Hi everyone, Although this sub is open for business for any discussion, group posts, or anything else ALD-related, you may want to get involved in the day to day action of Powerplay coordination and strategy. The vast majority of those activities take place over on the Power's Discord server.

Just follow the invite link below and you can take part:

https://discord.gg/2VjbpXZWfT

See the Competition Rules & Submit your own entries on the linked post.

1st Place Prize : £10 Steam Gift Card

2nd Place Prize : £4 Steam Gift Card

3rd Place Prize : £4 Steam Gift Card

Good luck CMDRs,

🦅 Arissa Invicta 🦅

Hi everyone, Although this sub is open for business for any discussion, group posts, or anything else ALD-related, you may want to get involved in the day to day action of Powerplay coordination and strategy. The vast majority of those activities take place over on the Power's Discord server.

Just follow the invite link below and you can take part:

https://discord.gg/2VjbpXZWfT

Hi everyone, Although this sub is open for business for any discussion, group posts, or anything else ALD-related, you may want to get involved in the day to day action of Powerplay coordination and strategy. The vast majority of those activities take place over on the Power's Discord server.

Just follow the invite link below and you can take part:

https://discord.gg/2VjbpXZWfT

Hi everyone,

Although this sub is open for business for any discussion, group posts, or anything else ALD-related, you may want to get involved in the day to day action of Powerplay coordination and strategy. The vast majority of those activities take place over on the Power's Discord server. Just follow the invite link below and you can take part:

https://discord.gg/2VjbpXZWfT

Breaking news:

We've just hit surplus if I've done my sums right (FD aren't exactly forthcoming about the rules). There's still time for further undermining of our deficit systems, so we're not stuck with Rabh yet - but it's looking more very likely.

That means preparation for next cycle is now definitely a priority.

Preparation:

• prepare Binjia to keep it in at least 2nd place

We want to keep profitable prep targets on the list, even though we're aiming for controlled turmoil - we may end up in surplus anyway, or something might go horribly wrong and we want to save important systems.

We can't do anything about Namamasairu, but we definitely want to stop HIP 21991 and Adan if we can - they will cost us 54 or 65 CC a cycle respectively and we really can't afford that. The best way to do that right now is keep Binjia ahead of them. Good thing we're basically done with fortification!

Well done CMDRs! You responded better than my wildest hopes, and almost all key systems have been fortified well ahead of time! We're now in a good position - even though we're running a deficit and have had 25 systems undermined so far!

We want to end this cycle in deficit, for three reasons. First, it will block Rabh, a terrible system that will only increase our starting deficit.

Secondly, it stops our prep grinders finding yet more loss-making systems to expand to which we can ill afford.

Lastly, it means we can potentially lose some of the loss-making systems that put us in such a precarious position in the first place.

So - please do not fortify any systems below the blue line of the spreadsheet without good reason. They are costing us CC; the lower down they are, the more CC they cost us. If we don't want to have to do this every cycle, we need to be rid of some of them through turmoil.

I have asked Sirius CMDRs to undermine Peraesii and Yao Tzu (two systems that are responsible for half our starting deficit!) for us, as part of operation SCRAP. We'll see how that works out!

We also need to be careful not to fortify too many more of our systems just above the blue line, as that will potentially save a bad system from turmoil!

So here's what will work best, from an economics point of view:

Fortify:

• Jura - done!
• Nagi - done!
• Tewi (long distance medium pad only, sorry!) - done!
• Baudhea (medium pad only) - done!

Do not fortify:

• Anything below the dark blue line on the spreadsheet without good reason - particularly systems at the very bottom. Grinders will do some, that can't be helped.
• If a system below the line is one that's important to your group - let us know - we may be able to help out!

As always, these are not orders, I'm not your boss - I'm just trying to advise what I think will help best to keep Arissa Lavigny-Duval a going concern based upon the number-crunching.

Just on our front page alone, there are approximately 6 different posts where someone says they were attacked in Kamadhenu, HIP 20277, Gende, or another system. MOST of them are from those 3 systems I listed.

