Do the big ships like Anaconda and Federal Corv also dogfight?

[Ligma Male]

I was wondering if the way combat works changes on those ships, or they essentially also "dogfight".
They look pretty big, and their design along with the amount of hardpoints and their placement, I would expect that combat systems do not translate into the regular dogfight, tail chase.

[Harrison]

They don’t fly the way a Viper, for example, would but they still use the same basic mechanics. For being bigger, they aren’t that much bigger in the scheme of things.

[Qrazy]

Against NPCs I just fly in reverse in my Corvette lol

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

The Corvette is pretty good at turning around, with some good engineering of its thrusters. The Anaconda is a bit less so.

If you want a big but a slow turner - think iCutter.

[CEPHY]

I got myself a Corvette with some, I believe Grade 2 Diry Drives, and I can fight just like any other smaller ship.

Granted, I put on Turrets instead of Gimballs to compensate for the slower turning, but other than that, no difference.

[Agony_Aunt]

Every ship flies different and its not always a clear line between big and small as to which make good dogfighters. Some are better at jousting while others are best left to be turret tanks or use other techniques.

The Anaconda is pants for dogfighting and jousting. The Corvette on the other hand is a pretty good dogfighter (which i personally think is silly).

I think it could be funny of FD ever brought the Gecko into the game. In Frontier it had stronger reverse thrust than forward thrust, which would make it perfect for using reverski.

[Bad_Conduct]

Originally posted by HEATHEN:

I was wondering if the way combat works changes on those ships, or they essentially also "dogfight".
They look pretty big, and their design along with the amount of hardpoints and their placement, I would expect that combat systems do not translate into the regular dogfight, tail chase.

I use the Python, and I'd often toggle the gravity stabilizer to get it to turn faster and put it back on again. It uses thrusters to make the ship handle more arcade like, but if you disable it, the ship flies all over the place, you can use it to turn quickly.

[HexCaliber]

Originally posted by Bad_Conduct:

Originally posted by HEATHEN:

I was wondering if the way combat works changes on those ships, or they essentially also "dogfight".
They look pretty big, and their design along with the amount of hardpoints and their placement, I would expect that combat systems do not translate into the regular dogfight, tail chase.

I use the Python, and I'd often toggle the gravity stabilizer to get it to turn faster and put it back on again. It uses thrusters to make the ship handle more arcade like, but if you disable it, the ship flies all over the place, you can use it to turn quickly.

There is no such thing as a gravity stabiliser in this game, I assume you are referring to flight assist. Once you put in some practice and learn to fly with flight assist off, you can fly, dock, land, anywhere, all the time. If you do put the time in until you are comfortable flying with it off all the time, (I recommend using the tutorials, as it saves on rebuys), you will fly rings around anyone who flies with it on, that includes during pvp, and npc enemies will never pose a problem again.

Your ship only flies all over the place with it off because you don't yet know how to fly in that mode. It is very close to a Newtonian flight model, that means you have to counter every input your self to keep it under control, you get used to using the lateral thrusters and boost far more frequently than you might with flight assist on.

If you are interested there are a bunch of videos on youtube, both showing you how to fly like this, and others with folks showing what is possible with flight assist off. Here is one showing PVP in an asteroid ring; it really is worth a look, unless you fly with FA off all the time, you will have no idea what is possible with the ships in game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fhNtkxow-Y

[Elitch]

I run an Imperial Cutter with 4 rail guns.

Yes, big ships can dog fight.

[caaront]

I use all fully engineered laser beams on my Vette, with the smaller ones being turreted and I can dogfight all day,with G5 DD's and other engineered items the Vette is very manueverable.

[cG.vahnn]

They dogfight each other.

[Rragar]

You won't get to turn around as fast as smaller ships, nor go as fast as smaller ships (unless you have a Cutter). You are right about the tail chase in most cases (again, looking at the Cutter, though it can be outmaneuvered).

You will get to move around more than a real life combat cruiser for the ocean.

So... yes, you can dogfight in a manner of speaking but not in the same way that you would with ships of different sizes, and not all the time or against every target.

The weapons mount type (fixed, gimballed, turret) that you pick for these ships can have a deeper impact in how you fly them, than it does with smaller ones.

I would say that one of the biggest differences in these ships versus the smaller ones, is that considering how many more modules they can equip and what module types you would usually want on these for combat, you need to have developed a sharp situational awareness and a deeper understanding of the engineering system. There's more pieces to manage and consider, that work simultaneously.

While some of these ships are more user-friendly than others, all are less user friendly than smaller ships.

In very general terms, this is what defines them in combat:

- All have big firepower on paper, but they all have varying degrees of "hardpoint convergence problems".
- All have very large module hitboxes (an intrinsic vulnerability, makes them easier to hit).
- They have some of the highest heat capacities BUT they also have the potential to generate big heat spikes more easily.
- They have less inherent control over the engagement ranges (either due to low speed or low agility).
- They can support setups with extremely high power draw.
- They have the highest number of utility slots.
- All of them can deploy ship-launched fighters and accomodate the biggest fighter bay available.
- They can generally withstand more damage than smaller ships, but their size also means that they soak a bigger portion of the incoming fire (so equal magnitudes of shield or armor can last less per unit of time). They also are so big that chaff doesn't do much to prevent incoming fire, only to prevent accurate strikes.
- Very high armor piercing potential on paper because they all have multiple size 3 hardpoints and at least one size 4 hardpoint.
- They can't really do stealth.
- They have more exploitable blind spots than small ships.
- They drift more and carry more momentum.
- They provide the highest mass-lock factors.


The aforementioned can be more or less relevant for specific big ship models or specific pilots depending on their preferences.



If you want to get a rough idea of what the handling of these ships can be like and you can't buy one yet but you are able to buy a Gunship, that is probably the closest medium-size approximation of what it is like to fly a big ship. Not quite the same, but sort of handles like a big ship on steroids.

[Arya]

Originally posted by ILIAD:

I got myself a Corvette with some, I believe Grade 2 Diry Drives, and I can fight just like any other smaller ship.

Granted, I put on Turrets instead of Gimballs to compensate for the slower turning, but other than that, no difference.

Keep upgrading your thrusters. Once you get to DD 4 you should be agile enough for Gimbals. It's amazing how well the Corvette and Federal Gunship respond to high-tier Thruster Upgrades; I have maxed out DD 5 with Drag Drives and it handles better than an A-Rated Viper MK 4!

I can only imagine how shocked the NPCs must be, looking over their shoulder and seeing a ship the size of a Gridiron stadium chasing through through a High-G maneuver XD

[cG.vahnn]

I fly my Corvette with G5 dirty drag drives using 2x huge fixed beams, 2x small long range rails (with feedback cascade to help with SCBs), and 3x gimballed MCs (one of the mediums is Corrosive).

It's fun.

[Arya]

Originally posted by vahnn:

I fly my Corvette with G5 dirty drag drives using 2x huge fixed beams, 2x small long range rails (with feedback cascade to help with SCBs), and 3x gimballed MCs (one of the mediums is Corrosive).

It's fun.

That's very similar to the spec I'm building at the moment for CZs. I'm glad to hear it's fun to fly XD

[DextrousWeevil]

Originally posted by Qrazy:

Against NPCs I just fly in reverse in my Corvette lol

lol that's how I use my Anaconda.