PvP FDL build?

[CrimsonGamer99]

I currently have four medium Grade V Efficient Gimballed Multicannons, (3 Incendiary, 1 Corrosive). They aren't going anywhere, don't bother asking. However, I cannot for the life of me decide what to do with that huge hardpoint I have left.

I first tried a full multi build, but found out quickly that I was boned when the ammo ran out (burned too many synthesis materials, am now out atm). I had a fixed Plasma for a while, but it got the ship a tad too hot in some situations, and I only have 1 heat sink. (Low emissions power plant, clean drives, this ship runs cool as a cucumber) Then I went tried all gimballed pulse and burst weapons, but found their accuracy was poor at longer range. Going with fixed thermal weapons was awkward, because it reduced how well the multis can target ships when I focus the laser on the ship at the same time. Cannon's alright, but the damage on shields is very weak compared to the Plasma I ditched. Any suggestions? I'll fire either fixed or gimballed, idgaf, but I need that huge hardpoint to have something. Any engineer upgrades to make my life easier?

[Shredz]

Huge Beamers are quite Fun, and a good complement to your MCs. If you're having power/heat problems, try for the Grade 5 Efficient upgrade from Broo Tarquin.

[Nfected]

You need a Thermic weapon to break shields, so either G5 Efficient plasma (yes I know you didnt like it) as it has a thermal load of up to -70% before bonus effects. My huge on my Conda got a -75% thermal Load, and barely jumps heat up (mileage will vary)

Or, Thermal Vent Efficient Beam (Keeps cool if you hit, gets hot if you miss)

[meLon]

2 weapons come to mind for a huge hard point, on a maneuverable ship like the FDL. They're both a perfect blend of sexy and deadly, and like any femme-fatale require a bit of skill to handle:

Plasma Accelerator

Fixed Cannon

I disagree with Auslander that you need thermic weapons to break shields, when you have incendary multicannons. But if you want more shield focused dmg, the PA is a good idea.

Also I'd try to at least have one fixed weapon on board: more damage when you hit, and chaff won't make you miss.

As for ammo, with a PvP ship, you only need ammo for a fight, for PvE bring some lasers. But the PA has the bonus of the Plasma Slug upgrade, which uses fuel as ammo. What could be intesting is getting the Advanced PA, give it Rapid Fire and fuel ammo.

Finally, with module storage, you can have lots of different builds, maybe get both my suggestions, and the lasers others recommend.

[Nfected]

Originally posted by .:mA:. Pepys:

2 weapons come to mind for a huge hard point, on a maneuverable ship like the FDL. They're both a perfect blend of sexy and deadly, and like any femme-fatale require a bit of skill to handle:

Plasma Accelerator

Fixed Cannon

I disagree with Auslander that you [em]need[/em] thermic weapons to break shields, when you have incendary multicannons. But if you want more shield focused dmg, the PA is a good idea.

Also I'd try to at least have one fixed weapon on board: more damage when you hit, and chaff won't make you miss.

As for ammo, with a PvP ship, you only need ammo for a fight, for PvE bring some lasers. But the PA has the bonus of the Plasma Slug upgrade, which uses fuel as ammo. What could be intesting is getting the Advanced PA, give it Rapid Fire and fuel ammo.

Incendiary makes MCs deal thermic damage, yes. However that damage is offset by a boatload more thermal load...cuz fire boolets

OP wants FDL to stay cool-ish, so any real effient modded weapon can work, but since MC's dont really demand too much Distributor draw, a PA or Beam would work nicely (Or a burst if sustained damage is difficult for OP to do)

[FalterXV TTV]

Huge plasma is great. while the power draw on the plasma is a pain stock, a trip to Bill turner for some G5 efficient plasma, G5 lightweight A grade sensors, to lose some power draw, and weight, and a shield built around resist, to allow it to not break, in 3 Advanced plasma shots, is great.
Make sure you also learn to use forward and reverse blue turning thrust, otherwise it may take your FDL over a minute and a half to kill diamondbacks, by herself.
I suggest if using FA-off at the end of your turn, to look into the FA-off mechanics, otherwise, you end up making the turn your FDL could be doing, much worse.
Beams are ok, if you can stay on target with gimballs, but if you learn to fly the FDL, it actually doesnt need any gimballs. while the downward lateral thruster on an FDL is quite poor, it more than makes up for it with it's powerful vertical lateral, and horizontal thrusters.
Her forward momentum is nice, as the boost is good to use to pick up speed.
If you know more FA-off stuff, use FA-off to uncap your momentum gains, to allow you to accelerate friggin quickly.

I'd stay away from rapid fire mods on multis and lasers, as the distributor draw, and heat with a drained distributor, is too much for that zorgon peterson to handle.
for the secondary on a plasma, id lean toward target lock break, and or dispersal, these negate the use for your FDL to carry chaff. (and if used against NPCs, chaff is only mildly useful against NPCs with turrets if you try to face time them.)

