Most weapons don't seem viable

[Julio Montega]

As somebody who doesn't usually have more than one "shooting" engament between trips to station (ie. a pirate) I may give rails a go. Thus far I've been using lasters/gimballed M-cannons.

My advice on the railgun:
The most important aspect is the hardpoint placement, the class of the rail is secondary.
A C2 will inflict more damage per hit, than a c1, but a c1 allready has enough power to obliterate most subsystems with 1-2 shots.

 

[Solarwind]

Well actually I can think of a reason for that. The issue may be not ammunition capacity but barrel durability. AFAIK the rail degrades really fast and has to be replaced every few shots IRL. This would also explain the high cost of "reload": clearly a few metal slugs wouldn't cost that much but barrel replacement could.

Railgun rounds do not touch anything they are traveling down a magnetic pulse so no barrel wear.

 

[Tigga]

My advice on the railgun:
The most important aspect is the hardpoint placement, the class of the rail is secondary.
A C2 will inflict more damage per hit, than a c1, but a c1 allready has enough power to obliterate most subsystems with 1-2 shots.

The question is then whether a C2 hardpoint with a C1 rail gun is worthwhile, or whether I should stick to C2 beams. I can't afford the C2 railgun, and I'm in a Cobra...

 

[s20dan]

I just traded my MCannons for Cannons on my Viper. I'll have to get used to them, but they seem to work well against large ships (ASP and above). For the smaller ships, twin beams are more than enough.

That's the best loadout I have found too mate. Cannons and Beams.

 

[YeOldeMiller]

Railgun rounds do not touch anything they are traveling down a magnetic pulse so no barrel wear.

If we're talking about RL weapons then you must be mixing coilgun with railgun. The former accelerates the projectile with a magnetic field directly so no contact with the barrel. The latter uses an armature made out of metal or an ark of ionized gas that slides along the rails, degrading them drastically. I'm not sure which of the two types is actually represented in the game though.

 

[heartorhead]

Guys please take part in poll https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=84835 if haven't already.

 

[Julio Montega]

The question is then whether a C2 hardpoint with a C1 rail gun is worthwhile, or whether I should stick to C2 beams. I can't afford the C2 railgun, and I'm in a Cobra...

I would go with 2 laser weapons in the c2 slots of the cobra, i have had a very good experience with 1 c1 railgun on the cobra and another backup weapon of your choice.
The fact, that the c1 hardpoints are so spread out on the cobra is actually an advantage, when doing close combat with a ship, since you can have it in your laser sights,
and use the railgun (spreading out as you close in) for subsystem sniping.

The reticule seems to enlarge on the railgun sight too when below 100 meters,
i loved that aspect.

 

[Ydiss]

I agree. Beams or pulse and multi cannons are the only weapons worth using because they're optimal for every situation.

I'd use rails if they held charge until released, whilst heat levels increase until released.

I'd use cannons if I knew I'd only fight large targets. Otherwise multi cannons are better because they can always be used.

The rest seem pointless due to cost.

 

[Frenotx]

I love the idea of cannons, but they just don't seem to have a real advantage over multicannons. Higher damage per shot, sure, but MCs have better DPS, are easier to aim, and have more and cheaper ammo. The only possible edge cannons had was providing a nice burst of damage to finish off a near-dead enemy (and make sure you got the last hit + bounty), but now that NPCs don't try to steal your bounties, that "advantage" is moot.

 

[Varrak]

I've been trying rail guns the past couple of days, and I have to day so far I'm not impressed. Sure, when you can get them to actually fire, they deal a bunch of damage. It's just getting them to fire that's the challenge. Am I missing something?