Ship Build Purpose
Build Description
The middle child of the alliance line is often overlooked. However, the Crusader is a resilient platform for any PvE activity, and is particularly well suited for the protracted engagements found in combat zones. This build is designed to not only survive these long battles, but to be fun and engaging to fly while doing so. The linked build is fully engineered, but can handle Low CZs un-engineered. No Guardian or PP modules are used, but they can be added for additional improvements.
Primary Weapon Group:
3C Fixed Beam Laser (Long Range/Thermal Vent)
1D Rail Gun (Long Range/Oversized)
The Large and Small hard points directly above the cockpit have nearly identical convergence, making them ideal for a pair of fixed weapons. Since these weapons are fixed, you can keep firing on your target even if they use chaff or break your lock. The beam laser acts as a laser sight to put your rail gun on target. If you drift off target, you can release the trigger before you waste your railgun ammo. Additionally, the railgun will not keep firing if you hold down the trigger, so you can keep unloading with your beam without burning through your railgun ammo. The long range engineering gives you a range of 6k with no falloff, while the thermal vent will keep you cool and hard to target.
Secondary Weapon Group:
2F Gimbaled Multi-Cannon (Overcharge/Incendiary Rounds)
2F Gimbaled Multi-Cannon (Overcharge/Oversized)
1G Gimbaled Multi-Cannon (Overcharge/Corrosive)
1G Gimbaled Multi-Cannon (Overcharge/Oversized)
The ideal engagement range for this build is between 1k and 2k, where the falloff range of these multi-cannons start, and well outside the falloff range of conventional laser weapons. I have Incendiary Rounds on one of the Med Multi-Cannons for some additional thermal damage and Corrosive on one of the Small Multi-Cannons to soften up the armor once shields are down.
SLF:
Any fighter will work. My personal preference is a Taipan with Plasma Repeaters. Make sure your pilot is decently skilled before using a fighter with fixed weapons.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
Extremely tanky with high armor and resistance values.
Can apply damage at long range.
SLF provides additional DPS as well as distracting enemies.
Enough ammo to clear out a CZ before rearming.
Turns quickly to maximize time on target.
Cheap (and looks fantastic)
Cons:
Low straight line speed
About 50% of DPS is ammo dependent (including SLF)
Short range DPS is low compared to similar ships
SLF pilot will leach XP and credits
Materials Required
The following numbers assume the following rolls required to progress:
Grade 1 rolls - 2
Grade 2 rolls - 4
Grade 3 rolls - 5
Grade 4 rolls - 7
Grade 5 rolls - 10
This can vary greatly since rolls are randomized events, which means these are at best estimates to target.
Carbon: 84
Shield Emitters: 72
High Density Composites: 40
Proprietary Composites: 56
Shielding Sensors: 68
Vanadium: 59
Compound Shielding: 80
Core Dynamics Composites: 80
Tungsten: 80
Compact Composites: 30
Mechanical Equipment: 7
Molybdenum: 17
Worn Shield Emitters: 9
Grid Resistors: 5
Heat Vanes: 1
Specialised Legacy Firmware: 11
Chromium: 5
Mechanical Components: 19
Configurable Components: 14
Modified Consumer Firmware: 39
Selenium: 12
Cadmium: 17
Cracked Industrial Firmware: 30
Pharmaceutical Isolators: 10
Iron: 24
Hybrid Capacitors: 17
Security Firmware Patch: 2
Atypical Disrupted Wake Echoes: 11
Chemical Processors: 9
Phosphorus: 26
Strange Wake Solutions: 5
Chemical Distillery: 7
Eccentric Hyperspace Trajectories: 8
Manganese: 14
Arsenic: 23
Chemical Manipulators: 10
Datamined Wake Exceptions: 10
Galvanising Alloys: 3
Sulphur: 33
Conductive Components: 52
Anomalous Bulk Scan Data: 5
Unidentified Scan Archives: 27
Electrochemical Arrays: 34
Classified Scan Databanks: 10
Polymer Capacitors: 48
Tellurium: 10
Heat Resistant Ceramics: 3
Conductive Ceramics: 35
Conductive Polymers: 64
Improvised Components: 10
Flawed Focus Crystals: 8
Aberrant Shield Pattern Analysis: 49
Focus Crystals: 44
Biotech Conductors: 20
Thermic Alloys: 20
Precipitated Alloys: 7
Unexpected Emission Data: 5
Decoded Emission Data: 7
Germanium: 23
Abnormal Compact Emissions Data: 10
Niobium: 10
Heat Conduction Wiring: 41
Heat Dispersion Plate: 48
Refined Focus Crystals: 28
Untypical Shield Scans: 28
Exquisite Focus Crystals: 40
Heat Exchangers: 40
Ruthenium: 13
Nickel: 44
Zinc: 28
Modified Embedded Firmware: 40
Zirconium: 40
Phase Alloys: 3
Mechanical Scrap: 15
Chemical Storage Units: 5