X3TC: Best destroyer weapons?

[fisiu]

Sup guys!

I noticed X3TC is as much studying the forums and sites as playing. I want to plan ahead for the future and I have a hard time finiding the right information so I simply wanna ask in this post. I have x3tc 3.1 heavily scripted.

I have played a while now and have a soild economy based on alot of EST´s and a couple of complexes + some CAGs. My war fleet consists of 1 M7, 4 M6´s (centaur, vidar (terran plot), TLS (goner plot), hyperion vanguard (personal ship), 3 TM´s, 4 M8´s, 8 M3+´s and a couple of M4/M5 (running universe explorer script).

So I am slowly thinking about capping a destroyer in the close future and I want to plan ahead and build some weapon factories to be able to equip theses babies and any surplus will go on sale. I allready want to start my weapon production now since the cycle time is long. I usually try to only get the best in each ship class and strip and sell the rest so from what I have read I will eventually end up with Osakas and Boreases.

1. What weapon setups are the best for destroyers (and huge ships in general, mountable for M1 and M7)? From what I have read FLAK, PSG, PSP, CIG, PPC, which one/ones are the hard to get super duper weapons?

2. What factories should I then get based on question 1?
A additional factor is the usually available stock in NPC factories/ammount of NPC factories and also the ability to sell any surplus weapons. (i.e FLAK is readily available and there is no place to sell them = I will probably not get this factory and invest in something else) Basically I am planning on getting a weapon dealing empire that equips my ships and sells guns since the profit/hour is great and does not require alot of cargospace/transporters to sell.

3. I have had 2 HEPT and 2 PRG forges for some time since I started capping alot of M3´s and also here I planned for the future (eventually a big carrier packed with deadly M3´s). PBG´s seem boring and overpowered so I decided not to invest in this. Are PRG´s good or did I do a misstake in investing in them? Should I keep them for equiping or sell them for profit. HEPT seem good for my M3+. Should I get a PAC forge, are they the best turret weapons for M3´s?

4. I have property baron script installed, should I buy NPC stations to increase the demand at selling places by decreasing the NPC supply (I do not want to buy all stations though, maybe 1 or 2 of each) or build new ones so that I have the availability to buy from NPC factories if I would need to? (without having a problem selling the guns if I have a surplus)

Any input would be helpful, thanks in advance!

/F

[brattbags01]

Well, I haven't personally bought weapons of anyone for ages, any weapons I get (and I do have a stockpile of loads of stuff) I get floating in space after destroying enemy ships though that does mean having the ability to take on and destroy M2's and M1's but I see you own a M7 and, depending on what M7 it is, you could take on capitals in this, I personally use the Split Tiger, best M7 in the game IMHO.
As for hard to get supa **** stuff, then that would be the Point Singularity Projector or PSP for short, hard to get because the GoD engine normally removes the factories that make them from the game sooner or later but fear not, destroying Xenon K's will get you a relatively steady supply of them.

[SIMON POPPLEWELL]

Weapon equipment as a general rule is pretty standard i.e. M6 - ISR/CAGs M7 - ISR/CAG, IBL and FAA M1/M2 - PPC, FAA and IBLs. The IBLs your can't build but the rest can. I wouldn't bother tryng to buy most of them as they take ages to build so the stock won't be great. If you friends with the Yaki you can build a small support complex to supply the two IBL forges in Weaver's Tempest. Also worth mentioning that PRGs arn't that great, especially in OOS combat, better to invest in HEPTs and MDs.

[fisiu]

@brattbags

So you mean that it is not worth investing in weapon production? Do I get enough from combat/capping?

Well I also thought about the factories as a profit centre, selling whatever guns I don´t need. It´s boring dealing in foodstuffs and buying weapons cost a fortune. Producing one is half price so theoretically I can sell one for each one i equip and it will cover the worth for resources spent that I could have sold instead. I do currently not have the money to do a closed loop, I build everything (weapon forge, ore mine, food) except the EC producing part, I have EC for 12 readily available nearby.

