Anaconda, Corvette, or Cutter

[Darr Valen]

Since every post has been on topic, Dancing Rikka Tax must be paid.



Begrudgingly, back on topic..

Don't be discouraged by not being able to get the Corvette or Cutter. The Anaconda is still probably the most versatile ship in Elite:Dangerous. Jump range, fuel capacity, module selection, class slot options, etc etc etc.. The Corvette and Cutter are both really an Anaconda that is slightly improved or more-so, focused, on either combat or multirole.

Another thing to remember.. 50LY Condas are possible. 50LY Cutters and Corvettes aren't.

[Xebeth]

Of course it all depends on many factors, what you want to do, what ships you already have, etc, etc...

Having flown all three, I summarise it as

Anaconda -best multirole, can be fitted to do just about anything (see Skipp's response), cheapest of the three
Cutter - trader, but a well defended one, huge money making potential, but a huge initial cost, not really a combat ship per se but can handle itself, jump range is not the best
Corvette - combat ship, can be fitted for trading but really it's jump range is too poor. Makes a reasonable mission ship (albeit you have to avoid outposts). Can and will kill everything it comes across.

All three can defend themselves very well, I'm not sure what you mean by "...special... cargo ", if you are smuggling a smaller ship may be better, if you are pirating NPCs either the Conda or the Vette would probably be best (albeit that the Vette has a really long nose and needs a little bit of practice scooping).

Collector limpets can pick up anything you can scoop, the Conda has the most internal of the three and more smaller slots so fitting things like limpet controllers is more of an option without wasting larger slots.

[TorTorden]

Yeah i kinda downpøayed the conda a bit.

Truth is the conda does everything the others can and nearly as good and does it for 200 mil less in most situations.

Trading conda with a 19ly range with 432 tons cargo is a little less than 190mil.
That's with shields and guns.
A very basic cutter start at after rank 300, and will jump shorter but does carry 720 tons.

A combat conda will cost about 400 mil. A vette needs the rank and about 650 mil to.

Might be I find the vette so much better in combat is of course Lucy has all my engineer mods.
So jump is the 18ly instead 12. Enhanced cap recharge. Dirty drives, rank 4 enhanced bi weave shielding et etc. Does make a little difference I'm sure..

[Phillipus]

...and trust me - you do NOT want to dogfight in a cutter. That thing is so slow and so drifty it hurts. I got mine fitted with A rated thrusters and it was still horrible.

Another thing about the cutter is the time it takes to recover from the boost and/or drift. It's insanely long. So once you boost - you better make sure you're pointing in the right direction because you won't be turning any time soon.

And that's what I love about it.

Having said that, I get into my FAS or Corvette if I want to do some dogfighting.

[bl00dh0und9]

The cargo I will be seeking is of the rare, valuable, toxic kind. The kind that if I have, I will want to protect mercilessly. While running might be the best scenario for this type of cargo, I want to be able to defend it so I don't have to potentially endlessly jump from and back to systems, should I find any, anomalies.

[Trinity Star]

Another thing to remember.. 50LY Condas are possible. 50LY Cutters and Corvettes aren't.

For exploration yes, no way a combat conda can achieve that, to get 50+ LY the ship will be stripped down and d-rated making it very weak for combat.

[AJH]

I did manage to pull 33ly on my slightly sub-combat trading conda though. 7D thrusters that outperform stock 7As, 8D power plant is the main limitation, a huge and 2 medium pulse lasers, two large multi-cannons and a large cannon and 2 small beam turrets. A bunch of shield boosters, two point defenses, a heat sync and a chaff launcher, with a 4a fuel scoop, a 5A shield gen and a bunch of cargo capacity. Granted, laden it drops to like 24ly or so, but that's with only a rank 4 FSD upgrade.

[Darr Valen]

Another thing to remember.. 50LY Condas are possible. 50LY Cutters and Corvettes aren't.

For exploration yes, no way a combat conda can achieve that, to get 50+ LY the ship will be stripped down and d-rated making it very weak for combat.

I figured that went without saying, since no combat vehicles have crazy long jump ranges compared to explorers.

[Schmobius]

The cutter is possibly the best combat ship in the game..... if you're in a wing and enemies have something to shoot at other than JUST you. The Cutter can take the punishment, and has probably the second best array of weapons, it just can't dogfight at all.

It's possible through RNGneers to get the Cutter's shields up to 7000mj, and even without that, well over 2000. It is a shield-tank, and it can haul as much as an anaconda even when it's in a good combat setup vs. a dedicated traderconda.

I also got the Cutter up to a 25ly jump range, and completed the crab nebula expedition in it, 14,000 ly round trip. Definitely blows the doors off a corvette in jump range, and landing isn't that hard if you take it slow, drop landing gear early, and come in at a very shallow angle. It can also pack the shields to survive a less than graceful landing on Achenar 3.

So, if you're going into combat solo, the Corvette is king. If you're in a wing, and your buddy(ies?) can keep targets off your six and in front of your guns, the Cutter is very good; it can usually stand toe-to-toe with other ships without blinking if you've made the proper upgrades, and can do a ton of damage when ramming other ships. The Anaconda is a decent choice for combat, but nothing all that special.

If you want to do anything with cargo or jump range, you probably don't want to look at a corvette. Anaconda can have the best jump range in the game, even better than an Asp, and has ok cargo.

[bl00dh0und9]

Alright thanks so much. If I can tolerate the rank up, I'll grab the 'Vette. Kinda wish I would've ranked up prior to nerfing, but oh well.
Next queschan.
What's the cost to properly fit an Anaconda?
And just for knowledge a 'Vette?
Both for smash to pieces combat. Or able to sustain fire while stealing cargo from a convoy of threat 4.