait for the NPCs to strip the shield and then blast away with my sparkle makers.

I know, right?

Thats a sweet craft DBond.

While you guys swim in dollars I just fought hard, like landing at Iwo Jima, to tip my credits into 2 mil my last two bounties of 64k total.

Looks like you guys spend 2 mil just on rear mirror paint.

God I hate this game

Oden! I was wondering where you had gotten to. Just thinking about you yesterday. Still plugging away?

Are you RES farming? Just fly wing on a cop, preferably a big one like an Anaconda, and shoot his target. The space ducats will follow

With what you've spent on the FDL, you could've gotten the Python.

I wonder if they've buffed the FDL since I last tried it then? Doesn't sound like the FDL I was flying!

Oden, wing up sometime and we'll get you credits easy

True and not enough re-buy to recover when that E-rated Python gets smoked by a gang of Eagles! I definitely feel I made the correct choice for my current state of affairs. I'm going to take some of that left over change and swap the shields for a standard 5A. Probably a better choice than Bi-Weaves for the FDL, and since I still have power to play with it's worth a go.

I just ran some builds on an iCourier. I'm going to buy one to replace the Cobra. Just need to get started on Empire rank. 12m including 3A advanced thrusters. Speed is 341/463. All A-rated with four boosters and it's 450mj with a Bi-Weave. That sounds like fun. I've missed my Eagle ever since selling it. Just love the look and ability to carve insane arcs.

Don't really NEED one, but I think I'll give it a go. Use it as an actual courier running data missions and quick stops to the local RES. 17 jump range is workable. I have the money now, but if I sell the Vulture I'll have plenty plus 8 million to add to the bank account.

iCourier Build

Note that the site you're using is old and may be inaccurate. Newer one is
https://beta.coriolis.edcd.io/

Would love to hear your thoughts on the FDL after you've got the Python.... though I suspect you'll sell one to get the other? I'll need more credits if I want to test this out; I want to have both A-rated and ready to go to be able to do a good comparison.

I'll be happy to report, but I understand I'll need 150m to get a decent Python, correct? That is a LONG way off, especially if I'm running 10k courier missions in my new whirlybird.

Who knows what I will sell down the line. But if my first impressions of the FDL stick, I won't be selling this thing. Of all the ships I've flown so far

'Winder
Eagle
Cobra III
Viper III
Asp X
Vulture
FDL

The FDL is the first one where I felt like it's the ONE. I love the Asp for it's versatility. I love the Vulture for it's bang for the buck. The Cobra because it set me free.The Eagle for it's looks and agility. But it was the FDL that seemed to fit like a glove.

Yes, thanks for pointing that out about Coriolis. That's caught me out a few times now. I updated the build. Not as impressive performance, but great shields (it better have for that hull), decent firepower and still excellent speed. 16t of cargo, a scoop. Seems like fun, and I can always sell it for a tiny loss.

Adlabs, I installed a class 4 MC and took the FDL out with nothing but cannons and commitment

It really shreds! I had no trouble collapsing shields with it on anything smaller than a Clipper. Clipper and above I need me some laser. But something like an Eagle or Viper III kinda goes *poof*.

I also swapped out the Bi-Weave for a bog-standard 5A. Up to nearly 900mj with four boosters. The new shields and the massive honking cannon set me back 8 million after trade, which put a bit of a dent on. There's still a ways to go with this build, but she's a terror in a RES.

Since I'm also using this thread to discuss my other new fighter lol, a bit of an update. So after taking the upgraded FDL out for a spin, I pulled up stakes and moved 130 lightyears in to Empire territory. The object was to gain Empire rank and buy an Imperial Courier for the joy of it all. I probably gained enough rep in the first hour and a half. I stacked a bunch of data missions and took the rep reward option. The first one I turned in gave my 50% of the first rank. I've since turned in a couple dozen. Probably enough by now to hit at least Grand Poobah.

But no, since I have no relations in these systems, I can't get the rank-up missions. So now I have to fly a bunch of missions to get to what, friendly? My Empire relations are friendly, but not any faction yet, and I have not gotten a single rank up mission yet. Flying missions doesn't help much, because each one is to a different location, and you're spreading the love around everywhere, but never enough in any one spot. So I've whistled for my FDL. I figure I can just bounty hunt in one system, and get it up that way.

