Weapons are confusing

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CommanderTM
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Weapons are confusing

Post by CommanderTM » Tue, 21. May 13, 10:36

HI

I started AP as humble merchant and have bought Cerberus and Eclipse and now, Chimera - wanted a fast and capable ship for missions and such. Bought it but there was only S and therefore, no weapons preinstalled. I searched the web for best loadout for chimera but did not find it. I also read about the weapons wiki and all... but i just cant get my bearing on AP weapons. My cerberus still sits docked without weapons, everyhere i looked, weapons recommended for it were out and they havent restocked it in days.

Right now, my main problem is equipping split chimera. Can anyone help me?

An all tips on weapons are welcome!

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TTD
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Post by TTD » Tue, 21. May 13, 10:41

Check the stations that produce the weapons.
See what resources they are low on...e-cells,ore,silicon are the usual ones.
find a source and deliver them to the weapons factory.
Last edited by TTD on Tue, 21. May 13, 23:40, edited 1 time in total.

Triaxx2
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Post by Triaxx2 » Tue, 21. May 13, 23:32

I'm just curious, were you a victim of the stockmarket? IE, you used it to get a boost up? That's a common trap.

The thing about the Chimera is that it's pretty terrible. Can't mount Plasma Burst Generators, and it's very long so it tends to get hit an awful lot. Just throw on High Energy Plasma Throwers.

The Cerberus should be mounting Flak Artilllery Arrays, or Cluster Flak Arrays in any slot it can fit them, and Concussion Impulse Generators in the front guns.

The Eclipse does well with HEPT's and the aforementioned PBG's.
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Lone Jedi
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Post by Lone Jedi » Tue, 21. May 13, 23:52

Energy Bolt Chain Gun is one of the two best fighter weapons in game (the other is PBG which your Chimera can't mount). It has good weapon range, high bullet speed, decent shield and hull demage, and most of all, you can fire non-stop as long as you have the ammunitions coz it consumes close to zero weapon energy. It is feasible to kill anything in your fighter reasonably fast if you have enough EBCG ammos.

So EBCGs as main guns, and PACs for turrets.

Forget HEPTs, they burn weapon energy too fast and the slow speed means you will often be frustrated for not hitting the targets (assuming you are a new pilot).
I live in my Vidar.

Laser hit efficiency: 97% @190,499 shots
Missile hit efficiency: 97% @4,204 missiles fired

CommanderTM
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Post by CommanderTM » Wed, 22. May 13, 10:09

Thank you for the replies!

TTD
That is a good idea, i should look into that.

Triaxx2
What you mean by victim of stock market? I got my money from almost selfsustaining factory complex that sells shields. By now i have close to 150 million, so i thought that its the right time to try the fighting side of the game. What is a good fighter then, money is not a problem? My main goal right now is to go for a fighting missions with a good ship. I tried eclipse but it was very slow and kept missing the target even on auto-pilot attack.

Lone Jedi
Energy Bolt Chain Gun... ill remember that and what is PBG?

Please dont use short weapon names, its confusing for a weapon newbie :)



Bottom line is, i need a good fighter for missions and best loadout for it, money is not a problem.

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Sam L.R. Griffiths
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Post by Sam L.R. Griffiths » Wed, 22. May 13, 10:41

PPC = Photon Pulse Cannon : Mainstay Commonwealth anti-capital gun of Argon origin

IonC = Ion Cannon : Boron anti-capital gun similar to a PPC but does more damage to shields and less to hull

GC = Gauss Cannon : Ammo based anti-capital gun of Teladi origin

PBG = Plasma Burst Generator : Pirate/Yaki produced short range fighter weapon akin to a flame thrower.

IBL = Incendiary Bomb Launcher : Pirate/Yaki produced capital class weapon similar to a PPC but can be fitted to most (if not all) M7s
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CommanderTM
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Post by CommanderTM » Wed, 22. May 13, 11:01

Thank you for that :) Ill try to remember the short initials for weapons...

Lone Jedi
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Post by Lone Jedi » Wed, 22. May 13, 11:39

valgusepoiss wrote:Bottom line is, i need a good fighter for missions and best loadout for it, money is not a problem.
If $ is not a problem, go for an M6 instead. Fighters are very vulnerable in AP because the NPCs use missiles and guns that can easily strip your shields or even kill your fighter instantly.

The free Centaur provided by the main plot (Argon side) is a well-rounded ship good enough for missions before your combat rank becomes high. Heavy Centaur is an even better choice.

Concussion Impulse Generators as main guns.
I live in my Vidar.

Laser hit efficiency: 97% @190,499 shots
Missile hit efficiency: 97% @4,204 missiles fired

CommanderTM
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Post by CommanderTM » Wed, 22. May 13, 12:16

OKay, i bought the Dragon, since it is the fastest, except Springblossom.

What weapons are best for it?

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Post by ajax34i » Wed, 22. May 13, 12:35

Some of the guides out there talk about X3TC not X3AP, but are still valid because some things did not change between the two games (AP is somewhat of an expansion of TC).

Anyway, here are two guides about weapons, should give you an idea of what to choose in the future:

Tenlar's illustrated guide
wathman00's guide

The small ships use the small weapons up to HEPT, and the weapons generator will limit the performance of the guns, to the point where on some ships you have to use ammo-based weapons like mass driver or energy-bolt chaingun.