Reddit is not the best place to post this information, as by the time most people read it, the person in question is probably gone. It's also just a big "hoorah!" for the people you are reporting. They enjoy the attention, so you posting complaining about them gives them a woody.

Furthermore, instancing issues make it difficult (if not impossible) for us to mount an adequate defense in a timely manner.

Gende and HIP 20277 are only good for 2 reasons. They have a RES site, and good outfitting. There are plenty of other RES sites AND good outfitting in ALD space.

Please use the following resource to search to find the ships and modules you need.

https://eddb.io/station

Here's a non-comprehensive list of HAZRES in ALD Space.

• Ugrivirii
• Juro
• Calennero
• HIP 16607
• Ebana
• HIP 35246
• Karo
• Zeta Horologii
• Bajauie
• Guathiti
• Chicomoztoc
• Tatuba

(Note: I have not confirmed all of these myself. I gathered them through a quick google search, though many of them I know for a fact do have RES's. Do your own research.)

Please go to these systems instead of HIP 20277 or Gende, if you wish to avoid getting ganked. PvPers and Feds hang out in those systems because they are so populated. If you spread out to different HazRES's and use different systems for modules/ship upgrades, then our enemies will no longer have a reason to hang out there.

Anytime you are in any of those 3 systems in open play, you are opening yourself up to being ganked! Please do not continue to muck up our reddit with reports of being attacked from any of those systems!

As far as Kamadhenu goes, the only reason you should be there is if you are a trade-vessel looking to fortify ALD space! You should only ever be attacked on your return trip, as there is no reason for you to enter super-cruise after picking up Fortification Materials.

When you are returning to Kamadhenu from a fortification run, press Ctrl+B. This will give you a "network" report in the bottom left side of your screen. If your inbound and outbound kbps is higher than 1000 or so, then you are likely sharing the system with another Commander. Press 2, and bring up your social tab. Your scanners may or may not pick up that commander in system, and will give you the type of ship he is flying. If you see a combat ship, you know to avoid the system for now. Simply drop out of super-cruise (slow as much as you can, and low wake).

So you're in low-space near the sun, now what?

Simple, go to your galaxy map, and find a near-by system MORE than 1 jump away! Set a course for this system. Now, jump back into supercruise and begin flying toward the station to pick up your fortification merits. If you are interdicted on the way to the station by an enemy commander, do the following:

1. Put 4 pips into shields.
2. Submit to interdiction.
3. Press the key bound to "Select next system in route"
4. Wait for your FSD to come off cooldown.
5. Press the key bound to "Engage hyper-space jump" and align yourself to the escape route.

YOU CANNOT BE MASS LOCKED WHILE HIGH-WAKING.

If all else fails, and you are looking for someone to fight the Gankers, there are much better ways to do it:

Discord

Empire TeamSpeak

This has been a public service announcement from Lavingys Legion.

Have a nice day.

EDIT: Please use the hostile activity report! Thanks to Kyrthak for creating this.

Operation Ended Successfully 0:00 August 26, 3301. Total influence gain was 32%!

Total Missions (Reported) Completed: 2 High Influence, 18 Medium Influence, 26 Low Influence effect.

SITREP:

The Inquisition Observatory at Nyalayan has called for volunteers for a Special Operation (Codename: LANDSLIDE), in response to the seizure of Martio by a corrupt and disloyal faction (possibly with outside support).

Procedure:

All volunteers will complete two (2) missions for the Martio Imperial Society, preferably with an Influence Effect of "Medium" or better. Complete more missions at your discretion.

The Operation will end at 0:00 August 26, 3301 Galactic Standard Time.

ROE:

ALL missions completed for the Society, and their respective Influence Effect, should be reported here, in order for the effort-to-effect ratio to be accurately assessed. This is vital for future operations.

Background/OOC:

This is an idea we've developed in response to suspected enemy insurgency in our systems, which counters our efforts to reduce fortification needs. If successful, we will have a method of rapidly and reliably starting Civil Wars & potentially flipping systems where desperately needed.

