Welcome to my Starbase Gunnery Guide!
Controlling POS Guns in a battle can make a massive difference in the outcome of a fight.
When uncontrolled by a human, all of the guns on a tower will rotate around the available targets. This means no single target is hit hard, and it is possible for battleships with remote reps to tank the POS, and it is trival for Capital ships to survive.
On the other hand, when controlled by a small group of players, POS guns can focus their fire, destroying battleships in single volleys, and easily destroying capital ships.
There is only one Skill requirement in order to control POS Guns:
Starbase Defense Management
This skill has a dependency on Anchoring V. Anchoring V is still very useful without even considering Starbase Defense, since it allows you to anchor Tech 2 Large Bubbles, which are insanely powerful compared to T1 Large Bubbles.
Bellow is the 13 step Guide to using POS Guns......
Step 1: Get inside POS Shields
This sounds simple, but can be very hard if we have a well organized enemy. Just like we do when attacking a POS, they will likely have bubbles on all incoming gates, and possibly bubble any stations. I recommend using a Covert Ops Frigate or similar to get to a POS already under attack. It is also a good idea to have a Jump Clone inside the nearest station to any POS you might be defending (hint: IIRH Station).
Assuming you can get to the POS, you may or may not need the POS shield password, depending on its configuration.
Lets assume you can get to the POS and inside its shields:
Step 2: Manage POS
Once inside, right click on the POS, and Select "Manage":
Step 3: Structures...
A new POS management window will open, From here you need to select the "Structures" Tab:
Step 4: Control Structures
And finally the "Control" Sub Tab under Structures:
From here you can see all of the POS Weapon Turrets, Neutralizers, Warp Disruptors and Stasis Webifiers. You can also see if any are currently under control of anyone else.
Step 5: Assuming Control
Now you can select one or more structures, and then click "Assume Control".
Step 6: Controlling Turrets
Once you have control, your ship's weapons will slide away, and be replaced by an image of the turret you are now controlling. The Structures list will now also show you are in control:
Step 7: Controlling More Turrets
Repeat the selection of a Turret as you did before, for up to your level of Starbase Defense Management. I currently have it to level 3, training to level 4, so I can control 3 turrets at a time:
Step 8: Targeting
Once you have the turrets you want, click on the turret once. It will change colors, and become a targetting cross hair:
Step 9: Select a Target
In this case, I pick a target I can see in space, but most of the time you would use your overview to select a red-dot target or the target as called by the Fleet Commander:
Step 10: Wait for Targeting Lock
The POS Turret is now locking the selected target, with a countdown time similar to standard ship combat. While it is counting down, you can start locking with your other turrets:
Step 11: Target Locked
Once all of your turrets are locked, you can click on them again to begin firing:
Step 12: FIRING!
When the guns have a red outline, they are current firing on the target:
Step 13: Stopping!
To stop shooting at a target, you can click the gun again, and it will de-aggro, and it will stop having a red outline.
To change targets, right click on the turret, select "Source" and then select "Unlock Structure Target".
To return control of the gun to the POS, right click on the turret, select "Source" and then select "Relinquish Control"
FAQ!
Which Guns should I pick?
Consult your Fleet Commander, but there are two basic ways to kill a target. For Battleships and smaller, we want to "Alpha Strike" them, so they do not have time to repair. So pick pure damage guns here, and coordinate with the other gunners. For Capitals, we will want to use the Energy Neutralizers first, most likely on a dreadnought in siege mode, and then pound them into oblivion with high damage. To kill capitals we really do need 3-4 gunners online, or a very large support fleet. This is why everyone who can should train up Starbase Defense :-)
Help I'm shooting a friendly!
If you relinquish control of a gun without first unlocking the target or stopping firing, it will continue to shoot the target. This means you can easily accidentally pop a friendly ship when testing. Make sure to always de-aggro the gun when testing, before returning control.
Why don't we put Large Turrets on the POS?
Because if the target is moving at all, they will miss the target. Think of "medium" POS turrets as battleship sized guns, with higher damage mods. Medium POS guns have the most flexibility, since in an area like syndicate, it is likely we will encounter battleships attacking our POS more often than a pure dreadnought fleet.
I'm at an Alliance POS, but I cannot control the guns?
The owner corporation must configure the POS to allow alliance members to operate the turrets. I don't believe many of our POSes are currently configured for this. To all the POS managers out there, please get this setup as soon as possible :-)