have a Cobra with pulse gimbaled lasers on the medium and gimbaled cannons on the small. I am just not sure when to fire and the cannons? I know after the shields are stripped they do enormous damage. My problem is when I fire sometimes they seem to go into never never land and no where near the target? Is the key short distance. I notice my aim point get large at times. What I have trried to do is get my target in the middle and fire but sometimes that doesn't do the trick? Should I opt for turret mounted?
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Newcomer / Intro Help understanding Gimbaled Cannons?
- Thread starter Elprez
- Start date
If you're using the leading targeting system (which you will be if you haven't changed it yourself) then the target you need to aim at is a point somewhere ahead of your target, which is shown on the HUD. Gimballed weapons will automatically aim at this point provided you're roughly aiming at it.
If the target is moving fast then the leading target will be quite a way from the target, so it could be that by pointing your ship at the target, you're too far from the leading target for the gimbals to aim at it.
If the target is moving fast then the leading target will be quite a way from the target, so it could be that by pointing your ship at the target, you're too far from the leading target for the gimbals to aim at it.
Cannons are most effective at rather close range. Below 1 KM at the very least, depending target.
I suspect this is a deflection shooting issue. I have never really used gimballed cannons, but I have used the fixed ones extensively. The projectiles have such a slow speed that you have to lead the target significantly, or shoot from directly behind to land your shots, and some shots are just plain impossible.
Maybe try practicing with a fixed cannon to see what you gimbals are up against, and how to position your ship to give them the best chance of hitting.
Maybe try practicing with a fixed cannon to see what you gimbals are up against, and how to position your ship to give them the best chance of hitting.
I suggest putting the cannons on the med points and lasers on the small.
Either way, gimballed works when you get your aim point near the target. The bullseye will move out in front of the target, which lets you know to fire.
If you get your aimpoint too close to the target, it will revert to dumb fire.
With 2 cannons you can see your targetting computer at work when two small circles are trying to attach to two dots (or something like that). At a certain point, you can see they are linked (target is locked) and you can fire your guns. However your grenade takes some time to get to the target, so even when your aim was good, you might miss.
Definitely look at putting small lasers on the bottom and medium multicannons on the top. Kinetic damage increases/decreases depending on your target so you will get a bonus for having medium guns against small ships. The reverse of what you are currently doing is taking a penalty when using small multicannons against larger/medium sized ships. i.e. doing less damage.
The same isn't true for lasers on shields so you can use them on small hardpoints just fine.