I've been really hesitant to make a weapons/combat tutorial because the dynamic still is in flux, sometimes changing almost patch-to-patch. If you'd have gotten me to make that tutorial before they changed missiles to "volumetric" (not really volumetric, just LOS) I'd have been emphasizing missiles as shipkillers and the need for multiple layers of armor - now, however, missiles are a joke vs heavy armor - I tested shooting a single layer of heavy armor, and got 15 hits in the same exact spot before blocks on the other side got damaged. Conversely, gatling guns (both the small ship fixed gatling cannons and the large ship gatling turrets) got a damage boost and are shredding - especially vs light armor. Last night we finished rebuilding the Vindicator and took it for a spin around the sector - didn't torp anybody but the gatling cannons were ripping starter ships to ribbons - whereas typically in the past they'd been only really useful vs spacesuits. Missile launchers used to be sniper weapons with a 2km range, but that got shortened to 800m so you couldn't snipe turrets with them from out of turret tracking range.
Cause you're a pal and all, though, I'll answer your questions here and give you a brief rundown of how things stand now -
Weapon types -
Gatling Cannon -
Pros:
Ammo is cheap
Direct fire aimable with laser dot
Moderate damage
Automatically reloads via SMALL conveyor
Cons:
Small ships only
Currently experiencing the ammo bug (overconsumes ammo sometimes by ~1000%
Recoil shakes/turns ships when firing (currently bugged and not occurring)
Rocket Launcher -
Pros:
Heavy/splash damage (currently bugged and not as high as it should be)
Direct fire aimable with laser dot
Can destroy asteroid material
So far has not experienced the ammo bug.
Available both in large and small ship varieties
Small ship has both manual and automatically reloading variants (provided LARGE conveyor access), large always automatic
Cons:
Ammo is expensive (requires more materials per amount of damage than gatling ammo, plus uses uranium in warhead)
Projectile is slower - easier to miss moving target
MULTIPLAYER LAG MAKES THIS WEAPON DANGEROUS
(firing while moving forward frequently causes missiles to materialize BEHIND the launcher)
Gatling Turret -
Pros:
Ammo is cheap (and so far this turret does not usually experience the ammo bug)
Automatic tracking of targets
Moderate damage
Automatically reloads via conveyor
Cons:
Large ship/station only
Target tracking ability degrades rapidly with range vs moving targets, won't track farther than 800m
Despite available "target missiles" setting, actually abysmal at shooting down incoming missiles
Sometimes loses ownership flag while in combat (bug)
Not particularly good at holding fire when friendly targets (or other parts of your own ship) are in the way.
Multiplayer lag currently makes this turret likely to shoot itself if firing in the direction of travel (bullets appearing behind itself)
Note: Turrets can be manually controlled on an individual basis via control panel/hotkey while in control seat
Missile Turret -
Pros:
Heavy/splash damage (currently bugged and not as high as it should be)
Automatic tracking of targets
Automatically reloads via conveyor
Cons:
Large ship/station only
Ammo is expensive (same as launcher)
Ammo bug frequently causes this turret to consume multiple (15 to 30) missiles per shot erroneously
Target tracking ability degrades rapidly with range vs moving targets, won't track farther than 800m
Projectile slower than gatling - makes tracking even worse
Despite available "target missiles" setting, actually abysmal at shooting down incoming missiles
Not particularly good at holding fire when friendly targets (or other parts of your own ship) are in the way.
Multiplayer lag currently makes this turret likely to shoot itself if firing in the direction of travel (missiles appearing behind itself)
Note: Turrets can be manually controlled on an individual basis via control panel/hotkey while in control seat
Interior Turret -
Pros:
Inexpensive to build
Least expensive ammo (and so far largely unaffected by the ammo bug)
Small form factor of 1 block (other turrets take up 27 blocks - 2 blocks for the turret itself plus a 1 block buffer zone in every direction)
Automatic tracking of targets
Cons:
Low damage - only really effective vs spacesuits
No conveyor access - turret ammo must be refilled by hand
Tracking ability degrades rapidly with range, won't target beyond 800m
Hand tools -
Pros: No ammo needed, no ship needed, start with them in inventory.
Cons: Melee range only, unprotected user
Notes: Hand welder ineffectual, hand grinder good vs players, hand drill good vs ships
Ship Welder -
Pros: No ammo needed, nearly instantaneously fatal to spacesuits, splash damage
Cons: extremely fragile, useless vs ships/stations
Ship Grinder -
Pros: No ammo needed, good damage vs spacesuits, splash damage, collects parts from enemy ships into inventory automatically, including enemy's inventory.
Cons: moderately fragile, damage vs ships slow/over time, LOUD NOISES gives away approach/attack
Ship Drill -
Pros: No ammo needed, splash damage, extremely tough to damage, can clear asteroid material, excellent ram beak
Cons: shakes ship badly when in use (currently bugged/inactive), LOUD NOISES, not as effective vs spacesuits
I'll post more on the other questions in a bit.[DOUBLEPOST=1420560740,1420560687][/DOUBLEPOST]
Did they tone down armor yet? I know for awhile there you needed like 16 missiles to break a light armor block and that was kinda dumb.
Not vs missiles, but gatling guns are much more efficient at chewing through light armor now than they used to be.