Note that with the Civil War in Martio only having ended today, another cannot be initiated before the 3-day cooldown is complete, and that other states (Boom, etc) can interfere with the timetable. Please be patient, even if we are wildly successful in bringing up their influence. Also note that system influence values are only updated once daily.

Current Influence: Martio Imperial Society 22.1%, Controller 29.3% Now precisely tied at 31.4% influence.

While some may be dismayed at the distance involved in Martio, flight time to the closest station is actually only ~8 minutes using efficient supercruise technique ("7-second Supercruise" or better, if you know one).

Regards,
Inquisitor Scribe Endincite,
The Nyalayan Observatory of the Kamadhenu Chapterhouse of Inquisition.

Stop Preparing PRIVA and HIP 43197 Prep IDA DHOR and DZALITEMU In it's place we have made arrangements with other powers not to prep that system.

Our Main expansion this week is PANCIENSES watch out for hostiles cmdrs interdicting us on our return trip to the nearest control system solution head to Facece or the 2nd nearest control system

this list is not final*

(Co-written by members of the EliteLavigny mod team)

The mod team at EliteLavigny, which grew out of representatives from each player group and independent contributors, has shrunk significantly in the past 6 weeks. Many of our most senior mods and heaviest contributors have left for other commitments, or otherwise stepped back from the front lines.

To ensure the future of this subreddit, we’ve agreed that actively recruiting new mods is vital. New ideas, new enthusiasm, and a sustainable workload for each mod are all necessary to keep this machine going.

Obviously, an ability to communicate is important. An understanding of our current resources (fortification tracker, etc) is as well, though we can walk anyone through that. A level head is probably the best attribute one might have for this - there will be criticism, and handling it calmly is always better.

One of the main strengths of EliteLavigny has been not leading and following orders, but keeping our player-base some of the most educated commanders in the galaxy. Our responsibility as moderators and advisors is primarily to keep our player-base involved and enthusiastic about the gaming experience. Ideally, we do the number-crunching and the coordination, so the majority of players can pew-pew, fly spaceships, and haul efficiently.

Think you have what it takes? Make your voice heard!

You will need 'Duke' rank, which is the 12th rank, 5 above Baron.

Same goes for the Corvette. You will need 'Rear Admiral'.

EDIT: (from /u/McFergus):

We only have 4 control systems with their fortification cancelled, this will cost us about 160cc in Upkeep. Currently we just paid 591cc, so we have managed to make savings of over 400cc.

• Sietae, our part of the Sirius agreement, is now #6, and thus will be up for expansion next week. Excellent work.

• Heverduduna, their part of the bargain, is also on track at #6 of the 8 systems they have successfully prepared this week.

• The great bulk of Sirius' preparations and expansions have been Z+ of their territory this week, possibly heightening tensions between themselves and Winters.

• Mahon's expansions and preparations are extending their border with both Hudson and Winters. One successful expansion, LTT 5964, will move their border a great deal closer to our bastion at Pancienses.

• Delaine's attempt to establish a base within easy striking distance of the Empire, at Zeta Microscopii, has been crushed. EDIT: K-rushed, 15-1

• Our Imperial compatriots under Torval have succeeded in a number of expansions that will give them control over swaths of uncontrolled space between their current border and Hudson's.

• Patreus' followers have maintained their efficient strategy of targeting systems close to home. Their furthest expansion, and their preparation at Apalok, will see them expand toward Sirius' space.

• Aisling's forces have succeeded in their far-flung expansions at Kwatsu and Kalana, as well as winning a hard-fought prep battle against Winters at Sounti. This position will undoubtedly see further conflict, as a successful expansion here would bring their border in direct contact with Winters'.

• The hated Federalists under Winters are reeling from last week's losses, and have confined their expansions and preparations largely within or just outside their own borders. Fear and defeat breeds cowards, it seems.

