The Fer-De-Lance - The Combat King? [Elite Dangerous Ship Review]

The Fer-De-Lance (also known as the FDL) in Elite Dangerous is Zorgon Peterson's choice for the professional bounty hunter - it's a medium ship that's been created purely for combat, rather than being a jack of all trades.
To many, this ship is the meta for combat, but is it all it's cracked up to be? Is it overrated? Can it be used for other roles? Let's take a look...
All content taken from Elite Dangerous: Odyssey.
#elitedangerous #elitedangerousodyssey #Fer-De-Lance #ZorgonPeterson
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[@gamingsnipsandbits]

Took way longer than I planned to release this one - first delay was waiting for Update 18 in case new ship information dropped - then I had to do a small edit to the script when some information on the Python MK2 dropped a couple of days after Update 18. Anyway it's here now - enjoy & o7 🚀

[@MugenNiFukuzatsuna]

Great review. And I agree My FDL sits in my hanger mostly because unless you are fighting other commanders or some rare ELITE level NPCs who also have FDLs that aren't built like trash, it's generally overkill.

[@Sir-Complains-a-Lot]

Nice review! Allways a pleasure to hear your based opinion. Although without wanting to rain on your parade, this a pve review for ship that really beginns to shine in PvP. Not that you cant do pve in it, but lets be honest NPCs are dumb, their builds make no sense and they always do the same. If you start fighting other cmdrs the huge skill ceiling that is in the game becomes very apparent very quickely by hands of the FDL and guys like virtuallyglace or other magicians of the stick. Cheers!

[@virtuallyglace]

agree . still good video though :)

[@Sir-Complains-a-Lot]

@@virtuallyglace I really wasnt trying to beat on this fine ass review, but it is true, as you know, NPCs dont really bring out the best in combatpilots, other cmdrs do and its then when you can appreciate the FDL mite.

[@Tamburello_1994]

You sound like a lonely griefer. Not sure why you're worried about who I'm fighting, or my skill level.

[@Sir-Complains-a-Lot]

@@Tamburello_1994 I am pvp pirate and through that i got tons of friends ingame. Most people i meet understand its just a game and pvp fighting is fun as hell. So theres literaly no reason to be bitter or to project your hurt feelings onto me.

[@virtuallyglace]

@@Sir-Complains-a-Lotyea ik didn't think you were

[@powerline4564]

Nice video. We need more content like this.

[@bozo6049]

In theory, I'd love this ship. In practice, I CAN'T STAND that stupid beam in the cockpit.

[@WarpRulez]

The FDL's weak point is its extremely limited internal compartment space. Only a total of 17. I prefer the Krait Mk2, which has a total amount of compartment space of 35. What does a combat ship need that much module space for? Shields and a boatload of hull and module reinforcement packages, of course. My Krait can soak up more damage than you could ever throw at it. I have been bombarded by a fully equipped FDL for 15 minutes straight in PvP combat, and my Krait wins by its sheer capacity of soaking so much damage.

[@Nafresreom]

Great video for a legendary vessel :D

[@wkcw1]

These ship designers must have been fans of the ship designs in KP Outer Spacer crisps…

[@RealBelisariusCawl]

I tend to fly the big ships and function as the main muscle and bullet sponge of my group. I’ve got a well-engineered conda and I’m on my way to the Vette. I’ve got the money to buy it and most of the money to upgrade it; just a matter of time and a few more good trade runs.

[@leonardomiotti3181]

I love federal corvette, but against npc's, its abusive, i prefer FDL

[@Soundwave142]

I said something similar on the Mamba video, the usual consensus is that the FDL is better than the Mamba. One of which is maneuverability, though I wonder if that is really an issue for the Mamba. Considering it's weapon mounting points I wonder if it can pull lead better than FDL? The FDL has four guns on the side of the ships which may cause a issue getting the ones of the other side a good firing angle (on the bright side you can fire some of your weapons if you target is about to pass you) and the Class 4 hardpoint on the bottom which means you have to pull hard to get a good firing angle unless you mounted a laser there. Another thing is that the Mamba can slow down quickly making it more maneuverable in a sense. I do not really disagree with with the assessment overall assessment, the FDL is suited for the fighter role while the Mamba is suited for the interceptor role.

[@perfect_sinner]

Ship you can destroy on FDL depends only from your skill, feeling of this ship and build Oh well, I'm about PvP :)

[@jaquan123ism]

i call the fdl a spicy Dorito it my favorite bounty hunting ship besides my vette

[@liao2211]

When are you gonna review the Federal Assault Ship and the Imperial Cutter?

[@BannorPhil]

I fucking **LOVE** my FDL. Spent MANY hours in it, and achieved MANY kills.

[@virtuallyglace]

good video .. FDL mite :DDDD

[@sorrymyfault9309]

Dont like the hardpoint underneath and the view from the cockpit is a disqualification.

