MY Conlusions on M2's, + whats a concussion impulse generator?

[Daveofthewood]

Right here goes on attacking xenon sector 101 with all five destroyers here are my conclusions......

Python- fastest (thats where the positives end), surprisngly hard to manouver even with upgrades, not enough weapons points for all round fighter and destroyer defense, and weakest shielded (of the standard 5 races), however if your looking for a ship that'll cut through one rival destroyer like a knife then this ships for you.

Pheonix- THE BARGE, Brilliantly shielded, good mix of ppc's and psg's make it a solid all rounder and it's cheap as chips, BUT its painfully snail like, manouverability of Rosie O' Donnel, and if you even slightly misjudge gate entrance before long you'll have either pieces of jump gate wrapped round your ship, or pieces of ship wrapped round the gate!

Titan- solid investment, all rounder, not too good for fighter defense as no psg's no PBE's and i think no flak artillery (correct me if im' wrong), big down side being no gamma ppcs up front, (with my unsubtle direct style gamma's upfront are needed), and a little too slow but perfect for a first buy.

Odysseus- This ship was a beast in X2 simply turn it into a PSG wagon and watch Xenon, khaak (and everything else that happened to be around you) die. Incredibly unimpressed and if like me you bought this for PSG's you would have found out the minute you went into a Xenon sector. Manouverablility slightly better than others, speed not too bad sheilds as well, BUT NO F@@@ing gamma ppc's up front thats all it needs to be a perfect mix!!!!! why egosoft why?!?!?

Ray- this was particularily rubbish in X2 however in X3 its a beast...shields are average and it can't carry psg's.. but apart from that GAmma ppc's everywhere, ion disruptor banks for capturing, both PBE's for fighter defence, and its incredibly manoverable and it's slim line design makes dodging PPC fire easy, and it's sheild time recharge from nothing to full is the fastest apart from the 10gj on the phoenix, you would not go wrong with this destroyer.

Some people might think im completly wrong and i applaud you for it as variety is the spice of life, so a questions now, 1 whats a concusion impulse genorator, 2 what apart from the PSG makes the best fighter defence and 3 where do you find the c impulse genorator

Wikedyphat!!!!!!

Dave of the Wood

[kevenh]

Titan's can at least mount Alpha Flak

CIG push other ships about. It's an area effect weapon like PSG

PAC is better than PSG at anti-fighter - in friendly space, similar other wise?!

I've picked up CIGs (hidden in game, or litter after battles).

afaik, can't buy 'em

[Daveofthewood]

Im trying to build a real all rounder, not just something that can whack light fighters and destroyers and gets slowly pulverized by heavy fighters.

PBE's are good defence but there unreliable sometimes, anyway where can you get the concusion impulse generator??? PLZ dont say the pirates

[Artemis404]

I don't think you can buy CIGs. I found one lying around in an asteroid field, and I've picked up another three from dead carriers in assasination missions.

[larrylo]

Dave, it is a matter of flying/fighting style...

What I normally have is bPBEs on the front and FAAs everywhere else (preferably betas if possible). That means M2s which dont allow me to have this setup is not my flying M2.

When I am up against capital ships, I will switch to PPCs up front. Yes - gammas is preferable otherwise it is betas. I totally ignore fighters until I manage to sort out the capital ships...

OOS M2 is probably the Ray (for speed) or the Pheonix (for sheilds).

The CIG is a disruptor weapon for disabling your targets turrets temporarily. It does a small amount of damage. I tried a pair against a Nova and it was reasonably okay. It is designed for slower targets. You cannot buy CIGs. Basically search the forums for it. Up till now, I am still looking at what practical uses CIGs are offering me...

[Alienmoe]

Not sure how you fly the Python, but i find it can more than handle any fighter assult, and wont get hit by enemy capships unless there's some serious crossfire going on.

FAA all round with GPPC on the front does wonders wherever you are.

[Daveofthewood]

Did the FAA thing with the python when i tried it the first time and it does work really well, when i was first trying these destroyers i was going to rate them on how easily they mopped up the xenon sectors.

However thats X2 thinking, the Khaak are the pushovers and the xenon in x3 are the challenge, i realised (after dying on numerous occasions) that you can only do hit and jumps (unless your the phoenix which can recharge it's shields quickly if you get out of fire) if you want to clear the sectors. I discovered that the Boron Ray and the odysseus armed with PPC's up front, left and right could do the most damage before i had to jump out, the python was good at taking one out at the time, but steering wise (and i had upgraded rudder control) it was poor it was like a giant spear. Titan as much as i love the look of it performed the worst under pressure.

As i say everyone has their own oppinions on this and what suits me certainly doesn't suit others, its just a shame that there isn't a multiplayer for this so we could test out these theories !!!!!!

Cheerz for your feedback anyway

Dave of the wood

[MAD_COMMANDER]

Odysseus- This ship was a beast in X2 simply turn it into a PSG wagon and watch Xenon, khaak (and everything else that happened to be around you) die.

AGREED!!!!!!!!!!!

[MAD_COMMANDER]

Im trying to build a real all rounder, not just something that can whack light fighters and destroyers and gets slowly pulverized by heavy fighters.

PBE's are good defence but there unreliable sometimes, anyway where can you get the concusion impulse generator??? PLZ dont say the pirates

Steivo Weapons Dealer Script! But thats a modification

[jlehtone]

Fascinating opinions.

However thats X2 thinking, the Khaak are the pushovers and the xenon in x3 are the challenge, i realised (after dying on numerous occasions) that you can only do hit and jumps (unless your the phoenix which can recharge it's shields quickly if you get out of fire) if you want to clear the sectors.

Khaak pushover? Please explain.

