X3TC - Best Missiles?

[irR4tiOn4L]

Hey all, i couldnt find any 'guide to missiles' or anything of the sort, so i thought people might like to discuss what are the 'best' missiles they like to use and why. Often its desirable to build a production fab so it helps to know which missiles really do a great job

My own favourites are

Hornet - 200k shield damage, fast at ~180m/s; easy to shoot down but relatively cheap at 10k. Great general purpose missile against freighters, M3's and M6's.

Wasp - ~5k damage, very fast and swarm, but seems to lack punch. Ive got a complex for these but so far ive not really come to like this missile. Its almost certain death against M5's, but it seems weak against anything larger

Firestorm - huge damage at 1000k, slow and easy to shoot down. Station killer really


What other missiles should i be looking into? Id like some kind of swarm or harder to hit missile than the Hornet that is still cheap, fast and does good damage. Something that could more reliably hit the M3's and M4's while still being good against M6's.

Altogether i know little about missiles. Looking forward to tips

[Deadbeat_Spinn]

I like the Hammerhead Missile since it's 25% more powerful (1250K) and slightly faster than a Firestorm. Downside is that they can only be found in drops from destroyed ships since they can't be bought.

[Rednoahl]

Typhoon - heavy swarm missiles. In quantity are the X equivalent of a smart bomb.

[GCU Grey Area]

My favourites:

Tornado, might not technically be the best missile (it's dumbfire), but IMO it's one of the most fun to use. Fast (312m/s), swarm missile &, because it has no guidance, the warheads follow a straight trajectory (rather than swirling around like other swarms do). Effectively turns the launcher into a gatling gun that fires nuclear bullets (8x 50k warheads every 2 seconds). I love it - real fun straffing capital ships with them & because the blast radius is MUCH lower than other high-yield missiles (e.g. Firestorm, Hammerhead) it can be used safely at ridiculously close ranges.

Hurricane, nice fast missile for eliminating M5s, has IMO more of a punch that Wasp because it hits almost as hard (6k compared to 8k total for Wasp) but it's all delivered in a single strike - often with Wasp the target has time for shields to recharge a bit in between individual sub-munition strikes which lessens Wasp's impact. These days I generally only use Wasp to attract the attention of capital ships, Hurricane is my default munition for M5s (& M4s as well when launched in groups of 3-5 Hurricanes).

Tempest, often use it against M3s. Has a yield of 60k & auto-targetting capabilities, so if it's primary target is destroyed it'll start tracking something else. I often launch an overwhelming volley of them at a single M3 at the start of the battle as fire & forget munitions - once that first target is destroyed, the remaining missiles start hunting down any other hostiles in the vicinity.

[Ferdilance]

Wraith missiles are lethal against anything larger than an M6 and the hyperion can fire them. Multiple warheads mean you will allways hit your target.

Typhoons kill M3s and will wreck havoc on bigger ships when you fire several.

[SIMON POPPLEWELL]

Tornado, might not technically be the best missile (it's dumbfire), but IMO it's one of the most fun to use. Fast (312m/s), swarm missile &, because it has no guidance, the warheads follow a straight trajectory (rather than swirling around like other swarms do). Effectively turns the launcher into a gatling gun that fires nuclear bullets (8x 50k warheads every 2 seconds). I love it - real fun straffing capital ships with them & because the blast radius is MUCH lower than other high-yield missiles (e.g. Firestorm, Hammerhead) it can be used safely at ridiculously close ranges.

Have to second this as a must against capitals. Remember first using these against a Yaki Ryu, destroyed it in seconds.
Always carry some of these in my Hyperion, along with Typhoons, Wasps and Wraiths.

With these missiles you can't go far wrong.

[Kor'ah]

The Typhoon missile when combined with the Hyperion, or even the Hydra, allows you to rule the galaxy.

[SIMON POPPLEWELL]

The Typhoon missile when combined with the Hyperion, or even the Hydra, allows you to rule the galaxy.

Agreed.

[irR4tiOn4L]

I should also mention i am using MARS on all AI capital ships, so hitting an M6 with a Hornet is actually a big challenge sometimes

[GCU Grey Area]

I should also mention i am using MARS on all AI capital ships, so hitting an M6 with a Hornet is actually a big challenge sometimes

In that case definitely recommend trying Tornado - it's almost twice as fast as Hornet, leaving anti-missile turrets much less time to intercept &, being a swarm missile, there are far more warheads for those turrets to shoot down.

Also, against unshielded M6s you only need 1 or 2 Tornado warheads to hit to obliterate the target (i.e. 50k warheads versus 45k - 90k hulls on M6s). I generally knock out the shields with guns (preferably EBC, they're exceptionally accurate) then fire Tornado & twitch the joystick slightly, so the spread of warheads brackets all of the likely flightpaths of the M6 - Tornado warheads launch sequentially (rather than almost simultaneously as other swarms do), so manoeuvering while launching imparts each Tornado warhead with a slightly different trajectory.

