Railgun tips needed.

[pug]

I currently have a 500mm rail cannon I'm making, since this will be my first time I'd like some tips.

I've got rail casings, HE charges, a pen depth fuse, and a AP capped head for my shell currently. It's 4m long. Is this suitable for a railgun?

And what would be the best way to use a railgun? Are they better than conventional advanced cannons?

[Yaro97]

From what Ive tried and seen on here railguns are actually most effective in smaller projectiles because it gives it absurd speeds.

That said I have tried messing around with large caliber railguns to test similar things as you, large shells packed with HE with a pen fuse, it was largely inconclusive. I always felt like the amount of resources that would go into it wasn't proportional to how effective it is. I think large caliber EMP railguns with the aim point might be good because it can target the modules in the center and have the pen to get close enough to bypass a large amount of armor/minor modules.

I havent personally tested the small calliber railguns, that still might be the best choice though.

[pug]

Smaller calibre meaning what? 200mm, 100mm?

[Admiral Obvious]

Originally posted by -Lt. Pugsley-:

Smaller calibre meaning what? 200mm, 100mm?

Ideally less.

[pug]

I've been doing tests and honestly the 500mm does way better in combat. I made a 120 mm gun that fires every 4 seconds. Had amazing Ap but it barely ever did anything. The HE didnt do much for it, so I switched it out with Sabot and solid body, just went right through. I used fragmentation and that seemed to work nice but not nearly as good as the 500mm. And the smalled gun has rows of charging rails, whilst the 500mm had 2. Am I doing something wrong here?

[hellatze]

1. dont ever use spinal mount railgun (spinal means big gun in ship. never worth it).
2. make sure you have 20 AP (the damage that beat metal beam). 10 in early games.
3. power must conserve. having railgun means better AP but waste electricity. lead bigger ships : big target. never use railgun on small ships.
4. RTG are usefull for charge battery but expensive. better than fuel engine.
5. add magnet and longer barrel. for AP and velocity
6. railgun casing are useless. dont rely on it too much

[pug]

Do smaller railguns work better with frag or HE parts?

[Admiral Obvious]

Originally posted by -Lt. Pugsley-:

Do smaller railguns work better with frag or HE parts?

Smaller railguns usually work better with frag parts, as far as I'm aware, since each pellet does the same damage unless you add too much, and each pellet does more.

[Yaro97]

I did a bit of testing yesterday and found a 18mm railgun with belt fed and a 1000 energy spent was amazingly fun. Got it to fire at 1,000 Rpm and it was just a laser beam with 60+ AP

[pug]

I've just made a 150 mm gun which seems to have really nice range and it melts through armor. I'm putting it on my battlecruiser.

[Berserk Knight]

I found the hollowpoint head to work pretty well due to the massive kinetic damage increase from the railgun's increased speed.

[Legiaseth]

I did some testing, and the frag shells seem to rip through whole sections of enemy ships, the layout that worked best for me was to have a high caliber railgun with frag warheads set with different angles and a fuse that detonated them around 10/20 meters before impact, all the fragments spread but keep their velocity, thus making really high velocity small caliber pellets hit the target at various locations.

[pug]

I'll have to test out the hollow point, only this cruiser is meant to fight armored targets, which is why I used a railgun.

[Admiral Obvious]

Originally posted by -Lt. Pugsley-:

I'll have to test out the hollow point, only this cruiser is meant to fight armored targets, which is why I used a railgun.

Hollow point shells were basically meant to be used in railguns, that or very large, lots of powder guns.

They tend to rip wide holes into whatever they hit, especially if said whatever is made of wood.

[pug]

So if I use solid body with Hollow point that would be good? Also do Sabot shells effect frag shells or just HE?

[Admiral Obvious]

Originally posted by -Lt. Pugsley-:

So if I use solid body with Hollow point that would be good? Also do Sabot shells effect frag shells or just HE?

Sabot affects all forms of explosives, including Frag.

Solid bodies with hollow point are pretty much the only way to go.