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There are a few main types of enemy ships (corvette, frigate, fighter, etc.) and many different types of weapons (flak turrets, scatter turrets, various broadside weapons, etc). I'm assuming each class performs about the same between different factions.

It's pretty clear that some weapon types are ineffective against certain enemies (ex. Flak cannons barely scratch a frigate). I believe the descriptions of some weapons give hints to that effect, but certainly all do not.

So my question is: Which weapon types are most effective against each of the different enemy types? (not Mk I vs Mk II of the same weapon type, that is obvious)

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Generally speaking, broadsides are more effective against capital ships (corvette, frigate, etc - anything locked to the 2D plane) and turret weapons are more effective against fighters and bombers (ie, anything that can move around in 3D).

The various types of broadsides and turrets differ in the way they damage armor and shields, and in various other stats like range and charge speed. I tended to roll a balance of shield and armor penetration, as almost all ships use a mix of both armor and shields. There aren't any "heavily shielded but weak armor" ships (or vice versa) compared to others.

Do note that it is possible to hit fighters with broadsides, but you probably won't get all shots from a given salvo to land. The fighters are quite a bit more nimble.

Another thing to consider - turrets are mounted on hardpoints, and can only swivel so far. For instance, a turret mounted on the top of your craft can't hit things that are passing beneath you. Try to balance your turrets so you always have good armor and shield penetration on all sides.

The secondary weapons (flak cannons and missiles and such) are more situational - in my run, I used almost exclusively flak cannons because they were effective against incoming missiles as well as close-flying fighters.

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  • Would you say it's a better solution to manually control turrets to take down fighters/light craft rather than trying to target them with broadsides and letting the turrets' AI also target them?
    – Broots Waymb
    Jan 13, 2016 at 22:54
  • I tended to stay on broadsides as much as possible, even when fighting swarms of fighters. The AI isn't as good as you are at firing the turrets, though. They tend to fire for shorter duration and space their firing pattern further apart. However, against most groups of fighters I didn't see it being a problem.
    – agent86
    Jan 14, 2016 at 16:46
  • I was testing it a bit last night with a pair of scatter turrents (I upgraded my broadside to the longer range, shorter rate one). Manually firing the scatter turrets at fighters in short to medium range simply devastates them.
    – Broots Waymb
    Jan 14, 2016 at 17:13

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