Advice

[FULLSENDALLTHETIME]

IS a PA tha good? is it better than the railgun?
Should i get my railgun back?
what do i do? keep it?

[Nfected]

I Love PA's. If you can lead shots, they can do ridiculous amounts of damage to Shields and hull. In fact, 60% of their raw damage goes straight through without reductions by resistances - the remaining 40% is 20% Kinetic and 20% Thermic

Other than power requirements, I'd recommend PA over Rails any day

Might be off with the numbers, but still

[Arya]

For my two cents, they're completely different guns and do two completely different and seperate things. There's no direct winner, more two playstyles and build pathways.

PAs are superb at short/medium range. As Der Auslander said they decimate shields and hull, backed up with Corrosive rounds they're absolutely devastating. They're also quite practical, they don't use ridiculous amounts of power or capacitor and they're pretty good on heat.

PAs have another unique talent; they exactly match the Muzzle Velocity of Fixed Cannons. So if you have a PA and a Fixed Cannon in the same firegroup, they'll have the same lead reticule and their shots will hit at the same point and time. Given the massive hull damage Fixed Cannons bring, it's an awesomely effective combo and brilliant against big targets.

Railguns are mostly a sniper weapon. Their key strengths are instant travel time and a massively long effective range. Fully modded your lethal range actually exceeds you sensor range, allowing you to snipe any target within eyesight. They're truly excellent at extreme-range combat, especially on a very fast ship that can control distance well.

Railguns pair well with Seeker Missile and Pack Hounds. This combo will never match the DPS of a Cannon or PA based build at short range, but it isn't exposed to short-range return fire the way PA builds are. That makes it infinitely cheaper and safer, this build allows almost any small fast craft to hunt large targets without having to spend money on shields or armour, or an expensive brawler hull.

So which is better? It depends on whether you want a shotgun or a sniper rifle.

[NikkiLiz]

GET THE RAIL GUN BACK! GET IT BACK!

THE PA IS WORTHLESS!!!

Srsly tho, the PA is much harder to land shots on small targets more than 1km away with. That stupid little plasma orb is the slowest traveling weapon in the game, next to missiles. The rails are instant (after that little charging). Once you get the timing down, you'll never miss again.

Also, Size 2 Rails damage armor like a Size 3 weapon, meaning no damage penalty against Large ships, meaning you don't have to 'waste' a Large or a Huge hardpoint on one.

[Arya]

Originally posted by TheBoot >:o:

Srsly tho, the PA is much harder to land shots on small targets more than 1km away with. That stupid little plasma orb is the slowest traveling weapon in the game, next to missiles. The rails are instant (after that little charging). Once you get the timing down, you'll never miss again.

Also, Size 2 Rails damage armor like a Size 3 weapon, meaning no damage penalty against Large ships, meaning you don't have to 'waste' a Large or a Huge hardpoint on one.

That's not true anymore. It's been buffed so that it travels the same speed as a cannon shell, more than fast enough to tag smaller targets. The slowest moving projectile is the Pack Hound missile.

[Nfected]

Originally posted by TheBoot >:o:

GET THE RAIL GUN BACK! GET IT BACK!

THE PA IS WORTHLESS!!!

Srsly tho, the PA is much harder to land shots on small targets more than 1km away with. That stupid little plasma orb is the slowest traveling weapon in the game, next to missiles. The rails are instant (after that little charging). Once you get the timing down, you'll never miss again.

Also, Size 2 Rails damage armor like a Size 3 weapon, meaning no damage penalty against Large ships, meaning you don't have to 'waste' a Large or a Huge hardpoint on one.

You convinced me to use High yield Cannons, and they have the same speed as a PA - just learn to lead shots and you'll do just fine

[Arya]

Originally posted by Der Auslander:

You convinced me to use High yield Cannons, and they have the same speed as a PA - just learn to lead shots and you'll do just fine

To be fair, Boot's advice is correct, just not up to date. Before the last patch PA shots were miserably slow, making the guns hopeless against anything smaller than a Conda.

[Nfected]

Originally posted by 狼 Wolfey:

Originally posted by Der Auslander:

You convinced me to use High yield Cannons, and they have the same speed as a PA - just learn to lead shots and you'll do just fine

To be fair, Boot's advice is correct, just not up to date. Before the last patch PA shots were miserably slow, making the guns hopeless against anything smaller than a Conda.

