Mass Drivers

TheSandman · Post by **TheSandman** » Mon, 6. Mar 06, 20:57

Hey people

Just wondering whats the big deal with MDs? Everyone sez their great... why?

I would get one but im sceptical... iv heard they reduce caps (im tryin to make as much money as poss ATM

) an you need ammo...

so why does everyone love em?

Geggo · Post by **Geggo** » Mon, 6. Mar 06, 21:11

Cant say I rely on them (execpt mamba Raider rear turret since it's the only gun that fits there). But in main guns it's only 3xahept, no other weapons.

But since they ignore shields and go straight for the hull they make excelent capital ships killers (not that there are many with actually fully shielded ones out there). and also since their refire rate and bullet speed are exelent it's hard to miss your target which means short work on M5/M4.

Spandex · Post by **Spandex** » Mon, 6. Mar 06, 21:12

Fast firing.

They slow down ships without having to eat their shields first.

They can be fired when you've run out of energy.

Godalmighty83 · Post by **Godalmighty83** » Mon, 6. Mar 06, 21:16

not too mention the old school thrills, just bolt 4 on and call me a spitfire.

Jolly_Roger_uk · Post by **Jolly_Roger_uk** » Mon, 6. Mar 06, 21:17

Godalmighty83 wrote:not too mention the old school thrills, just bolt 4 on and call me a spitfire.

I know its only a small point, But the Spitfire actually had 8 guns!

xalien · Post by **xalien** » Mon, 6. Mar 06, 21:18

They use no energy so you can fire them continuously, as long as you have ammo. The bullets are faster than PAC's and do a hefty hull damage (26 points), 8 MD's on Mamba or Nova can turn M3's into ruble in just few seconds. They also make a good replacement weapons - you switch to them when energy weapons run out of energy, so you can keep killing ships non-stop.

Ammo is actually quite cheap, at least price becomes irrelevant when you have some semi-decent income. And if you have a carrier ship (like TL) all problems with restocking are gone.

lamkonhin · Post by **lamkonhin** » Mon, 6. Mar 06, 21:20

Especially good againest those annonying M5 that fly around eating your FPS. HEPT too slow to hit one, the blue one (forgot the name) may be alright but drain energy. MD, as long as you aim right, has pretty much over 90% hit rate even in contious firing. Ammo is not really a problem for M3 (well not for NOVA or MAMBA anyway), each box can have 200 shots if I remember right, so have about 40 and you wont run out until you see the next station that sells them. And no energy drain (or minimal) so you can switch with energy weapon for them to recharge.

About the reduce cap...well, vaporising the enermy with HEPT is not really going to make capping easy anyway, so I'm not too concern about it.

Only is damage is slightly on the low side, so have a few to make it bite.

rizzo420 · Post by **rizzo420** » Mon, 6. Mar 06, 21:22

Yep, eats anything smaller than an M6 for breakfast...M6's are brunch. Great for XI missions. I kill the waves of L's then have to sit around for 2-3 minutes for the J's to drop in again.

Also, deadly accurate within 1k. My hit % has gone up about 10% just from a few XI missions where I mounted 9MD's.

Geggo · Post by **Geggo** » Mon, 6. Mar 06, 21:23

The reduced capping is directly cause you arent stripping the shields, no shields means they MAY bail, full shields no freking chance in hell they bail.

Alche · Post by **Alche** » Mon, 6. Mar 06, 23:03

Added an ammunition fab to my weapons complex, just one of these fabs gives you enough ammo to equip your fighter full time with plenty spare to sell too.

I have my mamba raider fitted with 9x MD, shreds most things in no time, keep around 30 rounds onboard.

Worth remembering though range is very short about 1Km, not a problem if you’re doing the flying and get in close for the kill, but not so clever for your other fighters or OOS, if the bad guys start whacking them at 2Km.

TheSandman · Post by **TheSandman** » Mon, 6. Mar 06, 23:11

Okay, cool... i diddnt know it bypassed shields

So how much ammo should I carry?

Spandex · Post by **Spandex** » Mon, 6. Mar 06, 23:23

Depends how many you have.

I have one on my rear Mamba turret and only need to carry about 10.

The guy above carrying 9 is gonna chew through ammo at a horrendous speed. I would only recommend that if you dont plan on not going far or have transporter/carrier support that can resupply you.

Alche · Post by **Alche** » Mon, 6. Mar 06, 23:45

Hands up everyone with supply ships!

Too right.

Jump into sector, whack everything, meet supply ship at gate, transfer, jump supply ship out again somewhere safe… it’s the only way to travel quickly across the universe.

OutlawS · Post by **OutlawS** » Tue, 7. Mar 06, 01:04

As for how much ammo you should carry. I use a Centaur with 8 MD's in the front. You can get through a XI mission, destroying well more than half of the Xenon ships (including one K), with 250 pieces and you'll still have something left. So I usually keep around 250 of'em in stock and resupply if level drops beneath 200.

euan78 · Post by **euan78** » Tue, 7. Mar 06, 01:17

how much MD ammo to carry? how long is a piece of string.....
seriously if its a NR your probably going to have 4 AHEPT and 4MD so 50 odd crates will keep you going for a while plus leave you about a hundred energy cells in your hold.
my XI nova R. has 9 MD and fully stocked with ammo and missiles(carry about 4 unknown objects)but then it doesnt have a jumpdrive as i jump it into sector in an M1(but you could use a TL if necassary) and i use that exclusively to unleash my fury in the xenon inv. missions

Kraznor · Post by **Kraznor** » Tue, 7. Mar 06, 06:47

Geggo wrote:The reduced capping is directly cause you arent stripping the shields, no shields means they MAY bail, full shields no freking chance in hell they bail.

This is why I have 6 MDs and 2 IDs on my Nova Raider.

When I feel like capping, I simply remove all the shields 1st with the IDs

.

Chemical-mix · Post by **Chemical-mix** » Tue, 7. Mar 06, 17:43

Just thought i would add to this. I excitedly bought a Mass Driver and some ammo and hppily went Pirate hunting (oh, X2 this is).

And i instantly regretted it. what a pile of moose. I sold it about 10 mins later, oddly for a profit. So here is an idea, dont buy mass drivers, Ion disruptors are much more fun, if a little dangerous.

Chemical-mix · Post by **Chemical-mix** » Tue, 7. Mar 06, 17:46

Oh, and try to stay away from PSG's as well, if you want to keep your friends

xalien · Post by **xalien** » Tue, 7. Mar 06, 19:03

Chemical-mix wrote:Just thought i would add to this. I excitedly bought a Mass Driver and some ammo and hppily went Pirate hunting (oh, X2 this is).

And i instantly regretted it. what a pile of moose. I sold it about 10 mins later, oddly for a profit. So here is an idea, dont buy mass drivers, Ion disruptors are much more fun, if a little dangerous.

Here's another idea: don't compare X2's mass drivers or IonD's to X3's

Thrappy · Post by **Thrappy** » Tue, 7. Mar 06, 20:59

I have 8 mounted on my titan. They are brilliant for slowing down M5 and M4 fighters so that the full punch of my PPC can annihalate them.

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Mass Drivers

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