aiming at locks

[rrasto]

who's the ***** that invented locks shooting? There is no way properly aiming them.

[Socratatus]

It`s not hard. Patience is key.

[rrasto]

It`s not hard. Patience is key.

Ok, i have a lot of patience. But how i shoot where i want? Disabling aim assist not working (or there is no visible difference, projictiles always aim to that possesed, crazy dancing dot).
Fire at cursor is some way broken.

[mr.WHO]

first of all - do not select lockbox as a target - this will trigger the aim assist and you don't want it for lockbox shooting.
Then try to put one of the target dot in the place where lock is (or will be if box is rotating) - the shoot at the right moment.

Some people find it easier to use beam weapon and it's relatively safer to use ion blaster as it's doin low hull dammage. Anything other than plasma cannon should be OK.

[rrasto]

first of all - do not select lockbox as a target - this will trigger the aim assist and you don't want it for lockbox shooting.
Then try to put one of the target dot in the place where lock is (or will be if box is rotating) - the shoot at the right moment.

Some people find it easier to use beam weapon and it's relatively safer to use ion blaster as it's doin low hull dammage. Anything other than plasma cannon should be OK.

Thanks, i will try it later, when i calm down. For now only viable way for me is using spacesuit laser. (for some reason one and only weapon firing where i want)

[Socratatus]

It`s not hard. Patience is key.

Ok, i have a lot of patience. But how i shoot where i want? Disabling aim assist not working (or there is no visible difference, projictiles always aim to that possesed, crazy dancing dot).
Fire at cursor is some way broken.

Well I get out in the spacesuit, go up to it and shoot from a relative safe distance with my suit gun. Easy. If it`s one of those rotating ones, i just get close again and get an angle where the Lock part rotates into view and shoot them all off.

I`ve heard some people do it from the ship, I never have. If you want a job done, best to get out of the ship and get personal.

[mr.WHO]

Many ships have weapons placed off center which makes hard for point blank range targetting.
Try basic fighters Elite or Paranid/Teladi scout fighters (not the Argon Discoverer which has two guns) - these have one gun placed centrally (at least Elite, not sure about two others).

[Loneshade]

yeah, I also do it in space suit... fairly easy if you're just a few meters away. Annoying are just those spinning ones... they really take a while.

[radcapricorn]

Annoying are just those spinning ones... they really take a while.

Slow them down by bumping them with your ship first to counteract the rotation.

[SPiDER]

Bolt repeater with just one weapon selected ....Bore aiming no target seleted ....use WSAD keys to move the ship quick pull on the trigger..... once the dot in the hole is on the lock

it is slightly more difficult with the random lockbox's rather than the mission spawned ones and somtimes one of those will eject a mine and blow you to S***

[Falcrack]

Just aim a little off to the side, making sure one of the dots is over the lock. Quick half second burst, and no more lock. Pretty easy actually.

[GCU Grey Area]

I keep a Magpie Mineral with a mk1 Mining Drill on board one of my carriers specifically for opening lockboxes. Find the Mining Drill ideal for shooting locks. Being a beam weapon it's easy to aim (central location on the Magpie also helps) &, as far as I know, it does by far the least hull damage of any weapon in the game (considerably less than even Ion Blaster) which means theres a huge margin for error for shots which hit the box rather than the locks.

[Imperial Good]

From best to worst weapons to open lock boxes.

Mining Laser -> low hull damage, instant accuracy (hit what you point it at). So low damage it takes a few frames of holding to kill locks. Pretty much 100% open success rate. Sure one does not normally have these on a ship but if one does it is the best way to open a lock box.
Ion Blaster -> Not rapid fire, decent speed and minimal hull damage. With some getting used to the projectile speed good results are pretty much guaranteed.
Hand laser -> This position is debateable since it technically might be the best way to open lock boxes. However it requires going in your space suit (annoying) and Ion Blaster is something you might have on a combat ship so is a ton more convenient.
Pulse Laser -> Very fast projectile speed so aiming is easy. Only problem is the high hull damage and rapid fire. It is very easy to accidently fire 2 shots at a lock which causes damage to the box and can kill it.
Chain Repeater -> Pretty much a worse Pulse Laser in every aspect for this job. Still has the rapid fire action, although better or worse is debatable. Even higher hull damage and slow projectile speed to make aiming harder.
Plasma Cannon -> One shots the box if it misses and has painfully slow projectile speed. However no rapid fire action so one can counter out these bad aspect with a bit of practice and getting used to the slow projectile speed. Still not recommended but still possible.
Beam -> High hull damage means it is very easy to over kill a lock and hit the box. Main reason it is so low down is the absolutely painful reload and cooling that beam weapons have.
Main Battery (L Destroyer) -> On paper better than Plasma at opening lock boxes due to its fantastic projectile speed. However it is impossible to aim these things accurately at something so small, especially with such fast moving locks. Not only are they to the sides of the ships, but capital ships bridges do not allow one to view such an object up close while still being able to hit it with the main batteries.
Shard -> Just no... It will not work. It is not possible. It will kill the box. Sure maybe if you literally place the gun up against the lock it might work, but chances are it will still kill the lock box in the process.
Dumbfire Missiles -> Say goodbye to the lock box.
Tracking Missiles -> Even better way to make sure to utterly destroy a lock box.
Torpedoes -> One must really hate lock boxes a lot to need to over kill them this much.

