Huge Hardpoints- Why?...

[Gamatech]

Hi all o7

I've had a Fer-De-Lance for a while now, but always wondered why the hardpoint mount on my ship's belly is so grossly oversized for my guns and possesses seemingly enough tourque to pull a station from orbit. Thanks to a recent newb "eureka" moment, I discovered I can mount a huge hardpoint on the damned thing. Go figure.

But... why the heck would I ever want to do that?... I've been looking at a number of huge hardpoints I could mount on my ship, but they all seem so lackluster. I'm obviously just going by the stats on paper (because bugger paying 14 mill credits just for a test run), but none of them are even close to as good as my smaller class 2 or 3 hardpoints.

They have lower dps (assuming you land the hits in the first place), higher weights, they cost an absolute BOMB, and their fire rates are generally abysmal! The only advantages I see are the burst damage and their drool-inducing good looks.

I'm obviously missing something here, so could someone please enlighten me? The way I see it, anything they can do my smaller guns can do better!

[Edelweiss ✿]

Yes, you're missing the damage output.

[NikkiLiz]

It's all about the Burst Damage. FDLs are made to take out large ships by bringing down their shields, and then using that huge hardpoint to take out modules (Power Plant, FSD, or Thrusters, usually). It can also be used to shred smaller ships. It just takes a good deal of skill to land the hits on fixed weapons, and the Power Plant is really too small to mount a beam weapon unless its G5 Efficient and the PP is Overcharged.

I've never liked the FDL, personally. It's like flying a paper Python: faster, but will burst into flames if a bigger ship so much as sneezes at it.

[Gamatech]

Originally posted by TheBoot >:o:

It's all about the Burst Damage. FDLs are made to take out large ships by bringing down their shields, and then using that huge hardpoint to take out modules (Power Plant, FSD, or Thrusters, usually). It can also be used to shred smaller ships. It just takes a good deal of skill to land the hits on fixed weapons, and the Power Plant is really too small to mount a beam weapon unless its G5 Efficient and the PP is Overcharged.

I've never liked the FDL, personally. It's like flying a paper Python: faster, but will burst into flames if a bigger ship so much as sneezes at it.

I was unaware you could even target systems like that, is it somewhat simmilar to War Thunder? In that game you can target particular areas such as the hydraulic lines, fuel tanks, and ammo racks.

[Gamatech]

Originally posted by Edelweiss ✿:

Yes, you're missing the damage output.

The damage output is somewhat the same as dps and burst damage. As nice as it is to have a massive one-hit punch, if the dps doesn't stack up alongside it then my tier 2 hardpoints can dish out just as much if not more hurt.

[NikkiLiz]

Originally posted by POEX Gamatech:

I was unaware you could even target systems like that, is it somewhat simmilar to War Thunder? In that game you can target particular areas such as the hydraulic lines, fuel tanks, and ammo racks.

Never played War Thunder, but yup, sounds exactly like that. You can target any module the enemy has, and if you destroy the Power Plant, their ship is dead in the water and can't do anything.

It's on the menu bound to your '1' key that you can select what to target. I think there's also a hotkey in the key bindings you can set to cycle through modules. I just use that.

[NikkiLiz]

Originally posted by POEX Gamatech:

The damage output is somewhat the same as dps and burst damage. As nice as it is to have a massive one-hit punch, if the dps doesn't stack up alongside it then my tier 2 hardpoints can dish out just as much if not more hurt.

Huge hardpoints hurt a LOT more then medium ones. A LOT. Especially against larger ships. Small hardpoints have a damage penalty against Medium and Large ships, medium have a penalty against Large ships.

This is only for armor, however, hardpoints of all sizes affect shields at the default dps.

Also, Huge mounts typically have a bonus over their Large/Medium counterparts, such as 'splash' damage, penetration, or just higher DPS.

I use a Huge Efficient Beam on my Cutter because I like stripping shields fast and I hate resupplying for ammo. Other than power conservation, there is no reason to use a Large Beam weapon in that slot.

[Gamatech]

Great! Thanks for the tips Boot :)

[One Eye Jack]

Come on man!

Bigger IS better!.......if she says otherwise she is just being poiite.

[NikkiLiz]

Originally posted by astroknott58:

Come on man!

Bigger IS better!.......if she says otherwise she is just being poiite.

#realtalk

[Gamatech]

Originally posted by TheBoot >:o:

Originally posted by POEX Gamatech:

I was unaware you could even target systems like that, is it somewhat simmilar to War Thunder? In that game you can target particular areas such as the hydraulic lines, fuel tanks, and ammo racks.

Never played War Thunder, but yup, sounds exactly like that. You can target any module the enemy has, and if you destroy the Power Plant, their ship is dead in the water and can't do anything.

It's on the menu bound to your '1' key that you can select what to target. I think there's also a hotkey in the key bindings you can set to cycle through modules. I just use that.

Well, i've taken your advise but my targets always seem to die conventionally before the module i'm targeting even gets down to half health. Sometimes it doesn't take any damage at all! Am I doing something wrong? Or do I need to go for bigger prey for module targetting to make a difference?

So far I've been shooting Cobras, Vipers, and diamondbacks. My loadout is 2x gimballed miniguns, 2x gimballed burst lasers (one huge), and 1x fixed railgun (to help take down shields). All my target ships either reach 0% health before the modules are taken out, or their modules just seem to take no damage at all.

[Gamatech]

Originally posted by astroknott58:

Come on man!

Bigger IS better!.......if she says otherwise she is just being poiite.

