How to destroy subsystems

[Dr Roly]

I've been targetting and trying to destroy different subsystems, but always take my target's hull down to 0% before I destroy the subsystem itself.

I almost always use fixed weapons, but nevertheless am confident that I am regularly hitting the subsystem "box" on my HUD, and not spraying fire all over the target's hull.

I've tried a variety of weapons; lasers (all three types), MC, Cannon, Railgun all to no avail.

You might ask "why bother with subsystems if you can just kill your target outright?" I'm hoping that targetting subs will give me a better chance against larger ships (I stubbornly refuse to get out of the cockpit of my Eagle despite having the CR for bigger ship).

Any advice on this would be gratefully appreciated.

 

[Harbinger]

It really depends on the vessel as to how much of a pummelling they can take in general but cannons are the most penetrative weapon and best at taking out internal components if you hit on target when the shields are down.

If you take out the power plant of a large ship you can destroy it a lot faster than a direct attack on the hull itself.

 

[AV-ON]

I'm a bit unclear about subsystems too. If you target a subsystem and use a gimbled weapon, will it aim specifically at the targeted sub system? I've used fixed weapons and inflicted damage on sub systems but the enemy ship usually blows up outright before knocking out an individual subsystem (though I did manage to disable a ships life support once with very careful aiming).

 

[AnthonyRV]

It'll target the specific subsystem with gimbled weapons. Try it with the cargo hatch for some bonus goodies from a ship before you blow it up

 

[JonnyC0mbat]

I always target subsystems, but I've only really had success with gimballed weapons. Quickest way to make a ship go pop is to knock out the FSD or Power Generator. Especially ASP's that seem to be tough enough to survive until their FSD spools up.

 

[Trashberg]

I've been targetting and trying to destroy different subsystems, but always take my target's hull down to 0% before I destroy the subsystem itself.

I almost always use fixed weapons, but nevertheless am confident that I am regularly hitting the subsystem "box" on my HUD, and not spraying fire all over the target's hull.

I've tried a variety of weapons; lasers (all three types), MC, Cannon, Railgun all to no avail.

You might ask "why bother with subsystems if you can just kill your target outright?" I'm hoping that targetting subs will give me a better chance against larger ships (I stubbornly refuse to get out of the cockpit of my Eagle despite having the CR for bigger ship).

Any advice on this would be gratefully appreciated.

I posted this yesterday in another thread, but there was no discussion. The question is about the same as yours...

Is it still possible to destroy subtargets? I have been trying several times, but the hull seems to degrade faster and the target blows up before subs reach 0.

I find this tactical approach in dogfights very nice, taking out thrusters and shields/drives, but I just can't seem to get it working. In earlier Beta I always targeted the power plant on Federal fighters, they went out in a boom with a couple of well placed shots.

If you don't have a sub system targeted, is the damage just spread out over the hull, or are the hits taken in account if they "accidentally" hit one of the sub system?

Would love if it applied to you own ship aswell, e.g some thrusters get knocked out and you can't roll left. Pretty intense docking procedures follow...

I'd vote for more critical (maybe temporary) damage to systems first, and a bit slower hull intergrity. Seems like it is now, NPCs are flying and fighting back without much effort even at 1% hull.

 

[Vim]

You need to hit them directly, from roughly the proper angle. Some are right on the surface and relatively easy to pop (cargo hatch, drives), while others seem to be just under the surface and need weapons with strong armor penetration to damage (power plants, FSD drives).

Take some time poking around around outside busy stations, targeting subsystems of NPC ships as they pass by and flying up close to see exactly where those systems are on the ship. Get to know their location well enough that you can tell where they are on the holographic target model, so that you can tell whether your shots are hitting them directly or not while in combat.

If you're having trouble damaging them, than in many cases you may just need to find a better angle of attack. In others you may need to use to more precise sniping weapons (gimbaled weapons will tend to drift back and forth over the target which is fine for larger system targets like bay doors, but for smaller ones they spend most of their time missing), or something that has a wider damage area (explosive or shotgun type) in order to get solid hits.

 

[Mooncusser]

From my completely inexperienced viewpoint (derived completely from watching YouTube videos), I have seen subsystems targeted on smaller and larger vessels to different effect.
.
When I have seen smaller ships targeted, the hull does as you have noted - it degrades much faster than the subsystem.
.
However, I saw someone battling an Anaconda the other day while targeting subsystems, and the subsystem failed long before the hull was even seriously weakened.

 

[Eirichur]

In case you haven't read it yet, here's a very useful guide on subsystems. I believe your specific issue was addressed in some of the responses there, but it's been a while since I've read through them so I can't be certain.

 

[mh-sabre]

I managed to disable a vipers drive by targeting the subsystem. No better feeling for an eagle pilot to be sitting behind a viper which can't move. I noticed the gimballed weapons appear to aim for the targeted subsystem, with a cannon (yes gimballed) mounted on the top mounting point, it would sometimes miss a large ship even when there is a huge centre of mass to aim for when I had the drive targeted, it looked like it was targeting the back of the ship and with a bad angle of attack it was missing shots. From behind it was landing them easily.