[TC] Has anyone tried mix other guns with their flak?

[paul1290]

I don't like seeing flak guns by themselves because I think they're boring as heck to watch in combat.

In Reunion I usually mixed in a couple HEPTs with the Flak on my M2 to for added "colors".

I also liked it because it extended the range of the Flak slightly (the AI thinks the range of the Flak is shorter than it really is), and it caused random fighters to bail more frequently.


Has anyone tried doing this in Terran Conflict? I don't have an M2 yet so I haven't had the chance to try it.

A lot of the weapons have different stats now so if anyone has tried experimenting with mixed weapons in turrets then I'd like to know what else would go well with Flak besides the usual HEPTs.

[delray]

I actually had that idea a while back and tried using FAA and CIG. Sadly it wasted a lot of energy when firing FAAs and CIGs together... at CIG max range.

So I looked for other guns that would be similar in range but not as much as CIG. And I found... PRG. They have slightly better range (200m or so) so they achieve the goal of extending FAA range a tiny bit so fighters are hit only by a part of the explosion (hence bails). They also are faster than HEPTs and more accurate so work with FAA a bit better (HEPT was missing all the time...).

Swapping FAA for PRG lowers battery effectiveness though and since I have only 4x FAA up and down on my Ray, I don't want to substitute any of it to PRG just to get a slight range advantage. It's not worth 1/4 of my firepower.

So I go full FAA on all my ships.

[cswiger]

If you want fast guns that'll track well with flaks, try PRGs. If you want something that uses ammo to help reduce total laser-power drain, consider Gauss for anti-cap work or EBC for anti-fighter.

[pjknibbs]

Speaking personally, I really wish cap ships could fit PRGs in the normal anti-fighter turrets--I just prefer to see the actual shots speeding out to hit their target, rather than the simple explosion than a FLAK gives you. I shall definitely see how well a cap ship goes with its only anti-fighter weapon being PACs at some point, though!

[ak2507]

pjknibbs wrote

I shall definitely see how well a cap ship goes with its only anti-fighter weapon being PACs at some point, though!

I use PAC's for back turrets in my Hyperion, since the only other choice is... FBL , and I can not say I am that happy.
I am also not that happy for EBC and HEPT compination on my front turrets as well.Too many friendly fire issues which is somewhat strange for these weapons.
On the other hand the FAA mounted on the Tiger are doing an excellent job!
I am a bit confused with the Hyperion friendly fire issues but we can't have it all, can we?

[shanrak]

Speaking personally, I really wish cap ships could fit PRGs in the normal anti-fighter turrets--I just prefer to see the actual shots speeding out to hit their target, rather than the simple explosion than a FLAK gives you. I shall definitely see how well a cap ship goes with its only anti-fighter weapon being PACs at some point, though!

There's one problem with that. In Vanilla, at any rate, turrets will not be shooting at their full speed if the weapon has a fast recharge. Take my hype for instance, when I'm being chased by a bunch of khaak m5s, my rear PACs only spratically fire at them, winging them every once in a while. I had to manually jump in there, 3 seconds of sustained fire later, the khaak is dead. Anything with a fast shooting rate isn't handled well by the turret script. (Does mars fix this?)

[maphys]

I mix flaks and HEPTs/PACs all the time - mainly to save energy. Flak/HEPT tend to be my standard anti-fighter turrets - 50/50 split normally. Works like a charm and gives me lots of useful energy left over for excessive IBL spraying.

M

[delray]

But your HEPTs aren't as accurate so you basically waste half of slots?

[maphys]

HEPTs hit a fair bit at close range and really helps with things like M3s. Twin flaks leave my generators dry. I did find PACs a little better in terms of accuracy - if they can take them I am thinking I need to try some PRGs to help with the fly swatting. M7s (which is where I tend to mix weapons) just don't support too many flaks in my experience.

M

[pjknibbs]

There's one problem with that. In Vanilla, at any rate, turrets will not be shooting at their full speed if the weapon has a fast recharge.

That only happens in my game if the turret is set to Missile Defence. Any other option (e.g. Attack Enemies) will work fine.

[delray]

Well, you shouldn't be using missile defence on big ships (and all capable of carrying FAA are big) anyway but rather go for attack enemies and attack my target...

[paul1290]

It would be nice if the Flak had visible fast moving shots, it would make them less boring to watch.

That does raise an interesting question.
How does Flak work in X3? Does it just point somewhere and explosions show up or do they actually have projectiles and maybe they're just not visible?

I wonder if perhaps X3 Flak guns have some kind of invisible projectile already present and maybe it would be possible to mod them so they would be visible.

[delray]

There's no projectile, just an explosion in the right spot with pin-point accuracy.

[Carlo the Curious]

How does Flak work in X3? Does it just point somewhere and explosions show up or do they actually have projectiles and maybe they're just not visible?

I think they do have bullets, but they don't show up (although at over 7000m/s they'd be hard to spot anyway ).

[pjknibbs]

There's no projectile, just an explosion in the right spot with pin-point accuracy.

I agree with Carlo here--there IS a projectile, you just can't see it. You can tell this because if your ship is shooting FLAK at an enemy that happens to be behind a station, the flak will hit the station instead of the enemy!