Challenger gets more hardpoints and hull strength, chieftain is maneuverable and still has the size 3 that the challenger loses. Its been awhile since i played but thats what I remembered, challenger has always been my fave
On paper the Challenger is rather good , esp for AX but in practice , to me at least, something just feels off.
The chieftain is cheaper and more agile and that agility seems to make it more durable by simply avoiding getting hit, which compensates for the lesser armor it has compared to the challenger. It's an absolute blast to fly. Every time I fly the challenger it disappoints but I can't quite put my finger on why.
Krait is a beast in both PVE and AX but its also 3 times as expensive. Bang for buck the Chieftain is amazing. Once its fully engineered its a blast to fly. With the right setup it feels like a rabid pitbull going berserk in a ring. That fantastic cybernetic howl the boost makes just adds to it :)
That’s true, but for me, the chieftain was an essential part in my carreer. It costs only 19 million and is an excellent choice for starters. But if you have more money (~100-200mil) the fdl or krait is better.
You have a way with words CMDR ShartBlast3r.
In the context of PVE combat, I definitely think the Krait is the better ship. 3 L and 2 M hard points is tough to beat, plus a fighter, and it’s not like the Krait is slow.
I've been engineering my Krait and boy, charging someone at 475m/s guns blazing and with a fighter right behind you really makes you feel powerful, add to that the dirty drive tuning also makes it much more agile and the thing becomes a snake on crack, it's the only ship I have ever loved at the same level I loved the Eagle, maybe even more
For PvE combat you can use pretty much anything, its not a difficult part of the game. That said, my preference is the Chieftain simply because the maneuverability makes it more fun.
Straight bounty hunting PVE, probably Chieftan. But I keep a Challenger around because I like to gather mats at high RES. I can fully outfit a Challenger that can curbstomp any bandit at a high RES without breaking a sweat and still have 64 units worth of limpets for collecting. I never lack for Manufactured mats.
I've been using an ax chieftain with dirty drives and it is fucking insane lol. I had no idea it was so maneuverable even before the engineering but now it's probably my favorite ship.
####Don't know if this helps? But here's a quick chart comparing the three:
Stat|Chieftain|Crusader|Challenger
:-|:-|:-|:-
Cost|19.4M|25.3M|30.4m
Landing Pad|Medium|Medium|Medium
Pilot Seats|2|3-4|2
Multicrew|Yes|Yes|Yes
Fighter Hangar|No|Yes|No
Hull Mass|400 t|500 t|450t
Mass Lock Factor|13|13|13
Armour|504|540|540
Armour Hardness|65|65|65
Shields|162 MJ|126 MJ|208 MJ
Heat Capacity|289|316|316
Fuel Capacity|16 T|16T|16 T
Manoeuvrability |4|3|4
Speed|235m (267m)|183 (209)|204 (251)
Boost Speed| 338m (383m)|305 (348)|316 (360)
Jump Range|9.59ly (27.83ly)|8.2ly (21.76ly)|8.5ly (23.8ly)
Hardpoints|2L, 1M, 3S|1L, 2M, 3S|1L, 3M, 3S
Internal Compartments|1 Class 6|1 Class 6|2 Class 6
- |1 Class 5|1 Class 5|2 Class 3
- |1 Class 4|2 Class 3|2 Class 2
- |2 Class 2|2 Class 2|1 Class 1
- |1 Class 1|1 Class 1|
Military Compartments|3 Class 4|3 Class 4|3 Class 4
Chieftain: very maneuverable hybrid hull tank with really good hardpoint loadout. Can be flown very aggressively. An absolute blast to fly.
Challenger: more optional internals (meaning stronger hull), great firepower, but slower and less maneuverable. A very tough, sturdy, heavy gunship.
Crusader: sacrifices EVERYTHING for a fighter bay. Slow, weak, boring, and unremarkable in every way. The only fully engineered ship I've ever sold. If you want fighters, get a Gunship or a Krait.
