Penetrator Rail Gun doesn't penetrate

[Ironbostik]

Hello

Can anybody please give me some advice on the correct use of the penetrator Rail Gun Mod?
I have two class 2 Rail Gun on my Cutter, with Lvl 3 Lightweight and Super Penetrator. Spent last couple of hours trying the weapons on various NPC and seems that despite how good I am aligned the damage to the target subsystem happens maybe once every 6-7 shots (always tried internal ones like FSD and PP) while the rest of the hits are just devastating the hull.

Indeed when it does happen to "hit" the subsystem, the same suffers 55-65% damage, so with a couple of "working" shot it should do the job just fine.

Just wondering if maybe is just me very bad at aim, or the distance is not good or the damage to subsystems by the Super Penetrator goes under random?

O7, thanks for your advices

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Hello

Can anybody please give me some advice on the correct use of the penetrator Rail Gun Mod?
I have two class 2 Rail Gun on my Cutter, with Lvl 3 Lightweight and Super Penetrator. Spent last couple of hours trying the weapons on various NPC and seems that despite how good I am aligned the damage to the target subsystem happens maybe once every 6-7 shots (always tried internal ones like FSD and PP) while the rest of the hits are just devastating the hull.

Indeed when it does happen to "hit" the subsystem, the same suffers 55-65% damage, so with a couple of "working" shot it should do the job just fine.

Just wondering if maybe is just me very bad at aim, or the distance is not good or the damage to subsystems by the Super Penetrator goes under random?

O7, thanks for your advices

I think there's an intermittent bug.
It was mentioned by another player here:
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...al-100-bugged-causes-0-internal-module-damage

That said, superpen should be able to damage multiple modules since it passes through but testing on a moving target isn't ideal.
Try it with another player and while the weapon is "snapped" on the target module.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

I just noticed you are using LW.
LW suffers pretty steep damage falloff.
Long range is pretty standard.

 

[fus roh potato]

In my experience, they don't do anything. They are broken. You'll have better chance using cannons.

 

[Ironbostik]

I just noticed you are using LW.
LW suffers pretty steep damage falloff.
Long range is pretty standard.

I am using LW because I had to balance a bit the power draw as I was kind of 106% power consumption over my Lvl 1 Supercharged PP (planning to unlock better Overcharged tiers).
I made an encounter on an ELITE npc T-9, which allowed me to make a lot of tests shots thanks to increase Hull Hit Points and I saw that chances of actually damaging the subsystem increase when the fixed aiming points of the RG are converging very close. But still maybe only one shot every five works.

Of course versus a straight line ship, running away and charging LSD is much easier to align a good shot

Anyway...can you have a look on my build (mainly for NPC Piracy) and suggest any changes?

https://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial...dxg3/1ngAAAzjyfEgEBAAA=&bn=Child of the Night

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

I am using LW because I had to balance a bit the power draw as I was kind of 106% power consumption over my Lvl 1 Supercharged PP (planning to unlock better Overcharged tiers).
I made an encounter on an ELITE npc T-9, which allowed me to make a lot of tests shots thanks to increase Hull Hit Points and I saw that chances of actually damaging the subsystem increase when the fixed aiming points of the RG are converging very close. But still maybe only one shot every five works.

Of course versus a straight line ship, running away and charging LSD is much easier to align a good shot

Anyway...can you have a look on my build (mainly for NPC Piracy) and suggest any changes?

https://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial...dxg3/1ngAAAzjyfEgEBAAA=&bn=Child of the Night

What engineers do you have unlocked?


To immediately free up some power you could switch to a biweave shield gen.
It has lower MJs but recharges way faster.
You can also and add some kinetics like a huge or 2 large(edit) multi-cannons.
That will take down hulls way faster.


Lasers have the worst damage falloff, so keep that in mind for engineering and strategy.

The long range mod also makes the rails easier to aim and the Cutter is really fast.
Use those things to your advantage.

 

[Ironbostik]

What engineers do you have unlocked?


To immediately free up some power you could switch to a biweave shield gen.
It has lower MJs but recharges way faster.
You can also and add some kinetics like a huge or 2 large(edit) multi-cannons.
That will take down hulls way faster.


Lasers have the worst damage falloff, so keep that in mind for engineering and strategy.

The long range mod also makes the rails easier to aim and the Cutter is really fast.
Use those things to your advantage.

Thanks for your suggestions, but being a Piracy Build, the aim is to burn shields downs and get rid of weapons and FSD as fast as possible with less damage possible to the hull. Clean siphoning, no kill.
Also I don't wanna start shooting too far away with RG, because I wanna see where I am shooting.

