So we’ve got the basic outfitting of ships out of the way. Now we can look at the more complicated subjects of weapons.
Weapons, like modules, come in different sizes. Class 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Weapons do NOT come in different Grades though. They are assigned a grade, but no other grades are available for that particular weapon, so if someone refers to a C2 Gimballed Multicannon, they mean a Class 2 Gimballed Multicannon. The grade of this weapon is F but this makes no difference.
Different ships have a different number of hardpoints available and these differ in size. They also greatly differ in their placement on ships.
To take the Viper and Cobra as examples, the Viper has 2 x C2 and 2 x C1 hardpoints, all closely packed allowing for good weapon convergence when using fixed weapons in all 4 slots. The Cobra has the same hardpoints but the 2 x C1s are placed out on the tips of the wings, meaning that they don’t offer the same convergence with fixed weapons. This means that an effective load out on a Viper may not be as effective on a Cobra even though they can fit the same weapons.
Weapons have a power usage, just as other modules, that add to the draw on the ship’s power plant. Weapons also have a second power usage that is not listed. This is their usage of the ships cooling system. This is represented as the weapons power reserve in the power distributer display on the right of the sensors panel in the cockpit.
When this reserve is depleted then weapons that draw more than the recharge rate of the distributor will be unable to fire. Also firing weapons when the reserve is low can lead to overheating of the ship.
Weapon Mounts:
(FIX) Shown as a Crosshair symbol.
Pros:
- Maximum damage.
- Slight gimballing allows near perfect aim at long range.
- Unaffected by chaff.
- Unaffected by target lock.
Cons:
- Hard to hit small targets at close range.
- Hard to target sub-systems.
- Hard to hit target if in close strafing battle
(GIM) Shown as a two ovals crossing symbol.
Pros:
- Easy to hit small targets at close range.
- Easy to target sub-systems.
- Easy to hit target if in close strafing battle.
- Can be unlocked from target to fire straight ahead like fixed, though they do not gain from the slight gimballing effect that fixed have.
Cons:
- Inaccurate against small targets over 800m away.
- Affected by chaff.
- Affected by target lock.
- 20-25% less damage than Fixed variant.
- Only 1% less cooling system power usage than fixed variant
(TUR) Shown as a small tank turret symbol.
Pros:
- Hardly affected by chaff.
- Can hit targets out of view.
- Can be placed in ‘Fire on Target’ mode.
- Can be placed in ‘Fire at Will’ mode.
- Can be placed in forward fire mode, though they do not gain from the slight gimballing effect that fixed have.
- Easy to hit small targets at close range.
- Easy to hit target if in close strafing battle.
- Uses approximately 40% less cooling system power than fixed variant.
Cons:
- Affected by target lock.
- 50-60% less damage than Fixed variant.
- Inability to change fire modes quickly.
- Inability to stop turrets firing without retracting weapons.
- Turrets may hit ‘Friendlies’.
Weapon Types:
There are three main types of weapons, Thermal, Kinetic and Explosive. Thermal weapons are lasers and kinetic weapons are projectile weapons. Explosive weapons are mines, missiles and torpedos.
I’ll discuss below the variants of each and then discuss the few weapons that lie outside this basic view.
Pulse Laser:
- The basic weapon, but still always one of the best.
- Fast firing.
- Lowest cooling system draw for a laser.
- Low power plant draw.
- Low cost.
- Bonus damage against sub systems.
Models Available:
Burst Laser:
- Middle road of lasers. Very effective if accuracy is high.
- Slow firing.
- Still quite low cooling system draw.
- High power plant draw.
- High damage per shot.
Models Available:
Beam Laser:
- The top of the range in laser technology, but this does not always show in the field.
- Continuous fire.
- High cooling system draw.
- High power plant draw.
- Bonus damage against shields.
- High damage per second.
Models Available:
Multi-cannon:
- Fast firing multi-barrelled machine gun. What is not to like.
- Fast projectile speed.
- Large ammo clip.
- Low power plant draw.
Models Available:
Cannon:
- Fun, fun, fun.
- Slow firing.
- Slow projectile speed.
- Large ammo reserve.
- Low power plant draw.
Models Available:
Fragment Cannon:
- Space Shotgun. For up close use only.
- Fast fire rate.
- Huge hull damage.
- Poor sub-system damage.
