Over powered IonDs and useless MDs

[tphater]

So there are 2 special weapons in this game(the mining laser doesn't counts):
1IonDs-4000 shield damage(yes,with 1000 better than a ghept),instant hit,always hit targets if you have them in your sight,consumes moderate energy,good at capping,lethal against all tipes of fighters and cap ships.
Best in a combination with a laser weapon(anyway,you'll need something that will do hull damage!),good for missile defence.Moderate problem:
big posibility of shooting AI ships without intention

MDs-12 hull damage,very fast bullets at a very fast pace,hull never recharges but it will take you minutes before you'll take down anything bigger than a m3,strong against m5(especially kak) because of the m5s weak hull,it is almost useless against TSes and TPs.Good at capping and quite good at missile defence.Big problem:requires ammo which isn't quite cheap and which is very scarce
It is clear to me that IonDs are way better than MDs and in fact,MDs are a waste of money.I'm a drgon maniac,but i rarely use those MDs,it's just not worth the effort it would take me just to find the stupid amunition(that wont last long) only to see that MDs are only usefull for people who wanna have some fun(because they are fun to use).Otherwise,they are almost useless.

[Some Strange Man]

You'll never kill anyone with a single ion disrupter with infinite energy.
You'll never cap anyone with a single Mass Driver with infinite ammo.

Mass drivers are bad for player use since they simply don't do enough damage to keep players happy. Whereas, for AI use....

[therjw]

IonsD all the way for me. I prefer them to PSGs as well

[Dragon_Rider]

I've got the Laser / Economy Rebalance v 1.0 by Burianek installed which fixs the IonD and Mass drivers so i can't vote on this one

Cheers

Ben

[shifty lookin spoon]

MD's really are useless, i went into a xenon sector with my dragon, all turrets with MDs on attack my target (attacking a K) my main gun had one too. After skittering all over the place avoiding fire i decided id see how much longer it would take. The K still had 85% hull... theres no way im ever trying that again.

Ion Ds on the other hand dont go onto any of the ships i like and can afford, but as weapons they are sweet... wouldnt want to be against an enemy with them! might just start taking hull damage!

I HATE PSGs - not because im a religious goner preacher of 'game balance' but because it makes fighting impossible with them on my machine due to the severe framerate hit.

[jannix]

I agree with everything you said about MD's. I've recently setup an ammo factory and that solves the availablility problem. But you are right, being bothered to check and load up on ammo was too much for me too, and i opened up the fab for sales to the AI, and its doing fairly well.

Maybe MD's could be more useful if sector defense ships would auto-replenish their ammo when going out of stock. For capturing though, i'd stick to my BPSG's and my perseus. Ion D's just require too much patience.

[PowerTrip]

I like all three of them ID's MD's and PSG's though PSG's are stronger and better overall the ID cannot be replaced for bringing down sheilde without damaging hull.and there is no better weapon than the MD for killing khaak M5's and limiting hull damageto cappable ships. I think they make a good couple and should be married.

[(/\)arped]

I prefer IonDs to MDs. MDs take too long to kill stuff.

But I use PSGs mre than anything. But I have gunnery crews installed too, so friendly fire isn;t such a problem. (Got PPCs onboard too.)

[Nanook]

You're all missing the point of MD's. When used in conjunction with Ion D's, they're the perfect capturing combo. They allow you to minimize hull damage and the Ions keep the shields low. It's why the Nova is probably one of the best ships to use to capture other ships.

MD's are also ideal for killing small, very fast ships, such as Khaak M5's and Xenon N's, in fact any M5-class ships. IRE's have to expend a good share of their energy just keeping the shields down, while still damaging the hull. And MD's fire faster and the bullet speed is faster. And on missile defense, MD's never miss and never run out of energy.

So saying MD's are worthless just shows a lack of understanding for their true value. Just like you wouldn't try to kill Khaak M5's with GHEPT's (far too slow, both in speed and fire rate), you wouldn't use MD's to take out capital ships. In both cases, it can be done, but would be long and tedious.

EDIT: And I didn't vote because, for me, it's not an either/or option. I use Ion's and MD's together. Try loading up a Titan with Ion D's and MD's and go knock on a pirate base. Great for mass capturing.

[Legion400]

ive never used MD's so i picked PSGs in teh poll

[tphater]

You're all missing the point of MD's. When used in conjunction with Ion D's, they're the perfect capturing combo. They allow you to minimize hull damage and the Ions keep the shields low. It's why the Nova is probably one of the best ships to use to capture other ships.

MD's are also ideal for killing small, very fast ships, such as Khaak M5's and Xenon N's, in fact any M5-class ships. IRE's have to expend a good share of their energy just keeping the shields down, while still damaging the hull. And MD's fire faster and the bullet speed is faster. And on missile defense, MD's never miss and never run out of energy.

So saying MD's are worthless just shows a lack of understanding for their true value. Just like you wouldn't try to kill Khaak M5's with GHEPT's (far too slow, both in speed and fire rate), you wouldn't use MD's to take out capital ships. In both cases, it can be done, but would be long and tedious.

EDIT: And I didn't vote because, for me, it's not an either/or option. I use Ion's and MD's together. Try loading up a Titan with Ion D's and MD's and go knock on a pirate base. Great for mass capturing.

