BPAC: Best multiship canon in game?

[Targoid-1]

While prodeeding in the game I tested most of the canons available. With the exception of carriers and battleships I more and more stick to use the BPAC whenever possible.

At first I thought HEPT's and PSG's were the ultimate weapons for most ships. But both have a high energy cost and PSG's fire in such a wide range that you easily become hostile with friendly races since they hit everything within range.

PBE's seem a good alternative for fast fighters. Eventually in combination with an Ion disruptor. But whats the deal equiping relatively cheap ships with such expensive guns? They only seem to be effective while protecting ships in a (big) fleet.

GIP's would do a nice job too, but there are not enough in the game to make them usefull as basic weapons.

FLAK canons and PBC's only fit in carriers and battleships. And they are usefull for them.

I did not test mass drivers.

So my experience is that BPAC's are decent weapons for most ships: They fire fast, have low energy cost, they can be used as point defence to incomming nasties, and they do decent dammage both to shields and hull. The range of 2 km is not bad either.

Opinions?

[Gothsheep]

While prodeeding in the game I tested most of the canons available. With the exception of carriers and battleships I more and more stick to use the BPAC whenever possible.

At first I thought HEPT's and PSG's were the ultimate weapons for most ships. But both have a high energy cost and PSG's fire in such a wide range that you easily become hostile with friendly races since they hit everything within range.

PBE's seem a good alternative for fast fighters. Eventually in combination with an Ion disruptor. But whats the deal equiping relatively cheap ships with such expensive guns? They only seem to be effective while protecting ships in a (big) fleet.

GIP's would do a nice job too, but there are not enough in the game to make them usefull as basic weapons.

FLAK canons and PBC's only fit in carriers and battleships. And they are usefull for them.

I did not test mass drivers.

So my experience is that BPAC's are decent weapons for most ships: They fire fast, have low energy cost, they can be used as point defence to incomming nasties, and they do decent dammage both to shields and hull. The range of 2 km is not bad either.

Opinions?

On my LX, I carry 4 AHEPTs and 4 BPACs. The AHEPTs are for M3s and larger, and the BPACs for M4s and M5s. It's a setup that works well. I use a similiar setup on my Centaur and keep BPACs in the rear turrets of my Hyperion when I'm in a civilized system.

[ReggieReddog]

As far as I'm concerned, you really can't beat a GIP / PBC weapon loadout. Best combo in the game.

[pjknibbs]

If I remember the numbers correctly, 8xBPAC will do roughly the same shield damage as 4xAHEPT, but will do less hull damage, while using about the same energy. I'd argue it's better to have 4xAHEPT plus four of some other weapon (BPAC, PBE, PSG etc) because you can pick and choose your loadout to suit the situation--as an example, it will be much easier to destroy a TL or TS using the AHEPTs because of the extra hull damage they do.

[Shadowbourne]

but PACs fire so quickly, and travel really fast.

Much better for picking on faster ships, while HEPTs are best reserved for heavier fighters and larger.

I use BPACs on my Orca for point defence, they work really well. Especially with a backup of 5 novas and an eclipse

[aka1nas]

HEPTs and MDs are a more potent combination. PACs are still too slow to hit M5s much of the time, and they are too weak to take out M3 promptly before they pound you with HEPTs. MDs can take out small targets efficiently and fire so fast that you can actually hit faster targets with them. MDs and PBEs are practically the only guns that AI-controlled wingmen can fire with any accuracy.

[Dragoongfa]

As mentioned BPACs are fast firing and their energy bolts go really fast too.
Their nature though is mainly against shields and /or fast moving targets.
If you want to kill you targets fast you will use HEPTs, they may eat up all of your energy in a matter of seconds but the damage per second (dps) is far greater.
In the end it all comes down in your playing style:

If you love close dogfights with multiple/equal armed opponents (i have the most fun with these) you generally prefer a BPAC-mass driver combo.

But if you like to kill your enemies quickly HEPTs are a must.

Every weapon has its use, just adapt it in your combat behavior...

[Painman]

I've come to prefer the "A" variety of guns like PACS and PBEs. More efficient, take up less cargo space, easier to manage the amount of damage being done to a ship.

I think the PAC is a good all-around gun; while it's not bad at anything, it's not great at anything either.

