my first t3 epic - is it worth learning to use? if yes, how to use it lol. I tried and failed with the heavy plasma - what do i need to make this one work?
I would much rather you not learn how to use them *wink wink* 
Use them with the +projectile speed weapon mod. Usually it isn’t too hard to hit frigates, but with the extra speed you can take potshots at fighters and the occasional interceptor as well.
Close in vs. other frigates, the + 18% rate of fire mod works well. Mostly you have to focus on other frigates first, and don’t chase smaller stuff. On a gunship these are beastly, but you will have a hard time hitting anything but frigates.
Tried it on my R7 tackler just to see how it does. Could always cloak and flee if someone gets too close for the barrels to keep up.
546 x 4 = 2,184 dmg per pop
4,455m/s projectile speed @ 5,400m range
engine suppressor = 5,600m max range
target painter = 4,000m
Fed CovOps Kite has about 4k hulls 3,5k shields
Wished we could charge this naughty little gun, would be nice.
I get similar damage from hail tho, have to take more shots but without the slow barrel penalty. So where’s the advantage to using heavy?
I get similar damage from hail tho, have to take more shots but without the slow barrel penalty. So where’s the advantage to using heavy?
The relative damage of plasma vs. anything else is a topic for a different thread. In other words, the weapons are not balanced between laser, rails and plasma.
I get similar damage from hail tho, have to take more shots but without the slow barrel penalty. So where’s the advantage to using heavy?
Hail has atrocious DPS. You need to fully charge it to get similar damage per shot, and it takes several seconds to fully charge them.
They’re basically sniper plasma. You’re using heavy rails. DPS-wise their plasma competitor is heavy plasma.
I’ve tried the heavy rails before and didn’t have much luck with them.
I pulled them out again tonight on my guard (military hvy and Mk 3 +prj spd weapon mod and +prj spd implant) and had a hilarious time with them. The slow barrels made them useless to fend off an interceptor in close quarters, but sometimes I got lucky and was able to pop one as it flew into my cross hairs :). Brought back memories of hail plasma in T2 popping inties out of the sky from a few patches back :D.
I like the high base damage and burst. The projectile speed helps against the slow barrels since you’re not required to lead the target (much). I honestly liked the prj spd mod so much I didn’t remember to switch it to the attack rate mod.
They are absolutely atrocious in extremely close quarters since the barrels can’t keep up with rotation (or I’m doing it wrong).
Given guards only have 4 guns anyways, I’m excited to (eventually) try these on something like a gunship tricked out for dmg XD
They are absolutely atrocious in extremely close quarters since the barrels can’t keep up with rotation (or I’m doing it wrong).
i ‘move’ my ship as much as possible to aim instead of using only the mouse. reduces the barrel lag. won’t really work for frigates i don’t think but does help on figthers.