Weapons for my Nemesis/Dragon?

[Damian Swift]

Reached the point where i'm having fun destroying the M sized Xenon in my Nemesis and Dragon (Depending on my mood) but unsure on the best loadout for them and hoping people with more experience/better in the game than i am could share some advice...

Currently sporting 5x Gattling (from the Split) and can't say i'm impressed so thinking of going 5x Tau or 5x Disintegrator?

As always, all advice appreciated

[Ezarkal]

I found that split Gattlings are wanting compared the the standard variant.
I like the looks, sounds and feels of it, but it's not accurate enough to be reliable. The bullets spread too much beyond medium range.

My nemesis used to be 4x standard gattlings and 1x torpedo launcher (in case I needed to wipe out turrets on a capital ship)
My dragon was 6x split gattling (too low missile storage to make a missile/torpedo launcher attractive), but just like you I was disappointed.
I'm currently at 4x standard gattlings and 2x lasers but I'm still fooling around with it. The gattlings are there to stay, as they melt M ships and most S ships in an instant, but the lasers don't track fast enough to my taste. I'll either mod them or switch them for something else.

[omti]

I'm using 4 Gatlings, 1 Argon Ion Gun.

The Ion Gun is really useful to shoot down shields on capital ship emplacements.

[EGO_Aut]

All Tau's and Plasma turrets, you dont need more on fast ships.
Even K's get lazy 96't, also Taus have very good projektile speed.

[Imperial Good]

I personally use 6 x Tau Accelerator Mk2 on my Dragon Raider. With legendary mods installed on them they can melt Ps.

Takes a bit getting used to as one must both be close and not drifting in order for most of the shots to land reliably. However once the shots do connect, S ships are as good as instantly destroyed and M ships do not last long.

For killing Ks and Is I would not recommend either ships. Use a destroyer such as the Odysseus or Rattlesnake instead. In theory a Behemoth would also work but its low damage output might require a long time to kill an I.

[alt3rn1ty]

In the Nemesis (Vanguard) versus Xenon Ps, fighters and all Kha'ak so far the following have stood the test of time well with an NPC pilot 1 notch over 3 stars, and this setup is superb under the players control :

4 x M Bolt Repeater Mk2 - Much better than Gattling because they have much less spread - Modded with Piercer 19% extra damage on each
1 x M Ion Blaster Mk2 on the center gimbal - Strips shields, stops enemy boosting away and the Bolts finish the enemy hull off in no time - Modded with Piercer 19%
2 x M Pulse Laser on the turrets, 1 as Defend, 1 as Missile defence - Piercer mod - Good hit rate and not bad damage
Crab mod 18% to help Nemesis strafing
Buttress mod 19% better hull
Pavise mod 68% better shielding
Teladi shields

There are better mods for damage, I just cant seem to get any good rolls on the negative impact additional modifications that come with them which really bug me, so stuck with Piercer for now, maybe there is something better in Legendary mods, idk yet.

I also like the sound of the Bolt repeaters, so choice of main weapon was a bit of an aesthetic choice for me. Tried gattlings once, but the wide spread of bullets .. The saying "Couldn't hit a cows arse with a shovel" comes to mind.

It does well versus Ks too with the player at the helm, close quarters taking out the engines / turrets / shield generators .. Then I bring in 4 Dragons with Tau's to finish it off

The Nemesis to me seems to be a very good all rounder still, I like to let my NPC pilot do more exploring / fighting than me personally having to deal with swatting flies but do occasionally enjoy jumping in the seat. When I get better with Dragons I might switch, but still prefer the Nemesis as my general all rounder.

Edit : Its only recently I replaced the Center Bolt repeater with an Ion Blaster, but wow what a difference it makes to swatting pesky flies, even with an NPC at the helm enemy fighters are finished off a lot quicker, with the player at the helm they are mostly 1 pass , if the Xenon suddenly decide its time I was swarmed into oblivion, that Pavise mod comes in handy for boosting away and then swinging round to pick them off and whittle down the numbers (fastest get closer sooner so a swarm can be cherry picked).

[Imperial Good]

Buttress mod 19% better hull

One cannot really beat the exceptional cassis mod. Mass reduction for better handling and drag reduction for more speed. Certainly brings more value for the player than 19% hull which they are unlikely to ever use or need.

It does well versus Ks too with the player at the helm, close quarters taking out the engines / turrets / shield generators .. Then I bring in 4 Dragons with Tau's to finish it off

Sounds a bit slow given how trivial Ks are to kill with the proper tools. Rattlesnake with mods installed on it can solo 2x K simultaneously in out of sector combat without even losing shield. In sector it just out right melts them in player hands. It also is utterly broken against S/M ships in out of sector combat, killing 6+ such ships every damage tick reducing the largest Xenon fighter swarms to dust near instantly.

I made an hour long sequence of combat video showing off how trivial Ks, Is and xenon fighter swarms are with my current favourite loadout.
https://youtu.be/7THUvXcqlH8

[alt3rn1ty]

Buttress mod 19% better hull

One cannot really beat the exceptional cassis mod. Mass reduction for better handling and drag reduction for more speed. Certainly brings more value for the player than 19% hull which they are unlikely to ever use or need.

Assuming that "cassis" is a typo for Chassis - Will have a look at Exceptional Mass reduction or Drag reduction, sounds like a good tip especially for the Nemesis as a personal ship.
If its not a typo .. I have not come across the Exceptional Cassis Mod yet.

It does well versus Ks too with the player at the helm, close quarters taking out the engines / turrets / shield generators .. Then I bring in 4 Dragons with Tau's to finish it off

Sounds a bit slow given how trivial Ks are to kill with the proper tools. Rattlesnake with mods installed on it can solo 2x K simultaneously in out of sector combat without even losing shield. In sector it just out right melts them in player hands. It also is utterly broken against S/M ships in out of sector combat, killing 6+ such ships every damage tick reducing the largest Xenon fighter swarms to dust near instantly.

I made an hour long sequence of combat video showing off how trivial Ks, Is and xenon fighter swarms are with my current favourite loadout.
https://youtu.be/7THUvXcqlH8

It is a bit slow, but the topic is about Nemesis / Dragon, so just gave what I thought was good for the Nemesis - See foot note **

I am just getting into larger ships so have very little experience using them as personal ships, have a few Rattlesnakes in a couple of fleets plugging up gates for now, and promised myself to take one out for a spin after modding it better later .. Still in the process of refining my first Wharf, and my first Shipyard is about half way to my idea of an ideal setup. All blueprints for every race S/M ships bought, and still in the process of using money earned from the Wharf to get all the L / XL blueprints. I have been in a long balancing act of trying to keep Xenon supressed from spreading on a few fronts while slowly building up to the stage I can get on with the games big missions and assembling fleets for them.
Taking a Rattlesnake on tour to do a bit better job of surpressing Xenon might be a good idea about now.

** I have altered my ideas on the Nemesis though given your recent posts .. Decided to try out the Tau's in place of Bolt Repeaters, I'm converted, they are awesome
Also using Split Flak on the turrets now, much better defence for the Nemesis while trying to get a bead on fast S ships
Will give the Mass reduction a go too instead of boosting the Hull.