The Fer-De-Lance loadout thread: Sluggish or nimble?

[Dean Smith]

I got my FdL back in spring - had a hiatus of playing over summer, too much volunteering - and have been playing it more and more in CZ CG locations. Last night I parked in Sol along with the rest of my Snake Pack. I miss my Vulture - it just seemed to kill things faster.

So I went out and purchased an Imperial Courier. Time to practice with that, to see if it's more nimble.

[Xebeth]

Having flown both, I still think the best loadout for a FDL is the one you sell to buy a python with.

[Unserene]

Well, anyone who knows me on FB can see that I'm trying again. Couldn't stand the C4 PA so replaced it with a C3 Beam for shields removal. I've stuck a bunch of C2 Multicannons on the rest. Lets see how it works as a slice 'n' dice shall we?

[Roger Wilco Jr]

I just finished reading this thread. It got me thinking about how I've been flying and fighting since wings came out and I got a Vulture. Since then I've been concentrating on building the most efficient killing machines for my run to Elite. I traded my most loved beams for hated pulses. Even in the Python, I've not used weapons that need ammo so I can stick around longer. Yes, I'm making a ton of money and ranking up quickly, but it's nowhere near as fun as before with my combat Asp with 4 beams ripping claw marks into my enemy's hulls and multi-cannons tearing them to shreds. I'd never take the Asp up against an Anaconda - alone. Even with cops helping, I'd usually have to shoot from behind a nearby asteroid and duck back as the shields nearly instantly disappeared (maybe with more money I could upgrade an Asp a little better, but I didn't have it at the time). But the sheer joy of fighting the Asp, and even in the beginning with the Vulture, has been replaced with a routine of maximizing damage for stacking up kills as fast as possible. It's still fun, but nowhere near as satisfying.

It will cost me about 100 million to kit out an FDL, but I think I'll do it just for the experience (shits and giggles, as someone else put it). It might also be fun to try out C4 weapons. And while it might be nice to have a larger power plant and some large hard points, that would probably just tempt me into making another efficient killing machine. I may not be able to travel far, or trade, or explore, or hang around in extraction sites for very long, but I bet it will be some damn good fun.

[Cmdr Kharma]

If it's the same shits and giggles......Bloody good A10C pilot as well...Had me in tears (laughter) many a time....

[blazingmaniac]

It will cost me about 100 million to kit out an FDL

Not unless you are going with Mil spec armour, mine is plenty capable and was no where near that price. I did buy it in the 15% off sector of space admittedly but more like 65-70 million all in.

I hated the FDL when I tried it in Beta, but just been in a High CZ with it for the last hour and its a great ship without doubt. Just dont expect to jump very far with its zippo lighter fuel tank

[Unserene]

So, I just spent an hour or so in a High RES with the slice'n'dice. Made 4 million without a scratch. Man, this thing is fun. I'd forgotten how much I'd missed the dakka dakka of multi's. Drifts like a SOB though, but definitely worth the effort to master.

I've missed the fun aspect of this game for a while. Also I like the fact that there are only a few FDLs in the INARA Mobius wing and I'm one of them

[Roger Wilco Jr]

It will cost me about 100 million to kit out an FDL

Not unless you are going with Mil spec armour, mine is plenty capable and was no where near that price. I did buy it in the 15% off sector of space admittedly but more like 65-70 million all in.

You're right. I did have bulkheads checked off while I was playing around with a loadout. I try not to lose shields so they are not really necessary. It looks like it will be about 82 mil, or about 70mil on sale (a bit less with component trade-ins, I think). I was thinking of starting with this, but probably not until this weekend. Notice I have a point defense turret - that's because I think they're cool, though not really necessary.

[blazingmaniac]

I have 2 pd's on the top of my Fdl and it's uber cool when they fire

I'll post my build up tomorrow but basically it's all fixed pulses which has been of huge benefit since npc's have started chaffing like meeting of confetti throwers anonymous! !!

[Rinzler o7o7o7]

Arguably the best loadout is 4x fixed medium multicannons and 1x fixed huge PA. Different role to the python, and a lot of fun to fly. Everyone calls it "sluggish" when they first buy it, not knowing how to fly it.

Eventually you learn that utilising roll, lateral thrust, and pitch simultaneously with FA off makes it do scarily sharp turns. That combined with a 404m/s boost speed and high alpha+dpm makes it by far my favourite ship in the game. (but not for traveling more than 50ly)