How to aim with Rail Guns

RebellGhost · Jan 16, 2017

Hey everyone,

could someone please help me understand how to aim with rail guns in an Asp (or in any ship for that matter?)
NPCs never seem to miss a shot and I#ve seen players that seem to have an understanding of rail guns on much the same level.

If no one can tell me how to aim with them, could someone at least tell me how to avoid being shot by an NPC with them? At the time I seem to be doing something wrong, as I have my shields and hull stripped in a matter of seconds as soon as something as low as an eagle starts shooting at me with railguns..

Thanks,
RebellKilljoy (Ingame Name is C0degh0st) (I've got nothing to do with any ingame organisations that may or may not habe a similar name as I do)

MottiKhan · Jan 16, 2017

Rails and hammers can be fun weapons, but aren't particularly practical for human players. I still use them from time to time. Aiming with them is fairly straightforward. Just time your movements so the dot is fairly close to the target when they fire. There's a little delay between when you press the fire button and when they actually fire. The bolts are instantaneous, so you don;t have to worry about drift or "windage".

NPCs actually can miss with them. Use lateral (left or right) thrusters to avoid them. Same thing that you do to avoid Plasma Accelerators and missiles. Also, unlike humans, NPCs don't seem to be able to hit as regularly if you just hold your thrust to the right.

shadragon · Jan 16, 2017

MottiKhan said:
NPCs actually can miss with them. Use lateral (left or right) thrusters to avoid them. Same thing that you do to avoid Plasma Accelerators and missiles. Also, unlike humans, NPCs don't seem to be able to hit as regularly if you just hold your thrust to the right.

Not in my experience. When I apply constant right or left thrust with my HOTAS, the PA rounds and dumbfires glide by, but rails nail me continuously.

Ddraig · Jan 16, 2017

Last patch reduced the overall NPC´s accuracy with rails a bit. They happen to actually miss from time to time specially when doing lateral maneuvers, but only a tiny little bit really.
And I find them pretty simple to aim, set the sight on the enemy and fire, they have a small load time but the impact is instantaneous.
As with everything practice and patience is the key, load them on a small cheap ship and go and fire them until you learn. Simple as that.

znôrt · Jan 16, 2017

RebellGhost said:
tell me how to aim with them

feels like swinging a whip to hear it crack a few instants later. a bit over 1 sec, depending on the size. you just to have to get used to time the crack. it will hit anything that is under your aiming dot at that moment.

imperial hammers make 3 consecutive smaller 'cracks', which combined do some extra damage over the normal size 2 railgun. however, you have to maintain your aim for all three cracks, it's a bit more challenging.

RebellGhost said:
how to avoid being shot by an NPC with them? At the time I seem to be doing something wrong, as I have my shields and hull stripped in a matter of seconds as soon as something as low as an eagle starts shooting at me with railguns..

rails aren't for raw damage. their advantage is penetration, to damage modules. they are not the most efficient weapon for shields. what shield do you have? and are you sure you only get hit by rails?

RebellGhost · Jan 16, 2017

znôrt said:
feels like swinging a whip to hear it crack a few instants later. a bit over 1 sec, depending on the size. you just to have to get used to time the crack. it will hit anything that is under your aiming dot at that moment.

imperial hammers make 3 consecutive smaller 'cracks', which combined do some extra damage over the normal size 2 railgun. however, you have to maintain your aim for all three cracks, it's a bit more challenging.

rails aren't for raw damage. their advantage is penetration, to damage modules. they are not the most efficient weapon for shields. what shield do you have? and are you sure you only get hit by rails?

I'm fairly sure, as I used chaff whenever they start to use lasers. They only use their cannons after I lost my shields. I'm not sure with what they start hitting me once I lost my shields, as I start running as soon as I hear the characteristic sound of railgun slugs on my shield.
I've got a 6B on an Asp. It's not perfect, buit it should hold off a railgun for at least a few seconds..

MottiKhan said:
Rails and hammers can be fun weapons, but aren't particularly practical for human players. I still use them from time to time. Aiming with them is fairly straightforward. Just time your movements so the dot is fairly close to the target when they fire. There's a little delay between when you press the fire button and when they actually fire. The bolts are instantaneous, so you don;t have to worry about drift or "windage".

