Railguns and their use? (Not counting superpen or feedback cascade)

[Dakka]

I have gone through many posts on this forum and elite reddit and I cannot figure out if Railguns are more effective vs shield or hull, nor how they compare with other weapons vs shield/hull

I have heard that 2/3rds of railgun damage is thermal vs 1/3 kinetic making me expect them to be good shield strippers, but i have read a few posts claiming they are poor shield strippers and actually do great hull damage if you do not hit any modules.

I had in my mind a pve krait build with 3 large multi-cannons and 2 plasma rails for stripping shields, but I don’t want to engineer everything to find the rails are better vs hull and I should have used lazers in my large slots.

Overall I want to use rails as I like the way they feel, but I cannot figure out if they are better vs shield or vs hull. Am I better off running them with multi-cannons or lazers?

 

[Crimson Kaim]

That really depends. Railguns have an armor pen of 100, meaning they do 100% of their damage to all ship's hulls. They also have the thermic damage favoured which makes them good shield strippers in PvE but this is irrelevant for PvP as most run equal resistance shields except for primso stacks ... but then you usally run inci MCs or frags.

Having said that, they are good against both, shields and hull. And depending on what effect you put on them, they are even better. SP for hull module sniping, FC for shield cell cancelling and plasma rails for sustained DPS.
Their main advantage is that they are really good choice to be mounted on small and medium slots where you don't want a utility weapon but some extra reliable DPS.

 

[WorldsGreatestForumDad]

This is everything you need to know about railguns,

 

[Dakka]

That really depends. Railguns have an armor pen of 100, meaning they do 100% of their damage to all ship's hulls. They also have the thermic damage favoured which makes them good shield strippers in PvE but this is irrelevant for PvP as most run equal resistance shields except for primso stacks ... but then you usally run inci MCs or frags.

Having said that, they are good against both, shields and hull. And depending on what effect you put on them, they are even better. SP for hull module sniping, FC for shield cell cancelling and plasma rails for sustained DPS.
Their main advantage is that they are really good choice to be mounted on small and medium slots where you don't want a utility weapon but some extra reliable DPS.

Your answer partially answers my question though, I want to use rails as like you said they are a great choice for a medium hardpoint, but do you support them with shield damage weapons or hull damage?

I know super penetrator is great when shields are down and feedback cascade is great vs shields.
However plasma slugs lock out both options so I need to figure out if railguns without feedback cascade or super penetrator prefer assistance with breaking shield or breaking hull?

I am wary of lazers as railguns drain high energy and have high heat, but if rails are better vs hull, I will mess with my heat and energy management to make it work.

 

[Dakka]

This is everything you need to know about railguns,

It’s funny that you linked that video because I left a comment and the poster of the video also gave a partial answer, i guess since he mentioned I could use plasma rails for shield busting, but he prefered plasma accelerators must mean rail being more of a hull weapon.

 

[WorldsGreatestForumDad]

There are people that use 4 rails and 1 PA, or Gimballed Multi on the size 4 hardpoint.

If you can point and click well, they work good for both Hull and Shields. Reverb and SuperPen effects is what makes them useful.

The correct answer you're looking for is yes, they work for both shields and hull and are pretty strong if you can land consecutive hits at any time. If they bank and you're firing anyways you're going to cancel their banks anytime they spool up.

 

[Dakka]

There are people that use 4 rails and 1 PA, or Gimballed Multi on the size 4 hardpoint.

If you can point and click well, they work good for both Hull and Shields. Reverb and SuperPen effects is what makes them useful.

The correct answer you're looking for is yes, they work for both shields and hull and are pretty strong if you can land consecutive hits at any time. If they bank and you're firing anyways you're going to cancel their banks anytime they spool up.

I changed the title to better reflect my question as I was wondering about railguns with plasma slugs.

 

[Crimson Kaim]

Your answer partially answers my question though, I want to use rails as like you said they are a great choice for a medium hardpoint, but do you support them with shield damage weapons or hull damage?

I know super penetrator is great when shields are down and feedback cascade is great vs shields.
However plasma slugs lock out both options so I need to figure out if railguns without feedback cascade or super penetrator prefer assistance with breaking shield or breaking hull?

I am wary of lazers as railguns drain high energy and have high heat, but if rails are better vs hull, I will mess with my heat and energy management to make it work.

Again, read my post. Railguns are good against both, shields and hull. In PvE, they are better against shields due to higher thermal damage (excluding CZs where NPCs are engineered) but are still better than any laser against hulls due to 100 armor penetration. Especially when it comes to DPE.

Your question has no direct answer because your question is vague and incomplete. Define "better". I can give you tonnes of numbers but "better" is a subjective interpretation of these numbers and noone here will give you an answer to your interpretation. So again: Railguns are good against both, shields and hulls.

 

[Dakka]

Again, read my post. Railguns are good against both, shields and hull. In PvE, they are better against shields due to higher thermal damage (excluding CZs where NPCs are engineered) but are still better than any laser against hulls due to 100 armor penetration. Especially when it comes to DPE.

