Defeat chaff when using gimballed weapons (exploit?)

[Derinahon]

Cut and paste myself from another thread - '...you can easily defeat chaff when using gimballed weapons; untarget your prey and you have fixed firing weapons - tada.'

Is everyone aware of this 'trick'? Should it be possible?

 

[Darkwolf]

Sure, why not. Chaff doesn't actually _damage_ the gimballed weapons in any way, it just prevents them from being able to target a specific thing with any great accuracy. There'd be nothing stopping a simple override resetting them to boresight with no tracking.

 

[BigBadB]

Cut and paste myself from another thread - '...you can easily defeat chaff when using gimballed weapons; untarget your prey and you have fixed firing weapons - tada.'

Is everyone aware of this 'trick'? Should it be possible?

It's intended behaviour, as far as I know. Not having your target selected makes a lot of things harder, not least hitting the target without 'leading' indicators and auto-convergence.

Aloso, don't forget that gimballed weapons are less powerful than fixed versions of the same type and class.

 

[TA5E]

Chaff confuses heat-seeking systems, which the gimbals guns rely on. If you disable the seeking system (untarget the enemy), the weapons can still fire as normal, except you don't get any aiming assist (leading/trailing indicator)

 

[BACKER#50040]

Tricks like these are what separates the bread from the butter and adds depth and meaning to skill in the game.

 

[DYSEQTA]

That's not defeating chaff, the chaff has won as your tracking and combat effectiveness have been thwarted.

What you have done is work around the chaff by turning your gimballed weapons into somewhat under powered fixed weapons and lost your HUD's target feedback. That isn't an exploit, it's a good response to a negative situation. You have found a way to continue to fight, albeit less effectively, whilst under the negative effect of counter measures.

 

[Derinahon]

It's intended behaviour, as far as I know. Not having your target selected makes a lot of things harder, not least hitting the target without 'leading' indicators and auto-convergence.

Aloso, don't forget that gimballed weapons are less powerful than fixed versions of the same type and class.

Chaff confuses heat-seeking systems, which the gimbals guns rely on. If you disable the seeking system (untarget the enemy), the weapons can still fire as normal, except you don't get any aiming assist (leading/trailing indicator)

Good point re the lead indicators - I've been using lasers primarily so hadn't thought about that.

 

[Derinahon]

That's not defeating chaff, the chaff has won as your tracking and combat effectiveness have been thwarted.

What you have done is work around the chaff by turning your gimballed weapons into somewhat under powered fixed weapons and lost your HUD's target feedback. That isn't an exploit, it's a good response to a negative situation. You have found a way to continue to fight, albeit less effectively, whilst under the negative effect of counter measures.

True. Really just wanted others thoughts whether it was a fair tactic - as others have stated there are downsides, but it's normally only used for a few seconds at a time and a good solution if your using lasers with no lead to mentally calculate.

 

[aRtFuL]

True. Really just wanted others thoughts whether it was a fair tactic - as others have stated there are downsides, but it's normally only used for a few seconds at a time and a good solution if your using lasers with no lead to mentally calculate.

It is not only fair it is smart.

Anything that a person can do to turn the tide of a negative situation is a smart response.

 

[Adam Lusardi]

Chaff by NPCs is poorly deployed using 4 beams it just gives me time to track and recharge. It should be used before FSD as a last (pointless) get out defence.

 

[crushdepth]

A player makes a tactical decision to turn off assisted aiming and that's cheating? Come on that's a bit of a stretch isn't it?

You can also do the same with turrets (select forward fire mode).

 

[Morbad]

Not a bug, not a bug exploit, not cheating, and yes it should be possible.

Deselecting your target makes the gimbaled weapon a less powerful fixed weapon, as it should.