Hyperion weapons loadout?

[stonyclaws]

I'm flying around in my Hyperion with the weapons loadout that came with the ship. Haven't changed a thing since

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Grand Exchange

I thought I'd try it out with a small escort(a mamba and nova vanguards) through Pirate alley. I got chewed to bits by 50+ M3 fighters. This is my first "big" ship and I really don't know any tactics other than blasting away with my M3s. Any advice on how I should configure the WL on the Hyperion for small fighter defense, i.e. weapons, missiles, escorts(?)

Maybe I was being too eager and just undergunned to be messing around there.

[apogee]

My personal choice of loadout for the hyperion, when fighting figters is to load the rear turrets with either APAC or BPAC, then the 2 front turrets with APAC, and the main forward guns (the ones you control) completely with BPAC or AHEPT, usually does the trick, capping with this is just a case of luck as most of the time the taget gets fried.

[Painman]

Wrong kind of ship in the wrong kind of place. The Hyp is a big ship killer.

PACs in the turrets aren't a bad idea, neither are PSGs - but Pirate Alley still gets some civilian traffic, so watch out.

I think you're better off using the Hyp to raid the Xenon sectors, you'll eventually cap one of the many LX hanging around in there (if you don't have one already) and that's a far more ideal ship for harassing pirates.

[Joeman]

honestly i've played maybe 10 - 15 hrs and normally i go solo w/ my nova vanguard cause big ships have wayy too many open spots and turn slowly, but i think you were wayy out gunned, 50+ M3s would take an army load of capital ships to even have hope of winning, think of them like a swarm of bees puny by themselves (unless you're an awsome pilot like me and take out a capital ship w/ 3 m3 escorts without using missles, sloww killing but i win w/out damage to my hull sorry HAVE to brag [NOVA'S RULE]) but in groups that an immense load of firepower bieng shot at you.

[Allan F]

My M7 is loaded with BHEPTs on the front, BPACs on the turrets, all turrets set to missile defence.

And all the pandora tunings too. And the afterburner MK1. Top speed 498 m/s.

If it gets too tough, just point away, and hit the burner.

[Goldfinch]

My current loadout is 8 BHEPT up front, front turrets all BPAC, rear turrets 2 x BPAC, 1 x AHEPT each. Having PSGs instead of some of the BPACs is nice, but not good where there's civilian traffic. BPACs/PSGs will take out M4/M5 and missiles quickly, the AHEPTs give extra firepower when there's M3s behind me. 8 BHEPTs will drop a TL before the energy runs out.

I actually just fly it like a fighter and it can tear through a lot of small ships, but I have to keep in mind where my turrets are firing, because it can't turn too well and sometimes it is better just to let my rear turrets do the job instead of turning to use my main guns.

I regularly clear out the pirate sectors with it, but I haven't seen more than 10-20 in one sector.

[stonyclaws]

Wrong kind of ship in the wrong kind of place. The Hyp is a big ship killer.

PACs in the turrets aren't a bad idea, neither are PSGs - but Pirate Alley still gets some civilian traffic, so watch out.

I think you're better off using the Hyp to raid the Xenon sectors, you'll eventually cap one of the many LX hanging around in there (if you don't have one already) and that's a far more ideal ship for harassing pirates.

I haven't even considered facing the Xenon yet, not enough guts I guess. So say I took the Hyperion and the two M3s into Xeon space I could do alright with my current WL? Every Xenon sector I've been in have tons of ships in them, I don't see my three ships capping anything much less surviving!

thanks all

[Goldfinch]

You should be able to take on masses of Xenon in it, you just need to avoid getting hit by the caps. You should at least have time to jump out if things aren't going your way.

[teladianium]

So say I took the Hyperion and the two M3s into Xeon space I could do alright with my current WL?

I'd leave the M3s at home - I expect they would get torn to bits by the LXs. The standard weapons loadout for the Hyper is fine against Xenon Js and Ks. You need to keep your distance from the Ks though as their Flaks can be mean.

Best thing to do is try X 598 or X 597 - the bigger the sector the better as the enemy are more spread out and you won't have 3 or 4 cap ships fighting you at once. I usually go for the escorts first so I don't have any one shooting me in the back while I concentrate on the cap ship.

I've tried GPSGs front but they are shorter range so I prefer the BHepts now.

[Goldfinch]

I've tried GPSGs front but they are shorter range so I prefer the BHepts now.

The front turrets can take GPSGs, can't they? Which leaves your main guns free for BHEPTs.

[fig]

unless you're an awsome pilot like me and take out a capital ship w/ 3 m3 escorts without using missles

Escorts in both X2 and X3 are a pain in the ***. I want escorts that understand what credits mean. Losing ships = losing money and I can't deal with that. If they are not simply flying towards the enemy ships guns, they are crashing into things: "Your Scorpion Vanguard was destroyed by Teladi Trading Station"

I don't think taking any M3 escorts ships into a Xenon sector is a good idea. Does the AI fly them intelligently enough to avoid flak? I doubt it. Does the AI understand that approaching an LX from behind is a really, really bad idea?

Taking out cap ships in an M3 is not so difficult anyway, you don't need to be an awesome pilot (I'm not)...

[Meatsteak]

I've actually (finally) found a worthwhile use for my Hyperion....

