My gimballed burst lasers sometimes don't fire?

[Shaamaan]

This is... weird.

I've started playing today in my recently purchased Cobra, and I've found that my gimballed C1 burst lasers would sometimes refuse to fire. No, they weren't overheated and they were powered. Or at least, there were no messages telling me otherwise.

Is this a bug? Should I file a ticket? Or is this standard behaviour and I just don't know about something?

 

[Red Kite]

Are they in the upper hardpoints? If so they won't fire if the target is too far below your line of sight, even if they are gimballed.

The other reason is going into thermal overload which shuts the weapons down until they cool down. Divert more power to weapons to speed up the cool-down rate. I use burst lasers and find one extra pip is enough to keep them firing most of the time.

 

[Hamerstein]

I suspect Red Kite is correct in the former, gimballed weapons still have limitations and they wont attempt to fire if the angle will mean shooting up your own hull (which is a good thing in my opinion ). It's actually more noticeable with the lower pylons, as typically you "climb" when targeting - to keep the opponent in cockpit view, the lower mounts are quite far back on the hull and a target who is too far "above" you will prevent the lower mounts firing.

 

[Kramster]

Probably the hard point position.
If you have them on the lower points your target needs to be below your horizon (if there is such a concept in space)
If they are mounted above then targeting is bets if the target is above your horizon
There is a sweet spot where all four hardpoints can converge but you will need to get a feel for that through practice.

 

[Shaamaan]

Are they in the upper hardpoints? If so they won't fire if the target is too far below your line of sight, even if they are gimballed.

The other reason is going into thermal overload which shuts the weapons down until they cool down. Divert more power to weapons to speed up the cool-down rate. I use burst lasers and find one extra pip is enough to keep them firing most of the time.

OK, thanks!

It's probably the hardpoints. I wish they'd simply stop tracking when they are badly positioned...

 

[DragonIV]

Definitely the hard points. I fly the cobra frequently, and I put the (G) lasers on top and the (G) multi-cannons down below. They each have their limitations--my cannons can't hit what's above me, my lasers cannot hit what's below me.