 

[Speedcuffs]

What you using to get rid of weapons/chaff etc?

 

[Bunkerkind Anni]

Hello

Can anybody please give me some advice on the correct use of the penetrator Rail Gun Mod?
I have two class 2 Rail Gun on my Cutter, with Lvl 3 Lightweight and Super Penetrator. Spent last couple of hours trying the weapons on various NPC and seems that despite how good I am aligned the damage to the target subsystem happens maybe once every 6-7 shots (always tried internal ones like FSD and PP) while the rest of the hits are just devastating the hull.

Indeed when it does happen to "hit" the subsystem, the same suffers 55-65% damage, so with a couple of "working" shot it should do the job just fine.

Just wondering if maybe is just me very bad at aim, or the distance is not good or the damage to subsystems by the Super Penetrator goes under random?

O7, thanks for your advices

you are missunderstanding something.
railguns have only a breach chance of 40-80%.
a penetration depth of infinite by default (unlike other weapons that only penetrate a ships hull to a certain depth)
and the only thing that "super penetrator" does, is allowing the bullet to hit multiple subsystems in a row, and NOT stop at the first hit

the breach chance says that at 100% hull of the target, there is only a 40% chance that the bullet will even penetrate and trace internal systems.
the 80% chance is when the targets hull as almost gone.

if you want to have a higher chance at subsystem killing, you need to switch to cannons (60-90%) or Dumbfires (100% but afaik only usefull with the penetrator mod)

What you using to get rid of weapons/chaff etc?

Seeker or Dumbfire missiles, depending on your skills

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Thanks for your suggestions, but being a Piracy Build, the aim is to burn shields downs and get rid of weapons and FSD as fast as possible with less damage possible to the hull. Clean siphoning, no kill.
Also I don't wanna start shooting too far away with RG, because I wanna see where I am shooting.

Ah fair enough about the hull but you probably don't want superpen if you only want to damage a single module.
Feedback is more useful for the shields.

The railgun is still more accurate at some range because it's hitscan.
It's much harder to see what you're shooting when the targets are close since they cross the screen faster.
It's still going to smash the hull up.

Grom missiles or FSD dumbfires are an option.

(ninja'd)

 

[wentbackward]

Superpen does work and it works superbly, it is my go to strategy to drop shields and take out modules ... You only need a grade 1 LR mod and superpen to test this. It's cheap to engineer.

- It does nothing if the shields are UP (regular rail gun damage)
- If the target ship has MRPs you need to eat through those
- If you don't have the LR mod, you'll need to be very close, in which case you need to be absolutely sure the correct gun is snapping to the module.

However, I've had a lot of trouble recently taking out hardpoints (this may be the bug)

Have your railgun on a fire group all on it's own, make sure it's LR. Target the ships shield gen and take down the shields with your preferred weaponry. Once the shields drop, you already have the shield gen targeted so switch to rail and take out the gen. Next go for the FSD, then if you really want to toy with your prey, take out their life support

It is very very effective and I've done this within 24 hours of posting ... so it really does work

Wentbackward

 

[Bunkerkind Anni]

Superpen does work and it works superbly, it is my go to strategy to drop shields and take out modules ... You only need a grade 1 LR mod and superpen to test this. It's cheap to engineer.

- It does nothing if the shields are UP (regular rail gun damage)
- If the target ship has MRPs you need to eat through those
- If you don't have the LR mod, you'll need to be very close, in which case you need to be absolutely sure the correct gun is snapping to the module.

However, I've had a lot of trouble recently taking out hardpoints (this may be the bug)

Have your railgun on a fire group all on it's own, make sure it's LR. Target the ships shield gen and take down the shields with your preferred weaponry. Once the shields drop, you already have the shield gen targeted so switch to rail and take out the gen. Next go for the FSD, then if you really want to toy with your prey, take out their life support

It is very very effective and I've done this within 24 hours of posting ... so it really does work

Wentbackward

nice story... but for what exactly do you need the super-penetrator mod?

 

[wentbackward]

nice story... but for what exactly do you need the super-penetrator mod?

It deals module damage to all modules in it's line of sight therefore the orientation of the target vessel does not matter, you can shoot out it's drives even if it is facing you for example. You can hit the canopy when going for modules located behind the cockpit and so on.

 

[Bunkerkind Anni]

It deals module damage to all modules in it's line of sight therefore the orientation of the target vessel does not matter, you can shoot out it's drives even if it is facing you for example. You can hit the canopy when going for modules located behind the cockpit and so on.

ok, thanks
just wanted to make sure you use it for that...