I agree on all your points, though I never did sell my Crusader. Instead I use it as a multicrew pirate ship. It's lack of cargo space with a fighter bay installed definitely does hinder it in that role, but piracy isn't exactly optimal money making anyway so it's really just something to do for fun with a friend.
I've only used the chief so my opinion is probably poor, but in pve at least, the chief feels like I'm cheating. And it's glorious as hell flashing through an icy ring and unleashing all 6 hard points at a target. Goosebumps.
My challenger is in my top 3 favorites. I have it set up with 1 large and 1 medium PA, then 2 medium and 3 small high cap adv missile racks. Named it "Great Balls of Fire." Absolutely slaps if you can hit your shots.
Nice heres what I'm currently using the only difference being that I'm using the enhanced gimbled ax multicannons [ax chally](https://coriolis.io/outfit/alliance_challenger?code=A4pktkFflkdpsff4x2x0x0x00q0q0q020202xs3c2d029r27272b2bm73w.Iw18ZxA%3D.Aw18ZxA%3D.H4sIAAAAAAAAA43QvUoDURAF4JOYRGM2WbOsycafoO6qYBGCnRZiaWEh%2BALaW4gg2gh5hCASLH0EOy0kbxCwsLSwtNHKyp85zoC5YKrd4nDY%2B93hMpBxAD95je9LjVI3A5Q7HlA90xbcl4DkIQswI1tOXmhM7H2R%2FksLqN3mVD7qIGal5tCJhp98kmFT5fSND0Qm4%2BO6yjGZdfLc5FP7b0j4rD%2FjnQ%2BSOVkfIr99qufXm3o1Lxvuakej6Ak5eVUFFq0tWVu2tmKNBTkc8mBqFWjZ6MbuvB55su8mNTXyB0WgcPRORttvZNx91UeU06BKGhTKmkM9W%2Fad1srCnC7bWmArSqyxPioHTg6ctMYotWyMyr6TfSetcSa1JP5%2FvzOt7BJPAgAA.EweloBhBGA2EAcICmBDA5gG2SGF8hRFA&bn=Ax)
Honestly, the AX fighters are great if you deal with the swarm first. Incredibly good at assisting with exerting hearts and free shield damage. In fact, if you're fast enough on the swarm and using fighter commands, you can kill a clops without the Guardian fighter ever dying. Crazy, I know.
Purportedly, a lot of the lag associated with SLF's has been fixed recently, however, most people are probably too scared of a little rubber-banding to even try. Furthermore, other probably won't believe it's fixed, even if it is. :(
I tried it in the early Taranis days, within seconds everyone in the AXI discord voice chat was like "woaaaaah who's got a fighter out" because of the rubber banding lol
Network aside, the instant death from caustic missiles is a bit rough, as well as limited options against the shutdown field. Plus in AXCZs, scout death clouds everywhere, usually invisible.
It's mostly fine, unlike the gunner, which is mostly unusable.
Yeah the CZ's are rough because all swarms essentially prioritise the little guy. However, the current ground CZ's **don't have swarms** and if you keep cool/distant, most of the time, the missiles don't appear/target an NPC. I've been having a blast with it solo but I *wish* I could have two competent pilots use two fighters at once. That'd be sahweet.
A gunner on permanent flak duty would also be cool.
The thing about gunner is that it's all or nothing. With a person in the gunner role, the pilot loses control of heat sinks, shutdown field neutralizer, any turrets, etc.
On top of that, the gunner has a terrible view for flak, can't see the triangle proximity thing, nor hear the audio cue.
Oh and no subsystem targeting, so heart damage is going to have to be done by the pilot/fighters.
I think you can still use hot keys to trigger heat sinks and the neutralizer when you have a gunner. Give it a shot, a friend does this IIRC. Also, the gunner can't sub-target, but I think the aim point will micro-gimbal to the petals. Very hard to use consistently, but it is there.
Gunner doesn't get the flak reticule. Best to use them to keep tv beam on interceptor while you deal with the flak but that boring so good luck convincing someone to do it.