The M7 I have is a capped minotaur, I am currently equiping it so it will be ready for action soon, its the only M7 I have so it will do for now until I cap something better. I had 2 but I sold one to boost my economy. I basically strip and sell everything that is not the best in it´s class or sell it if I see that I can not afford equiping it anyways for now. I put the money in investing in my economy instead then.

The availability to buy and sell I can reasearch on the internet really but I wanted some tips from exp players, the most important part of the post was what weapons are the best so that I know what I will be getting so that I can decide if I will buy them or produce them myself based on supply/demand or maybe I will decide just to fight for them.

[brattbags01]

Thats right, I find that obtaining weapons this way is a lot faster AND cheaper than producing your own IF you have the resources to do it and you can also get plenty of the very hard to find Incendiary Bomb Launcher by doing this, however, your rep with the Yaki and Pirates (If you have one with them) will take a bit of a hammering (as in they will try to kill you on sight)

[fisiu]

Weapon equipment as a general rule is pretty standard i.e. M6 - ISR/CAGs M7 - ISR/CAG, IBL and FAA M1/M2 - PPC, FAA and IBLs. The IBLs your can't build but the rest can. I wouldn't bother tryng to buy most of them as they take ages to build so the stock won't be great. If you friends with the Yaki you can build a small support complex to supply the two IBL forges in Weaver's Tempest. Also worth mentioning that PRGs arn't that great, especially in OOS combat, better to invest in HEPTs and MDs.

CAG ?? You mean CIG or did I miss anything?

ISR I heard were to energy consuming to be worth it. (dmg/energy)

I am currently running 4xCIG and 4xISR on my hyperion and I notice that its far to energy consuming for M6s and hyperion is the M6 with the best laser generator. Although since it is my personal ship and 2 shots kills a M3 I can afford the consumption.

And you said you wouldn´t bother buying them, did you mean the factories or the guns?

[cj-spartacus]

@brattbags

So you mean that it is not worth investing in weapon production? Do I get enough from combat/capping?

Xenon Sector 598 is one of the best sources of capital ship weapons. Fly your M7 around and just nuke every capital ship (if you have enough marines trained for the job then you may do better from capping them but it's a hard road) and most of them will drop something you can use or sell.

[fisiu]

What about the idea then of these factories as a investment plan for profit? I mean even if I cap and obtain most of the guns by fighting the factories could supply the rest that is needed to equip or sell them for profit.

And I would still want some insight in the actual weapons, which ones are the best for equiping the huge ships.

[A5PECT]

PPC's for capital-to-capital combat. They can deal enormous amounts of damage at incredible ranges (10km) but are slow to aim, slow to fire, and even slower to travel.

FAA's for defense against anything smaller than an M7. They're very energy-hungry, but obliterate any fighters that get close to your ship.

PSP's and SCC's for Terran ships, in the same roles respectively.

There are some discrepancies between each races capital ships (such as the Paranid being able to use PSG's for fighter defense) but most capital ship combat revolves around those four weapons.

[brattbags01]

Yeah. for capital ship weapons you're looking at:
Photon Pulse Cannon (PPC)
Ion Cannon (IC)
Gauss Cannon (GC) (ammo based)
Incendiary Bomb Launcher (IBL)
Point Singularity Projector (PSP)
and some kind of anti-fighter flack type weapon such as:
Flack Artillery Array (FAA)
Cluster Flack Array (CFA)
Starburst Shockwave Cannon (SSC)

Every capital ship will load out some variation of the above.
ps: Point Singularity Projector and Starburst Shockwave Cannon are terran weapons and can be VERY hard to find, all the rest are Commonwealth weapons.