What exactly are the criteria for spawning rank-up missions. In Fed territory it wasn't a problem, since I had spent the whole game there. But newly arrived in Imperial space, it's a struggle to trip these ranks. I've earned enough to buy my new Courier, but I can't get the rank.

You may be rank 5 with Imperials but if you're only rank 1 with the local Imperial faction, you won't get much from the local faction.

I'm sorry Ice, I don't understand what you are saying.

My Empire rep, or whatever it's called, is currently at 80%, and shown as friendly. First rank requirement was 100% after the second or third data mission was handed in. So I'm now way beyond 100%.

Many factions in the nearby systems are now Cordial, but none are Friendly yet. Is that what I have to get? Friendly faction relations in an Empire-controlled system?

I've tried reloading a few times to get it to spawn, which worked well enough when gaining Federation rank.

Can any type of faction give these missions, or is it only the military ones, with a Commander shown leading the faction?

This is one place where the RNGeezus has no place. Once you meet the criteria (100% of the current rank requirement), the rank up mission should spawn automatically. It's for the Imperial Navy, what should a minor faction have to do with it?

Yep, that's what I'm saying. You may have high rep with the Imperials as a whole, but if you have no rep with the local Imperial faction, then you won't get their higher missions. Just as you can be in Imperial space and be green with an Imperial station (meaning you have high rep with the people who run the staion), you can jump over to the system next door, still be under Imperial space, but not be green with the Imperial station there.

Yep, my FdL has excellent shields, but I'll be first in line to tell you that in a focus of fire, those shields will drop and the FdL does die fast. I've only ever had ONE ship rebuy in Elite, in nearly 3 years of play (yes, just one). And it was due to over confidence and pilot error... fighting in my FdL.

Also, regarding rank up missions for Superpowers, I read that there is currently a bug with these missions not spawning (or spawning very rarely). So probably nothing to worry about for the moment, if you can't find one.

If that's true there's a bug, well then I've been wasting my efforts lol.

I was going to put some lasers back on the FDL once it arrived at my new station, but the custom shop didn't have the right ones. So with nothing but cannons, and some power overhead, I took it out bounty hunting with six shield boosters, and it was 1033mj. I stayed in the RES until I had nothing but 90 rounds for the big cannon left, just in case I got jumped on the way home. Turned in 3m in bounties, which got the controlling faction friendly, but still no rank mission. Bug, as you say?

The shields stayed up the whole time. That's more than twice the shields on my Vulture. Once I start rounding out the build with an interdictor and some other weapons, I won't be able to run all those boosters. But at least I know I can go cannon and big shield when it strikes the fancy.



Yes, but what rep is required? And does it matter which faction? Is friendly a requirement, or just gives it a higher chance? Maybe it's bugged like adlabs says, I've now got a few factions friendly and nada. I just wanted to buy a Courier. It's so cool.

Not done missions in a long while but looking at the mission board now, you may see some missions that ou are locked out of, either due to ship requirements or more likely, rep requirements.

Have you considered putting a collector limpet and brining some drones along? Slows you down a bit but there are LOTS of materials to be had that would be useful for Engineers later on. Maybe I could tag along next time and clean up after you?

No I don't pick anything up, but sure you're welcome to tag along. Bring the Cutter!

Snapped a pic at the instant the target exploded. The FDL doing what it does best





The neighborhood at my new digs.

Cutter's not fit for the job, I think. It's like driving a big semi truck. You're about 275LY away from me.... might bring the Asp instead, or the Python if you need some pew-pew help

Yeah, but it can mass lock everything for me to shoot!

Tell me more about what you're talking about. Let's say I did take the time to gather the bits and pieces of my victims. What's it useful for? Just for selling? What's the scoop?

You get a collector limpet and set it free to do your bidding? Do you have to stay still? Could I send one out and keep dogfighting and it would chase me around until it can get the stuff on board? No, they have a limited timer right?

Maybe not wasted. IIRC, the percentage *might* roll beyond 100% in the background. So there may be some chance you'll find after your rank up mission, you'll start with that surplus already counting toward the next rank.

It's been a while, but I seem to recall this happening to me once.

Yes, that's true. It does keep rolling behind the scenes so to speak. But there is also a decay to it as well, indicated by a red down arrow. Probably like 1% per day so nothing to worry about.

Wasting my time was a poor choice of words. But the fact is that I have been eschewing the money in favor of rep. And I left a lot of money on the table that could have been useful now.