They were, yes. I stubbornly kept using my PA on a Python because I wanted to learn how to lead shots. SInce the buff, they're both fun and devastating to use

Pulling heavy lead pre buff threw off all my fixed and gimbal weapons too lol

[NikkiLiz]

Originally posted by 狼 Wolfey:

That's not true anymore. It's been buffed so that it travels the same speed as a cannon shell, more than fast enough to tag smaller targets. The slowest moving projectile is the Pack Hound missile.

Originally posted by Der Auslander:

You convinced me to use High yield Cannons, and they have the same speed as a PA - just learn to lead shots and you'll do just fine

I'm pretty sure I also mentioned I vastly prefer MCs over Cannons! I'm not a huge fan of cannons at ALL (I hate how often they miss small ships at range, even when gimballed), but that doesn't mean they can't be effective.

PAs can also be effective... as a short-range weapon. Maybe long range if you're stellar with it.

But I find rails easier and better. Super Penetrator is <3!

[Nfected]

Originally posted by TheBoot >:o:

Originally posted by 狼 Wolfey:

That's not true anymore. It's been buffed so that it travels the same speed as a cannon shell, more than fast enough to tag smaller targets. The slowest moving projectile is the Pack Hound missile.

Originally posted by Der Auslander:

You convinced me to use High yield Cannons, and they have the same speed as a PA - just learn to lead shots and you'll do just fine

I'm pretty sure I also mentioned I vastly prefer MCs over Cannons! I'm not a huge fan of cannons at ALL (I hate how often they miss small ships at range, even when gimballed), but that doesn't mean they can't be effective.

PAs can also be effective... as a short-range weapon. Maybe long range if you're stellar with it.

But I find rails easier and better. Super Penetrator is <3!

I can hit targets up to .5-.8km with Cannons and PA's now, so that's something. Problem with Rails is they're too power demanding, but hit well above their weight otherwise

...I'm probably still going to cycle through weapons again once I have Corvette Rep and money - Dual PA's sounds beautiful anyways

[Arya]

Originally posted by Der Auslander:

I can hit targets up to .5-.8km with Cannons and PA's now, so that's something. Problem with Rails is they're too power demanding, but hit well above their weight otherwise

...I'm probably still going to cycle through weapons again once I have Corvette Rep and money - Dual PA's sounds beautiful anyways

I can confirm from personal experience that two Huge Fixed Cannons works great on a Corvette. A good friend of mine flies a Vette with that setup and it absolutely nukes whatever he points it at.

[Nfected]

Originally posted by 狼 Wolfey:

Originally posted by Der Auslander:

I can hit targets up to .5-.8km with Cannons and PA's now, so that's something. Problem with Rails is they're too power demanding, but hit well above their weight otherwise

...I'm probably still going to cycle through weapons again once I have Corvette Rep and money - Dual PA's sounds beautiful anyways

I can confirm from personal experience that two Huge Fixed Cannons works great on a Corvette. A good friend of mine flies a Vette with that setup and it absolutely nukes whatever he points it at.

I suppose it really depends on whether or not Mr Bill Turner gets his 50T of Bromelite after Todd soups me up 2 Huge cannons

[FULLSENDALLTHETIME]

Well.... im in i weak cobra... so ill just stick with rails.
Rails are hitscan, and can be used at any range (i guess?). long range, point and shoot, close range, aim for powerplant.
Although testing with the plasma Acc... i dont like it. The only good thing i got from is when i shot an adder at the power plant, it brought it from perfectly fine to almost destroyed.
As a warthunder player, lead makers are guarenteed to hit at least .50MI or shorter.
Could just be aim, but im going with rails.

[yminale]

Plasma's are the Elephant guns of the Elite-dangerverse. It's the only way "small" ships can take on the big ships.

[NikkiLiz]

Originally posted by yminale:

Plasma's are the Elephant guns of the Elite-dangerverse. It's the only way "small" ships can take on the big ships.

Not even close. Rails are also scary. As are Rev Cascade Torpedos and Mines. Lots of ways for a DBS or Asp to take down the big ships.

[Nfected]

Originally posted by TheBoot >:o:

Originally posted by yminale:

Plasma's are the Elephant guns of the Elite-dangerverse. It's the only way "small" ships can take on the big ships.

Not even close. Rails are also scary. As are Rev Cascade Torpedos and Mines. Lots of ways for a DBS or Asp to take down the big ships.

I'd argue the PA absolute damage makes them more dangerous than rails, but both are scary