Ion Cannons in X3;AP

[DiArmada]

yesterday I took my Boreas for a journey into Xenon space.
this was the first time in AP and went quite different then in TC.
I fitted the Boreas the same way; PPC's on the sides and Ion cannons up front.
in TC that was a great combination which takes down any capital ship with lightning speed.

while the shields were gone in the same way I was used too, the hull was another story.
I've read about the improved hulls in AP before, but didn't quite expect this much hitpoints.
the Ion Cannons are great against shields, but they do little hull damage.
without getting hull damage I was able to take down a J, a K and four Q's.
it took quite some manouvring.
next run I'll replace the Ion Cannons with PPC in the front guns, that'll hopefully work a bit better.

[Zaitsev]

Yeah, I found out that too. Checked the files, and just to take an example the Titan in AP has ten times more hull strength than its TC counterpart. Now that's some serious armor I also found out that in AP combat tend to be more challenging in general, due to the tougher hulls, so you better be prepared for a fight even with those extra PPCs.

At least it means ships won't go boom as soon as the shields are down, something that bugged me a bit in TC.

[pr0nflakes]

I've been using PPC in the front guns and GC's in the side along with FAA'a in the top and bottom. Still strips the shields down in no time and the hulls don't last very long either.
Fighters don't stand a chance vs the GC's and FAA's and the FAA's make great frontal missile defense against the missile spam from the I's when needed.

Just have to watch out for Q's P's and PX's getting too close.

[ajax34i]

Yup, as mentioned above, the Gauss Cannon has become a lot more powerful relatively (AP vs TC), because it does hull damage and ships have a lot more hull strength.

There is one other major change as a result of combat happening after the shields are down: you have to carry spare weapons. Once the shields are down, enemy fire can damage your cannons, so carry spares so you can refit and continue shooting. Also carry spare shield units, same reason.

[DiArmada]

thanks for the replies.
I've never used Gauss Cannons before, I'll try that for sure.

[RayF]

ugliest ship I have ever seen

[Black_hole_suN]

I mix 2 IC with 6 PPC on the front and side turrets of my Titan..

and then I fight like this:

[ external image ]

Even if the enemy has me in his weapons range, the bullets he fired will never reach my ship since I am strafing away from him..

the downside of this tactic is I can only fight enemies in one side and is very vulnerable to another capital ship coming from another direction..

ps. please dont laugh at that crude MS paint illustration...

[DiArmada]

the drawing is clear enough to explain the situation, nice.
how do you handle missile-defense?
or do you have the bonus-pack installed where you can use missiles to shoot down incoming missiles?
I'm used to having FLAK on the turrets back, up and down.

[Black_hole_suN]

For missile defence, I use MDM from the bonus pack.. If I would still be overwhelmed (I'm a fighting a xenon I) I just roll the ship in such way that the top turrets can fire at incoming missiles

as for back turrets I use HEPT + Thunderbolt missiles for anti-fighter defense and CIG + MDM to counter missiles (titan cannot mount flaks at the rear, fo if you are attack by an RRF M1 and its fighters you would be in trouble unless you have missiles)

[DiArmada]

good, I've bought a few dozen Gauss cannons and about 100 ammo.
does one ammo contain one bullet, or is it a stack of bullets?
I'll add a ammo factory to my support complex, but one might not be enough.

[ancienthighway]

100 ammo will last you a while. Each 1 is something like 5000 rounds. I've got 24 GC's and 8 PPCs on my Boreas and just put down 2 Js, 3Qs, and numerous Ps and barely made a dent in my ammo supply of 40 units.