Ships Fixed or gimballed multi-cannon

[Dan Bender]

So, I've been flying my Viper Mk. IV around for some time, and let me tell you I'm going to keep it around for a good deal longer; I absolutely love it. Decent jump range, reasonable cargo capacity, maneuverable enough to do okay in combat. And been cutting through the salvage zone in Fedmich for the past week, nimble enough to grab 20 or more tonnes of salvage on a good run, small and well-armed enough the pirates aren't even bothering with me.

However, I'm not sure I'm liking my weapon loadout. I've got two fixed pulse lasers on the upper size 1 hardpoints, and 2 gimballed size 2 multicannons on the lower set. And something about the latter doesn't feel right. It almost seems like the guns don't track the target very well, and I only can count on good hits when my enemy turns across my crosshair. I'm wondering if gimballed weapons on the lower hardpoints are actually a step down for this ship, and would be better off with a bigger, more powerful pair of fixed weapons there, relying on superior turning to bring my guns to bear. It's not like I'm having any trouble hitting, even at a distance, with the fixed pulse lasers.

What are your opinions on loadout for this ship?

 

[GammaZ]

I did not fly MkIV, because personally for me it looks like downgrade from MkIII, but i think i know what issue you are talking about. Those guns cannot shoot up in relation to your crosshairs. Such hardpoints are usually better for fixed weapons, yes, and most of the ships have them.
You can try fixed MC, but you will most likely have issues with them, and there are other options too, you may use medium lasers + small cannons, or try medium PA-s + may be something like missiles, for example...
You may also just acknowledge this limitation and try to keep your target lower, it works reasonably well...

 

[Madrax573]

I have used gimballed MC's on the Viper IV a fair bit and the key is keeping your target below the centre line of your cross hairs. Well that is what worked for me.

It takes a bit of time to get used to but it's actually pretty easy given the agility of this ship.

 

[son of khzvoltz]

use Gimballed multicannons on the underside, and fixed pulse lasers on the tier 2 slots, for quick target destruction, unless your bad at aiming

 

[Schorsi]

Fixed cannons can be fun but I've never had much luck using fixed multi cannons. You could always swap around a bit to see what works best for you. Most of my weapons testing happens at LHS 20, haven't played in a while so i don't remember the station that I use there but it has a good selection of parts with the LYR discount and a few res sites within 20 ls. I would recommend trying out rail guns for the underside mounts.

As one last note, weapons below the nose of the ship should be fixed or turreted. Gimballed weapons need some room and time to track, since most commanders tend to pitch up towards a target instead of down, if you have gimballed mounts keeping them up top will give them the most time on target.