Evasion Autopilot and Front Guns

[z30]

I've confirmed it. The Galaxy started killing things effectively when the evasion autopilot is turned on (activated when you pop into a turret) the reason being that the AI pilot not only drives the ship, it fires your front guns.

While struggling to align my meson guns in the top turret, I spotted my front tachyons firing on their own. In effect, popping into the turret makes the hull guns and the other turret AI driven.

This time I made sure my escorts were gone by aborting that mission, and spotted the Talon disintegrating right in front of my ship bracketed by tachyon fire. I used the ctrl-t (AI on) followed by ctrl-w (fire on all hostiles) then transferred to the top turret.

It looks like that a) the AI which controls the turrets is more effective with the front hull weapons or b) a different AI is used when the evasion autopilot takes over.

Here is the setting in the vegastrike.config :

<var name="ai_pilot_when_in_turret" value="true"/>

It's actually fun to stop worrying about driving for a change and just be turret gunner. Even in cruising speed (no afterburner) the evasion AI is good enough not to allow your ship or shields to be pulverized that easily.

[edit] Tested so far against two Talons at a time. You don't always win with this move, if both ships get on your tail then you stand a good chance of being blasted. But if the Gal's front guns get's one fast then you're almost sure of taking the other out. Good move for people who no longer have the twitch reflexes for dogfights and no missiles left to fall back on.

[z30]

Uses missiles too, single fire salvos no double taps

[Ge0rgy]

well, top turret?

i found the key to jump in a turret in the manual, but how to switch to another one?

even a galaxy has two, a paradigm even more. can you always only control one of them?

greetigns,
Ge0rgy

[Gosshawk]

Just keep hitting the switch to turret key. it will put you back in the cockpit, then into the other turret. it cycles betwwen the cockpit and the different turrets.

[z30]

Just keep hitting the switch to turret key. it will put you back in the cockpit, then into the other turret. it cycles betwwen the cockpit and the different turrets.

One of the turrets has the left,right turn controls reversed - I usually try to pick the other one which has these always in the correct orientation. It's the turret where you see the radar/communication dish when you face front.

Ge0rgy, the evasion AI pilot doesn't seem to fire the non-guided missiles (DF and Protons) only guided ones (FF in my ship).

[Duke Derek]

it's because it's 'looked' all the way over it's head and is 'upside down'

look up until the turret rotates 180 degrees from the horizontal and the controls will be back to norma

[z30]

it's because it's 'looked' all the way over it's head and is 'upside down'

look up until the turret rotates 180 degrees from the horizontal and the controls will be back to norma

Thanks ! I love being a turret gunner and it frustrates me to no end that I can't use the other one properly.

It feels like my Gal finally has a proper crew and I like it ("Ok, you fly and I'll go up to the turret and kill things for a while ")

[z30]

it's because it's 'looked' all the way over it's head and is 'upside down'

look up until the turret rotates 180 degrees from the horizontal and the controls will be back to norma

Duke, it worked great thank you very much - I can now use either turret to get a bogey off my tail.

For the other Gal pilots, don't be afraid to transfer to the turret to fight. With the evasion autopilot on it's not suicide. While it's not easy to track a hostile ship in a turret while the AI is twisting and turning the ship, the PR Dev team did an excellent job of tuning the turret so it's actually doable.

The AI evasion autopilot will not trivialize your gameplay, it's still a risk to use it so you have to decide when the right time is.

It also deepens your immersion in the Privateer PR universe by making your Galaxy experience complete - pilot, navigator, tradesman and turret gunner.

[Stratovarius]

Its quite fun, but I am a lousy turret gunner, got to admit that. Granted, the turretted guns are plasma on my galaxy and the reactors in the turret just cant handle them at all.

I'm kinda thinking I should make the the turret reactors based at least partially on their weapon size, because it seems a bit silly that they would make a turret that could barely fire the weapons it was designed for,

[MamiyaOtaru]

Part of the tradeoff of having bigger guns?

Would it be acceptable if turrets with better reactors had a price increase?

[z30]

Its quite fun, but I am a lousy turret gunner, got to admit that. Granted, the turretted guns are plasma on my galaxy and the reactors in the turret just cant handle them at all.

I'm kinda thinking I should make the the turret reactors based at least partially on their weapon size, because it seems a bit silly that they would make a turret that could barely fire the weapons it was designed for,

Mesons, you've got to use high velocity ,fast recycling, low energy consumption guns because you'll miss a LOT.

Part of the tradeoff of having bigger guns? Confused

Would it be acceptable if turrets with better reactors had a price increase?

Hell yes it would be worth it The only pilots this would hit hard would be Galaxy pilots but we max out the ship early in the game (with no other upgrades in sight).

Even before I hit the Oxford missions my ship was fully equipped, except for autotracking which I finally bought when the 3rd Ox mission hit me (really didn't want to use them but gave in at that point).

[Stratovarius]

Part of the tradeoff of having bigger guns?

Would it be acceptable if turrets with better reactors had a price increase?

Go for it, I've gotten enough cash from trading by now to fully upgrade all 3 normal ships and buy a Drayman (missed the chance though). A couple hundred thousand extra for much better turrets wouldnt be a problem at all.