Iron Shard Railguns

[DarthVodka]

They look good on paper... better hull and shield dps, and better m/s speed than CIGs (except they're about as energy hungry as Incendiary Bomb Launchers). And except I can't seem to reliably hit anything smaller than an M6 with them! Noticed this when I realised it was taking longer to knock out M3 craft with ISRs than with CIGs. Maybe due to the bullet size?

Also, according to their description they "wreak havoc on weapons systems". Reading this, I was expecting to see enemies being unable to return fire, or at least returning less fire but this doesn't seem to be the case.

I tested a bank of 8 ISR's against a Khaak M2. Obviously it would have been easier to kill it with IBL's but I wanted to see what effect it had on the Khaak weapons. Emptied the whole battery of an Agamemnon at it, and it was still merrily chewing away at my shields by the time I was out of juice.

Anyone else wondering about them or having problems?

[maphys]

You might have just saved me quiet a bit of money! Been on a capping spree and looking to spend, spend, spend. Was thinking of trying out these new Ion things. On paper they looked good IIRC. But you say they are a pig to hit with? Maybe look at having them as capital ship swap outs (but ISTR there are bigger nastier weapons than them for that).

M

[DarthVodka]

I'd say get some and try them out. Maybe you'll have a different experience with them. I'm still playing around trying to figure out what effect, if any, they have on other ships systems.

[summon_libre]

They seem to work better on certain ships strangely. As a back turret on my Shrike they have no trouble hitting - yet if I put them on my Heavy Osprey they never hit.

I think bullet size has something to do with it- CIGs end up being a better anti-fighter weapon (in my experience) since the shots are so massive that even when they miss, they hit...

[LORDSATAN]

I was gonna start a new thread but can shoe horn my enquiry into this thread.
I have just purchased a shiny new Raptor and am in the process of kitting it out. I want to know what would be the best weapons as not all the turrets take ppc's.
I have bought some ISR's and PBE's to see what is best.
How have you kitted out your raptor?
cheers

[pjknibbs]

Fitting the turrets entirely with PPCs would be counterproductive--you'd have no effective defence against fighter swarms. PBEs have way too short a range to be useful, too. On my Ray I have PACs on the back turret, FLAKs up and down, HEPTs left and right, and PPCs on the front turret only.

[DarthVodka]

... and PPCs on the front turret only.

I prefer to have front + side for anti-capital weapons, since it is possible to get get both turrets to hit a target M2 at the same time... To that end a better option than PPC is to mount Gauss on the front and Ion Cannons on the right/left. This way both hull and shield damage is significantly higher than if you'd only mounted PPCs, although at the expense of a little range (and a lot of ammo )

Going back to the ISRs, I checked the bullets file and it seems they do have a "target weapon drain" effect attached to them with a value of 45. Dunno if that's per shot, cumulative, percentage or what

[Lancefighter]

as a test, id take a number of ion shard railguns, and shoot them at a shielded m7 of yours...
Check weapon energy before and after the event, as well as in the middle if possible.
Maybe an m6 (osprey) if you cant tell something is happening

[Chealec]

On a Python I'd probably load out the rear with PPCs (assuming it can still fit them there) that's what I did in X3R... the reason being that the Python can outrun any other M2 and PPCs out-range any other weapon.

Kha'ak capitol ships are dumb enough to trundle along behind you, in range of your PPCs but out of range of their own Kyons - you just hold the trigger on until they go pop and they can never hit you

So I'd go PPCs front and back, anti-fighter weapons on the sides... but this is all based on X3R - I've not bought a Python in TC set to find out what the difference is.

[Gavrushka]

I always put PPCs on the back of any capital ship and fire them manually - The reason being was simple physics- The capital ship behind would close on what I fire (thus I could fire and hit when out of range) yet anything it fired back would have an effective closing speed of the ordnance speed less my speed SO the effective range of enemy PPCs is about 2/3 of your own thus making for an easier kill... All other turrets devoted to anti fighter weapons.

[strikor]

According to TBullets the ISR has a target weapon drain value of 45. I'm not entirely sure what it means but it doesn't sound very powerful.