Star Citizen - Ship Weapons Guide | New Pilot's Guide to the Verse

[@HybridVAudio]

*UPDATE* 3.14 Brought some big changes to weapons. Most of the info here is still accurate, but some things have changed. Here are the most important things you should note: -Ballistics are much more powerful, but their ammo capacity has been drastically reduced. Cannons have good ammo cap but are still limited. -Laser weaponry now has an ammo capacity. They still have infinite ammo, but they will need to recharge between bursts of fire. -Overclocking is gone. Instead, now all weapons fire much faster than before. Overclocking may return again at a later date according to CIG. -Currently, the Attritions laser repeaters have had their damage fall off removed. -Size 1-4 Repeaters are exclusively for anti-fighter roles. -Size 5-7 Repeaters are exclusively for anti-multicrew / anti-capital ship roles. -Size 1-4 Cannons are exclusively for anti-heavy fighter / anti-multicrew roles. -Size 5-7 Cannons are exclusively for anti-multicrew / anti-capital ship roles. -You can still use weapons outside of their roles, but it will be sub-optimal. Erkul DPS calculator, show them some love for making such a great tool for the community! www.erkul.games/ Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 0:35 Overview 1:22 Weapon Sizes and Mounts 3:47 Ballistic Weapons Overview 5:04 Ballistic Gatlings 7:25 Ballistic Repeaters 8:54 Ballistic Cannons 13:00 Ballistic Scatterguns 14:24 Laser Weapons Overview 15:38 Laser Repeaters 19:37 Laser Cannons 23:39 Laser Scatterguns 25:10 Ship Weapon Tips 27:09 Conclusion 12:57 Outro

[@osuave7811]

Wow! Hollywood style presentation. Can't wait for 3.14 update from you. Thanks for the input!

[@chloekaftan]

Is the amount of ammunition carried by the ship determined by the ships size or the weapons size? Like say i want to equip all fixed weapons on an anvil arrow and swap the gimbal puck on top with a huge fixed weapon, will the ammo for that be limited by the arrows small body? or will the ammo be determined by the weapon itself?

[@shrap8]

How do these changes compare with 3.15? Is overclocking still not added in?

[@HybridVAudio]

@@shrap8 No overclocking yet. Currently, in 3.15 PTU the weapons still are in line with the changes to 3.14. But everything is still at 'baseline' levels so most weapons feel samey. But could possibly change before it goes live as CIG have already started changing tunings for components in the patch.

[@ovencake523]

@@HybridVAudio Amazing video you have some of the best guides I've seen will you make an updated combat tutorial vid? maybe with missile operator modes?

[@Stratobrick]

The depth of content and work that went into getting all the data and juicy footage is much appreciated. Thank you.

[@dhgfffhcdujhv5643]

First time ever, someone finaly admits in the montage that things in focus change with time as game devellops. Well done sir.

[@robertschumacher2707]

Believe it's worth mentioning that size 1 hardpoints can be gimballed or fixed so unless the ship also has size 2 hardpoints and you don't wish to drop them to size 1 weapons with a gimbal, there's no reason not to use gimbals on most starter ships as all their hardpoints benefit from gimbals without penalty.

[@TastyChickenLegs]

It would be awesome to have an update to this excellent tutorial. Also some tips about mixing weapon types and whether weapons should have the same speed and how that affects targeting. I see posts that state not mixing gatlings and cannons because of multiple speeds and difficulty in targeting but have no idea what that means or how to do proper load outs. You do an amazing job explaining tutorials and are one of the best I’ve ever seen. Thanks again

[@dobbyfreeelf6213]

Best guide by far, thanks

[@nathanpfirman625]

BRUHH. Whoever has the job of modeling these weeapons deserves a 60% pay increase. I don't care if it takes forever for the game to be stable and come out. I now know why I love this game.

[@chetmanly8831]

As a brand new player your videos are so explanatory that they are great for understanding the why of making a decision. Thank you. Please continue updating information with the new patches and perhaps a video on how to get better at combat with early/beginner ships

[@Omegasutoraiki]

even though I just tried the game through the freefly week I have been liking the fixed weapons just because they give me the feeling of a badass star pilot. Plus my brain already having flight tuned ideas means it isn't too difficult for me even though I have never played the game before this last week and am using a mouse and keyboard. I plan to purchase this fine technical marvel of a game and getting a hosas for increased enjoyment in the future.

[@mrbaglog]

Great to see another video from you! Your production values are top notch. Worth the wait!

[@scotscottscottt]

Good stuff. Cheers dude.

