But not the usual "how to git gud" stuff (answer: practice). I'm after specific hard-point info here. For example, I've got a FAS, and it's not easy to get the top and bottom hard points on target at the same time without bits of your own ship getting in the way, so it seems as if fixed-ing both weapons wouldn't necessarily be such a great idea. Is there a list or general rule of thumb about which hardpoints on which ships are good for fixed weapons, and which not so much?
Tell me about fixed weapons...
- Thread starter BradHann
- Start date
Are you using smaller weapons in the large hardpoints?
That can cause problems for some ships
That can cause problems for some ships
Indeed, hardpoint placement is something that most people overlook but it's very important when going fixed.
As you've said some ships are better than others in that regard, for example.
The FDL has impecable placement, ideal for fixed, all of them are together and at a respectable distance from each other.
Now the clipper though... The Large hardpoint are just useless with fixed weapons and the medium ones are underneath so that makes it slightly harder.
Just some examples, the FAS is decent though not with those on top and underneath, better make at least one of those gimballed
As you've said some ships are better than others in that regard, for example.
The FDL has impecable placement, ideal for fixed, all of them are together and at a respectable distance from each other.
Now the clipper though... The Large hardpoint are just useless with fixed weapons and the medium ones are underneath so that makes it slightly harder.
Just some examples, the FAS is decent though not with those on top and underneath, better make at least one of those gimballed
OP,
I too fly a FAS. I run three fixed pulse across the bottom hard points. 1x Large and 2x Medium. These three HP's line up really well for fixed weapons.
Throw pretty much whatever you want on the top HP. I've run everything up there from PA's, to MC's, to missile racks, pending my mood/operational needs
Carry on CMDR.
Toffs
( '-')7
Yeah I use 3 PAs on the bottom and a gimballed incendiary multicannon on top of my FAS. It's a hulltank with a biweave shield so power and heat aren't issues. The bottom hardpoints are bad for gimballed weapons as they have a habit of clipping the nose (the chin?) and refusing to fire.
The Cobra Mk4 is great for running fixed weapons compared to the Mk3. I had a pair of frags and 3 small railguns on it for LTD piracy, worked a treat. Shame about the speed though, don't know how they can call anything that slow a Cobra.
The Cobra Mk4 is great for running fixed weapons compared to the Mk3. I had a pair of frags and 3 small railguns on it for LTD piracy, worked a treat. Shame about the speed though, don't know how they can call anything that slow a Cobra.
If this helps at all, I have found that gimballed laser weapons track targets better from the underside of your hull compared to their kinetic counterparts.
As for fixed weapons, the iCourier, FDL, and the vulture all have near-perfect hardpoint placements, by contrast, the clipper and cutter have some of the worst. I recall that the corvette has decent hardpoint locations for fixed weapons, just may not be agile enough to use them well. General rule: close to the longitudinal axis (line passing from the nose to the tail of your ship, what the roll axis turns on) is good. I don't know about the FAS myself, but I hope this helps at least a bit.
As for fixed weapons, the iCourier, FDL, and the vulture all have near-perfect hardpoint placements, by contrast, the clipper and cutter have some of the worst. I recall that the corvette has decent hardpoint locations for fixed weapons, just may not be agile enough to use them well. General rule: close to the longitudinal axis (line passing from the nose to the tail of your ship, what the roll axis turns on) is good. I don't know about the FAS myself, but I hope this helps at least a bit.
The rule of thumb I apply with fixed weps is put them on the lower down mounts, that way your upper mounts can have gimbaled kinetics in them and you can hit with all of them simultaneously whilst pulling up onto the target (for maximum visibility). For example fixed beams on the vipers belly mounts with gimbaled cannon multi-cannon on the upper.
Yeah, I never did figure out how to properly use the top large hardpoint on the FAS. I slapped a pulse turret on there and focused on managing the other 3 hardpoints. Too lazy to use multiple firegroups and keep toggling back and forth to try and fire it separately and all that jazz.
Too lazy to use multiple firegroups and keep toggling back and forth to try and fire it separately and all that jazz.
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I use a gimballed pulse on the top on one fire button, the other button has two railguns with a fixed pulse as a targeting laser.
I might as well point out how much pve fun I'm now having in the gunship. With 7 hardpoints you can run 2 completely different loadouts. I use one for big ships (2 small rails, 2 medium focused PAs) and one for small ships (large gimballed beam and 2 medium seeker missiles (which are also handy for runners)). The missiles are a last resort, but the beauty of this is you can fire either setup almost indefinitely with 1 pip to weapons. Add a dual fighter bay and you can be really dynamic in combat.
I use only fixed mc's on my FGS, but it has really great hardpoint placement. For hardpoints that aren't ideally placed, like the small ones on the bottom of my conda, I like to equip missiles. The thing with turrets or gimbals is that they also often get blocked by the ship, but missiles can be fired from anywhere.
I recently blew the dust of my FAS and O boy but I had totally forgotten how good that ship is...
Anyway, to your question, my current load-out is two Large fixed MC's above and below with gimballed pulses on the medium slots, all engineered with rapid fire mod.
This way as long as you orient your ship so the target is flying bottom-to-top and you can keep it in the sights of the MC reticule, you can just blast away with the lasers without giving them a second thought, knowing they'll be merrily stripping away the target's HP.
I've tried a fair amount of other weapon combinations on this ship in the past, but this one is hands-down the best for dog-fighting. And what else are you gonna be doing in a FAS?
Use weapons with different speeds as they dont converge anyway.
As there is no in-game metric for convergence, there can be no quantified rule. In the majority of cases you can only try it out for yourself, or look up the hardpoint locations on the wiki/ask around if you want an idea before purchasing a ship.
For some of the sweetest convergence get yourself in a DBS. Standard 2xC2, 2xC1 hardpoints for a smaller ship but the C1 and C2 each side are glued so tightly together that fixed weapons on them share a reticle.
You will probably find this because you instinctually try to keep enemies within view of your canopy, but if they are moving the gimbal reticle on a kinetic weapon needs to aim ahead of them: this commonly leads to the opponent being out of view of your canopy, where you cannot be certain shots are connecting.
For some of the sweetest convergence get yourself in a DBS. Standard 2xC2, 2xC1 hardpoints for a smaller ship but the C1 and C2 each side are glued so tightly together that fixed weapons on them share a reticle.
You will probably find this because you instinctually try to keep enemies within view of your canopy, but if they are moving the gimbal reticle on a kinetic weapon needs to aim ahead of them: this commonly leads to the opponent being out of view of your canopy, where you cannot be certain shots are connecting.
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I use all fixed burst lasers on my FAS, works fine for me (outside of being terrible at combat that is, but when I hit, they all hit just fine )
Could be because I also have a conda, and to use the huge gun you have to kind of have your front be tipped more upwards to hit stuff, so I'm used to do that to make sure all guns are able to hit, though it's much easier to fire the bottom guns on the FAS, just have to slightly be tilted up compared to the target you fire.
)Could be because I also have a conda, and to use the huge gun you have to kind of have your front be tipped more upwards to hit stuff, so I'm used to do that to make sure all guns are able to hit, though it's much easier to fire the bottom guns on the FAS, just have to slightly be tilted up compared to the target you fire.
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I've been having fun with glitter guns lately. Strapped a pair to a Clipper and laugh every time I fire them. Not the easiest to hit with, but wow do they hurt. Convergence isn't much of an issue with these either. I just wish they had a lot more ammo.