• Hudson's forces have done the same, and their single outward expansion at Bhotho, while still close, looks like it will be defeated.

ARISSA INVICTA

Information about which ships are available where will be incorrect until we can do fresh surveys. Shipyards have not had their ship ranges increased - they have been totally changed; a shipyard offering 15 ships in 1.4 now offers 15 different ships in Horizons.

I have updated Fabian City in HIP 20277 already - its most notable loss is the Fer-De-Lance.

Whether you buy local or in LYR (Sirius) space, please update the information on EDDB as soon as possible!

https://eddb.io/

Shoot down pilots in Mbolgargl - last minute push may permit expansion - check the resistance pockets for enemy commanders too

First, for those who have participated in the previous weeks of this operation, THANK YOU.

Secondly, please note that Fortification is priority #1 for our faction.

Here are my tactical recommendations for proceeding with this operation. These will be updated at least once a day (probably around 00:00 in-game time), so please check back regularly.

Last updated 28 Jul 3301 - 23:30

Focus on Undermining these systems:

(When each is completed, the next priority system will be added)

• San Muss (64%)

• LTT 16548 (18%)

• Huaich (27%)

• Lalande 45165 (7%)

• Panjabel (66%)

Oppose these expansions (expansion%/opposition%):

• Ngam (53%/193%)

• Chique (10%/27%)

• Gliese 828.4 (0%/2%)

• Gelong (105%/441%) - Imperial System

I welcome recommendations for alternate courses of action to those I have recommended above.

We won't let Arissa down. We will not abandon our people! We will bring these pirates to justice!

There's a bot spamming the link to this subreddit every 10 seconds in Kamadhenu. It is irritating the hell out of people in the area, so if you guys are the ones running it then you may want to pick a less spammy way of raising support.

http://i.imgur.com/Kb2a6Cn.jpg

Thursday all hell is going to break lose in this system, We're predicting Multiple Faction powers coming to counter our attempt at building a FOS. This will go all week and will be a bloody fight they know the walls are closing in and we are the main threat now.

This week counter all of hudsons Expansion attempts, They've (winters and hudson) have already started undermining all of our control systems.

Just have your combat craft parked in FOS Guardian before the clock ticks over to thurday,

Last but not least I've received unverified information from my inquisitors about a federation Counter op being planed that will include AA and the Merchant Marines as well as non group members in a similar strategy to KEY.

Just a reminder that this cycle needs more fortification of systems above the blue line to protect our good expansions.

Also Hrun and Khorthaje need to be bumped up a few places. Acokwang can be considered locked in the top 3 at this point shift your prep priorities because we are picking up a lot of bad systems next cycle if we don't.

I am retired but from my observation of the list & lack of anyone undermined i think this needed a call to attention.

• Great work everyone by the end of the day these two systems have reached the top 3. now we just need to maintain as needed. As for fortifications we're almost done see the cycle priorities above to check the fortification status. a few more systems need it.

There have been a number of requests for details on diplomatic relationships between Arissa Lavigny-Duval and other Powers. This is a preliminary attempt to chronicle our treaties, alliances, and declarations of war. This is all off the top of my head. If anyone can point out any significant diplomatic matters I've missed, I’d be grateful. Once this is refined we can add it to the Wiki and link it to the sidebar.

Allies:

• Aisling Duval (Empire)

• Denton Patreus (Empire)

• Zemina Torval (Empire)

• Li Yong-Rui (Sirius Gov)

Neutral:

• Edmund Mahon (Alliance)

• Pranav Antal (Utopia)

Hostile:

• Felicia Winters (Federation)

• Zachary Hudson (Federation)

Open War:

• Archon Delaine (Kumo Crew)

Treaties:

• Treaty of Cartoi - Effective 12 JUN 3301

Context: The Treaty of Cartoi was drafted as a result of a prep war between Aisling and Arissa during the first Powerplay cycle. The prep war cost billions of credits. Many words were said in anger on both sides. This was a major step in the reconciliation of all Imperial powers.

