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The un-un-un-official beginner's guide to ammo-based loadout management

Tools of the Trade:

SUNSLAYER TORPEDO (ALL HF/VHF) - The big kahuna, the king, god of missiles. Expensive as all hell. The launcher can be found only at Bruchsal base, owned by the Bundschuh.

CANNONBALL MISSILE (C9) - The most powerful non-torpedo ordinance you can acquire. Slow to travel, tracking leaves a bit to be desired. Delivery like a brick through a plate glass window. Available on planet Malta (maybe Crete as well, I'm not sure).

CATAPULT MISSILE (C5) - A cost-efficient, midrange missile option. Four Catapult missiles are as powerful as a single Cannonball, but are more or less between one sixth and one eighth as expensive. Very good for LFs or Freighters that are under class 7 (since missiles do not support 'even' classes, C5 missiles are the best you'll fit on a class 6 ship)

FIRESTALKER MISSILE (C9) - A less powerful, more agile missile. Handy for eliminating smaller, faster targets. Available in the same places, and a few more than, where Cannonballs are sold. THE most expensive ammunition of ANY missile.

HORNET DISRUPTOR (ALL FIGHTERS) - Very, very useful. It can be used not only to block cruise-assisted escapes, but also to shoot down opposing missiles, torpedoes, and mines (especially mines and torps, since those won't go after countermeasures). Or take the Wasp as a low-cost alternative. You can find one or the other pretty much anywhere that sells weapons, and the ammo for both is cheap.

NEUTRALIZER MISSILE (C7) - The most powerful EMP missile you can get WITHOUT MODS (the Paralyzer launcher is not available anywhere unmodded, not even in loot drops). Handy, but often you'd be better off just landing something big and meaty in the bad guy's kisser. Available in most places that sell Class 7 weapons.

SUNSTALKER MISSILE (C7) - *NOTE* This is the lowest-level stalker missile you should consider. In general, any stalker missile that deals under 1000 damage is not worth the effort, as it will take you too long to kill the enemy, and you may run out of ammo.

LANCER MISSILE (C7) - Another highly damaging missile. Recommended for (naturally) class 7 and 8 ships such as the Banshee, Valkerie, Humpback, and Falcon.

SCREAMER MINE (ALL) - A very damaging high-end mine. Good if you don't have the money for Rippers or if you can't get your hands on a Ripper launcher. Available at suppliers with the highest-level equipment. Very useful as bombs, or to drop on tradelanes as you enter to prevent pursuit.

RIPPER MINE (ALL) - Editor's choice, numero uno, THE most versatile high-end weapon in the game (seeing as how it will mount on ANY ship, bar none). Highly recommended for pilots of low-end craft for a little extra "oomph" in the firepower department. Same uses as the Screamer, but more potent and more expensive. And it makes a lovely "blatt!" noise when it goes off. Launchers are available ONLY around the Omicron Alpha Unknown Jumphole, and there are only two of them at any given time. If you get your hands on one, do yourself a favor and keep it.

ADVANCED COUNTERMEASURES (ALL) - It goes without saying, you should have the best defenses possible. CMs won't work on Torps or Mines, but they will distract Disrupters and Missiles. Since they cost so little, there's no reason nto to have the best.

I could go on listing missiles, but it stands to reason that if you are flying a lower class ship, you need a missile that will fit on your hardpoint. Unless you are strapped for cash, always take the biggest, baddest launcher that you can cram on. If you do need to save money (well, then you shouldn't be boating missiles or using high-end mines and torps), you can usually substitute two of the next launcher down and pay less for the ammo (but not have as many shots), or four of the launcher two levels down, and so on. Also, if you can, mix missile types. A one-to-one ratio of stalkers and standards is a good combo- then you have a balanced loadout that has heavy firepower as well as a high-accuracy finishing blow. An EMP missile launcher can save ammo in your other launchers by taking the shields down a bit, so use one if you have room.

Use your thruster as you launch a missile or torpedo. The boost of speed will carry over to the missile, and missiles do more damage at higher impact speeds. Therefore, a good opening move (which often ends up as a finishing move) is to engine kill out of cruise and plant a Sunslayer or Cannonball right in your target's face.

Stagger your missile fire- never launch a full volley simultaneously. Sometimes, the area effect blast of one missile will destroy the others before they can impact. Launch each tube individually at half-second intervals. This will also give you a greater rate of fire, as your first launcher will be cycled and ready by the time your last one has fired.

Drop mines in close proximity to the enemy. Do not pop one off several hundred meters away expecting them to run into it. Lay it so close that they can't help but run into it (or,a s it were, keep it from running into them). If you're a beginner at mine bombing, ram the enemy and drop a mine as you rebound off them. You should clear the blast radius just as the mine goes off (you might take some damage, but they will take more).

As a one-two punch, use missiles and mines together. Volley your missiles, then do a flyby and drop a mine. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Paralyzers cannot be found. Peroid. Its an ini. file bug, so if you wnat it downlaod a decoder and reemdy the error (its like missile 0_4 or somethoing, and its something:false, I cannot remember). Also, Skyblasts are recovered from GMG NOT Bounty Hunters. Torpedos are a serious waste of cash unless you are an expert dueler (and are fighting human opponents), and even then cannonballs are surperior. EDIT: Paralyzers aren't dropped because they don't exist in the Ini.'s. Otherwise, the majority of the wrecks bearing codenames and all the omicron alpha wrecksw/ weps. would drop 1 launcher. You can buy ammo for any wep. from any base. Also, you can find swatter mines and lancer missiles on outcasts in tau-37, (swatters are technically class 7, non-tracking, and not THAT great). I belive you can also find them on junkers in sig-13. Correct me in either cases if I am incorrect.

Edited by - andkat on 4/13/2005 6:11:20 PM

Sometimes if feels good to waste a bit of cash. I mean, when you're MEGA-pissed and just need to vent, there really is nothing like planting $7,229 worth of high explosives right smack in the kisser of whichever poor douche stumbles across your path first. That goes for any type of missile, torp, or mine.

That, and if you've got the money to spend on missiles as your primary armament, you've got the money to blow off a Sunslayer or two every now and then. If you don't have enough money to consider $7,229 chump change, you'll never be able to afford refilling the rest of your hardpoints on a regular basis.

Under the basic AI, if you launch a cannonball at an unshielded ship coming towards you, it's almost a guaranteed kill. The cannonball says it does 4890 damage, but kinetics are taken into account - the cannonball can hit with a relative speed of up to 450, which is an instant kill on anything. They don't have "tracking" ability, but they will steer themselves into the enemy. They just won't come back for another pass.

What this means is that under certain circumstances, Cannonballs can be worth far more than what they cost - wait until the enemy is unshielded (not a problem for anyone with Del Cids) and then fire when they come towards you. You can then safely target another enemy 99% of the time.