Weaponry

Post your best tactics and strategies for getting the big bux in Vega Strike
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Sarin
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Weaponry

Post by Sarin »

I'd like to know your opinions about different weapons-favorites (and why), what you hate etc...I'm kinda at loss about what loadouts should I use. (v 0.5 stable)

Also, I'd like to know specifically your opinions about several weaps.

Razor guns-I've tried them out a bit, mounted them at my Franklin...hmm, they seem quite nice, but their great range is actually lowered by projectile speed, in encounters with Aera I hadly hit at over 5 km (with autotracking). Also, their low ammo supply and high power consumption can be problematic I think. Is there any alternative for medium slots?

Ktek beam. I'm considering this for heavy mount at my Areus. What do you think about this gun?

Aera weapons in general. Are any worth using (except for Atorps)?
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Re: Weaponry

Post by KillerB »

With the Franklin PD turrets that came as standard equipment on my Franklin, what I mount on the forward firing slots other than the tractor beams doesnt' seem to be much of a concern; the 30k range on the Fr. PD turrets usually TKO's whatever I'm after.

My favourite medium weapon actually is that Razor...sure it takes some getting used to pulling 'lead' (as in leader of the pack, not led zeppelin) on a target; watch the tracers instead of just sticking your pipper on the target's box. Once you do connect though, it really slaughters. When I'm using the Razor, I try to use it like I would a cannon in a WW2 fighter...short burts, pop pop pop, check the lead angle, pop pop pop.
Light fighters such as the Luddite Reedeemer often blow up before my second burst even gets there.

I thought ammo was a problem, since not all bases carry any ammo, and Razor ammo is confed. I found that the same trick as for reloading my Stormfires works for the Razor:
Sell your empty or low ammo count Razor launcher & then buy it back. You get a 'used' price that depends on how much ammo is left, and then have to pay a 'new' price to get it back reloaded.

Most of the ships I mount Razors on are light or medium fighters, or in the case of say the Gawain a 'Heavy' fighter which is sized more like a smaller medium fighter. Some of them can only do bursts of a few seconds at a time. This isn't really a problem for my style of fighting: hit & run. I usually come in head on dodging enemy fire (remember the crazy pilot in Wing Commander the movie who also played Shaggy in Scooby Do? "Wait for it...wait for it...MY SHOT NOW BABY!!) then open up well inside the max range of the Razor with a quick burst, a second if he isn't already so much plasma and wreckage.

:!: Capacitor size is more of a factor than reactor size for getting enough energy for these quick bursts!!

Which brings me to my favourite light weapon: the Stormfire. It has a really short range, but once you open up with it, it really tears stuff up. Like the Razor, it also does 'phase damage' which bypasses the target's shields. I've even killed Thales Corvettes while flying a Robin armed with these nasties. The biggest advantages of the Stormfire are its damage/second and damage/energy. Its biggest disadvantage of course is that it goes through ammo so quick. Those long 'search and destroy' missions usually require several reloads. Then again every fighter (and a Dodo) that I've used these on had to make lots of 'pit stops' anyhow to refuel.

The Ktek has excellent damage per second; the range is limited and the thing is pretty power-hungry, but again, if you get in close before you open up, it really tears stuff up.

The medium version of the Ion Cannon has fairly good range, aims as easy as a beam weapon even though its energy is 'packetted', and does good regular damage along with phase damage.

Barely related tidbit: The Dodo is pretty useless as either a cargo ship (smaller cargo hold than the Llama.start) or a Scavenger, but it turns out to be awesome for killing Luddites or Pirate Hyenas/Plowshares and then tractoring in thier loot.
Killer Dodo: two tractors, two repulsors, all the rest Stormfires.
The Dodo is a bit sluggish, but it turns like a bat, and w/ the twin tractors she's the best pilot snatcher I've tried so far.
Size seems to be somewhat of a factor in a succesful ejection pod snatch.

I redid the price of contraband/ejection pod, up from $760 to a more reasonable $760,000.
Hey just think how much it would cost just to fuel a trainer!
It costs a few million tax payer dollars just to train fighter pilots here in the 20th century.

This makes doing missions profitable instead of costing more in repair bills than the mission pays. Hey, until someone fixes the mission payouts (or I figure out how), this makes a good 'quick fix'.

I went back & fixed the prices of the stuff that Gleaners & Yeomans (Yeaomen?) usually drop, redid the rest of the Contraband prices and made the Pirate Thales Corvettes start dropping Contraband...but that was all after I released 'Killer Mod Alpha 1.0':
http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/forum ... 10&t=15160

I'm waiting for a copy of my Percheron to come up for sale & test her out before I release Killer Mod Alpha 1.1 with:
A second modified Thales, 'Matilda', extra armor & weapon mounts.
A modified Clydesdale, 'Percheron', with a large portion of her enourmous cargo hold traded for bigger engines, thrusters, & quicker turning.
Edited loot drops & loot payout..
[OC]Killer B
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Sarin
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Re: Weaponry

Post by Sarin »

Interesting, as my experience with Franklin turret is that pretty much anything that gets shields up before I am in range can survive turret fire long enough for me to lose patience and kill it.