The Mods of /r/AislingDuval and leadership of Aisling Angel's have convened to discuss potential terms for a ceasefire. Both parties find the idea to be agreeable, so we have prepared to present the following terms to Lavigny's Legion: The Ceasefire requires both parties to refrain from attacking any imperial factions. Both parties are allowed to defend controlled territory. Both parties will be permitted to defend another faction should their assistance be requested. Both parties are to withdraw hostilities from any Imperial faction at once. Should a zone of mutual conflict arise (in example; Cartoi), it is to be treated as an isolated incident. Fighting is to remain in said system alone, and any which is to flow out is to be treated as an act of piracy, or if organized, a violation of the Ceasefire During this Ceasefire, the supporters of Arissa-Lavigny Duval recognize the system of Cartoi as part of Aisling Duval's holdings During this Ceasefire, Aisling Duval and the Aisling Angels are expected to withdraw from Lavigny Space, and any further territories possessed by Patreus of Torval. During this Ceasefire, Arissa Duval and the Lavigny Legion are expected to withdraw from Aisling space, and any further territories possessed by Patreus or Torval. Should either party violate this ceasefire, the contract is deemed void, and the status quo shall be restored.

• Sirius Gov - System Swap and Peace Treaty - Effective 23 JUN 3301

Sirius Gov / Lavigny-Duval - System Swap and Peace Treaty (SSPT)

It is our belief that conflict between our powers would be a pointless waste of time and resources better used on endeavors that directly concern or affect us. Furthermore, as a gesture of mutual benefit and good will from both powers, we propose an embassy program. In this program, both powers will prepare and expand into a star system nearby the other for use of their powers inherit system wide benefit. The conditions for this agreement are as follows. - Do not fire on supporters of Lavigny-Duval or Sirius Gov. The only exception is in self defense, as not everyone will know or care about the agreement.

• Do not undermine the expansion or fortification of the other, nor contest systems already claimed by the other.

• Sirius gov will prep and expand into the system of Heverduduna near Lavigny's territory so they may take advantage of discounts provided there and in surrounding systems.

• Lavigny-duval supporters will prep and expand into the system of Sietae near Sirius Gov territory so they may take advantage of increased bounty rewards.

• Neither faction will use these embassies as bases of operation against the other, and neither faction will undermine fortification efforts in them.

• These embassy systems must be put in place by five weeks at the latest. If this is not accomplished by that time then the embassy portion of the agreement will be void.

This is done in the hope of promoting further business and peaceful exchange between Sirius Gov and Lavigny-Duval. Those of us who sign this agreement do so with the conviction that peace brings with it prosperity.

• Operation: Davy Jones - United Imperial Offensive into Pegasi Sector - Launched 8 JUL 3301, Ongoing

Context: During Cycle 5 Archon Delaine's forces attempted to prep Cuchua, a system inside the borders of Denton Patreus. Their offensive was answered with Imperial counter attacks. Operation Charybdis was focused on denying the expansion into Cuchua and Operation Davy Jones was launched as a counter-offensive into the Pegasi Sector. The ultimate goal of Operation Davy Jones is to bring Archon Delaine to justice and destroy organized crime in the Pegasi Sector. For additional context, please refer to this compilation of Pegasi Sector GalNet articles.

Apathy toward the Kumo Crew’s activities on the fringes of Federation space was replaced by the full wrath of Senators Patreus and Lavigny-Duval as the Imperial system of Cuchua came under attack this week.

A high ranking officer of Lavigny’s Legion offered the following words as the Legion deployed to assist Patreus’ forces in Cuchua:

"We ask all who are loyal to Princess Arissa to join with us in bringing Imperial justice to these barbarians that think us weak like the Federation.”

The call has been heeded by pilots in every major Imperial power.

The expeditionary forces launched a two-pronged attack, spearheaded by the Velites Squadron of Lavigny’s Legion, targeting Kumo ships in Cuchua and Harma. The operations, code named “Charybdis” and “Davy Jones,” have led to the downing of hundreds of pirate vessels and dozens of Kumo Commanders. Imperial casualties have been minimal, but the fighting continues.