For cannons, if you did run some, id stick to fixed mounts with long range, and high velocity or dispersal effect, the increased muzzle velocity, is more than sufficient to always hit your target. as well as extra ammo and DPS never hurts.

IF you did run multis, id run maybe 2 Mediums at most, with 1 corrosve G5 high cap, and 1 efficient grade 5, with no effect.
This keeps the multicannon thermal load, so dang low, you wont notice it. the incendiary effect is only needed if your lasers or thermal weaponry are struggling, which in an FDL if they are, your doing something wrong.

if you keep your boosters to 4 or 5, at max, with resist, and your shield to either a standard or bi-weave, with some back up shield cells with g2 specialized, (for extra julage) youll be good.

Think more along the lines of, what weapons can i pair well, on the FDL herself?
She's sleek and fast, but if built incorrecly, she is a travesty.
She benefits from hitting hard, and fast, and being more of a shock and awe ship, than a ship that can take as much as she gives.

Be sure not to skimp on your armour, while the FDL does have horrendous armour for a medium ship, the resist you can afford yourself is well worth the investment.
You should be able to skimp on a D rated Lifesupport, which id mod lightweight at Bill or lori Jameson for loss of power.
and the sensors should be A rated with either lightweight or longrange (if you can afford the weight and power draw.)
Try not to go overboard on the powerplant, id stay away from any overcharge higher than G3. and if going G5, id opt for an armoured, as that will lower your heat, give you a smidge more power, and protect your FDL's fragile powerplant that much more.

Good luck CMDR, Fair Winds

[meLon]

Originally posted by Der Auslander:

Incendiary makes MCs deal thermic damage, yes. However that damage is offset by a boatload more thermal load...cuz fire boolets

OP wants FDL to stay cool-ish, so any real effient modded weapon can work, but since MC's dont really demand too much Distributor draw, a PA or Beam would work nicely (Or a burst if sustained damage is difficult for OP to do)

Well I was saying that since OP already had efficient incendary multis, so adding a thermal dmg weapon might not be as usefull.
In any case the PA is good, since it deals all kind of dmg, and absolute dmg, aaannnd has the penetration stats of a weapon of higher class. It's basically the all rounder that requires skill.

[Nfected]

Originally posted by .:mA:. Pepys:

Originally posted by Der Auslander:

Incendiary makes MCs deal thermic damage, yes. However that damage is offset by a boatload more thermal load...cuz fire boolets

OP wants FDL to stay cool-ish, so any real effient modded weapon can work, but since MC's dont really demand too much Distributor draw, a PA or Beam would work nicely (Or a burst if sustained damage is difficult for OP to do)

Well I was saying that since OP already had efficient incendary multis, so adding a thermal dmg weapon might not be as usefull.
In any case the PA is good, since it deals all kind of dmg, and absolute dmg, aaannnd has the penetration stats of a weapon of higher class. It's basically the all rounder that requires skill.

Plasma hits like a truck - that's why I have 3 on my Conda. I prefer more Thermic on my ships than Kinetic, plasma being the exception. Plus a huge thermic would outdamage the 3 multis anyway, even when the shields drop on larger ships

I suppose the bigger question is does OP want to whittle shields down with the Huge hardpoint or the mediums?

[CrimsonGamer99]

@Belial8915 That's quite a paragraph, thanks. The FA-off part is interesting. I have an Imperial Eagle that I am prepping for an upcoming private race event. 837 m/s boost, but it accelerates rather poorly. I have always used FA-off for sharp turns and drift (DEJA-VU), but I have never considered acceleration bonus. I shall try that.

[FalterXV TTV]

As for ammo, with a PvP ship, you only need ammo for a fight, for PvE bring some lasers. But the PA has the bonus of the Plasma Slug upgrade, which uses fuel as ammo. What could be intesting is getting the Advanced PA, give it Rapid Fire and fuel ammo.

as a connoisoure of the Advanced plasma Accelerator, it doesnt in any way need fuel ammo, it has over 3X the ammo of a standard accelerator by default.
20 mag/ 340 reserve.
It does less damage than the large, which the APA uses. (class 3 only. so on an FDL it would waste that class 4 mount it has.) but fires as fast as a G5 rapid fire PA, you dont need the rapid fire mod on it, as its thermal and distributor are insanely low for a large PA mount.
in fact, the rapid makes it worse, by lowering your damage per shot, and if you coupled it with fuel ammo, it would lose even more damage per shot, making it moot.

I would stay away from fuel ammo weapons, due to the FDL having a class 4 gas tank. 16 tons with fuel ammo, gives you about 100 shots with one huge PA (enough to drain your gas tank), which is 5 less than it is fitted with.