NPCs actually can miss with them. Use lateral (left or right) thrusters to avoid them. Same thing that you do to avoid Plasma Accelerators and missiles. Also, unlike humans, NPCs don't seem to be able to hit as regularly if you just hold your thrust to the right.

I tried using that strategy, but after 2.2 it doesn't seem to work any more.

As for using railguns, thanks to both of you, will probably try that in a Viper MK4 soon, thanks

IceFire122 · Jan 16, 2017

You have to get used to the rail guns rhythm, since they take 1-2 seconds of charging before firing. The trick is to have your target in your sights at the end of the charging time. Whether you have them in your sights at the beginning of the charge time or not is not important.

Start with slower targets, an agile ship yourself and a control method to enable you to do fine adjustments. Listen to the charge up time and try to keep the dot on target during the charge time. If the target drifts away, simply release the trigger, recenter the target and charge again. Landing rail shots as target of opportunity is challenging, in contrast to cannons/plasmas.
In the beginning of ED, rail guns did not have a delay (and did not use ammo?). They were totally OP, which led to the charge up timer introduced to make them a skill weapon.

Avoiding NPC rail shots is another big challenge. Better to put 4 pips to SYS and take the hits while killing the NPC or at least get behind him. Boost away, if two or more rail NPCs are hunting you.

Butter of Sorrow · Jan 16, 2017

It's not that hard, it just takes some practice to get used to. I'd recommend starting with fixed lasers first though.

znôrt · Jan 16, 2017

RebellGhost said:
I've got a 6B on an Asp. It's not perfect, buit it should hold off a railgun for at least a few seconds..

right, my bad, i didn't take that into account. it also makes for an easy target. but you also said 'or any ship for that matter'

then, well, try to spot them early and get the hell out of there!

Garbarrage · Jan 16, 2017

Hold fire, and keep your crosshair on target. The bigger the target, the easier it is.

GilliganTX · Jan 16, 2017

point and click

User experience may vary

Ddraig · Jan 16, 2017

I have a Viper Mk3 with small rails and medium MCs and it is actually really fun.
I insist in using small cheap ships to learn the gimmicks of fixed weapons, mistakes and rebuys hurt a lots less that way.

Julio Montega · Jan 16, 2017

When aiming with railguns you need a feeling
what maneuver the target will pull to keep spot on.

When evading railguns you should try to minimize your silhouette
and get close, if you look at an NPC frontally roll your ship
so you are at right angle to them on the roll-axis.
The closer you are, the wider the hardpoint spread is.
Alternatively outmaneuver them and don't face-tank.

Krezan · Jan 16, 2017

Get a mouse, easy then.

CATPAIN KIRK · Jan 16, 2017

Easiest way to start practicing using them is using one or more beam lasers as a laser sight. Once the lasers hit reliably and you're confident you'll keep doing so for the duration of the charge, fire the rails.

A two-stage trigger on the hotas helps - pull lightly to fire group 1 (lasers) and all the way through to fire group 2 (rails).

As for evading them: depends on the ship, but pretty much what Julio said.

thirstyfish · Jan 16, 2017

RebellGhost said:
Hey everyone,

could someone please help me understand how to aim with rail guns in an Asp (or in any ship for that matter?)
NPCs never seem to miss a shot and I#ve seen players that seem to have an understanding of rail guns on much the same level.

If no one can tell me how to aim with them, could someone at least tell me how to avoid being shot by an NPC with them? At the time I seem to be doing something wrong, as I have my shields and hull stripped in a matter of seconds as soon as something as low as an eagle starts shooting at me with railguns..

Thanks,
RebellKilljoy (Ingame Name is C0degh0st) (I've got nothing to do with any ingame organisations that may or may not habe a similar name as I do)

The catch with rail guns is the brief charging time that occurs prior to firing. That and the massive amount of heat they produce. I recommend you get some practice with them. Use them like you would a kinetic weapon for maximum effect. Also watch out for that low ammo count. Hi cap mags can help with that.

Let me dispel one myth here: Imp hammers DON'T do more damage than the regular rail gun. Each hammer shot does 1/3 of a regular rail shot. They have a 9% greater DPS, but that is it. One pull of the trigger from either weapon does the same damage. Vindicator Jones recently put a video on youtube that illustrates the difference.