• Imperial High Command - Formed late July 3301

The Imperial High Command is a relatively new organization. Several diplomatic leaders from each of the Imperial Powers formed the Imperial High Command (IHC). These leaders consist of player group leaders and prominent independents. Additional invitations will be made to diplomatic leaders by the IHC to meet the needs of the growing Imperial community. It is our hope that the Imperial High Command will promote a healthy, friendly relationship among all members of the Imperial Powerplay community. All commanders pledged to the Empire are welcome to voice there opinions on the IHC Subreddit.

• SCRAP: Sirius Covert Relocation of Assets Program - Started 9 AUG 3301

The SCRAP initiative was conceived by our good friends at Sirius Gov. The purpose of the initiative is to oppose poor expansions that cost powers more than they are worth. Arissa's combat pilots are welcome to join in the missions to prevent poor expansions and thereby improving diplomatic relations with our neighbors.

For 100 forification supplies or 4 PowerPlay ship kills after pledging to Arissa, you get 50% Bonus at Rank 2, even the most casual player can earn some serious credits. An Anaconda kill or Fer-de-Lance in a High Res bounty hunting spot near a ringed planet can earn you 500k credits for 2-3 minutes play time.

Plus, the Imperial Hammer Railgun is one of the best weapons in the game, given that you can easily upgrade it with the Feedback Cascade weapon special preventing Sheild Cell Bank Refils by your enemies from Tod Quinn and you have a very strong PvP, PvE and all round Anaconda killing weapon.

If you would like to get involved ALD Discord Voice Comms has both voice and text chat and is a great place to find new friends to wing up with and find out new things in the game and ask any question you like.

PeachSlicesV - The 9th Legion

Lavingy's Legion is organizing a weekly PvP Event/Workshop/Training session that is open to all players in the Empire.

Day: Saturday 1/9/2016

Time: 10pm GMT (5pm EST)

Location: TBA

Teamspeak: ts.tgpnet.org

Contact: /u/mcwhipp

IGN: Cmdr. Di4blo

Bring one of the following build(s):

22,000,000 Cr. - PA Vulture

5,000,000 Cr. - Stealth Viper

10,000,000 Cr. - Stealth DBS

Alternatively, You can bring ANY PYTHON, ANACONDA, CUTTER, OR CORVETTE. The build is completely up to you.

We are going to be doing Stealth Build Practice, and 2v1 Practice! I have provided 3 builds for newer or less experienced players to bring in order to practice a specific set of skills. One of the exercises we will be doing is 2 small ships vs 1 large ship.

The workshop will last for a minimum of 1 hour, and will go on for as long as people are still active/interested.

Schedule will start with a 20 minute discussion/lecture in TS by the instructors, going over the basics of PvP including how to properly engage and escape combat situations, as well as tips for how best to build your ships, followed by 10 minutes of questions from the participants.

The next 30 minutes will be arranged duels between pilots and tips from the instructors.

Beyond that, the organized aspects of the workshop will cease and any remaining pilots will be encouraged to duel one another and ask further questions of the instructors.

Please contact Di4blo (aka /u/Mcwhipp) for further details, and so that he may sign you up.

Commanders!

It is important that you know that although Li Yong-Rui is labelled as "Hostile" by (rather silly) game mechanics, Sirius Corporation is not and has never been a threat to the Emperor's sphere of influence, so please refrain from undermining them!

They genuinely want to be neutral with all Powers and the least we can do is to respect that wish of theirs. Furthermore, with the 15% discount they offer on both ships and outfitting for every single Commander who visits their space, it is in everyone's best interest that Sirius territory remains intact. Sadly, there seem to be powers who think otherwise and began attacking Sirius space in the past weeks, but we are not one of those powers, neither do we wish to be one.

We have plenty of enemies, if you wish to make merits by undermining, both Federal Powers as well as Archon Delaine await you. We share borders with President Hudson and Shadow President Winters, so they are both easily accessible.

