FDL damage output

Anvariel

A
Currently running a huge gimballed beam laser with efficient mod and 4 x medium gimballed multicannons (not engineered yet) on my FDL.

I find the shields are stripped in no time at all, but it often takes me quite a bit of time to chew through a hull.

I'm wondering about the armour pierce factor causing this as I'm only using medium multis.

Shields aren't affected by hardness are they? So pierce is irrelevant for shields?

2F Multicannon=12.6DPS, Pierce=37
4A Beam=32.7DPS

So against something like an AspX with hardness of 52:

2F Multicannons x 4 = 50.4 DPS * (37/52) = 35.8 DPS

4A Multicannon does 23.3 DPS with Pierce 68, so I don't think I'm any better off swapping the multi to huge and beams to mediums.

So suggestions? I know I need to engineer my multis and put some corrosive and incendiary, but other than that?
 
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Morbad

Morbad
Anvariel said:
Shields aren't affected by hardness are they?
Click to expand...

They are not.

Anvariel said:
So suggestions? I know I need to engineer my multis and put some corrosive and incendiary, but other than that?
Click to expand...

You can target the power plant on ships that have them in vulnerable locations. You can use a mix of weapons that is stronger against hulls. You can apply mods that increase penetration.
 

Mohrgan

Mohrgan
I am not fond of the long time it takes for MC's to chip away at their targets. I use 1 Huge, and 2 Med. Lasers to drop shields, and 2 Med Cannon/Frags. The combined lasers do a fine job at dropping shields, and keep pressure up on what ever (PP) module I am targeting. The Cannon give me some punch when the opportunity to land a shot opens. You can really substitute any Burst type weapon for the Cannon/Frags to get the same results.
 

Burlsol

B
1 beam, 2 multi (one corrosive, one incendiary), 2 seeker missiles. Setup firing group1 beam/multi for taking down smaller ships or knocking out shields. Setup group2 multi/missile for larger ships or those which are trying to run away.
 

IceFire122

IceFire122
OP, are looking at rez or conflict zone targets?

Conflict zone targets are tough nuts to crack. I prefer Plasma Accelerators to Multis nowadays. A full salvo hit is very satisfying indeed. Also, plasma have very high piercing and hence make good medium guns, as there is no damage reduction vs. larger targets.
You have to practice a bit with them to land good hits, but once you can use them, it is fun.

Also, the FDL is one of the few ships, which can use all fixed load outs. It is agile and has tight hard point spread. The extra 30% DPS are so much worth it.
 
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Bryan K

Bryan K
Firstly, get Thermal Vent on that beam laser. Then, get corrosive shell on at least one of the MCs and overcharge all of them as much as you can (mine are at grade 4). Then, when your enemy's shields drop, hit them with all 5 weapons, not just the MCs. The effect is devastating. This is pretty much the loadout I use. If you aim for the powerplant you can disable Corvettes in CZs in no time.

The gimbaled setup means you can keep all your weapons on target, whereas if you switch to fixed one of your weapon types isn't going to ever be on target.

Oh, and get Charge Enhanced grade 5 on your distributor. That really helps.
 
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Anvariel

A
Burlsol said:
1 beam, 2 multi (one corrosive, one incendiary), 2 seeker missiles. Setup firing group1 beam/multi for taking down smaller ships or knocking out shields. Setup group2 multi/missile for larger ships or those which are trying to run away.
Click to expand...

Sounds interesting. Do seekers obey module sub targeting?
 

Lanceor

Lanceor
Just some notes:

Don't rely on just the numbers! Weak weapons on paper could be very strong in practise, and vice versa. Nothing beats trying out different weapon setups in your favourite combat zone or RES.

I noticed that you use an all-gimballed setup. Compared to fixed weapons, they do less damage but are generally more accurate. If you want to play to its strengths, you should always be targeting powerplants or other modules rather than simply going for hull destruction.

I find unengineered C2 gimballed multicannons a bit lacklustre. On paper, they should be strong against hulls, but in practise, I found that pulses destroyed powerplants faster than multicannons could destroy hulls. Multicannons have very little distributor draw and are great for applying constant pressure. When engineered, corrosive shell helps immensely with hull destruction.

Small weapons have a damage penalty against large hulls. This penalty does not apply to shields however. Therefore it makes sense for your larger weapons to be the hullbusters and the smaller weapons as shield strippers.

So for an all gimbal setup that works similarly to your current one, you can try the following:

4 x C2 Pulse, 1 x C4 Muticannon (better for targeting modules, more efficient)
2 x C2 Beam, 2 x C2 Multicannon, 1 x C4 Muticannon (better shield stripping)

If you are ready to make the transition to some fixed weapons, try the following:
2 x C2 Gimballed Multicannon, 2 x C2 Fixed Pulse, 1 x C4 Fixed Beam

With fixed weapons, you'll have a rough time with Eagles and Vultures at the beginning, but against large ships... just try it and you'll see. ;)
 
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Astronut57

Astronut57
Go for 4 beams G5 efficient with thermal vent and a huge multicannon G5 overcharged with corrosive ammo. Small multicannons aren't efficient against the bigger ships.
 

Burlsol

B
Anvariel said:
Sounds interesting. Do seekers obey module sub targeting?
Click to expand...

Not reliably. But ships which are trying to run away usually have their thrusters toward you so are more likely to get hit and damaged significantly by one of your missiles. The benefit of missiles is that they do a reasonably large amount of module damage when they do hit. The downside of seeker missiles compared to dumbfire is that you cannot really control what they actually do hit.

For CZ however I would suggest either railguns or plasma cannons even though you might need to get closer with them. Have gad a few cases where missiles either exploded and did aoe damage to a nearby friendly or hit a friendly and caused the whole cloud to turn against me. Missiles are better for areas where it is not as dense, like RCZ or open space bounty hunting where you don't need to be as careful of what else is around. Railguns do a very large amount of module damage but are tricky to aim. Plasma cannons can also be tricky, but are very good at dealing damage up close to large ships.
 

Anvariel

A
IceFire122 said:
OP, are looking at rez or conflict zone targets?

Conflict zone targets are tough nuts to crack. I prefer Plasma Accelerators to Multis nowadays. A full salvo hit is very satisfying indeed. Also, plasma have very high piercing and hence make good medium guns, as there is no damage reduction vs. larger targets.
You have to practice a bit with them to land good hits, but once you can use them, it is fun.

Also, the FDL is one of the few ships, which can use all fixed load outs. It is agile and has tight hard point spread. The extra 30% DPS are so much worth it.
Click to expand...


conflict zone targets. RES I don't really have any issues with.
 

Anvariel

A
Tried out 4 gimballed canons instead of multis, was better for kill speed, not sure about ammo longevity vs multis. I think with the medium multis limitations vs large ships rearm times would be about the same.

Considering trying the 4 x rail guns but I don't think I could handle the power draw without majorly overcharging power plant, and I'm not sure how much heat output, perhaps 4 x med rail is too much?

I guess another option could be 2 x PA, 2 x canon all fixed. similar shot speed, not sure again if power or heat could handle.

Will definitely add thermal vent to the beam.
 
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