Damage Pulse, the forgotten weapon

[Master_chief_150]

We all know the damage pulse, it's the most commonly used block in starmade, every starship has one as a necessity and it's the wrath of all stellar empires.

No... in reality, it's not. It's ignored, it's that system that's there, for mostly slaving with other weapons. Do you think there's a proper use for it as a primary weapon? If any at all? Or is it just condemned to be the weapon locked in everyone's basement, being forced to magnify other weapons effects?

Please tell me if anyone actually has good uses for it as a primary weapon that would be viable.

 

[Peekie30]

AtraUnam made a mech with a 1k long sword lined with area triggered damage pulses IIRC, that thing was terrifying

 

[Deserea]

AtraUnam made a mech with a 1k long sword lined with area triggered damage pulses IIRC, that thing was terrifying

Sounds gimmicky though?

I have to agree, though, Pulse is one of the weapons that doesnt get used as a primary weapon often(cant say ever cause obviously it does get used sometimes) But its pretty useless in anything but overly close combat., which...from what ive seen doesnt happen often, correct me if im wrong?

The first time i played i thought pulse was a long range, slow projectile, AOE cannon. (This was quite awhile ago, silly noob me!) Though i think it could function that way, while keeping its secondary effect, and still being balanced?

 

[Master_chief_150]

Noob me thought each module emitted it's own pulse, and how the more they were, the bigger the radius. (I was wrong)

So, Two hours into my first attempted halo ring using damage pulse, it turned out to be extremely anticlimactic

 

[Calhoun]

The real problem with pulse is there's no point to it. It's a super short range weapon in a game where you're typically better off not ramming your enemy in the face.

 

[The_Owl]

Make it better/able to be an AMS weapon, then i think people may use it more.

 

[AtraUnam]

Spoiler: You rang?

The only feasable use I can come up with for damage pulse is a cloaker that uses pulse/pulse/punch to sneak up and gut ships from the inside out.

 

[Lancake]

It's pretty good at killing astronauts inside your ship but even that is unreliable if you're flying at 100+ m/s...

The real problem with pulse is there's no point to it. It's a super short range weapon in a game where you're typically better off not ramming your enemy in the face.

Yep sums it up nicely. At best, this is a very situational weapon when cannons/beams/missiles would do an equal if not better job at it anyway.

Right now we have 20 weapon combinations excluding effects yet most of these are redundant or utterly useless. Their behavior is pretty much the same too which is imo very disappointing.

A proof of concept more than anything, yet most of these 25 (+5 standalone) combinations mention behavioral differences instead of statistical ones.

• Flak cannon implies that the projectile fragments.
• Massive Charge Laser implies that you have to charge the weapon before firing it which makes it more like a spartan laser instead of any other beam weapon that can be fired on the fly.
• ...

I would rather ditch 5 useless weapon combinations we have right now and then add more behavior difference to the remaining 15 combinations.
Just look at most pulse/beam support combinations. The only real difference is range yet you can achieve the same amount of damage with the beam support if you just put down some more weapon blocks. The power consumption for them though is the same per damage done so there's really no reason to use any of the pulse support combinations.

 

[Deserea]

It's pretty good at killing astronauts inside your ship but even that is unreliable if you're flying at 100+ m/s...

Yep sums it up nicely. At best, this is a very situational weapon when cannons/beams/missiles would do an equal if not better job at it anyway.

Right now we have 20 weapon combinations excluding effects yet most of these are redundant or utterly useless. Their behavior is pretty much the same too which is imo very disappointing.

A proof of concept more than anything, yet most of these 25 (+5 standalone) combinations mention behavioral differences instead of statistical ones.

• Flak cannon implies that the projectile fragments.
• Massive Charge Laser implies that you have to charge the weapon before firing it which makes it more like a spartan laser instead of any other beam weapon that can be fired on the fly.
• ...

I would rather ditch 5 useless weapon combinations we have right now and then add more behavior difference to the remaining 15 combinations.
Just look at most pulse/beam support combinations. The only real difference is range yet you can achieve the same amount of damage with the beam support if you just put down some more weapon blocks. The power consumption for them though is the same per damage done so there's really no reason to use any of the pulse support combinations.