M6 corvettes use corvette weapons - CIG, IPG, ISR.

Big ships M7, M2, M1 use "big weapons" in their attack turrets and anti-fighter weapons (typically flak, sometimes fast firing small weapons) in their defense turrets. You usually see front, sides, and back for attack, and up/down for defense.

As the guides explain, some weapons have advantages of fast rate of fire, fast bullets that make aiming easier and dodging much harder, or area-of-effect damage.

CommanderTM
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Post by CommanderTM » Wed, 22. May 13, 12:45

Thank you! Ill look into these tutorials.

Ok, my Dragon is stocked with CIG, what weapon should i use for laser turret up?

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Post by Triaxx2 » Wed, 22. May 13, 13:01

Some people use the stock market to get a huge cash boost. Without having any influence on the universe economy, or learning about fighting during that initial stages where you're earning money for trading capital.

If money is no issue, I suggest the Yaki Tenjin. Same speed as the Chimera, same shields, but 9 forward weapon mounts, left and right turrets and a massive weapon loadout potential. I suggest 4 HEPT, two Mass Drivers, and 3 PBG's. Gives it an all-range punch and the ability to hurt targets it can't knock down the shields of.

Add some missiles to it for faster ships. and a few heavier ones to thin out fighter herds.
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APR Book 2: Best Served Cold Updated 8/5/2016

The Tale of Ea't s'Quid Completed

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ajax34i
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Post by ajax34i » Wed, 22. May 13, 13:50

valgusepoiss wrote:Ok, my Dragon is stocked with CIG, what weapon should i use for laser turret up?
Roguey's Ship Database - Dragon.

The ship has only one turret, and so it doesn't have coverage from all angles for defense purposes. As a result, you will probably have to use Mosquito missiles for missile defense, and the up turret can be used to assist you by shooting the target you're shooting with the main guns.

So, put a HEPT in there, and go into the command console and configure the turret for "Attack my target."

M6's aren't as maneuverable as fighters, so your best attack vector is to duck under the target, shooting with your main guns, so that the UP turret can do its bit to add damage.

Don't forget to load up missiles too. You can google for a missile guide, there are some good guides, but from what Roguey is listing at the bottom of the Dragon ship stats page, you can use:

- Firestorm Torpedoes to attack stations or very very slow ships.
- Hornets - good against M6 and bigger ships.
- Thunderbolts and Tempests against M3 fighters.
- Wasp is a swarm missile that does little damage to big ships but will keep their missile defense turrets occupied.
- Mosquitoes for your own missile defense (requires bonus pack).

You should also look into the following equipment upgrades for your Dragon:

- Docking Computer - helps you dock a lot faster
- Bioscanner - when you buy marines, it tells you how well trained they are
- Cargo Lifesupport - for transporting marines and people (found at pirate stations and some other places)
- Fight Software Mark 1 and Mark 2 - the mark 2 gives you full aiming support with the guns
- Trading System Extension - so you can order your other ships to buy things for you
- Jumpdrive - only a few stations sell this, but it's essential for moving your slow ship around the universe

CommanderTM
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Post by CommanderTM » Wed, 22. May 13, 14:16

Thank you all a lot :)

This will help me to start...

Honved
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Post by Honved » Wed, 22. May 13, 14:35

You can still outfit your Cerberus with HEPTs (High-Energy Plasma Throwers) in the front and PRGs (Phase Repeater Guns) in the turrets, at least until you get enough Concussion Impulse Generators or other Corvette class weapons to properly arm it. The Cerberus makes an excellent anti-fighter craft, but isn't that powerful against other capital ships.

HEPT has a slow bullet speed, so you'll have trouble hitting anything faster and smaller than an M3, but Phase Repeater rounds travel at much higher velocity and will generally annihilate those bothersome M5 fighters in short order, so they're preferable as turret guns.

I fondly recall the first time I piloted an M6 with PRGs in the turrets. I was busily shooting up some M3s in a large group of opponents while their smaller M4 and M5 escorts were pecking away at me from the sides and behind, and caught sight of one of those smaller ships being tracked and mercilessly ripped apart by a line of fire. My first thought was "that's some nice shooting, I wonder whether that's a local Police or a Military ship doing the firing?", then realized that it was one of my own turrets.

As pointed out, the Dragon has limited turret coverage, worse than some M3 fighters, so you've got to have some technique for dealing with missles. Essentially, it's an oversized fighter, so if you're primarily into "dogfighting", it becomes the next step up from an M3. Personally, I prefer M6s with decent turret coverage, like the Centaur, Osprey, or Heavy Nemesis (the standard Nemesis has the same turret issue as the Dragon, but the Heavy Dragon doesn't fix the problem).

The highly feared PBG (Plasma Burst Generator) is an area-effect weapon, like a giant flamethrower. A couple of them in the nose can exterminate an entire Kha'ak cluster with about two quick taps of the firing button (except for the Fighter, which will merely be badly damaged). The PBG has a very short range, however, so you need to get up close and personal to use it.

CommanderTM
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Post by CommanderTM » Thu, 23. May 13, 20:32

Hi everyone! I just bought Megalodon, most expensive investment i ever made :) I bet equipping it would be a big one too. But again, i cant figure out what are the best weapons for it. Can someone help me?

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