[X3TC] Missile question

[mtlmaks]

Hi,

I'm currently studying laser and missile layouts, since I got myself some bigger vessels recently. I was mainly flying around in M3 fighters doing skirmishes until now, but I recently got myself a Gladiator for one of the Final Fury missions, which successfully destroyed that Kha'ak station with its Tomahawk Heavy Missiles. More recently I got a M6 Heavy Centaur and a M7 Cerberus. I never fought capital ships, but I read ppl saying that the Cerberus is no good as an anti capital fighter, unlike the M7M Minotaur with it's Hammer Heavy Torpedos. Now, when looking at the missile stats, I'm wondering:

Range Max Damage Speed
Tomahawk Heavy Missile 43 120 625 000 169
Hammer Heavy Torpedo 75 900 300 000 253
Hammerhead Missile 86 000 1 250 000 172

Why would the Minotaur be better than even the Gladiator for taking out capital ships, having, despite better range and speed, less than half of the damage. But even more so, why would the Cerberus, hell, even the Heavy Centaur not be better with Hammerheads at double the damage of the Tomahawk and better range and speed...?! I understand that they can't mount them in turrets, but if you equip the turrets with anti-fighter/M6/M7 weapons, couldn't you be as efficient if not better with either the Centaur or the Cerberus, than with the Minotaur, with missiles against big targets...?

[mtlmaks]

Sorry for the bad formatting of the numbers, it looked better when writing the post... But I think you get the point of the question anyway...

[riceygringo]

The problem with most missiles is supply, Hammerheads can only be found as drops from destroying or boarding ships.

[mtlmaks]

Oh, but, can't you have a factory building them...?

[Vim Razz]

np about formating, it makes perfect sense.

Hammerheads are awesome missiles -- the only problem with them is: they're drop only. You can't manufacture them, and you can't even buy them, so it's very hard to get them in quantity.


M7Ms are more versatile than M8s, but M8s are still very solid cap-killers in TC -- especially when you're on a limited budget.


And the limitation of the Cerberus as a cap-killer is it's inability to mount heavy guns in it's forward weapon mounts.

It can put two Incendiary Bomb Launchers (IBL) on each side turret, but that means you can only really bring two heavy weapons to bear on the target at a time, compared with 10 for some other M7s (8 front mount guns + 2 on one of the side turrets, angling towards the enemy ship to bring max guns to bear.)

[riceygringo]

Despite M8s may look like a better bang for your buck, sooner or later you will need those M7Ms (Cobra/Kraken are favorites) for boarding to obtain rare ships. In my game I completely ignored M8s.

[mtlmaks]

Ok, that makes perfect sense then if you can't get a good hold of them Hammerheads, bummer... Actually, I'm not really on a limited budget, I just did more trading than fighting so far. I could actually buy several capital ships with my budget, but I want to progressively learn those skills, not feeling comfortable enough yet to manage capital battles... But I'll probably compliment my Cerberus with a Minotaur for now, and have them work as a team. Also, one reason why I bought the Cerberus is so that I can dock some fighters at him, in case. Anyway, thanks for the quick answers (again!)!

[pjknibbs]

Also, one reason why I bought the Cerberus is so that I can dock some fighters at him, in case. Anyway, thanks for the quick answers (again!)!

A Shrike would have been a better option, in that case...it docks more ships than a Cerberus, has more shielding and cargo capacity, and is quite a bit cheaper too! In addition, a Shrike has a pretty good anti-capital capability--it can fit two Gauss Cannons in each side turret, which are both capable of firing directly forward as well, and you can add IBLs on the main guns if you really want to (I don't usually bother because I find the GCs adequate to the task of destroying enemy capitals). The only thing you sacrifice is a small amount of speed (Shrike tops out at 96m/s whereas Ceberus does 101).

[Wolvan]

Another important thing to note with the M7M vs M8 debate is follow up. Enemy caps with lots of FLAK and other anti-fighter weaponry (like your cerberus) are also very good at swatting in coming missiles. With the M7Ms you can also pack Flails (which can do a not insubstantial ammount of damage themselves btw) in the same package. The flails make a great distraction for turrets to give your hammers time to get inside the flak cloud.

Fire a few flails, barrage some hammers, then fire more flails. If you have the money to afford a missile frigate and ever intend to start boarding ships then learning the quick change mechanics on missiles and familiarizing yourself with the 'Flail Tunnel' now will be much more cost effective than when you have a load of experienced marines at stake instead of a few hammers.

[Triaxx2]

On the other hand the punch of missiles from a bomber is greater, so against stations you'll spend fewer Tomahawks than you will Hammers.

They also keep pace with fighters better, so if you drag one along with your fighters or corvette, it'll give you a more powerful weapon against any capital ships you come up against. Of course if you go pirating you'll both come up against more capitals, but you'll also have a better supply of Tomahawk.