[@TimRobinson]

How does he possibly learn all this on his own to share with others?? This is incredible. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@jratliff888]

This is amazing, great work my dude. It's hard to find a creator that goes out of their way to give sound advice and guidance in Star Citizen ship parts like this. Bravo

[@d3v-x64]

wow! The clip at 10:06 looks awesome!

[@RazSkull673]

Informative, clear and concise. Subbed.

[@MuttleyGameTube]

Just incredible the amount of different weapons they create. Thanks

[@UpperKS]

These videos are put together fantastically. A very tight and professional feel.

[@Pliskkenn]

Excellent. Was glad you included Distortion weapons as I initially thought you'd left them out.

[@Karibick]

Well .. knowledge is power. And power is my new build, thanks to you. Now it really will not be nice to meet me :) Thanks for sharing, it could not have been better. Safe flight, citizen

[@Neogentronyx]

Faaaar more comprehensive than I was expecting! Very well done!

[@mattstephen7494]

By far THE BEST video explaining weapons I've seen. Amazing presentation as well. Looking forward to more with 3.14 weapon updates.

[@LameMule]

Bro, this is awesome. Your script is succinct and packed with info and I thank you for putting all this together. Quality editing and damn good stuff all around. My thanks!

[@Trifler500]

Cool guide. :) Another tip you can include in future versions is turning on Stagger-Fire in the options.

[@MacVerick]

Everything I needed to know. Perfect!

[@hujiaming6151]

Very good video man, you deserve many thumbs up.

[@whisky3412]

This is easily the best birdseye weapons guide I've seen.

[@AbdiYohan]

My goodness, where has this video been my entire life? Well done!

[@titansquirrel4408]

This video was really fun would love updated series for weapons and components!!!

[@silenciummortum2193]

Bro… you put in some SERIOUS work. Thank you so much from a new pilot!

[@minorityman7781]

This is a fantastic video. The indepth look into everything has really opened my eyes to new ship options. Hell I never even knew gimballed weapons actually lowered the size of the mounted weapon. Very informative video. Great work my dude

[@stuartchapman7934]

Great In-Depth Ballistics Video! 👊🎯💯

[@pierre1050]

Once they add VR I'll buy it for sure! Hope they add telemetry motion-sim support as well.

[@Styx-Lo]

Great video! From footage to the soundtrack you chose. Couldn't get my eyes off it lol All while learning a bunch, thanks!

[@mattwinget]

I just came across your channel and I am very happy I did. A lot of useful information and I appreciate it very much. I've learned a lot and will be applying it very soon. Thank you

[@bigjon120]

new to the game in september 2022, i will take into account the weapons getting updated, but great video! very informative 😁

[@treesnake1635]

I have been looking for an up to date ship weapon video for so long, I was about to give up then I found this God send of a video, thank you so much for making it.

[@WestSage]

wow man great video! learned a few things that I cant wait to try out. ;)

[@codychristian1251]

This is the video I’ve been needing thanks so much

[@MrTokageroh]

Great video. however it might be poor timing, as 3.14 is re-balancing almost everything about the ships and weapons/shields. Should have further details about that as evo/ptu progresses in the comming weeks and full release.

[@BerraLJ]

Very nice video. I like the Omnisky lasers not super expensive and i do not fight all that much but the lack of ammo sure is nice now in 3.14.

[@flucyd]

Great video. Loads of useful info presented very well Keep it up 👍

[@Jamie-666]

Fantastic, thanks!

[@citizenshenanigans2907]

Very thorough vid. Thank you.

[@Redclaw340]

Great video. Very helpful! I cant wait of the next one.

[@TheCaptDude]

Thank you for making this video. Very informative. I appreciate this.

[@joshuabrown4030]

Good work. Very comprehensive.

[@BadTeacherUA]

Brilliant guides dude!

[@blakes9526]

You rock! these videos are awesome! thanks so much!

[@MeshPotato_]

Thank you! This is so useful

[@sunsetcarson7913]

Thanks this answered a lot of my questions

[@RastadasPT]

Amazing video! Instant sub!

[@DragonBlud117]

I feel bad because the stuff you have covered here is massively changing in a matter of weeks, and this guide will be outdated, but it is an informative video.

[@HybridVAudio]

That is why I avoided including detailed stats as they change quite regularly from patch to patch. Capacitor gameplay will change combat, but nearly everything in here will still be relevant. Afterall, Ballistic will still be Ballistics and Lasers will still be lasers etc. Just rebalanced.