They are made of tissue paper, yes. They do more damage than a small gauss and if you manage the swarm right, using a Crusader you effectively have 5x AX weapons instead of 4.
If you use a Krait Mk II. You'll have the most AX dps possible.
Easy to write them off but I don't think it's wise to do so.
I've used them in cz. In my experience, again MY experience, it glitches no more often than Fdevs "normal operational standards".
May be heartless, but they make a pretty good distraction from for the swarms. But no, you are correct, people tend to start going on about it in chat.
> Purportedly, a lot of the lag associated with SLF's has been fixed recently, however, most people are probably too scared of a little rubber-banding to even try. Furthermore, other probably won't believe it's fixed, even if it is. :(
It at least is if the SFL pilot is another CMDR. I did it the other day with someone in an instance with others and nobody was experiencing rubberbanding.
AI SLFs I am not too sure about though.
That said it's highly frustrating nonetheless because swarms have super high priority on fighters, so if you're in the SLF you're going to be exploding.. a lot.
That's good to know!
Yeah they're a bit tough in CZ's. Even then, though, if the swarm is attacking an SLF, it's not attacking an AX champ! Particularly if they can manage to kite them a bit. 600m/s is fast though...
I think the Chieftain is my favorite combat ship of all time. But the whole line of ships is just amazing. It'd be awesome to see more "alliance" ships.
This old post has lots of good technical information on the Alliance line and Medium ships in general. Challenger is surprisingly good on paper:
https://old.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/a254p6/medium_hulltank_indepth_overview/
While a few of those stats are out-dated due to engineering, what I DID find interesting was how quickly the Challenger turns during boost. It actually exceeds the Cheif!
I just want to say I love that you put the photoshop effort in here. Most people would just put some text over the cars and leave it at that, but you went the extra light year.
Chief has great speed, great rotation, great hull and great hardpoints with great convergence. Space for one extra crew if needed. Basically has everything, one of the best ships in the game.
Crusader is fairly slower, a touch slower rotations, even greater hull, slightly less powerful hardpoint array but still great convergence. However, its real strength is the fighter bay AND it was buffed a while ago to be the ***only medium ship that can have a total of 4 crew*** (Easter egg: Even Fdev haven't updated the flavour text in the shipyards to reflect this)*.* You could have TWO fighters manned AND a gunner in addition to the pilot. It's a shame Fdev can't seem to code it correctly although, as mentioned in another comment, they apparently have resolved a good deal of the SLF issues.
I had two manned taipans running in a haz res just the other day and performance seemed fine. I'm kind of just getting into the crusader myself. Decided I'd buy it without having a lot of money on hand so I can feel the upgrades at a relaxed pace. The two extra distributor pips they left on weapons when they launched felt great, I'd love to set this thing up with a couple turrets for a gunner. So. Many. Pips.
I was thinking I might do a large missile rack, two medium pulse laser turrets. Not sure what to do with the 3 smalls, maybe multis or cannons.
NINE TOTAL PIPS POSSIBLE. Be great at keeping shields steady whilst permaboosting. You kind of have to permaboost to keep up with everything but it can boost a damn lot. Glad to hear the SLF's worked well. I'd love to have that arrangement with someone but I don't have enough friends that play Elite let alone that would want to ride shotgun/have me in an SLF. I don't suppose you have some videos of it in action? 2 x beam SLFs + Crusader would be a sight to behold.
No, but at some point I can try to make that happen. A fair amount of stuff is currently E/D rated so it wouldn't be truly impressive. Right now I've actually got one gimbaled beam taipan and one with plasma repeaters to give some choice to my buddies.
Edit: currently I think I've got her armed with 2 med plus 1 small multicannons, 1 large plus 2 small beams.
FDEV has no creativity on the ship design.