I tried it when I got it with all sorts of loadouts and it was just too big and slow when swamped by large numbers of fighters. I tried putting ALL the pandora tunings on it (340m/s and ~20% steering) and that made it a really nice personal ship to fly around in and take on small numbers of enemies & cap ships but still a bit of a disaster against large numbers of fighters (especially LX-heavy patrols).

However, last night I took my Raptor Xenon hunting. I hadn't got round to building another fleet of fighters (60 Scorpion Raiders w/ mass drivers take a little while to build) so I told my Hyperion to come along (BIREs all over) and he did a stellar job! On 'Protect Me' he just swarmed around me luring fighters into my FLAK fire while I concentrated on more important things. 17 cap ships and two freighters full of weapon drops later, I LOVE my Hyperion!

[TheRelic]

Hyperion is a great ship as was metioned and as also mentioned, wrong ship wrong place. You really need to think of the Hyperion as a capital ship. Even with all turrets set to missile defense you do not want to engage in a dust up in a sector crowded with stations and nuetral ships unless you are out of your weopons ranges from them. Otherwise your turrets indiscriminate fire as it takes out missiles will plaster nuetral ships and stations alike. In the heat of the battle, neutral ships and stations will turn red and Hyperion will start blowing them away as well. Then as things start to settle down and the battle rush becomes more manageable and you turn toward that last red corvette that is nailing you left and right to take him out, you realize "Hey, wait a minute, he should be neutral". Then you notice a red station or two, frieghter debris all over the place and you realize, "Aw crud", you have been blowing away friendlies and have a lot of race rep repairing to do.
As was mentioned, xenon sectors are a good place for Hyperion with a skilled pilot. Hyperion is also great for hunting down those nasty Kha'ak clusters that you see out on sector fringes moving in.
Where Hyperion really shines for a ship of its class is in its ability to loadout an impressive array of PSGs in every weopons bay providing you can afford them. If you want to boost your combat rep up or if you would just like a little revenge, load Hyperion up with max PSGs all around and jump into a pirate sector, watch her rack up the kills.
Xenon sectors are good too, but stay close to a gate if you don't have a jumpdrive in case you need to get out.
But don't use PSGs if friendly or nuetral ships or stations are in range.

[H.F._Mudd]

In civilized sectors:

4xBPACs/4xBHEPTs on the nose.

4xAHEPTs front turrets (set to attack my target)

6xBPSGs (set to missile defense)


In hostile space:

4xBPACs/4xBHEPTs on the nose.

4xGPSGs (set to attack my target)

6xBPSGs (set to missile defense)

You don't need an escort. The Hype is a flying slaughterhouse.





PS
With the 'hostile space' load out, you can kill pirates until... you get tired of killing pirates.

You can also 'surf' Js Ks and other cap ships and kill them while taking very few hits... You just gotta find the blind spot! (the side without the spikes on Js & ks and next to the stalk on Paranid ships)

There's really nothing the hyperion isn't good at if you use the right weapons/tactics.

Trust me.

[fig]

You don't need an escort. The Hype is a flying slaughterhouse.

The key is not to fly any ship into a swarm of fighters. At first I thought that my LX was tough enough to take on a Khaak cluster (20 scouts + a fighter). Several reloads later and I try again, this time firing missiles at them from a safe distance...

I guess the only ships that don't need to obey this rule are destroyers and carriers, because:

1. They have enough shielding
2. They have flak

I haven't got a destroyer yet and I've only just got my M7. First thing I'm going to do is fly down to Pirate alley with it. See if I can get myself in the same sort of trouble you did

[Goldfinch]

Khaak cluster (20 scouts + a fighter).

Hyperion should be able to dkill that easily, especially with PSGs. It does have 3GJ of shields.

[H.F._Mudd]

^^^

GPSGs won't even give the cluster time to spread out!

[Coventchronicle]

I've tried 'cleaning-up' Xenon sector 101 with 3 Pythons and 3 Hyperions Escorts, one for each destroyer (only have 3 so far... very long production time...) + 1 LX (me )

the Pythons do quite well, but I can't say the same for the Hyperions, I've fitted all my Hyperions with this weapon arrangements:

Main : 8 BHEPTs
Back 1 & 2 : 2 AHEPTs, 1 BPSG each group
Front 1 & 2 : 1 AHEPT, 1 GPSG each group
Missile : 50 Firestorms set at 30% prob.

They don't seem to complement much to my Pythons and use PSGs little too often to my liking.

Well... this is my 1st try taking down a sector, so... can anyone provides better weapon arrangements for my Hyperions during Fleet Battle?

ps: Did the Fleet Arrangement script (from bonus pack) helps? haven't tried it yet. any recommendations?

[H.F._Mudd]

I usually clean Xenon sectors with a single Python. I have 2 Hyperions that I rotate and use as fighter magnets.

I arm them as stated in my earlier post and they work well for me. The trick is to keep an eye on their shield levels and jump them out when they reach 50%. Order them to dock at a station (instant shield recharge) and jump them back in.

Occasionally I'll transport to the Hyperion and take care of the fighters myself while I order my Python to jump out and recharge shields too.

[Coventchronicle]

In hostile space:

4xBPACs/4xBHEPTs on the nose.

4xGPSGs (set to attack my target)

6xBPSGs (set to missile defense)

With that many PSGs won't your energy reserve got drained alot?

As for the missiles, are you using any? what would you recommend I bring for Fleet Battle? (I wanted to bring Hammerheads but I got so few of those...) and how high should I set the prob. so they fire effectively?