[irR4tiOn4L]

I should also mention i am using MARS on all AI capital ships, so hitting an M6 with a Hornet is actually a big challenge sometimes

In that case definitely recommend trying Tornado - it's almost twice as fast as Hornet, leaving anti-missile turrets much less time to intercept &, being a swarm missile, there are far more warheads for those turrets to shoot down.

Also, against unshielded M6s you only need 1 or 2 Tornado warheads to hit to obliterate the target (i.e. 50k warheads versus 45k - 90k hulls on M6s). I generally knock out the shields with guns (preferably EBC, they're exceptionally accurate) then fire Tornado & twitch the joystick slightly, so the spread of warheads brackets all of the likely flightpaths of the M6 - Tornado warheads launch sequentially (rather than almost simultaneously as other swarms do), so manoeuvering while launching imparts each Tornado warhead with a slightly different trajectory.

Very interesting approach, will try thanks!

Funny about the EBC though; they are actually far less accurate than the HEPT or PRG in terms of inherent accuracy (firing on a stationary but small target, the HEPT far outdoes both). However, speed and no energy drain make up for that

[GCU Grey Area]

I should also mention i am using MARS on all AI capital ships, so hitting an M6 with a Hornet is actually a big challenge sometimes

In that case definitely recommend trying Tornado...

Very interesting approach, will try thanks!

Funny about the EBC though; they are actually far less accurate than the HEPT or PRG in terms of inherent accuracy (firing on a stationary but small target, the HEPT far outdoes both). However, speed and no energy drain make up for that

Well it's more fun that simply flying around Typhooning M6s out of existence - that can easily get as tedious as flying an M7M, i.e. check target's info, launch 1 Typhoon per 200MJ shield generator + 1 for the hull, then wait a bit. Highly effective, but remarkably dull.

Agree PRG is absolutely top class for high accuracy, medium range gunnery (PRG is definitely one of my preferred weapons for fighters & for missile defence on larger ships). However, I do find I get a better hit rate with EBC compared to HEPT, on moving targets at least (against stationary target think the bigger bullet size of HEPT might make more of a difference).

Prefer EBC, but I use both guns, mostly depending on what ship I'm flying at the time. I generally install EBC on light M6s (which can carry a sensible amount of ammo, i.e. at least 100+ crates) & HEPT on the heavies (which generally can't carry enough ammo if I also want a decent selection of missiles).

[juliandark]

Wraith missiles are lethal against anything larger than an M6 and the hyperion can fire them. Multiple warheads mean you will allways hit your target.

Typhoons kill M3s and will wreck havoc on bigger ships when you fire several.

But getting those missiles isn't quite easy :-/ In my game there are no factories producing them Y_Y

[RandomBandit]

Tornado-I like to take my M3s in close on capital ships and these compliment the strafing-runs nicely.

Wasp-Fun to spam around sometimes, good against smaller things that you would use the annoyingly-rare rapier against.

Hornet-I use these as an anti-M3+ missile. Sometimes I will toss a few at a larger ship if I have some swarms or drones to cover it.

Typhoon-Great for knocking out TSs (For my rounds of Nuke-a-Duke's) and can give M6s a hard time.

Tempest-One of my standoff missiles. I use it on an approach to clear or maim escort M3s/M4s.

Poltergeist-Yeah, I said it...I like these things. They have a relatively slow and meandering flight-path making them a great screen when you approach and can act as a shotgun of sorts when you are just about to pass your target.

Banshee-These are super light (cargo-wise) and hit pretty hard. These make great dogfighting missiles.

Firestorm-It is just a massive and powerful device. If used with care you can clear large groups of fighters with it. If I carry one I often have some mosquitoes on board so I can target it and "command detonate it" when it gets into a pack of baddies...it takes practice.


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side note:I have noticed that shooting missiles in crate-form (ie. just dropped from a kill) have the same explosion image as the missile...I wonder if the damage is the same, a dropped hammerhead could be a hilarious surprise mine if you time your shot well (probably with a missile...so you live to see the blast).

[empiro]

I haven't tried all the missile types in TC, but personally, I have a like for the Wasp.

It's cheap, fast, manuverable, swarm type (so it's not all or nothing), and it does great damage for its size (8x1000). One missile is often enough to take out an m5, and two will almost certainly do it, making it handy when you're having trouble chasing down those m5s in your bigger ship. I guess in other words, it's like a Typhoon, except for m4/m5 killing.

Has anyone tried equipping an m5 swarm with nothing but Wasps, setting their missile rate to 100%, and using them to intercept other m4/m5s? I'd imagine that they'd be quite adept at it, and if you lose a few...so what?