Can a Sidewinder be viable in PVE?

[Arya]

It's Sunday afternoon and I find myself bored. I'm wondering; can the humble Sidewinder be made viable for PVE combat? And if so, how should it be modded and equipped?

I'm not exactly setting high standards; "Viable" should be read as "Can take on a lone Adder/Eagle/Sidewinder without exploding... ...much"

[Epithet Lost]

Only one way to find out... If the pilot is good enough it can definitely take on other sidewinders or eagle, I wouldn't favor it against anything bigger though.

[Agony_Aunt]

Sure. You could do that before Engineers. With Engineers and a bit of work, you could probably turn a Sidewinder into a small ship killing machine. You might even be able to take on some medium ships as well.

I remember a long time ago saw a vid of someone taking out an Anaconda in an Eagle :P

[Arya]

Originally posted by Agony_Aunt:

Sure. You could do that before Engineers. With Engineers and a bit of work, you could probably turn a Sidewinder into a small ship killing machine. You might even be able to take on some medium ships as well.

I remember a long time ago saw a vid of someone taking out an Anaconda in an Eagle :P

I've killed a Dropship in a Sidewinder back in 2014, I'm just really bored and wanted to try something a bit different.

My build at the time used Fragment Cannons, since I had such low shields I wanted to deal mass DPS quickly. I'll probably go the same route this time as well, unless there's something else that does even better burst DPS and fits on the front of a Sidey?

[Shredz]

No reason on earth a Sidey shouldn't be viable particularly against the ships you mention, especially with Mods. I wouldn't go duking it out with a Conda or an FDL, Clipper etc...at least not without a lot of Security help.

I pretty much only get in Sideys as a taxi these days. Even A rating a fuel-scooping Sidey is usually cheaper than Transfer fees. I mount twin fixed railguns on 'em...mostly for the surprise factor. Not looking to get in a fight in a taxi...but if I do...I wanna bring the hurt.

[Arya]

Originally posted by cabalzero:

No reason on earth a Sidey shouldn't be viable particularly against the ships you mention, especially with Mods. I wouldn't go duking it out with a Conda or an FDL, Clipper etc...at least not without a lot of Security help.

I pretty much only get in Sideys as a taxi these days. Even A rating a fuel-scooping Sidey is usually cheaper than Transfer fees. I mount twin fixed railguns on 'em...mostly for the surprise factor. Not looking to get in a fight in a taxi...but if I do...I wanna bring the hurt.

I thought about Railguns, but I don't think I'm a good enough shot to pull off a Rail build. Not yet. I shoot like a drunk Texan on 4th July. Rather wildly, mostly hitting sky.

[Shredz]

Originally posted by Okami:

Originally posted by cabalzero:

No reason on earth a Sidey shouldn't be viable particularly against the ships you mention, especially with Mods. I wouldn't go duking it out with a Conda or an FDL, Clipper etc...at least not without a lot of Security help.

I pretty much only get in Sideys as a taxi these days. Even A rating a fuel-scooping Sidey is usually cheaper than Transfer fees. I mount twin fixed railguns on 'em...mostly for the surprise factor. Not looking to get in a fight in a taxi...but if I do...I wanna bring the hurt.

I thought about Railguns, but I don't think I'm a good enough shot to pull off a Rail build. Not yet. I shoot like a drunk Texan on 4th July. Rather wildly, mostly hitting sky.

Plus the magazine capacity is laughable. Not ideal for a protracted fighting scenario like bounty-hunting or CZs...I just think it's funny...Sidey with Railz!

Yeah, I almost never run fixed on anything else...gimbelled all the way 4 me.

[Straight White Male]

Originally posted by cabalzero:

Originally posted by Okami:

I thought about Railguns, but I don't think I'm a good enough shot to pull off a Rail build. Not yet. I shoot like a drunk Texan on 4th July. Rather wildly, mostly hitting sky.

Plus the magazine capacity is laughable. Not ideal for a protracted fighting scenario like bounty-hunting or CZs...I just think it's funny...Sidey with Railz!

