Damage beam/cannon VS cannon/cannon stats discrepancy?

[Madman198237]

Alternatively, you go for "more is better" with PDT, and never worry too much about missiles again.

Or, my favorite route: Shoot them before they shoot you....and do it with extreme prejudice.

 

[Keptick]

The low range of the beams is clearly a problem while it got the same dps as cannons.

Yes and no. Is the range of beams too limited? Maybe. However, you have to keep in mind that beams are hit-scan, meaning that it's possible to place a lot more accurate shots on target than with cannons. If you can aim well you'll basically be missing a lot less with beams than with cannons, meaning that the actual DPS on target is higher (on average) than cannons.

 

[Winterhome]

Yes and no. Is the range of beams too limited? Maybe. However, you have to keep in mind that beams are hit-scan, meaning that it's possible to place a lot more accurate shots on target than with cannons. If you can aim well you'll basically be missing a lot less with beams than with cannons, meaning that the actual DPS on target is higher (on average) than cannons.

At close range, cannons are still king, of course. But beams might be more reliable as Keptick is saying. The thing that's up in the air for me is that beams might not have enough punch to kill adv. armor as reliably as cannons do - since they appear to be at least slightly bugged against armor.

Perhaps that's by design at the moment, perhaps not. Makes it a really painful choice to take beams over cannons - but the payout is damage reliability in low-speed, large-sector servers.
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And that is why you and I are not playing the same game. If you have the time to invest in gathering the ridiculous amount of (uncommon) fertikeen needed to build something like that, then more power to you. I have no such surplus of time to dump into near-invincble bricknoughts.

Advanced armor takes 25 Fertikeen + 3 Paint and some mesh.
Shield capacitors, which are most peoples' usual choice when it comes to filler blocks, are 25 Rammet + 25 Sertise.

Same cost - just a longer factory process and a lot more effort put into counting the number of blocks you're making. The real difficulty is finding enough lukrah asteroids, but it's not undoable.

 

[Malacodor]

The thing that's up in the air for me is that beams might not have enough punch to kill adv. armor as reliably as cannons do - since they appear to be at least slightly bugged against armor.

Yep.

 

[Winterhome]

Yep.

Oh, thanks!
I was wondering what exactly was happening.

So I'm guessing the piercing effect is still being treated as though it's being applied (sometimes), resulting in the beam's damage being cut based on its supposed penetration? I thought it might be something like that, but I wasn't ever able to actually tell if that was the case. If that is the case, it gives a few options for countering it -- namely, more outputs of smaller beams with lower per-shot block penetration, but if firing from the hotbar, that royally screws your power efficiency.

 

[Scypio]

Yes and no. Is the range of beams too limited? Maybe. However, you have to keep in mind that beams are hit-scan, meaning that it's possible to place a lot more accurate shots on target than with cannons. If you can aim well you'll basically be missing a lot less with beams than with cannons, meaning that the actual DPS on target is higher (on average) than cannons.

For players, yes. I like a lot beams for being easier to target with on small vessels.
For IA, no. Cannons are clearly the best to play with on the current state. Maybe some configuration can be looked at, like beam/beam/ion but that's all. As a low range weapon, i definitely could look at them more if their dps was higher, being near your target is more inconvenient than useful. More chances to be hit by missiles and easier to hit. Except if there is a huge difference between mass, there you can use the blind spots. Like everytime with this weapon, beams are useful on certain circumstances. Something that i don't like at all personally.

 

[Lecic]

Base cannons have a range of 1 sector and a projectile speed of 10x server speed.

This was changed with the thrust update, actually. Cannons are now 12.5x server speed (25x for C/B).

Weapon systems have different effectivenesses against armor and shields (I believe).
For instance, missiles are bad against armor but absolutely devastating once internal.
Cannons are all-around good, whereas beams are incredibly good at dropping shields. They're also effective against blocks, but perhaps less so than cannons. It's not set in stone, of course; the largest weapon is going to be the best (disregarding things like PDTs and shield/power gen/cap info) in almost every situation, as it deals more damage.

Beams definitely do not do more damage to shields, and if they do, it's a bug.

 

[StarWars1981]

Sorry then, Lecic, in my (limited) experience they appeared to be the most efficient shieldbreaking weapons out there.
Of course, this could easily be the result of limited weapons experience.
However, I like hitscan stuff. Makes targeting easy - point and shoot. Although, with a cannon, you get closer to a physical interception vector than with beams, meaning you'll get closer and not drop in behind as you keep firing on the target. Which, depending on the target, can be good or bad.

 

[Ithirahad]

Beams definitely do not do more damage to shields, and if they do, it's a bug.

They do more effective damage, because they hit more reliably than cannons, and (unlike with armor) they have no damage application disadvantage vs. shields.

 

[Lecic]

Sorry then, Lecic, in my (limited) experience they appeared to be the most efficient shieldbreaking weapons out there.
Of course, this could easily be the result of limited weapons experience.
However, I like hitscan stuff. Makes targeting easy - point and shoot. Although, with a cannon, you get closer to a physical interception vector than with beams, meaning you'll get closer and not drop in behind as you keep firing on the target. Which, depending on the target, can be good or bad.

They do more effective damage, because they hit more reliably than cannons, and (unlike with armor) they have no damage application disadvantage vs. shields.

Yeah, Ith's got it down. Effective DPS is higher because you can't really miss.

 

[Dr. Whammy]

Yeah, Ith's got it down. Effective DPS is higher because you can't really miss.

Not to mention; the beams seem to stay 'locked' on target once you pull the trigger. A good example of this was my logic controlled salvager modules. I could maneuver around an asteroid while firing and the beams stayed glued to the target asteroid. You can also switch weapons and fire something else while the beams arrays are still emitting; potentially stacking even more alpha-ish damage in combat.

Beam/beam has a ridiculously high damage output and range compared to cannon/beam and triple the range (and instant travel time) vs cannon/pulse. If you can wait the 15 seconds it's pretty good for what it is.