Weapons Guide (Page 3 of 4)

Written by wathman00,

Weapons Guide, written by wathman00




Phased Shockwave Generator


Phased Shockwave Generator Another deceptive speciality weapon, the PSG stats look less than impressive on paper, but in action can be extremely deadly. Back in the days of X2, it was possible to mount small versions of the PSG on the Perseus M3, and clear out a Xenon sector with that one ship. It wasn't easy, but possible since the PSG is a large area of effect weapon that creates an expanding circle of death and destruction in front of the ship or turret that fires it. What makes the PSG so deadly is that a ship hit with one PSG blast is impacted multiple times as the wave expands outward in a cone shape. It will continue dealing increasing damage to a target as long as there's surface area of the ship to hit. In X3TC, the PSG has been limited to only Capital ships and are almost only Paranid exclusive. The Condor and Raptor may be able to mount some, but for the most part you'll only ever see it on Paranid ships. As you can imagine, this weapon works very well against fighters in the place of flak, and can set up a nearly perfect missile defence. The obvious weakness of the PSG is that if the enemy can stay out of the 1.4 km zone of death, there is nothing to fear from PSGs. Another problem with PSGs for everyday use is that if you aren't surrounded by enemies when you start the battle, you soon will be since the PSG does not play nice with friendly ships.

Hull damage 106 (D-) Range 1.4km (D-)
Shield damage 1,996 (C) Rate of fire 76 r/m (D-)
Speed / accuracy 254 m/s (F) Energy Usage 449 (C-)



Starburst Shockwave Cannon


Phased Shockwave Generator The SSC is an anti-fighter weapon for Terran M6s and up. More power than the Commonwealth counterparts, but even slower rate of fire, and require even more juice to fire. Projectile speed is slower than both the FAA and CFA, but still plenty fast enough to easily hit most targets that come in range. Haven't used these much personally yet, but there really isn't an alternative for its role in the Terran fleet, so what you see is what you get.

Hull damage 3,374 (A-) Range 2km (D-)
Shield damage 20,785 (A-) Rate of fire 38 r/m (F)
Speed / accuracy 2,000 m/s (A) Energy Usage 1200 (F)



Photon Pulse Cannon


Photon Pulse Cannon For Commonwealth ships, the PPC is the Big Daddy. Mountable on most M2s and the uniquely designed Boron Thresher M7, these guns can do a lot of damage from a long ways away. If you want to attack your target from even greater distance than the PPC's 6.6 km range, you're going to have to use missiles. PPCs are best used against large, slow moving targets so M7s/M2s/M1s and any stations you chose to remove from the universe are preferable. PPCs could destroy most fighters in 1 to 4 shots, but the PPC projectile velocity is low so they aren't too difficult to avoid in small ships unless every single turret is trained on that fighter. Most capital weapons, PPC included, have the ability to charge shots when under the direct control of a player. This will consume more energy and halt firing temporarily, but will significantly increase the damage output of the initial volley when released, AI controlled turrets are not able to do this.

Hull damage 11,340 (A+) Range 6.6km (A+)
Shield damage 63,778 (A) Rate of fire 44 r/m (F-)
Speed / accuracy 333 m/s (D+) Energy Usage 576 (D+)



Ion Cannon


Ion Cannon The IC is the largest Commonwealth weapon in the game that specializes in shield damage. The best application of these weapons is probably in use together with PPCs. It can also be charged to increase the damage per shot if used by the player. Might be useful against Khaak capital ships as those tend to have strong shields and weak hulls, though the shorter range of the IC becomes a liability since it puts you very close to Gamma Kyon range.

Hull damage 6,840 (A-) Range 5.1km (B)
Shield damage 119,148 (A+) Rate of fire 33 r/m (F)
Speed / accuracy 387 m/s (D+) Energy Usage 907 (F+)



Gauss Cannon


Gauss Cannon The GC is the only ammo based capital weapon in the game, making it very powerful when used in the right circumstances. The GC doesn't have the range of the other capital ship weapons, but it makes up for this shortcoming in damage per shot and rate of fire; GCs fire 2 to 3 times faster than the other Commonwealth big guns. Aside from range, the only other major concern for this weapon is that you have to make sure you bring appropriate amounts of ammo to the fight. Running out of bullets when you are in the middle of slugging it out with another capital ship is a bad situation to find yourself in. GCs pair up nicely with flak weapons since they do not consume very much energy, making it a good choice for your capital ship if you expect lots of fighter resistance. They do not have the ability to charge shots like other capital weapons tend to do.

Hull damage 12,130 (A+) Range 4.8km (B-)
Shield damage 28,540 (A-) Rate of fire 89 r/m (D-)
Speed / accuracy 353 m/s (D+) Energy Usage Ammo based



Incendiary Bomb Launcher


Incendiary Bomb Launcher The IBL packs a lot of power into a slow moving package. Not quite as powerful as other capital ship weapons, but this weapon fits on turrets or batteries of many M7s giving them a means to attack M2s and M1s, or strike other M7s effectively. Trying to use this weapon on anything smaller may prove difficult. IBLs also have the ability to charge shots when player controlled. The IBL also tends to add a slight amount of burn damage after each impact, though this effect is not very noticeable since anything you hit with an IBL is going to usually be under steady fire until it is dead. The main downside of the IBL is that it is very hard to find. The Yaki have a forge in their core sector, and the pirates have theirs in Loomanckstrat's Legacy. You can either get friendly with the Yaki, or get a base hack mission to allow docking at the pirate's IBL forge. These stations may be prone to disappearing according to GoD's will so an M5 kept in the dock may be wise. The other possible source of IBLs is from capturing M7s and M2s that use them. To improve your chances of an IBL haul, save at the Hacking Core step. Reload if you don't get anything good.

Hull damage 9,000 (A+) Range 5.1km (B)
Shield damage 50,860 (A-) Rate of fire 55 r/m (F+)
Speed / accuracy 312 m/s (D) Energy Usage 526 (D+)



Point Singularity Projector


Point Singularity Projector The PSP is the largest weapon in the Terran fleet, mountable on all of their capital ships, including TLs like the mobile mining base ship if you are so inclined. It has very high damage, range that is almost as good as the PPC, and also has the most devastating charged fire mode when controlled by the player. The drawbacks of the weapon are that it's an energy hog and extremely slow to fire; you'll get 6 shots a minute with this one. Finding enough to equip even one Terran capital ship can be tricky unless you are late in the game and can build your own PSP forge. I think there's just one PSP forge in Terran space so definitely place a ship there as soon as you find it to keep it from disappearing.

Hull damage 9,500 (A) Range 6.4km (A)
Shield damage 25,200 (A-) Rate of fire 6 r/m (F-)
Speed / accuracy 321 m/s (D) Energy Usage 2,500 (F-)



Plasma Beam Cannon


Plasma Beam Cannon The only place this weapon is found is in vanilla is mounted on lasertowers. Good at general defence, and quite deadly in large numbers.

Hull damage 2,700 (B) Range 5.9km (A)
Shield damage 7,182 (B-) Rate of fire 100 r/m (D-)
Speed / accuracy Instant hit Energy Usage 202 (C-)



Tri-Beam Cannon


Tri-Beam Cannon This weapon doesn't exist at all in the vanilla game, and is only referenced as being compatible with the Truelight Seeker.

Hull damage 5,321 (A-) Range 6.2km (A)
Shield damage 7,532 (B-) Rate of fire 89 r/m (D)
Speed / accuracy Instant hit Energy Usage 253 (C-)



Next: Fusion Beam Cannon
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