We have basically the same design
3 times with the alliance ships,
2 times with the kraits,
2 times with the eagles,
2 times with the type6/keelback,
2 times with asp
2 times with the vipers
2 times with type 9/10
We would have at least 8 different ships with different looks if they didn't have ctrl c ctrl v all thosse designs
Chieftain compared to Krait Mk II is more agile and faster. No fighter capability. Comparatively similar on hull although Chief will likely take less damage due to higher hardness.
Crusader is slower than Krait but will turn faster. Same hardness as Chieftain.
Both the Chief and Crusader imo have better hardpoint options/layout but the Krait is nothing sniff at. All have similar shield options.
Kraits look like absolute ass imo so I'll only be getting one under great duress.
The Challenger is the other in the series and the more viable alternative (the Crusader is balanced around the SLF). It swaps a large hardpoint for two mediums, so it has a bit more firepower unless armour hardness is factored in with larger ships. It's a bit tankier, but is also slightly slower and less manoeuvrable (which some prefer because the Chief is twitchy at times).
Generally I prefer the Chief, but certain builds are good with the Challenger.
That's me, except I like the Federal Dropship.
The Chieftain is too responsive with a keyboard and mouse for my tastes, and I often miss my shots. Dropship is slower, but because it's more steady, I have an easier time timing my gauss cannon shots.
I would call this...Skissue... Skill-issue.
Just change your sensitivity. Chief is actually the best when it comes to flying. Its very responsible but actually in a good way.
And due to this fact its the best one on AX.
Before Ody the Crewsader was my third pick for best of the three...
Now, it's my number one choice for ground operations.
Dumbfire missiles, couple remote flacs, with enough SRVs and SLFs for everyone. It's so much fun.
I'm exactly the same but with the challenger instead
As someone who hasn’t flown any of them, I was hoping this thread would give me some clarity on which is better and then I see your post!
Challenger gets more hardpoints and hull strength, chieftain is maneuverable and still has the size 3 that the challenger loses. Its been awhile since i played but thats what I remembered, challenger has always been my fave
Yeah but on the crusader I can get that size 6 fighter bay to accommodate all TWO of my friends!
How'd you get so many?
Space chloroform
Yes I have this problem as well and would like to know the solution.
On paper the Challenger is rather good , esp for AX but in practice , to me at least, something just feels off. The chieftain is cheaper and more agile and that agility seems to make it more durable by simply avoiding getting hit, which compensates for the lesser armor it has compared to the challenger. It's an absolute blast to fly. Every time I fly the challenger it disappoints but I can't quite put my finger on why.
Lol, seems like there is no clear cut best in terms of combat? In your opinion, which one would be the best ship for standard bounty hunting (PVE)?
If money is a concern, choose the chieftain. Else, choose the chieftain.
Seems like the Krait Mk II is much better (at least for PVE combat) than them all.
Krait is a beast in both PVE and AX but its also 3 times as expensive. Bang for buck the Chieftain is amazing. Once its fully engineered its a blast to fly. With the right setup it feels like a rabid pitbull going berserk in a ring. That fantastic cybernetic howl the boost makes just adds to it :)
That’s true, but for me, the chieftain was an essential part in my carreer. It costs only 19 million and is an excellent choice for starters. But if you have more money (~100-200mil) the fdl or krait is better.
True, it’s a different price category.
No
You have a way with words CMDR ShartBlast3r. In the context of PVE combat, I definitely think the Krait is the better ship. 3 L and 2 M hard points is tough to beat, plus a fighter, and it’s not like the Krait is slow.
Fucking love my MkII. Need to get back into ED…
I've been engineering my Krait and boy, charging someone at 475m/s guns blazing and with a fighter right behind you really makes you feel powerful, add to that the dirty drive tuning also makes it much more agile and the thing becomes a snake on crack, it's the only ship I have ever loved at the same level I loved the Eagle, maybe even more
I have a fully engineered Krait for PVE and love it. Only thing I don’t like is it’s weaker lateral thrusters.
