Have no experience whatsoever fighting thargoids, and recently started going after scouts and interceptors to learn the ropes. Was wondering, with guardian shard cannons going up to size 3, and guardian gauss cannons only up to size 2, which ones are preferred these days by alien hunters? Or a combination? I also like the challenge of fixed weapons..
Right now i 'm using a Krait, 3x3 shard cannons a flac launcher and an AX multi cannon turret, but i have most ships and could convert or buy and engineer any of them. I think i have all other module aspects besides weapons down. So any recommendations?
Not sure that I am the best choice at giving advice or recommendations on that topic, but I can show you what Krait does work for me and my personal playstyle.
First of all, I am 41 years old, so my high speed dogfight days are long gone. My way depends on a couple of other factors that I´ll sum up here for you.
-i equip two large Guardian plasma chargers for doing damage to the mothership and laying the hearts open
-i equip two medium Guardian gauss cannons as my aiming is usually not too bad and they really dig through a heart
-i finally equip one medium remote release flak launcher (in the remaining high hardpoint) for decimating the swarm
-i study the opponent and build and evolve my strategy by trial and error experience and low-wake [big grin]
my krait is also equipped with high engineered armor and hull protection, i also use guardian shield reinforcement and one for the modules i think.
when i get hit by a caustic damage i usually throw in a shield cell and give an additional gauss shot for frying the caustic effect. i carry a shutdown field neutralizer, but hardly use it, especially not, when i´m boosting away anyway. (rebooting the ship is sometimes a welcome effect)
i tend to boost a lot. if you´re not really good at aiming, maybe you´d replace the gauss by shard cannons, but thats not my preferance. I like to stay a bit away from the mothership(and its yellow palpatine flash) so it is easier to see whats happening next and i think its also easier to react with the shutdown field neutralizer.
I try to keep in motion and boost around the mothership. Don´t dogfight the swarm, boost away, kite a bit and decimate it with the remote flak. if 5 thargons are left.. leave them be, don´t wipe them. use a fighter (a javelin or maybe better a taipan even) to distract the mothership just before the moment you attack it.
Like I said.. I am not the best anti xeno fighter, but I usually win my fight.
Here is just as an example my second cyclops kill with my Krait. Good luck commander!
...Was wondering, with guardian shard cannons going up to size 3, and guardian gauss cannons only up to size 2, which ones are preferred these days by alien hunters? Or a combination? I also like the challenge of fixed weapons..
Right now i 'm using a Krait, 3x3 shard cannons a flac launcher and an AX multi cannon turret, but i have most ships and could convert or buy and engineer any of them. I think i have all other module aspects besides weapons down. So any recommendations?
The large Shard Canon actually do more damage to the Thargoid huill and are quicker to exert the heart...but only when hitting from very close range, That puts one in range to get more damage fromn the Thargoid attacks. So out side a 800m or so...the gauss canons do more damage but there is the heat issue. Shard Canons are also able to kill a heart pretty easy...up close. With good heat management and a well engineered build...4 size 2 gauss and one remote flak works great on a Goid and makes fast work of them. I personally run 2 size 3 shard, 2 size 2 gauss, and one flak on my Krait. Just lots of way to skin that Goid and it often is best dictated by flying style.
Good Luck!!
Thanks, i m trying out both and i m beginning to see the differences. The caustic missile thing is the most frustrating so far when it happens, so i often regret flying too close.. If i move away from a ship that needs to have many large hardpoints, that does open up lots of choices!!
To add to this discussion, is the turreted version of the Shard-Cannon of any use?
For example, I like to put 3 Gauss on my ship so the heat buildup isn't too bad, so I've got 1 slot remaining for an additional AX weapon. That would be either the Multi-Cannon or Shard-Cannon.
I want to have it for the occasions when my target gets too close and out of my sight, so the turret can fire where I can't.
as far as I know the only turreted ax weapons that work without Multicrew are the MCs and missiles (for which turrets are pointless). all the other ones require a MC gunner or they work like fixed weapons with less damage.
I find that I waste more ammo with the shards than with gauss cannons. for a hydra where you HAVE to get behind it to even do damage it might be worth using shards but I still find gauss cannons to be more effective. I still haven't switched to a med ship for interceptors as I'm still trying to work out a way to kill bigger interceptors without synthesis. I can sometimes manage a Basilisk but its not consistent and still not worth it moneywise.
I have not tried the large plasma chargers yet...do they also do more damage than med gauss?
as far as I know the only turreted ax weapons that work without Multicrew are the MCs and missiles (for which turrets are pointless). all the other ones require a MC gunner or they work like fixed weapons with less damage.
