Ranking all the M2s in FL

[fireanddream]

Do I understand correctly, the turret configuration also switches lasers?

Does that mean:


- If the ship has sufficient lasers, when set to attack fighters, the turrets will autoswitch lasers?
- If (as in the example above) the priorities are missile defence>attack capital>attack fighter the guns will switch dynamically in midfight ?

Of course. Not only so, they will analyze the shield/hull damage of a weapon, maybe even the bullet speed, to determine which guns to use under what circumstances. That's why I talk about PPC/GC switch so much because autoswitching to GC after PPC brings the shield down will kill capitals like 40% faster.

[Sovereign01]

It's always interesting watching your turrets switch lasers during a skirmish, it's why it's a good idea to carry a variety of weaponry to cover as many bases as you can.

I'll have to configure the turrets on my M2s a bit differently since unlike with M7s, most of them do not have a main battery I can control directly so I need to set them to attack my target.

I'm going to have to balance the loadouts of ships that can mount the IC/PPC/GC because of the enormous amount of cargo space the Ion Cannon takes up, in the case of the Megalodon up to 36 of the things compared to 24 for the Phoenix with the same cargo capacity. Were it not for the 2km range advantage the Photon Pulse enjoys I'd forego it completely for ships that can mount the Ion and Gauss cannons.

[Brinnie]

Do I understand correctly, the turret configuration also switches lasers?

Does that mean:


- If the ship has sufficient lasers, when set to attack fighters, the turrets will autoswitch lasers?
- If (as in the example above) the priorities are missile defence>attack capital>attack fighter the guns will switch dynamically in midfight ?

Of course. Not only so, they will analyze the shield/hull damage of a weapon, maybe even the bullet speed, to determine which guns to use under what circumstances. That's why I talk about PPC/GC switch so much because autoswitching to GC after PPC brings the shield down will kill capitals like 40% faster.

I didn't know that, actually I was under the impression that AI ships (belonging to the player) were particularly bad at target/gun assessment - like firing anti-capital ship weapons at any target as soon as they came into weapons range, even if that would be PPC vs M5. So I also, mistakenly, believed that the only way to give freedom of choice on the arsenal to the AI would be with the assistance of scripts like: CODEA, MEFOS, SMART, etc... and I personally use WSE to manually change weapons for the bigger ships.

What puzzles me is how do the ships cope with the custom config that you set up, with missile defence and attack capital instruction, I mean it would seem that they would have to choose either one or the other. Basically if they install antimissile weapons they would take a battering from the capital ships as long as there are active missile threats.

Also what do they favour in choice of weapons per category, meaning for ex. against fighters PACs, PBE, etc?

Could you explain if possible how you set them up to autoswitch between PPC and GC.


@Sovereign01

Yes I will be doing a bit of turret watching.


ps. does all the above applies to M3s too?

[fireanddream]

I didn't know that, actually I was under the impression that AI ships (belonging to the player) were particularly bad at target/gun assessment - like firing anti-capital ship weapons at any target as soon as they came into weapons range, even if that would be PPC vs M5. So I also, mistakenly, believed that the only way to give freedom of choice on the arsenal to the AI would be with the assistance of scripts like: CODEA, MEFOS, SMART, etc... and I personally use WSE to manually change weapons for the bigger ships.

What puzzles me is how do the ships cope with the custom config that you set up, with missile defence and attack capital instruction, I mean it would seem that they would have to choose either one or the other. Basically if they install antimissile weapons they would take a battering from the capital ships as long as there are active missile threats.

Also what do they favour in choice of weapons per category, meaning for ex. against fighters PACs, PBE, etc?

Could you explain if possible how you set them up to autoswitch between PPC and GC.


@Sovereign01

Yes I will be doing a bit of turret watching.


ps. does all the above applies to M3s too?

I have seen AI ships switching into faster projectile weapons against fighters, but I could be imagining it. However, I also think they don't distinguish between all the fighter/corvette weapons in terms of projectile speed. I personally recommend turret switching for only the heavy weapons and beam weapons to reduce battle field chaos.

Fighters can turret switch if you toggle on autoswitch for a particular command that the turrets are running. "Attack fighters" default to autoswitch: off, but if you change it to on and set a turret on a fighter to "attack fighters", it will switch. It's command bound, not ship bound.

The commands will strictly follow the priorities set by you, and therefore I have "missile defense" at a very low priority for turrets I know would be focusing on capital ships, for example, the frontal/left/right turrets on an M2.

[fireanddream]

It's always interesting watching your turrets switch lasers during a skirmish, it's why it's a good idea to carry a variety of weaponry to cover as many bases as you can.

I'll have to configure the turrets on my M2s a bit differently since unlike with M7s, most of them do not have a main battery I can control directly so I need to set them to attack my target.

I'm going to have to balance the loadouts of ships that can mount the IC/PPC/GC because of the enormous amount of cargo space the Ion Cannon takes up, in the case of the Megalodon up to 36 of the things compared to 24 for the Phoenix with the same cargo capacity. Were it not for the 2km range advantage the Photon Pulse enjoys I'd forego it completely for ships that can mount the Ion and Gauss cannons.

Ah yes, 2km is quite a few volleys, even more if the two ships are not flying towards each other. Overall I find IC to be fairly underwhelming considering how bringing down the shield is a minor part of destroying a ship. Losing that 2km range almost puts the IC at an even ground with the PPC, although the sheer amount of damage from IC always astonish me whenever I get to see it.

[Hwitvlf]

The Turret priority list was added during Albion Prelude and was a massive change to the flexibility of playerships. It gives the player access to the same turret controls which the NPC ships use. They seem to swap weapons largely based upon target's speed and range.

Personally, I don't prefer auto-switching weapons as I need to know exactly how my ship's weapons will behave in order to choose targets and angles correctly. I use the config I pictured for beam weapons only since they can target anything from Capitals to fast moving missiles. As per the settings, they'll target missiles first, capitals second and so on. "Protect Ship" is included for fighter drones as they don't seem to be considered fighters. The "Attack my Target" is included so that I can choose to fire on TS/TP ships or stations.

[Sovereign01]

The Turret priority list was added during Albion Prelude and was a massive change to the flexibility of playerships. It gives the player access to the same turret controls which the NPC ships use. They seem to swap weapons largely based upon target's speed and range.

Personally, I don't prefer auto-switching weapons as I need to know exactly how my ship's weapons will behave in order to choose targets and angles correctly. I use the config I pictured for beam weapons only since they can target anything from Capitals to fast moving missiles. As per the settings, they'll target missiles first, capitals second and so on. "Protect Ship" is included for fighter drones as they don't seem to be considered fighters. The "Attack my Target" is included so that I can choose to fire on TS/TP ships or stations.

Weirdly, I've found that when equipped on the Pteranodon the ship and the PALC really struggles against fighters since it often uses weapons other than the beams and it takes a long time to clear out those pesky Xenon fighters. Perhaps I should add some PBEs to the mix.

[Jimmy C]

Correctly prioritized, PALC turrets can handle anything on Ptera. You're engaging an M2, the turret keeps it hit. It fires a Firestorm! Turret detonates it, then turns back on the M2. Meanwhile, turrets with no LoS on the M2 hit whatever enemies they can see.