Bugged Weapon [Plasma Thrower]

[Gamgee]

Not specific to my game but that Plasma Thrower or whatever it is called (looks like a flamethrower) is quite overpowered. I do not think it was the intention of the developers for several ships armed with these to strip 6 25MJ shields in seconds and quickly following the hull. They have so far made me wary of who to engage in combat because if I enter combat with a ship armed with these even in a maxed out frigate it can take me down. Even if the guns aren't aimed at you the wide radius of damage combined with allies trying to help in combat can quickly lead to your demise from simple friendly fire. Considering frigates and even M6 class ships are getting melted in seconds I hope the developers will fix it in a future patch. If this was a design intent then I strongly encourage a nerf. This weapon is too good. Anyways if this is in the wrong forum then you may move it to the appropriate or simply delete it.

[Sandalpocalypse]

It's not a bug so much as endemic to the way area effect weapons work in x3. Larger targets will get hit repeatedly, sometimes taking huge amounts of damage, this is why PSGs were so good against capital ships in x2 and x3. Conversely this means they arnt as good against small targets except that they are easy to hit with.

Several ships armed with PBEs can strip 6 25mj shields pretty easily as well. The same goes for a number of other weapons. Also on that note, several m3s armed with HEPTs present a significant threat to an m7.

If you dislike the flamethrowers that much, it's not too complicated to simply mod them into HEPTs.

[AkrionXxarr]

I never had a single problem tbh, never once worried about what ship I was attacking. I flew an Argon Elite against everything from harriers to P's doing patrol or defend missions until I got my cerberus at which point I never had a problem with the flamethrowers. I've even managed to take out a K with the cerb using Concussion Impulse Generators on my main with cluster flak and HEPT's on the turrets.

Ya just need to work out combat tactics that work for you.

For me when I'm in a fighter I fit the most powerful weapons possible, because I want my ship to do as much damage as possible as fast as possible since with M4's and the like you have the advantage of speed. So I would fly in and quickly empty my capacitor on my target ship then fly back out. For me this is very effective (My Elite has plenty of Osprey, Centaur and P kills to its name).

For effective combat with the bigger ships, I get a jump drive and always have a good ammount of energy cells reserved for combat. Then when my shield starts to get low I jump to a distant gate in the system and let them recharge and go back into battle. In-sector jumping for a capital ship is very cheap consideirng you can effectively hold ~2000 energy cells without getting in the way of weaponry.

It's all about finding a solution to the problem you're faced with. Figuring out how to cope with the problem you're faced with will make you a much better pilot then making the game mechanics cope with you.

[Gamgee]

No your failing to grasp the concept that THREE hits and my shields are half gone. Now with multiple fighters flying around and blasting anything in sight my 6 little 25MJ shield evaporate so fast and then my hull is wiped out in seconds. I couldn't hit the jump out of sector key fast enough to survive if I tried.

Tactics? What tactics can I possibly hope to use against a weapon that kills me in seconds AND has a better range? It doesn't matter if they are targeting me or not the radius is so damn big even if they are attacking something else I get hit. Then for some reason I have no sound for the flamethrower weapons making it harder to know when I am getting hit.

Here is the exact scenario.

*jumps into sector*

*flies into group of fighters battling an M7 or small cap ship*

*sees flamethrowers*

*10 seconds later before I can grasp the situation*

*dead*

I wasn't even in range of the target... I don't see how I can win... it's not that I cant dogfight evidence of me clearing dozens of ships right up to capital class. The only thing that kills me are these flame throwers and it is usually friendly fire... then again I die so fast I can't say with any certainty if it is an ally or an enemy.

[AkrionXxarr]

And you're failing to grasp the concept that I've had no trouble with my two 25MJ shields on the elite. When I flew the ship I had more worries about an M3 with a phased repeater gun on his turret then a guy with a flamethrower.


"What tactics" ?
Well how about don't get into a position where this guy can fire at you for very long in the first place? Get behind him and stay behind him if you're too slow to quickly fly in and out.

I honestly never liked M3's in the first place because most of them are too slow and/or big for my liking and even though they have greater shielding and firepower their easier to pick on.

I never thought the flamethrowers radius and range was that great at all, the shockwave generators felt harder to avoid imo.

Also your ship isn't big enough to make effective use of 'tactical jumping' so not being able to hit the button in time doesn't matter. Just don't put yourself into a position where you're surrounded, stay on the outside of the fight and pick off the guys that stray out before going to the center. If your ship is too slow to effectively do this then if it were me I'd get another one.

Though I'm sure someone on these forums has better methods to use the slower M3's then I would. I just never like to fly slow ships until they have a very good backing of shields behind it.

[Lobsang1979]

I have to say that I am treating the PBGs in the same way as I do PSGs; keep my distance, use missiles, and have a decent rear turrent for when one of them gets on my tail. Granted it doesn't always work perfectly, though I see it as a challenge rather than a problem!

[reanor]

I just received my M3 class ship yesterday while on the main Terran military fighter plot. It comes with 8 EPTs and with a few wing-men this ship is a beast. First of all capacitor rarely gets low on power, secondly it has 2 turrets and 6 main guns. If an enemy ship gets in a stream of fire from these turrets its often a death in a few seconds for them. Plasma weapons have area of effect damage and you can even see how plasma explodes on the surface of the enemy ship. Because of this cloud of plasma damage dealt to enemy ship multiplies and split mambas burn like flies.

I did a mission where I had to protect ships with marines docking to a split carrier producing terraformers and it was a blast in this new ship. Thanks to Cycrow cheats TC has become fun for me again and much less frustration. I only use his cheats to equip my ships with best equipment. Otherwise odds are not fair. Pirates come with fully equipped ships, launch wildfire missiles at me while game only allows you to have best tier ships from the shipyards once in a while.

In many cases shipyards "run out" of tier 3 ships with best equipment and I end up buying tier 1 with 1MJ shields and no weapons. Taking in account present bugs, when wingmen collide with things in space, with each other, myself in other words you lose them because of bugs in navigation script, using cheats only justifies means of that loss.

Speaking again about plasma throwers - I don't think its bugged. I see, however, that flame thrower is also mentioned here. Flame Thrower has a huge area of effect, much bigger than plasma and its different. While plasma weapons destroy ships by creating a cloud on impact with the ship's surface, flame thrower initially "sprays" the target and if you get inside of that damage area - you can burn your "wings". Also plasma weapons are one of the 2 best types to use against kha'ak clusters before they break up. And plasma weapons have better range.

[Elucca]

I think the point isn't whether they can or can not be beat, the point is that a bunch of pirate ships shouldn't have the most powerful weapon in the universe. They're not just the best weapons to use against Kha'ak clusters, they are the best weapons to use against absolutely everything.

6 PBEs might be able to strip shields effectively, but one plasma burst will destroy any fighter in seconds. And it's easier to hit, too! Oh and they can also make short work of capital ships.[/i]