Your question has no direct answer because your question is vague and incomplete. Define "better". I can give you tonnes of numbers but "better" is a subjective interpretation of these numbers and noone here will give you an answer to your interpretation. So again: Railguns are good against both, shields and hulls.

I guess a better question would be do you supplement a railgun(with plasma slugs) with lasers to help break shields or multicannons to chew hull faster.

I want plasma slugs as it removes the ammo troubles and the heat issue.

 

[Crimson Kaim]

I guess a better question would be do you supplement a railgun(with plasma slugs) with lasers to help break shields or multicannons to chew hull faster.

I want plasma slugs as it removes the ammo troubles and the heat issue.

A railgun is better than both, multicannons and especially any kind of lasers as stated above. If you can handle the distro draw and heat, go for plasma railguns. Higher DPS, accuracy, armor penetration and mixed damage.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Search is broken for me and google,
but you want the thread called:
Truesilver's Tests, No.2: Rail gun thermic-kinetic damage split

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Your answer partially answers my question though, I want to use rails as like you said they are a great choice for a medium hardpoint, but do you support them with shield damage weapons or hull damage?

I know super penetrator is great when shields are down and feedback cascade is great vs shields.
However plasma slugs lock out both options so I need to figure out if railguns without feedback cascade or super penetrator prefer assistance with breaking shield or breaking hull?

I am wary of lazers as railguns drain high energy and have high heat, but if rails are better vs hull, I will mess with my heat and energy management to make it work.

Railguns have 100 penetration so need no help with hull piercing.
Tbh, you're making way too much out of thermal/kinetic and shields/hull.

Rails deal a lot of damage.
Full stop.

That's why it's a PVP meta weapon.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

Not so sure about shields vs. hulls - but I do know that railguns are GREAT for getting you fines and bounties when you miss and plink some poor unsuspecting mining ship half a mile away ;-)

I have a ship or three that run Imperial Hammers, and to be honest, they do quite well against both shields and hulls, especially when you nail the entire burst.

Sure, they'll warm you up pretty fast too, especially when you're packing three of them, but by the time that heat really becomes something to be concerned with, I'm already looking for a new target.

 

[DNA-Decay]

I should probably try them again.
I just found the spool up time to be hard to get used to.
I like Plasma Accellerators, because you can snap off a quick shot if you get a momentary firing solution. (they've got the experimental that makes them fast - Long Range? maybe).
But with Rails you've either got to be able to stay on target for much longer, or predict that you will be on target "soon".

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

I should probably try them again.
I just found the spool up time to be hard to get used to.
I like Plasma Accellerators, because you can snap off a quick shot if you get a momentary firing solution. (they've got the experimental that makes them fast - Long Range? maybe).
But with Rails you've either got to be able to stay on target for much longer, or predict that you will be on target "soon".

Rails are hitscan so projectile speed can't increase.
You just need to work on the timing.
Try on a medium or larger ship.
Small twitchy ones are harder ime.

I find them easier to land at a little bit of a distance.

 

[CoyoteXStarrk]

Railguns have just never seemed worth the trouble to me when compared to other options that are available. They seem to have more Cons than Pros.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

SDPS for a LR medium rail gun is on par with a fixed huge OC multicannon; 41.53 and 42.14 respectively.
DPS goes to the rail gun, 50 to 47.65


(EDSY)

 

[Morbad]

I guess a better question would be do you supplement a railgun(with plasma slugs) with lasers to help break shields or multicannons to chew hull faster.

A single corrosive weapon.

 

[Melanthes]

The usefulness of plasma slug railguns is that they have essential no ammo restrictions (given the 32t fuel of your krait) and are very strong. In comparison lasers and multicannons are simply weaker weapons. I would give up the multicannons and install three large efficient plasma accelerators. The krait can easily handle the energy and heat. This way you have a high DPS weapon without ammo restrictions and monstrous alpha damage with slight ammo restrictions. The "lasers to strip shields and multicannon to shred hull" tactic only works with unengineered npcs anyway.

 

[Arkadi]

My take on things is as follows:

Railguns are good at far range for nearly anything, be it against shield, hull, or for module sniping. You can supplement them with long range beams (or any other long-range lazors) in the same firegroup for additional hit-scan effect for long distance sniping.

Or you can add other weapons in a secondary firegroup to give you some more variety and firepower for medium and close range, where aiming rails becomes harder, especially on smaller moving targets (and I guess most of your targets will be moving). Frags, Plasma, Canons, Mutlitcannon, whatever you are comfortable with. One thing goes in favor of multi-cannons and cannons and that's theire low heat build up and low energy consumption. Since you'll build up a lot of heat with rails, you'll benefit from low heat weapons in secondary firegroups. Otherwise you might rely on heat-sinks a lot.

Most importantly I'd put rails only on a fast maneuverable ship that can outpace or outmaneuvere it's enemy. Else you won't have that much fun with the delayed rail-shooting. I am quite content with my hitscan rail-setup on my FDL. Also mouse-aim is your friend with rails.

I am no pvp-expert.