what did YOU do with your concussion impulse generators?

krazygluon · Post by **krazygluon** » Sat, 23. Jun 07, 21:43

Or more specifically, what are they really good for?

I loaded up 8 on my Medusa and went to Loomankstrat's looking for a fight.

I noticed I could push a lasertower about 30km before completely trashing its shields.

They seem to be great m4/m5 killers, but just kinda knock an m3 around without really doing great damage.

So has anyone found a strategic use for them? (say on an M1/M2?) or are they cute but largely useless?

Tw122le · Post by **Tw122le** » Sat, 23. Jun 07, 21:48

I use 2 in a Mamba raider and have capped a few ships with them, also I use them for asteroid breaking for my mobile miners to collect.

KipperTheFish · Post by **KipperTheFish** » Sat, 23. Jun 07, 21:51

I have found the ONLY use for them..................sold them.
At over 400k each you can get a bigger bang for your bucks elsewhere.
AHEPT's cost 172k, and I know which one I'd rather have when the brown stuff hits the fan.
Even a BHEPT only costs 288k.

teladianium · Post by **teladianium** » Sat, 23. Jun 07, 21:57

I go with KipperTheFish, sell them. I tried putting some on the back turret of a Python but they didn't do much so....

Kor'ah · Post by **Kor'ah** » Sat, 23. Jun 07, 22:06

450k each and 7 of them near argon prime. It causes a totaly new problem early in the game. Plenty of money but nothing to buy till the donation BBS message pops up.

Still haveing a level 10 UT, OK TP, disco and pirate buster inside 12 hours of starting a non-plot game is a nice feeling.

pjknibbs · Post by **pjknibbs** » Sun, 24. Jun 07, 07:32

The main advantage of a CIG is its range and speed of shot--this makes them marginally useful on TL ship turrets, since all you really want to do is stop the bad guys attacking you on those.

maphys · Post by **maphys** » Sun, 24. Jun 07, 12:35

So has anyone found a strategic use for them?

Come on - Nova Football is the king of all sports. Trying to punt that Nova into a rock, or just across the sector as you laugh like a madman is the only use for a CIG!

The annoying thing about them is that they have such a long range that you keep forgetting 'target has entered firing range' no longer means target can be damaged!

M

Wlfric · Post by **Wlfric** » Tue, 10. Jul 07, 22:46

they also seem to bust up asteroids quite effectively.
I was hoping to shove a small asteroid into my competition's cattle ranch, but instead pulverized the asteroid into collectable peices. No more need for a special ship with a turret slot for a mining laser. Just concuss them apart and have your TS ship pick up the peices

pjknibbs · Post by **pjknibbs** » Tue, 10. Jul 07, 23:22

If that asteroid wasn't on the sector map then you can break it up with ANY weapon, not just CIGs. If it's on the map, you can shoot at it all day and it won't break up unless you use a Hornet missile or a mobile drilling system.

dunnno · Post by **dunnno** » Wed, 11. Jul 07, 00:36

I find CIGs most useful when in a fight, your target is heavily damaged and slowing down or is just slow in general, and you won't have enough time to completely destroy it without either making a second pass or slowing down, which would make you more vulnerable to fire from the other enemies. So you switch to CIGs to make some space between yourself and the target so you can switch back to plasmas and finish them off. Much like PBEs, these aren't meant to be used alone, but in combination with your main weapons (i.e. plasma). I find using only one doesn't offer enough kickback to the enemy for this but two is sufficient.

They are also handy for sniping those annoying M5 Harrier pirate patrols you see everywhere. They often ignore you so are hard to catch in an M3 but it's not too hard to get within their 5km range and take a shot at them so you can get their attention. Four of them can kill an M5 in one salvo.

Similarly I've found it is reasonably useful in the Medusa to keep your targets at a far enough distance to utilize the BPSGs effectively and also to push your current target further away from friendlies/neutrals so that friendly-fire won't be an issue.

Also they are invaluable against turreted M3s. Often it will disorient the ship enough that the turret will stop firing on you for a while, giving you an opportunity to fire some extra salvos of your plasmas without having to take any evasive action. Then when they regain composure, you can keep doing it again.

They are also the most energy-efficient weapon for damaging hull, and third-most against shields (beaten by Gamma PPCs and Alpha PBEs) so it was useful when soloing TL assassination missions prior to getting an M3+. The rate of fire is low so you don't do much damage but it gives you something able to maintain a constant stream of fire while you recharge for your plasmas.

Though, once I capped an LX none of this mattered since they have a frontal turreted beta plasma, Alpha PBEs, and high laser energy power, which when combined surpasses any advantage CIGs had. But it was most useful in the beginning when only flying a Pirate Nova Raider.

TheRelic · Post by **TheRelic** » Wed, 11. Jul 07, 01:23

I honestly never bothered with trying out a CIG relying on what I read here most of which was negative. I think perhaps most people don't really realize how useful they really are in fighter based combat, because X3 craft rarely if ever use them.
It wasn't until I started playing XTM and I got tagged by a pirate using CIG that my opinion changed from dismissal to interest. I was in Terran Thor Mk11 at the time going head on with a PNovaRaider, piece of cake. Next thing I know, my ship is tumbling and spinning and I have lost all orientation. Now that CIG may not be doing much damage but spinning my ship out of control, but the Novas other weopons were still peppering the snot out of me. If I hadn't been in a tough as nails Thor at the time, I would have been toast.
As dunnno said, you don't think they are useful, wait until your behind that nasty PNovaRaider with his nasty rear turret, or that dreaded yet coveted LX. Once they start spinning and flopping around like a fish out of water and those rear turrets that usually decimate your shields and your hull aren't firing on you at all, you may decide to reevaluate the usefulness of the CIG, I know that I did. And thank you ES for putting this weopon in the game, I'm just sorry it took me so long to realize its fighter combat usefulness.