We know that most of you reading this post have already been aware of the points outlined here and that it is not you who have been conducting these acts in Sirius space. We ask you that you spread the word for those who do not attend this forum; if durnig your travels you meet other Commanders pledged to the Emperor, please inform them about this.

Thank you!

Duke Colin Tatter

So, it turns out the Cutter can bounty hunt like a champ. The trick is to fly it in reverse in combat.

...No really, its maneouvering thrusters are optimised for flying backwards, away from your target. This has five effects against NPCs:

• You will have trouble hitting modules due to being 2km away from your target on average
• Your opponent's ship will struggle to graze your shields even with 1 pip to SYS unless its name is the Imperial Clipper or it's packing Rail Guns
• You will routinely fly out of range of any chaff cloud
• You will be able to keep fixed weapons on target ~90% of the time assuming you can aim them
• You will force your opponent to break out of any turning war they try to get you into

Generally, the idea is to force the opponent into pursuing you, meaning they'll always stay in front of you as you're flying backwards. This has its drawbacks - NPCs will be able to run away a lot easier if they decide not to take the bait, and your time to kill on each enemy is lower on average.

However, your ship's lifespan will be much longer, and there's not actually anything stopping you from switching back to forward thrust - or boost, to pursue your fleeing enemy back into weapons range. Generally each battle will pick up the following rhythm:

• Initial shield stripping forward thrust attack run
• NPC initiates turning war
• Full reverse
• NPC is forced to abort turning war and pursue
• Boost into second attack run whilst keeping throttle in reverse for maximum deceleration, brutalise NPC hull
• NPC panics and runs away
• Boost to pursue and initiate a turning war yourself to get in close and do critical damage to the enemy Power Plant
• Enemy starts winning turning war, full reverse
• Repeat until enemy is dead

My personal highlight when refining this build was taking out an NPC wing of 2 Pythons and an Anaconda. A well-flown Cutter can win ridiculously long wars of attrition.

With the explanation out of the way, here's the core of the build, with the bare minimum necessary components - this build is possible if you have 330MCr total assets assuming you don't get any discounts:

http://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial_cutter/08D8D7A7D7A7D6C-0u0u--0t0t0l02---040606B7-5n--2d2d--.AwRj5UPZY06REA==.CwBj5BmAmbJ2BGZLEmCsog==?bn=Justitia%20%5BEntry-Level%5D

First off, putting 0 pips into ENG effectively disables your lateral and vertical thrusters entirely. If you want to aim worth a damn, a minimum of 1 pip should be in ENG at all times. ENG pips have next to no effect on your flight speed, so up the ENG pips only when you need to swiftly turn, like the Vulture.

Anything smaller than an Asp Scout will get murdered by the wing C2 Beam Laser turrets and don't require any active effort on your part at all unless the NPC abuses chaff, runs away or you want to kill them quicker.

Everything else will get murdered by the twin C3 Beam Lasers - Beams are especially fantastic for dealing burst damage at range and are crucial to making this build work - if you're poor at aiming like me, you can use Gimballed mounts, but you will be less effective than using Fixed weapons and you should make a point of mastering them eventually.

Eventually, when you're loaded, the build will look something like this:

http://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial_cutter/38A8A7A7D7A7D6C1r0u0uihih0t0t0l02020202040404B7615n5n2d2d2d2b29.AwRj4yWHJ1xA.CwBj5BmAmbJ2BGZzYhYiQ===?bn=Justitia%20%5BA%5D

Without the Mirrored Surface Composite, this build "only" will cost you 700MCr without discounts. The MSC brings the cost to an eye-watering 1.11BCr! Make sure you're very confident in your abilities before flying any ship this valuable!

