(X3)The range of the PBE - a bug or what?

[Elbi]

Hello to all of you!
This is my firs post here, but I'm not a newbie in the X-univerce! So far I fund answers for my questions and problems by myself reading the forum, but not this time.
I equiped my Xenon LX (my lovely "Konoko" ) with 6 HEPT-s (for the big targets) and 2 Alpha PBE-s (for the small fast-moving ones). This configuration worked fine, the PBE-s have a range of more than 2 km. What I was thinking at that point: "If I find some Beta PBE-s, I will mount them all! More damage, great range, fast projectile! What else you want?"
Later I managed to salvage some Beta PBE-s from a destroyed Xenon P immediately installed all 8 of them on my ship. Then I was totally dissapointed of the mizerable 1 km range of the weapons. I looked at weapons statistics and find the range of the PBE-s:
- Alpha PBE - 0.95 km
- Beta PBE - 1 km
I returned to my previous weapon config (6 HEPT and 2 BPBE) and SURPRISE! I hit the targets over 2 km away with the PBE-s! What the Bizani it's goin on?
Please don't kick my bastu if that topic is allready discused, just post me a link!
Good bye and have a nice game!

[xalien]

You mean you select your 2 PBE's as a separate group from 6 AHEPT's, fire from 2 km and hit?

[Sirus5]

The PBE do have a small range, but the HEPT are longer range.

Probably what you found was that both HEPT and PBE were firing and the HEPT hit over 2km away, but the PBE's although firing woudl not hit at that distance.

[Elbi]

Xalien, This is correct! Only the PBE-s is fireing and hits at a range of 2 km and a little more.
Sirus5, the PBE-s and the HEPT-s are in separate groups.

[xalien]

Xalien, This is correct! Only the PBE-s is fireing and hits at a range of 2 km and a little more.

If that's really the case then it's either a bug (which I never heard of) or ... do you have any mods installed?

[Elbi]

Mods no, but 2 scripts yes! The Benco systems capture script and the Scrap Ship script. Actually the Alpha PBE-s hits at 2 km long before I installed them.

[xalien]

For PBE's to hit from 2 km the game must be modified somehow. What's the number of the highest cat/dat file in your X3 folder? Maybe you have some false patch in there?

[Elbi]

What's the number of the highest cat/dat file in your X3 folder? Maybe you have some false patch in there?

I don't know. I didn't change anything. I hate to mess with thing that I don't understand! The number ot the file can tell you when I get home. Imagine what will happen if my boss caught me with X3 on the PC on the job.

[Sirus5]

On the JOB!!!.....

[Rapier]

The quoted ranges are calculated from the bullet speed and durations, extracted from the game files. It's these latter two that are fixed constants for the weapons. There are other things we meed to take into account in the equation when working out whether or not you can hit a target; the positions of the ships and weapons and the relative speeds.

If you're firing at a fast ship heading towards you, then it may be two km away when you fire your weapon, but two seconds later (say), when the bullet reaches it's maximum range, it may only be 1kn away (or less, if you fire a one second burst).

It is also important to remember that the quoted distance between ships is from the center of each. Some ships are over 1km long, so the nearest point might be 500m or more closer than this. This is particularly important to remember in cap ship battles, where ships weapons ranges may be over 1km less than shown.

I don't think the game doesn't take either of these into account when calculating if a ship is 'in range' (the first certainly not, not sure about the other). A clever pilot can use this to their advantage)

[Gazz]

I returned to my previous weapon config (6 HEPT and 2 BPBE) and SURPRISE! I hit the targets over 2 km away with the PBE-s! What the Bizani it's goin on? :S

The game code is perfectly correct. What you are seeing is the effect of lag.

You need to take into account that PBE bullets travel at 7000m/s.

If your game lags for a mere 0.1 sec, the bullet has traveled another 700m before it can be computed again - and then it wil either hit something or self destruct.

I have often seen PBE fire straight through a Xenon cap ship - leaving on the other side without hitting anything.

In my game I modded PBE to a lower speed of around 2500 and they became far more effective because they no longer ghost through ships.
High speed does not help a lot if it's too high to actually hit the target. =P

[anneonemous]

PBE have a long range, but not all of it seems to be useful. Equip only PBEs, and you'll get the targetted ship in range icon (blue cross hair) at about 2km.

AoN

[pjknibbs]

Are you SURE the PBEs were actually hitting at that range? There's a bug in the game code that means you get the "you are now in firing range" message when you're inside the longest range gun you have mounted, even if you have a weapon group selected that doesn't include that gun--so the game would tell you that you were in range with the PBEs as soon as you got inside AHEPT range. However, I would be amazed if you could actually do any damage with the PBEs at that range--I'm certainly not able to in my game.

[Gazz]

I am positive that PBE were hitting beyond their designed range.
It is inconsistent and completely dependant on lag but it happens with all fast bullets.

[newdean]

1. APBEs appear to hit (there are impact flashes on target) when fired from outside their range, but the target does not take damage. (Check targets shield bar. APBEs, when they hit, strip shields very fast.)

2. The speed + duration calculation of distance leading to a variable engagement range depending on relative velocity of the two ships (head on pass vs pulling away) should create less variability in range for weapons with fast projectile speed (like PBEs) since the two ships have less time to increase or reduce their relative distance before the projectile gets to its maximum range.

3. APBEs have a range of 0.8 kms, with BPBEs slightly longer. My APBEs have always, alas, taken their maximum range specs pretty seriously.