Turreted Weapons

[Diwrnach]

I just fitted some turreted weapons on my Clipper because I've never used them before and wanted to get a grip on how they work. The problem is that they don't.

I have 2X E2 Turreted Beam Lasers and 2X F2 Turreted Multi-Cannons.

I have options for "Target Only", "Fire at Will", and "Forward Fire". The fire button does nothing unless the turrets are set to "Forward Fire" which defeats the purpose of having turreted weapons. Once a target is hostile then setting the turrets to Target Only or Fire at Will set the weapons to auto-fire.

I don't want to have to micro-manage my weapons via menu options during a fight. I want my weapons set to Target Only at all times but how do I initiate a fight without changing the RHM > Functions > Turret Weapon Mode setting to Forward Fire?

I don't want to hear how I'd be better off with gimbals or that I should learn to fly and use fixed points - I already know this. I just want to know how Turreted Weapons work.

 

[GJ51]

Leave them set on Target Only. Once you fire the first shot they will automatically track and fire at the current target. I usually set up with one on top and one on bottom on opposite sides, and gimballed for the rest of the load out. This way, the target is always concerned about the turret weapon but it usually doesn't become such a power drain that you can't fire the gimballed weapons once lined up. Been using this strategy for some time with no major issues.

 

[Lovecraft]

Maybe it's only certain ships or weapons that don't work properly with turrets- I'm fairly sure Pulse Lasers worked ok (I could see the enemy ship still taking hits when I had past it, and it would stop when I would stop firing). I didn't have to toggle forward/target fire- they just did what I expected.

Bit of a shame to hear they don't all work though if that's the case. Maybe they got broke in a patch somewhere.

 

[GJ51]

I'm using them on my ASP as described above, and yes, I see the target taking hits whether above or below me. From what I can tell they can't approach from behind, above or below without taking a hit. I'm using beamed lasers. Oftentimes, I don't even see the kill as it happens out of view.
Selecting the right placement is important. I'm not familiar with the Clipper in that regard.

 

[Diwrnach]

Leave them set on Target Only. Once you fire the first shot they will automatically track and fire at the current target.

I tried this, the fire button did nothing. I had to change the mode to Forward Fire to make the fire button fire the weapons. Once the target was hostile then I could switch back to Target Only and they would auto-fire but it seems a bit much having to go through this process just to fire at a target. I'm sure it's meant to work how you describe it but it doesn't.

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Maybe they got broke in a patch somewhere.

Possible I suppose. Could someone else test and let me know if it's just me that has this issue or not?

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I'm using them on my ASP as described above, and yes, I see the target taking hits whether above or below me. From what I can tell they can't approach from behind, above or below without taking a hit. I'm using beamed lasers. Oftentimes, I don't even see the kill as it happens out of view.
Selecting the right placement is important. I'm not familiar with the Clipper in that regard.

In this scenario the targets attack you. If the targets attacked me then I have no doubt that they would work as intended but my question was: How do I initiate a fight against a non-hostile target?

 

[ndrwc]

You need at least one non-turreted weapon to initiate combat with, then the turrets will start working. Gimballed would be a good choice - as far as I can tell turrets won't target subsystems.

 

[Midnight_Sun323]

My only complaint with the clipper is the large hardpoints are on the tips of the nacelles. So they simply won't fire when you're too close to a target.

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You need at least one non-turreted weapon to initiate combat with, then the turrets will start working. Gimballed would be a good choice - as far as I can tell turrets won't target subsystems.

Yeah they target subsystems, but will only fire when it's 100% sure it will hit it. Normally you just keep chipping away at an enemy even when the targeted subsystem is impossible to hit, but the turrets won't fire until they have a clean shot.

 

[Eisenengel]

I did try turrets on my T6 as well, and like others mentioned:
Turrets are autonomous. They fire on red targets according to their own volition, and no others. You can't fire them manually. (When set to at will or target only).

Now, if there are no enemies, they won't fire, period. That's okay if you only want to fire in self defence, or has no other weapons. (Generally I'd recommend having at least some manual wepons.).

Optionally you can set the turrets to 'forward fire' to initiate combat and then back to target only or fire at will, but that's a bit clunky. (I have not tried that myself, btw.).

Another thing you should be aware of with 'fire at will' is that if one of them should happen to fire at a police craft... the police goes hostile and the turrets will go open season on them. That can potentially be rather bad.

I would suggest a change in how they work - if you have a ship targeted and the turrets deployed and in the current fire group, they'll open fire on the target regardless if you press fire. It is reasonable and will allow people to try all-turret configurations if that is what they want without needless micromanagement.

 

[starjump]

You need at least one non-turreted weapon to initiate combat with, then the turrets will start working. Gimballed would be a good choice - as far as I can tell turrets won't target subsystems.

Yeah this might be OPs issue. Have at least 2 lasers (or 1 only) and use them to initiate the attack. As soon as one laser hits the target the turrets start firing. But there needs to be an initiation. Just "targeting" wont work since you do that to see if a ship is clean or not. If the turrets started when soft targeting then you would fire on innocents as well.

 

[Diwrnach]

I would suggest a change in how they work - if you have a ship targeted and the turrets deployed and in the current fire group, they'll open fire on the target regardless if you press fire. It is reasonable and will allow people to try all-turret configurations if that is what they want without needless micromanagement.

This is how they should work in my opinion. It seems a bit silly that I can't override my weapon's AI. What is this? Dark Star?