[TC] FBL(frag. bomb launcher) fixed? Useful?

[Thorien Kell]

Last night I've tested few weapon configs 4 my brand new Hyperion (new and proud owner) and put a pair of FBL's left from God knows when to one of front turrets.

Now, IIRC in some illustrated weapon guide (here?) FBL weapon was described as useless, his proximity detonator bugged, and just supposedly never worked right (should work as CIG, but it would just explode on max range)

And as much as I saw here nobody mentions that weapon and nobody uses it more or less. Now, the sole idea of weapon is not so bad. It's stats are similar to HEPT (little bit slower bullet and slightly shorter range, more expensive though) but you would not have to be so precise, even near hit is hit with that weapon, making it somewhat of mini flak, useful for smaller and faster targets.

And last night if I'm not mistaken, that thing worked pretty well. I need to do bit more testing though. What are your experience with this thing? It looks good on paper.

And, when we talk about weapons, how do you calculate damage for PSG / PBG, aoe weapons? On paper they seem weak but in game they certainly kick ass.

[Rogue]

Tried em hated em, waste of time. From a practice perspective.

[brucewarren]

FBL used to be broken badly, but a fairly recent patch is said to have
made them useable. Not tried them though.

I would put them in the rear turrets instead of the usual PAC and see what
they do.

[Mazz]

The reason why FAA is useful is because of its high bullet velocity (7051m/s). You hardly ever kill ships with the mini explosion it makes. FBL has the slowest velocity for ANY anti fighter weapon. At 359m/s you are effectively firing a nerfed PPC (333m/s), and its insanely low refire rate (189rds/min) compared to more conventional HEPTs (288rds/min).

Perhaps it was a typo for 3590m/s I dont know (that would be an OP weapon wich you could put on main M3 or something however), but that would fulfill its descriptive role.

It is THE MOST useless gun at killing ships.

Saying that, it has one sort of usability in combination with Tornado missiles. Because it has such a low speed, almost the same as this missile 312m/s IIRC, you can use it as a leader to these awesome dumbfire missiles. But again its sort of useless here as well because you would need to have your ship stationary due to missiles not going their standard speed + ship velocity, which lasers do. If you use tornados, its much better just to get into the blindspot of the ship you plan to barbeque and let them loose at point blank range. Just make sure your not in the blast radius which was 50m or something.

[Spaceweed Adict]

Well Thorien Kell my weapon of choise on my Hyp is the EBC's.
Fire rate is good and with the Hyps cargo hold being so big theres no shortage of space for ammo. I normally carry 200 cases which will last out in any firefight u have.
Also the bueaty of the EBC's is no drain on your ships generators so those PAC's I have in the rear can blast away no problem

My main missile loadouts I carry are Typhoons & Wriaths typhoons for the mid range ships and the Wraiths for the bigger ships
Normally about 1/2 dozen wraith will send any Q to its grave

[PLX]

FBLs are useful, indeed, if you get few of them via piracy or on a derelict ships in early game. Sell them and get a really good amount of crdits (for early game). Also, in theory, if you like to make an attack run on ship like Q, then turn back, get a distance and do another attack run, FBLs in rear turrets will deliver more damage then PACs. But shooting capitals is not the only or primary purpose of rear turret, so PACs are better.

As for PBG and PSG, you may conduct a field test with some of your owned ships as a target. And see, how many damage from 1 shot or how many time does it take to destroy target. Results will be differet:
1) for different targets,
2) for attacking from different sides,
3) for attacking from different distance.

[Thorien Kell]

Hm hm. Interesting input guys, my thnx.

Have done some field testing myself. FBL is an illegitimate offspring of HEPT and CIG. It actually feels like slower and weaker CIG, which (contrary to general believe) actually HAS certain anti fighter capabilities. So when ship is flying straight at you (which happens fairly often, especially if you are in slower ship) it can hit and often kill smaller ships. Unfortunately as yo've mentioned, bullet speed is pathetic and it packs no significant punch (unlike CIG) so his usage efficiency is fairly limited and below average. You have some reasons to use CIG (power, range) but this weapon has none of mentioned. Not completely useless but fairly ineffective.

As for Hyperion loadout, I'm in a phase of experimenting right now.

