late game basecracker -- advice needed.

[Schnobs]

Hello,

I'm approaching Point Juno, with a IM90, Omni Thermo and Taikon-200.

Since I've got the IM90, the Omni Thermo (+100) serves mostly as basecracker. Unfortunaely, bases seem to become rather tough as of late. Sinking 90+ shells into a base is unsustainable, besides, it takes ages. So I'm looking for a possible replacement, but none of the available weapons really seem to make sense. Part of the problem might be that the Thermo Cannon is quite enhanced already, while I doubt that I will find many more enhancers for whatever replacement I choose. Guided weapons or area effect would be highly preferable.

Nami Heavy apparently lacks ammo.

Ares Micronukes pack quite some punch, however, I'm not confident there will be enough. Looting bases for ammo might well leave me with a net loss.

The different howitzers aren't that much stronger and don't have any area effect.

The Kytryn Launcher could be a real killer, and I'm not above making me ~200 shells at a teraton fab. However, how long would 200 shells last?

I'd appreciate any input.

[RPC]

You could farm the Ares shipyards and the Tundras for Ares micronukes with the IM90.

[Cirevam]

Ares Warhammer nukes rip stations apart with only a few shots, but they're somewhat scarce and very heavy. I don't think you'd have problems finding micronukes as long as you keep one or two communes or shipyards around so Tundras keep respawning. I'd still recommend the Ares Launcher since you're coming up on Point Juno and can get a good amount of ammo from the Cometfalls, plus there's the chance that one of their launchers will be intact.

[Atarlost]

I'd drop the IM90. It doesn't live up to the hype except in taking the shields off of big targets and smashing swarms because even if all three shots are hitting the target they're not hitting the same armor segment.

You're just about at the point where no hostile stations have weapons. Ranx are defenseless apart from their ships. Ares have external turrets. This means that you no longer need a long range basecracker if you have a long range turret sniper. The Omni Thermo does that.

The Omni Thermo is, as an ammo weapon, worth a top end level IX weapon, except with far lower power draw. The IM90 is worth a mediocre level IX (the omni ion blaster) against single unshielded targets unless you're bad at landing shots on the same armor segment, which with an omni you probably shouldn't be. And all targets have more of their HP as armor than shields.

Your best basecracker, then, is the Ferian Plasma Cannon. It's the longest ranged plasma weapon and as a particles weapon has better counterfire capability, which will come in handy against Pteravores and quantumsphere shots.

If your IM90 is already more enhanced than the Omni Thermo you might consider the Fusionfire as your basecracker. The IM90 is not a long range turret sniper so you'll want blast the station and let the explosion ill the turrets. Fusionfire is the highest level single slot long range bombardment weapon.

[Vult]

Seconding the Plasma Cannon. If used carefully, it can be a huge credit saver in the mid/late game, or at least it ended up being one for me. Given that I didn't actually farm at all and was chronically short on cash most of the game, it might have helped me get what I needed! Also, it looks cool. An important feature in a weapon!

[Aury]

Errr, the FPC has a higher range than the APA?

[Atarlost]

The APA isn't in the running. The OP talks about two weapon loadouts which implies only two weapon slots.

[Schnobs]

Atarlost got it quite right: I had only two weapon slots, and the Omni Thermo is one powerful weapon even when it's no longer suitable as a basecracker. Actually, it can even serve as a basecracker, as long as you're not after Ares Shipyards. It didn't occur to me that farming the big stations for their ships might be better than destroying them for their loot, but once I got my head around that concept the Omni Thermo was just fine.

Actually, once I noticed that, I pretty much ignored all stations and just fast-forwarded to Heretic: with the equipment I already had it was unlikely that anything I'd find in any station would be worth the hassle.

I didn't quite "get" Heretic, though. I was under the impression that I needed to fulfill *every* mission and hence had to care for every research station. This made things a bit difficult, and was a huge letdown when I noticed that I could have had it much easier.

[digdug]

I suggest the Kiloton cannon, if you are into ammo weapons. The ammo for it is heavy, but it is a very good basecracker.
And Ranx dreads shouldn't be a problem with your configuration.

Of course, if ammo is a problem, then Fusionfire is the solution.