Hey all. I was toying with the idea of buying some mass drivers. I've had a look at the stats for the weapons, and from what I can gather, it's fairly weak with a blisteringly fast refire rate.
Really, I'd like some first-hand testimonials. It's all down to your opinions.
Mass drivers: Are they worth it?
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Mass drivers are good for two things, killing Khaak and Xenon M5s and missile defense. I have 3 in my Nova, one in the rear turret set for missile defense, two for taking out Khaak M5s when cluster-busting. Only weapon fast enough to engage and kill them ( not counting PSG's), since it bypasses their shields and Khaak M5s have very fragile hulls. 
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X4 is a journey, not a destination. Have fun on your travels.
X4 is a journey, not a destination. Have fun on your travels.
My Split Scorpion has two mass drivers, and 30 odd crates of ammo that I found 100% free bobbing around in stations.
They are the only real weapon for breaking Khaak M5s if you don't want to splatter everything and everybody with PSG fire. The ammo lasts a long time, and travels almost as fast as a Khaak laser. My shots fired to hit percentage is up in the 70%-80% region.
They are a pain against heavy hulls, like the Pirate Ship (20000), and if it's your exclusive weapon the pilot won't even think about ejecting. The Khaak M5 only has 1,000 hull.
The best thing (IMO) about the mass driver is the ability to fight like a tabby. Cats play with their prey, repeatedly advancing, flicking the prey around a bit, then retreating. This minimises any chance of the cat getting injured by their prey - your tabby never got bitten by a mouse. They simply tease it untilit's safely dead.
I do this in my Scorpion (it only has 5MW shields, but can move at 329m/s). I sweep in, fire a few rounds, and then leave to a safe distance, all without taking a single shot. This can't be dome except with mass drivers, because the hull doesn't recharge like shields do.
One caveat here - the mass driver is ttally outranged by the Khaak's beam weapon, and if you attempt to approach a Khaak M3 wth mass drivers, it has over a full kilometer to fire upon you. In the case of a Scorpion, that's suicide, although a Nova might have more mileage.
They are the only real weapon for breaking Khaak M5s if you don't want to splatter everything and everybody with PSG fire. The ammo lasts a long time, and travels almost as fast as a Khaak laser. My shots fired to hit percentage is up in the 70%-80% region.
They are a pain against heavy hulls, like the Pirate Ship (20000), and if it's your exclusive weapon the pilot won't even think about ejecting. The Khaak M5 only has 1,000 hull.
The best thing (IMO) about the mass driver is the ability to fight like a tabby. Cats play with their prey, repeatedly advancing, flicking the prey around a bit, then retreating. This minimises any chance of the cat getting injured by their prey - your tabby never got bitten by a mouse. They simply tease it untilit's safely dead.
I do this in my Scorpion (it only has 5MW shields, but can move at 329m/s). I sweep in, fire a few rounds, and then leave to a safe distance, all without taking a single shot. This can't be dome except with mass drivers, because the hull doesn't recharge like shields do.
One caveat here - the mass driver is ttally outranged by the Khaak's beam weapon, and if you attempt to approach a Khaak M3 wth mass drivers, it has over a full kilometer to fire upon you. In the case of a Scorpion, that's suicide, although a Nova might have more mileage.
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Well, so far the only time i've used Mass Drivers was for an experiment.
One Split Scorpion, 2 Mass Drivers and 105 crates of ammo.
Then I shot up a Teladi Condor and destroyed it - still had 50 crates of ammo left.
Wasn't a fast kill, but MDs are oh so effective against anything with shields - especially if those shields regenerate quickly.
As long as you have a decent size cargo hold, you won't run out of ammo much and you cxould always keep a full TP class ship nearby to reload from.
Xocyll
One Split Scorpion, 2 Mass Drivers and 105 crates of ammo.
Then I shot up a Teladi Condor and destroyed it - still had 50 crates of ammo left.
Wasn't a fast kill, but MDs are oh so effective against anything with shields - especially if those shields regenerate quickly.
As long as you have a decent size cargo hold, you won't run out of ammo much and you cxould always keep a full TP class ship nearby to reload from.
Xocyll