One example... I took a sightseeing mission as that's my profession now Payout was 2.7 million or thereabouts, OR I could choose to get 1.2 million and Rep+++++. I chose the latter, which helps me get to Grand Poobah, but since I can't actually rank up I'm left feeling like the money would have been better under the current circumstances. So I haven't wasted my time, but I did choose the wrong reward with things as they stand now, apparently.

That's assuming I can get in range for mass lock!

You pew-pew, they go boom, I come in with my limpets and collect the useful debris. All of these can be used for Engineer upgrades one way or another; I don't think you can sell them but you can trade them for other materials of the same type. You can continue pew-pew with collector limpets in tow but it's the range that's the issue. A size 5 collector has a 1.56km range which is nothing when you're in combat. A size 7 gets up to 2.04km, again not very much if you're dogfighting and boosting all over the place. Oh, and you have to have you cargo door open for them to deposit their cargo, so you either open/close your cargo door every so often or you fly around like you've got your landing gear down.

OK thanks Ice. That will come in handy. I stayed out of the current CG because I wouldn't know what to do. But essentially it is just what you're talking about. Shoot Thargoids and collect and turn in the flotsam. I should give it a go.

Looks like adlabs was right, or at least many other commanders are saying the same thing I am about rank up missions in the current patch. My timing is atrocious

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/416314-No-Rank-Up-Mission

This line was in the latest patch notes

Superpower Rank-up Missions have been moved to the Follow On Missions section to make them easier to find

Guessing something went wrong.

Word on the street is this is fixed now. I came quite close to buying an Imperial Eagle last night, since I couldn't get the Courier, and the iEagle isn't rank-gated and costs just 110k. But if the rank missions are working again I'll hold out for the Courier.

I am also eyeing an Orca. I think I read that at like 0.016% of all pilots, the Orca is the least used ship in Elite. So I gotta get one. DBond's Interstellar Sightseeing Company would look much more professional with an Orca in the fleet, don't you think? See the stars in style and luxury.

I've had my Orca for a year or more. Great ship. Fast, nimble, good range, easy to fly and land.

I actually prefer it to my Beluga, which does seem a bit more luxurious, but lacks the zippy character of the Orca.

An Orca pilot?! I didn't expect anyone here would say they had one. I built one on Coriolis, and it came in around 80m, but jump range was just 23. Love the speed and massive passenger ability. But that JR is a bit low for sightseeing. Would be a great shuttle though.

Did you fit a luxury cabin? Did you see a sharp step up in mission profit with one of those, or is it not a big deal? What cabin arrangements are you using? There is no SLF on an Orca correct?

My jump is around 30LY, maybe a touch more, with engineering.

Yes, I do have Luxury cabins on my Orca and Beluga. I rotate them with a set of Business and 1st Class cabins I keep in storage, for different situations.

Before I comment on profit: It's been since before 3.0 that I ran any passenger missions. Not sure how they currently pay.

But back then, in my Orca or Beluga, I'd easily earn $7 million to $12 million per sight-seeing mission trip. If I was lucky and able to stack a couple of tourist missions to the same sites, it might total $20 million for the trip, even for passengers that only wanted an Economy cabin. Some cool sights to see out there, too. I maintain a checklist of all the Visitor Beacons I've scanned on these trips.

And no, no SLF for the Orca. But I've never fitted one on the Beluga, either.

I do carry an SRV on both, though. For surface based Visitor Beacons, I'll drive the SRV out and scan the beacon with that, instead of just hovering and scanning it with the ship. Simply fantastic views, driving the SRV out among geysers, volcanic eruptions, and other features, and seeing my ship parked off in the background. Again, not necessary to use the SRV for these. I merely do it for the added enjoyment of the game.

Great reply, very helpful, thanks.

I've really enjoyed becoming a tour pilot. As you noted, you get to see some of the most beautiful and amazing sights in Elite and it's highly profitable.I'm not making the sort of money you are talking about, more like 1 to 7 million per trip, plus I make another 100-400k per trip in cartographic data..Since starting the new career last week I imagine it's netted in the neighborhood of 50m. I'm Pathfinder rank, and when that goes to the next level I should be making even more. Most of the highest paying ones I'm taking now are a rank above me.

This is the best income rate I've had yet in Elite. New ships yay!

I had sold my FDL when I wanted to finance a different ship, I think it was the Python. I was very impressed with the FDL as a combat craft of course. Fast, fairly agile, hard hitting, amazing shields. I planned to get another one once I felt it affordable. And then after I started engineering I was eager to see what she could do with improved whizbangs.

