What weapons/missles to use againts xenon M and L

[aleksander.dorkov]

Weapons for titans/fridgets like split dragon
So when i do patrol missions with my split dragon i find it very hard to hit a xenon M or an N type of ship with my Ion shard railgun , it takes me like for ever, there has to be something better

[ancienthighway]

Switch to PACs, IREs, Mass Drivers, or PBEs, all of which have rounds fast enough to hit the fast ships.

If you prefer missiles, the Wasp or Hurricane will catch most M5s and M4s. It may take a few salvos though to destroy them.

[Triaxx2]

For the Dragon, grab a couple of PBG's. They won't significantly hurt your weapon generators if you use them with your ISR's, but firing a burst at the M or N's as they cross in front of you will tend to turn them into clouds of dust.

The Hurricane is the best thing to fling at m5's unless you can put your hands on Rapiers. Rapiers can catch anything flying, but it takes two or so to put down a Kestrel.

Ultimately though, for N's, the best answer is to just ignore them. Either your turret will get them, or they'll squash themselves against the side of your ship.

[Cpt.Jericho]

When only encountering Ms and Ls, don't use an M6. A fast, decently shielded M3 carrying a mix of PACs and HEPTs is more than enough. PBGs are optional. Best missile for M5 is the Hurricane. It's just fire and forget. Otherwise use missiles only when you run out of energy to keep 'em busy for a moment.

[Triaxx2]

I rather disagree. M6's can largely ignore M5's, but when fighting numbers of M4's and M3's, I'd rather the better shields and turret power of an M6. That said, trying to dogfight with an M6 isn't the best idea in the world.

[ajax34i]

M3, M4, M5 ships, all races have some decent ones, more or less equally functional. For the bigger ships, though, there are big differences between what the races offer.

In the case of the Split Dragon M6, it's got forward guns and an UP turret, and not quite enough maneuverability to actually dogfight the fast M5 and M4 ships with its forward guns. Compare to an Argon Centaur M6, which has turrets kinda pointed in all directions, so if you fit a fast-shooting gun in the turrets they will very likely hit even the faster M5 and M4 ships. The advantage of the Split Dragon, its speed, isn't sufficient to catch M5 scouts (you'll never approach 300-500 m/s), so it's not as good against these particular opponents, whereas the Centaur will kill whatever gets in range. And NPC's will typically get in range, because they're controlled by scripts.

Otherwise, your missile question's been answered already; you need fast missiles, basically Wasp and Hurricane are designed to catch and kill M5 and M4 fast targets. Wasp is commonly sold all over the space, Hurricane you may have to manufacture yourself.

[Earth Ultimatum IV.]

I always carried 8x IRE on my Centaur, aside from my usual loadout of 8x CIG. Works like a charm.

[Rive]

Dragons are assault ships, not really fit for furballs. Try something else with better turret coverage (weapons were already suggested here).

For a Titan, there are complex loadouts for keeping small ships at bay.
Real capital ships are a different story.

[pref]

Pick a speedy guided missile from here:
http://roguey.co.uk/x3ap/missiles/

[Dovakiin]

I spend most of my time in M6s, and I've found that CIGs are extemely useful against anything smaller than an M7. I like to manually aim using the SEMI mode, so FAAs are good for one-shotting M4s and M5s. I really like SSCs aswell.

[Nanook]

....
Ultimately though, for N's, the best answer is to just ignore them. ...

At your peril! N's are one of the few M5's that carry PAC's, and in sufficient numbers, N's can bring down an M6 like the Dragon easier than you think. The only M5's I normally ignore are those firing IRE's.

[Sovereign01]

Plasma Burst Generators IMO are unrivalled when it comes to small-ship swatting, especially against Xenon. For small, fast moving targets it's by far the best. Well worth the effort required to acquire them!

[Lone Jedi]

With a little practice, CIGs/MAMLs are guaranteed to hit any targets, fast or slow, small or big.

The secret of high hit rate is large bullet size. Even the manually controlled PPCs of Pteranodon can be extremely accurate for targets as small as M4s.

[aleksander.dorkov]

Fridnly fire problem:
Ye so i have another question:) , didint wanted to post another topic for it
i bought a boreas armned him with Flak Artillery Array and photons, but the problem is that in every defence station mission and every patrol mission is allmoust imposible not to hit friendlies, it makes the game rly unpleasent

[Lone Jedi]

Fridnly fire problem:
Ye so i have another question:) , didint wanted to post another topic for it
i bought a boreas armned him with Flak Artillery Array and photons, but the problem is that in every defence station mission and every patrol mission is allmoust imposible not to hit friendlies, it makes the game rly unpleasent

In AP you have a hotkey to disable the turrets. Flying an M2 in friendly sectors is not a wise choice anyway. Besides the gun problems, you'd crashed into friendly ships all the time.

I'd fly something smaller and/or with manually controlled main guns, so even when disabling the turrets (by hotkey, or in TC by editing commands), I can still deal damage.

[Rive]

On bigships it's better to set the turret commands according the role of the given turret. The turrets with the big guns should fire only for capital ships & targets, the ones with the smaller guns should fire only on missiles/fighters.
Don't mix the guns, one role for one turret.

Also, bring in some assistance. M7M and fighters. Maybe fighters with missile rate set high.

So, it's time to start thinking in fleet instead of lone ships. Bigships to kill bigships, smaller ones to kill smaller ones.

[Lone Jedi]

On bigships it's better to set the turret commands according the role of the given turret. The turrets with the big guns should fire only for capital ships & targets, the ones with the smaller guns should fire only on missiles/fighters.
Don't mix the guns, one role for one turret.

Also, bring in some assistance. M7M and fighters. Maybe fighters with missile rate set high.

So, it's time to start thinking in fleet instead of lone ships. Bigships to kill bigships, smaller ones to kill smaller ones.

AI ships are even more prone to friendly fires. Bringing in more ships doesn't solve the problem, it creates more problems.

[Rive]

AI ships are even more prone to friendly fires. Bringing in more ships doesn't solve the problem, it creates more problems.

Well, there is not much info available, bit I think it's the usual 'my first bigship wandering among NPC stations and spewing PPC at any enemy M3' kind of friendly fire. But true, I do not actually know.

In TC I had definitive successes with a bunch of slow, PAC armed M3 with missile set high. There wasn't much friendly fire and they could pretty well mop up after my bigship decided the general outcome.

I don't know about AP, I'm not at that point. Yet

[aleksander.dorkov]

if i bring small ships, the capital ships of my friendly races will destroy them, no point to lose 2-3 ships per very hard patrol mission every time, and no point to disable all turrents since i will make the missions longer, will get no bonus money, and no pilot rank and someone mentioned that i shouldnt bring a capital ship in friendly space, but i there are still xenon Q and P-s withc i would you like to nuke fast
Isnt there some mode or a fan based program to improve it, its extremly annoying

[Lone Jedi]

AI ships are even more prone to friendly fires. Bringing in more ships doesn't solve the problem, it creates more problems.

Well, there is not much info available, bit I think it's the usual 'my first bigship wandering among NPC stations and spewing PPC at any enemy M3' kind of friendly fire. But true, I do not actually know.

In TC I had definitive successes with a bunch of slow, PAC armed M3 with missile set high. There wasn't much friendly fire and they could pretty well mop up after my bigship decided the general outcome.

I don't know about AP, I'm not at that point. Yet

If you bring in M7Ms to help, like what you mentioned in your first post, I'm sure many innocent friends will be killed, TC or AP.