[deca.death]

So I am slowly thinking about capping a destroyer in the close future and ...

recently i was in same dillema
look how it went

capital capping story by deca

1. What weapon setups are the best for destroyers (and huge ships in general, mountable for M1 and M7)? From what I have read FLAK, PSG, PSP, CIG, PPC, which one/ones are the hard to get super duper weapons?

for destroyer weapons story is very simple, PPCs front, left, right. FAA up and down. back - it depends of type, CiG /ISR possibly.

so you need 3xPPC 1-2xFLAK (or x2, x3 everything). you actually could easily equip several destroyers using supply software but factories could be profitable investment anyway.

forget about osaka until you finish ... until you are able to build terran stations, which you probably can't yet.

Are PRG´s good or did I do a misstake in investing in them? Should I keep them for equiping or sell them for profit. HEPT seem good for my M3+. Should I get a PAC forge, are they the best turret weapons for M3´s?

PRG is very effective IS anti fighter and turret weapon.

not so great for OOS /use CIG

[deca.death]

I am currently running 4xCIG and 4xISR on my hyperion and I notice that its far to energy consuming for M6s and hyperion is the M6 with the best laser generator. Although since it is my personal ship and 2 shots kills a M3 I can afford the consumption.

try this setup (copy/paste from my earlier post)


now about subject, i have done thorough forum search recently on this theme and, as you now, find so many great "friendly" advices that i couldn't decide anything. then i did some serious weapon testing on my hype in a length of several RT days with configurations then seemed valid. i used various weapon setups and i would dare to say i have found probably most efficient one (for me at least), plus several conclusions.

first, hype has one of best weapon generators in class, so why not use it. energy weapons could give you flexibility and multi role capabilities that one ammo based weapon will always lack.

second, you have to have ammo based weapon included in some point, it would be unwise to rely only on your weapon generator because even powerful weapon generators can get empty at some point and when they do you better be prepared - you have big cargo bay so you might as well use it.

now for your back turrets, unfortunately there is no much variance, PAC's go there as medium efficiency weapon, PRG's would do much better, this ship has very few weak points but this is one of them (inability to mount IoD's is other)

now of those 4 EBCs we have agreed to include, you could put them in half of spinal bank (i.e. 4 of 8 front guns) or put them in front turrets. i use them in turrets on "attack my target" setting.

for for half of spinal battery i recommend PBG, yes, pirate flamethrower thingy. this weapon needs no introduction nor explanation why is included. just to mention wide cone of death, extreme energy efficiency and high damage output. great for close encounters with fighters or corvettes alike. however they lack range so i avoid using -only- them, even with full bank (8) hit power would be epic.

for other 4 guns i opted for CIGs. more energy efficient then ISRs, marginally more effective vs small targets. with a little practice you could destroy approaching fighter ships on great distances.

it needs some practice and it' certainly not only way of using this ship but with this weapon setup you have everything - flexibility, damage, range and precision. when ships approach you bombard them with CIG when they close to 1.2 km you just include PBG fire, and your EBC turrets are pinning them all the time.

[Triaxx2]

I say Fah on PPC's. Gauss Cannon's are where it's at. Smaller round, faster travel, slightly less range, but capitals are sluggers. Just plow on in and let the GC's do their thing, and save energy to keep your FAA firing forever.

[builder680]

Vanilla seems to be pretty limited on options for ship loadouts. CMOD gives you a few more options, including beam weapons. It's a lot of fun, and if you're looking for a bit more variety, it's worth checking out.

[fisiu]

@ deca.death

Thanks for the thourough info on most of my questions, I forgot to mention i had EBC´s and PAC´s mounted on the turrets for less energy consumption to afford the main guns. But this was just a temporary setup, I am still gonna try out some others, allthough I want to try to avoid the PBG because it makes it just to easy and the range is bad.