So that's what I've done. Bought another FDL and engineered her. This makes 7 ships in the fleet currently. The list is

AspX
Vulture
Python
Keelback
Courier
Orca
FDL

I had started taking assasination missions,and was using the Python. With engineered thrusters and weapons the Python is pretty devastating. But I found I was always reconfiguring the Python because it's my main trader as well. So I wanted to add a ship, a dedicated combat ship that was more capable than the Vulture in one v one against the dangerous foes you encounter in assassination missions.

So I bought the FDL, happened to have an overcharged 5A power plant lying around, and kitted her out. She is quite fast, hits even harder and great shields. Engineering takes time, so she isn't quite done yet. But basically she is...

-- Fast. Top speed is 400+, boosts to 565. That's with partial G4 Dirty Drives. Once I complete the thrusters and add an experimental I'm hoping she'll boost to 600, but that's a little too far I think. This makes the ship slightly slower than my Orca and Courier, but still uncatchable in PvE. Grade 5 plus Drags might pull her even with the Orca, we shall see. At G3 she was dead even with the G5/Drag Python. So any further engineering makes the performance surpass the best the Python can do. Significantly more agile, especially in pitch.

-- Shield tank extraordinaire. I tend to go with Bi-Weaves on my fighters, and here too. It's already over 1000mj, which is awesome with Bi-Weaves, and more to come. Reinforced mod with a bunch of shield boosters.

-- Hard hitting. I'm nothing if not predictable. I went with 2x Medium MC, 1x Huge MC all overcharged and auto-loader. 2x Medium Efficient Pulse lasers. All weapons are gimballed. Not sure which hits harder, the Python or the FDL. It's 3 Large/2 Medium vs 1 Huge/4 Medium and in the end it's probably about the same. It feels like the Python is slightly more deadly, probably due to the larger Pulse Lasers which strip shields faster.

-- Hot. Runs at 33% heat currently. Hottest ship I have

-- Short range. FSD is G4 until I get the mats. That's 20 jump range. And that's the shortest in the fleet, surpassing the 23 of the Vulture. Add the tiny fuel tank and the range is quite short. I almost jumped to no fuel yesterday, but caught it in time and cancelled the jump. That would have been embarrassing. Mass Manager and grade 5 is going to help here, but I need to fly it to an engineer. 20 jump. Ugg.

Filling out the build (which I plan to post when done) are a 4A Scoop, 4D FSDI, ADS and DSS, KWS, This left one unused class 2 optional slot which I filled with a HRP. I might put armor on it eventually, but those shields! Hoping it's not necessary.

This ship is another one using an engineered lower class power plant. I believe only my Vulture is currently using the full-class PP. This is awesome because it saves money and mass and makes for lower re-buy which hopefully I won't need. Currently the PP in the FDL is G2 with the double-braced experimental to restore the integrity lost with the overcharge mod.

Distributor is G3 Enhanced Charge with the Cluster thingy.

After all of this engineering I finally managed to get it to the CG and get some bounty hunting in. Quite a combination of speed, protection and firepower. Having owned the ship before, I knew this of course (as does anyone who plays Elite and pays attention, regardless if they've owned the ship), and I knew that engineering would really make her shine, and so it is.

Here's the current build

Fer de Lance

Still a ways to go, but this is one fast snake with a hell of a bite

And having run both my FDL and Python through Coriolis I can see my hunch was correct. The Python is getting 105 DPS, while the FDL is 100

Ooops, out of date... add a DBX to this list

Spent some time last night working on the FDL. Finished G5 on shields, beams, and several boosters. Took a look at this thread to see how far it's come. Looking at my posts when I first bought one it's kinda quaint lol. Don't have the build handy (I wish we could export from Inara!), but it's considerably better now than it was a year ago when I was posting in this thread. Boosters have some work to be done yet, but it's now rocking Bi-Weaves in excess of 1500mj. With good, balanced resistances the protection is strong. I've added armor, and a GFSDB along the way.

Took it out last night for a quick romp in a RES. After flying the Courier exclusively in combat for the past couple of weeks, I had a great time with the superior firepower and no fear of collision.

I'll post the build at some point. Was thinking of adding a FSDI to it. Is a 1A FSDI any use? I still have the new slot free. But if a class 1 FSDI is mostly useless I won't bother.

