Newcomer / Intro Advice on weapons

[retslag1]

So, I've been mostly a trader. But I'd like to try my hand at a little bounty hunting. I've discovered that I really suck at dog fighting.

I have a cobra, and just tried Beam gimballed lvl2 x2 and MC gimballed lvl1 x2. I didn't make it far into hunting in a CZ until I had to return to port to repair. I've got lvl A everything except thrusters, and also have military armor. BUt I guess I was looking for advice on what people use for their weapons?

 

[Reaver 2.0]

I used gimballed beams and MC on my Viper for quite a while..then dropped the MC's for gimballed pulse lasers...to avoid rearming.


Assuming all your A parts are of the maximum class, bounty hunting in RES's should be easy enough to get boring...maybe just work on dogfighting slkills.
Here's a tip...if you aren't using verticle thrusters when trying to stay on a circling ship while pitching up/down...you should be.

 

[Smauler]

Resource extraction sites are where to make money, especially early on. Buy a scanner in your utility point, and use it (first, no one is hostile). Don't ever fire on friendlies or those you know are enemies until you scan them. Never take on something on your own, it takes longer.... use the system's force that will help you. If you see the system's force attacking something, go scan it, then help.

Personally, I've never even tried a weapon apart from a fixed pulse laser (like the ones you had in the sidewinder). My cobra was just set up with 4 of them, and it got a few million in claimed bounties relatively quickly.

The one upgrade important for someone who uses any weapons is the power distributor. It allows you to fire weapons longer, faster.

I've currently got an ASP with 6 fixed pulse lasers .

 

[Terran]

Drop the military armour (too heavy for dog-fighting) and put in A thrusters (v. important for dog-fighting). Switch the beams and MCs so beams are class 1 and MCs are class 2. Kills come from hull damage, and big, juicy MCs will rip that apart faster. Target power supply when fighting large ships.

 

[Cmdr Bernard]

It's difficult to give an exact weapon outfit advise. Lots of combinations work, and it's up to personal taste and pilot skill. Of course, it also depends on your ship. For the Cobra, I also like class 1 beams and class 2 Multicannons, both gimballed (fixed class 1 weapons are an option in the Cobra). Pulse lasers work great, too, as you can fire them much longer than the beams as they use much less energy. I personally prefer Beams to strip shields quickly and then do the rest with multicannons. The advantage of Pulse is, you need less energy for them and can build your ship with more focus on defense.
Still uncertain about Burst lasers, used them for a while but not really sure what's the point of using Bursts over Beams, as Burst uses almost as much energy as Beam.
Among all kinetic weapons, so far I like the multi-cannons most, though cannons are fun, too, especially when going against big ships.

I think the best advise is: Don't be afraid to experiment and find out what *you* like best. You lose no money switching equipment, so there is no reason not to try different weapon setups.

 

[CMDR Memphis]

Lvl2 gimballed beams on the cobra are nice, but I constantly ran with 4 pips in weapons. When the shield went down, I left for a bit. With the superior speed of the Cobra, no problems. You can first pass a Sidewinder and Eagle, and get the power plant of an Anaconda down in a reasonable amount of time with at least two system policeman around.
I rarely use the MC, since it runs out of bullets too fast. I now have two fragmented cannons that I used point blank when things get hairy. (Shotgun FTW)

 

[CrispyLeper]

I would agree with the MC option on the grade 2 HP's as they use less power so you can get beams on the grade 1's. This will sound weird but I had a fixed beam on my right-hand HP and a gimballed on the left.
My explanation for this is that I tend to fly to manoeuvre to the right (right-handed maybe?) And with the wide positioning of the HP's on the Cobra's underside I found the targeting a little inconsistent so using one fixed almost as a tracer then the other just followed and you naturally kept on target. Worked for me anyway! Con for this is setup is watch very carefully for friendlies crossing your path!
With 4 pips to weaps you can usually strip the shields in one or two attacks, MC's then finish the job for you with a little laser action thrown in.

 

[retslag1]

Here's a tip...if you aren't using verticle thrusters when trying to stay on a circling ship while pitching up/down...you should be.

I figured they helped, just didn't know which vertical thrusters to use when going up vs down.


Also, I like the idea of all pulse lasers, as I tend to burn through MC ammo very quickly.

 

[kingchub]

try both, they both work. also if its not already been mentioned CZ's are harder than RES and NAV sites and give u less cash.

 

[Rob_the_Sparky]

I figured they helped, just didn't know which vertical thrusters to use when going up vs down.


Also, I like the idea of all pulse lasers, as I tend to burn through MC ammo very quickly.

Maybe you are firing the MCs at long range? Damage drops off with range so get in close to do more damage (I.e. use less ammo), obviously this also applies to the enemy fire so you have to get practiced at avoiding it to use this tactic.

 

[Juby]

I wouldn't have all my weapons as gimballed - I would have at least 1 hardpoint that is fixed. The reason being that if you come up against somebody that has ECM installed your gimballed weapons become useless as they will not lock on.

I am running a Cobra Mk III with 2 gimballed multi cannons and 2 fixed beam lasers. I tend to hold off on the multi cannons until I have removed shields with the beam lasers and then open fire with both. Multi cannons do their best work against ships hulls and are not as effective against shields, beam lasers are pretty good at removing shields and also pretty effective against ships hulls.

 

[Philip Coutts]

Something to consider when you are starting out is not to take on wings. When you target a ship it will tell you on your HUD (bottom left somewhere) if a ship is in a wing, if it comes up it is I would leave it alone until you have had a bit more practice. The other thing to do is steal kills from the police. If you see the police attacking someone, join in! Let them soften the target up a little before you engage. It also means that the enemy is focused on the police and not you so you shouldn't take any damage.

Fly safe and good luck.

 

[InMemoriamSirocco]

Always use Pulse Lasers and Multicannons in combination. Always prefer gimballed over fixed. This is the most balanced loadout and has the advantage of sustainability over all others.