Ship Capabilities vs Pilot Capabilities

[Tifu]

I use my Viper3 for insystem patrol of the Greater Azrael area It's cheap to outfit specially since I don't have to outfit a high grade FSD drive (8-9ly is good enough to get around).

For high CZ's it's the Viper4 hands down. Tough as nails and a large enough powerplant to drive weapons that hurt even bigger ships. Fast enough to outrun most vessels that outgun me by a large margin.

I use my DbX for raiding, it's the first ship I used all fixed weapons on since it's so maneuverable. Good jump range and lots of utility points as well.

[Crumpeteater]

Edit - upon a reread of the op I would like to ask Captain Havok how it was done. Sounds like more skill than I am using maybe

I have found it is all about having max pips to engines and then getting and staying in a dominant position - at which point you switch to attack the powerplant specifically and use double chaff. Using thrusters and faoff for up thruster help maintain the position. Then you need less focus on huge heavy armor (in the case of the Courier below) or max shields.

So my answer is its about flying the way you enjoy, more tanky requires a different heavier stronger and slower build (in the specific case of the Courier) and less skill and vice-versa.


About the Imperial Courier - esp for varbex and Black Rose

My Courier build (is for fighting in a hazres) is similar to yours Black Rose. I use the Railgun for Module Sniping. Although I have piloted the Courier a lot (by far most experience with the FDL and Courier) I found a very comprehensive post on it on the main forum and tested this amazing build last night:
http://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial_cour ... %20Courier

This build has a top speed of 399, a weight of 95.1 and a jump range of 16.6 but still shields of 457, only armor is lower at 584.

Some of the main points of the post were around pitch speed vs weight. Interesting points were:
- capacitor cannot support 2 bursts well so for sustained attack use 1 burst and 1 pulse
- don't use military armor because the defense multiplier does not apply to the HRPs and otherwise its a lot of weight for minimal protection
- use the 1D HRPs only
- in my case I am using Prismatics which is heavier but more protection, the author recommended bi-weave

[Black Rose]

Edit - upon a reread of the op I would like to ask Captain Havok how it was done. Sounds like more skill than I am using maybe

I have found it is all about having max pips to engines and then getting and staying in a dominant position - at which point you switch to attack the powerplant specifically and use double chaff. Using thrusters and faoff for up thruster help maintain the position. Then you need less focus on huge heavy armor (in the case of the Courier below) or max shields.

So my answer is its about flying the way you enjoy, more tanky requires a different heavier stronger and slower build (in the specific case of the Courier) and less skill and vice-versa.


About the Imperial Courier - esp for varbex and Black Rose

My Courier build (is for fighting in a hazres) is similar to yours Black Rose. I use the Railgun for Module Sniping. Although I have piloted the Courier a lot (by far most experience with the FDL and Courier) I found a very comprehensive post on it on the main forum and tested this amazing build last night:
http://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial_cour ... %20Courier

This build has a top speed of 399, a weight of 95.1 and a jump range of 16.6 but still shields of 457, only armor is lower at 584.

Some of the main points of the post were around pitch speed vs weight. Interesting points were:
- capacitor cannot support 2 bursts well so for sustained attack use 1 burst and 1 pulse
- don't use military armor because the defense multiplier does not apply to the HRPs and otherwise its a lot of weight for minimal protection
- use the 1D HRPs only
- in my case I am using Prismatics which is heavier but more protection, the author recommended bi-weave

Interesting build but I am am wondering how you managed the Prismatic Shield, which is obtained by pledging to Aisling Duval and the Imperial Hammer which is obtained by pledging to Lavigny Duval.

[Crumpeteater]

I also have an Advanced Plasma on my FDL (soon will have the Hammers and already have Prismatics on it).

My RP is as a special for hire Imperial Bounty Hunter. The charge for my services is the special weapons.

So I do job (PP merits) for 4 weeks then switch powers...you keep the special weapons you have put on - you just cannot take them off without losing unless you put them on another ship immediately.

[Skipp]

I've used my Python for ages in RES sites and it just obliterates anything that's infront of it. The only problem were bigger ships that tend to boost a lot - like the FDL. You can't tail those vessels unless you overuse FA off, and even then it's a struggle.

Lately I've been flying the Courier and a Vulture, and those 2 ships (especially the Courier) are SO much fun that it's just ridiculous. Yes - it takes a longer while to kill stuff but the amount of fun coming out of those small, fast and agile ships is just insane.

So nowadays if I want a quick cash grab i get into a Vulture. There's literally no ships that can take even 1 ring of my shields (unless it's a wing of 3). Not even Anacondas with turrets. It just sticks to their rear and pews away on the powerplant

Also this is my vulture setup and I have no power issues what-so-ever. I can fall a sleep on the pewpew lasers and never let go

And if i'm in a wing and I just want to have a blast flying one of the coolest looking ships ingame - i get my Courier. Amazing shielding on that one and you literally can't die to anything if you time it right.