And here it is.

Eagle Weslake

Good speed, shields and firepower. Integrity is plenty considering the shields are unlikely to ever be shot away, except maybe on assassinations or those sort of missions.. It's still under construction. Especially the shield boosters. The plan is to finish G5 on all of them, with thermal resistance experimental on those without one yet. If I follow each booster to fully modified it will be about 2,500 thermal HP which is plenty in PvE I'd like more balanced resistances but it will do for now.

Another thing I like about this build is the DPS is actually DPS. All of these weapons can be fired together continuously. Both medium multi-cannons have autoloader, and of course beams are non-stop. The big corrosive multi-cannon does need to reload. Builds that have rails, or frags, or PAs look impressive in Coriolis with high DPS numbers, but none of those weapons can be fired every second, which is why I think damage per minute ratings would be much more useful when talking about loadouts in Elite. Coriolis doesn't seem to factor in the corrosive bonus and ignores things like reloading and range.

Because it's a PvE build I can get away with a class 4 scoop and GFSDB. 30 jump in a FDL is a luxury that I cannot resist. Still undecided what I should do with the new size 1 slot. I mentioned the interdictor. I've never bothered with them much before, though I have tried them out. We were talking about pulling cargo ships out of supercruise for the mats, so was leaning toward trying this out. But I would guess that a class 1 would be pretty weak, meaning it would require such a short range and directly astern positioning that using it would prove frustrating, as you don't just hit boost to close the range in supercruise. Other possibilities are HRP/MRPs for a touch more protection. What else?

I am properly disappointed in the paint job choices on offer. I don't really like any of them. But I also didn't like the stock paint, so I bought the Tactical Pack and she sports graphite. Pretty nice, but I'd like something much more wild and colorful. FDev should put out an editor for us to play with. As they wouldn't care to lose the monetization, we should be able to submit it, they then make it for sale to you. I'd pay 5 bucks for that. 10 even. Like how you upload an image to a company online and they send you back a T-shirt with your dog on it.

No, scratch that bit about the boosters. Playing around in Coriolis I saw that the Thermo Block experimental is -1% shield strength and +2% thermal. But since the modification drops the shield strength, the bonus itself is on a slightly smaller number. So using it means something less than 2% thermal resistance boost. But if I simply slap super capacitors on all of them, the overall number increases by so much that all the lower resistances still result in much higher overall HP. So here is what they should look like when done. If I bother to find or trade for some Conductive Ceramics I can finish them tonight at Didi's.

Eagle Weslake with finished shields

I like the nice round number of 1600mj, And although I'd like to see at least 50% thermal, it's still more than enough in a RES or CZ I reckon. Just using super capacitors, instead (ironically) of the thermal mod on two or three boosters, increased thermal from 2,500 to 2,800mj and added about 70 absolute mj. I might at some point swap a booster out for something else, like a KWS. But I like shield tanks and I don't need more money so I might keep it this way too. The KWS would prove useful though if I mount the FSDI. Decisions, decisions.

I could also swap fast charge on the Bi-Weaves for Hi-cap. That would take them to nearly 1700mj with 3000 thermal. But at the cost of an extra minute of recharge. Since I don't expect to lose them, it might make sense to make this change too.

One more build then I am off to a mat trader. This is the FDL with Hi-cap instead of Fast Charge on the Bi-Weaves. And still a tick below 100% power (undersized G2 overcharged with thermal spread).

one more FDL

Good morning. Another installment of my FDL build. This is where she stands now

Eagle Weslake

Swapped fast charge for hi-cap, and made progress on the boosters, but I had no exquisite focus crystals for G5 Thermal. I then spent some time hunting likely ships but got none. Did manage to get enough trade bait though.

I plan to swap Cluster Capacitors for Super Conduits on the PD, and finish the HRPs which are half-baked at the mo. I think I'll experiment with A sensors too. Just to see if I'm missing anything. According to my posts here my FDL was originally rocking around 700 mj, had 13 jump and boosted to 400! Engineering makes quite a difference doesn't it?

I conclude I have been shadow banned. Not a great development, but on the plus side I can say to all of you that your mother was a hamster and you'll never know I even said it. Mwuhaha

Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!

Shadowban might make a good ship name.

Huh?

I was just making light of the fact I could see no replies. And I mixed in some Monty Python Holy Grail references.

Ahh, comprende senor