I've never really been able to really get the a hang of fixed weapons. The controls feels too sensitive to me. If I move my ship slightly to target something it totally over shoots the mark. It's like trying to thread a needle. Is there some method or option settings that make this feel more usable? I use gimbals usually otherwise it would take about 4 times as long to destroy another ship.
Is there a trick to using fixed weapons?
- Thread starter Dimensions
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Practise, Practise, Practise.
There is no trick
There is no trick
Drink melissa, take magnesium + B6, and practice, practice, practice.
OP, question, do you play with Mouse/KB, Controller, or Hotas/Joystick?
If you have a joystick, try playing with the sensitivity curves
This helped me greatly: [video=youtube;CqzoJPCZM0w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqzoJPCZM0w[/video]
If you have a joystick, try playing with the sensitivity curves
This helped me greatly: [video=youtube;CqzoJPCZM0w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqzoJPCZM0w[/video]
... not play in open, right? Learn aim with fixed guns is good also for case you use turrets, sometimes switch them to Forward fire mode comes very handy.
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Here ya go, OP. Every combat-viable ship in the game can rock with fixed weapons with a bit of practice.
I used to be a member of Adle’s Armada. Here’s a potted version of my (many times delivered) ‘fixed weapon lecture’:-
1. Fit a beam laser sufficiently small that your Power Distributor can run it continuously, ideally with as many pips left over for sys and eng as possible. This removes timing from the multi-tasking.
2. Practice on easy targets at first: think interdicting traders in an Anarchy.
3. Track the target with your beam.
4. If it feels that you are pitching too slowly to track, briefly use FA-off while (if pitching up) simultaneously applying down thrust. This should catch the target up. Consider eng pips.
5. If it feels that you are moving too quickly, reduce control sensitivities using in-game options and, if necessary, your peripheral’s own settings.
6. Fly backwards / forwards as necessary to keep the target in your sights. Learn how handling properties differ when moving backwards.
7. Use yaw to fine-tune and maintain aim. This is vital, I have yaw under two of my fingertips at all times.
8. Once proficient with tiny beam laser, move on to pulse laser then burst laser.
9. After burst laser, rail guns. The quickest way to learn rail timing is by binding a burst laser and a rail to the same trigger. The burst rat-a-tat will teach you when the rail will fire.
10. Then, weapons that require lead (fastest projectile velocity first).
Be encouraged - any pilot can achieve consistent accuracy with sufficient practice. I used to fly an 8 x fixed pulse laser Anaconda, later a 5 x Imperial Hammer Fer-de-Lance, now an infinite ammo rail Courier.
A lot of it as ever is down to flying hours.
I used to be a member of Adle’s Armada. Here’s a potted version of my (many times delivered) ‘fixed weapon lecture’:-
1. Fit a beam laser sufficiently small that your Power Distributor can run it continuously, ideally with as many pips left over for sys and eng as possible. This removes timing from the multi-tasking.
2. Practice on easy targets at first: think interdicting traders in an Anarchy.
3. Track the target with your beam.
4. If it feels that you are pitching too slowly to track, briefly use FA-off while (if pitching up) simultaneously applying down thrust. This should catch the target up. Consider eng pips.
5. If it feels that you are moving too quickly, reduce control sensitivities using in-game options and, if necessary, your peripheral’s own settings.
6. Fly backwards / forwards as necessary to keep the target in your sights. Learn how handling properties differ when moving backwards.
7. Use yaw to fine-tune and maintain aim. This is vital, I have yaw under two of my fingertips at all times.
8. Once proficient with tiny beam laser, move on to pulse laser then burst laser.
9. After burst laser, rail guns. The quickest way to learn rail timing is by binding a burst laser and a rail to the same trigger. The burst rat-a-tat will teach you when the rail will fire.
10. Then, weapons that require lead (fastest projectile velocity first).
Be encouraged - any pilot can achieve consistent accuracy with sufficient practice. I used to fly an 8 x fixed pulse laser Anaconda, later a 5 x Imperial Hammer Fer-de-Lance, now an infinite ammo rail Courier.
