Particle Beams

[IanD (OP)]

Does anybody else think particle beams are hard done by?

A 15cm laser with a C4 capacitor does a max of 4 damage every 5sec.
A 15cm laser with a C6 capacitor does a max of 6 damage every 5sec.
A strength 3 particle beam with a C4 capacitor does 3 damage throughout its range fires every 10sec.
A strength 3 particle beam with a C8 capacitor does 3 damage throughout its range fires every 5sec.
A strength 4 particle beam with a C6 capacitor does 4 damage throughout its range fires every 10sec.
A strength 4 particle beam with a C8 capacitor does 4 damage throughout its range but still only fires every 10sec.

Even with the particle beam doing max damage throughout its range the research cost of a C8 capacitor is much higher than the capacitors required for the laser. Even with the requirement to research the wavelength of the laser I find rarely use particle beams especially early in the game as I use energy weapons for warp defence when I am close to the enemy.

What do others think?

[Pedroig]

Particle weapons are sniper/fire support weapons.  They are great a a single job, equally effective for their entire range.  In general, they trade off rate of fire and/or space for that ability.  For brawling there are much better options.  For sniping, hard to beat a particle lance battery, especially with the lance's "no bloom" perk.

They are after all, not suppose to be equal weapons...

[Father Tim]

I think they do exactly as they are supposed to.  As Padroig said, they're not supposed to be equal weapons. . .  (and especially not to lasers, the definite king of all direct-fire weapons).

And Particle Beams have a better damage profile.

[kks]

And the option of the lance upgrade later on really gives them a purpose I think. While they are really slow firing (2,5 times the enrgy is needed), they double the (single-shot) damage output for a given techlevel and so even the lowest tech option punches right through 12 levels of armour. That means they often do internal damage right from the beginning.

[Gabethebaldandbold]

Hard countered by shields though

[Zincat]

As others said, they are a sniper weapon. And they do need quite a bit of reseach.
 
They generally have two uses for me:
1) You are faster than the enemy. Make sure you stay at a distance just slightly shorter than your max range. Since you can dictate the range of the engagement, you will almost surely do more damage per 5 seconds at that range than the enemy
2) You know the enemy designs are heavily reliant on armor. In that case, the armor penetration of the particle weapon can score early critical hits.

I would probably not make massive usage of them though, unless I also HEAVILY invest in speed to make sure I always outpace the enemy...
Or for RP, which I often do

Ultimately, all beam weapons (expect gauss which has other purposes) have to contend with the fact that lasers are the best generalist beam weapon. Because of their flexibility, lasers can be used in just about any situation, and they do great damage for any extended brawl while still performing adequately at range.

The main constraint is really the research cost. In a situation where you're short on research, it's best to just research lasers and gauss, and with that you can be sure you will have enough to cover at least adequately any situation.

[Jorgen_CAB]

You don't need to be faster than the opponent. As long as you have sufficient range on the beams and fire-controls you can force the opponent to either close the range or get away. You can use particle beams as a deterrent weapons too. You can combine them with Carronades or rail-guns for short range power too...

As you don't actually need to destroy enemy ships to win battles on a strategic scale it is perfectly fine to have them even on slower ships.

Particle beam technology also lead to Particle Lances who are truly scary weapons.

[Gabethebaldandbold]

You don't need to be faster than the opponent. As long as you have sufficient range on the beams and fire-controls you can force the opponent to either close the range or get away. You can use particle beams as a deterrent weapons too. You can combine them with Carronades or rail-guns for short range power too...

As you don't actually need to destroy enemy ships to win battles on a strategic scale it is perfectly fine to have them even on slower ships.

Particle beam technology also lead to Particle Lances who are truly scary weapons.

stick them on STOs, with some PD to boot and you have a very very safe planet on your hands.

[Shodan13]

Particle weapons are sniper/fire support weapons.    They are great a a single job, equally effective for their entire range.    In general, they trade off rate of fire and/or space for that ability.    For brawling there are much better options.    For sniping, hard to beat a particle lance battery, especially with the lance's "no bloom" perk. 

They are after all, not suppose to be equal weapons.  .  . 

I feel this would be much better represented by having all PB use the laser damage template. 

[consiefe]

I wonder which ship type is best suited for PBs. Fast small ships with 1 or 2 PBs could be effective. Big and robust ships are more suited for brawls I think. Lances are another story. Maybe they are better on pre-brawl or on carriers as a support fire.

Also do you like to use mass high fire rate weapons or one big weapon per ship I wonder. It seems mass use is more viable strategy.

[liveware]

In VB6 I had experimented with PB and meson equipped fighters. That seemed to work well though I only ever used them in perhaps 5 battles. I am planning on testing out particle beam and plasma carronade fighter wings in my next campaign.

[DFNewb]

Particle beam technology also lead to Particle Lances who are truly scary weapons.

Yea I am starting to think having a bunch of small ships with 1 lance each is a really solid way to go. After you take down their shields lances are incredible at scoring penetrating hits which is really what matters. Pack them full of engines so they can run away out of enemy weapon fire range and just keep kiting. They would have to be larger than 500tons so not fighters but you can give them 3x fuel consumption and have them flown around with a carrier or civ carrier.

[liveware]

Can lances be equipped to fighters? I've never gotten them researched so I have no clue how large or small they might be.

I've almost got to the point where I am ready to build my first wing of PB spinal mounted fighters. I'll post the design for critique purposes once I finalize it.

[kks]

Can lances be equipped to fighters? I've never gotten them researched so I have no clue how large or small they might be.

I've almost got to the point where I am ready to build my first wing of PB spinal mounted fighters. I'll post the design for critique purposes once I finalize it.

I don't think so. The smallest lance (strength 4) is 500t. Strength 2 PB is 250t, Lance doubles size and dmg.
And there is no option for normal spinal for particle beams (anymore?).


Besides, when looking for that, I found that PBs are bigger than other weapons, but don't seem to increase in size as much:
Railguns compared to beam: lvl1 -> lvl5:
Particle Beams: Strength 2: 250t -> Strength 9: 450t
Railguns: 10cm(4x1dmg): 150t -> 25cm(4x5dmg): 400t
So a strength 18 lance has the same size as two 30cm(lvl6) railguns (8x7=56 dmg).

But, this is just some observation and has next to no value when comparing weapons.

[liveware]

And there is no option for normal spinal for particle beams (anymore?).

Really? I haven't quite gotten to the point of actually trying to design a spinal mounted PB fighter. Will investigate shortly.