Looking for some suggestions on how to outfit my first M6

[incarnyte]

Decided to go with a Skiron as my first corvette class. It has 3 turrets both with 2 slots each. Was thinking of putting a HEPT and a PRG in each turret as these will hopefully deal with fighter threats. As for my main array loadout i really dont have any experience with larger weapons so looking for some advice please.

[Argon tactican Justin]

My experience with High energy plasma throwers is that it's easy to pilot an Eclipse between the shots without getting hit. I can say that phased repeater guns are my prefered anti fighter weapon and they can devistate an M6 when you mount the most possible on an Eclipse. I learned about both the weakness of the HEPT and the advantages of the PRG against an M6 in the same battle, actually.

[incarnyte]

I cant agree more about the PRG for smaller fighters....was going to mounnt HEPT to deal with some of the heavier fighters. Unless ppl have experiance saying to just forget about the HEPT and put 6 PRG's on my turret batteries?

[Cpt.Jericho]

For main I would prefer HEPTs. I know about its weakness and know how to handle them - that's more than I can say for the AI. If you want some more punch you might want to consider the CIG.

[Catra]

for the front:

6 IPG + 2 CIG for large targets.
or
all HEPT.

[Triaxx2]

I would advise against mixing weapons in turrets. It's fine under Player control, but the turret AI is weird. Just go all PRG and you'll do fine. It'll smack down light fighters easy, and most heavy fighters will end up in your guns.

[incarnyte]

Well just took the Skiron into battle for the first time in a Final Fury mission and holy crap that was fun and intense....shields got down to 3% at one point. And i will definately take the above advice and put all PRG in the turrets. After looking at a bunch of the kill cams in the corner the PRGs were hitting extremely consistantly....the HEPT not so much. In the main battery im going to put 6 HEPT and 2 CIG. May go 4 and 4 at some point depending how many big ships i encounter. At the moment i have only been able to locate 2 CIG so far. With that setup i took down the Kha Corvette extremely fast.

[rpetiger]

For me, in the early game, PAC and PRG were my staple weapons. I even sometimes load up raider M5 ships with PRG, as they are great against pesky M5.

PAC may seem bad, but on smaller ships that can mount HEPT, I find massing PAC a better option. Faster shots, and less energy burn. There is something I can say however.


All of your problems with fighters will go away after you get a Cerby

[Argon tactican Justin]

If you've got a big enough cargo bay, get enough of both HEPTs and CIGs that you can switch them out to counter whatever you go up against. If the Skiron doesn't have a large enough cargo hold, you'll eventually get a ship that will. Just watch out: I've deployed a fleet of 40-60 Eclipse class fighters equiped entirely with PRGs to destroy Split capital ships, which seem to have a hard time with the constant barrage of laser fire from so many small targets at the same time.

[Gazz]

I've deployed a fleet of 40-60 Eclipse class fighters equiped entirely with PRGs to destroy Split capital ships, which seem to have a hard time with the constant barrage of laser fire from so many small targets at the same time.

You should get that cheaper with Mk2 drones. About 50 of those equal the firepower of an M2.

That 50 Eclipses can win with like 8 times the firepower is not that much of a surprise. =P

For AI ships (or turrets) it's practically always better to use the faster laser because they do not check their fire when the target starts evading or flying away and a human would see that it is now pointless to continue shooting at this target.

[Argon tactican Justin]

You should get that cheaper with Mk2 drones. About 50 of those equal the firepower of an M2.

Yeah but I have to replace all the fighter drones I deploy between battles, but I only need to buy a new Eclipse and its shields when I lose one. The Phased Repeater Guns are supplied by my own complex, so that takes a relatively large sum of credits out of the cost. And with the number of battles I could get into, using my mob of Eclipse class fighters starts to look cheaper in the long run

[garv222]

You should get that cheaper with Mk2 drones. About 50 of those equal the firepower of an M2.

Yeah but I have to replace all the fighter drones I deploy between battles, but I only need to buy a new Eclipse and its shields when I lose one. The Phased Repeater Guns are supplied by my own complex, so that takes a relatively large sum of credits out of the cost. And with the number of battles I could get into, using my mob of Eclipse class fighters starts to look cheaper in the long run

Actually you don't. Fighter drones can be brought back to ships hangars. I just restarted a poisoned paranid start, and once I get rolling I'm thinking of getting a Shrike as a mobile drone platform. I want to try out some different combat methods than I used to do before.

[Bobucles]

All of your problems with fighters will go away after you get a Cerby

A feat which is pointless as ANY frigate can take care of ALL your fighter problems, in addition to being viable for capital combat. Using the Cerby's maximum loadout doesn't make it good when every other frigate can do the same thing on a whim.

Fighter drones can use hangar bays ONLY if the ship has at least 1 spare hangar slot. Even then, waiting after every battle gets tiring after a while. I recommend MARS for its amazing fighter drone improvements, including the ability to dock at close range, and to pick up other spent drones.

Alternatively, suck it up and build a few drone factories. They're decently priced at ~3mil a pop, and pump out ~30 drones per hour. For the cost of one frigate, your drone problems will be a thing of the past.

[nap_rz]

I'm a little confused, do drones takes up cargo space or hangar space? if it takes up cargo space, then a destroyer with loads of drones will be far better than a carrier or a TL with 1000 drones

[Triaxx2]

At least until they cause your computer to melt anyway.

[Bobucles]

I'm a little confused, do drones takes up cargo space or hangar space? if it takes up cargo space, then a destroyer with loads of drones will be far better than a carrier or a TL with 1000 drones

Fighter drones use cargo space, and are deployed by kicking them out into space.

You need a hangar bay to recover fighter drones. The docking routine requires that you have at least one spare hangar slot. After that, drones will swarm in as they will never actually use the hangar slot.

[Master of the Blade]

After extended periods of operation I find that many drones can't make it back into the collecting ship due to energy troubles: the long-winded docking process does take its toll on their energy reserves, and the last ones sometimes die before they land. Just a warning - they're still awesome.

[Argon tactican Justin]

There are a few reasons I use a fleet of Eclipse-class fighters instead of fighter drones:
1. The fighters don't have a limited energy supply and explode after so long like the drones when their energy runs out.
2. I can put more weapons on an Eclipse than a fighter drone comes with
3. If I use the launch fighter attack command, the fighters pick a target when they're deployed instead of sitting there for 10 seconds. The Colossus launches a fighter every second, so the moment a threat shows up on sensors, I give the command to launch all fighters and the entire compliment is deployed by the time the hostile forces get within range of my carrier.
4. Imagine having to fight off 60 Eclipse-class fighters attacking you all at once. Now imagine that the only ship you have to fight with is a destroyer. You won't last more than 1-2 minutes

[Ozkar]

If the OP just bought a Skiron I doubt he has the cash on hand for even 2 well equipped Eclipses. Now I wonder how 60 Eclipses would fair against the same investment in fighter drones, may even though in some Mk2's for laughs...

Disclaimer:: Do not attempt to launch 420Mil worth of fighter drones in your game, bad things may happen to your graphics card