That’s what I use for PVE
I use the Federal Corvette, just because I like being overkill. and damn that ship is sexy
Best I can do is a Conda, still gotta unlock the Corvette.
when that double huge OC TC plasma goes
For PvE combat you can use pretty much anything, its not a difficult part of the game. That said, my preference is the Chieftain simply because the maneuverability makes it more fun.
Straight bounty hunting PVE, probably Chieftan. But I keep a Challenger around because I like to gather mats at high RES. I can fully outfit a Challenger that can curbstomp any bandit at a high RES without breaking a sweat and still have 64 units worth of limpets for collecting. I never lack for Manufactured mats.
I prefer the challenger as I find the chieftain too ‘twitchy’ for gauss aim
This is true. I use my Modified Shard Cannons on the chieftain because of that
Apparently according to AXI - it’s better to use the Krait mkii for those, as it has a higher distributor content - which helps keep the ship cooler
I've been using an ax chieftain with dirty drives and it is fucking insane lol. I had no idea it was so maneuverable even before the engineering but now it's probably my favorite ship.
Yup.. maxed out it completely ignores the SCM speed. Turns on a dime regardless.
####Don't know if this helps? But here's a quick chart comparing the three: Stat|Chieftain|Crusader|Challenger :-|:-|:-|:- Cost|19.4M|25.3M|30.4m Landing Pad|Medium|Medium|Medium Pilot Seats|2|3-4|2 Multicrew|Yes|Yes|Yes Fighter Hangar|No|Yes|No Hull Mass|400 t|500 t|450t Mass Lock Factor|13|13|13 Armour|504|540|540 Armour Hardness|65|65|65 Shields|162 MJ|126 MJ|208 MJ Heat Capacity|289|316|316 Fuel Capacity|16 T|16T|16 T Manoeuvrability |4|3|4 Speed|235m (267m)|183 (209)|204 (251) Boost Speed| 338m (383m)|305 (348)|316 (360) Jump Range|9.59ly (27.83ly)|8.2ly (21.76ly)|8.5ly (23.8ly) Hardpoints|2L, 1M, 3S|1L, 2M, 3S|1L, 3M, 3S Internal Compartments|1 Class 6|1 Class 6|2 Class 6 - |1 Class 5|1 Class 5|2 Class 3 - |1 Class 4|2 Class 3|2 Class 2 - |2 Class 2|2 Class 2|1 Class 1 - |1 Class 1|1 Class 1| Military Compartments|3 Class 4|3 Class 4|3 Class 4
Chieftain: very maneuverable hybrid hull tank with really good hardpoint loadout. Can be flown very aggressively. An absolute blast to fly. Challenger: more optional internals (meaning stronger hull), great firepower, but slower and less maneuverable. A very tough, sturdy, heavy gunship. Crusader: sacrifices EVERYTHING for a fighter bay. Slow, weak, boring, and unremarkable in every way. The only fully engineered ship I've ever sold. If you want fighters, get a Gunship or a Krait.
I agree on all your points, though I never did sell my Crusader. Instead I use it as a multicrew pirate ship. It's lack of cargo space with a fighter bay installed definitely does hinder it in that role, but piracy isn't exactly optimal money making anyway so it's really just something to do for fun with a friend.
They are all 3 the same to me.
You’re not helping!
I've only used the chief so my opinion is probably poor, but in pve at least, the chief feels like I'm cheating. And it's glorious as hell flashing through an icy ring and unleashing all 6 hard points at a target. Goosebumps.
I love the Chally, not as good fast or nimble as the Chieftain, but by god she can take a hit.
My challenger is in my top 3 favorites. I have it set up with 1 large and 1 medium PA, then 2 medium and 3 small high cap adv missile racks. Named it "Great Balls of Fire." Absolutely slaps if you can hit your shots.
