I think that they are supposed to fire on auto, or more to the point that useless co-pilot that sits in the back is supposed to fire them.
However, I actually believe that they don't do anything.

They are supposed to by fired by Moose, but I would rely on countermeasures rather than on rear cannons - they don't seem to do anything. Stupid Moose.

Wisdom comes with age. But sometimes age comes alone...

O.K. this is from observation;

The enemy ships have rear firing guns that are fixed - they fire directly behind in the same way that the forward guns are fixed to fire straight ahead - and they fire AT THE SAME TIME AS THE SHIPS FORWARD GUNS (select enemy camera view and watch a Saracen for a while since they have easily seen rear guns).

As for the players ship, when testing my guns in two player mode against a stationary Wolverine I once saw it's rear turret trac and then fire upon my ship. Once. I was unable to repeat the situation that allowed this to happen no matter what I tried! So, in theory, your rear guns track and fire automatically against the enemy but in practice they seem to rarely do so. Which is good. Do you really want Moose using YOUR gun energy?

Ban REVERSE THRUST! Fly something other than a phoenix for a change!

Ok Pure, now get your ass over to the SL GD forum and answer my question about ECM

j/k

whilst flying around in a wolverine i've noticed that the rear cannon fires. at what i dont' know. if you fly CS ships, like said, saracen, they do fire simultaneously, which imo is an extreme waste of gun energy.

and i seriously dont' think the rear cannon can shoot incoming missles, not that they can manage any amount of significant damage on your ship..

now that we're at it, has anyone ever been hit seriously by a missile? that excluding the EMP missile.

Nope, I don't remember any such situation. On the other hand, maybe I would if I used the hadest level. Hrm... a good idea. I guess it's time to reinstall SL.

Wisdom comes with age. But sometimes age comes alone...

so rear cannons are there to waste your energy, make your ship look dangerous and justify a second pilot...

Rear cannons dont do anything. what justifies Moose is when you kill a friendly and he takes control and turns you in.

I dont take money only girl giggles- Thumb Wars

Well, Moose allegedly also calibrates the jump and warp devices. He also starts to panick when you are locked on. Seaking of rear cannons, I'm not sure Moose knows they even exist

Wisdom comes with age. But sometimes age comes alone...