In my Springblossom I have 8 bays for main guns and bought 8 of each type of guns (EEMPC's and EM/AM I think they are!).
Is there any way to assign all 8 of one type of gun to group 1 and all 8 of the other type of gun to group 2? Or can you only have 4 or less guns in each group?
I have assigned 8 EEMPC's to group 1 but then cannot assign different guns to group 2.
Am I doing something wrong or is this as designed?
X3TC: Question on weapon grouping
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In TC the weapon groupings are for switching weapon slots on or off, not for changing the type of weapon in them.
So you could for example install all 8 launchers and have group 1 with all 8 active, group 2 with 4 active and group 3 with 1 active for different amounts of damage that you need at any time.
Or you could install 4 Launchers and 4 EEMPCs and have the groupings to have all 8 slots active, or just the launchers or just the EEMPCs or any combination of them.
Hope that helps.
So you could for example install all 8 launchers and have group 1 with all 8 active, group 2 with 4 active and group 3 with 1 active for different amounts of damage that you need at any time.
Or you could install 4 Launchers and 4 EEMPCs and have the groupings to have all 8 slots active, or just the launchers or just the EEMPCs or any combination of them.
Hope that helps.
Groups just define which ones of your 8 guns fire at once--I think it's how Egosoft chose to solve the issue of swapping guns on the fly, because back in X2 almost all ships only had 2 forward guns and there was no way to swap them for different ones except by using the weapon menu. That's still the case in X3, but the larger number of guns and the groups give you more options.
To cut a long story short--no, you can't have all 8 guns of one type and then use one key to swap them all to a different type.
I would point out, though, that EEMPC shots are not that much faster than PM/AM shots, and they do a heck of a lot less damage, so it's probably not worth using the EEMPCs at all on that ship. If you need to be able to swat small, fast targets, use the Prototype Starburst Shockwave Cannons on the turrets.
To cut a long story short--no, you can't have all 8 guns of one type and then use one key to swap them all to a different type.
I would point out, though, that EEMPC shots are not that much faster than PM/AM shots, and they do a heck of a lot less damage, so it's probably not worth using the EEMPCs at all on that ship. If you need to be able to swat small, fast targets, use the Prototype Starburst Shockwave Cannons on the turrets.
Great, thanks a lot for the explanation guys!
Yes, I have the Prototype Starburst Shockwave Cannons on the turrets and they are great at killing off the smaller ships, usually with one shot!
I have used the PM/AM guns a lot (I bought a lot of ammo for them) and the ammo seems to last a very long time). This is the only type of ammo based weapon I have purchased so far - I am thinking of getting Gauss cannons for another ship that can mount them and was wondering if the ammo crates last a long time with the Gauss cannon too or do you need to buy lots of ammo?
Yes, I have the Prototype Starburst Shockwave Cannons on the turrets and they are great at killing off the smaller ships, usually with one shot!
I have used the PM/AM guns a lot (I bought a lot of ammo for them) and the ammo seems to last a very long time). This is the only type of ammo based weapon I have purchased so far - I am thinking of getting Gauss cannons for another ship that can mount them and was wondering if the ammo crates last a long time with the Gauss cannon too or do you need to buy lots of ammo?
Since most ships have the ability to mount WAY more guns than their weapon energy generators can keep up with, assigning weapons to different groups allows you to either choose the right weapon for the job, or to choose the right number of weapons to do the job with the least energy waste.
On Commonwealth ships, I generally assign 4 or 6 slots to the "heavy" guns that will do the majority of the work against ships of equal or greater size, plus the remaining 2 or 4 slots to mount lighter weapons with faster projectiles for flyswatting. My first "weapon group" consists of all of the heavy guns, the second group consists of only a pair of them for sustained combat, and the third group uses the lighter guns for killing smaller fighters and coaxing bails from the bigger ships, rather than simply blowing them up.
The guns may change from ship to ship, but I keep the weapon group functions the same, so I can go from ship to ship and know that the "3" key will give me my lighter guns, etc. Whether those guns are PACs/IREs on a Fujin , HEPTs/PRGs on a Nova, or PSGs/CIGs on a Diemos is just a matter of scale.
On Commonwealth ships, I generally assign 4 or 6 slots to the "heavy" guns that will do the majority of the work against ships of equal or greater size, plus the remaining 2 or 4 slots to mount lighter weapons with faster projectiles for flyswatting. My first "weapon group" consists of all of the heavy guns, the second group consists of only a pair of them for sustained combat, and the third group uses the lighter guns for killing smaller fighters and coaxing bails from the bigger ships, rather than simply blowing them up.
The guns may change from ship to ship, but I keep the weapon group functions the same, so I can go from ship to ship and know that the "3" key will give me my lighter guns, etc. Whether those guns are PACs/IREs on a Fujin , HEPTs/PRGs on a Nova, or PSGs/CIGs on a Diemos is just a matter of scale.