I have laid my hands on a couple of weapons I have never had before, and I have questions about them.
1) PALC - Since there are only two of these, is there any good use for them? Seems like you can put them left or right, but either not both sides or alone on each side, wasting a weapon slot. Can't put them in back. So do you recommend putting both on one side and living with the imbalance, or wasting a weapon slot on each side? Are they good enough to justify that?
2) PBG - Everything claims these are way overpowered, but I have having trouble using them effectively. The range is so short that by the time I can fire them, I have to manuever to avoid ramming, which means I can no longer hit with them. Are they basically only useful if you don't use boresight fire?
[TC] A couple of weapon questions
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1) One isn't that effective. However, depending on the use, the imbalance can be a good thing. Mounting them on one side of the Panther or Tiger, means that the other side is mounting IBL, so you can circle a capital class target and hammer it with IBL, while the PALC is firing off to the other side, swatting fighters out of the sky.
2) Boresight is actually the best way to use them.They have roughly a 1km range. It's just that 350m is the sweet spot. That's where the most damage is. Fire just ahead of where the target will be, they'll fly straight into it, and take damage.
2) Boresight is actually the best way to use them.They have roughly a 1km range. It's just that 350m is the sweet spot. That's where the most damage is. Fire just ahead of where the target will be, they'll fly straight into it, and take damage.
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Re: [TC] A couple of weapon questions
I never found the PALCs, so I can't answer that one, but I can do number two.
The PBG (along with its bigger brother, the Phased Shockwave Generator) is overpowered because of the way splash damage works in this game. A shot from an ordinary laser like the HEPT has only one hitbox. Area of effect weapons have dozens of hitboxes (I don't know the exact number), and ships take extra damage based on how many shot hitboxes overlap with their own hitbox. Which means capital ships can take absurd amounts of damage from them.
To balance this out, they have short range. To use them effectively, you generally need a fast, agile ship that can get close, and a good bit of practice. If you're not playing Dead-is-dead, I suggest the following. Save, then fly your ship into a Xenon sector and use the robots for target practice.
(Interesting question, BTW. Usually people want to know how to win against them rather than using them.)joefitts63 wrote:2) PBG - Everything claims these are way overpowered, but I have having trouble using them effectively. The range is so short that by the time I can fire them, I have to manuever to avoid ramming, which means I can no longer hit with them. Are they basically only useful if you don't use boresight fire?
The PBG (along with its bigger brother, the Phased Shockwave Generator) is overpowered because of the way splash damage works in this game. A shot from an ordinary laser like the HEPT has only one hitbox. Area of effect weapons have dozens of hitboxes (I don't know the exact number), and ships take extra damage based on how many shot hitboxes overlap with their own hitbox. Which means capital ships can take absurd amounts of damage from them.
To balance this out, they have short range. To use them effectively, you generally need a fast, agile ship that can get close, and a good bit of practice. If you're not playing Dead-is-dead, I suggest the following. Save, then fly your ship into a Xenon sector and use the robots for target practice.
In my opinion, once you shoot them you can't see anymore, so they're best for targets that are blue (so you can get close / into a blind spot for a surprise attack). For this case, mount 8 and shoot them all at once from point blank and you can destroy a pretty large target before it can kill you with its big ship weapons. Or, a quick tap of the trigger with just 2 should strip the shields off most M3's, and then you can switch to IREs for the bail.
If the target is red, you have to suffer incoming fire as you move into range (and slow down so you don't ram the target), so it's a lot more difficult.
If the target is red, you have to suffer incoming fire as you move into range (and slow down so you don't ram the target), so it's a lot more difficult.