The Mass Driver

[|M|]

I've got a few q's about this weapon. Does anyone use this gun? Since it damages hull directly, will pilots still bail since their shields are full? How hard (and expensive) is it to run this gun? Wherever i go there seems to be very little in the way of ammo available, and it's somewhat expensive for someone starting out (again). How long does each 'unit' of ammo last for (as constant fire)?

[UnknownUser]

I use MD's occasionally for capturing: They dont actually do very much damage and its straight to hull so you can get magic ol' 87 very easily and go to work with your ID's (and whatever else. 1 unit of ammo is 200 rounds, so if you intend to do any real damage with them you need alot. If you're using them in turret, best get a fab (I understand there are some places where an ammo fab is profitable: two birds wityh one stone? Havent tried it yet myself) as I daresay 4 turrets on A.E. (dragon) will eat ammo without conpunction.

In combat they are reliably accurate: fast muzzle velocity means they can hit....anything realy. If you're ahving trouble with khaak m5's and hepts this may well be your gun. Thats what they're really for: Dogfghting down little ships. On ammo consumption I reckon its about 1.5 units (=300 rounds, roughly = 1 good pass and on his tail for 15-30 secs) to take down a khaak m3 if you're pretty accurate.

Hope this helps.

[Pollo Loco]

Guess that's it then. I use them and they don't cost too much to run and they are good for M5's esecially coz they're usually too fast for my HEPT's. I like them for capturing, you can get 87% hull easily with a little practice and then just plug away with ID's until they give up.

[stella]

Also, if you've got a ship with a rear turret, they're excellent for missile defence, cos of their high refire/velocity.

[Charlie Whiskey]

MD's are great for taking out anything that moves quickly like M5's. I've 3 of those on my Nova. They are also great for capturing because you can very precisely drop somebody's hull down to 87%, then fry him with Ion D's until he surrenders. Finally its extremely fast refire rate and projectile speed makes it an execellent missile defense weapon for your Nova, just put one in the rear turret and you won't have problem with missiles again (unless you run out of ammo that is , but then that's your fault being slack on your ships's maintenance).

The running cost isn't too bad either considering how quickly you can make money in X2. I spent $500,000 or so on 300+ crates of ammo from the Split (their factory in Family T'kr usually has plenty of stock) and that has lasted quite a while already. Last time I stirred up a pirate base I used only 16 crates to bring down 20+ ships to 87%.

<edit> Being sleepy tonight, lots of spelling mistakes.

[Praefectus classis]

You can also find the ammo floating about in stations as well.

[junj.chan]

do MDs go straight through shields or do u need to take thier shields down forst?

[Brianetta]

Straight through shields. It's also the best weapon for actually getting kills.

Take the Xenon N, which is a nippy little M5. You can kill lots of these for fun and profit (and rank) but something like one in ten will bail a fraction before they are vapourised, meaning you get practically nothing for your effort on that ship. When you kill with mass drivers, the shields remain at 100%, and the ship will never bail, meaning each and every kill counts to your rank.