Question about optimal weapon mix

[GhostBirdofPrey]

I have been wondering a bit about what the optimal weaponry mix is.

Energy weapons work better vs shields and ballistics work better against hull from what I hear.

Ships aren't all that even with hardpoints, though. For instance, I am flying an eagle right now which has 3 mounts, and there are ships with say, 2 smalls and 2 medium, so I was wondering, is it better to have bigger/more energy weapons or bigger/more ballistics. or maybe I should just say screw it and go all lasers?

 

[Erasmus Dynamo]

Opinions vary. Try out med ballistic and light laser, or the opposite, or mix and match. See what works for you.

 

[Unpleasant]

I have been wondering a bit about what the optimal weaponry mix is.

Energy weapons work better vs shields and ballistics work better against hull from what I hear.

Ships aren't all that even with hardpoints, though. For instance, I am flying an eagle right now which has 3 mounts, and there are ships with say, 2 smalls and 2 medium, so I was wondering, is it better to have bigger/more energy weapons or bigger/more ballistics. or maybe I should just say screw it and go all lasers?

laser = shield
ballistic = hull
missiles = sub systems.

Depends what you want to do in your ship I guess.
If you want to sit out in conflict zones for ages hitting lots of ships, lasers would be better as no ammo requirements. nipping in and out of stations doing missions easy to reload.

 

[Underhook]

I'm not a good pilot..... but...
I had my eagle set up with 3 lasers. Actually worked well but. They overheated quick and drained the available WEP, so there were quite a few pauses when I could not fire. Now I have 2 lasers and I multi cannon. The lasers fire for a MUCH longer time and once the shields are down I keep firing lasers along with the multi cannon. I dont notice that the multi cannon does any more damage v's hull. The main advantage for me is that The lasers keep firing longer (power plant is a restriction in the Eagle).
The Viper (just got it) has a much better power plant (upgraded) I can fire my 2 lasers all day without the WEP reducing at all.

So..... the answer to your question is ................ best weapon loadout depends on
1. What ship you have
2. What upgrades you have
3. What you want to do with it. For example...
"i want to make bounty money at extraction sites in my Eagle" Well 3 lasers is good because you dont need to kill them fast as authority vessels will help keep them off you back and you maximise profits as you have no ammo costs.
or
"I want to do assassinations (tough in an Eagle IMO)" Well now you might want the setup that kills the enemy the fastest and you cant afford to have you guns cooling down. Sinc e your on your own and the enemy most likely has a 10x better ship than yous

 

[Frenotx]

laser = shield
ballistic = hull
missiles = sub systems.

Depends what you want to do in your ship I guess.
If you want to sit out in conflict zones for ages hitting lots of ships, lasers would be better as no ammo requirements. nipping in and out of stations doing missions easy to reload.

In my experience, missiles are much better at just smashing the hull, than hitting subsystems.

 

[Deadeye_DK]

I just roll with 6 multi-cannons on my ASP... I've tried mixed setups with laser/ballistics and once missiles too.
But I always return to all out multi-cannons... Sure, they are not the best against shields, but.... DAKKADAKKADAKKA!!!

Enuff for me i guess lol.

I have been wanting to try a 2x Med Beams and 4x missile launchers on the ASP... would be expensive on ammo, but hopefully it would be Michael Bay fun.

 

[Windscreen Smudge]

Grab a Viper, kit it out and put some class 2 railguns on it with pulses or beams down low. Go Anaconda hunting and make bank.
|
Even on an Anaconda, one or two good shots with the rails will destroy the engines and then you're left to destroy him at your leisure.

 

[Eagle Eye]

If you got a lot of free time and loiter around RES & Nav. Beacons, then going all energy is a good choice. For pure speed with minimal cost against NPC, 100% gimballed MC seem to work wonders. Took a bit of extra time shedding the shield off Anaconda, but once it's down, it's dead before it got time to get the shield back up. I am quite risk averse and don't like having a large number of unclaimed bounty on my ship, in case I do something stupid (despite never dying since the start) so I go to stations & cash in often. So ammo is not really a problem.

 

[Cevap]

Grab a Viper, kit it out and put some class 2 railguns on it with pulses or beams down low. Go Anaconda hunting and make bank.
|
Even on an Anaconda, one or two good shots with the rails will destroy the engines and then you're left to destroy him at your leisure.

Do railguns work that well on subsystems? I was thinking on switching to class 2 cannons instead of MC for some extra punch though idk if it is 250k credits worth of punch.

 

[Frenotx]

Do railguns work that well on subsystems? I was thinking on switching to class 2 cannons instead of MC for some extra punch though idk if it is 250k credits worth of punch.

Railguns are fantastic at wrecking subsystems quickly. You've got to aim them right (which can be tricky), but they take a huge chunk (25%+) out of a subsystem with every shot.