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Newcomer / Intro How do you deal with missiles?
- Thread starter xywa
- Start date
Point Defense. But the best defense is keep your shields up; missiles do virtually nothing to shields.
If you mean an attack on you with missiles, then you can change course which will throw off Dumbfire type missiles as they have no guidance if you fitted Point Defence turrets then as long as they have power they will automatically engage all missiles and Hatch-breaker limpets that are within arc and range or if you have it you can charge up ECM for several seconds when it fires it does things to missiles.
A bit bit vague on ECM as I haven't tried it.
If you mean using them then Dumbfire you use like any fixed mount weapon, Seekers you have to keep the target centred on your HUD until the missile locks, about 5 seconds, then fire as normal.
A bit bit vague on ECM as I haven't tried it.
If you mean using them then Dumbfire you use like any fixed mount weapon, Seekers you have to keep the target centred on your HUD until the missile locks, about 5 seconds, then fire as normal.
You can also use heat-sinks to cool your ship down to the point where the missiles won't be able to get a lock on you.
Silent-running will have the same effect but that exposes your hull, which against missiles is a bad idea!
This too. Although my Overloaded Munition Packhounds are the exception to the rule
Silent-running will have the same effect but that exposes your hull, which against missiles is a bad idea!
This too. Although my Overloaded Munition Packhounds are the exception to the rule
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Very much this. ECM is not that powerful against missiles by itself. It destroys the missiles currently in range, but it takes some time to recharge, while the missile launcher can just keep firing. Point defense generally does a better job.
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On heat sinks or silent running: this indeed helps before the missiles are fired. If your signature gets too cold to keep you targeted, missiles also can't go through the lockon any more. If you have access to the right engineers, you can also get this another way: plasma accelerators with the target lock breaker special effect. Whenever an enemy looses lock, he has to select you again and start the missile lock again. (Mind you, some players are very fast there and most NPCs almost instantly select you again as targets. So you delayed the missiles only for a few seconds. You better keep hitting that guy... )
Once the missiles are on way, silent running or heat sinks don't help you any more. Shields and point defense do. Also, again if you have engineer access, you can bring frag cannons with the screening shell special. It's a rather strong weapon against munitions, but you have to be fast and to be a good shot to make it count.
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are you making that up, or can you confrim that in any way? since i have seen countless youtube vids from guys in small ships simply engaging silent running as soon as a seeker was fired upon them... with success
even thargoid missiles lose lock when you hit the "hide" button.
ECM is more powerful then you may think it is - it can also deflect dumbfires. to a certain degree.
the issue is, there are no usefull ECM mods, like quick charge...
ECM itself needs so much "attention" that its almost a justification to have a multicrew gunner just for that.
Seekers in flight will not lose lock on a silent running (or cold running) ship. You can prevent the initial lock by running cold or silent. Also works for torps.
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I am not making it up and thanks to 777Driver for confirming it.
In contrast, i'd be curious about those videos. I am not aware of what you refer to, but i would suspect that they actually outran the missiles. (Seekers fly with 625 m/s, PackHounds only manage 600 m/s. As people keep pushing their small ships to get over 800 m/s, they can easily outrun missiles by just speeding away in a straight line. )
On Thargoids i have to admit that i did not test against their missiles. I can not comment on that. What i know is that Thargoid missiles are much slower than human missiles. Even a number of medium ships can outrun them, while ECM and PD seem to be completely worthless. If i fight them again, i try to remember to bring heat sinks or go silent running to see if it stops their missiles. But that might still be several weeks in the future, even if i don't forget to do it.
I am aware of that. There's also a thread about that here, where i was one of the few which already before the video didn't go ballistic on "you are crazy" but already had an idea where this effect might actually come from.
Also indeed, i just looked at my test result files. I did some testing during the last beta. The focus was if defensive modules worked in both combat and analysis mode, as there were several inconsistencies. (Some were fixed during the beta. I didn't do a full test on them after the beta, so my test data is still from end of November. ) What i wrote above about ECM only slowing it down and giving PD more time to eliminate it was true for torpedoes. Seekers indeed were eliminated, but ECM still was found to be mostly ineffective. You can fire missiles in much faster order than the ECM recharges.
So yes, you can indeed destroy a single missile with ECM. Then you eat several of them while waiting for the ECM to be ready again. PD does a much better job.
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i have to do some testing with a friend later.
for the time beeing, i have checked how much ECM i need for a "permanent" protection.
the answer is - in theory you need to equip three and have a macro that hits and holds the ECM button about a second and repeat that every 3.3333 seconds
The ECM pulse has a 3 second "duration", but i have no idea how that works regarding killing swarms of packhounds fired in that timeframe.
for the time beeing, i have checked how much ECM i need for a "permanent" protection.
the answer is - in theory you need to equip three and have a macro that hits and holds the ECM button about a second and repeat that every 3.3333 seconds
The ECM pulse has a 3 second "duration", but i have no idea how that works regarding killing swarms of packhounds fired in that timeframe.
Sorry, I have not been precise. I use my own missiles only when enemy shield is down (doesn't work fine in conflict zone, but fine outside on other mission).
What I wanted to ask is about incoming missile. I used Cobra Mk3 or Viper Mk4 and they were just fine in conlict zones. But my Diamondback Explorer is overhelm with many missiles. And I lost 3 my ships in row (previously the same in 2 months time with eg. Cobra or Viper).
I got my ECM on the ship, but before I spotted a missile and wait till ECM will work, the party is over.
What I wanted to ask is about incoming missile. I used Cobra Mk3 or Viper Mk4 and they were just fine in conlict zones. But my Diamondback Explorer is overhelm with many missiles. And I lost 3 my ships in row (previously the same in 2 months time with eg. Cobra or Viper).
I got my ECM on the ship, but before I spotted a missile and wait till ECM will work, the party is over.
Point Defence turrets, where possible I try to have one on the bottom of the hull and one on the top, essentially trying to cover everywhere without the hull blocking the field of fire. PD are fully automatic and don't suffer from charge up times.
I am not sure the Diamondback Explorer is the best option for a Conflict Zone.
The fun thing to do with the Targoid missiles is to press your "target highest threat" button. It's quite satisfying to shoot down missiles <grin>
TheMegaTurnip
Banned
No, they are cutting the lock. what they are most likely doing is outrunning the missile whilst ensuring that another is'nt fired upon thier return to the fray.
Silent running can also be used to great effect in small ships by removing focus from said ship. If they can't target you and you're a fast moving target they will select someone else because of the DPS being inflicted by the larger vessels in the wing, this inturn allows said small ship to continue chewing away at whatever it pleases.
And a small ship left unchecked in a big wing fight can sometime single handledly turn the tide of battle. Missiles are something I hated for a very long time, but once you get the rythum of silent on/off down the only risk is emissive. If someone hits you with that they have permanent missile locking ability for up to 45(?) seconds from a rocket with emissive, or 15 ish with emsissive MC/Pulse, the only way to trump this is with speed. Unfortunatly Emissive is the single most broken effect in game. It absolutley is a crutch for people who can't target aquisition so be prepared to deal with large numbers of emissive spackhound noobs.
and i thought the most broken effect is actually corrosive shell debuff that turns every pea-shooter into a hull wrecking cannon.
sorry, i couldn't test ECM myself, since my System SSD got ECMed yesterday and i have to wait for a new one to rebuild my PC
sorry, i couldn't test ECM myself, since my System SSD got ECMed yesterday and i have to wait for a new one to rebuild my PC
Ouch, comforts! Wish you good luck that the new one arrives soon!