If you fit with a huge PA, id use it as a weapon of opportunity, use it to bash powerplants to nothing, and to lead as an opening alpha strike.

If for PVP, id think about a long range rail gun, and either a seeker or packhound with high cap, and drag munitions, or thermal emissions. the rail would be fitted with feedback to cancel shield cell charges. and weaken the gen.
The 8 kilometers the rail affords you, makes you a sniper.
Cracked industrial firmware needed, so, be wary of that.

Alternatively fit your mediums with Frags, and the huge with Plasma, (all fixed) 2 frags with incendiary, 1 with screening shell, and 1 with corrosive, and you will have a frag monster.
the best PvP is a frag PvP-and just for the lolz, the extra ammo the frags have, as well as extra ammo in the fixed mounts, cuz fixed buffs, is nice for that, for PVE, that leaves you pretty reliant, and if your hit accuracy is low, you get about maybe 24 ships before your dry.

[CrimsonGamer99]

Originally posted by Der Auslander:

I suppose the bigger question is does OP want to whittle shields down with the Huge hardpoint or the mediums?

The Mediums munch shields easily enough, but they are slow. I managed to de-shield a Cutter w/ 3000 mj strength and 4 SCB uses, but I was practically empty when they went down. The Huge hardpoint should assist with that, ideally.

[FalterXV TTV]

Originally posted by CrimsonGamer99:

@Belial8915 That's quite a paragraph, thanks. The FA-off part is interesting. I have an Imperial Eagle that I am prepping for an upcoming private race event. 837 m/s boost, but it accelerates rather poorly. I have always used FA-off for sharp turns and drift (DEJA-VU), but I have never considered acceleration bonus. I shall try that.

Ill link you this pretty good synopsis of FA-off then, ive been using it to teach some of my "younger" elite CMDRS i mentor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEf4ZOur5MU&t=622s

im always down to talk FA-off uses, but thats a little off topic, so ill leave this here

[Judz]

I have a full loadout of fixed M'C's, all types of secondary effects are included to give max effect and all are G5 efficient weapons. I cant think what the secondary on the Huge hardpoint is but it kicks some butt and sound awesome to boot. But for me the best part of this is I only need 1 pip to the weapons. The rest get popped around as and when is needed

[Nfected]

Originally posted by CrimsonGamer99:

Originally posted by Der Auslander:

I suppose the bigger question is does OP want to whittle shields down with the Huge hardpoint or the mediums?

The Mediums munch shields easily enough, but they are slow. I managed to de-shield a Cutter w/ 3000 mj strength and 4 SCB uses, but I was practically empty when they went down. The Huge hardpoint should assist with that, ideally.

Consider an efficient beam or PA then, both will help against shields and let your multicannons have fun with the hull

Granted, if this is actual PVP people two things occur
1. Shield tankers, so thermal weak (or one good resist and heavy duty everywhere. And once shields drop they'll either run off or have weak hulls
2. Resist stackers, weapons damage will be about the same regardless of damage type (give or take)

[CrimsonGamer99]

Probably gonna try a big ol' Efficient PA. I have Zacariah Nemo, so I can get Grade II.

Now, should I do Phasing Sequence (through shield damage), Dispersal Field (confuses gimbals and turrets), or Target Lock Breaker (self-explainatory)? Anyone with experience able to give me their opinion?

[Hobo Misanthropus]

Are the FDL's thermal and Distributor setup such that you need Efficient Medium Multicannons? Shortrange Blaster and Overcharged Incedniary MC's are absolutely barbaric against shields. And the added Damge-Per-Round will see you through even 3,000MJ SCB spam until the end. (Accuracy willing)

Originally posted by Der Auslander:

Originally posted by CrimsonGamer99:

The Mediums munch shields easily enough, but they are slow. I managed to de-shield a Cutter w/ 3000 mj strength and 4 SCB uses, but I was practically empty when they went down. The Huge hardpoint should assist with that, ideally.

Consider an efficient beam or PA then, both will help against shields and let your multicannons have fun with the hull

Granted, if this is actual PVP people two things occur
1. Shield tankers, so thermal weak (or one good resist and heavy duty everywhere. And once shields drop they'll either run off or have weak hulls
2. Resist stackers, weapons damage will be about the same regardless of damage type (give or take)

Well.. It's not so cut and dry, unless there is some underlying hidden resistance I don't know about. All my shields are more resistant to thermal than kinetic. (pls no shoot cannons at me) Thanks to G5 Thermal resist engineering. Now granted, this is just what I opt for on low-shield ships because something like Heavy Duty Shield Gen is only going to add like 20-50MJ for some pretty severe penalties in regen speed. I'm sure the story changes when you're running something with an enormous base MJ value to buff.