Hand laser is always an option to reliably open them but is annoying as hell and even risky to some extent. Mining laser is a much less annoying to use weapon if one has it. Ion Blaster is probably the most usable weapon to open them since one will likely have one of these on a ship with a lot of guns like a Nemesis.

[pvarn]

Just aim a little off to the side, making sure one of the dots is over the lock. Quick half second burst, and no more lock. Pretty easy actually.

This is what works best for me. It also helps if you have duel or more weapons to create a group which fires only one of them. The spinning locks are much harder.
-Pv-

[RainerPrem]

Hi,

pre-2.2 I aimed with the whole ship, only one (beam) weapon activated, carefully put the little dot onto the lock (closeup and save first) and used the space key to fire a single shot. Very careful, very time-consuming and impossible to to with e.g. a Nemesis.

In 2.2 I put "fire to mouse" on RMB, and even with a Nemesis I can just aim and shoot without problems.

cu
Rainer

[WoodyAut]

Hi,
I have a problem at aiming especially the mssion containers, which are not moving.
I move the cursor near the lock, the weapon cursor follows as expected, but when i move the mouse over the the lock the weapon cursor flees away - when i move the mouse cursor again away from the lock, the weapon cursor comes back below the mouse cursor.
It does not make a difference if the container is targeted or not - did anybody else have this behaviour ?

[GCU Grey Area]

did anybody else have this behaviour ?

Have encountered that too. The degree to which it happens seems to be related to specific ships &, I think, how far the relevant weapon hardpoint is from the central axis of the ship. A while ago tried a Manorina (Teladi M miner) as my lockbox opener, due to worries about flying a Magpie which was 'armed' solely with a Mining Drill. It was awful, due to the problems you outline. Almost immediately switched back to the Magpie, which has few such issues (weapon hardpoint is in a central location, directly in front of the cockpit) & modded it's engines & chassis so at least I can run away very, very fast if anyone unfriendly turns up.

[Rastuasi]

Hi,
I have a problem at aiming especially the mssion containers, which are not moving.
I move the cursor near the lock, the weapon cursor follows as expected, but when i move the mouse over the the lock the weapon cursor flees away - when i move the mouse cursor again away from the lock, the weapon cursor comes back below the mouse cursor.
It does not make a difference if the container is targeted or not - did anybody else have this behaviour ?

This means you're too close and attempting to have the guns aim too far for the guns being controlled. I get this on my Cerberus when crystal mining as well. I either back off so they can it or I set one gun in it's own group and then line up so it alone can hit when aiming to mouse.

Also, middle mouse click fires at mouse by default, no need to do RMB, which if done there, messes with the right click menu.

[radcapricorn]

Also, middle mouse click fires at mouse by default, no need to do RMB, which if done there, messes with the right click menu.

Off-topic:

Spoiler

Show

It doesn't anymore, if you set the mouse behavior in game settings to 'Left Click'. This maps the menu to LMB double-click, and frees up RMB for mapping to other functions.

[Rastuasi]

Also, middle mouse click fires at mouse by default, no need to do RMB, which if done there, messes with the right click menu.

Off-topic:

Spoiler

Show

It doesn't anymore, if you set the mouse behavior in game settings to 'Left Click'. This maps the menu to LMB double-click, and frees up RMB for mapping to other functions.

Interesting to know and thanks for the info as I was unaware this went out. Granted I've not played much yet with 2.20, will have to see if it works since I'm on the Linux beta.

That said, when in combat and I'm not using my hotas, I use free mouse flight, so I don't usually hold LMB.