The weapons avaliable to you.

[Guest Morfeo]

Hello XWA Fans!

 

The following is based on my experiences in Skirmish Mode. I am so stuck in messing around with Skirmish Mode, that a have barely enough time to spend on the Single Player Campain!

 

Which, in my oppinion, is the most powerful weapon overall?

 

Well, for dogfighters fanatics nothing beats the power of the AVD Missile. It is very hard to avoid, and has a big punch against ships with a shield output is 50SHD. A realistic effect added to XvT and XWA over the prewius games, is that you dont have to completely knock out an opposing player's shields to start doing damage to the hull. When in an X-W for instance, if you get hit by an AVD Missile you will get hull damage even if your shields were full and even if your shields were not completely knocked out after the impact. Hence to term deflector shields. To bad, that this does not aplies against ships controlled by the AI. Why? I dont know. Regardless of your means, you have to completely knock out an AI ship's shields before you can touch the hull. For defence against them, Chaff packets are a safer bet, as flares might let some of those missiles get in, expecially is your opponent fired them against you in dual fire mode. I admire the AI (set on Super Ace) ability to use flares against my AVD Missiles, however. She turns at the right time, and that flare almost always takes out the missile as it attemps to angle round for another try. All I can said is that the AI (again, when set at Super Ace) knows how to use flares better than me! The standard missile? Maybe is because the reason that the munber of warheads you can carry remains the same. Thus, there is no reason to have other than the best. The Decoy Beam, is perhaps to good of a counter against missiles. It is almost a cloaking devise. Did I said, cheat? Maybe, maybe not. Opinions on this, please.

 

Same thing applies with the Proton Torpedoes and the AVD Proton Torpedoes. The number of warheads you can carry remains the same. Integrity then comes and saves the day. In my Skirmish created missions you must earn the ability to have AVD Torpedoes (and AVD Missiles), unlike the standard torpedoes and missiles which are more plentifull. Be on the lookout for greedy players using the AVD Torpedo in dogfights. While X-Ws, A-Ws and other fast craft will have time to avoid it, you cant afford to day dream if you are flying a B-W, Y-W or Skip Ray. You will soon find yourself spinning to a fairy grave. The AVD Torpedo is a great bomber killer. Again, skillful use of Chaff packets and/or the Decoy Beam can same your butt. Rebel crafts can't use any Beam weapons I might add at this point. Also the AI does not know how to use any of the Beam systems in Skirmish Mode ;-(. I am very curious if the AI does use them in the Single Player Campain. Do they??? New to XWA is the fact that capital ship's gunners are very, very, competent at shooting down warheads, forcing you to shoot then at point blank, and attend the risk of taking proximity damage.

 

You can't carry as many of them but Heavy Rockets where the best bang of the buck in the game TIE Figther indeed! In XWA, you have to shoot them at point blank range, otherwise they are a complete waste. I have found that in Skirmich Mode any ship can carry Heavy Rockets and Space Bombs. An A-W can have them for instance. I don't do that, thinking that these weapons are simply so big and heavy, that only bomber type ships can carry them, which is the way it should have been. I am confident that in the Single Player Campain, only the B-W and the Y-W (other than the Falcon and the Otana) are allowed to have these weapons, however.

 

Space Bombs. Did I said OOOUUUCHCHH!!! Most certianly. The ultimate capital ship and station killer. This weapon of mass destruccion can bring even a ISD to an early demise. They are so good, I sometimes whiched that large ships in Skirmish Mode where allowed to have a full shield output of 200%. I don't know about the Single Player Campain (even when set to the Hard difficulty level) but there's no way you can have an ISD or other capital ship with a shield reading 200%. I do know, however, that in the Single Player campain (at least when it is set to the Hard difficulty level) that it is not possible to knock out any ship sub-components until the shields have been completely taken out. In Skirmich mode, you are allowed to do that even when there are shields active ;-(.

 

Unique to XWA are the Ion Pulse Torpedoes. They are pretty useless, at least in Skirmish Mode. I haven't gotten to the part in the Single Player Campain where you use them, if at all. Large ships like the ISD, can still all to easily be disabled by Ion cannons once the shields are down.

 

Finally, there's that 'inocent' looking warhead. In the game TIE Fighter a single Jamming Beam was sufficient to neutralize any ship from firing back, making your and your wingmates job of torpedoing the hell out of a starship a breeze. In XvT and in XWA, we all know that you are required to aim more than one Jamming Beam onto a large ship to shut her down completely. The Jamming Beam apeards to be the least prefered Beam system for dogfights, the Decoy Beam being the first choise followed by the Trator Beam. You have to aim the Tractor Beam, and Chaff packets throw off its effects. This all being said, I was curious about the 'harmless' Mag Pulse Missile. Does its effects remain unchanged from the TIE Fighter game? Yep. This weapon sole effect is that is disables your cannons for 20 secs and the effect is not cumulative ;-(. Against an AI I get the impression that they remain disabled longer, perhaps the full 30secs like it is said on the manual. Also I have yet to see an AI ship fire a missile while under the effects of the Mag. In a dogfight they are very troublesome if used in combinacion with other warheads. They have the same homming capabilities of the AVD Missile; they are hard to avoid. Shields offer no protecion as are the Chaff packets, making the flare the only CM option.

