Please fix the weapons!

[Coyote]

It's the 34th century and still they can't make two lasers hit their target. Seriously... what is it about this "convergence"? It's okay to have the gimballed weapons firing all over the place, even though I would like to see different types of qualities (stronger lasers just like in Frontier, higher accuracy) here. But if I buy a fixed laser, why have their aiming points wobbling all over the place? The scanner knows how far the target is away and the weapon mount doesn't need to do anything but converging the lasers in that distance. There is no need for them to swing left and right at random like they do.

The fixed lasers ought to have some advantage over the gimballed ones, and not just in price. How about more accuracy, if they're already shoot "just straight" anyway? I'd be even more content if the lasers wouldn't converge at all or to a fixed distance (or one that's to be set manually inflight), as opposed to what they're doing now.

 

[Wicz]

Fixed weapons hit considerably harder. I'd say that is a pretty clear advantage, wouldn't you?

 

[Dr Roly]

Could you expand on this? I almost always used fixed beams and find them pinpoint accurate even up to 3km.

 

[babelfisch]

I don't have any problems with fixed weapons accuracy.

 

[Derath]

I think OP has gimballs and fixed installed, as fixed are just that, fixed.

 

[Poseidal]

I think it's to do with wide hardpoint placement so the fixed weapons are completely parallel.

If they had a 'convergeance point' at their optimum range, the beams would aim closer to a centre point so you wouldn't fire beams wider than a target, and thus could both hit a smaller target not even easier, but at all.

Putting a pair of fixed weapons on these hardpoints are currently useless.

It shouldn't be something automatic which moves the weapon, just having them point slightly inwards.

 

[Coyote]

Fixed weapons hit considerably harder. I'd say that is a pretty clear advantage, wouldn't you?

If they do, I'd say that. In the back of my mind, the differences between either were rather marginal. I'm happy to see that I'm wrong here.

@Wicz: a Type 6 with two fixed lasers. With a Sidewinder at 3 km distance, only one laser hits the target, the other one often shoots somewhere else. I mean, that there are *two* aiming pips shows the problem already. There should be only one.

@Derath: fixed/fixed. Believe me.

 

[Suxamethonium]

The fixed beams on my Viper do a fine job of removing shield from ship. Much better than the gimballed variety and not vulnerable to chaff.

 

[Yanaran]

There's no major problem with fixed weapons that need to take priority over other game fixes and updates. However it would be nice to be able to set our own convergence point in the Hangar.

 

[Stench]

As for the accuracy point of the gimaballed tracking- that is called balance. More expensive gimballs track better, don't they?

 

[babelfisch]

I think fixed weapons aren't designed for a type 6. Try them on a viper or eagle.

 

[Coyote]

How can I make a screenshot? I could show you what I mean.

 

[Derath]

If they do, I'd say that. In the back of my mind, the differences between either were rather marginal. I'm happy to see that I'm wrong here.

@Wicz: a Type 6 with two fixed lasers. With a Sidewinder at 3 km distance, only one laser hits the target, the other one often shoots somewhere else. I mean, that there are *two* aiming pips shows the problem already. There should be only one.

@Derath: fixed/fixed. Believe me.

what you've said makes perfect sense, I was just saying the aimers don't wobble with fixed, you get X dots on the centre of the screen where X is your number of fixed guns, I had this with 6x railguns on the asp. The reason for this i believe is to stop fixed weapons ripping small ships apart as 6x railguns pinpoint would probably one shot a sidewinder, they need an error margin even if they are fixed.

 

[Tigga]

Gimballed weapons have awful accuracy over 2km. They also don't work against chaff.

Even fixed weapons have some play in them, and will lock on to the target. This is only a few pixels on the screen, but is enough for them to have an effecitve convergence distance. It's also enough to make them a lot more accurate at range.

 

[Kitiara]

As for the accuracy point of the gimaballed tracking- that is called balance. More expensive gimballs track better, don't they?

There's only one grade of gimballed weapon for each type and class. It's reputed that better sensors improve accuracy, but I have nothing but hearsay on that. I can't confirm personally.

 

[Morbad]

Fixed lasers do move slightly/have a small degree of tracking. This can be bypassed by not selecting the target.

 

[Coyote]

Fixed lasers do move slightly/have a small degree of tracking. This can be bypassed by not selecting the target.

Thanks for the confirmation. The "small degree" is enough to make them wander off-target at higher distances. Can be as much as three "aiming dot"-diameters from each other, though usually the two dots touch or almost touch. Still: there should only be one single dot in combat. If the lasers already do move, make them move in a way that makes sense, please.

 

[Derath]

Fixed lasers do move slightly/have a small degree of tracking. This can be bypassed by not selecting the target.

Thanks for clarification I didn't know that, +rep sir.

 

[Morbad]

Thanks for the confirmation. The "small degree" is enough to make them wander off-target at higher distances. Can be as much as three "aiming dot"-diameters from each other, though usually the two dots touch or almost touch. Still: there should only be one single dot in combat. If the lasers already do move, make them move in a way that makes sense, please.

When a target is selected, whether it's a ship or subsystem on that ship, all your lasers will try to adjust to hit the center of it, but only if they can hit the exact center. Because of the hard point locations and the very limited amount of movement they often cannot overlap perfectly. Some patters of convergence aren't allowed because they could result in the beam striking your own ship. It is actually similar to gimbals, but without the wobble and having a 1-2 degree peak deflection, rather than ~20 degree.

If you compare an Eagle, Viper, and Cobra, you can see that the Eagle will frequently have all dots overlapping, but that the top dot (the #3) hardpoint will often separate from the rest, this is because that weapon is on top of the ship while the others are under the wings so can't be directed up to the same degree. Likewise, the viper tends to have two groups, left and right, with the top lasers having slightly more freedom because the bottom lasers are on the underside of the ship and are set quite far back on the hull; even a small upwards deflection and it would shoot itself. The Cobra has very widely place hardpoints, which means the lasers act more independently than on any other ship. Again, if you want predictable, pure forward fire, deselect your target.