Finally got myself a hawk, help me load it out

[PeppaPigKilla]

After being nearly annihilated by a hawk within 15 seconds whilst in a Cat I've wanted one and now I do

I've been told to put scatter guns on it but what else should i use?

 

[Montoya]

A Hawk took out a Cat in 15 second? Must have been the distortion weapons eating the sheilds.

Is there some secret meta we need to know about?

 

[Shadow Reaper]

What do you intend to do with the ship?

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

Depends on the target you are going up against and what your flying/fighting tactics are.

Scatters are currently very powerful if you can land every pellet on the target. That means you get close. Very close. Like 300 meters close. They theoretically should be good against mobile nimble little targets but I have not had the chance to try that as I can't hit anything smaller than a Freelancer with them.

I love the idea of Distortion weapons but they are not fully implemented in the game yet. They eat through shields but from what i can tell dont damage components yet.

Slow firing guns like the autocannons still have hit-detection issues so repeaters are more accurate at the moment just because you have a better chance of finding the hit-box, the Hurston ones get a damage boost if your heat is higher so the longer you run them the stronger they become.

I am waiting for the Beam weapons to get in game. Low damage but easier to hit stuff with.

 

[Cugino83]

Well, as BobFace state just up here scatter gun (both balistica and energy) are preatty powerful, but you have to be very close to the target and they are not automatic weapons this mean you need to release and pull the trigger again for shooting.
That makes them good weapon for the "boom and shoot" tactics (fly toward the target and shoot while passing over), so ideal, in my opioni, only while equipped in really fast an manuvrable ships or while facing big slow target... so any situation where you are a lot more agile then your target.

Blistic gatling are very good weapon and if overclocked they besicaly spit an uninterrupted stream of fire... and chew trough the ammo accordingly.
Laser repeater are good also, especially the Hurston one that I found a bit more accurate and consistant in the shot spread...

If you prefer single shot weapon instear of repeater I think Tarantula series are the go to balistic weapon, especially if overclocked they keep a good rate of fire and have a large ammo pack
Can't provide suggestion on laser cannon sicne I'm not in love with them: form my point of view theose are good only on lager scale where you can 1-shot a target, if you need to use them for dogfight then, the output is not good enought to get ride of the shield and do damage in a reasonable time frame. But of curse this is an evalation based on my precision so I suggest to try them out.

Also ans specifically for the Hawk: remember the hard point are fixed as stock: so if you want a gimbal configuration you have to mount 2x S1 gimbal mount and 4xS2 gimbal mount and lower all the weapon on S1. Never try it but my feel are that this configuration will drop damage output a bit to much.
Also, since there are so many weapon on fixed mount try to use 6x of the same weapon type, so 6x laser repeater, or 6x cannon for example, this way you'll have single pip.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

Use Hardpoint: https://hardpoint.io/#/customize/1YQDJAAAAAAAAEGkfG8inwVAGxZ68o-SyAG1IHdgNALABBNz31KcyA

Presuming you will be flying close quarters, I would put Havocs in the nose, Sledge IIs on the wings and try to fly with the Slipstream reactor. If it gives enough power for all systems, you will stand a better chance of being undetected longer, as it has very low IR.

 

[marcsand2]

Hardpoint and DPS calculator assume every shot hits target. You also must take in account your required flight style. The Hawk is a light fighter, so it can't take too much hits. Flying against fighters means flying evasive and means that your opponent doesn't has a lot time on target, but also you don't have a lot time on target. You best use this time as best as possible. Cannons which are able to penetrate the shields. Flying against bigger ships means that you must be able to do as much as possible damage with you 4 S2 and 2 S1 mount points.
I would use sledges or strife mass drivers, fixed. The 2 S1 mount points I would gimbal with S1 gimbals. They won't do massive damage, but each small hit helps. At least they prevent the opponents shield from recharging. Scatter guns don't have the reach. In order to do much damage, all pellets hitting target, you need to be very close. I also would use ballistic or neutron cannons.

 

[Cugino83]

Hardpoint and DPS calculator assume every shot hits target. You also must take in account your required flight style. The Hawk is a light fighter, so it can't take too much hits. Flying against fighters means flying evasive and means that your opponent doesn't has a lot time on target, but also you don't have a lot time on target. You best use this time as best as possible. Cannons which are able to penetrate the shields. Flying against bigger ships means that you must be able to do as much as possible damage with you 4 S2 and 2 S1 mount points.
I would use sledges or strife mass drivers, fixed. The 2 S1 mount points I would gimbal with S1 gimbals. They won't do massive damage, but each small hit helps. At least they prevent the opponents shield from recharging. Scatter guns don't have the reach. In order to do much damage, all pellets hitting target, you need to be very close. I also would use ballistic or neutron cannons.

I totally agree on that analisis, I'll just change the S1 weapons, I'll go for a couple of YellowJacket ballistic Gatling: they ahve a hight rete of fire (even better if you overclock them) and are perferct for engaging smaller nimble ship and ground vehicles.

Concerning the use of a PDS calculator I also add that the calculator just do a simple math count, it doesn't take into account special feature like shield penetration, increased damage feature (like the Hurston weapons) or damage reduction do to certain condition.
It's stil a good way to have a general idea of the weapon, but always try them out in real combat scenario (CFT training tale place evenry saturady 8:00pm UTC) to try aout the real feel of them.