[@kingslaphappy1533]

Fantastic guide, thank you!

[@T2rx6]

This is a great video talking about each of the weapons. Too bad that in the PU there's not much use for any weapon outside of gats and xjs the occasional attrition, scatter gun and c788 in pvp. I so want to outfit my ship differently and be viable they just aren't unfortunately.

[@silenciummortum2193]

I am a new pilot with an Avenger Titan and I REALLY like it. I have 1 Rhino and 2 Badger armed so far with the standard missile layout. I want to upgrade to a Gladius or Ares ION next. However, I have very little aUEC. For now, I think I will have upgrade my ship for some extra value. What weapons do you think I can upgrade for higher dps, not running out of ammo/recharge to quickly and still relatively affordable to rearm? Thanks for your help!

[@NicouLenny]

Excellent video, great job!

[@realvhem6714]

Great info - great video!

[@SniperSnipedYou]

this was excelent, hopefully yu do another to new times later

[@RokkHunter]

Great vid, very informational. Want to upgrade my weaponry on my ships but the recurrent "can't deliver packet" bug makes it a pain. Most of the time when it happens it shows the ship as destroyed and claim gets your stock ship back. Going to check this out further after watching this vid. THX

[@HybridVAudio]

Glad I could help!

[@techbug8604]

I like ballistic but when it gone its gone so prefer laser repeaters. We will see what capacitors will get in 3.14 and that will change the weapon power. See you in the verse Citizens

[@joshuaallright2546]

You do a fantastic job!

[@Vlusion]

Will watch this tomorrow :P

[@xrayhk2013]

Yoo that intro hot af 🔥

[@zomfgroflmao1337]

Just theorizing with 4 size weapons made it clear how forgotten everything above size 3 is. Size 4 has like 9 different weapons of all types while size 3 has over 20 ...

[@DavidOlver]

Thanks for the info

[@shrap8]

Great vid dude

[@wolf10k32]

bro throwback to when SC had actual differences between different brand weapons, Let alone OVERCLOCKING XD... LET ALONE COOLING ADN POWER ACTUALLY MEANING SOMETHING

[@shock226]

So after hearing this, I’m thinking of doing a Gatling repeater with 2 laser repeaters. Is that good or should I change it? I’m doing this on a avenger titan

[@HybridVAudio]

Perfectly fine loadout if you are planning on dogfighting other fighters in a Titan. I would recommend not using the gatling until their shields are down to save ammo and do maximum damage.

[@undersmack648]

Gatlings not needing as much accuracy… *Cries in Inferno*

[@tgrandmortdefou9852]

Hey great video love it, but u forgot the size 10 cannon of the Idris

[@HybridVAudio]

11:39

[@Tinmanstees]

Great video.

[@Breadman-k6d]

I just had a one hour fight with my avenger titan against a cutlass black. Every time I took down his shields, he just took off with immense speed, and while I was catching up, he regenerated his shields. Even though his components were severely damaged, he still somehow managed to run off and QT to Grim Hex. I’ve only been playing for about a week, and I’m here now to decide whether it’s time for fixed weaponry. It was very frustrating to have the complete upper hand in the fight, without having the “omf” to finish him off. I run with the two stock s2 gimbaled laser repeaters on the wings, and their bigger brother s3 gimbaled laser repeater on the nose. Tips?

[@HybridVAudio]

You might want to consider putting a cannon in that loadout if going up against a Cutty. A fixed cannon on the nose of the venger is pretty brutal in the right hands, but it takes getting used, especially if you end up running a mixed fixed/gimbal loadout. (sometimes it is best to be all gimbal or all fixed IMO) Cannons have high alpha damage which makes them great for chewing through the Shield and Hull HP for multi-crew ships like the cutty. The downside is you will need to practice to get those shots to hit as cannons are tricky to hit zippy targets with. Luckily the Cutty is not the fastest boat in the world, and if they have no defensive gunner, they are even more vulnerable. You can also try sub-targeting to snipe the engines as the Cutty has vulnerable nacelles that can be easily lopped off with some careful marksmanship. Check the targeting section of the keybinds menu to see what your sub-target keys are set to and give it a go. o7

[@Slavio]

Awesome video :).

[@pvtspartan]

Why does Erkal not display any differences with the laser canons right now?

[@HybridVAudio]

This video was made back before CIG flattened out the weapon types and made big changes to combat. So nearly all of the laser cannons are virtually identical. This is to establish a baseline for combat metrics so CIG can balance them out later. Eventually, the differences I outlined here will be brought back once the core of the combat mechanics have been finalized and they have a better idea of which direction they want to go with different weapon types.

