I haven't really used missiles since like, .86 or .85, but here I have noticed in the current patch that missile damage has been reduced dramatically, almost by a factor of 10 in some places. I am curious what the general consensus on missiles is, how people like to use them, how they're used... IE I have seen some that have very high ammo counts, are those supposed to just be grouped in with normal energy weapons and fired constantly?
Just give me your thoughts on the weapon type in general, or on specific missiles if you like or use one more than the others.
Missiles are good options if you don't want to purely rely on aim. Good pilots will be able to deal with your missiles, be it with CMs or by doing the right steering, but they are quite noob-friendly ways of being relevant in combat.
If you want to try out a funny loadout, take a Starflier, give it all three snub missiles you can install and drive people insane. It's funny, even if you die relatively quickly with a Starflier.
Missiles on bigger ships are fun especially in group fights as the enemy will have a harder time reacting appropriately to missile warnings. Here, too, they are reliable as alternatives to regular turrets. Every missile type shines at specific things and in specific situations, but they are by no means useless.
capital ship missiles, unlike guns, gain accuracy and effectiveness the further away they're fired from their target. also their usefulness scales with battle size. The bigger the battle, the more useful missiles are as your opponent must divert attention to other things. I don't recommend missiles for the purposes of dueling, as intercepting or avoiding them become trivial.
missile damage was reduced due to the fact that armor upgrades were removed (so everything has half the health), the fact that you can now mount two of them, and you dont have to give up a CD. (or at least that's what it looks like to me)
I've used missiles a fair bit on snubs (never caps, I don't recommend using them on caps, as they are not very effective when you are outnumbered). I would say that light missiles are the easiest to use, with Liberty Peacekeepers being my personal favourite. Light missiles are stupid easy to use, and if you can't aim, they're a very easy way to even the odds against better players,though you won't learn as much from pvp with them, and I think they'll get nerfed in 5.1, since they are a little OP.
Sidewinders and Firestalkers are good jf you can force your opponent to joust or box you, otherwise I wouldn't use them. Cannonballs are pretty fun and definitely underused (they are actually not that bad)
however it's the same situation, just with more blind fire.
Missiles are best when either you have a 7 gun ship (if you want to mount two of them) or you have a high DPS loadout and you can spare an extra gun. Your opponent will try and wide-turn to avoid them, so you can use that against them. Just don't get too reliant on missiles and you'll be fine
In the past, you had light fighters with missile loadouts which I've used during 4.86. They're great for beginners. A downside to capital ship missiles is that they can easily be shot off by secondary turrets, but nevertheless, they are quite potent should they manage to hit a target. I don't play snubs currently so I can't say a thing about snub missiles.
Early 5.0 was quite notorious for the overuse of capital ship missiles, but subsequent patches made them less effective ammo-wise, in exchange for higher damage.