Tryed 6 CIGs + 2 PBE's (EBCs in front turrets, PACs in rear) And it's fairly effective combo, which Hyp. generators can pull off. I always liked CIGs, they feel like medium capital weapon, unlike HEPTs which I've used since Nova. Though 8+4 HEPTS in front and 4PACs in the back are one of most simple and probably most effective combination 4 Hyp. I dont want to use such simple "peasant" solutions.


I guess viable option would be 4 ISR + 4 EBC's on front (weapon of choice 4 front turrets), those weapons combine nicely, but I was never fan of ISR. It's really energy hungry weapon, And even CIGs are considered energy inefficient.

For now I use 4 PBG's(pirate flamethrowers ) + 4 CIGs (PAC rear, EBC's front turrets) and I'm fairly satisfied. I have range and power, and can use both weapons together in close combat.

[Ozkar]

I find the primary use of FBLs is 202K cr injections into your account

Honestly, their noisiness is enough to make me mildly dislike the weapon, and that coupled with their effectiveness (or lack thereof) I really don't like the weapon.

Nice concept, but was not done well. In all honesty, the FBL and PBG additions to the X-verse were not good for the game, whereas the PRG, EBC and removal of fighter caliber PSG were spot on... imho

[Spaceweed Adict]

Yer totally agree Ozkar The PSG in X2 was a bit OTT u get the ODDY load her out with them things instant win button

Reunion put that right thou and they carried it over in TC.

The PBG thou an't so dangerious, it is close range but as its a short range weapon easy to aviod not as dangerious as the PBG was in X2
.

[JoeVN09]

PSG in X2 was monstrous. I had a Nemesis outfitted with that and it basically killed everything. Made those Kha'ak missions a hell of a lot quicker.

I've tried FBL and find that it does function fairly well, but there aren't many situations in which I'd put it on a combat ship. It seems to work best in a deterrent role rather than a kill one, so I've been putting it in back turrets on littleships. Demeter freighters mostly; there are better things you can put in the rear end of a Perseus.

EDIT: Sorry I just realised how bad that last sentence sounded...

[e1team]

Demeter freighters mostly; there are better things you can put in the rear end of a Perseus.

LMAO! I'm definitely gonna sig that!

[Sorkvild]

This weapon only proves it's use in CMOD3-4. Very short range, good hull damage and frag damage. Like a sawed off shotgun

[Thorien Kell]

In all honesty, the FBL and PBG additions to the X-verse were not good for the game...

I can understand for FBL but what about PBG? Cause it's overpowered?

[brucewarren]

It's damaging enough if you can get close enough to fire it, but with
a 700 meter range IMO by that time you are already debris.

[Mazz]

It's damaging enough if you can get close enough to fire it, but with
a 700 meter range IMO by that time you are already debris.

On autopilot fight? 700m is not so different from PBE which is 977m plus the PBG effectively has a range more like 1.1-1.2km because of its weird spready flame thing, try it and see.

@Sorkvild that FBL in CMOD sounds cool, Im always scared of CMOD tho because it makes it a lot harder to dominate big ships in a fighter makes you feel less heroic

[Sovereign01]

PSG in X2 was monstrous. I had a Nemesis outfitted with that and it basically killed everything. Made those Kha'ak missions a hell of a lot quicker.

I always found the laser generator on the Nemesis to be too puny to fire the Gamma PSG for more than a few seconds so I never really used it- in the turrets of my Odysseus however, the GPSG was my best friend in all the assassination missions I did

Thorien, congrats on getting the Hyperion- I kitted mine out with 2xISRs and 2xCIGs up front in 1 weapon grouping, and 4 PBGs in another. I let MARS decide what goes in the turrets, HEPTs and EBCs both work well in the front

[Thorien Kell]

It's damaging enough if you can get close enough to fire it, but with
a 700 meter range IMO by that time you are already debris.

In theory things really seem that way. But on the other hand in practice, right weapon combination including PBG really kick ass. Some flying skills and good choice of tactics are implied.

[Sovereign01]

It's very good against anything that ISRs/CIGs cannot hit. And anything that can't be hit by CIGs doesn't have the firepower to threaten the Hyp anyway