One clear thing thing i deduced from your post.You are a nova lover because the nova is the only fighter capable of using MD+IOND combo.
MDs are far too "expensive" (they will not cost you only greens but also time,and that is what a x2 player hasn't got with so many other things to do ).As i said,they are good only at cappin' and at m5 cleaning.But that's not enough(in my opinion) and compared to the IonDs it's ridiculously weak.

[Maximum476]

Well I use my dragon with ghepts to take out M5s all the time, it doesn't take long at all, in fact I find it takes me longer with MDs, with the ghepts you only have to hit once to kill.

For me MDs are useless, I don't cap much (and I don't argue about an extra 5% hull loss either when I do) so I don't use them for that, for big ships they take too long, for small ships they can take out I can do just as well with normal weapons, and as I fly a dragon most of the time missiles are usually just a pirotechnics display.

[D_Zorro]

Actually iond's are fun i attacked a pirats base they launched all there fighters against me, i kept firing my iond's all off a sudden no pirat where firing no more then i looked at ther ship info, and see that they haven't got any weapons no more, looks like my iond's dismantles the whole pirat crew leaving them harmless flying zooming around my ship doing nothing. That was fun flying arround all pirats where following me continue to do some sort of attack runs but could harm me no more. It was fun capping them though, 100% really made my day too.

DZorro,

[Nanook]

You're all missing the point of MD's. When used in conjunction with Ion D's, they're the perfect capturing combo. They allow you to minimize hull damage and the Ions keep the shields low. It's why the Nova is probably one of the best ships to use to capture other ships.

MD's are also ideal for killing small, very fast ships, such as Khaak M5's and Xenon N's, in fact any M5-class ships. IRE's have to expend a good share of their energy just keeping the shields down, while still damaging the hull. And MD's fire faster and the bullet speed is faster. And on missile defense, MD's never miss and never run out of energy.

So saying MD's are worthless just shows a lack of understanding for their true value. Just like you wouldn't try to kill Khaak M5's with GHEPT's (far too slow, both in speed and fire rate), you wouldn't use MD's to take out capital ships. In both cases, it can be done, but would be long and tedious.

EDIT: And I didn't vote because, for me, it's not an either/or option. I use Ion's and MD's together. Try loading up a Titan with Ion D's and MD's and go knock on a pirate base. Great for mass capturing.

One clear thing thing i deduced from your post.You are a nova lover because the nova is the only fighter capable of using MD+IOND combo.
MDs are far too "expensive" (they will not cost you only greens but also time,and that is what a x2 player hasn't got with so many other things to do ).As i said,they are good only at cappin' and at m5 cleaning.But that's not enough(in my opinion) and compared to the IonDs it's ridiculously weak.

False deduction!

While I do use the Nova for some tasks, I wouldn't consider myself a 'Nova lover'. In fact, my current favorite ship is the Pirate Orinoco. However, just because some people can't see a valid use for something, doesn't make it worthless.

In point of fact, the MD is far and away the best weapon for dealing with Khaak clusters. If you've noticed, the Khaak M3 has a very small hull value, so even it can be easily taken out by MD's. Try this sometime. Take your Dragon with all MD's into a Khaak cluster and see how long it takes to wipe it out. A lot faster than GHEPT's and nearly as fast as PSG's. And all without the worry of hitting friendlies.

Another point of fact. MD's are the only weapon that makes Split Scorpions and Mambas useful. The high speed of the Split fighters means a hit-and-run style tactic with MD's will kill anything, given enough time, since hulls don't recharge.

Finally, if MD's were given more power, they'd render all other killing weapons obsolete. Every weapon in X2 has tradeoffs. While some can be considered to be overpowered, such as Ions D's and PSG's, that's no reason to make mass drivers the same. Personally, I believe that if standard laser weapons were given a greater range and speed, while keeping ID's and PSG's the same, it would help balance things out. Mass drivers are fine for what I consider their intended purpose, killing Khaak.

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Nothing is worthless... EVER.

If all else fails, you have cannon fodder.

Whatever enemy is shooting at something else, isn't shooting at you, which is their first, last, and only mistake they'll ever make.

An enemy who isn't shooting at ME, is flambe in two minutes flat.

[silentWitness]

You've never equipped mass drivers to a Titan or Python... Maybe with a tad more range they would be more useful...

Ions are perfect as they are!!!

[ProditorCado]

I took out a J in half an hour with a Nova and two MD's. I think I had some 40 crates of ammo? Something like that, anyway.

[Nanook]

You've never equipped mass drivers to a Titan or Python... Maybe with a tad more range they would be more useful...

Ions are perfect as they are!!!

I have equipped MD's on a Titan. Along with Ion D's. A great combo for knocking on a pirate base door and relieving them of their ships.

And yes, Ion D's are perfect as they are, if you like being a god in the X-Universe. "Take that, you heathens! My lightning bolts will teach you to defy me!"

[silentWitness]

And yes, Ion D's are perfect as they are, if you like being a god in the X-Universe. "Take that, you heathens! My lightning bolts will teach you to defy me!"

Take on an AI Ray equipped with ions... then tell me how invincible you are...

[simonnance]

hmm... Mds are useful but limited. I manage ok on M5s with BHEPTs....

its strange, have you noticed the Argonopedia puts the speed of a HEPT very low? A Split Dragon should outrun its own shots! which would be funny, but weird.

I may try a MD as missile defence in my Nova, my PAC doesnt want to play ball since i loaded up ACA