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Zen of guns for freighters

This is a free discussion forum on Freelancer. This is the place to discuss Freelancer issues NOT covered by the other boards!

Post Wed Mar 19, 2003 12:33 pm

Zen of guns for freighters

Okay, for those of us who like to drive trucks...

If you max out the weapons on a freighter, you will run out of power very quickly when firing weapons. Now, sometimes, I don't worry about this, and strap on big mammajamma guns, and let the power drain in one second.

But let's say that you want your gun power to last long in your freighter. That means you're going to have to skimp somewhere on the guns (usually with weaker guns). So the question, is, where do you skimp?

1 - Skimp on the turrets and get big forward guns. This way, if you're "dogfighting" with your freighter, you'll really be able to put the hurt on the enemy when you line them up. Also, since you've only got a couple forward guns, then you can really go to town with them.

2 - Skimp on the forward guns, and go with turrets. This could be good if you tend to stay on course and use turret view a lot. It could also be worth considerating since many of the turrets will face forward anyway. Downside is, so many turrets, you may still have power problems.

3 - Use missiles. I don't really use missiles, so I'm not comfortable with this option

Any thoughts?

ER

Post Wed Mar 19, 2003 1:22 pm

the only prob is, with missiles u have to use ur forward guns, leaving u still with turret probs, as presented in solution 2...

or u could use really really low wnergy drain weapons, like Justices....

Did somebody say my name?
-Gamma Wing
It's the dreaded G-Man[[![[![[![[!
-Moose

Post Thu Mar 20, 2003 8:30 am

Well ya know, the damnedest thing is that laser-based weapons are not particularly energy efficient in terms of energy per damage per second, because the fast rate of fire eats away at it pretty quick.

I dunno, was playin on the Elite server, and was neutral with most factions. This was nice because I got rich trading and bought a dromedary. It was bad because I couldn't buy good guns anywhere So I had a dromedary with low level weapons, and I could fire for a really long time. Then again, I didn't need too

ER

Post Thu Mar 20, 2003 8:49 am

I got for powerful turrets and ok guns up front, or even a missiles launcher. But really, I spend most of my time running and looking in turret mode so the turrets are more important to me. Mines are nearly import as turrets to me also. I usually dump a nice seeking stream of them behind me as I run away firing madly with my turrets.

Nearly all the time I get attacked, it's coming from behind. So that's why I go with big turrets and mines.

Don't think of it as being outnumbered. Think of it as having a larger target selection.

Post Thu Mar 20, 2003 10:42 am

On the topic of turrets......

I have not tried playing any of the frieghters yet, due to the fact that they turn like buses, but I am willing to give it a go. I digress. Here is the question....

Do the turrets fire themselves when you are flying around in the forward facing mode? If not, why the hell not!!??!!

Can anybody clear that up for me

Post Thu Mar 20, 2003 11:22 am

You can use Turret mode to aim with the turrets independantly of your ships heading. Works good when you auto goto a waypoint and just blast away with your turrets

I think H or F is the default Turret mode key

Post Thu Mar 20, 2003 12:58 pm

I wonder why you can't pilot your ship while firing in turret mode, ¿How are you supossed to evade that rain of lasers? All you can do is to hit your thrust or to A-D. But flying straight ahead with a big mule makes it really easy for the bad guys to burn down your ass. Thrust does not last forever...
I have survived some hot situations by only running away, trying to evade enemy lasers untill the trade lane is enabled again and docking as fast as i can (that is, pressing F3 only when you are really close to the docking point). Stay and fight is not a choice (well, in liberty space with a lvl 6 shield you can have some fun and survive).

I don't know how this could be implemented. Maybe the autopilot/autoturret is an option. ¿Anyone remember the xwing allegiance autopilot when firing from turret view?

With my last MP char i've made lvl 30 with one unarmed humpback (no weaps on board), just a truck. Don't ask me why =P...maybe i was angry with the fact that all those turrets where useless to me.
Anyway i will keep being a trader from time to time.

Post Thu Mar 20, 2003 2:54 pm

Varadail

To answer your question why you can't pilot your ship and be in turret mode....

Think of it this way---

In Star Wars...When Han and Luke were in the turrets....Who was controlling the ship....Not Han....There are no controls other then the turret controls there....Leia and Chewie were flying the ship....Turrets are in a different place then the ship controls.

-Arg

-Narf

Post Thu Mar 20, 2003 3:05 pm

eh...i wont say leia was flying the ship, she sucks as a pilot, id say chewie was doing most of the fighting

but personally, for freighters, i've only used the humpback

i tend to dump missles up front, best mines and the fastest ROF turrets i can get

the faster you shoot, although less damage, the faster the enemy will seem to die

Post Thu Mar 20, 2003 3:59 pm

Agreed but ... if you CAN be at all six turret command controls at the same time, and have access to pilot controls like thruster and docking, i don't see why you can't at the direction controls too. .

Post Thu Mar 20, 2003 4:08 pm

How about hiring skilled crew members to handle the guns/pilot controls? Sounds like rpg ...

Post Thu Mar 20, 2003 4:33 pm

Then you wouldn't be a freelancer anymore. You'd be a partnership...

Post Thu Mar 20, 2003 7:08 pm

Ummm why should it matter, a gun will not fire unless it is in teh fireing arc... so in turret mode the guns will fire if they can hit the target not wasteing power. In forward mode only the turrets and guns that fire in that arc will fire so your post makes little sense...

Also try testing this guns located on the wings aften cannot fire onto to opposite side of the screen they seem to leave about 25% of the opposite side outside of thier firing arc.

Foo2
-A church with a lightening rod shows a decided lack of confidence-

Post Fri Mar 21, 2003 12:21 am

I haven't tried this, but on the control menu, aren't there keys for turn left/right and up/down? You could bind those to the keyboard, turn on turret mode, and blast away with the mouse whilst steering with the keyboard.

Post Fri Mar 21, 2003 8:01 am

... I guess the sequel to Freelancer is going to be called "Limited Liability Corporation"

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