Hardy har har

[NikkiLiz]

Originally posted by POEX Gamatech:

Well, i've taken your advise but my targets always seem to die conventionally before the module i'm targeting even gets down to half health. Sometimes it doesn't take any damage at all! Am I doing something wrong? Or do I need to go for bigger prey for module targetting to make a difference?

So far I've been shooting Cobras, Vipers, and diamondbacks. My loadout is 2x gimballed miniguns, 2x gimballed burst lasers (one huge), and 1x fixed railgun (to help take down shields). All my target ships either reach 0% health before the modules are taken out, or their modules just seem to take no damage at all.

Yes, unless they are unusually tanky, targetting smaller ships modules isn't very effective since they're a very tiny target moving around a lot and gimballs have a bit of 'jitter' in their aim. That is mostly for larger, slower ships.

On the whole, don't use a railgun to take down shields, I'd say. It works, but they really shine at hull and module destruction (especially engineered with Super Pen). I wouldn't waste your one Huge on a laser, but that's just me. 4 smaller burst would do just fine at taking down shields, leaving you with a Huge weapon of your choice to shred armor with. Even on my Cutter, I only use a Huge Beam weapon because I have the MCs to apply the debuff and lower the armor's resistance to thermal damage.

If power is a concern, I'm also a fan of seeker missiles, they're good for finishing off prey once you've got their shields down (don't use missiles agianst shields), but don't have much ammo. Overall, play around, see what works for you! I've done all-kinetic builds featuring nothing but Multi-cannons and Missiles, or Multi-cannons and Cannons before to rather surprising effectiveness. Hurts your long-range game quite a bit, but if you don't mind having to go reload every 5-6 kills, MCs are pretty good at taking down shields.

I've gone the other way, too, where I didn't want to reload EVER and just went all-thermal. Maybe try dual railguns and three burst lasers. If I remember right, the FDL's main problem is the Power Plant, so I'd also suggest getting that modded with Overcharge as soon as you can to free up some power for more loadout freedom.

[Edelweiss ✿]

Originally posted by POEX Gamatech:

Originally posted by TheBoot >:o:

Never played War Thunder, but yup, sounds exactly like that. You can target any module the enemy has, and if you destroy the Power Plant, their ship is dead in the water and can't do anything.

It's on the menu bound to your '1' key that you can select what to target. I think there's also a hotkey in the key bindings you can set to cycle through modules. I just use that.

Well, i've taken your advise but my targets always seem to die conventionally before the module i'm targeting even gets down to half health. Sometimes it doesn't take any damage at all! Am I doing something wrong? Or do I need to go for bigger prey for module targetting to make a difference?

So far I've been shooting Cobras, Vipers, and diamondbacks. My loadout is 2x gimballed miniguns, 2x gimballed burst lasers (one huge), and 1x fixed railgun (to help take down shields). All my target ships either reach 0% health before the modules are taken out, or their modules just seem to take no damage at all.

Only thing worth targeting is the powerplant, or the drives if pirating. Even then, small ships will usually blow up before that. It's for larger ships so you can disable them

[Gamatech]

Originally posted by TheBoot >:o:

Yes, unless they are unusually tanky, targetting smaller ships modules isn't very effective since they're a very tiny target moving around a lot and gimballs have a bit of 'jitter' in their aim. That is mostly for larger, slower ships.

On the whole, don't use a railgun to take down shields, I'd say. It works, but they really shine at hull and module destruction (especially engineered with Super Pen). I wouldn't waste your one Huge on a laser, but that's just me. 4 smaller burst would do just fine at taking down shields, leaving you with a Huge weapon of your choice to shred armor with. Even on my Cutter, I only use a Huge Beam weapon because I have the MCs to apply the debuff and lower the armor's resistance to thermal damage.

If power is a concern, I'm also a fan of seeker missiles, they're good for finishing off prey once you've got their shields down (don't use missiles agianst shields), but don't have much ammo. Overall, play around, see what works for you! I've done all-kinetic builds featuring nothing but Multi-cannons and Missiles, or Multi-cannons and Cannons before to rather surprising effectiveness. Hurts your long-range game quite a bit, but if you don't mind having to go reload every 5-6 kills, MCs are pretty good at taking down shields.

I've gone the other way, too, where I didn't want to reload EVER and just went all-thermal. Maybe try dual railguns and three burst lasers. If I remember right, the FDL's main problem is the Power Plant, so I'd also suggest getting that modded with Overcharge as soon as you can to free up some power for more loadout freedom.

Thanks again for the effort put into your responses.

In all my time playing so far, nothing for me has even come CLOSE to matching the effectiveness of 3x railguns and 2x miniguns. I will mess around with that from what you told me about railguns not being great for shields. Nothing I ever try gets me better results than that loadout, but with that new information in mind I'll keep a-tweakin.

[NikkiLiz]

Originally posted by POEX Gamatech:

Thanks again for the effort put into your responses.

In all my time playing so far, nothing for me has even come CLOSE to matching the effectiveness of 3x railguns and 2x miniguns. I will mess around with that from what you told me about railguns not being great for shields. Nothing I ever try gets me better results than that loadout, but with that new information in mind I'll keep a-tweakin.

I have no doubt that it kills fast, but even with the improvement they made to Railgun ammo, it can still be a huge pile of suck that runs out of ammo FAST, especially when paired with MCs.

There's also a mod, can't remember what it calls, that replaces ammo for railguns with fuel, so your fuel becomes the ammo and you can shoot a lot more, then just cruise over to the sun to re-supply.

That said, you gotta do what works for you, and if you're cool with something, just fly with it and let no one tell you otherwise! If you're not actively combatting and just doing missions, it's a lot easier to ignore ammo, but if you're bounty hunting or CZing, then longevity becomes a pretty important factor and having finite ammo quickly becomes a chore.