[@battlewagon15]

I thought convergence was auto corrected with a slight gimbal on fixed

[@AbdiYohan]

Thinking of mixing 2 mvsa's, an attrition 5, and 2 gvsr's on my harby to take out hammerheads. 🤔 Rip through shields and get right to the hull at 200-300m? Hmm...

[@viktorgavorn4635]

Gimbals are also better for larger ships that can be outmaneuvered.

[@Bokaj01]

I have a starter ship Aurora MR, which I overall upgraded a bit. I added two extra Bulldogs on the wings, but wondering if I should make them Gatlings instead? So front would be energy and wings gatling. Dunno. Just roaming space and trying to scrape credits for my next ship.

[@mikexii13]

Yes, you can put ballistic gattlings on them, keeps your laser repeater ammo higher too before recharging. But best of all the size 1 weapons can keep their gimballs installed. They dont get downsized.

[@dimman77]

Missed opportunity here to make laser weapons actually lasers. Instead of just a ballistic gun with no ammo, they could have been actual light speed beams. It creates a much different feel and tactics between weapon types. MechWarrior Online shows this well.

[@HybridVAudio]

Agreed, it's not realistic. However, the game's design philosophy is based on World War 2 style combat much like Star Wars, so nearly everything is projectile based to ensure skill plays a larger role in dog fighting.

[@dimman77]

@@HybridVAudio Lazy philosophy on their part imo. It just forces a single type of combat AND ends up making their claim to realism flawed. Proper implementation could create weapons systems that have very different properties in how you need to maneuver to engage your target. All this talk of Star Citizen being so "realistic" and they turn lasers and particle beams that travel at lightspeed or near C into slow projectile guns that don't need ammo. Sigh...

[@HybridVAudio]

@@dimman77 I'm not sure I've ever seen CIG market the project as realistic. A sim yes, but mostly to simulate it's own universe. One that is akin to many other space themed properties. Regardless, I see your perspective, however I feel it's a bit subjective to say what would be 'better' for the game. As a Mechwarrior player myself I do find the lasers personally, to be a bit boring to use. Then again, I mostly run LRM or AC builds as I like the kinetic feedback. The lasers are fine mechanically, I just don't care for them as much, both from an artistic perspective and a gameplay one. But that is just my subjective opinion. That being said, there are laser weapons in SC's lore. The Idris-K has a bow mounted laser cannon and the Defender used to have beam weapons as well. It's just that currently with what we have, there are no beam weapons. There may be some in the single player and of course there may be some down the road as they make more weapons. But until then, CIG is mostly focused on projectile based weapons.

[@dimman77]

@@HybridVAudio Then, even if you don't personally like them, you understand how the gameplay is significantly different and the different build opportunities based on those gameplay preferences. Imagine if lasers were just different coloured ACs... Well there's still time, probably a decade at least at the rate they're going, for CIG to add in proper implementation of lasers sometime in the future.

[@arcadealchemist]

cutty blue is def a BH ship you crew that 2 or 3 and you out class most ships for trade damage. hurricane is more nimble and can def out fly a Cutty blue if you can stay in the blind spot. \

[@MoAoX7]

nice but i'd like to ear more about plasma weapon from Vanduul ship. they are nasty

[@tomaszgorak4978]

@HybridVAudio is it possible to Attack/ Destroy targets on Planet's Surface using on-board/Ships wapens like canon/railguns?

[@BallMuncher555]

Why are the lasers and neutron beams so slow? Those should be basically instant. Also the tachyons should be even faster

[@greenthunder1000]

I’m thinking about getting this game, should I learn with a stick or with mouse and keyboard? And if it’s a HOTAS, will any cheap model work with all the button commands?

[@rpscorp9457]

The only problems i see are lack of plasma weapons, and any type of particle beams. Even ED has beam weaponry.

[@vincenthermes7330]

"Exclusively for the nose guns of the vanguard series" This should be printed on a T Shirt...

