The Viper MK4 Review - An Improvement on the MK3? [Elite Dangerous]

[@gamingsnipsandbits]

CORRECTION: Credit to viewer Mike Hawk for pointing this out - when I'm talking about the armour at 6:27, I mixed up the strength and hardness stats.
Balls up when scripting on my part (obviously, I'm a one-man band) - if I'm talking about armour hardness, I mean strength.
I'll go hang my head in shame for a bit and make sure I'm properly caffeinated before proof-reading the next script...

[@sterlingroberts6240]

This ship is easily in my top 5 overall. I often think it’s my favorite, but I really do love the Corvette, Eagles and Diamondbacks, so I’m not totally sure yet. I’d say it’s certainly not as bad as people think. It’s honestly quite good if you know what you’re doing, be that building or piloting. I fitted out my gunship for res sites and it gets 12LY fully loaded(that’s fully engineered, lol). I had to install a guardian FSD just to get from Shinrarta to Timbaldaris(17LY). My Viper Mk IV gets like over 30 with a full combat(armor) load. Don’t quote me, but while it doesn’t have a fighter bay, that Viper has close to the same hull as the freaking gunship, especially when considering it’s a much smaller target, noticeably faster and more maneuverable. I don’t even A-rate the life support and sensors. The Viper just doesn’t care what it weighs. I’d say it needs more hull hardness and mass lock factor, though. I won’t say that 10% more maneuverability would enough to make it overpowered. I guess the final test is a few PVP matches, but that’s probably already written. Still a great ship though!
Never really considered it for exploration, but honestly, 50 LY with that 16T fuel tank and appropriately sized fuel scoop isn’t bad. I think it makes for better photos that some ships in this game, lol.

[@ryanantranxia7044]

I love your ship reviews. Are you intending to eventually cover all ships (I can wait, lol)? Hope so, as it's great to see just what can be achieved with enough time/credits. Thanks

[@gamingsnipsandbits]

Thanks - plan is to do all the ships and then maybe touch on SLFs and SRVs - then maybe moving onto some lore, but it'll take a while to get that far.
Credits aren't a problem - most of the ships are in the hanger and if worst comes to it, I'll dip into the fund that pays for my carrier.

[@Lukas_Miglioranza]

Hi! Very nice documentary! I was thinking to buy this vessel. I have 6 millions and my cobra III has the best or the second best or the third best modules I can install, but it is not engineered yet (unlocked 4 engineers, but 60 jumps far!). This is a nice ship, but there are also other very nice.

[@gamingsnipsandbits]

The Cobra is a fine ship - the Viper MK4 is more focussed on combat, but can slip into the same shoes pretty well.
With the money you've got and the ship, you should be able to funnel a little bit into upgrading the internals further and if combat is your thing, getting some time in the resource extraction sites under your belt to bring in the money for more upgrades and ships along the way.
Just remember the golden rule - always have enough credits available to rebuy your ship - preferably a few times over. Also, know when it's time to fight and when it's time to retreat, cash in and repair. o7

[@Lukas_Miglioranza]

Thank You! I'll do so. Only, sometimes I'm a little tired of changing modules for mining or combat or long-traveling (not so long with a Cobra III, however...) because is is half ship I have to work on. The 4A power plant is not always that much.
Happy Sunday!

[@brightlord-ov7cm]

Cool looking doorstop man.

[@mikehawk5492]

6:27 but the mk4's armour is not twice as hard as the mk3, they both have the exact same hull hardness of 35

[@gamingsnipsandbits]

Just checked - yep I balls'ed up - was mixing up the default armour strength and hardness stats.
Damn. Not sure how I managed to do that - probably just a moment of dumbassery on my part..

[@disciplerocks85]

I love my viper Mk4 I've got 2. Ground mission runner and a goid popper.

[@googleiscancer]

Can't believe how good your editing is man it makes some of the bigger elite creators look like kids with windows movie make lol keep em coming

[@gamingsnipsandbits]

Thanks bud, much appreciated - no chance of stopping anytime soon. Got the rest of the hanger to work through first, plus all the other ideas I've got floating around 😁

[@googleiscancer]

@@gamingsnipsandbits looks forward to your take on fleet carriers, the 7bil c grind made me stop playing for a while haha

[@Lupinicus1664]

It is possible to use the Mk IV as a (very) cheap first PvP ship. Pack it with engineered HRPs and your preference in heavy hitting fixed weapons and off you go. You can get practice doing assassination missions and readily orbit the 4million credit Corvettes hitting them at will while largely avoiding getting hit. Fun little ship.

[@clockwork6966]

im not sure why but this video is struggling to buffer for me. its not happening with any other video, just this one?

[@gamingsnipsandbits]

That's odd, hopefully just a one-off blip - did it start working eventually?

[@AssistantCoreAQI]

Oh The Mk4 Was My First Exploration Ship A Long Time Ago, Surprisingly.
I Believe I Took It Out Past Barnard's Loop Once.

[@amenditman]

I originally went from a Sidey into a Cobra. Then I got a Viper Mk4 and loved it. Think of it as a baby Python and you will not be disappointed.

[@zenairzulu1378]

great series

[@cmdrTremyss]

My first ship after the sidewinder. Never gonna hate it.

[@reesetorwad8346]

Several years ago (previous to Odyssey), I watched a Buurpit vid (still available) about a mission to attack a surface base, and the MKIV he was using seemed able to take (tank?) far more damage than a MKIII. But I'm an old mf, ignore me.

[@gamingsnipsandbits]

Yep that's about right - twice the base armour strength of the Viper III and higher than that of the Cobra III. It's a good deal slower than it's earlier counterpart, but the armour makes up for it when in the thick of it 🙂

[@austinmartin612]

Mr. Flibble the Cross... is that a Red Dwarf reference?

[@gamingsnipsandbits]

Oh yes - love a bit of Red Dwarf. I think the Hauler video has another reference too. Good spot 🫡

[@Tamburello_1994]

Good long-range combat fighter.

[@johnnyhshify]

MK4 was my first ship after the sidewinder, great looks but handles like a whale in combat. Didn't kept it long then moved to Vulture

[@BrandonOsborn404]

I don't know what yu did to this video, but it doesn't preload correctly. As far as it goes, I really prefer the IV to the III - I can outrun the cops in this thing, when necessary.

[@potteryjoe]

The MkIV is definitely a chunk. Give me a MkIII any day. I'm a terrible combat pilot, so that dragging feeling really hits me hard.

[@potteryjoe]

Maybe I just need to try it out in another role.

[@gamingsnipsandbits]

Engineering the thrusters really does help - dirty drag drives makes the MK4 much more refined to fly. Although the MK3 is the better ship to pilot, even if it's arguably much worse as an all-rounder.

[@martintownley5803]

@@gamingsnipsandbitsHaving done almost all my combat in large and medium ships so far, I find the mk3 viper too nimble and flighty and I’m always all over the place. Prefer the viper mk4 manoeuvrability, but that’s just me