Fer-de-Lance Build must-haves

[Bandana Boris]

Hey fellow travellers,

just recently started this game on Sunday and got hooked. I got myself the Fer de Lance now and would like to hear some things you can recommend for the build.

[bongerman85]

get a vette... hahaha

[Agony_Aunt]

4 days from zero to FdL.... oh my.

Well, firstly, you probably don't have the skills or experience yet to be good at combat. Bigger ships don't make you better, they just increase the rebuy cost.

Having said that, naturally A rate everything except possibly life support, sensors, and maybe FSD if you don't care about jump range.

Shield you might want to consider a bi-weave instead of A rated. Its a trade off.

You have plenty of utility slots and not many internal slots, so use some of those utility slots of shield boosters. I tend to recommend a PDT or two for when shields drop, which is likely to happen considering your lack of experience and presumably no engineering open to you yet.

Don't skimp on armour either for the same reasons. Get military or reactive armour and use a couple of internals for a Hull Reinforcement and a Module Reinforcement.

FdLs have really weak hull, so you don't want to get wrecked the moment your shields drop. Of course, if your shields do drop, run. Don't hang around thinking just a bit longer, your hull sucks, get out of there. Boost, boost, boost.

Weapons is the tricky one. With no access to engineering you need to be careful with power requirements, heat generation, etc.

Maybe a huge pulse laser for shields and then 4 medium frags or multicannons for taking out hull. Or maybe the other way around, 4 medium pulses and a huge MC.

[malorob]

watch this get got me in love with the FDL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q12ecoo3Fsk

after i did a few hours in it....... experiment with it for the way you like it.
this video helped get me started

[Guts]

Pack on the shield boosters and use the biggest multicannons you can. Multicannons will do a ton of damage and don't use much power. The tradeoff is using ammo, but you need engineering on your reactor to improve your weapons much more than that. Also pledge loyalty to aisling duval so you can get the prismatic shield generator later on.

[Straight White Male]

Here is a rare one. ;)
https://s.orbis.zone/3qmp

[Bandana Boris]

Originally posted by Agony_Aunt:

4 days from zero to FdL.... oh my.

Well, firstly, you probably don't have the skills or experience yet to be good at combat. Bigger ships don't make you better, they just increase the rebuy cost.

Having said that, naturally A rate everything except possibly life support, sensors, and maybe FSD if you don't care about jump range.

Shield you might want to consider a bi-weave instead of A rated. Its a trade off.

You have plenty of utility slots and not many internal slots, so use some of those utility slots of shield boosters. I tend to recommend a PDT or two for when shields drop, which is likely to happen considering your lack of experience and presumably no engineering open to you yet.

Don't skimp on armour either for the same reasons. Get military or reactive armour and use a couple of internals for a Hull Reinforcement and a Module Reinforcement.

FdLs have really weak hull, so you don't want to get wrecked the moment your shields drop. Of course, if your shields do drop, run. Don't hang around thinking just a bit longer, your hull sucks, get out of there. Boost, boost, boost.

Weapons is the tricky one. With no access to engineering you need to be careful with power requirements, heat generation, etc.

Maybe a huge pulse laser for shields and then 4 medium frags or multicannons for taking out hull. Or maybe the other way around, 4 medium pulses and a huge MC.

Well, it's a bit of a jump from my Asp Explorer, gotta admit. Still need to get behind some of the game's mechanics and for now I'll keep grinding ranks or mining.

Whats the deal between A ratet / biweave and prismatic shields? Got nearly everything A rated and maxed for now, running the biggest multicanon + 2 canons + 2 Pulselasers as weaponry.

Getting the engineering done is my next goal. Guess there lies the magic in making those ships really stand out.

[Paradox]

An FDL isn't that great of a PVE ship. PVE you don't really need any skill, you just need DPS and shields. The big three are all better on that front.

For PvP there are some obvious things, but other stuff depends on your style and intent. Are you building for duels or wings? Are you going plasma, long range hitscan, frags, or something else?

Hardpoints don't really matter for PVE (assuming they have good DPS). I tend to go with just energy, so I don't have to restock or synth.

Prismatics are more for PvP, where you will be getting hit and your shields won't really have anytime to recharge. Bi-weaves are for PVE and PvP builds where you can force evasion (duels mainly). Boosters are to boost your shields even further, through pure size (not so important with bi-weaves) and resistances (really important for bi-weaves), so you will want a lot of them and engineered. With prismatics you'll probably be running Banks (less useful in wing fights), so you'll need some way to cool yourself off, either with heatsinks or vent beam.

Regardless, engineering is a must. And, ships with engineering don't stand out, ships without engineering do. That's because ships without engineering (or just not built for combat) usually hide in solo/PG.

[Bandana Boris]

Originally posted by Paradox:

An FDL isn't that great of a PVE ship. PVE you don't really need any skill, you just need DPS and shields. The big three are all better on that front.