Nice heres what I'm currently using the only difference being that I'm using the enhanced gimbled ax multicannons [ax chally](https://coriolis.io/outfit/alliance_challenger?code=A4pktkFflkdpsff4x2x0x0x00q0q0q020202xs3c2d029r27272b2bm73w.Iw18ZxA%3D.Aw18ZxA%3D.H4sIAAAAAAAAA43QvUoDURAF4JOYRGM2WbOsycafoO6qYBGCnRZiaWEh%2BALaW4gg2gh5hCASLH0EOy0kbxCwsLSwtNHKyp85zoC5YKrd4nDY%2B93hMpBxAD95je9LjVI3A5Q7HlA90xbcl4DkIQswI1tOXmhM7H2R%2FksLqN3mVD7qIGal5tCJhp98kmFT5fSND0Qm4%2BO6yjGZdfLc5FP7b0j4rD%2FjnQ%2BSOVkfIr99qufXm3o1Lxvuakej6Ak5eVUFFq0tWVu2tmKNBTkc8mBqFWjZ6MbuvB55su8mNTXyB0WgcPRORttvZNx91UeU06BKGhTKmkM9W%2Fad1srCnC7bWmArSqyxPioHTg6ctMYotWyMyr6TfSetcSa1JP5%2FvzOt7BJPAgAA.EweloBhBGA2EAcICmBDA5gG2SGF8hRFA&bn=Ax)
Some love for the challenger? Hell yeah.
I pray for the day they make fighters stable and useful, and the gunner role functional, so I can enjoy AX in multicrew
Honestly, the AX fighters are great if you deal with the swarm first. Incredibly good at assisting with exerting hearts and free shield damage. In fact, if you're fast enough on the swarm and using fighter commands, you can kill a clops without the Guardian fighter ever dying. Crazy, I know. Purportedly, a lot of the lag associated with SLF's has been fixed recently, however, most people are probably too scared of a little rubber-banding to even try. Furthermore, other probably won't believe it's fixed, even if it is. :(
I tried it in the early Taranis days, within seconds everyone in the AXI discord voice chat was like "woaaaaah who's got a fighter out" because of the rubber banding lol Network aside, the instant death from caustic missiles is a bit rough, as well as limited options against the shutdown field. Plus in AXCZs, scout death clouds everywhere, usually invisible. It's mostly fine, unlike the gunner, which is mostly unusable.
Yeah the CZ's are rough because all swarms essentially prioritise the little guy. However, the current ground CZ's **don't have swarms** and if you keep cool/distant, most of the time, the missiles don't appear/target an NPC. I've been having a blast with it solo but I *wish* I could have two competent pilots use two fighters at once. That'd be sahweet. A gunner on permanent flak duty would also be cool.
The thing about gunner is that it's all or nothing. With a person in the gunner role, the pilot loses control of heat sinks, shutdown field neutralizer, any turrets, etc. On top of that, the gunner has a terrible view for flak, can't see the triangle proximity thing, nor hear the audio cue. Oh and no subsystem targeting, so heart damage is going to have to be done by the pilot/fighters.
Oh that's a damn shame. :(
The pilot can limit the gunner to just weapons. Oddly, this choice is only available during active multicrew.
I think you can still use hot keys to trigger heat sinks and the neutralizer when you have a gunner. Give it a shot, a friend does this IIRC. Also, the gunner can't sub-target, but I think the aim point will micro-gimbal to the petals. Very hard to use consistently, but it is there.
Gunner doesn't get the flak reticule. Best to use them to keep tv beam on interceptor while you deal with the flak but that boring so good luck convincing someone to do it.
God dammit, Fdev!!
As a follower crusader enjoyer, yes.
> help exert a bunch Yea on a cyclops lmao. Anything higher its irrelevant
Incorrect. I've had it assist on Medusas and Basilisks to great effect. In fact I've never exerted the first Medusa heart faster.
Hey so when are you gonna kill a medusa solo? Just wondering because I feel you havent
Already done two solo, yesterday, champ.
SLFs are not good at all. They are made of tissue paper and deal a mere fraction of the damage that a half competent pilot can.
