Shipwright Archive

I'm taking information from a couple different threads, which is why I'm starting a new one. Too confusing otherwise...

Here's my setup:
Rhikxyrk Starship
Weapon Slot 1: Blaster
Weapon Slot 2: Mining Laser
Weapon Slot 3: Tractor Beam
I have my Tractor Beam toggled from my keymap to the #6 key on my keyboard.
I am using keyboard for navigation (no joystick).

Issue: I press the left mouse button to fire my weapons. It fires them all in order; Weapon Slot 1, then 2, then 3. Once I have the Medium chunk in sight, I blow it up, then activate my tractor beam by pressing "6". But by the time I activate the beam, the asteriods have already separated and now I'm spending 5 minutes tracking them down. Now... I've heard it is possible to activate the tractor beam, then blow up the medium asteriod, but when I do this, my tractor beam shuts off after I start shooting. Resolution for this is "separate" the weapon slot containing my tractor beamfrom the rest? Can someone explain to me how I would do this?

Message Edited by Zodiac-B on 08-03-2005 11:52 AM

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Zodiac-B wrote:

I'm taking information from a couple different threads, which is why I'm starting a new one. Too confusing otherwise...

Here's my setup:
Rhikxyrk Starship
Weapon Slot 1: Blaster
Weapon Slot 2: Mining Laser
Weapon Slot 3: Tractor Beam
I have my Tractor Beam toggled from my keymap to the #6 key on my keyboard.
I am using keyboard for navigation (no joystick).

Issue: I press the left mouse button to fire my weapons. It fires them all in order; Weapon Slot 1, then 2, then 3. Once I have the Medium chunk in sight, I blow it up, then activate my tractor beam by pressing "6". But by the time I activate the beam, the asteriods have already separated and now I'm spending 5 minutes tracking them down. Now... I've heard it is possible to activate the tractor beam, then blow up the medium asteriod, but when I do this, my tractor beam shuts off after I start shooting. Resolution for this is "separate" the weapon slot containing my tractor beamfrom the rest? Can someone explain to me how I would do this?

Message Edited by Zodiac-B on 08-03-2005 11:52 AM

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There are lots of ways to configure the weapon setup for mining but I use a method that has worked great for me. I have built 2 Weapon GROUPS using the "G" key to bring up the Weapons Group window while in space.

Weapon Group One: Blaster and Mining Laser

Weapon Group Two: Mining Laser and Tractor Beam

Under the keymapping I make sure I do NOT use Cycle thru all weapon groups because I don't want one trigger to fire more than ONE group. Instead I BIND my primary firing button to GROUP ONE (I use a joystick but mouse works as well). This will fire both my blaster and mining laser for defense against attacking ships. I then have bound a SECOND trigger button on my joystick to fire GROUP TWO. This will fire the mining laser and tractor beam together at the SAME TIME. I can run the tractor beam at the same time Im blowing up chunks with the laser and it seems to suck up all the little pieces much easier that way instead of delaying to toggle the tractor beam on after blowing up the chunks.

This config has improved how fast I can mine and fill my cargo up. When not mining I always change my config back to my usual weapon groups for combat flying. Hope this helps. Worth a try if you haven't tried firing your laser and tractor beam at the same time.

Best method I've found is just ctrl-G and ungroup the tractor from all groups, just reset and then ungroup it. Make your primary weapon be in group 1 and the laser in group 2 and the tractor in no group whatsoever. Then open options CTRL-O and go to keymap. Map one button or key directly to the mining laser, the "Fire Weapon 2" command. Map another button or key to the "Fire and Cycle Current Weapon Group". For rocks press your first buttonand for bandits or whatever use the fire and cycle button. As for the tractor there is two options:

One would be to create a macro:

/ship weapon toggleTractor;

Then map a button or key to the macro.

But..

Simplest is just to map a button or key to the "Toggle Tractor Beam" command in yourkeymap.

I hope this helps