[@revolverDOOMGUY]

I don't understand why lasers are NOT hitscan: It's light, it's a radiation, not a projectile, it travels litterally at the speed of light, meaning there is no need to compensate for enemy movement, if you can put a red dot on it and press the trigger, the hit would reach the target because it's literall the closest thing to a hitscan in the universe. Also lasers do not produce recoil since radiations do not have mass, and also have no drop because gravity has very little effect on light, as only a black hole gravity can actually "bend" light. Does this mean laser weapons in Star Citizen are actually some type of energy weapons? Normally i would assume they are actually plasma weapons but nope, there are plasma weapons in this game too. I feel the devs understood how OP actual lasers would be in a space and aerial fights and just decide to turn them into random energy projectile weapons in order to keep tings balanced, especally considering they would be so effective as point defence weapons it would make missiles useless. This appens way too frequently in videogames. I wish devs focused on the drawbacks of such weapons instead, like the fact that since they are not really affected by gravity they cannot be used as indirect fire weapons or the fact that laser canno transport a "payload" meaning no explosive or AoE weapons. This game at least adresses the amount of heat the would produce, which would make you a very easy to spot target.

[@HybridVAudio]

This reminds me of the big debate that has been raging for years around Star Wars' turbolasers. There is an excellent write-up about turbolasers you can find if you google "Star Wars Turbolaser Firepower". As for SC's lasers... All I know is that they are considered projectile launchers. Technically, not really lasers but more like plasma-like weapons that are colloquially referred to in-universe lore as 'lasers'. So basically, they take the same rule of cool idea from Star Wars. If you are interested, there is a game that has realistic ship combat and weapons based on real scientific principles called 'Children of a Dead Earth'. It is one of my favorite hidden gems. Not much of a looker but the science behind it is great and you can build your own weapon platforms from ballistics to lasers and everything in between. You can pick it up on Steam.

[@BimmWPBS]

This is a bit late but there are are a set of hit scan lasers mounted on the Banu Defender called Singe I believe

[@chriskelvin248]

Gun convergence should be a knob on the ship dash, not in the game options.

[@DoomOfConviction]

I shopped so much stuff but don’t have it in my inventory

[@zanemcmullen2879]

Whatcha think of 3.16? I’m wanting to get a standard hornet or ghost, I’m super keen on bounties(pve).

[@HybridVAudio]

Loving it! Hornet is a tank. A lot of fun for bounties, especially in atmosphere.

[@Szederp]

"The game is constantly changing". Good one there, nice euphemism :-) Don't hate me I'm mad about this project.

[@presidiun]

I have a question. According to erkul both laser cannon and laser repeaters have the same dps (damage right?) why is all the same?

[@HybridVAudio]

After 3.14 CIG flattened out DPS curves per weapon size. The goal is to continue tweaking these values as more data comes in. For now, one of the more important metrics to look at is Alpha Damage. Which is the per shot damage numbers. Cannons have a higher alpha than repeaters at the cost of fire rate and projectile speed which is what separates them currently.

[@osirussolomoninvictus9275]

Seriously considering getting this... Or another note, what outro music is that?

[@HybridVAudio]

It's my own I wrote. It's part of an EP I plan on releasing when it's done.

[@osirussolomoninvictus9275]

@@HybridVAudio I'm checkin' for that, son! That's on big facts; your production (musically and video-wise) is mad wavy! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👍🏾

[@game4u2b]

Can you make an update soon?

[@Golden_Darkness]

Is it worth me equipping Distortion weapons on my Gladius, or better to stick with full laser.

[@HybridVAudio]

I personally prefer full lasers on my Gladi. But distortions are pretty strong right now since they can immobilize unshielded targets.

[@Golden_Darkness]

@@HybridVAudio Thank you for the quick reply!

[@lambtheweeb2]

This background music slaps and I need to know what song it is.

[@HybridVAudio]

Thanks buddy. Every song at the end of my videos are ones I write myself. The one at the end of this video is for a future EP release I plan to put out sometime next year, so stay tuned for that announcement. 😎

[@CUBEoneVX]

how do you change the camera to those cinematics while flying?

[@HybridVAudio]

F4 for third person. You can then hold Z to rotate the camera around with the mouse. Holding F4 and pressing an arrow key will pan the camera around. And holding F4 and plus or minus on the numpad will zoom in and out. o7

[@CUBEoneVX]

@@HybridVAudio thanks dude, didnt know the arrow keys and + - apreciate it

[@Jazzy-kz6wd]

so lemme get this straight, "lasers" are actually plasma accelerators essentially?

[@TheSangson]

As they are in 98% of any visual, "there's sound in space"-action sci-fi and as was observed ever since Star Wars exists, yeah.

[@Jazzy-kz6wd]

@@TheSangson in Elite Dangerous they are actually hitscan beams, not plasma bursts...

[@talkingmudcrab718]

Aaaaaaaaaand 3.14 makes all weapons videos obsolete 😅 I threw you a like anyway.

[@Restilia_ch]

And now all of this needs a rework because of 3.14