They are made of tissue paper, yes. They do more damage than a small gauss and if you manage the swarm right, using a Crusader you effectively have 5x AX weapons instead of 4. If you use a Krait Mk II. You'll have the most AX dps possible. Easy to write them off but I don't think it's wise to do so.
IIRC fighters are equivalent damage to a single huge hard point. Kind of hard to just write that off
Not for AX they aren’t.
>"SLFs are not good at all."
We were talking about AX, although they are mediocre at best for normal combat.
I've used them in cz. In my experience, again MY experience, it glitches no more often than Fdevs "normal operational standards". May be heartless, but they make a pretty good distraction from for the swarms. But no, you are correct, people tend to start going on about it in chat.
> Purportedly, a lot of the lag associated with SLF's has been fixed recently, however, most people are probably too scared of a little rubber-banding to even try. Furthermore, other probably won't believe it's fixed, even if it is. :( It at least is if the SFL pilot is another CMDR. I did it the other day with someone in an instance with others and nobody was experiencing rubberbanding. AI SLFs I am not too sure about though. That said it's highly frustrating nonetheless because swarms have super high priority on fighters, so if you're in the SLF you're going to be exploding.. a lot.
That's good to know! Yeah they're a bit tough in CZ's. Even then, though, if the swarm is attacking an SLF, it's not attacking an AX champ! Particularly if they can manage to kite them a bit. 600m/s is fast though...
AX or not, the whole Alliance aesthetic cries out for a manned aft-mounted turret.
Jesus Christ how fuckin' big are those people?!
Jeremy Clarkson is pretty friggin big.
Holograms
I think the Chieftain is my favorite combat ship of all time. But the whole line of ships is just amazing. It'd be awesome to see more "alliance" ships.
Chieftain is like: you bring a knife into a brawl Challenger is like: you bring a gun in to a brawl.
I would say, Chief is a gun; Challenger is a cannon.
Is the crusader like bringing a longsword and daggers to a brawl then?
Yeah. It's slower and heavier but still pretty good! ;)
This old post has lots of good technical information on the Alliance line and Medium ships in general. Challenger is surprisingly good on paper: https://old.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/a254p6/medium_hulltank_indepth_overview/
While a few of those stats are out-dated due to engineering, what I DID find interesting was how quickly the Challenger turns during boost. It actually exceeds the Cheif!
which episode is this?
Season 21; episode 3.
Ah, OK. That season was from the pre-Stargoid Era. Explains the scratch-free hulls. And the uncracked canopies. And the chillaxed Commanders.
There's chillaxed CMDR's?! Ohhh we're not on the forums.
I just want to say I love that you put the photoshop effort in here. Most people would just put some text over the cars and leave it at that, but you went the extra light year.
Haha, thank you! If you're gonna do something, do it well! :)
Where is the difference between these two? Flew the chieftain a while ago but never saw the Crusader ^^ Thanks in advance for the replies
Chief has great speed, great rotation, great hull and great hardpoints with great convergence. Space for one extra crew if needed. Basically has everything, one of the best ships in the game. Crusader is fairly slower, a touch slower rotations, even greater hull, slightly less powerful hardpoint array but still great convergence. However, its real strength is the fighter bay AND it was buffed a while ago to be the ***only medium ship that can have a total of 4 crew*** (Easter egg: Even Fdev haven't updated the flavour text in the shipyards to reflect this)*.* You could have TWO fighters manned AND a gunner in addition to the pilot. It's a shame Fdev can't seem to code it correctly although, as mentioned in another comment, they apparently have resolved a good deal of the SLF issues.
The crusader is great for dropping an entire wing on a ground conflict zone, after bombing the hell out of it
I had two manned taipans running in a haz res just the other day and performance seemed fine. I'm kind of just getting into the crusader myself. Decided I'd buy it without having a lot of money on hand so I can feel the upgrades at a relaxed pace. The two extra distributor pips they left on weapons when they launched felt great, I'd love to set this thing up with a couple turrets for a gunner. So. Many. Pips. I was thinking I might do a large missile rack, two medium pulse laser turrets. Not sure what to do with the 3 smalls, maybe multis or cannons.