[TorTorden]

Interesting build but I am am wondering how you managed the Prismatic Shield, which is obtained by pledging to Aisling Duval and the Imperial Hammer which is obtained by pledging to Lavigny Duval.

That's easy.
Spend three weeks with the Disney Princess and buy the shields.
Spend another three weeks with ALD and get the hammer.

[Captain Havok]

Edit- Crumpet, I don't use chaff, heat sinks or any of the like, I do have one HRP on just as a little extra insurance and the best distributor with the second best power plant, just so I can maximize power usage, I was sitting at 13.00 available and 12.95 used when deployed.

Crumpeteater- So, I have a MKIV, and honestly I'm not sure, I don't have any particular set of attack patterns or anything for any ship that I'm fighting, but just last night I was on and took on a 'Conda solo in a HAZRES, and have since decided it isn't the best idea to ram them at full boost, miraculously I survived and made it back to the dock with 19% hull and 39 seconds of O2 left due to my missing canopy, but that was a 250K bounty alone, I made two kills before that one which netted me 500K total, but I'm stumped, I took on that 'Conda full frontal and somehow walked away. I did try to get behind and below him to dodge the turrets on top a lot, but that was about the only planning I had, other than that I just adlibbed the hell out of it. I don't really use the FA of trick much, but I do you my lateral and vertical thrusters to help me turn and pitch faster, helps me kill eagles and couriers, the only two ships that can easily out maneuver me so far. But I do like your response, I mean it is a game, and the goal is to have fun, right? If you're really interested to see how I'm managing it, you are always more than welcome to jump over to Xihe and we'll wing up and go knock some guys outta the sky.

Skip- I agree with you that there is just a different kind of entertainment in flying a small fast ship, I obviously don't have the courier or the vulture yet, but I am enjoying my little ships, not sure if I'll really get into trading, smuggling or mining, but that'll probably be the only time I'm in the larger ships, maybe a python for some challenging fights, like CZ's.

Rose- You posted a lot of good builds, I like the way you put ships together, especially the small fries, but the big ships are something I am clueless on, so having your baselines like that posted for easy viewing means I will have a lot easier time getting set up to do what I want. Thank you

[varbex]

About the Imperial Courier - esp for varbex and Black Rose

My Courier build (is for fighting in a hazres) is similar to yours Black Rose. I use the Railgun for Module Sniping. Although I have piloted the Courier a lot (by far most experience with the FDL and Courier) I found a very comprehensive post on it on the main forum and tested this amazing build last night:
http://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial_cour ... %20Courier

This build has a top speed of 399, a weight of 95.1 and a jump range of 16.6 but still shields of 457, only armor is lower at 584.

Some of the main points of the post were around pitch speed vs weight. Interesting points were:
- capacitor cannot support 2 bursts well so for sustained attack use 1 burst and 1 pulse
- don't use military armor because the defense multiplier does not apply to the HRPs and otherwise its a lot of weight for minimal protection
- use the 1D HRPs only
- in my case I am using Prismatics which is heavier but more protection, the author recommended bi-weave

That's exactly my problem with the Courier. It´s got nice internals you can't use cause of weight, 3 medium hard points we can´t use because the power distributor cant handle, even 2 pulses is too much.

This is the only build I ever got comfortable flying:
http://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial_courier/24A3A3A1D3A2A3C7j7j7h040304042t023r27v666.Iw18UA==.IwBj4jTUg===?bn=Silver%20Enforcer
Very versatile ship. The burst turrets have a slow fire rate, so that helps lowering the power drain. But for a more defensive flying style it was a perfect Fit. Also great for Courier missions, especially those secret data delivery and classified data transportation missions (witch give lots of rank).

[Black Rose]

Courier Builds:

http://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial_courier/24A3A3A1C3A2B3C1b1b2a0l000404024054540166.AwRj4yVMg===.AwiMIyrI?bn=Imp%20Courier%20-%20Combat

http://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial_courier/24A3A3A1C3A2C3C1b1b1b0j000204B40227276q66.Iw18UA==.Aw18UA==?bn=Imp%20Courier%20Custom

http://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial_cour ... er%20Build

Of course on all the builds you can pull out the cargo ranks and add in more armor which of course affects the jump range. But I found using a fuel scoop was allot less bothersome than getting my fanny blown off

[varbex]

On most ships i´d rather use an extra bigger fuel tank than use a fuel scoop, but on the courier the weight of the extra fuel just hurts too much, so I´d rather have a class 3 fuel scoop on it. As strange as it might seam I replaced the Courier for a Federal Dropship and I´m definitely happy with the decision. But If I had to get a small fighter again, I think the Imperial Eagle is a much better craft then the Courier for the price you pay for both. Courier 10M vs Imperial Eagle 2.5M equipped. That's four times as much credits and you don't get a 4x times better ship.

I´d really like to love the courier, but I just cant seam to do it. If it had a class 4 power distributor, it would be a much much better ship.