Buying my first big ship later. I am getting the Boreas and putting PPCs is all the available spots. I know nothing about the big ship weapons, so what should I put in the top and bottom turrets?
Thank you!
TC: First Capital Ship Weapon Question
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thatguyfromvienna
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- Joined: Fri, 22. Mar 13, 05:32
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Hemmingfish
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I find the tradeoff is worth it, the sooner you can damage their hull the sooner you slow them down and start damaging their systems. My Ray has two ion cannons and six PPCs in each of its heavy turrets and I'm very happy with the arrangement.
I'm also partial to gauss cannons, but those are severely limited OOS due to the ammo bug.
I'm also partial to gauss cannons, but those are severely limited OOS due to the ammo bug.
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thatguyfromvienna
- Posts: 151
- Joined: Fri, 22. Mar 13, 05:32
Capital ships die pretty fast in X3TC, due to the power of the big weapons and the very small amount of hull armor that the ships have.
An M2 is also very hard to maneuver; with RPM's approaching 1 per minute, means it will take 30 seconds to turn it around to do another pass.
So think in terms of killing everything in one pass, because you won't be able to turn around for another one.
For M7's, this is accomplished by picking an M7 that can install a full set of frontal IBL guns, and as many on the side as possible. You fly the ship in and let loose with a few blasts of fully charged IBLs and even M2's will probably die before you run out of juice.
For M2's, the turrets will autoaim the weapons and won't supercharge them, so you just line up to pass on the left or underside of the target, with the idea to deliver a full shot from your forward turrets (to strip shields down) and continue with a full broadside. If your M2 can install big weapons in the rear turret, that will finish off the tougher enemies as you drift away. So, some people install Ion Cannons in the front (take the shields out faster) and PPC or Gauss on the sides, others just go with all PPC because they're a sufficiently effective weapon.
FAA on the top and bottom are fine against a few fighters, but you will need additional FAA or anti-fighter escorts if you're fighting the large numbers of M3's that a carrier can spew out. Or switch your PPCs to more FAA or to fast-tracking anti-fighter weapons like PRGs / PAC / HEPT.
An M2 is also very hard to maneuver; with RPM's approaching 1 per minute, means it will take 30 seconds to turn it around to do another pass.
So think in terms of killing everything in one pass, because you won't be able to turn around for another one.
For M7's, this is accomplished by picking an M7 that can install a full set of frontal IBL guns, and as many on the side as possible. You fly the ship in and let loose with a few blasts of fully charged IBLs and even M2's will probably die before you run out of juice.
For M2's, the turrets will autoaim the weapons and won't supercharge them, so you just line up to pass on the left or underside of the target, with the idea to deliver a full shot from your forward turrets (to strip shields down) and continue with a full broadside. If your M2 can install big weapons in the rear turret, that will finish off the tougher enemies as you drift away. So, some people install Ion Cannons in the front (take the shields out faster) and PPC or Gauss on the sides, others just go with all PPC because they're a sufficiently effective weapon.
FAA on the top and bottom are fine against a few fighters, but you will need additional FAA or anti-fighter escorts if you're fighting the large numbers of M3's that a carrier can spew out. Or switch your PPCs to more FAA or to fast-tracking anti-fighter weapons like PRGs / PAC / HEPT.
Forgot to mention:
If you're not in the sector, combat is simplified to a turn-based calculation of all weapons on a ship hitting the defenses of the other ship. So for sector patrol or remote control jobs, you want the ship with the best shields and biggest weapons.
As an example, the Agamemnon M7 is mediocre if you fly it; it has blind spots and the weapon placements aren't that great, but with 6 GJ of shielding and 3 turrets x 4 IBL each, it will beat pretty much any other M7 at the out-of-sector math.
Xenon Q, also, is a relatively easy ship to kill if you fly an M7 against it; it has a big fat nose that makes it easy-peasy to aim IBL salvoes at. However, out-of-sector, it usually wins the initiative roll because it's a roaming attacker, and so the 8 IBL it can put in its forward guns will wipe out any of your ships in one shot, you don't even have a chance to react to a warning of aggression or anything.
So, bottom line, you need to set up a number of capital ships for yourself to fly (ideally, agile, fast, and with big weapons that can be aimed as you do fly-by passes), and set up different ships for remote sector patrol or intervention jobs (super-shielded, as many big weapons as possible in all the turrets, don't worry about reactor juice or fighter protection).
If you're not in the sector, combat is simplified to a turn-based calculation of all weapons on a ship hitting the defenses of the other ship. So for sector patrol or remote control jobs, you want the ship with the best shields and biggest weapons.
As an example, the Agamemnon M7 is mediocre if you fly it; it has blind spots and the weapon placements aren't that great, but with 6 GJ of shielding and 3 turrets x 4 IBL each, it will beat pretty much any other M7 at the out-of-sector math.
Xenon Q, also, is a relatively easy ship to kill if you fly an M7 against it; it has a big fat nose that makes it easy-peasy to aim IBL salvoes at. However, out-of-sector, it usually wins the initiative roll because it's a roaming attacker, and so the 8 IBL it can put in its forward guns will wipe out any of your ships in one shot, you don't even have a chance to react to a warning of aggression or anything.
So, bottom line, you need to set up a number of capital ships for yourself to fly (ideally, agile, fast, and with big weapons that can be aimed as you do fly-by passes), and set up different ships for remote sector patrol or intervention jobs (super-shielded, as many big weapons as possible in all the turrets, don't worry about reactor juice or fighter protection).