@ everyone else

Thanks for the advice and help. I just played some and did not want to wait to long for posts. I dared to try to be a weapons dealer and bought up a distant NPC PPC forge (one of my scripts has station packer, I forgot to mention that I have a TL) and a NPC mine for it. The ore supply is to big in that sector (1L + 2M) + alot of ore craving forges are located there so I am going monopoly and trying to lower the NPC supply of ore so I can be able to sell my surplus ore if I don´t add more forges to that complex (only 1/3 of ore production goes do the PPC forge). Maybe I am just going to add 2 more forges (next investment is going to be a NPC CIG forge) so that production = consumption and just buy up the remaining mines to get total monopoly on ore in that sector forcing them to buy from me. My first complex was put in the same sector, a big closed loop nostrop and teladium producing monster having monopoly in that sector since no such factories are anywhere nearby and the forges were allways empty on those resources, it turned out to be a great investement. But those factories were bought at a station. Anyways as for the ore mines, property baron gives a new dimension to the game letting you be a ruthless mogul buying up all small buisnesses just like in the real world Allthough I am not going to use it for the SSP exploit ive read about, then I can as well stop playing the game cause that is more or less a cheat (free EC).

As for other scripts I have carefully selected ones that expand the game possibilities and refused the ones that make it easier (the cheat like ones). I would probably not be able to play the game without scripts, the scripts improve the game options/automization/trading overview alot. I wish egosoft would pay the scripters and incorporate some of them if they make a new game, cause according to me they add alot that the vanilla X3 lacks. So if any scripters read this thanks alot!

[JrK]

.... M6 - ISR/CAGs M7 - ISR/CAG, ...

CAG ?? You mean CIG or did I miss anything?

Don't you love those TS catapults? Nothing works better at destroying enemy ships than slugging your supply of TS ships at their hulls.

[A5PECT]

Don't you love those TS catapults? Nothing works better at destroying enemy ships than slugging your supply of TS ships at their hulls.

This needs to be a mod.

[SIMON POPPLEWELL]

Weapon equipment as a general rule is pretty standard i.e. M6 - ISR/CAGs M7 - ISR/CAG, IBL and FAA M1/M2 - PPC, FAA and IBLs. The IBLs your can't build but the rest can. I wouldn't bother tryng to buy most of them as they take ages to build so the stock won't be great. If you friends with the Yaki you can build a small support complex to supply the two IBL forges in Weaver's Tempest. Also worth mentioning that PRGs arn't that great, especially in OOS combat, better to invest in HEPTs and MDs.

CAG ?? You mean CIG or did I miss anything?

ISR I heard were to energy consuming to be worth it. (dmg/energy)

I am currently running 4xCIG and 4xISR on my hyperion and I notice that its far to energy consuming for M6s and hyperion is the M6 with the best laser generator. Although since it is my personal ship and 2 shots kills a M3 I can afford the consumption.

And you said you wouldn´t bother buying them, did you mean the factories or the guns?

Sorry I meant CIGs

@Jrk - Yeah they could prove useful, especially when using super freighters, you get more bang for your money.

[reinermuller]

if you have the credits and you have the hub or headquarters, you can add any weapon to the buying\selling list at high prices. just wait a while and all the other races will sell you what you need. i have several eqiptment docks all over the x-universe and they do the same. if u want terran weapons put 2-3 equiptment docks in the moon sector or the aldrin sectors. have fun.



sleep is for the dead[. i'll sleep when i'm dead or egosoft stops makin x-games
quote][/quote]

[Bobucles]

Mixing weapons is a bad idea in X3TC. Each turret bank can only aim at one target at a time. Generally you want all those weapons to be made for killing that type of target.

Capital ships, like most ships, should be equipped with the biggest weapons possible. This falls into two broad categories; Destroyer weapons, which hit hard and have long range, and Flak weapons, which shred fighters and have short range.

Like many others have said before, your destroyer weapons are:
Photon Pulse Cannon
Gauss Cannon
Ion Cannon
Point Singularity Projector
Incendiary Bomb Launcher

Your flak weapons are:
Flak Artillery Array
Cluster Flak Array
Starburst Shockwave Cannon

The Phased Shockwave Generator is a bit unusual. It deals both high damage and has short range, but hits a HUGE area. Give it a shot, but remember that it is not a friendly weapon in the slightest.

Most of your destroyers are made to equip weapons as follows:
Front/Side/Rear- destroyer weapons
Top/Bottom - flak weapons

This tends to give you the most firepower while providing adequate fighter defense.