mass driver - am i missing something

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zeke_bloke
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mass driver - am i missing something

Post by zeke_bloke » Sat, 12. Jan 08, 20:03

so i saved up and bought a mass driver, then some ammo.

................

hmmm

................

and its rubbish, it does less damage than the 38k beta thing i got, well actually it does the same as one of those cannons, but i have 4, so whats the point in it, theres a lot of references to it in the game, the split seem particularly proud of it although im not sure whether they invented it or not, am i missing something, am i only supposed to use it on a ship thats had its sheilds pummeled?

its rubbish!

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Carlo the Curious
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Post by Carlo the Curious » Sat, 12. Jan 08, 20:03

Mass Drivers ignore shields.

JMCorp
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Post by JMCorp » Sat, 12. Jan 08, 20:20

one single mass driver by itself is not very effective on bigger ships.

it'll let you slow down an M5 by doing hull damage so you can get your energy weapons to hit the fast bugger.

it'll go great in a turret that can take it as a missile defense weapon.

or my favorite use:

get 7 more of it's buddies (7 more mass drivers) and you'll see why they can be incredibly deadly. they are more effective in groups of 6-8.

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Post by Nyax » Sat, 12. Jan 08, 20:28

I never use mass drivers. Always found them to be a bit uninspiring despite their ability to ignore shields. Then once you factor in the running costs and need to replenish the ammo on a regular basis, i've always found them to be not really worth the time of day.

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em3e3
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Post by em3e3 » Sat, 12. Jan 08, 20:30

Carlo the Curious wrote:Mass Drivers ignore shields.
And they don't use energy! And using the right techniques, and enough ammo, you can use an M3 equipped with MD's to take down a Kha'ak Destroyer...
8^)

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Tenlar Scarflame
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Post by Tenlar Scarflame » Sat, 12. Jan 08, 20:37

I've never bought a single mass driver bullet, or even produced one myself- I've always just used what I salvage. And I've never had supply problems. :roll:

In addition to all of the above, mass drivers have the second highest bullet speed of any projectile weapon (only one that's better is the PBE), so your chances of hitting a fast target are much better. I find them especially deadly when equipped on intercept squadrons. And they're considerably cheaper (even considering ammunition) than PBE's.
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kotekzot
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Post by kotekzot » Sat, 12. Jan 08, 21:26

itt op doesn't know the name of the weapon that he compares the md to. lol.

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Post by maphys » Sat, 12. Jan 08, 21:49

38K Beta thing = Particle Accelerator Cannon (PAC).

I don't particularly like mass drivers either - the ammo thing. I can see they are useful for attacking things with shields you are having trouble blasting through.

Oh - and they were invented by the Argon and then licensed to the Split.

M

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moggy2
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Post by moggy2 » Sat, 12. Jan 08, 22:07

kotekzot wrote:itt op doesn't know the name of the weapon that he compares the md to. lol.
no aparently he doesn't. Not a particularly big deal really, I can't remember the names of most of the paranid ships.

Now was there a particular point to your post, or were you just having a laugh at the op's expense?


I use a mixuture of MD's and other weapons on ships that can carry them, mainly because of their speed. I have a demeter setup to resupply ammunition using Fsup, but I don't always remember to do that before they run out :roll:

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Post by Kor'ah » Sun, 13. Jan 08, 00:46

8x Mass Drivers do a pretty good job of relocateing a pirate base or any other station with just an M3. Just have a TP/TS tag along with extra ammo packs.

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Sandalpocalypse
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Post by Sandalpocalypse » Sun, 13. Jan 08, 01:11

I like to have a couple MDs when I'm in the "flying a M3 around" stage of the game. I use them when my main guns are empty, ideally against m4s and m5s. (2 don't really cut it against m3s.)

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Post by Thera » Sun, 13. Jan 08, 12:36

I made a slight modification to my game and increased the range to 1.9(Very Usefull) and fixed it so Disco's could install them... pays not to misbehave in argon sectors now.

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kotekzot
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Post by kotekzot » Sun, 13. Jan 08, 12:54

moggy2 wrote:
kotekzot wrote:itt op doesn't know the name of the weapon that he compares the md to. lol.
no aparently he doesn't. Not a particularly big deal really, I can't remember the names of most of the paranid ships.

Now was there a particular point to your post, or were you just having a laugh at the op's expense?
of course. my point was that people should make a little bit more research before declaring something "useless". if you pick up a single weapon, 200 rounds of ammo and shoot a couple of ships with it and then compare it to the "38k thing i got", that doesn't constitute research.

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Post by Dungeoncrawler » Mon, 14. Jan 08, 04:52

...speaking of MD; any particular reason why mine will engage an enemy target even if I have them set to 'missle defense'? Thanks.

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Post by WillWilk » Mon, 14. Jan 08, 04:57

Turrets set to missile defence will fire on any enemy that has hit you if there are no missiles to target. They'll switch back to missiles as soon as one that's been launched at you comes within range.

Will

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Post by Kor'ah » Mon, 14. Jan 08, 04:59

"Missile Defense" and "Protect Ship" turret settings are almost the same. Both will shoot at any hostile ship that has landed a shot on you. The difference is "Missile Defense" will first pick, or switch to, incomming missiles once they're in the turret's range.

Edit: WillWilk was quicker on the draw. :oops:
Last edited by Kor'ah on Mon, 14. Jan 08, 05:05, edited 1 time in total.
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Dungeoncrawler
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Post by Dungeoncrawler » Mon, 14. Jan 08, 05:00

WillWilk wrote:Turrets set to missile defence will fire on any enemy that has hit you if there are no missiles to target. They'll switch back to missiles as soon as one that's been launched at you comes within range.

Will
I see; thank you, did not know this.

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Post by Skyblade » Mon, 14. Jan 08, 05:25

i find it a good idea to have at least 2 spare energy based weapons in your cargo hold ( ie APAC or BPAC ) so you can switch to them if you accidentally run out of MD ammo.

i find them good for taking out Kha'ak clusters

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kotekzot
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Post by kotekzot » Mon, 14. Jan 08, 05:51

that's a pain in the ass if you have a md turret. i think there should be passive, defensive and agressive missile defence scripts.

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Post by Arcturas » Mon, 14. Jan 08, 06:21

All of my Eclipses have 6 alpha HEPT's and 4 mass drivers. 4 AHEPTS + 4 MD's that are in two different weapon groups for the main cannons. And then AHEPT'S on my turrets. I don't worry about the missile defense as I don't fly alone. But, I like the mass driver. Very useful for Kha'ak Clusters, the scouts die incredibly quick with MD's
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