[Legate Damar]

I have had great success with Slammers. The key is to launch them relatively close to approaching enemy fighters, and then dive out of the way if they keep coming, or use reverse thrust.

[Black_Yoshi1230]

One of the things about Slammers is that to inflict the most damage among the most enemies, target the most forward ship first, or target the most clustered wing (In "Delenda Est" on past experience, most bomber formations tended to be tightly packed in a T-formation or diamond, while fighter formations tend to be spread wedge, especially interceptors). This is when the targeting cam was very helpful.

Other missiles... I've had bad experience with the Dirk (aspect-lock swarm), but the Dart was very helpful. Paveways were the most useful missile. Needed a subsystem gone? One or two Paveways made one less problem. The most accurate missile I've used is the Javelin.

[qwadtep]

The only problem I ever had with slammers is accidentally killing myself when I ran out of Hellfires and cycled at point-blank with a capship ;_;

[Kolgena]

Are you guys manually setting off the slammers or letting them go off by themselves?

I dunno. Hellfires are sort of my "solve everything' missile.

[Aesaar]

My most successful way of using Slammers is dual-firing when I'm about 400-500m from the target and detonating almost immediately after launch.  At longer range, I've had issues getting more than one or two kills on formations of anything smaller than Boanerges bombers.

[The E]

Personally, I've had the most success when detonating them 300 to 400 from the target no matter where I am firing from.
In fact, my personal opening move for Delenda Est consists of waiting until the Erinyes flight drops in, then boosting forward until I am in extreme Slammer range of the incoming Rhea flight, then reverse ABing while watching the range readouts. Has been rather successful so far (because if you kill the Rhea flight, the escorts will immediately turn away and run towards the second wave of that flight, leaving their backsides rather unprotected).

[Kolgena]

delenda este is easy on all difficulties until the altan Orde and katana explode for no discernible reason

I guess I'll just need to get used to using slammers, since they are one of the best missiles in the game. Seems reverse thrust (or staring backwards while flying away) is a good tactic to keep enemies off you while you monitor warhead progress. Up until now, I usually swap them out for grimlers to get something more familiar, or to avoid getting splashed by friendlies.

[The E]

Grimlers are a fine weapon, I just feel they lack the asskickery of Slammers

Besides, Slammers are a good last-ditch weapon when you get swarmed. Sure, you get a bit of splash damage, but the others will get far more of it.

[T-Man]

I have never actually seen a Grimler fire i must confess, and i think a Shrike only once when i tried it in a test mission. I like accuracy and power so the Javelin suited me well; the only other ones i really used were Hellfires, paveways and Slammers, which took me a while to get the nack of but when i did.... oooooooh (nothing quite like watching four Perseus taken out at the same time, especially for a guy like me who can barely fly straight ).

On the topic of loadouts actually, brief diverge [b**** mode] Is there a reason the scalpel is no longer allowed for the Kent's secondary bank? You've barred by 2nd Kent weapon option of choice (with 4 Rapiers in the 1st you don't need any other weapon for combat, so it's a perfect slot for the scalpel) *evil monkey finger* [/b**** mode]

And forgive the brief backtrack, but people do understand that someone Has. To. Make. a hadouken primary weapon now, dont you? Too amazing an idea not to make. (would myself but no way am i good enough art-wise).

[General Battuta]

Whoa, what? I thought the Scalpel was supposed to fit there in its role as a shield breaker.

[T-Man]

Well actually now i look at the .tbl file it seems to say it can mount it. Yet i remember it not working when i tried, wierd. Shall just go check.

EDIT: Confirmed, if you try it says the bank won't accept it my end. ..And i see why on second look, the Kent has three weapon bank entries in the .tbl. The 2nd section doesen't allow the Scalpel but the unused third does.

EDIT: Then again the Kent being buggy is canon of course.  

[Aesaar]

Confirmed on my end too.  The Scalpel can't be mounted in the Kent's cockpit guns.  This one's an easy fix, at least.

[Kolgena]

Besides, Slammers are a good last-ditch weapon when you get swarmed. Sure, you get a bit of splash damage, but the others will get far more of it.

On insane, slammer panic shots seem pretty binary. You either don't get hit by the blast, or you do and are dead.

Ever since the last patch, scalpels can't be put into the 2 gun slot on kentauris. It was a strange change, since that's exactly what I did every single time when playing the initial release of WiH. I thought it was a balance change to keep the Kent from being so powerful.

(As a side note, is the rapier strictly better than any other dogfight gun? It has the best dps, best range (?), and almost the highest rof of all UEF primaries)

[qwadtep]

Yeah, I kind of assumed it was a balance change, too. Caught me kind of offguard but it's not like there are any disable objectives so fragile that you can't use Rapiers anyway.

I believe that Mauls have the best dogfight range, but the ROF is too low for it to be particularly useful.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

The Vulcan has worse DPS, so unless you're a marksman, you're not making your plays easier using it.

I used to use the Vulcan myself, but the low DPS and my poor aiming skills, combined with some persuasion from Snail, eventually made me switch to the Maul.

As much as I acknowledge the usefulness of Slammers, I don't like using them. Javelin missiles are my choice of missile, combined with Maul or Rapier fire.

I wonder how much better the Lao Tze's Cavalier will be compared to the Rapier.

[MatthTheGeek]

The Cavalier used to be worse than the Rapier, pre-update. I heard it had been buffed, but I don't know how much.

[General Battuta]

A lot of the weapons are getting rejiggered for R2 in one way or another. I wish the R1 weapon set had been a little more interesting, but like FreeSpace 2 it has a few very strong optimal performers. At least the missile loadouts are a bit more interesting, though the Dirk is a disappointment.

[Kolgena]

The Vulcan has worse DPS, so unless you're a marksman, you're not making your plays easier using it.

I used to use the Vulcan myself, but the low DPS and my poor aiming skills, combined with some persuasion from Snail, eventually made me switch to the Maul.

As much as I acknowledge the usefulness of Slammers, I don't like using them. Javelin missiles are my choice of missile, combined with Maul or Rapier fire.

I wonder how much better the Lao Tze's Cavalier will be compared to the Rapier.

In theory the vulcan is not bad at spraying down bombs, especially when wings like to launch them 8 at a time. (I find bombers like to dual salvo right before breaking off) Vulcans are basically free in terms of energy, which is incredibly important on all UEF craft, where you basically have to shunt 100% energy to guns in between/in the middle of fights to recharge reserves.

Might as well stick vulcans on the 2x bank for kentauris. 6 rapiers has exact same dps as 4 rapiers, though of course single shot burst damage goes way up for 6.

[qwadtep]

The Vulcan has worse DPS, so unless you're a marksman, you're not making your plays easier using it.

I meant that the Maul's ROF prevents its range from being a real advantage in a dogfight, not that the Maul isn't a good dogfight weapon.

[Black_Yoshi1230]

The Vulcan has worse DPS, so unless you're a marksman, you're not making your plays easier using it.

I meant that the Maul's ROF prevents its range from being a real advantage in a dogfight, not that the Maul isn't a good dogfight weapon.

The Maul can eat up a lot of juice. I hate to call it a niche situational item, but the only time it became useful was at the end of Act One against the SOC Operatives, because the Vulcan was fracking useless against Erinyes-class shields. I prefer the Vulcan and Rapier any day.

That's one of the harsher lessons of FreeSpace 2 for me: know how much juice you have, recharge, and allocate (I learned that the hard way above Medium for stock FS2 and Derelict, and I wonder what the difficulty curve for this mod is).