The shard cannon turret versions actually work like regular turrets and will shoot on their own outside of multicrew. They are the only Guardian weapon turrets that work this way.
The shard cannon turret versions actually work like regular turrets and will shoot on their own outside of multicrew. They are the only Guardian weapon turrets that work this way.
Oh! Thanks. So much for consistency. I guess I was assuming sort of logical consistency across a group of similar items.....my bad. Maybe Ill try them against scouts then.
So does the turreted large shard cannon still do more damage than gauss?
Have no experience whatsoever fighting thargoids, and recently started going after scouts and interceptors to learn the ropes. Was wondering, with guardian shard cannons going up to size 3, and guardian gauss cannons only up to size 2, which ones are preferred these days by alien hunters? Or a combination? I also like the challenge of fixed weapons..
Right now i 'm using a Krait, 3x3 shard cannons a flac launcher and an AX multi cannon turret, but i have most ships and could convert or buy and engineer any of them. I think i have all other module aspects besides weapons down. So any recommendations?
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When going for scouts, I'd stick to turreted AX multicannons and regular human weapons. The guardian gauss weapon also is fine, as it's basically railguns. The shard cannon basically is a fragmentation cannon with very wide spread. It's not that useful against the rather small scouts. (Also, using shard cannons near the Gnosis got me killed in the end. Seems like thanks to the huge spread a few slivers hit the Gnosis, which used that as a reason to dispose of me. )
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Shard cannons only started to become really useful when going against the bigger Thargoids, which are immune to regular weapons. Against those it's adviseable to have either some shard cannons or AX missiles. Bigger Thargoids are big enough generally don't move too eratically, so it's possible to hit them reliably with these weapons. And only these weapons provide the damage output necessary to really hurt the bigger Thargoids. AX multicannons only tickle them and the gauss, while being a good choice to kill the hearts, still can't keep up with the shard cannon or AX missiles in terms of sustained damage.
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Almost. For Interceptors use Shard Cannons to hurt its health and have your Gauss available to kill the hearts, once they are exposed.
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Also remember to bring flak to deal with the swarm. Luckily flak doesn't count towards the limit of four experimental weapons only, so if you have the hardpoints spare, feel free to pack more flak.
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Almost. For Interceptors use Shard Cannons to hurt its health and have your Gauss available to kill the hearts, once they are exposed.
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Also remember to bring flak to deal with the swarm. Luckily flak doesn't count towards the limit of four experimental weapons only, so if you have the hardpoints spare, feel free to pack more flak.
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I won't deny the usefulness of the Gauss Cannons if you can master the delayed trigger. However Shards work just as well for destroying hearts and for a Cyclops you don't absolutely need to deal with the swarm.
I think what's more important than the choice of Gauss vs. Shards is to learn the phases of a fight against an interceptor. If you can learn how to not take excessive amounts of damage from the interceptor (or the swarm for Basilisks or bigger), use whatever weapon you are most effective with.
I can't hit a barn door with the Gauss, but I'm okay with Shards.
Once you feel confident against a Cyclops, the next step would probably be to learn how to use flak to control the swarm, which is needed against the bigger guys.
An example, excuse my mediocre combat flying compared to other vids you can find around here:
And that's how i kill them too. Except you're doing a bit better than i do Cmdr Foobaron76. I usually have repair bills around 200k-300k and with a reward of 2m is not too bad of a deal.
Shard cannon is by no means OP, of all the guardian weapon it's the most dangerous to use because to land full damage you WILL get into lightning range, apart from that, there's also enough instakill vids with gauss and plasma chargers.
So I practiced a bit today and got quite gud at tearing cyclopses apart with a Krait and 2xM 2xL shard cannons. Right now I'm able to pull it off with 74% hull left and I use engineered reinforcements, a reinforce bi-wave and guardian module reinforcements. I still would recommend gauss for the higher tier interceptors, though, as you are able to do full damage at 1,5KM and don't need to get your ship melee-roasted. If running in a wing one meber can use 4x shards to exert heats while another one can snipe the hearts, a mix of 2xL shards and 2xM gauss also works quite well.
Oh, and mind one thing: Shard cannons allow you to fly 4-1-1 or 4-2-0 without every running out of energy or serious overheat with charge-enhanced distris.
I can highly recommend the small Gauss cannons as well if you don't want to use heatsinks. I can shoot 3 small Gauss around 3 times without overheating on Crusader
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