So, I've launched my combat career by taking out ships sent to attack me when doing missions - doing OK so far, taken out about 4, but the last one I had no assistance from authority ships and it took AGES to destroy him even though he just seemed to sit there and let me hit him. I have a Cobra Mk III with 1G pulse lasers and 1D cannons, the lasers seemed to take out his shields pretty quickly but either I'm targetting the cannons wrongly or they're pretty weak - ran out of ammo before he went down. Any ideas?
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Newcomer / Intro Help needed to choose weapons
- Thread starter Touchwood
- Start date
If it was a bigger ship, your main problem could be in using only small weapons. Small weapons become less effective against bigger targets. Not because they have smaller overall damage output (They do, but not by that much) but because of the armour piercing capabilities. Your Cobra is capable of using class 2 (medium) weapons in the hardpoints in front of the cockpit, so I'd suggest using them to their full potential.
As you rightly observed, energy (thermal) weapons are more effective against shields, and kinetic weapons are great against hulls. As this armour piercing thing I was talking about apply to hulls and not shields, it is advisable to equip the kinetic weapons into your bigger hardpoints and energy weapons into your smaller ones. So the lasers in your class 1 hardpoints are a good choice.
But I would suggest several things for your class 2 hardpoints:
1) Equip a true class 2 kinetic weapons there. It will help kill things more quickly, once you strip down their shields
2) Cannons are great, but it's really hard to hit effectively with them - they are a bit on a sluggish side of projectile speeds. You can mitigate it by closing in on the target and hitting them from up close. But once you are close, you could as well use the Fragment cannons, instead. they are much better, but only at close range (They are basically a big shotguns)
If you want to stay in the safer distance, instead, I'd recommend trying out the Multicannons. They are much faster and track the target better (if you use gimbals) You will find out that although their damage per shot is low, they can overdose the target with lead pretty well.
3) Try targetting a specific module. In your left panel, there is a sub-targets tab (or you can bind keys/buttons to switch between the modules). If you destroy their thrusters, they stop. Destroying the powerplant renders them helpless and destroying the FSD prevents them from running and jumping away.
Multicannons in particular are really great for this, so check it out.
Good luck. o7
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What he said ^
Generally my go-to is lasers and multicannons.
Railguns on ships with low heat signatures like Diamondbacks and occasionally missiles and mines depending on what I'm flying.
Missiles are a pretty good option on smaller ships too for one time engagements of high value targets.. Fit some dumbfire ones in the C1 slots and 2 medium (class 2) beam lasers. Just be sure to aim well (I usually fly close up before firing) and take their shields out before firing missiles.
Generally my go-to is lasers and multicannons.
Railguns on ships with low heat signatures like Diamondbacks and occasionally missiles and mines depending on what I'm flying.
Missiles are a pretty good option on smaller ships too for one time engagements of high value targets.. Fit some dumbfire ones in the C1 slots and 2 medium (class 2) beam lasers. Just be sure to aim well (I usually fly close up before firing) and take their shields out before firing missiles.
True. Low ammo, high damage weapons can be really effective when comes to just fending off the occasional interdiction.
(Btw. Welcome back, Alex, haven't seen you around, for a while. Your new avatar is epic.
)
(Btw. Welcome back, Alex, haven't seen you around, for a while. Your new avatar is epic.
)
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True. Low ammo, high damage weapons can be really effective when comes to just fending off the occasional interdiction.
(Btw. Welcome back, Alex, haven't seen you around, for a while. Your new avatar is epic.
Thanks, I was on holiday for 2 weeks so was in and out.
New? I've not changed that in over a year lol, stole-borrowed it off someone that posted here iirc, this is the original afaik and now it's used on many websites judging by the reverse image search I just used
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...itions/page2?p=2083639&viewfull=1#post2083639
Thanks, I was on holiday for 2 weeks so was in and out.
New? I've not changed that in over a year lol, stole-borrowed it off someone that posted here iirc, this is the original afaik and now it's used on many websites judging by the reverse image search I just used
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...itions/page2?p=2083639&viewfull=1#post2083639
Okay, apparently two weeks are enough for me to forget. 
Yep, they can work extremely well....however there is a problem and it is one of cost per kill.
Depending on what you are doing the bounty on whomever you kill might just be 200Cr yet to kill him you just used several thousand credits worth of missiles.....
Of course if the kills matter to you more than the credits then go for it!
Quick-killing NPCs who interdict you (if you must)
Here's how I do it (in an Asp-X, against NPCs) when running cargo: I outfitted (only) a single mine-layer and the biggest gimbal multi-cannon I can fit,leaving the "lower" hard-points empty. When interdicted I submit, boost once, designate my target, line-up my target directly behind AND LEVEL WITH my own ship and start pooping out mines. The NPC pilots tend to fly straight into the mines and it usually takes only 6 or 7 to drop their shields, then I turn and burn them down with the multi-cannons. NOTE: When their shields drop, they turn away to re-charge their shields so be ready for that. NPC pilots are also weirdly aggressive in that they will keep attacking even as they die. I am collecting bounties and no longer worry about NPC interdiction.
I use the same setup in my Cargo-conda, just more guns, lasers and mine-layers (2).
Here's how I do it (in an Asp-X, against NPCs) when running cargo: I outfitted (only) a single mine-layer and the biggest gimbal multi-cannon I can fit,leaving the "lower" hard-points empty. When interdicted I submit, boost once, designate my target, line-up my target directly behind AND LEVEL WITH my own ship and start pooping out mines. The NPC pilots tend to fly straight into the mines and it usually takes only 6 or 7 to drop their shields, then I turn and burn them down with the multi-cannons. NOTE: When their shields drop, they turn away to re-charge their shields so be ready for that. NPC pilots are also weirdly aggressive in that they will keep attacking even as they die. I am collecting bounties and no longer worry about NPC interdiction.
I use the same setup in my Cargo-conda, just more guns, lasers and mine-layers (2).
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