Newcomer / Intro Best weapon/loadout to destroy Power Plants?

StarfireIX

StarfireIX
Hey guys,

I have 58,000 CR sitting in my pocket, and just wondering what is the best type of weapon or loadout to destroy medium-large ships with power plants for you?

I currently have two class 2 gimballed multi-cannons.


Thanks. :)
 
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sewerratuk

sewerratuk
Depends what you are flying but multi's do a great job as do fixed cannons. Gimballed cannons are a but more hit and miss
You need lasers to take out the shields efficiently though
 
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sewerratuk

sewerratuk
Pulse lasers are the best lasers for hull penetration, not as good as kinetic weapons though but then kinetic are not great for shields.
The better the hull penetration the better chance you have of destroying internals.

If you you are close to imperial space an Imp Eagle is a nice little combat ship for starting out
 

d8veh

d8veh
Don't think about that sort of thing for now. Go and help the Feds to finish off a couple of Anacondas in a HI RES. Use the bounty money to get a Cobra or Viper. Fit it out with two of the biggest pulse lasers you can. Suppliment those with multi-cannons on other hard points for finishing off once the shields are down.
 

RobWolves

R
On a sidewinder pulses are a better option. Better than the multi-cannons to take the shield down and still okay for physical damage. So decent all round for the small sidey.

Be careful what you take on in a sidewinder. Don't go somewhere to busy with pilots who could shred you in seconds. I hung around Nav Beacons when I was BH in a Sidewinder. If you're picking on larger ships with a bounty, try and go after one's that are already engaged against security vessels. It'll be easier as they won't focus entirely on you and you have extra fire power helping you.

I had a free Eagle so quickly upgraded that, which is great fun to fly. In fact I kept it, I enjoy flying it that much and still do a bit of bounting hunting in it against NPC's. Capable little craft, but has paper thin armour once your shields are down, so be prepared to run when needed. Depending on your earning rate, you could go for a Viper MkIII next which is a decent step up from an Eagle and can pack a punch with the right loadout. In fact, I've seen a particular ViperMkIII guru taking out winged CMDR's in much larger ships. I'm not even close to that level of skill though.

Again, what to aim for after a Viper depends on your earning rate vs your patience. Vulture, Fer-De-Lance, who knows. Depends what you'd like to do as you progress in the game. I want to get a Vulture, but the initial purchase price of around 3-4m cr is eclipsed by the upgrade costs. So you may decide to use a Diamond Back Scout as a stepping stone from a Viper. The DBS has similar punching power to the Viper, but has much better armour. However, it does have slightly less capable shields. So it depends on if you panic when you're shields are down, or whether you want the extra toughness of the armour.

Everybody will have differing opinions, so as you build up your credits you can try different ships and loadouts and see what feels best for you.
 
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Ganjis

G
Weapon classes correspond to ship hull sizes. All weapons do full damage to shields, but against hulls you suffer a penalty to damage if the weapon is smaller then the target. Medium ships equate to class 2 weapons and large ships equate to class threes. Cannon, Plasma Accelerator and (IIRC) Fragment Cannon count as one size higher (so class 1 cannon does full damage to medium ships, class 2 cannon does full damage to large ships).

The other special weapon to consider is the rail gun. This ignores armour and does full damage to systems (such as power plant) as long as you can hit them. It runs out of ammo fast, generates enormous heat per shot, requires lots of power to run and capacitor charge to fire and has a delay between pulling the trigger and it actually firing.

In an Eagle or Sidey you will always have a hard time against large ships unless you can make use of rail guns or else you will just be nibbling for bounty credit while others do the heavy lifting.
For the large ships you need a Viper or, if you can stand the terrible cockpit, an Adder.
 

Philip Coutts

Volunteer Moderator
Philip Coutts
Rails do a huge amount of damage but are tricky to use accurately, chances of being able to hit the powerplant are slim unless you are very, very good. Using a gimballed cannon or multi-cannon is probably the best.
 
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