Greeting.
What is better for highsec mission or combat sites artillery or autocannons? I prefere minmatar ships. Any advice? For lvl 2/3 missions.
Im still flying tech 1 ships. I hears the Rupture is good for lvl 2 missions.
1 Like
i mostly prefer ac especially on a ship with falloff bonuses
arty has its benefits tho such as lower ammo consumption and high alpha
you can split your guns into 2 groups and alpha 2 ships at once
Are you planning on getting up close with your targets, or staying at a distance? Like close enough to scram or web. That’s the only question you have to ask in regards to any of the weapon systems.
AC / Pulse / Blasters / Assault Missiles (HAM) = closer range
Arty / Beam / Rails / “Regular” Missiles (HML) = longer range
2 Likes
thats not really true
all the weapon systems have unique qualities that need to be considered
and it also depends on the role bonuses of the boat you fly
like a machariel can snipe long range with acs because of its falloff bonuses
2 Likes
+1 for autos
1 Like
That depends on how you define “long range”. It took me about 3 seconds to open Pyfa, load a blank Mach, and toss an Arty and an AC on it to see the difference. Not even bothering with ammo, just the guns themselves, AC goes 6km + 35.5km and Arty goes 60km + 60.2km. So you may consider 40km pretty far away, but I’d say 120km is further.
1 Like
I plan range. Use mid for shield tank. Low for gyros and tracking. Drones for close range frigs.
1 Like
Try both and see what you like. Personally i think the slow ROF for arties is obnoxious for pve. Minny ships have speed which compliments the medium range of autos.
1 Like
falloff is more than what it shows in pyfa
i think some people even argued that falloff might have infinite range but i usually consider it falloff x2
so you can change that 35km to 70km
As crazy as this sounds, I actually agree. I’ve spent hundreds of hours in a Mach. You start missing past falloff but you also start getting random wrecking hits. Autos are super weird and fun.
1 Like
And you can change that 60km to 120km for the Artys… What’s your point? =)
“Long range sniping” is still better done with Arty.
ACs are “short range with flexibility”.
Long range is better done with Cruise, Rails or sentries. Arties are the worst long range platform for pve. Much lower damage, extremely poor tracking, very low ROF. They’re an absolute blast in PVP because you can bite chunks out of folks and bust through active tanks, but in PVE just about everything else is better. The only time I use them in PVE is for blapping missions. Like they’re great in dread pirate scarlet or breeding facility (lvl 5), but if you look at completion times, It would probably take me 4x longer to complete a typical lvl 4 in a mach with arties than it would to do that same mission with autos.
i already told you my point
there is more to weapon systems than just long range vs short range
like pulses can perform the long range role quite well and beams can perform the short range role pretty well too
no you don’t.
at opti+falloff your average DPS/alpha is 40%
at opti+2*falloff you deal 9.5%
now let’s consider a mach with T2 guns vs 0 angular target , with my skills
1400 tremor : 35.9 @ 108 + 54.6
1400 quake : 62.8 @ 15 + 54.6
800 barrage : 63.4 @ 6 + 45
800 RFemp : 79.6 @ 3+32.2
800 hail : 88.9 @ 3 + 24
quake over tremor under 56km
barrage over tremor under 40km
barrage over quake aunder 10km (lol)
800 rf over tremor under 31km
800 rf over quake under 23km
800RF over barrage under 22km
hail over 800 RF under 15km.
basically >55km=> tremor, 19-55 => quake, 15-19 rf, <15 hail
with 2 range scripted tracking computers, arti > AC when above 30km
of course that is assuming angular = 0. and pwoergrid is not an issue.
Also checked RF1400 and they are the best artys between 20 and 70 km.
you gotta split the guns with arties tho i guess its also about convenience
with ac you can just pop frigs single volley @70km and move in closer to the bigger stuff as you whittle through it all
with arty you gotta manage split guns and low cycle times
that seems about right
but figures on paper dont always match utility in practise
1 Like
As the pros have already told you, ACs are better for killing faster at closer range - but you will also take more risks if your others skills aren’t up to it. Arty is slower, you usually have your ship burning away from the enemies while slowly plugging away at them at extreme range. And with arty your drone skills become more important as they’re no longer a bonus but a necessity for keeping fast frigates off you. It is ofc also more time consuming to loot enemies spread out over the whole area - AC victims will be clustered closer to you, arty victims more over the whole place.
So my noobish advice is arty + drones if you’re not sure of your skills, ACs and close range when you are. Your mileage will wary ofc. Some - me included - like arty for the security, others like their ACs for faster completion.
1 Like
Hi,
Yeah the Rupture is an excellent Minmatar Cruiser. With good fit, high skills and optimal Pilot tactics, it will quickly complete lv 2 missions and work fine for lv 3 missions. Personally for lv 3 missions I’d go with a Hurricane Battlecruiser.
As for type of weapon, I prefer using AC’s, especially since I like doing up close brawler type combat. Course doing long range kite action with Arty’s does have it’s benefits, meaning you don’t have to worry too much about your defensive tank.
Anyway, here’s a T2 AC active shield fit and a T2 Arty passive shield fit.
Rupture - AC Short Range -w- Active Shield Fit
Summary
High slots
4x 425mm Autocannon II
1x Rapid Light Missile Launcher II
Medium slots
1x Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
1x Medium Shield Booster II
1x Shield Boost Amplifier II
1x 10MN Afterburner II
Low slots
2x Gyrostabilizer II
1x Tracking Enhancer II
1x Damage Control II
1x Capacitor Flux Coil II
Rig slots
2x Medium Capacitor Control Circuit II
1x Medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Drone bay
4x Hobgoblin II
1x Hammerhead II
.
Rupture - Arty Long Range -w- Passive Shield Fit
Summary
High slots
4x 650mm Artillery Cannon II
1x Rapid Light Missile Launcher II
Medium slots
1x Large Shield Extender II
1x Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
1x Tracking Computer II -w- Tracking Speed Script
1x 10MN Afterburner II
Low slots
2x Gyrostabilizer II
1x Tracking Enhancer II
1x Damage Control II
1x C3-A ‘Hivaa Saitsuo’ Ballistic Control System (bonus DPS to drones and missiles)
Rig slots
2x Medium Core Defense Field Purger II
1x Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Drone bay
4x Hobgoblin II
1x Hammerhead II
for lv2s I’m going to suggest artillery.
The main reason is many of the ships are small and have low HP (the HP is usually low enough I’d suggest not grouping your guns). If you can hit them at range it’s going to go a lot faster than needing to fly around to everything to be in AC range. It’s pretty easy to kite the lv2 npcs and just have them follow you around at low transversal and quickly chew through them at range. Plus a rupture has a nice drone bay that can deal with anything that gets in too close.
for lv3s I’m going to be completely useless and say I don’t know I never really tried either way, I’ve mostly just used missiles or rails.
for lv4s, AC mach all day. BS arty doesn’t do the greatest dps and the tracking can be pretty bad, where AC have great dps and tracking. Plus with a MWD and MJD you can get in range of just about anything in a few moments so I’m not really worried too much about the range of the guns.
You might want to spend the first few hours with arty just to have a bit more range buffer, but once you get into the flow I think ACs are going to do better most of the time. Also having an arty refit can help with blitzing a few missions if you want to try that.
2 Likes