A lot of it as ever is down to flying hours.
Nice lecture. I'll give these tips a go some time as my fighting skills need serious work
I play with trackpad and KB. I see youtube videos where people are using them very accurately and hardly miss. As I said the controls feel way to sensitive to me.
It doesn't feel like more skill is required, just a way to turn down the fine control.
My thoughts. Only issue is chaff - but I drop the targets and attempt (fail) manually aiming.
Fixed has 2 advantages: One, you get more (theoretical) damage per weapon. With practice you will be able to leverage that damage.
The other is that you get to laugh maniacally when your target drops chaff. That's the payoff right there.
Some ships use fixed better than others, and fixed weapons work better against bigger ships. An eagle which uses fixed will appreciate the boost in damage against a python. A python will probably not gain much advantage with fixed when shooting an eagle.
The other is that you get to laugh maniacally when your target drops chaff. That's the payoff right there.
Some ships use fixed better than others, and fixed weapons work better against bigger ships. An eagle which uses fixed will appreciate the boost in damage against a python. A python will probably not gain much advantage with fixed when shooting an eagle.
Same here. Which means you end up being a slave to chaff and having to wait. But most dangerous and above ships love spamming chaff and using SCBs while untargetable making some fights very long.
In PvE it's whatever floats your boat. Personally I think a combination of fixed and gimballed works best on most ships, especially the larger ones that are more limited by wep cap than number of hard points.
In PvP against an experienced player killer who knows how to avoid ramming, double/triple chaff and/or a dispersal cannon are absolute hard counters to gimballed or turreted weapons (with the sole exception of frags, which are countered by range control).
It has been proven 10,000+ times over that the guy who attempts to de-target with his gimballs and/or ram has already lost.
(In PvP against someone who isn't an experienced player killer, well then anything might work.)
try joystick curves, it may work for you. it didn't for me. i couldn't get used to the random change in response. i guess it depends on your flight style and if i had persevered it could have worked but i never really liked it and in the end ditched the idea.
i now use the stick as is, and help out with vertical/lateral thrusters and faoff, that's it, and i'm pretty comfortable. my aim is average.
gimballs enable you to easily apply all the dps you can generate ... to a target that doesn't use countermeasures properly. that's not how 'real' combat works. while you can do fine in pve, gimballs will not hit even once a cmdr using double chaff or gone silent, unless you get really really close.
fixed is not as efficient for grinding (shooting ducks) but more versatile in any other situation, and also shines at long range. practice pve with fixed and you'll make less credits but the improvement in skill will pay off, and is a far better reward imo. actually, i've spent lots of hours practicing in cz and res and made a lot of money in the process, but it wasn't a grind to me, it was just learning and training, quite fun and i even got paid for it!
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try joystick curves, it may work for you. it didn't for me. i couldn't get used to the random change in response. i guess it depends on your flight style and if i had persevered it could have worked but i never really liked it and in the end ditched the idea.
i now use the stick as is, and help out with vertical/lateral thrusters and faoff, that's it, and i'm pretty comfortable. my aim is average.
gimballs enable you to easily apply all the dps you can generate ... to a target that doesn't use countermeasures properly. that's not how 'real' combat works. while you can do fine in pve, gimballs will not hit even once a cmdr using double chaff or gone silent, unless you get really really close.
fixed is not as efficient for grinding (shooting ducks) but more versatile in any other situation, and also shines at long range. practice pve with fixed and you'll make less credits but the improvement in skill will pay off, and is a far better reward imo. actually, i've spent lots of hours practicing in cz and res and made a lot of money in the process, but it wasn't a grind to me, it was just learning and training, quite fun and i even got paid for it!
Out of interest why would you use double chaff as opposed to single, I would have thought firing more than one at the same time would be superfluous?
Also, I'm guessing chaff doesn't work the same as SCBs and heat sinks do, which are only one at a time?
exactly, they fire one at a time. while one is active, the other reloads.