Missile(s) questions

[War Kitten]

Greetings All,

I am in solo in a DBX currently with 2 med pulse lasers and 1 large MC (engineered), I am thinking about trying missiles, (maybe replace the MC), and I am trying to understand how things work with them. In port so far, I find "missiles" and "seeker missiles", what is the difference? Also, clip/mag size: the regular missiles ( 3A) have a clip of 12/96, does it fire 12 at once or 1 at a time then reload? Are they used best for slow ships or can they handle a sidey? Is the lock on reasonable or take forever? Are they good against shields and hull, or just one or the other? Are they worth bothering with?

So many questions to make an informed decision, sorry.

Thank you for any help!

War Kitten

 

[777Driver]

I'll cover some of your points. Each launcher fires one at a time, the number on the left (12/96) tells you how many you can fire before a reload is required.

Standard missiles are dumbfire, slightly larger payload and higher cruise speed. Seekers require a heat signature to lock onto, takes a few seconds to lock, so no issues there. The seekers can temporarily lose lock through ECM, they will eventually relock the target once the countermeasures have stopped. Point defense is also very effective against missiles.

I personally only use them for defense on my larger freighters against pirates, the damage output isn't great (without engineering) you really need to stack a bunch of them into 4 or more hardpoints, then they start becoming extremely effective, they will absolutely wreck a targets internal systems. At least some low-level engineering is advisable.

Primary use is against hulls, they are still effective against NPC's shields, although as mentioned, you need multiple launchers and some engineering against larger high-rank targets.

Fun to use, I prefer using engineered torpedoes for assassinations, and long range Plasmas.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Excellent weapons for piracy, seekers are. Target drive and boom. Your customer can't run.

 

[Stigbob]

Seekers are also great for long range kill stealing in CZ's.

 

[Rick6549]

There are two kinds of missles: dumbfires and seekers. Dumbfires do not lock on and you have to aim them, seekers lock on after about 5 seconds and follow the other ship. They are both pretty quick, you shouldnt have any problem hitting anything with seekers. Never ever ever use missles on shields. They do decent damage to hull, but where they shine is dIsabling anything modules on the outiside of the ship (shield boosters chaff luanchers....WEAPONS) they only shoot 1 at a time , so if you had 12/48 you could shoot 12 times before you had to reload.

 

[S~P]

If you are going missiles then I would put two on the class 2 hard points and put a multi on the large. The reason for this is missiles are more effective if you have several of them for damaging modules on the hull, very effective at knocking out thrusters, weapons etc.

 

[CMDR DragonHorn]

I would entirely avoid using missiles. That's most useless weapon system in the game. Damage is very low (fixed) and explosive only. Target lock is relatively slow for Seekers, and Dumbfires travel speed is quite low as well, for example PAs travel a lot fatser and deal absolute damage. On average, you will do a lot more damage, more reliably and faster with any gimball weapons to modules (instant lock), plus you can destroy both, internal and extranal, while with missiles you only can damage externals. Ammunition is extremely low, even with G5 engineering. In PVE it can be okaish to kill SLFs or Small ships, but then again, they get destroyed by, for example, engineered MCs like 100 times faster still. Overwhelming majority of Medium or Large ships in PVE have several (up to 3 on my count) PDs installed, which will completely shutdown any missiles you fire at them, making this weapon obsolete. In PVP nobody uses Missiles at all. Seeker locks will be broken all day long (it's too easy) and Dumbfires get outclassed by PAs in each and every aspect. Pack Hounds will take significant time to grind for, while suffer exact same issues regular Seekers have, plus you will be running out of ammo even faster. Then we have Torpedoes, which has extremely niche useage in ganking to wreck shields of unaware targets, but largerly it's still utterly useless system, ammo is just laughable.

Unfortunately, in this game you locked to several weapon systems, such as MCs, PAs, Frags, Rails and Beams. The rest is either completely useless or has extremely niche application. You can technically use weapon as flavour, but you will lose out on effectiveness very hard. Not recommended.

 

[babelfisch]

Which mods would you recommend? I'd like to fit two medium seeker on my Krait along with 3 MCs (already have a similar loadout on my Mamba and while it's certainly not most effective it's lots of fun!). I'll probably go for high capacity so I can spam them without bothering about ammunition but I have no idea about the experimental effect. PvE...

 

[War Eagle]

I have the same hard points on my DBX I would not get rid of the MC engineered(overpowered) with corrosion for any missiles.

 

[Stigbob]

I would entirely avoid using missiles. That's most useless weapon system in the game.

They are loads of fun though, which beats raw DPS every time.

 

[CMDR DragonHorn]

They are loads of fun though, which beats raw DPS every time.

I do have Seekers on my multirole Python, to kill some annoying pirates trying to steal my cargo, and I have to say I'm absolutely in love with lock type of a missiles in pretty much every game of this type, but spending SO MUCH time to kill one pesky jerk with paper thin hull, when you can just Corrosive+Incendiary rip his hull apart in mere moments, doesn't make any sense to me.

It hurts me especially, since I do love these weapon systems in concept. I mean, I get that making, f.e. Seekers good, will be bad for PvP (even though I have no idea how, since there are craploads of counters to them, if you're not bot, that is), but why they completely threw dung on this system even for PvE is a mystery for me... Missiles should blow naked hulls to bits. Just ramp up explosive damage against hull, give significantly more ammo to carry, and stop putting more PDs on NPCs. I would cry from happiness...

