[TC] How to use the Mobile Drilling System?

[TigerWoods314]

I am seriously baffled.

I have bought a Vulture Miner and a Mobile Drilling System. I have installed the MDS into the weapons bay and assigned it to a weapons group. Yet it is not possible for me to fire the weapon.
The weapon does not show up in the laser part of the screen at the lower left. When I press the weapon group hotkey, I hear this little beep kinda noise, but nothing happens. Fire key does nothing.

I would be highly appreciative if anyone could point out to me what I am missing in order to perform this task of firing my weapon.

[pjknibbs]

A Vulture, like most TS class ships, does not have guns which are controllable from the cockpit--it only has a turret. You'll need to use F1 to switch into the turret in order to fire the gun manually.

[TigerWoods314]

Thank you very much.

This piece of information wasn't apparent to me at all, it would have taken me ages to figure that out.

[Bill Huntington]

It is possible that the Vulture doesn't have enough power to really be effective with the MDS. Most M6s do, and show the MDS as a weapon choice. They also have much better shields, useful when looking for the second tier asteroids. The M6 will recharge a lot faster. They also don't need to be in the rear turret. Some M6s can even use Hornet missiles, which is my choice to start the process.

The Vulture with full shields will be fine as an ore collector, so keep it around.

You have made a good choice. Mobile mining is lucrative, and a steady income. Once you have it set up, it only takes a little attention now and then. And it will wait if you are busy. With Nividium, it wasn't that hard to send a full frieghter to the shipyard, transfer it to a created freighter, sell it, and come back. For $6 Mil, every cycle. With 3 sources in Perpetual Sin, I've had 30 cycles at $18 mil per cycle, and no end in sight.

Good Luck.