Wlfric · Post by **Wlfric** » Wed, 11. Jul 07, 01:42

pjknibbs wrote:If that asteroid wasn't on the sector map then you can break it up with ANY weapon, not just CIGs. If it's on the map, you can shoot at it all day and it won't break up unless you use a Hornet missile or a mobile drilling system.

Aww.. now I'm double disappointed. I can't sabotage the competition by lobbing rocks at them and I can use regular weapons to knock down ore. O well... at least they make the enemy ships dance funny.

Coventchronicle · Post by **Coventchronicle** » Wed, 11. Jul 07, 08:10

TheRelic wrote:I was in Terran Thor MkII at the time going head on with a PNovaRaider, piece of cake. Next thing I know, my ship is tumbling and spinning and I have lost all orientation.

CIG IS effective when used against YOU (Players in general) since most people have more trouble regaining control than AIs. So in the end, CIG still more or less useless for player use.

Wlfric wrote:I can't sabotage the competition by lobbing rocks at them

I wonder..., can I tractor an asteroid (big one), and fly past NPC stations so that the roid hit them? Will the station get destroyed or the roid?
Also, will they (the race) get hostile with me or I can say "Oooops, sorry 'bout that." and stays neutral/good terms w/ them?

TheRelic · Post by **TheRelic** » Wed, 11. Jul 07, 08:23

Not true, I have started using CIG in the Vidar I have now. And CIG hits will send any fighter class up to and including M3+ tumbling out of control. If you continue to hit it with CIG it may never regain control or get off another shot. I know because I use it.

Taku · Post by **Taku** » Wed, 11. Jul 07, 08:38

Coventchronicle wrote:
I wonder..., can I tractor an asteroid (big one), and fly past NPC stations so that the roid hit them? Will the station get destroyed or the roid?
Also, will they (the race) get hostile with me or I can say "Oooops, sorry 'bout that." and stays neutral/good terms w/ them?

OMG, i have to go try that, right now, lets see what happens! TAKE THAT JERK WHO ALWAYS HAS A SURPLUS OF WHEAT SO HE SELLS AT WAY BELOW AVERAGE PRICES BECAUSE SOMEHOW HE"S ABLE TO NOT NEED RESOURCES IT'S WIERD I KNOW, BUT I MEAN, HE BUYS RESOURCES BUT, ITS LIKE HE CANT RUN OUT, WOW THAT WAS REALLY LONG CAPS STATMENT, well i'm stoping now, but that jerks going to get it, Hopefully, if only the Guild Scripts worked with XTM, then he woulda gotten it long, long ago!

Edit: Uh, can you even tow an asteriod without a mine on it, because i dont think its worth the money in the end, i'll probably just destroy him myself, my rep can take it...

philip_hughes · Post by **philip_hughes** » Wed, 11. Jul 07, 09:23

I got a Boron Ray and filled all the turrets with them. Absolutely useless but looks pretty cool.

Coventchronicle · Post by **Coventchronicle** » Wed, 11. Jul 07, 09:43

Taku wrote: Edit: Uh, can you even tow an asteriod without a mine on it, because i dont think its worth the money in the end, i'll probably just destroy him myself, my rep can take it...

Oh yeah, totally forgot 'bout that, sorry

I guess if you really need it, you can try looking for a script.

I heard someone actually have a script about destroying things completely without hurting your rep, (Cycrow?? perhaps)...cost alot though...about 54M IIRC... or maybe you can try make one yourself (it's not that hard, i heard)....

Crypton · Post by **Crypton** » Wed, 11. Jul 07, 14:23

Was playing around with these on one of my Nova M's, the nice thing about them is they dont really use alot of energy.

I use around 3-4 of them and fill the rst of my slots with Mass Drivers, pretty much non-stop firing. Going up against ships of my class, usually results in the shields and hull being taken down around the same rate mixed like that. Though, the hull goes down slightly faster but not much. Have capped a few ships using them this way but definately not a cap setup. Decent weapons if you want to have a setup that wont use energy faster than you can recharge it.

I usually debate selling them or keeping them. Early in the game I tend to sell as the money is more important, but later on I start collecting them to equip small to medium fleet and patrol ships. I just love the fact that I never run out of power and can keep firing, slow, but each shot coming from 6-8 of them can hurt an enemy ship

prastagus2 · Post by **prastagus2** » Wed, 11. Jul 07, 14:40

Just use 1 CIG in combination with more damaging weapons like HEPTs. The enemy will keep spinning and unable to fire at you or get away (except backwards) while you kill it with your secondary weaponaries. Come to think about it, maybe PPCs would hit fighters easier if CIG hits?

Taku · Post by **Taku** » Wed, 11. Jul 07, 16:09

Coventchronicle wrote:
Taku wrote: Edit: Uh, can you even tow an asteriod without a mine on it, because i dont think its worth the money in the end, i'll probably just destroy him myself, my rep can take it...
Oh yeah, totally forgot 'bout that, sorry I guess if you really need it, you can try looking for a script.

I heard someone actually have a script about destroying things completely without hurting your rep, (Cycrow?? perhaps)...cost alot though...about 54M IIRC... or maybe you can try make one yourself (it's not that hard, i heard)....

Eh, pretty sure its his Merc Guild script, that allows you to hire Mercenarys to do your bidding, of course, i have XTM, so i cant use that.
and me scripting beyond a couple basic things is not going to happen, lol, not too good at things like that.

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what did YOU do with your concussion impulse generators?

what did YOU do with your concussion impulse generators?