I agree with Nukeit, I'm using this tactic for quite some time now.

It comes in handy even if not using missles or torpedos (I like them more 'cause they are cheaper then missles in my case). When you ask? When you destroy one of the enemy ships flying in formation or group, computer automatically selects another target, but usually, some other target is closer to your crosshair. So I just follow the little crosshair infront of closest enemy ship and shoot.

This tactic is very important if you are dealing with larger number of enemies, because you need to keep them busy.

As I said, I mostly use torpedos; missles are there just for a backup, in case my batteries or nanobots are in short - die or live situation.

What I miss is, a torpedo launcher on the backside of my ship.

Please post your thoughts.

Spherical

My current ship loadout is an eagle with 2 nomad blasters, 2 wildfire lvl. ten canon, one skyblast B (I think that was it's name..) and one cannonball missile launcher (plus a mine dropper, countermeasures, disrupter, ect.) I used to carry a torp launcher, but when I saw what this missile could do, I gladly sold the launcher (replacing it with the disrupter) and replaced one of my skyblasts with the cannonball. Although it is not neccessary, it is certainly nice to have; after all, it does more damage that the starkiller launcher and can actualy home in (to a certain degree) A bit of overkill can never hurt me..can't say the same about my enemies

missles can be very usefull i usally get to i had 2 catpults and i learned the engine Kill slide. woork great for me

kill engine do a 180 at you target (that seem to back off) hit th AB fly twards them pour fire into them right before they pass 2 cats and blam next victim

if any thing learn EKS the AI backs off quickly you can stay with your target better.

also on the refire rate isnt 8.33 slow and 2.00 the fastest? some one tried to convince me it was the other way around.



Edited by - Stikfas spacemonster on 02-04-2003 09:13:23

Missiles are great!!

Try the Firestalkers (can be bought from Omicron Alpha)

do A LOT of damage and are pretty maneuverable.

I tried the Cannonball missiles, they are even stronger, but don't turn as good.

What I really love doing is firing a Sunslayer at some incoming fighters... Does A LOT of damage.

Sunslayer rock against nomads. They don't dodge till they get really close and by then it is too late. Killed an entire nomad group without firing once with my guns.

After sp I got rid of my missiles, but without getting into detail they did serve me quite well on some of the later sp missions. Guns use energy, missiles do not.

"also on the refire rate isnt 8.33 slow and 2.00 the fastest? some one tried to convince me it was the other way around."

That someone had the right idea. 8.33 is definately faster. Try this, buy two energy weapons, one with a 2.00 and one with an 8.33. Fly into space. Hold down fire on just one of them, then just the other. The difference should be obvious to you.

To clear it up a little, instead of thinking of the refire rate as "time between shots" think of it as "number of shots per time unit".

I think this whole missle debate is moot. Some people like to spray and pray others are more surgical. Personally I like to have a missle on board yea it takes a gun slot but when you have level 10 weapons who cares I don't carry a cruise disruptor as the AI rarely if ever use cruise engines. The head to head is the Developers idea so I use it to my advantage. I hit Thrusters then target and fire weapons at a very close range I first release a Torp then a (lancer) missle and pull up fast do a kill engine slide and kick them in the butt with all she's got usually takes 3 or 4 enemies out at once and you can hear them sometimes talk about bugging out as "their just to strong right now". Too bad I have no sypathy for anyone who starts something they don't want to finish! Just some observations from the edge of space.

all the news that no one reads

Missiles cost more.

Guns are boring!

"i can just imagine the g-forces on that"
there are no g forces in space, unless near a large body of mass, this game apearently uses artificial gravity, thats inside your ship, you wouldn't feel a change

no matter how fast you go, far enough from a body of mass internal gravity will never change

The higher the number for re-fire, the faster you can shoot.

Also, I tend not to use missiles as much as normal guns (If you call WILD FIRES and Nomad Cannons normal that is) and the occasional starkiller torpedo, haven't found sunslayers, yet, and the guns tend to do more for me then missiles ever could. Besides, I can mow down a line of ships coming at me without a problem with my guns =)

"In space, no one can hear you yell YEHAW - Only your coworkers frowning at you."

klapdout, g-force has nothing to do with gravitation per se and it is the same in space as near a big celestial body like the Earth (except that close to Earth you get an additional component force of about 1 g, from the gravitation). It is the result of acceleration (both linear and radial).

The big difference between airplanes and space ships is that airplanes can create a huge force for changing direction simply by redirecting the airflow while a space ship has to create every bit of torque via thrusters. Same for missiles - if there is air then a missile can change direction by inclining its guidance fins appropriately but a missile in space needs extra thrusters for steering.

Back to Freelancer's missiles: theoretically, a missile launcher could deliver damage at the same rate as an excellent gun of the same class, but practically it delivers less since delivery is less reliable and more cumbersome than with guns. However, missiles and torpedos deliver their damage in large 'packages' and if such a package takes out the enemy then it does not matter that it would take two seconds before the next package can be send on the way. Also, missiles and torpedos can do up to three times their specified damage against the unshielded hull, if delivered well. That is why a Catapult missile is a mortal danger even for a class 6 ship if its shields are down.

Another aspect: missiles may drain your wallet but they do not drain the powerplant. If you want to destroy fighters or objects with a high hitpoints then the powerplant will be drained quickly and from then on the guns deliver damage only at the recharge rate of the plant - two or three decent guns are usually more than enough to project that energy onto the target. If you have missiles on the other hardpoints then you can do more damage faster, even in a light fighter.

Take the Crusader with its two class 4 hardpoints and four class 5s. You could load 2 x Pyros Type 1 and 4 x Pyros Type 2 on it and get punishing damage output for a second or two, but during dogfights the powerplant will be depleted most of the time. Swap one of the class 5s for a Catapult (and one of the class 4s for an Adv. Stunpulse) and you get a package that hits much harder and more efficiently. Of course, once you reach level 10 you can get Starkillers and Borrocos ...

Missiles and torpedos work very well together with shield killers. Hull guns take way too long to beat down a high-level shield but if you have good shield killer guns then any NPC fighter that flies straight at you is dead, and you can create plenty opportunities for torpedo/missile kills even in dogfights.

I think the best way to use missles is as a finishing off weapon. A good idea is to outfit your ship with some pulse weapons (tizona del cids are great) some hull damaging weapons like Pyros or Dragoons and a missle launcher. What you would do is wear down the enemys shields quickly with the pulse gun, and the harass them with the hull damage gun until a single missle will destroy them. Then finish your enemy off with a well placed missle. It saves you the money youd waste by using multiple missles or torps.

___________________________
"There's only two things I hate in this world. People who discriminate against other races, and the Dutch."-Austin Powers dad

Missiles may cost money, but they look cool. Especially the homing ones.

I prefer to put nomad guns on my four class 10 hardpoints. That gives me enough firepower from guns. 2 properly launched cannonballs can take out any ship in one hit, so you don't have to worry about your enemy recovering with nanobots. Of course, you don't have to worry about that if you fight the computer. Missiles have more use against human players. They probably aren't worth the cost against ai, as they suck and anything can take them out.