Alternate AX weapon loadouts other than Guardian gauss?

[EinsteinAndAGun]

I very recently decided I'd try my hand at Xeno hunting. Never once touched it before, so everything was brand new to me. I did the research, watched some videos, got myself the "meta" Alliance Chieftan, complete with Sirius heat sinks, 4 guardian guass, thermal vent beam laser, guardian module and hull reinforcements, armor, AFMRs, repair limpets, the works, and engineered the majority of it (some things not fully, like dirty drives at 3/5, etc).

Here's the problem: I cannot aim. It has been pure frustration trying to kill interceptors, and I have been unable to down even one so far after about 3 days of attempts.

I will forestall every "git gud" comment with this: No. I have limited time to play as it is, and Elite is already a very time consuming game. I have neither the time nor the will to spend dozens of hours and dozens of rebuys to try and practice aiming fixed weapons against highly maneuverable targets.

So are there instead any reasonable gimballed AX weapons that will work for interceptor killing? Yes, yes, I know they get outperformed by gauss in every way, but recall that the DPS of a weapon that you miss every shot you take is a fat zero, so literally anything that can hit the target will be better.

I am running a HOTAS, and it's been great for normal flying, but in precision shooting I find extremely difficult to use.

 

[Kenpachi85]

You can get the gimballed enhanced ax multis which are the only non fixed option you will need to use a xeno scanner to be able to target the hearts. The pre engineered shard and plasma guns are fairly easy to use with the increased range and shot speed but they require a bit of effort in that each gun has to be unlocked individually vs the permaunlock on normal guardian weapons. But if you want something gimballed your stuck with the enhanced multis. Gl whatever you choose o7

 

[Radixbase]

I second that. the enhanced AX multicannons are very effective actually. I use 3 enhanced AX turrets on my Type 10 and all I do is pull the trigger once and keep the target kind of above and to my left because of where the guns are and it melts the scouts. If you were to put 4 enhanced AX gimballed on your chieftan you'l be a scout killing machine. Make sure they're enhanced though, not the regular AX ones.

I find the guardian shard cannons so much better than the guass. If you're just fighting scouts.. your golden with the enhanced AX MCs. . If you're fighting interceptors too, then you might try the enhanced guardian shard cannons. Basically shotguns, but unlike the guass, you pull the trigger and it shoots. Using 'trailing' gunsights makes a world of difference, the reticles actually work

 

[nanothargon]

I third that. Enhanced AXMCs; gimballed for preference. They are fine for destroying hearts in cyclops and basilisk but bad for exertion.

Guardian shards would be better for exertion. AX missiles can work, and have no unlock. If you can hit the interceptor with gauss (as opposed to a single heart) that would work for exertion.

Regular shards are great for exertion and ok for hearts, but you need to get close. Mod shards are great for both, but run hot, take a lot of distro, and have the annoying unlock.

 

[Shabine]

Modified Guardian shard cannons can absolutely demolish Thargoid interceptors. I know the clip below is an Anaconda and you're running a Chief, but the shards + AX missile racks setup can be adapted to medium hulls. They might not kill quite this quickly, but you can just burn through regeneration on Cyclopses and they'll tear hearts right off of larger variants.

Source: https://youtu.be/gjcZhITQp04

 

[EinsteinAndAGun]

Thanks for the replies. These have all been very useful. I would have to imagine that AX multicannons run a bit cooler and easier on the distributor than gauss as well, right?

 

[EinsteinAndAGun]

Modified Guardian shard cannons can absolutely demolish Thargoid interceptors. I know the clip below is an Anaconda and you're running a Chief, but the shards + AX missile racks setup can be adapted to medium hulls. They might not kill quite this quickly, but you can just burn through regeneration on Cyclopses and they'll tear hearts right off of larger variants.

Source: https://youtu.be/gjcZhITQp04

I do feel like this clip shows its age a bit. Thargoids are now instantly hostile due to the ongoing war, so you have no chance to just sidle up to one and blast it to smithereens before it can even turn around to fight.

