On Outfitting: Part 2, Fighters, Experimental and AX Weapons
03 Apr 2021Kissamies
The last part got long, so I split some of it to a second part. We could call this the "unengineerable offensive systems" as opposed to the regular weapons. This will be divided into three distinct parts: The Human Tech Broker weapons, the Guardian and AX weapons, and finally the ship launched fighters. The first category I only use experientally. The second category is — rather artifically, IMO — required against the Thargoid interceptors. The final category I use mostly because it's fun.First of all the Human experimentals:
Enzyme Missile Rack. I wouldn't recommend it. Its caustic effect is really weak compared to the one Thargoids have and it even doesn't work through shields. It's also tricky to aim in the same way as the explosive missiles. It could be used to troll some newbie who doesn't know what caustic damage is, but otherwise it's much more effective just to blow the enemies up.
Perhaps the enchanced Marlinist version of this weapon will prove worthwhile. Only the time will tell.
Remote Release Flechette Launcher. I don't have a ton of experience with it, but my impression is that its a bit weak and tricky to use. It penetrates the shields and causes module damage. Could be massed against shield tanks, but the build would have too much opportunity cost. Maybe I'll try it some day. Shares mechanics with the Flak Launcher in the next section.
Shock Cannon. A neat weapon, but the ammo capacity is absolutely horrible. I have tried it in some assassination missions, and it gets the job done but not impressively so. The ammo capacity should be tripled, IMO.
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Then the Guardian and Human Anti-Xeno weapons. This will contain some ranting about how things should be. You have been warned:
Guardian Gauss Cannon. The best weapon against Thargoid Interceptors. Kills Scouts fine as well. There is no reason to use anything else if you want to be as efficient as possible. It's hitscan and has a good armor piercing value, which is needed because Thargoids have a lot of hardness. The weakness is the railgun-like ammo count, which might theoretically make you want to save ammo for heart sniping. However, the other weapons are so much worse for the heart exertion that many people rather just synthesize more ammo.
Remote Release Flak Launcher. The only other weapon you really need for an Interceptor fight. It kills the swarm, not much else to say. Learn it. The projectile has same kind of behavior as the missiles. It doesn't inherit firing craft's velocity. Ammo is cheap to synth, but I think there might be use for a large variant, which would otherwise same as the medium but had more ammo.
AX Multi-Cannon. Has a niche in Scout killing. The turreted version is popular for that. Could be used to whittle down the hearts of the lower end Interceptors as well.
Guardian Plasma Charger. A very pretty weapon with an unique mechanic. Ammo efficient if you lean towards using the charged shot all the time. The large variant can be used for heart exertion for up to Basilisk, but doesn't hold the candle to Gauss. Hitting hearts is hard, but it really isn't meant for that, IMO. Killing Scouts is challenging, but satisfying. What cripples the PC is the low damage dropoff range of 1 km and armor piercing value that can't match the crazy hardness the more advanced Interceptor variants have. Upgrades akin to the Focused engineering would fix these. More piercing, better damage dropoff. Better shot speed wouldn't hurt either. The turreted version can only be used in multicrew.
Guardian Shard Cannon. I like the concept: a high risk-high yield weapon that can deal a lot of damage if you go within the range of the Thargoid's deadliest weapons. It can hit the hearts somewhat and the partially thermal damage is good for eroding the shield. Exerts Cyclops hearts well, but hardness rapidly becomes a problem with tougher interceptor variants. If it only could also kill swarm, it'd be good jack of all trades weapon. Ammo capacity is fine, though I think it spends a bit too much time reloading. Extremely light distributor draw. Against the Scouts, too many of the shards miss even when you get a nice deflection shot at full profile. I think it could use a slightly tighter spread. The turreted version works without multicrew, but only fires at 500 meters or closer.
The Shard Cannon can also be used to gib a Cyclops by using premium ammo or multiple commanders, but this is just a party trick. Not really scalable against the harder variants and, I imagine, harder to perform if the target is already hostile when it enters the battlefield, like in AX Conflict Zones.
AX Missile. Not worth it. Too weak and hard to aim too. Maybe it should afflict the Thargoids with the Mycoid virus, shutting down Interceptor's regeneration for a while and causing damage over time to Scouts.
Advanced Missile and Multi-Cannon. I use these with "why not?" principle in place of ordinary variants, but not for AX work. The missiles have more ammo, as discussed in previous part. The material cost for loading AX ammo for these is too punishing to seriously consider them for AX. It's a shame because they don't count towards the 4 experimental limit and can be engineered.
As for using the Guardian weapons against Humans, I wouldn't recommend it. They are no match for engineered weapons. I have used Shard Cannon with Pacifier to streamline cargo Python's main battery, but that's not meant to be the most ambitious loadout.
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Finally the Ship Launched Fighters, SLF for short. I like to use them quite a bit because I like to try some tactical trickery even though it rarely is as effective as raw power. It's also a nice change of pace to fly them myself from time to time. They are refreshingly fragile compared to my fully engineered murder boats. Finally it keeps the multicrew option open. Hopefully we can soon combine that with wing to make it more convenient. Hangars come in three differents sizes:
- 5 with 6 fighters in 1 bay. Usable if you are just an occasional or non-combat fighter user. For example, if you are willing to lose 32 tons of cargo on your freighter or miner for self defence, or on your exploration Conda for canyon racing and taking a real close look at things.
- 6 with 8/8 fighters. The optimum size. You get 2 different kinds to launch the second one while the first one is rebuilding and the number of rebuilds is good.
- 7 with 15/15 fighters. An overkill. Not even the most incompetent multicrew newbie is going to burn through all of those in one session. The closest I've come to actually needing this excess was in an AXCZ with random CMDRs invited in. I think it should be 8/8/8 fighters instead to give you more tools in your toolbox.
Now to what I actually go for, I like the Aegis variants in general for the extra performance, and the Gu-97 Aegis is the top of that. The other ones have better boost speed, though. Condor Rogue F's multicannons are very effective against hull once the shields are down and WEP power is the easiest of all the SLFs to manage, so this fighter is very common in my hangar. Unlike one might expect, it doesn't have limited ammo. My recent experimentation has changed my view of the Gelid variant a bit. The brutal heat sink powered beam may have some use for short combats, like assassination missions or cargo ship defence. If so, Gelid F variant of Gu-97 would be my choice.
The AX/Guardian SLFs are a subject of their own. There is the AX1 F Taipan with AX Multicannons and the Guardian fighters that resemble the Gu-97. The AX combat consists of fighting Scouts or fighting Interceptors. The Taipan is really only useful for the former. The Guardian ones can be used for both. Note that when fighting Interceptors, the swarm kills the fighters very fast, so if you want to use the fighters to add some DPS for you, you need to kill the swarm before launching. Some people just use them for swarm bait, but I don't think that's a very effective strategy. The interceptors themselves ignore the SLFs. On the Individual Guardian fighters (yes, I've unlocked them all):
- XG7 Trident, the one with plasma. I think this is the most balanced one and the only one of the 3 that doesn't run out of ammo. I use it against humans too because it's pretty.
- XG8 Javelin, the shard one. Effective for exerting the hearts of easier interceptors. Has general Shard Cannon problems described above.
- XG9 Lance, gauss. The best for all the same reasons the Gauss Cannon is the best AX weapon. Most consistent heart exerter and can snipe at them too when piloted by CMDRs. Kills Scouts real well too.