So..i actually like the ideas on that chart quite a bit. If it ever comes to fulfillment ill be pretty happy with this game xD

But i think pulse should be looked at and changed instead of gotten rid of entirely, theres a ton of ideas in the Scifi world that could be used in its place, or to make the weapon function in this game and unique. Obviously it would no longer be the "pulse" weapon we know now.

 

[sayerulz]

Damage pulses uselessness, both as a primary and a secondary, is very unfortunate.

 

[kulbolen]

pulse is almost useless. would love a fix or rework.

most other weapon combos have a use either in direct combat or support.

 

[Bladeriker]

There is one use for it that I have found. That is internal ship defense. using it in hallways on area triggers, or on logic activation and no more ship boarding parties.

Other than that, it is almost never used, as there are better combinations that do much more for less.

 

[jayman38]

I'm in the camp that thinks Pulse should be another kind of missile, that lacks a trail, but vaporizes a large area when it hits, like a missile.

I am also of the notion that secondary slots should be able to contain effects in addition to other weapons.

In this way, Pulse provides one of its few benefits: it is an effect system for a secondary slot, in addition to the tertiary effect.

The other benefit is using a single-block pulse weapon for engine effects. (Or another visual effect involving a big plasma sphere.)

I have heard of some players using it in the back of their ships as a minelayer during a high-speed escape to damage close pursuers, but that was a long time and many updates ago. That is every bit as specialized and unreliable as the anti-astronaut pulse defenses.

 

[Napther]

How about I saw somewhere, Make Pulse a "Plasma caster" type of weapon a slow projectile with the range of a beam that damages a [INSERT SHAPE PATTERN HERE] against the enemy ship. Radius is coded by the damage, meaning a dreadnought's main battery can - as would be in all Sci fi cases - obliterate fighters in a single hit, and create a large burn hole deep into an enemy vessel.

If we want a melee weapon, may as well make Pulse-cannon keep current functionality, or create a new weapon for melee only roles. This weapon creates a constant damage "ball" in [SOME PLACE WITH SHIP/OUTPUT REFERENCE POINT] that can be held in front of a ship that will damage entities that pass through it. Missiles passing through will need work

but a new weapon is besides the point, tbh, pulse really is the forgotten main weapon for any ship

 

[Deserea]

How about I saw somewhere, Make Pulse a "Plasma caster" type of weapon a slow projectile with the range of a beam that damages a [INSERT SHAPE PATTERN HERE] against the enemy ship. Radius is coded by the damage, meaning a dreadnought's main battery can - as would be in all Sci fi cases - obliterate fighters in a single hit, and create a large burn hole deep into an enemy vessel.

I...i love that idea, id love to see that happen...Holy crap that would be amazing to have in this game, and assuming that its cooldown is decently long, it would be decently balanced too.

 

[Napther]

I...i love that idea, id love to see that happen...Holy crap that would be amazing to have in this game, and assuming that its cooldown is decently long, it would be decently balanced too.

I imagine the way it would work is split its damage, on impact, into "beams" with a radius continuing from its angle of incidence. It will create odd cylinders unless the middle "impact beams" are stronger than the outside once - Im not sure if this is possible, but should bypass explosion calculations, meaning they wont compete directly with missiles in combat

 

[Deserea]

I imagine the way it would work is split its damage, on impact, into "beams" with a radius continuing from its angle of incidence. It will create odd cylinders unless the middle "impact beams" are stronger than the outside once - Im not sure if this is possible, but should bypass explosion calculations, meaning they wont compete directly with missiles in combat

Hm, that would be interesting to see actually happen, though the odd cylinders might actually be a good thing, in that it would offer a challenge for armor layout if it was purely random in its selection of where the beams went.

 

[Lecic]

I would like pulse to be a ring weapon like in the Clone Wars Shadow of Malevolence episodes. In looks for the most part.

A short ranged plasma ring that starts small and expands to a larger size. When it hits a ship it would wrap around and "burn" off the hull.

 

[kulbolen]

what if i told you pulse main has a hidden secret that makes it fucking amazing an the best thing ever and just none of you know about it?


..just kidding its shit. just wanted to fool the like 3 people who think i know wtf im talking about.


..just kidding it has an amazing hidden secret.

 

[kiddan]

Honestly, there are only 1.5 uses for pulses I could see myself using; The first being to slow attackers that you are fleeing from. And the somewhat second being boring tunnels, something you can't properly do with the currently thin planet plates.