 

[The Lawful]

I run several AX ships, including a Krait with AX gimballed MCs plus Gauss, and they're fun indeed. I too have trouble killing Interceptors alone even after several years (mostly because of the swarm), but here's the pro tip that put the fun for me into AX combat again:

Planetary attack sites ftw! Since update 14, you don't have to battle the xenos in open space anymore, but can also fight them on planets. The major advantage of that is they don't have swarms there, plus you can always land at the attacked station for repair and restock. If you go to Open, there usually are other CMDRs fighting along you, and killing a Hydra in a team effort is quite satisfying and pays really well. Give it a try!

O7,

 

[EinsteinAndAGun]

I run several AX ships, including a Krait with AX gimballed MCs plus Gauss, and they're fun indeed. I too have trouble killing Interceptors alone even after several years (mostly because of the swarm), but here's the pro tip that put the fun for me into AX combat again:

Planetary attack sites ftw! Since update 14, you don't have to battle the xenos in open space anymore, but can also fight them on planets. The major advantage of that is they don't have swarms there, plus you can always land at the attacked station for repair and restock. If you go to Open, there usually are other CMDRs fighting along you, and killing a Hydra in a team effort is quite satisfying and pays really well. Give it a try!

O7,

This is fantastically helpful advice. I had no idea. The swarm was also a massive thorn in my side, as the flak launcher seemed to do absolutely nothing to them. Just could not get the thing to work, and I'd constantly get caustic damage missiles pounding me to oblivion, even if I was having a decent fight against the interceptor itself.

 

[Shabine]

I do feel like this clip shows its age a bit. Thargoids are now instantly hostile due to the ongoing war, so you have no chance to just sidle up to one and blast it to smithereens before it can even turn around to fight.

It's only a matter of distance and dps. People are still instakilling these things.

D2EA uploaded this 1 month ago. He even mentions how easy this is to do right away.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZcsar7GEts

 

[Northpin]

I do feel like this clip shows its age a bit. Thargoids are now instantly hostile due to the ongoing war, so you have no chance to just sidle up to one and blast it to smithereens before it can even turn around to fight.

May be old, but the Modified Shard Cannons - you can get only get them from Prospect Deep in Mbooni - are really nasty
They're hot and heavy on the PD (but not as much as the normal medium gausses), but have enough ammo to get you through any combat and they're easier to aim

In planetary defense i'm running a 6-shard Condagib - and i can solo an entire planetary AX CZ (ofc, with mid fight repairs)

 

[Brrokk]

I run a Krait with 3 gimbal AXMCs and 2 modified shards. I know this sounds underpowered for interceptors, but it's not: the MCs are great for killing exerted hearts.

To help with aiming, use trailing sights. Interceptors are big enough that you can just put the dots on them and fire.

If you're prepared to put in an evening's work, the caustic sink launcher is a huge advantage.

 

[Shabine]

May be old, but the Modified Shard Cannons - you can get only get them from Prospect Deep in Mbooni - are really nasty
They're hot and heavy on the PD (but not as much as the normal medium gausses), but have enough ammo to get you through any combat and they're easier to aim

Very tight spread + 6k/sec speed and they absolutely melt.

AX multis are great, but I really feel like the op would benefit from a shotgun build. You basically just jam the barrel down the spaceflower and pull the trigger. As you can see when the interceptors appear, using a medium ship really just requires you to level yourself with an interceptor at close range...

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJIhShpbBsc

 

[Northpin]

AX multis are great

They really are, but for Cyclopses.
They're sort of ok-ish for Basiliscs too, but for anything above one needs some heavy hitters to exert the hearts. Multies alone are not enough

 

[Imo]

I very recently decided I'd try my hand at Xeno hunting. Never once touched it before, so everything was brand new to me. I did the research, watched some videos, got myself the "meta" Alliance Chieftan, complete with Sirius heat sinks, 4 guardian guass, thermal vent beam laser, guardian module and hull reinforcements, armor, AFMRs, repair limpets, the works, and engineered the majority of it (some things not fully, like dirty drives at 3/5, etc).