For PvP there are some obvious things, but other stuff depends on your style and intent. Are you building for duels or wings? Are you going plasma, long range hitscan, frags, or something else?

Hardpoints don't really matter for PVE (assuming they have good DPS). I tend to go with just energy, so I don't have to restock or synth.

Prismatics are more for PvP, where you will be getting hit and your shields won't really have anytime to recharge. Bi-weaves are for PVE and PvP builds where you can force evasion (duels mainly). Boosters are to boost your shields even further, through pure size (not so important with bi-weaves) and resistances (really important for bi-weaves), so you will want a lot of them and engineered. With prismatics you'll probably be running Banks (less useful in wing fights), so you'll need some way to cool yourself off, either with heatsinks or vent beam.

Regardless, engineering is a must. And, ships with engineering don't stand out, ships without engineering do. That's because ships without engineering (or just not built for combat) usually hide in solo/PG.

played a lot of PG for mining and exploring as well. Guess i need to get that engineering thing sorted out to join open world. Whats the best way to tackle this?

[Paradox]

Originally posted by Bandana Boris:

Originally posted by Paradox:

An FDL isn't that great of a PVE ship. PVE you don't really need any skill, you just need DPS and shields. The big three are all better on that front.

For PvP there are some obvious things, but other stuff depends on your style and intent. Are you building for duels or wings? Are you going plasma, long range hitscan, frags, or something else?

Hardpoints don't really matter for PVE (assuming they have good DPS). I tend to go with just energy, so I don't have to restock or synth.

Prismatics are more for PvP, where you will be getting hit and your shields won't really have anytime to recharge. Bi-weaves are for PVE and PvP builds where you can force evasion (duels mainly). Boosters are to boost your shields even further, through pure size (not so important with bi-weaves) and resistances (really important for bi-weaves), so you will want a lot of them and engineered. With prismatics you'll probably be running Banks (less useful in wing fights), so you'll need some way to cool yourself off, either with heatsinks or vent beam.

Regardless, engineering is a must. And, ships with engineering don't stand out, ships without engineering do. That's because ships without engineering (or just not built for combat) usually hide in solo/PG.

played a lot of PG for mining and exploring as well. Guess i need to get that engineering thing sorted out to join open world. Whats the best way to tackle this?

For Raws, look up crystalline shards. For Manufactured, look up how to find High Grade Emissions (filter by boom works for me, still a pita), For Encoded, look up crash sites (jameson crash site isn't too far). Then find material traders, inara works for this.

The order in which you will hit the engineers depends on your hardpoints. You can look up which engineer does what (inara works for this as well). Most people start with their frame shift drive, for that jump range. So, Elvira or Felicity - most people go with felicity, I went with elvira because she was closer to where I ended when I stopped playing 4 years prior. Inara will tell you which unlocks what and requirements and stuff, but you can also find information in-game in your right panel under engineers.

Have an errand running ship (something with a large jump range and plenty of slots, I use a conda), put the parts on that errand running ship and take them to the engineers. While there pin the blueprints. Then, fly back to where your real ship is and swap the parts.

Grades 1-3 should be relatively easy, 4 a bit rougher and 5 being the most annoying. Something to keep in mind is you don't have to max the previous grade out before you can start rolling on the next grade, you just gotta be close. Unlocking the next grade on the engineer should happen naturally as you upgrade your modules. If not you can also remove a modification and re engineer it. You can pin blueprints (1 per engineer), allowing you to use them from any station, but experimental effects will require you visiting an engineer, but the engineer only has to work on that part, so can just be a grade 1.

*
Oh, whatever order you do it, I suggest planning ahead. You might be able to kill a few birds with 1 stone and save yourself some jumps as well.

[xdTechniker25]

https://s.orbis.zone/3qrr

This is my build I used, even when I couldn´t engineer much. It works.

[nemoJoe]

I didn't read all of the above, but I'd recommend 4 medium efficient burst lasers (1 with scrambled spectrum and 3 with oversized) and one huge multi-cannon (corrosive). BUT... in order for the ship to perform and not be a huge disappointment, you need to engineer it. Engineering takes time but the whole process is worth it because it forces you to try all kinds of activities in Elite and learn the game while doing so. A regular A-rated ship cannot be compared to an engineered one.

[Dread Lord]

Originally posted by Paradox:

An FDL isn't that great of a PVE ship. PVE you don't really need any skill, you just need DPS and shields. The big three are all better on that front.

For PvP there are some obvious things, but other stuff depends on your style and intent. Are you building for duels or wings? Are you going plasma, long range hitscan, frags, or something else?

Hardpoints don't really matter for PVE (assuming they have good DPS). I tend to go with just energy, so I don't have to restock or synth.

