Best way to use missiles?

[Tok]

They have long range, but i think they need to get a lock before firing, which takes a while, right? Wonder how other people use them?
Skills? "missile weapon system" seems good, but what about "targeting control systems", does that help with the missile lock?

[LeftIsBest-James]

Missiles are bad against shielded ships.
If you engage at long-range, their sheilds tend to be at full charge.
Missile are great against Behemoth ships when their shields are down.
I would use a missile to convince a ship to 'evade' while I'm targeting his buddies.

Explore turrets. Ballistics/Lasers/EM.

The trick with turrets is:
- deciding which direction to place them (limited firing arc)
- remembering to present the broadside in combat (don't show your belly, if guns are topside)

I would wait for BGS improve missile effectiveness, or players to come up with a better strat.

[Prowl]

The range is really just a case of how long they can lock on for. they are useless as first strike weapons (unless maybe you have good skills with target locking speed). Where I use missiles (I don't currently) is to just put 1 point in them so they charge slowly but if you put say four batteries in you can use them as an alpha strike when in close and you need to blitz a target down.

I personally like particle cannons and specifically turret based ones. They just melt things. As a 3rd option I have suppressors for when I want to board or capture a ship.

[ayrtep]

Since you only need to put one bar in them to get good use, its always worth adding them if you have the space.

Use them as an emergency weapon or finisher. As you are only putting one bar into them, they do not reload that quickly but still do their full damage.

[Micheal]

I feel that Missles shred shields, at least in the Ranger ship you can get

[dulany67]

I use them for burst damage after shields are down. Particle beams for basic attacks. And turrets for defense.

There are different ways to do it, but I like the battles to be interactive for fun.

[Karol13]

maybe not related... but I wonder:

without locking enemy ship - missiles basically are destined to miss (unless the ship is like 200 or less meters away)

Locking enemy ship starts below 2000 meters.

Missiles have a reach of 4000 meters

So, what's the point having a missile with incredible reach, when I cannot lock on enemy ship beyond 2000m of distance?

[ayrtep]

Is there anywhere in the game where we attack stations or other fixed formations? That is when long missile ranges will be useful.

[Prowl]

Originally posted by Karol13:

maybe not related... but I wonder:

without locking enemy ship - missiles basically are destined to miss (unless the ship is like 200 or less meters away)

Locking enemy ship starts below 2000 meters.

Missiles have a reach of 4000 meters

So, what's the point having a missile with incredible reach, when I cannot lock on enemy ship beyond 2000m of distance?

If the target moves away from the missile the missile has a range it can then follow that target for. That is the purpose of the range. Problem though is the need to stay locked on.

[StormhawkV]

If the target suddenly gains distance it's most likely because it started boosting which breaks the lock anyway. There's no reason not to use particle weapons exclusively.

[Tok]

So, particle is better then missiles?
What do peoples weapon loadout generally look like? On one of my ships, i have a 3000 range weapon, one short laser vs shields and one short cannon versus armor, is there a better loadout?

Edit: Actually seems like i, sometimes atleast at short range, just spam every gun.. Not always.

[fauxpas]

In the current balance there is no real reason not to use particle beams exclusively.

So the ideal loadout is ...


Particle Beams
EM (only power up if you want to take a ship alive)
Particle Beam Turrets

[Langkard]

Originally posted by fauxpas:

In the current balance there is no real reason not to use particle beams exclusively.

So the ideal loadout is ...


Particle Beams
EM (only power up if you want to take a ship alive)
Particle Beam Turrets

I do the same. Technically, Atlatl missiles do the most damage, but the target lock takes so much time that just using a high end particle beam is much quicker and a more efficient use of power.

[ParatrooperGR]

Best way to use missiles is to sell and replace them :)

[AoD_lexandro]

I disagree. Ballistic weapons tear through ships hulls in seconds. The ideal loadout imo is PB & ballistic to get maximum hull damage per shot. PB to punch the shields down & the combined hull damage from both vaporises ships. I Ignore EM and missiles completely as they are extremely power hungry and far too situational, Stealing is easy so EM is a waste and missiles have too little punch and take too long to strike a target.

Vanguard PB & Vanguard Cannons = EZ mode. And it does not even need that much power because Vanguard stuff is 2 power requirement each.

[fauxpas]

Originally posted by AoD_lexandro:

I disagree. Ballistic weapons tear through ships hulls in seconds. The ideal loadout imo is PB & ballistic to get maximum hull damage per shot. PB to punch the shields down & the combined hull damage from both vaporises ships. I Ignore EM and missiles completely as they are extremely power hungry and far too situational, Stealing is easy so EM is a waste and missiles have too little punch and take too long to strike a target.

Vanguard PB & Vanguard Cannons = EZ mode. And it does not even need that much power because Vanguard stuff is 2 power requirement each.

Sure, but give me a Pip (2) weapon and I'm bolting six of them on my ship. 😎