 

[Stigbob]

Which mods would you recommend? I'd like to fit two medium seeker on my Krait along with 3 MCs (already have a similar loadout on my Mamba and while it's certainly not most effective it's lots of fun!). I'll probably go for high capacity so I can spam them without bothering about ammunition but I have no idea about the experimental effect. PvE...

I have a pair of high capacity ones for maximum stonk. No experimentals on them as they don't really add anything useful against hull and I never fire them against shields.

I tried drag munitions (which do work) on my anti griefer speed courier, but its so fast you pass the target before you can get a lock. In PVE there's no real need for drag as you outmanoeuvre them anyway.

 

[CMDR DragonHorn]

^ when in doubt, slap Oversized.

 

[War Eagle]

Use fixed missles to blast stuff on a body surface like stingers, guardian sites, etc...

Missles are fun, but overall they lack effectively in broad applications, yet in limited circumstances they can be silly. Packhounds are freaky good.

Now if you have packhounds that can deplete the PD then follow with torps- that is a good mix.

 

[philngraves]

Now if you have packhounds that can deplete the PD then follow with torps- that is a good mix.

On my smaller d-bag craft for pvp, I like combining packhounds (or grombombs) with enforcer cannon.
On the one hand you have a steady brain rattling shake in your cockpit, then its either dealing with the fsd shudown or the radar fluff bloom and impact spam. Makes for great 'panic' loadouts.

 

[Kzak]

Packhounds are great for stripping off chaff launchers, for example, letting your gimballed weapons have an easier time of it tearing your opponent's ship to bits.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

I would entirely avoid using missiles. That's most useless weapon system in the game. Damage is very low (fixed) and explosive only. Target lock is relatively slow for Seekers, and Dumbfires travel speed is quite low as well, for example PAs travel a lot fatser and deal absolute damage. On average, you will do a lot more damage, more reliably and faster with any gimball weapons to modules (instant lock), plus you can destroy both, internal and extranal, while with missiles you only can damage externals. Ammunition is extremely low, even with G5 engineering. In PVE it can be okaish to kill SLFs or Small ships, but then again, they get destroyed by, for example, engineered MCs like 100 times faster still. Overwhelming majority of Medium or Large ships in PVE have several (up to 3 on my count) PDs installed, which will completely shutdown any missiles you fire at them, making this weapon obsolete. In PVP nobody uses Missiles at all. Seeker locks will be broken all day long (it's too easy) and Dumbfires get outclassed by PAs in each and every aspect. Pack Hounds will take significant time to grind for, while suffer exact same issues regular Seekers have, plus you will be running out of ammo even faster. Then we have Torpedoes, which has extremely niche useage in ganking to wreck shields of unaware targets, but largerly it's still utterly useless system, ammo is just laughable.

Unfortunately, in this game you locked to several weapon systems, such as MCs, PAs, Frags, Rails and Beams. The rest is either completely useless or has extremely niche application. You can technically use weapon as flavour, but you will lose out on effectiveness very hard. Not recommended.

I actually make extensive use of seekers when bounty hunting in my Cobra, with those seekers on the SMALLS. So the ammo' count is tiny. My mediums are a pair of overcharged multis with incendiary. I usually run out of bullets before rockets.

It's all about how you use them. And to use them, you don't spam them. They are for specific scenarios to give you an edge when you most need it. That is why my Cobra has no problem taking out larger ships. Target the drives and then blast them with multis when they are helpless. As for smaller ships? No need for missiles. Just go guns guns guns.

 

[philngraves]

I actually make extensive use of seekers when bounty hunting in my Cobra, with those seekers on the SMALLS. So the ammo' count is tiny. My mediums are a pair of overcharged multis with incendiary. I usually run out of bullets before rockets.

It's all about how you use them. And to use them, you don't spam them. They are for specific scenarios to give you an edge when you most need it. That is why my Cobra has no problem taking out larger ships. Target the drives and then blast them with multis when they are helpless. As for smaller ships? No need for missiles. Just go guns guns guns.

You seem to misuderstand that persons point... they don't know how to use missiles, therefore missiles are clearly useless things to be avoided. Even had paragraphs about how useless they were...

 

[Deleted member 110222]

You seem to misuderstand that persons point... they don't know how to use missiles, therefore missiles are clearly useless things to be avoided. Even had paragraphs about how useless they were...

I apologise.

 

[Requiem Mortis]

Missile Rack

Missile battery capable of launching dumbfire missiles. — In-Game Description The Missile Rack is a weapon module that launches dumbfire, explosive-tipped missiles. When triggered, it fires out an unguided missile that will travel in a straight line in the direction of the HUD crosshairs and...

elite-dangerous.fandom.com

Missile speeds

What are they? For seekers/dumbfires/torps? And can seekers be reliably outmaneuvered? What would be the best method for doing that in a small ship like the viper?

forums.frontier.co.uk

Dumb fires, straight line, line of sight Weapon, seekers target following. Both do 'splash' damage area of effect, good for disabling external modules. Dumb fires are good for taking out skimmers and power grid transformers in base assaults.

Pack hounds are good for combating / overwhelming point defence. Four ripple fired from on a FGS is awesome.

Drawbacks:
Watch out for heat generation when firing. Countered by point defence & ECM.

Engineering I'd recommend increased ammo.

Drag munitions is a good special effect against fast moving ships, when your own ship has limited manoeuvrability, allowing other weapons to be brought to bare.