Seen a lot of questions lately about ship builds, and people wanting up to date builds. Figured I would list my builds. Unlike others my builds are made for almost exclusively playing solo. To that end these builds focus on balancing damage with survivability. This won't mean the builds are always different, but certainly in some cases it is. A solo player has to think differently to one that always groups. For now I will do my main 5 ships, which I run with on most toons. I'll add other lesser used ships in time. This is a post 5.5 build guide, so is relevant for the current meta (written at time of 6.3)

Starguard / Rycer (Piledriver Build)

Heavy Laser cannons (Armor Ignore + Shield Damage)

Quad laser canons (Reduced Power cost + increased hull damage)

Proton Torpedos (increased firing arc + increased ammo)

Quick charge shield (reduced cooldown)

Retro Thrusters (increased turning)

Damage Capacitor

Regeneration Extender

Large Reactor

Regeneration thrusters

Crew:

co-pilot - B3G9/ Blizz

Offensive - B3G9/ Pierce

Defensive - Doc / Writch Hurley

Tactical - Iresso / Lokin

Engineering - C2N2 / Blizz

This is a very mobile build. Its my go to ship when under massive pressure / focus because with it's bags of engine power and burst damage it can evade for ages and then take your opportunities to burst someone or fire a lucky Torpedo. Regeneration Extender helps with the high drain of the Piledriver build, and the wider Arc on protons makes up for the lack of Efficient Targeting, and I think makes them easier to lock regardless. I ran both Clusters and Concussions in the past, and I actually prefer both over Protons, but I went back to Protons because of the "lucky Proton kill factor". That is to say you see a break and launch one, netting a kill, that the other missiles won't. Hyrdrospanner for Co-pilot to mitigate damage. Strikes have to get into the heart of the action, and an aggressive co-pilot makes it heard to survive when under pressure.

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Pike / Quell - Node tank build

Light Laser Cannon (Improved arc and tracking + shield damage)

EMP Missile (Increased Damage + Engine suppression)

Concussion missiles (Increases range + Engine Targeting)

Quick Charge shield (reduced cooldown)

Koiogran turn (increased turning)

Reinforced armor

Frequency Capacitor

Efficient Targeting

Turning Thrusters

Crew:

co-pilot - B3G9/ Blizz

Offensive - B3G9/ Jaesa Willsam

Defensive -Doc / Writch Hurley

Tactical - Scourge / Selena Rok

Engineering -C2N2 / Blizz

This build is designed to hug nodes and do the job of a Scout when it gets a bit too heavy for a Scout to survive. With EMP it brings good team utility. Keep the node EMP'd by firing at things that cannot evade, like turrets, mines and drones. This makes it easier for your team to clear the node. LLC provides nice damage at close range, frequency cap gives the best damage. Double turning lets you acquire targets on nodes quicker, and K-turn is unlikely to send you off node when you use it. I tried an evasion build, but 21% really isn't a lot and I didn't think it helped. Clusters also work very well in place of Concussions. Again Hydro-spanner to mitigate damage.

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Flashfire / Sting - Evasion build

Burst Laser Cannon (Improved Arc and Tracking + Shield damage)

Rocket Pods (Increased Ammo + Plasma warhead)

Targeting Telemetry (Threat Evaluation + Precision Targeting)

Distortion Field ( Disable Missile Lock)

Power Dive (increased turning)

Lightweight Armor

Damage Capacitor

Large Reactor

Turning thrusters

Crew

Co-pilot - Akaavi Spar / Selena Rok

Offensive - Qyzen Fess / Jaesa Willsam

Defensive - Ora Wogana / Torian Cadera

Tactical - Akaavi Spar / Selena Rok

Engineering - C2N2 / Blizz

The ultimate dog fighter, the King of node clearing, the Alpha ship. This is the bread and butter, tried and tested conventional wisdom build.You want everything you can into accuracy here, so that means tier 4 left on BLC and Crew passives for +6% accuracy and wider arc. The crew passive for wider arc actually gives extra 4 degrees, not 2 as stated. BLC is supreme at the extremity of its arc, it can do things unlike any other weapon in the game. Something you have to learn to do or see in video to appreciate. Wingman and TT combined with the aforementioned accuracy buffs make it supreme in clearing nodes and taking on any other ship in a dog-fight. Survival comes down to fancy flying / using Line of sight, and well timed use of Cooldowns. Power Dive also adds mobility and survivability compared to Retro thrusters. If you're trying to learn this ship, I found it helpful to use Range Capacitor and Range option on tier 5 of TT. It helps with getting used to BLC while you learn to get close, but ultimately you need to be changing those options to damage, as there is no substitute for being very close to your target with this ship and build.

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Novadive / Blackbolt

Light Laser Cannon (Improved Arc and tracking + shield Damage)

Rocket Pods (Increased Ammo + plasma Warheads)

EMP field (Missile Lock Immunity + Engine suppression)

Distortion Field (Disable Missile lock)

Power Dive (increased turning)

Lightweight armor

Frequency Capacitor

Dampening Sensors

Regeneration thrusters

Crew

Co-pilot - Akaavi Spar / Selena Rok

Offensive - Qyzen Fess / Jaesa Willsam

Defensive - Ora Wogana / Torian Cadera

Tactical - Akaavi Spar / Selena Rok

Engineering - C2N2 / Blizz

Same principles as the Flashfire / Sting, but with single turning and regeneration thrusters instead of double turning, makes it a bit more useful at Denon where you need more engine reserves. EMP field provides good team utility. Use it wisely as its on a 45s cooldown, don't spam it like most Tier 1 Scout pilots, and definitely don't use it as a substitute for not being able to shoot.

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Quarrel / Mangler - Ion build.

Burst Laser Canon (Improved arc and tracking + shield damage)

Ion rail gun (Area damage left + Engine disruption)

Slug Rail gun (Improved damage to hull + increased damage)

Distortion Field (Disables missile lock)

Barrel roll (increased turning)

Lightweight armor

Regeneration Extender

Large Reactor

Range Sensors

Crew

Co-pilot - Akaavi Spar / Selena Rok

Offensive - B3G9 / Gault

Defensive - Ora Wogana / Torian Cadera

Tactical - Akaavi Spar / Selena Rok

Engineering - C2N2 / Blizz

Again this is the bread and butter conventional wisdom tried and tested Tier 1 Gunship build. B3G9 / Gault in Offensive reduces the cooldown of secondary weapons, which is a must for a ship that uses Secondaries as its main weapon. Regeneration Extender is again a must, it helps with weapon power. You'll make a lot more rail gun shots with it than without. Wingman is not essential, you can play with Spanner for more survivability, or Bypass for more damage. I started with Spanner while I was getting used to flying Gunships, but you will struggle to hit evasion Scouts without Wingman. On the whole as you get better with Gunships, there is really no substitute for Wingman. I believe it actually adds survivablilty as it enables you to dispatch targets quicker, and hence come under less pressure. Otherwise survival comes down to use of cover / surroundings, Line of sight defensive flying, strafing and being able to dog-fight an attacking Strike / Scout. I use the slow on Ion rail gun as I find it to be preferential in dealing with attackers. If you only sit still and snipe in a GS or if you use cap ship for safety, and you do none of the aforementioned things here, then you are doing it wrong and only using a fraction of your ships capability. Gunships can do things no other ship can do in the way they move. To quote Sprigs "if you can't consistently beat my Gunship in a dog-fight, then I don't consider you a threat."

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You can see all these builds in action on my Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCYp7e3ccCmRwjnTgApsMlA