Giant balls of fire weapon? PBG or something?

[TheGoldElite]

Hey i was sending my 2 STs down from terran sectors, planning on moving them west to safer areas of the commonwealth, but one got attacked by yaki and managed to dock in a nearby station. I docked the other ST in another station. The yaki had been waiting outside the station ever since, so I eventually went down there to take them out. Normally 2 m3s and a m4, and no problem for me at all in my Terran m4, nevermind the terran M3 I recencly acquired. Long story short the M3s Absolutely pwnd me with giant balls of fire. I've got over a days play time in and several hundred kills, a few dozen yaki. All I know is the weapon isn't in the encyclopedia, and I've never come up against it before, it drained 125MJ in seconds! Tell me this wont become a regular occurance : S I guess I'll have to keeep trying cus they have my freighters bottlenecked in Circle of labour : /

[Nanook]

Meet the Plasma Burst Generator, aka Flamethrower. It's arguably the most overpowered weapon in the game. On NPC ships, you'll grow to hate it with a passion. On your own ship, you're practically invincible against most enemies. Use at your own risk, though, since it's an area effect weapon that tends to inflict colateral damage on any nearby ship or station.

[TheGoldElite]

Yes I hate it very much and I've only just seen it. anything I can do to beat it? Tbf 4x EMPCs are powerfull but close range, which I'm assuming the PBG is as well : /

[Nanook]

EMPC's have a much greater range than the PBG, so if you want to fight it with guns, you can either keep your distance, or try to get and stay behind it. Unfortunately, the latter tactic only works one vs one and if it has buddies with PBG's, they'll gladly fry both you and their friend. The real way to deal with these guys in packs is to take them out with missiles. PBG's ruin dogfights.

[Venereus]

Yes I hate it very much and I've only just seen it. anything I can do to beat it? Tbf 4x EMPCs are powerfull but close range, which I'm assuming the PBG is as well : /

Your EMPCs double the range of the PBG, try to use that to your advantage.

[Zaitsev]

Unfortunately it's quite common among pirates, so you'll be in for some BBQ.
One of the main disadvantages is the short range, about three quarters of a kilometer, so keeping your distance and using long range weapons and/or missiles is the safest bet against PBG-wielding fighters.

[TheGoldElite]

Seems that way. The only thing my ship can mount are the poltergeist, which only beat M5/m4 at a stretch, or the Spectre, with has the accuracy to hit an m2 if your lucky. I fired two, both missed an M6 going 80m/s I'm screwed :/ Due to the very slow projectile speed agaisnt these yaki the long range approach isn't going to work : /

I've never really gotten into missile combat, probably cus I would have to travel aaaaaaaaaaall the way back to terran sectors to buy them, and they dont even have Jumgates!!!! It's just not goddam feasable!

[Nanook]

Spectre's aren't dumbfire missiles, they track a target. More than likely, that M6 simply shot your missiles down. Try throwing both the swarming Poltergeists at it and launching a few Spectre's. Distracting a target's turrets is the best way to get your big missiles through. Spectre's are actually pretty powerful killers.

Oh, and as for resupply, use another ship to run the missiles to you. No need to go there yourself. Best way is to park a cheap freighter in the factories that make the missiles and periodically buy them as they're produced. Then have an errand runner bring them to you.

[andrewas]

You have a Vidar. Give it the weapons from the cutlass and the best shields you can lay hands on - it will take 5*200GJ if you can get hold of them. That ship, properly kitted out, can easily survive PBG fire long enough to kill those Yaki.

[perkint]

Easy tactic to make sure missiles hit?

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Snipe at them from a good old distance. Use a weak missile preferably swarm or very fast. Doesn't matter how much damage it does. The idea is to get their attention so they chase after you.

Then, whilst facing directly towards them, fire a missile big enough to kill. Doesn't matter how slow it is - to turn or in a straight line. Since they are now chasing you down and you're not moving (or only moving at -10 backwards) they are going at full pelt straight into your missile. And since main/front guns are never (rarely?) on missile defence, it'll run into your missile, quite happily

Tim

[cj-spartacus]

when using the PBG yourself equip a single PAC on your main battery to let you target at a longer range as the AoE effect means the PBG can be fired before the target is in range and he'll simply fly into the deadly cloud of searing death you've prepared for him. Also the effective range is more like 1.5km even though it will only track targets at under 800m or so. This tactic works on capital ships using PSGs as well but replacing the PAC with a CIG.

[Triaxx2]

The problem isn't the missiles, it's the quantity of missiles. A single Poltergiest does 12k damage. Thus you simply need MORE.

Do you still have the Rapier's you were given earlier? If so, strip off the guns, fill them with poltergeists, and watch as they pour enough of them into the air to ANNIHILATE the problem. Sufficient Poltergiest spam takes down Kha'ak Corvettes. If it doesn't work, you're just not using enough of them.

[thyco]

hehe i told you about those PBGs yesterday in your thread aabout getting a mamba vanguard or nova raider.

They are devestating as hell and a loadout of just 4 PBGs on a regular mamba can bring down an M6 very quickly.Hell i used nothing but PBG to bring down a certain Xenon J. They are great player weapons, but never put them on your AI flown ships or in turrets where you have alot of allies ( the same goes for the ion disruptor) as you will make enemies very very fast because Allied ships just love to run into that nice beam firery ball of death.

[[SOLAR]INFERNO]

- it will take 5*200GJ if you can get hold of them. That ship, properly kitted out, can easily survive PBG fire long enough to kill those Yaki.

1000 GJ Yes, it most certainly could survive PBG fire long enough to kill the Yaki(lol).

Personally, I have never had too much trouble with PBG's. I sometimes find it a bit strange when I hear people going on about them being great and deadly. Although, I did stay in my Sabre up until I got the

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Cutlass as part of the Terran Plot Reward

.

[Lelouch]

when using the PBG yourself equip a single PAC on your main battery to let you target at a longer range

Unnecessary. Just start firing at 1.5km range if the target is flying towards you.

True range is somewhere close to 1km. However the "cloud of death" takes a bit to spread and since the weapon consumes very little energy it doesn't matter if you spend some shots without hitting anything.

Okay, that was kind of an understatement. It has double the energy consumption of an IRE and a little bit then half of a PAC. That's close to nothing.

@TheGoldElite: I must say I feel a bit of Schadenfreude. It's not like we didn't tell you in the other thread that you should watch out for the flamethrower.

[Bobucles]

PBGs are the main reason to upgrade out of using fighters in X3TC.

Terran ships suffer from a severe case of bad market. Any time you need more goods, you're stuck using their slow sectors. Try to acquire a commonwealth ship instead. You'll have far more flexibility in rearming your ships.