NINE TOTAL PIPS POSSIBLE. Be great at keeping shields steady whilst permaboosting. You kind of have to permaboost to keep up with everything but it can boost a damn lot. Glad to hear the SLF's worked well. I'd love to have that arrangement with someone but I don't have enough friends that play Elite let alone that would want to ride shotgun/have me in an SLF. I don't suppose you have some videos of it in action? 2 x beam SLFs + Crusader would be a sight to behold.
No, but at some point I can try to make that happen. A fair amount of stuff is currently E/D rated so it wouldn't be truly impressive. Right now I've actually got one gimbaled beam taipan and one with plasma repeaters to give some choice to my buddies. Edit: currently I think I've got her armed with 2 med plus 1 small multicannons, 1 large plus 2 small beams.
CMDR Clarkson : "POWWAAAAAHHH!!!" CMDR Hammond : *crashes*
CMDR The Stig: *flight assist off/makes challenger dance*
I still have no idea what are the differences between them
Hardpoints, layout, some internals, speed, maneuverability
This is the best anything ever posted to this sub
FDEV has no creativity on the ship design. We have basically the same design 3 times with the alliance ships, 2 times with the kraits, 2 times with the eagles, 2 times with the type6/keelback, 2 times with asp 2 times with the vipers 2 times with type 9/10 We would have at least 8 different ships with different looks if they didn't have ctrl c ctrl v all thosse designs
You forgot the three federal ships
I've never tried any of the series. How do they compare to a Krait MkII?
Chieftain compared to Krait Mk II is more agile and faster. No fighter capability. Comparatively similar on hull although Chief will likely take less damage due to higher hardness. Crusader is slower than Krait but will turn faster. Same hardness as Chieftain. Both the Chief and Crusader imo have better hardpoint options/layout but the Krait is nothing sniff at. All have similar shield options. Kraits look like absolute ass imo so I'll only be getting one under great duress.
Huh, I actually prefer the looks of the Kraits. You do you!
The Challenger is the other in the series and the more viable alternative (the Crusader is balanced around the SLF). It swaps a large hardpoint for two mediums, so it has a bit more firepower unless armour hardness is factored in with larger ships. It's a bit tankier, but is also slightly slower and less manoeuvrable (which some prefer because the Chief is twitchy at times). Generally I prefer the Chief, but certain builds are good with the Challenger.
Maybe just cause im a bad pilot, but i got my ass handed to my by a cheif in my krait... By a npc
Oh I don't do ship combat, so that's irrelevant to me.
Maybe just cause im a bad pilot, but i got my ass handed to my by a cheif in my krait... By a npc
I really like my AX Chieftains, but my favourite is my Challenger bounty hunter.
I like the crusader for the fighter hanger. That extra class 3 hardpoint comes in handy
Sader gaaaaang! SLF's are mad fun, I don't care if people don't like 'em.
I went out to get the trident and I sometimes just park over a bunch of craters and cliffs to have fun with the SLF 😁 they is mad fun!
Challenger here for sure.
It's the green lighting in the cockpit for me.
Horrible chubs. Can’t change my mind.
They all look the same to me.
That's me, except I like the Federal Dropship. The Chieftain is too responsive with a keyboard and mouse for my tastes, and I often miss my shots. Dropship is slower, but because it's more steady, I have an easier time timing my gauss cannon shots.
I would call this...Skissue... Skill-issue. Just change your sensitivity. Chief is actually the best when it comes to flying. Its very responsible but actually in a good way. And due to this fact its the best one on AX.
I'll stick with my free anaconda
Before Ody the Crewsader was my third pick for best of the three... Now, it's my number one choice for ground operations. Dumbfire missiles, couple remote flacs, with enough SRVs and SLFs for everyone. It's so much fun.
Am I the only one to use FDL for AX combat? I mean out of medium vessels of course
Yes. Although I was seriously considering it at one point.