Hello again. CMDR Maya Ulniian here. I spent the last
session alternately flying the Viper and the Diamondback Scout. There is little
to pick between them as a RES grinding ship.
The DBS’s weaker shields are more than compensated by higher armour and
better agility. Both ships are fast enough in raw speed and boost that they can
run from most enemies. Weapon loadout is
the same on either ship, being 2 small and 2 medium hard points. The larger
powerplant of the DBS allows for more flexibility but both ships are capable of
running all-laser configurations without too much heat trouble.
One thing I did note with either ship is that gimballed
pulse lasers seem to do more damage to subsystems than gimballed beams. I had
less luck with multicannons but also flew fewer sorties with them active. My
half-baked theory on pulse being better than beam is that each shot has a
chance to penetrate armour into the module below. The beam laser’s continuous
fire is treated as only one shot but the pulse laser gets half a dozen shots in
over a similar time period. Burst lasers generate lots more heat than pulse, so
I haven’t been flying with them.
Since I am still a pretty poor marksman I’ve not really
tried rail guns or plasma accelerators. They
generate high heat so are more likely suited on the DBS than the viper.
Missiles and cannons/frag cannons I passed over due to ammo limits.
One interesting thing I saw when checking out GalNet
articles for the DBS was a commander who flew with no shield, maximum armour
and 4 multicannons. He made use of the DBS’s excellent heat management to fly
in silent running mode, which makes the ship extremely hard to target. I am not
sure that this is a viable configuration for RES hunting but repairs are
relatively cheap so I may try it out.
Anyway, time to get back out in the black!
CMDR Maya Ulniian, 28 April 3302
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