For turret missile defense, my impression is that I've been having better success in shootdowns with IREs.

Shredding small, fast targets or stripping a larger one's shields quickly... PBEs.

Chewing up hull, or just to kill something quickly at any cost... HEPTs.

Just my .02.

[Kor'ah]

Main array on my chimera...

2xAHEPT
4xBPAC
2xBPBE

A pirate falcon lasts about 5 seconds with all that shooting. With different presets I can take on just about anything in X3. Scary part is the chimera has the weapon energy to fire all that no problem. The two mass driver turrets do a nice job at slowing down the fast M5s at the same time.

[pjknibbs]

but PACs fire so quickly, and travel really fast.

Much better for picking on faster ships, while HEPTs are best reserved for heavier fighters and larger.

Isn't that exactly what I said? You seem to be agreeing that a solely BPAC loadout isn't that useful. (Fast ships are generally poorly shielded, so a full set of 8 BPACs is overkill for them).

[Targoid-1]

I figure most replies are about the ship you fly yourself. What about you pilots who can't switch between weapon settings? (and I seem to remember a thread about the AI being not good in handling some of the guntypes) And isn't it unwise to mount guns of differend types into the same turret?

[Tiedyeguy]

In my LX I have 8 APBE in the main guns, BHEPT in the front turret set to Attack My Target, BIRE in the rear turret set to Missile Defence. It works just fine for M6 and below. For TL/M1/M2 I pull my M7, Dragon, or Centaur off of Complex Patrol for the heavier fire power. M7 is basically only for XI and XT missions these days as well as a possible romp in a Xenon/Kha'ak sector.

[DaveyP]

In my LX I have 8 APBE in the main guns, BHEPT in the front turret set to Attack My Target, BIRE in the rear turret set to Missile Defence.

I have the same in my LX, but also 8xAHEPT. I use a weapons changer script to swap between the PBEs and HEPTs. M4s or M5s get the PBEs, everything else gets an industrial sized can of "green".

[Tiedyeguy]

One thing to remember about the LX with APBEs is that you can strip most ships of their shields in one load of energy and hopefully have enough shields to destroy the target without any permanent damage to your ship. I do that with TL's/M6's all the time on assassination mission. Just strip the shields while my BHEPT keeps pounding on them then ram them to death. It should take a few rams because if you charge a TL at full speed head on, it doesn't matter if they have much hull or not, you will still die. If you come along side them and strafe with moderate speed into you target you should be able to kill them off fairly easily. It seems like the average TL have about 125MJ (same as LX shields) worth of hull plating. Give yourself 10-15 seconds to recharge you shields, re-strip theirs and ram again. Booom. "The Best Offense Is A Strong Defense!"

[Dragonteen]

I prefer MD but since my universe never seems to have any ammo and I can't afford the setup cost of a complex to make ammo I'm stuck using AHEPTs on my M3.

[Carlo the Curious]

In my LX I usually use 4xAPBE, 4xAHEPT, with PACs in the turrets.

Just PBEs for M5s, PBEs for M4s maybe with some AHEPT to finish off, and on anything bigger PBES for the shields and then AHEPTS or Tempests for the hull. The energy drain is low enough to be able to fight almost constantly in Crusader-level XIs and still clear all the Ls before the J drops off another load.

That's with fairly heavy use of Tempests though - if I didn't have several weapon complexes I might have switched in 2 BPACs for 2AHEPT.

I was using 4 BPBE at one point (more hull damage for M4s), but I found the energy drain too high.

[jlehtone]

What about you pilots who can't switch between weapon settings? (and I seem to remember a thread about the AI being not good in handling some of the guntypes) And isn't it unwise to mount guns of differend types into the same turret?

I have mixed AHEPT/BPAC/APAC in those ships. The dual AHEPT makes them open fire a bit earlier (important against capital ship targets) and helps against hull. The APAC is for better chance to actually hit something. And Argon Novas do not mount BPAC. ANR was a nice fleet fighter before 2.0.

For 65 L's I did add 4 BPBE to each (and 100 Wasp). I had no more BPBE at the time. They do fine, but cannot assault capital ships. Not until I start using XaiCorp Group Command Hotkeys.


True, it is not wise to mix in turret, unless the other gun is PSG (or possibly FAA). True range of PSG is much more than all-PSG turret will shoot at.