- Tiny ammo clip.
- Small ammo reserve.
- High power plant draw.
Models Available:
Mine Launcher:
Lays a mine in the hope your enemy will fly into it.
Dumbfire Missile Launcher:
Fires a missile at your target.
Heat-Seeking Missile Launcher:
Fires a missile that will track your target.
Torpedo Launcher:
Fires a slow moving missile at your target.
Railgun:
- Great against shields and sub-systems.
- Hard to master aim.
- Low ammo reserve.
- Fast firing.
- High power plant draw.
Models Available:
Plasma Accelerator:
- Slow moving ball of death.
- Good shield damage.
- Good sub-system damage, with an area effect.
- Large ammo reserve.
- Slow firing.
- Slow projectile.
- High power plant draw.
Models Available:
Mining Laser:
- Something to do with mining.
Utility Mounts:
The other modules you can fit on a ship are the Utility modules. These have no Class sizes but may have E to A grades.
Some of these items work at all times, others only work when weapons are deployed and may have to be assigned to a fire group.
These boost the maximum charge of your shields. They do not speed up the recharge rate, and if shields are lost, they will increase the time before shields come back online.
- They can use a large amount of power and can add a bit of weight to your ship.
Electronic Counter Measures (ECM)
When used it will destroy any heat seeking missiles within range. Range is increased the longer you hold the fire button down.
- This can be assigned to a fire group.
- There is a cool-down after each use.
Chaff Launcher:
Chaff can be used to stop gimballed weapons from locking onto you. Chaff also stops scans from other players, although currently doesn’t work against NPC scans. It also seems to not always work against NPC weapons.
- Chaff Launchers require to be assigned to a firegroup or a hotkey.
- They require ammo.
These are used to quickly cool your ship. They can be used to prolong silent running or allow the continuous firing of high heat weapons.
- They can be assigned to a firegroup or a hotkey.
- They require ammo.
Scanners allow you to scan other ships or their wakes. They can only be used when weapons are deployed (Wake Scanner can be used in Supercruise) and have to be assigned to a fire group. All three scanners are available in E to A grades, with each grade increasing the range by 500m but also doubling the power requirement.
Kill Warrant Scanner:
Will detect bounties on ships from other jurisdictions. Note that firing on Clean targets because they have a bounty in another jurisdiction is considered a crime.
They are not necessary for bounty hunting as the local bounty on a wanted target can be claimed by making a simple scan simply by selecting the target and keeping it in view for a number of seconds. They will nevertheless add extra rewards for destroying these targets, sometimes as much as an extra 50%, although you may need to travel quite a distance to cash this in.
Cargo Scanners
Will give you a read out in the Navigation UI of the target ship’s cargo. Not always necessary for pirating, you can always just assume every trading vessel is carry cargo and just shoot out their cargo hatch to find out what.
Wake Scanners
Allow you to scan High Energy Wakes to determine what system your target has jumped to. These scanners are only useful against players. NPCs that are followed to new systems will have lost their bounty.
Note that a wake scanner is not necessary to follow Low Energy Wakes, and NPCs followed in this way will keep their bounty.
on said:
Good article. I know I learned a few things.
One question. Are there really C3 Gimballed Beam Lasers out there as indicated at the end of Part 2?
I haven’t been able to find one.
I’m currently running 2xc2 Gimballed beam lasers on my Vulture, I’ve been looking to replace them with 1xC3 Gimballed beam laser and 1x Cannon of some sort.
on said:
Yes they do exist.
High Tech systems are the best places to find all equipment and modules.
In the ‘View’ tab of the galaxy map you can select to view systems by ‘Economy’ type. You can filter your search to just show High Tech systems.
Switch back to the ‘Info’ tab and have a look around at high tech systems in your area. The higher the population of the system the better. Systems with populations over 1 billion generally offer everything.
In areas with high CMDR traffic, popular items like this tend to sell out. It can be worth checking High Population Industrial systems, as these are second best for outfitting, and as most players search the high tech systems, these may still have stock.
on said:
Great guides. Eagerly awaiting the next installment hopefully including ship loadout’s
on said:
Yes please I need some viper load outs I sunk in about 750k in upgrades to my viper but I had know idea what I was doing.
on said:
I would like to ask are there any penalties for fitting size 3 weapon in size 4 hardpoint?