Python Mk IICombat

The Python Mk II is Faulcon DeLacy's modern answer to 'what is the best medium combat ship?'. It keeps the Python name but is a different beast — a focused gunship with four large hardpoints (a count usually reserved for large ships), two mediums for support weapons, six utility mounts, and a hull and distributor sized to actually run all of it.

Critically, it has only six optional internals and no military slots — by design. Every defensive module (shield generator, shield cell banks, hull and module reinforcement) competes for those same six bays, so building it is an exercise in deliberate trade-offs rather than slotting everything. Get the balance right and it is a medium that fights like a small large ship.

Four things make the Mk II a top-tier medium fighter:

• Four large hardpoints. A weapon loadout most mediums can only dream of — the damage ceiling rivals large ships while keeping a medium pad's access and agility.
• Power to run it. A class-6 plant and class-6 distributor mean you can fire all six guns and boost without the brown-outs that cripple lesser fighters.
• Six utility mounts. Room for a full defensive utility suite — multiple shield boosters, chaff, heat sinks and a point defence — that smaller mediums cannot field.
• A genuinely tough hull. 335 MJ base shield and a solid armour base give it the staying power to brawl, not just snipe.

Four large hardpoints and a class-6 distributor give it near-large-ship firepower from a medium pad with no rank gate; only six optionals and zero military slots cap its tank.

The 90/100 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 — medium-pad combat ships

Among mediums the Python Mk II is the firepower-and-balance pick. The Fer-de-Lance edges it for one-on-one duelling and the Krait Mk II offers more room and an SLF, but for sustained four-large-hardpoint killing in CZ and RES work, the Mk II is at or near the top of the class.

Other classes — the larger leagues

Stepping up from the Mk II means a large pad and, usually, a rank grind. The Corvette is the definitive upgrade if you'll do the Federal grind; the Cutter if Imperial. Until then, the Python Mk II delivers most of a large ship's combat capability from a medium pad — which is exactly why it's a flagship-tier choice.

The Python Mk II is not cheap — the hull alone is around 64.7M Cr — but it carries no rank or permit gate, so it is open to any commander with the credits. That makes it the most accessible top-tier combat ship: no Federal or Imperial grind required, just money.

Full A-rating and engineering push the all-in figure past 110M Cr including modules. For the capability — near-large-ship firepower on a medium pad — it is reasonable value, and considerably less total investment than a rank-gated Corvette or Cutter.

Faulcon DeLacy offers the Python Mk II as an ARX pre-built 'Stellar' package and as a Stored-access hull. The pre-built ships follow the standard rule: stock modules sell for 0 Cr and cannot be stored or transferred, but engineering the stock cores in place does not void the free rebuy.

If you took a pre-built, never strip the stock modules — only add to open slots and engineer the cores where they sit.

A three-state combat fit working within the Python Mk II's hard six-optional / zero-military constraint. Every defensive choice trades against another — this build prioritises a strong bi-weave plus reinforcement over a deep cell-bank stack. Initial is buy-only survivability; A-Rated is the RES-ready baseline; Engineered applies the house combat pattern on a heavy medium.

Buy the hull and keep the stock Lightweight Alloy bulkheads — spend nothing on armour yet. Fit the largest shield generator the class-6 bay allows, plus a single hull reinforcement — survivability first.

Arm the four large mounts with two gimballed pulse lasers and two gimballed multi-cannons, and both mediums with gimballed multi-cannons; gimbals are forgiving before engineering.

Fit a single shield booster in the first utility and leave the remaining utility and optional bays empty for now — even this minimal buy-only state is RES-capable.

A-rating priority for a heavy medium fighter:

• 1Power Distributor → A — Six guns plus boost demand the best distributor first. ~10M Cr
• 2Power Plant → A — Headroom for full weapons, shields and utilities. ~12M Cr
• 3Thrusters → A — Keep a 450t hull mobile enough to control range. ~9M Cr
• 4Shield Generator → bi-weave — Fast regen suits a brawler that re-engages constantly. ~6M Cr
• 5Bulkheads → Military Grade Composite — A real armour multiplier under the shields; pairs with the two hull-reinforcement packages this state adds. ~5M Cr
• 6FSD → A — Faster repositioning between fights and turn-ins. ~8M Cr

The full utility bank fills out here too — three shield boosters, chaff, a heat sink and point defence — backed by a 1A shield cell bank and module reinforcement for a layered, hard-to-crack defence.

The full house combat pattern on a heavy medium. Pin each blueprint at its engineer for remote G1→G5 application; visit in person for experimentals (Corrosive, Thermal Vent, Fast Charge).

Recommended order

• 1Distributor and plant to G5 first — without them the four large guns starve.
• 2Then thrusters to G5 to keep the heavy hull controllable.
• 3Weapons next: Overcharged across the multi-cannons, one with Corrosive; Thermal-Vent beams for heat-neutral shield stripping.
• 4Finish defences: Reinforced + Fast-Charge bi-weave, Heavy-Duty boosters and HRPs balanced across the six optionals.

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

Initial armour rides on stock Lightweight Alloy plus one reinforcement; A-rating swaps in Military Grade Composite bulkheads over dual hull reinforcement, and engineering — Heavy Duty G5 on the bulkheads atop the reinforcement packages — multiplies effective armour several-fold. Shields roughly double, and four large hardpoints sustain almost indefinitely. A Thermo Block shield cell bank lets you bank a cell mid-brawl without spiking heat — combat numbers that brush against large-ship territory from a medium pad.

• Respect the six-optional limit: decide shield-tank vs hull-tank before you build, not after — you cannot have both fully.
• The distributor is the whole ship — if guns brown out, fix pips and distributor engineering before anything else.
• Thermal-Vent beams let you strip shields while shedding heat, which keeps your own modules healthy in long fights.
• As a no-rank flagship it's the perfect ship to fly while grinding Federal/Imperial rank toward an eventual Corvette or Cutter.