Newcomer / Intro Type-10 Turrets stopped firing in the middle of a fight. Can someone help me understand what went wrong?

[Oh-Cyrus]

Hello. Let me start by saying I'm not concerned about being in the "best" ship for combat--I'd much rather find something that is fun to fly. Right now, that thing is a Type-10 with all weapons a mix of Beam Lasers, Pulse Lasers, and Multicannons--all turrets set to "fire at will." It's incredibly fun. I went into a mission to defeat Mahimata Gold Society pirates, found a Threat-3 point of interest and got ambushed by 6 or 7 ships and wiped the floor with them all thanks to the help of my Mostly Harmless fighter pilot.

But when there were only two ships left, my turrets all stopped firing. WEP still had pips (the bar was full), the turrets worked when I put them to Fire Forward and shot them (that's how I finished off the last two enemies). I checked my Modules tab and the only thing that wasn't working was the Cargo Hatch because they put hatchbreaker limpets on me. I had an NPC in a Fighter but I'd had that for the entire fight. I have 84% module resistance and don't think I'd seen any warnings about modules breaking down.. but even still, Modules had only the cargo hatch as a red line.

What am I missing? I want to prevent this from happening in the future, or at least recognize when it's going to happen again and be better prepared for it. I have Module reinforcements to reach 84% module defense. Do I need the third piece to reach 94%? Did they somehow take out my targeting function?

 

[Chris Simon]

If they'd taken your sensors out, you'd know (because the radar screen would show nothing)
Maybe something with FoF resolution? Turrets in Fire at Will mode (poor William, what he ever done to you) will shoot at ships marked as "hostile". In other words every ship that shows in red on the scanner. Maybe the last two ships didn't turn hostile?

Personally I use the "Target only" mode. That way I have some control over whom am I engaging and when I shoot. Try that one, instead. In this mode, you target the ship you want to shoot (doesn't have to be hostile off the bat) and the turrets only start firing when you press the trigger and then they keep firing automatically as long as they have angles and reach.

 

[Oh-Cyrus]

Maybe the last two ships didn't turn hostile?

Personally I use the "Target only" mode. That way I have some control over whom am I engaging and when I shoot. Try that one, instead. In this mode, you target the ship you want to shoot (doesn't have to be hostile off the bat) and the turrets only start firing when you press the trigger and then they keep firing automatically as long as they have angles and reach.

They were definitely red. My fighter was shooting them and they turned on me.

You mentioned sensors. Could it have to do with the fact that my sensors are D-rated? I was under the impression that upgrading sensors gives longer range for detecting faction/wanted status, but not actual combat.

I'll try again without changing anything. I did try target only mode and it didn't make them fire. The only way to get them to shoot was fire forward.

Fire at will is the whole point of this for me. Seeing my turrets aim in random directions, seeing lasers fire every which way. It's amazing. It's what I want out of combat. It's silly, I know, but if I'm not having fun then what's the point?

 

[Chris Simon]

That's really weird. The only reason for turrets to not shoot is range and bad angle, which I guess you know about.
Maybe it was some one-time hiccup.

And yeah, even the bad sensors have long enough range. Plus you said you SAW the ship red which means they were resolved (i.e. in sensor range)

 

[aRJay]

Turrets stop firing if you are out of their range, if the target is obscured by a rock or a friendly ship, if you switch to analysis mode (they resume when you switch back to combat), they are retracted, you run out of bars in the wep column, target is out of firing arc or you run out of ammo. From your post some of those don't apply but those are the ones I can think of.

Personally I no longer use Fire at Will because that could lead you to having each weapon shooting a different target, Target Only to my mind is more efficient as all the weapons will hit one target for much more effect, it is also more controllable as just switching target will stop the turrets.