Phoenix without overtuning has hard time getting out of fire. Well, it can have 100 fighters in its tail and still recharge (for fighters miss a strafing Phoenix).

FAA is the anti-fighter weapon. Better range than PSG. Does damage quickly. Stops doing damage the instant the target turns blue. And does not hinder visibility and framerate.

Python turns "enough". It can handle a gate blockade like a Split. By doing the "Elephant trick". Ie run away. If the initial crossfire does not get you, you'll be in the "high seas". It is true that those who chase die only one at a time, but they all do. And FAA can handle the escorts of the capital ship before it is time to meet the next.

But the gate blockade is no problem anyway. M5 can remove that without a shot.


CIG is not area effect weapon. It has "slow" shot (500 m/s) and range of 5 km. When shots hit, they can tumble the (fighter) target. It will lose its aim. Some missiles seem to have that effect as well. The damage of CIG is about same as in PAC, but it is rather energy efficient. Thus, it can actually do more damage over time, although slowly. You cannot hit fast targets easily. But you can get their attention from far away. Fighter with CIG can shoot at big FAA-bearing ship from safe distance.

Some say that CIG is very good missile defence gun. Probably. If you have ever been chased by Khaak Fighters, you know how they shoot at you from far. That is still in range of CIG. So in theory, CIG could really mess their aim.

Some crates of CIG are said to be hidden around, but I have gathered mine from the loot of assassinations.

I have yet to get a Titan. Just to see if it is what I expect it to be. Awful thought. And I still doubt the effectiveness of PBE and PSG, since collision detection usually keeps fighters far from M2. GPSG Oddy not included.

[Akula87]

I prefer the Raptor over the Titan and Ray (the only two M2s I have flown). Even though the Raptor IS a M1, it has insane speed to get out of problems pretty quickly. It can also mount 4x GPPCs upfront (do you REALLY need 8??) and 4x BFAA on left and right. Not to mention room for 65 fighters for long capping expeditions in Pirate alley or Xenon space. The 5 GJ of sheliding are more then enough for taking on 2 or 3 cap ships at once if you get positioned intelligently and try to avoid as much of the PPC fire as possible... and any fighters left quickly get slaughtered by the FAA (the only real fighter defense available.)

[Alienmoe]

The Raptor is a nice ship to fly, and the only M1 I've so far flown. But yes, sometimes you really do need 8 GPPC up front, as if there are several Ks in PPC range you dont really want to lower the thrust to give only 4 the time to kill one, before moving onto the next. It works great in pirate sectors, and as a pickup for ships capped in Xenon sectors, but I wouldnt want to be clearing those sectors in it.

But then I dont run away and force the ships to chase me... I just CHARGE so the more guns I can have blazing the better.

Wish I had a better PC though, as then I could test out the Oddy PSG barge. Trying it now would send my PC into fits.

[jlehtone]

But then I dont run away and force the ships to chase me... I just CHARGE

When you run away you maintain distance. Each shot you fire has about the same length to fly. They will hit the target at the rate the turret fires. When you charge, every new shot has a bit shorter way to go, so it gets there quicker. Compression of PPC stream. To score many hits as quickly as possible, that is the way. Plus, while getting closer, hitting becomes easier (for AI turret).

Due to the size of ships and AI logic, Raptor (4 GPPC), Python (6 GPPC), and Ray (8 GPPC) back turret can freely fire at Xenon K. The K never sees the foe in range and never shoots. Slow, but 100% safe. This is the "Elephant trick".

I do prefer the head-on charge as well. There is a difference between the 4 GPPC of Raptor and (hopefully) 20 GPPC that Ray can aim at target. But somehow the Ray feels less efficient than Raptor. Maybe the fact that with Raptor/Python I charge to 3 km, while with Ray I bombard from 5 km distance.

I have had fun with Ray and Raptor lately. I fly Ray and Raptor provides a fighter escort for it. As long as no L decides to fire Hammerhead at my fleet, I have little to fear. If they do, I have to remove dozen fighters from roster.

[D_Zorro]

I have had fun with Ray and Raptor lately. I fly Ray and Raptor provides a fighter escort for it. As long as no L decides to fire Hammerhead at my fleet, I have little to fear. If they do, I have to remove dozen fighters from roster.

What's a hamerhead ?? never heard of it before. And where can i get it ??

[DDM_Reaper20]

I have had fun with Ray and Raptor lately. I fly Ray and Raptor provides a fighter escort for it. As long as no L decides to fire Hammerhead at my fleet, I have little to fear. If they do, I have to remove dozen fighters from roster.

What's a hamerhead ?? never heard of it before. And where can i get it ??

Hammerhead: Terran torpedo. Faster and more powerful than the Firestorm.

Pirates and Xenon tend to leave it around when they bite the dust.

[JamieKnowles]

If you havent bought the Terran Specs yet, you will see it as 'Unknown Object'

[-eni-]

Pirates and Xenon tend to leave it around when they bite the dust.

Or shoot it at you.

[D_Zorro]

Thanks for the quick responce so xenon and terrans huh ?? how did pirats get there hands on that one , and what ship can fire this missile ??

[Sipa]

Thanks for the quick responce so xenon and terrans huh ?? how did pirats get there hands on that one , and what ship can fire this missile ??

Mostly eny M3 or bigger ship

[Daveofthewood]

Well heres my comparision, Argon titan in X2 would be blasted into dust before even starting to scratch a khaak destroyer, X3 its can take out at least 3, maybe 4 if you do it right before you need to break of your attack.

X2 paranid odysseus fitted all with PSG's can clear a xenon sector with ease, X3 the same ship doesn't even get in firing range before its blown up by the K's or J's