[@SPIR-MiffyJupiter]

my Fer-De-Lance never sunk by any NPC ( i don't play PVP ) , only Thargoid hunted me down once !!!!!

[@rednarok]

krait mark 2 didnt combat made? i thought the phantom was the explorer. i love my krait 2 for combat but im relatively new

[@powerline4564]

Krait mk2 can be a decent combat ship because of its hardpoints and distributor. But it has a massive hitbox and poor flying characteristics.

[@Squidgy55]

It's a brick. I bought one because my Vulture was struggling on a combat contract. I sold it after an hour. I don't know how people use it for combat. Could be awesome for exploration perhaps but in a high intensity battle, it's a sitting duck.

[@rednarok]

@@Squidgy55maybe you need to engineer it. its unlimited boosting, so turning is one of the best!

[@Squidgy55]

@@rednarok I found the problem. I kept picking up wing missions on my own. Engineering helped massively.

[@williamvorkosigan5151]

Not sure what the hype is for the FDL. Like the Cobra, I think it is over rated. Perhaps because I don't use fixed weapons. Python for the win. I might have to switch my multies and beams around. I have all beams with Multi for the Huge. I think you went the other way so I should try that.

[@Sir-Complains-a-Lot]

Its the ability to completley outmaneuver opponents, no other ship does that like the FDL. I have to disagree strongly: The Cobra isnt overrated at all. I fairly regulary kill big pvp ships, other smalls or even badly flown mediums pvp ships with mine. For pve, yeah its meh, same with FDL, but pvp is a very different ball game.

[@virtuallyglace]

i don't think its emphasized in this video but its flight model is quite literally the most unique and fun flight model in the game (manuverability, latverts, boost, etc are all crazy) and thats why its the best pvp ship and why its hard to fly to its max potential. is also why i dont mind it being the one meta pvp ship :)

[@Mimeniia]

Stats wise the Mamba beats the FDL marginally on everything except shields which is marginal as well. The Mamba is slightly faster, more agile and slightly packs more firepower. Dont ask me how CMDRS ended up with the FDL. EDIT: The FDL is slightly more agile.

[@oes13]

Got them both and i feel better in the mamba. But it just a looks for me. Both are good just dont like the adder style design on fdl 🤣 Edit.. adder at least has a nice interior

[@virtuallyglace]

stats wise the fdl can actually keep time on target turnfighting and the mamba cant

[@Mimeniia]

@@virtuallyglace which stat is that?

[@Sir-Complains-a-Lot]

Ever tried outturning an FDL? The reason its the best.

[@Mimeniia]

@@Sir-Complains-a-Lot Yes...with an Imperial Eagle 🤷‍♂

[@Underb00t]

When I run into a PVP fight with someone using this, I'm boned.

[@virtuallyglace]

practice makes perfect :)

[@Sir-Complains-a-Lot]

same here. If its well flown i get smashed.

[@joewilson1052]

FDev really sacrewed over the console peeps. I'll never play another game from them.

[@Whyiseverythingthesame]

You are like 4 years behind. This game is a dead man walking.

[@gamingsnipsandbits]

I dunno, when I was bopping around with my Mamba last week in open, it seemed far from dead - plus I enjoy putting these together so that's the main thing 🙂 (Oh and with the new ships coming and a few other bits like Powerplay 2.0, I think FDev are breathing new life into the IP that put them on the map to begin with)

[@Whyiseverythingthesame]

@@gamingsnipsandbits You're not understanding. The company that makes this game killed it on consoles. You're on PC by yourself with like a few hundred people. Obsidian Ant doesn't care about this game anymore. He ran a pole and we all voted that the game died. I want to play this game but I cannot because the developers killed it for me. Literally nuked the game and stopped taking care of it. The servers stayed up until the end of the contract that they have with Microsoft. I can't play this game anymore. Well the last time I tried to play it was like a year ago and I couldn't connect to any server because no servers exist. So now it's just some $40 title screen.

[@Sir-Complains-a-Lot]

Nonesense. 9000+ players viewed the destruction of the first titan in the ongoing war last weekend. There will be 4 new ships coming out this year. I play almost every day as a pvp pirate and there are no days where i not meet 5+cmdrs minimum. Youre really out of touch, so maybe inform yourself at least a little bit before you keep embarrassing yourself even further.

[@Whyiseverythingthesame]

@@Sir-Complains-a-Lot only 9k. See I doubt Commander Harry Potter's back. Back when there were like 300,000 people playing. Look at the steam chats...

[@Sir-Complains-a-Lot]

Youre in denail of reality. You say its dead game walking yet a few thousand still play everyday, with even more coming back now for the big Goid final battled and no shortage of cargo to steal or fights to be had. Youre the guy in that meme that screams at the other gamers:"quit having fun! Its a dead game!" And we will keep ignoring you and keep playing until the day the servers shut down, probably im a few years.