Yeah, I almost never run fixed on anything else...gimbelled all the way 4 me.

I get NPCs with them all the time...if they can do it, so should we.

[FlundR]

Uh..very interesting. What about this: can you even destroy an Anaconda (or similar) ship with a Sidewinder if it doesn't shoot back? Or would the shields repair themselves too fast for that?

Can you bump an Anaconda to death?

Can stations be destroyed and if, could it be achieved with a lot of ships just outside its range firing long range missiles at them?

What about the big ship yard thingy driving around in Cubeo, or the Federal flag ship in Sol?

[Arya]

Originally posted by Kidz{ }:

Uh..very interesting. What about this: can you even destroy an Anaconda (or similar) ship with a Sidewinder if it doesn't shoot back? Or would the shields repair themselves too fast for that?

Can you bump an Anaconda to death?

Can stations be destroyed and if, could it be achieved with a lot of ships just outside its range firing long range missiles at them?

What about the big ship yard thingy driving around in Cubeo, or the Federal flag ship in Sol?

You should be able to kill an Anaconda eventually, it depends on what weapons you use more than anything else. Beam Lasers should be able to get through the shields eventually, and once you're through it should be easy to disable the Anaconda and pick it apart.

Stations are immune to damage, but Capital Ships aren't. I don't know if they can be destroyed, but you can certainly hurt them.

[FlundR]

Well..maybe it's time to find out.^^

[Shredz]

Originally posted by Okami:

Originally posted by Kidz{ }:

Uh..very interesting. What about this: can you even destroy an Anaconda (or similar) ship with a Sidewinder if it doesn't shoot back? Or would the shields repair themselves too fast for that?

Can you bump an Anaconda to death?

Can stations be destroyed and if, could it be achieved with a lot of ships just outside its range firing long range missiles at them?

What about the big ship yard thingy driving around in Cubeo, or the Federal flag ship in Sol?

You should be able to kill an Anaconda eventually, it depends on what weapons you use more than anything else. Beam Lasers should be able to get through the shields eventually, and once you're through it should be easy to disable the Anaconda and pick it apart.

Stations are immune to damage, but Capital Ships aren't. I don't know if they can be destroyed, but you can certainly hurt them.

My understanding is that Cap ships can't be destroyed, only forced to retreat by wiping out all the power nodes (or whatever they're called).

[TiberiuS]

Originally posted by Kidz{ }:

Uh..very interesting. What about this: can you even destroy an Anaconda (or similar) ship with a Sidewinder if it doesn't shoot back? Or would the shields repair themselves too fast for that?

Can you bump an Anaconda to death?

Can stations be destroyed and if, could it be achieved with a lot of ships just outside its range firing long range missiles at them?

What about the big ship yard thingy driving around in Cubeo, or the Federal flag ship in Sol?

All shields regenerate at the same rate, which is 3 MJ/s or so. So you can kill Anaconda Shields equally to any other shield. They can surely take a lot more damage though, because they have more hitpoints.

Difference makes only the hull.
Small weapons iirc have a -40% damage penalty against large hulls, medium weapons have -20%. Only large weapons are on par.
This is why a Vulture is much better at killing large targets than a Viper or Eagle.

[FlundR]

Okay, it repairs the same as weaker ones, but it's much stronger and maybe wouldn't go down at all? And I forgot to add the self repair device, maybe it could repair the hull faster than it could be destroyed?

[Zi]

``Can a Sidewinder be viable in PVE?``

If you personally have ages to kill single ship, so why not?

[TiberiuS]

Originally posted by Kidz{ }:

Okay, it repairs the same as weaker ones, but it's much stronger and maybe wouldn't go down at all? And I forgot to add the self repair device, maybe it could repair the hull faster than it could be destroyed?

The AFMUs can't repair hull or powerplant. Only the other modules. (The modules have to be shutdown to be repaired... shutting down powerplant would be a bad idea... it's impossible ingame)
Also a killed canopy can't be repiared.