[Bonehead]

I have a question regarding these three weapons:

1.  Admiral Khafre says that the Lamprey drains "shield, weapon, and afterburner reserves".  I understand about the weapon and afterburner energy - these are the bars on the left and right sides of your center reticle.  But what are "shield reserves"?  Is there some hidden energy reserve that recharges shields?

Secondly, what is the best use of the Lamprey in the Single Player campaign?  I could never justify putting this weapon on my craft.

2.  How viable is the strategy of using Circe and the Maxim?  My results were mixed at best.  Will the AI use this combination the way they are supposed to?

3.  I found on the wiki a description of the unused Targeting Laser which is supposed to bring a rocket from subspace... Could someone elaborate please?

[General Battuta]

Subspace missile strikes can be implemented in FreeSpace Open. They're a good time.

In War in Heaven we used the TAG-C for this purpose, but I thiiiiink you could do it with a primary like the Targeting Laser as well.

[Galemp]

If I'm on a recon mission (like the Return to Ross 128 in ST:R) I arm my wingmen with Leech and Flail guns and order them to cover me. The enemy never gets a shot off that way. The Lamprey is also a viable weapon in multiplayer, but the AI in FreeSpace never seems to hose Maxims or Kaysers the way players do.

The Circe and Maxim combo isn't great unless you like to micromanage switching your weapons. Try using the Circe on Shivan bombers paired with the Prometheus. My favored multiplayer dogfight loadout is Thoth+Circe+Tempest.

The Targeting Laser / TAG-C was never implemented in Retail but FSOpen has restored its functionality.

[Droid803]

Lampreys don't affect the AI...so... they're useless in the single player campaign
You're better off just killing them anyway.

[Aardwolf]

They don't?

[QuantumDelta]

Lamprey is awesome in team vs team battles though.

You can consider the circe kind of a 'lower energy kayser' though, personally, I would just use the kayser.

Circe/Maxim is ok if you weapon-swap but eh, unless you NEED the maxim for something you'll be better off with PromS/Kayser every time.
If you need the maxim then your difficulty and ship choice should dictate whether to use the PromS or the Kayser.

Basically the only justifiable single player weapons are;

SDG Akheton (when needed only).
The Subach (when you get forced to use it only).
The PromS and the Kayser.
And the Maxim.
Every other primary is sub-optimal.
And if you're not playing on insane there is absolutely no argument against using any of those three. :<

Morning Star, Lamprey, and the Mehku have justifiable uses in Multi...

And no, the lamprey has no effect on AI (well, definitely none on insane anyway, not sure about other difficulties).

[Timerlane]

The old Leech definitely has an effect in FSPort ST/ST:R, at least on Hard; I definitely find it makes Valks and Ulysses less AB-flighty, thus making them easier to pin down with the relatively slow-moving old/original Prometheus(otherwise, I'd be using nothing but Avengers).

FS2 top-drawer primaries(Prom-S/Kayser) are too powerful to really justify using 'tactical' guns like the Lamprey and Circe in single player(at least, in their lackluster states as they are). There might have been justification in FS1 where the Avenger and Prom had shield damage-over-time values on par with the Subach, but the Prom-S and Kayser are so brutal on both shields and hull, with excellent shot-velocity(and are still relatively energy-efficient), that you honestly don't need anything else(barring subsystem/turret work, which the Maxim is custom-made for).

It definitely doesn't help that the Main FS2 campaign gives you access to the Lamprey and Circe only after the Prom-S is (re)introduced, as they might have had a short period of semi-relevance in being paired with the relatively low-power/output, equal-shot-velocity Subach.

[Snail]

The Lamprey is ****ing awesome in Multi if you just want to annoy people.

Seriously, if they're all being predictable and loading up with Maxims and Kaysers, they are ****ing screwed when you splash them with those fiery marine leeches. Won't get a single shot off.


In singleplayer though I haven't found a single use for it.

[QuantumDelta]

Actually, they have a serious usage too, in most/all Cruiser-Duels the original tactic was to fly straight at the enemy cruiser in an eri with maxim firing with full weapon energy and just shooting until you run out of energy + die, then respawn and repeat, your team wins by killing the cruiser first.
The lamprey is the only way to stop this tactic because you don't want the player doing this to actually die.

[Dragon]

Subspace missile strikes can be implemented in FreeSpace Open. They're a good time.

In War in Heaven we used the TAG-C for this purpose, but I thiiiiink you could do it with a primary like the Targeting Laser as well.

You can, since retail.
Actually, FSO didn't did anything to the original SSM system, aside from adding SEXPs to control it.
All that's needed for creating an SSM strike is adding a table that defines it, which is supported since retail.
  got rid of that system, since it would give a ship infnite ammo, which would unbalance the game.
WiH is the first campaign to reenable the original SSM, there, it's enabled with TAG-C missiles.
Maybe using the Targeting Laser wouldn't be a bad idea, but I don't think it'd make it into WiH.

[Fury]

Targeting laser in the hands of AI would be far too unpredictable for mission balancing purposes. TAG-C is much more reliable and predictable tagging system.

[Dragon]

I was thinking more of a special mission where player has to "manually" tag ships with laser mounted on a stealth fighter (it's banks may be too small to take enough TAGs).

[Androgeos Exeunt]

The Lamprey is ****ing awesome in Multi if you just want to annoy people.

Seriously, if they're all being predictable and loading up with Maxims and Kaysers, they are ****ing screwed when you splash them with those fiery marine leeches. Won't get a single shot off.


In singleplayer though I haven't found a single use for it.

Hey, that reminds me of my first and only multi dogfight with you.

[Snail]

You still pawned me with Tornados though.

[Bonehead]

Does anyone know the answer to this part?:

1.  Admiral Khafre says that the Lamprey drains "shield, weapon, and afterburner reserves".  I understand about the weapon and afterburner energy - these are the bars on the left and right sides of your center reticle.  But what are "shield reserves"?  Is there some hidden energy reserve that recharges shields?

[QuantumDelta]

no shield reserve.

[TopAce]

It's just an alternate way of simply saying "shields".

[Dragon]

You can use it like Circe, with addition of draining AB and weapons energy.
It's less effective against shields though.

[SpardaSon21]

You can use it like Circe, with addition of draining AB and weapons energy.
It's less effective against shields though.

Yes, but who the hell uses the Circe in the first place?

[QuantumDelta]

While I must openly admit that the circe is perhaps my least used weapon in the entire game (including Prom R!), I'm distinctly aware that it IS more efficient than the Kayser.

Efficiency vs Effectiveness though.
Effectiveness wins for me.