Prismatics are more for PvP, where you will be getting hit and your shields won't really have anytime to recharge. Bi-weaves are for PVE and PvP builds where you can force evasion (duels mainly). Boosters are to boost your shields even further, through pure size (not so important with bi-weaves) and resistances (really important for bi-weaves), so you will want a lot of them and engineered. With prismatics you'll probably be running Banks (less useful in wing fights), so you'll need some way to cool yourself off, either with heatsinks or vent beam.

Regardless, engineering is a must. And, ships with engineering don't stand out, ships without engineering do. That's because ships without engineering (or just not built for combat) usually hide in solo/PG.

the big three? really?! They are soo boaring.. anything they can do you can do with midtier ships while having actual fun! I refuse to fly them my endgame ships since years are mid tier... Will never get why anyone would want to fly them

[Paradox]

Originally posted by Dread Lord:

Originally posted by Paradox:

An FDL isn't that great of a PVE ship. PVE you don't really need any skill, you just need DPS and shields. The big three are all better on that front.

For PvP there are some obvious things, but other stuff depends on your style and intent. Are you building for duels or wings? Are you going plasma, long range hitscan, frags, or something else?

Hardpoints don't really matter for PVE (assuming they have good DPS). I tend to go with just energy, so I don't have to restock or synth.

Prismatics are more for PvP, where you will be getting hit and your shields won't really have anytime to recharge. Bi-weaves are for PVE and PvP builds where you can force evasion (duels mainly). Boosters are to boost your shields even further, through pure size (not so important with bi-weaves) and resistances (really important for bi-weaves), so you will want a lot of them and engineered. With prismatics you'll probably be running Banks (less useful in wing fights), so you'll need some way to cool yourself off, either with heatsinks or vent beam.

Regardless, engineering is a must. And, ships with engineering don't stand out, ships without engineering do. That's because ships without engineering (or just not built for combat) usually hide in solo/PG.

the big three? really?! They are soo boaring.. anything they can do you can do with midtier ships while having actual fun! I refuse to fly them my endgame ships since years are mid tier... Will never get why anyone would want to fly them

No, you cannot do anything they can do in mid tier ships. Your ability doesn't change the maximum amount of DPS you can put out on a primarily static target, which is PVE. PVE is boring to begin with, the ship you're flying doesn't change that, but it can prolong it.

[Agony_Aunt]

Originally posted by Bandana Boris:

Originally posted by Agony_Aunt:

4 days from zero to FdL.... oh my.

Well, firstly, you probably don't have the skills or experience yet to be good at combat. Bigger ships don't make you better, they just increase the rebuy cost.

Having said that, naturally A rate everything except possibly life support, sensors, and maybe FSD if you don't care about jump range.

Shield you might want to consider a bi-weave instead of A rated. Its a trade off.

You have plenty of utility slots and not many internal slots, so use some of those utility slots of shield boosters. I tend to recommend a PDT or two for when shields drop, which is likely to happen considering your lack of experience and presumably no engineering open to you yet.

Don't skimp on armour either for the same reasons. Get military or reactive armour and use a couple of internals for a Hull Reinforcement and a Module Reinforcement.

FdLs have really weak hull, so you don't want to get wrecked the moment your shields drop. Of course, if your shields do drop, run. Don't hang around thinking just a bit longer, your hull sucks, get out of there. Boost, boost, boost.

Weapons is the tricky one. With no access to engineering you need to be careful with power requirements, heat generation, etc.

Maybe a huge pulse laser for shields and then 4 medium frags or multicannons for taking out hull. Or maybe the other way around, 4 medium pulses and a huge MC.

Well, it's a bit of a jump from my Asp Explorer, gotta admit. Still need to get behind some of the game's mechanics and for now I'll keep grinding ranks or mining.

Whats the deal between A ratet / biweave and prismatic shields? Got nearly everything A rated and maxed for now, running the biggest multicanon + 2 canons + 2 Pulselasers as weaponry.

Getting the engineering done is my next goal. Guess there lies the magic in making those ships really stand out.

A rated are your standard solid shields. Good strength, average recharge
Biweaves sacrifice strength for recharge.
Prismatics sacrifce recharge for extra strength.

[Dread Lord]

Originally posted by Paradox:

Originally posted by Dread Lord:

the big three? really?! They are soo boaring.. anything they can do you can do with midtier ships while having actual fun! I refuse to fly them my endgame ships since years are mid tier... Will never get why anyone would want to fly them

No, you cannot do anything they can do in mid tier ships. Your ability doesn't change the maximum amount of DPS you can put out on a primarily static target, which is PVE. PVE is boring to begin with, the ship you're flying doesn't change that, but it can prolong it.

it changes the fun factor which I wrote.. read more carefully next time! mor edps isnt = better...

same with PvP if you need a Cutter/Corvette to do PvP you suck PERIOD!