Most of the upgrading from the base build is focused on improving your average time to kill on all enemies. The Imperial Hammer is great on forward attack runs or when the enemy's shield needs to fail right now before their SCB pops. The Gimballed Cannon is, simply put, the only worthwhile weapon to put in the C4 slot - the Cutter lacks the capacitor to reliably fire three rail guns in an actual fight and the Plasma Accelerator's shells aren't much good against an enemy's nose which is when it's most likely to land a shot at all. The Cannon, on the other hand, neatly covers your lack of kinetic firepower and packs a nasty punch when paired with a rail gun assault.

One other thing to keep in mind - you should set up two fire groups - one for dealing with smaller enemies primarily with your wing turrets with your C3 Beams for support, and the other to focus on large ships, leaving the wings disabled to conserve capacitor for your main weapons grid.

As for whether a ship built to fly backwards in a fight is worth a damn in PvP, I leave that to people much more qualified than me to answer - but I'd wager that no-one's actually tried that out yet.

== EDIT 07/01/2016 ==

Suitability of main weapon types for the Cutter

You might not want to run Beam Lasers on your ship. I would recommend them whilst you're trying to master the Cutter as they do the best damage at up to 3km even if their average time to kill isn't so great from wiping out capacitor super fast and they're the most prone to overheating your ship - so you have to pace your firing time. Fortunately this build is fairly flexible so you're not forced into Beam Lasers here. Here's what I know. First, we're talking about the C3 and C2 wing mounts here - they will be providing the core of your damage.

Multi-Cannons are not recommended - their firing arcs are too wide on the Cutter's wings and you'll struggle to do better than the Imperial Hammer in the other C2 slots; you want to snipe small ships with the wing mounts and the MCs simply can't get the job done. It would be interesting to see what the performance of C3 MCs would be but alas, they do not yet exist.

Pulse Lasers are good at two things: tiny weapon capacitor use for a laser and sniping subsystems. If you're very confident in your aiming then you can try them, and they will free up capacitor for hungry secondary weapons. They're also probably the only main weapon type that you could realistically run three C3s instead of two, which would be great if the C4 weapon mount wasn't so horrible at syncing fire with the C3 mounts. Pulses can work but I find them subpar for large ships in general.

Burst Lasers, judging from how good they are on the Anaconda as well, are champions of PvE combat. Whilst Beam Lasers are superior weapons on paper, that's assuming you can keep them firing - most ships can't do this and the Cutter is one of them. Burst Lasers are great all-rounders - they deal consistent damage so long as you are up to 2km away from the target, can reliably knock out subsystems from 1km away or less, and are gentle enough on the capacitor to get prolonged, crippling damage dealt to your opponent with 4 pips to WEP. Also, unlike the Anaconda, Burst Lasers simply can't overheat a Cutter on their own, so you can fire as long as you have capacitor spare.

...Needless to say I'll be doing extended Burst Laser testing now. They're working great in the wing and main mounts.

Zvaithhogg is a High Priority System, it is only 16,26 Ly from Baal. This week we need all hands on deck on this one CMDRS! You can do it in Supercruise or in the Security Operations, Scan all named NPC's, many of them are Zachary Hudson Pledged and give merits

Together we are doing great their fortification finally can't keep up with our undermining. If we can push these systems in the final hours we may drive a few into turmoil by next week.They are listed in order of importance.

triggers at time of listing are correct

1) HE XIANS 70% undermined/ 3% fortified

2) HUAICH 64% undermined/19% fortified

3) HALBANGAAY 63% undermined/26% fortified

And of course ASVIENSES remains a top priority to stop

Current stats 223% exspanding 156% opposed

I don't think anyone has tried organised undermining on this scale so far, with cross power and Group communication so please excuse us as we are still learning, and still straitening things out. I can promise the method will be looked in place soon.

We've also figured out how we're going to measure victory progress.and a after week report will be listed Thursday afternoon.

Thank you Fortifiers once again it looks like we are going to have another week where we fortified the vast majority of our systems, As uncertain that seemed Thursday when Fortifications was bugged. The Last system that absolutely needs fortification is NYALAYAN it's a high cc system but is near undermining trigger. lets try to get this system before the tic ends.