I'm also thinking of Goddard, for some fun with Aera capships. The loadout I thought of is mini drivers, razors and...what to use in heavy slots? I thought of either MW laser, for decent range, RF MW...I am not sure actually how does phase damage formula works, as it is specified only in MJ, not MJ/s as beam damage...so is it damage/shot? Cause it would turn it into good long range sniper. Another possiblity is Jackhammer, but I don't want to have all guns dependand on ammo.
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Re: Weaponry

Post by Genghis Prawn »

Razors/Reapers/Hephaestus Those are my Favorites. If a heavy gun can be mounted I go with Reapers . . slow fire rate compared to the razors but take the target out much faster with way lower energy consumption due to the slower fire rate. Medium gun . . razor great for ripping apart smaller stuff. If I want something I can mount on a fighter with heavy mount(s) and low capacitance the Hephaestus is the way to go. Have to get in close and get down and dirty but it works and works well. The stormfire is a blast .. try a vendetta with 8 of them . . it is such a riot!. No stamina for the long run but with that speed and a single target .. it rocks! Upgrade all 8 gun mounts to autotracking and special (tractor capability) and the stormfire is yours!. No ammo is ever available for them so they must be sold and rebought to re-arm them but they are a fun time to be had by whoever is firing them. Not so much fun if you are on the receiving end . .

The razor and reaper have a great range.

one thing i have noticed . . never mount beams and guns on the same ship with the sensors that give you a lead targeting box to aim for because none will be given when there is even 1 beam.
Sarin
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Re: Weaponry

Post by Sarin »

Well, I just tried out Lancelot with two Reapers and two Razors. Damn good firepower, but runs through energy like hell...Class XI reactor, XV capacitator and reactor tweak...about 3-4 secs of sustained fire. Altho I gotta admit that those 3 secs are more than enough to take out anything but capships.

I got a little problem tho...I tried a little fun tweak-dumbfires with autotargeting...doesn't seem to work. Any way how to remove autotarget?
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Re: Weaponry

Post by KillerB »

I'm afraid autotracking is irreversible.
I've had good luck though w/ autotracking unguided munition: dumbfires, Hail, Killer Bees, whatever that cursed Aera special missile is called...
and my personal favorite, the one that fits in the heavy mount & carpet bombs space (smeg! I can't think of the name of that one either!)
w/ a mix of beam weapons & ballistic weapons, I just work the nose around until the beam starts hitting, & the tracers from the ballistic weapons seem to fall on target.

Again, if you are doing a significant amount of damage in those few seconds, you have a winning combination!
I personally prefer hit & run tactics anyhow.
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Sarin
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Re: Weaponry

Post by Sarin »

Oh well...I'll be starting off from the scratch anyway with SVN tomorrow, once I get my new laptop.

Reminds me, is there any big change in weaponry/ships at SVN compared to 0.5?
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Re: Weaponry

Post by klauss »

KillerB wrote:I'm afraid autotracking is irreversible.
There is a key to turn it off, though.
Can't remember the exact binding, but I bet it's there in vegastrike.config
(probably "A").
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Re: Weaponry

Post by TBeholder »

