Diamondback ExplorerCombat

The Diamondback Explorer is Lakon's compact long-range scout, but the same traits that make it a good explorer — light mass, a cool-running plant and tidy handling — also make it a surprisingly serviceable budget combat ship. One Large and two Medium hardpoints give it a real main gun plus a pair of support weapons, four utility mounts carry a full defensive suite, and eight optional internals (two class-4) leave room for a proper shield, cells and hull reinforcement.

Its standout combat asset is heat. The DBE barely warms up, which lets it run beams and pulse lasers hard, silent-run to break missile locks, and shrug off the thermal weapons that punish hotter hulls. The catch is scale: with no huge hardpoint, no military slots and only 150 base armour, it can't sustain a fight against a dedicated warship. It's a cheap, cool, nimble skirmisher — not a frontline brawler.

Four things make the Diamondback Explorer fight above its weight:

• Very low heat. A cool plant lets it run thermal weapons hard, silent-run on demand and resist heat-based attacks — a real combat edge no other budget hull matches.
• One Large + two Medium mounts. A genuine main gun plus two supports gives it more bite than the small-hardpoint skirmishers it sits beside.
• Two class-4 optionals. Enough room for a strong shield, a cell bank and hull reinforcement — it tanks far better than its 150 base armour implies.
• Cheap, agile, small-pad. Under 1.7M Cr, nimble enough to hold guns on target, and able to rearm at any outpost.

A genuine 1L+2M battery and standout cool-running agility lift it clear of small-pad fighters, but no huge mount, no military slots and 150 base armour cap it as a budget skirmisher.

The 65/100 headline is a verdict against the combat role's priority-ordered factors. Each factor carries a weight (its share of 100); this hull earns part of each based on how it performs against the whole field. The points sum to the rating.

Both tables rate ships for the combat role specifically. The role column is the hardpoint loadout — the raw weapon mounts behind the damage.

Same class — small-pad combat ships

Among small-pad combat ships the DBE sits mid-pack: the Imperial Courier out-shields it and the Viper Mk IV is tougher, but the DBE's Large mount and cool plant put it clear of the Vipers, the Scout and the Cobra. It's the cool, cheap pick when you want a real main gun on a small pad.

Other classes — the dedicated combat hulls

The dedicated combat hulls bring huge or paired Large mounts, military slots and far deeper tanks — everything the DBE lacks. The trade is cost, pad size and (often) a rank grind. The Diamondback Explorer's pitch is not matching them; it's delivering honest combat capability for a fraction of the price, from any pad, on a ship you likely already own.

At ~1.64M Cr the DBE is one of the cheapest hulls that can field a Large mount, and a complete A-rated combat fit stays around 7M Cr — engineered, roughly 13M. No rank, no permit, and it lands at any outpost, so the only barrier to a combat DBE is a few engineer unlocks.

That makes it an ideal first combat ship and a low-stakes platform for learning conflict zones, RES hunting and pip management before sinking credits into a dedicated warship.

A cool-running budget combat fit: a Large multi-cannon main gun, two support lasers, a full booster suite and a shield/cell/hull tank in the optionals. Initial is buy-only; A-rated is the combat-ready baseline; Engineered applies a heat-light combat pattern.

Buy the hull and fit a Large multi-cannon plus two support weapons — a real main gun first.

Add a class-4 shield generator and a single shield booster; out of the box the DBE tanks through shields, riding the stock Lightweight Alloy hull rather than armour.

Keep weapons gimballed and lean on the naturally cool plant to fire without overheating from the start — the spare utility mounts, Military-Grade Composite bulkheads, hull reinforcement and a heat-sink launcher all come with the A-rated pass.

A-rating priority for a budget combat fit:

• 1Power Distributor → A — Weapon fire and boost both lean on the class-4 distributor; A-rate it first. ~1.3M Cr
• 2Power Plant → A — Headroom for guns, shield and boosters while staying cool. ~1.3M Cr
• 3Thrusters → A — Agility keeps the main gun on target and lets you dictate range. ~1.2M Cr
• 4Shield Generator → 4C bi-weave — The first tank layer on a light hull. ~1M Cr
• 5Shield boosters + cell banks — Deepen and recover the shield to survive sustained fire. ~600k Cr
• 6Military-Grade Composite bulkheads + hull reinforcement — A second armour layer under the shield; with no military slots, the bulkhead swap is the DBE's only way to thicken the hull. ~300k Cr

The house combat pattern, kept heat-light to play to the hull's strength. Pin blueprints for remote G1→G5 application; visit in person for experimentals.

Recommended order

• 1Distributor and plant to G5 first — sustained fire, boost and a strong shield all draw on them.
• 2Thrusters to G5 so a light hull dictates range and holds its Large mount on target.
• 3Shield Reinforced plus Heavy-Duty boosters; Heavy-Duty reinforcement in the optionals to offset the thin armour.
• 4Weapons last: Overcharged multi-cannons with one Corrosive on the Large, thermal-vent beam for free cooling.

Approximate progression across the three states (figures are representative, not exact rolls):

Engineered, the DBE becomes a genuinely tough little skirmisher: a ~550 MJ shield layered over a Heavy-Duty Military-Grade hull and reinforcement, a Large overcharged main gun and an almost unflappable heat profile. It still lacks the firepower and tank to contest a high-intensity zone — the honest ceiling behind its 65 — but for the credits, no small-pad combat ship gives more.

• Lead with the Large mount — an overcharged multi-cannon with Corrosive is the ship's real damage; the mediums are support.
• Lean on the heat profile — thermal-vent beams and silent running are advantages most budget hulls don't have.
• Tank through shields and the optionals; the 150 base armour won't carry you, so layer a cell bank and Heavy-Duty reinforcement.
• Know when to disengage — against a dedicated warship the DBE's job is to pick its fights and run, not to slug it out.