 

Well, you are not going to believe this, but, at least in Skirmish Mode, I think the Mag is the most powefull weapon. LOL!!! First, unlike every other warhead, cap ship's gunners appeard to have a hell of a hard time shooting them down. Next, unlike the Jamming Beam, size does not matter. I single Mag hit is all you need to temporally turn an ISD or even an SSD into a space flying punching bag, allowing the other bombers to hit it very, very hard. When I first made a mission using the Mag, I had a hard time achiving game balance. My cruisers where getter destroyed like never before. In short, against Cap Ships, the Mag is the End of Days, if used in combinacion with other warheads, logicaly.

 

In Skirmish Mode, when I first had an enemy T/D with the Tractor Beam, my wingmen keep saying, 'hey wash out for that Trator Beam!' Say what?!?!? Of cource, they never actually use it on me. ;-( Hence my question, in the Single Player Campain, does the AI use any Beam weapon against you? Also, notice that while you can put a Beam system in a rebel fighter, when you start your mission is not actually there! Curses, foiled again!

 

Morfeo

 

 

[Guest Thrawn]

Well, i always love a good Missile Boat with SLAMS and a nice jamming beam with a payload of Space Bombs, but maybe that's just me

I don't thing the AI uses Tractor Beams. Although they will use mag pulse.

 

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"Have no fear, your local Grand Admiral is here!"

ThRaWn90,RAL_Thrawn

Rogue 6

 

 

[Guest Morfeo]

Hello there XWA Fan.

 

;-) Since you are talking about SLAMs you are talking about the game TIE Fighter. Only a single Jamming Beam was sufficient to shut down any ship in those days, and since your Missile Boat comes loaded with Nucl...I mean, Space Bombs, this is certienly all the firepower greatness you will ever need to blast any capital ship into the next world...

 

Morfeo

[K_Kinnison]

well here is my quick rundown of wapons and payloads

 

Green lasers: Great for craft that can only fit 2 lasers. Fast Rate of fire, and high speed, which counteres the slightly less damage

 

Red Lasers: Build with the X-wing in mind, or any 3+ laser ship. Low rate of fire, but great for accurate shots. and enuf damage to take a T/I in once Quad shot

 

Chaff: if in use it is 100% effective. Granted you will spin out of control, but if you are going fast enuf it shouldn't be a problem. The main thing is, you will survive even a hit from a space bomb

 

Flares: Difficult to use, and not allways effective. also, you may get cought in the blast of the exlpoding warhead. Dont bother using it on unshiiled ships, b/c you laser do a better, and more efficiant job (flares)

 

Missiles: Fast, but not enuf damage to be very effective

 

Adv Missiles: Scariest thing for any fighter pilot (cept the born warheads) 2 of thses can take out any inteceptor. Great for ading a big puch to a otherwise weak fighter (A-wing)

 

Proton Torps: Torps are one of the best bomber killers. almsot allways have these onboard in my X-wing. Makes quick work of tought targets.

 

Avd Torps: Very versitile warhead, one of thse babies can really put the smarts on any fighter. A few of them can even take out a large ship

 

Rockets: Big damage, with addtioanl speed. i founf thse mot effective if you are abouve 100 MGLT, and dead fire them at the nose of a Captial ship. Other wise they are too easy to shoot down

 

Spae Bombs: way to easy to shoot down. Again dea fire them at close range, and use the old WWII torpdoe bombing tactics

 

Mag Pulse: very effective agawsint Turreted craft, or Captital ship, worhtless agasint fighters

 

Ion Pulse: If you dont have Ion cannons, and need to disable, thse are a must. Otehrwise... not owrth it with otuer options

 

Decoy Beam: Nice idea, but i dont think it is usfull enuf for the energy needed to keep it powered, and it dont work agasint Capital ships.

 

Tractor Beams: Great for the A-wing, or other craft with lots of missiles. Lock on to a fast mover, and fire a warhead. Allways works best in a combo. Anotehr hthing yopu can do is lock on to a bomber, and have it run into the ship it is bombing

 

Jamming: Again, not the best for the energy. only really can use it against fighters

 

 

[Guest Papa Roached]

All i have to say is the ADV Torp is the best. End of line.

 

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"I am not a Roach, I am the Roach and thats Mr. Roach to you."