Sarin wrote:I'd like to know your opinions about different weapons-favorites (and why), what you hate etc...I'm kinda at loss about what loadouts should I use. (v 0.5 stable)
I use stats recalculated for work cycle, but it still depends on the tactics.
Sarin wrote: Razor guns-I've tried them out a bit, mounted them at my Franklin...hmm, they seem quite nice, but their great range is actually lowered by projectile speed, in encounters with Aera I hadly hit at over 5 km (with autotracking).
And at the distance Razor will hit maneuerable targets, Ktek bolts become useable. :D
Sarin wrote:Also, their low ammo supply and high power consumption can be problematic I think. Is there any alternative for medium slots?
...so i use Ion Beams: two mounts of Shizu give 200(on shields)+20(phase) damage/second at the aperture, and they got decent range for Medium weapons. Autotracking is still desirable, of course. On heavier ships, Medium means auxiliary weapons, so either Razor (600+60) for heavier salvo in close combat, or Tractor Capability and some Special weapons, like Crippler (after all, it also allows to neutralize loonies without annoying factions too much), or Mini Driver until can buy these.
Sarin wrote: Ktek beam. I'm considering this for heavy mount at my Areus. What do you think about this gun?
466+0 dam/s - top normal damage and twice as much as Shieldbreaker, yes, but it has short range and no phasedamage - i.e. it's a great choice for close head-on fights (if your reactor can pull this). For fly-by tactics matters phasedamage-per-second (it makes the opponent's shield less of a problem) so the best is MW Laser (32+48). Jackhammer has twice its range and less dissipation, so it's the best weapon for sniping, despite lesser damage (12.5+40).
Sarin wrote: Aera weapons in general. Are any worth using (except for Atorps)?
Other than capship weapons, only Photonswarm. :D "Photon NNs" are bolts, and you can get better beams.
KillerB wrote: :!: Capacitor size is more of a factor than reactor size for getting enough energy for these quick bursts!!
...because, e.g. on Dostoevsky there's just not enough place for a good reactor if you want decent shields. This leads to fly-by, which in turn leads to choosing weapons by phasedamage because it haven't much time to saw shields. :) Another side is your choice of Razor, one of most voracious weapons.
Conversely, with shield-piercing beams it's less of a problem. Ion Beams eat only 20 in peak, 10 average per mount, so they work long, and, e.g. 2x cannot deplete caps even with weak (for Shizu) reactors. MW Laser is Heavy and eats just as much unlike Shield Breaker or Kteks, so on most Heavy -armed ships it won't deplete caps quickly.
KillerB wrote: Which brings me to my favourite light weapon: the Stormfire. It has a really short range, but once you open up with it, it really tears stuff up. Like the Razor, it also does 'phase damage' which bypasses the target's shields.
It's great... but "reloads" only as a whole, not even with uncommon ammo.
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Re: Weaponry

Post by Psyco Diver 69 »

Whats everyone prefer, guns or beam weapons?

Depends on what I'm doing, I do alot of cleansweep missions and bountys and find the guns are handy with dog fighing, but I really got used to beam weapons esspecially with autotracking tapped on to my weapons slots
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Re: Weaponry

Post by Gungnir »

Psyco Diver 69 wrote:Whats everyone prefer, guns or beam weapons?

Depends on what I'm doing, I do alot of cleansweep missions and bountys and find the guns are handy with dog fighing, but I really got used to beam weapons esspecially with autotracking tapped on to my weapons slots
Personally, I prefer beams, but it depends on your style of combat.
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Re: Weaponry

Post by AVBJim »

I have tried beams and many other weapons. Beams are good for slow moving, slow manoeuvring targets where the beam can stay on them throughout the cycle. However, I found they were about useless taking on Aera fighters. I prefer mini-gun style weapons with high firing rates for dog fighting. My normal run-about ship, after I get enough money, is a Mil-spec Taizong (these and the not-heavily-loaded Llamas are the only ones who fly true coming out of SPEC). I found for me, the pair of Hephaetus and a pair of micro-drivers works great. While the Reaper has a much higher damage, you have to hit the Aera fighters a few times in a row to make them good. With the slow firing rate and my twitchy targeting, I die taking on the Aera with Reapers but can handle 2 to 3 with the Hephaetus. True the armor on the Taizong doesn't live up to billing, but I prefer to have the good handling while travelling (I find the mass vs vectoring annoying).

If you have the money, set up different ships for different roles. The moving costs are high, I know. Now if they would let me buy a Mule, or other very large hauler, dock all my ships on it and then launch from it for different missions.
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Re: Weaponry

Post by Gungnir »

AVBJim wrote:I have tried beams and many other weapons. Beams are good for slow moving, slow manoeuvring targets where the beam can stay on them throughout the cycle.
ShieldBreakers are pretty fast, but I fight Pirates, not Aera...
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segfault wrote:if I was actually in space I'd totally be throwing on autopilot and relaxing in the back during the trip, sipping space wine and listening (rlaan?) jazz.
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Re: Weaponry

Post by AVBJim »

Ok, was playing around with weapons mixes again. Found that Auto Tracking and weapons are more effective if you actually lock a target instead of just shooting at it.

I was looking around to try beams. Has anyone else noticed that there are not really any effective beams for light mounts. The only ones I can find are the Plasma Plum, very short ranged, Repulsor Beams, which despite what it reads do not actually do any damage, and Tractor Beams, again, they don't do any damage. Are there other light beams out there? So many of the ships have very limited medium and heavy mounts now, I was looking for something to help out or, in the case of the Llama and a few others, ones to use.
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Re: Weaponry

Post by klauss »

You'll have to fly around more, but I think I once saw a few light beams in Rlaan territory.

In any case, I think it's by design: beam weapons are bulky and not really fit for small mounts.
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Re: Weaponry

Post by Sarin »

There is one beam light gun...at least was in 0.5 stable. Hand laser, obtained only if you stripped down milspec Dodos or escape pod :D.
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