Here's the problem: I cannot aim. It has been pure frustration trying to kill interceptors, and I have been unable to down even one so far after about 3 days of attempts.

I will forestall every "git gud" comment with this: No. I have limited time to play as it is, and Elite is already a very time consuming game. I have neither the time nor the will to spend dozens of hours and dozens of rebuys to try and practice aiming fixed weapons against highly maneuverable targets.

So are there instead any reasonable gimballed AX weapons that will work for interceptor killing? Yes, yes, I know they get outperformed by gauss in every way, but recall that the DPS of a weapon that you miss every shot you take is a fat zero, so literally anything that can hit the target will be better.

I am running a HOTAS, and it's been great for normal flying, but in precision shooting I find extremely difficult to use.

I had similar issues, but since the new Xeno scanner arrived I can finally scan for the hearts successful and then use the new advanced AX multi cannon turrets. Small thermal vent beams cool me down to make me hard to track by the goids.

 

[Kira Goto]

they'll tear hearts right off of larger variants.

Minor caveat : Hydras. The 91 pen of modshards makes their basic, non-synthed ammo rather unenviable. While they can push right past the armor toughness of a Basilisk and Medusa, you basically need to use standard/premium synth for a Hydra.

Source? My own extensive use of the things on a Krait MKII instead of gauss or plasma chargers(or a mix of both). I was able to exert the Hydra’s first heart using basic ammo - took a long while, though, no thanks to the other players in the instance just watching… and then running off after the other Hydra - but their DPS falters enough that it is almost impossible to take the heart out before it goes back to a nominal state.

So yeah… especially if only few other players are present, I recommend ammo synth of standard or premium if you want to use modshards on a Hydra, to offset the damage penalty. Might even have a point to use standard when a Medusa is present.

And split fire groups into two and two. With 3/4 pips to weapons, coupled with a heatsink that should keep the ship below the 20% heat threshold.

 

[Northpin]

Minor caveat : Hydras. The 91 pen of modshards makes their basic, non-synthed ammo rather unenviable.

There is no caveat, not really in practice.
As i said, i can solo a full Planetary AX CZ from start to finish, includind the 2 end Hydras, using the modshard Conda.
It works great and no premium ammo since i'm too cheap to use premium ammo on my modshard conda (or on any ship generally speaking)

 

[Kira Goto]

There is no caveat, not really in practice.
As i said, i can solo a full Planetary AX CZ from start to finish, includind the 2 end Hydras, using the modshard Conda.
It works great and no premium ammo since i'm too cheap to use premium ammo on my modshard conda (or on any ship generally speaking)

Ok, a modshard Conda might be a different story but if you only use four of them like a Chief probably would, it IS a caveat. Unless you want the OP to build an entirely separate ship again when they already stated their playtime is somewhat limited.

 

[Northpin]

Ok, a modshard Conda might be a different story but if you only use four of them like a Chief probably would, it IS a caveat. Unless you want the OP to build an entirely separate ship again when they already stated their playtime is somewhat limited.

Kraits with 4 medium mod shards are as apt.
And keep in mind that a Krait can actually fit 5 medium mod shards.

 

[Kira Goto]

Kraits with 4 medium mod shards are as apt.
And keep in mind that a Krait can actually fit 5 medium mod shards.

I said above I was using a Krait with 4 modshards myself when I did AX. With nobody else helping, exerting a Hydra was possible with basic ammo, but took a long time, and far too much perfection for the average pilot to pull off reliably. I never managed to take down the first heart with said basic ammo before it went nominal on that first run, anyway.

And 5 modshards on a Krait is not an ideal setup for the ship anyway, imo. Unless you want to keep slugging it out with the interceptor even when its shield is up, or just sit there waiting until it expires/other people take it down in their own turn.