Arming a cruiser

[msmith619]

I like cruisers, in fact I have all cruisers except for my Large Train and Rheinland bomber. I have owned the most of the cruisers (all except the BH cruiser)and will give you my impressions.
I like cruisers because: I can carry cargo, I can hold loot from pirating, I have shields to fend off large numbers of pirates or those pesky Nomad groups, I can easily cruise thru asteroids without getting hung up or spinning.
Weapons loadout depends on what you want to use it for.

Nomad hunting: 1 Mortar, 2 battleship missles- this will take out one or more Nomad fighter in a Nomad battle group with one shot and injure most of his group. I use standard cruiser turrets for the remainder as no need for shield busting with Nomads. You can easily take out the fighters, then the gunboats and then the battleship in this order with this weapon load out.

Hunting NPCs: I use Corsair cruiser or light battleship turrets, they have a fast refire rate and are good for taking out pirates. I have tried Chain gun Solaris and they are energy hungry and inacurrate weapons so, I don't use them. I also equip 2 or more cruiser missles for those especially quick turning LF that I have a hard time targeting. I include 2 Tizona turrets for NPC fighter shields but don't use them in PVP as most people frown upon that.

PVP: That is the tough part. You may have to fight a LF, HF, VHF, or cap ship and need to be prepared for all. My current load out (Note: this is MY idea of a good load out and may not suite you!) is-
-2 shield busters, I use gunboat inferno cannons as they use less energy and leave more power for my turrets.
-1 or 2 Battlerazors. Again I use gunboat for the reasons above.
-2 to 4 battleship missles. They will spin the opponents cap ships (esp BS) so they can't track you and fire back. They also are good for large damage IF you hit a fighter. (big IF)
-the rest I use Corsair cruiser turrets or standard cruiser turrets, I usually mix half and half.

if its liberty-KEEP THE GIANT GUN ON AT THE FRONT

I got rid of my Liberty cruier PDQ! I hate that front gun. It ONLY fires foreward, does not track, is a slow moving weapon and almost always misses unless you are at point blank range or homing in on a BS that cannot move out of the way!

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BabyDoc: Large Train
DragonKnight: Liberty Assault Frigate
Shadowen: Albatross Frigate
[MiD]The_Enforcer[Ace]: Rheinland bomber
[DJC]The_Kraken: Heugenot Cruiser