Author Topic: Lasers, mesons, torpedoes oh my...  (Read 2499 times)

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Offline Maharava (OP)

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Lasers, mesons, torpedoes oh my...
« on: March 06, 2013, 05:28:50 AM »
What, exactly, is the difference between all the non-missile weapons? Should one be used more than others?
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Offline TheDeadlyShoe

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Re: Lasers, mesons, torpedoes oh my...
« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2013, 06:51:24 AM »
It comes down to preference, flavor, and design strategy.

Lasers are your basic do-everything beam weapon. They have good range, can be mounted in turrets, and perform well at missile defence.  They are good at destroying armored missiles.

Railguns have more raw damage than Lasers, but their damage is split up into 4 shots instead of 1.  They have shorter range and cannot be turret-mounted.  Uniquely, they perform adequately at missile defense even without being turreted, as their 4-shot property lets them compensate with quantity over quality.   They are very well suited for fast ships, as that improves their tracking speed.

Meson cannons ignore all known armor and shields.  They can even penetrate planetary atmospheres to destroy PDCs.  They can be turreted and perform adequately at missile defence, exceptionally so against armored missiles. Unfortunately, they only ever do 1 point of damage. 

Particle beams (referred to as Fusion torpedoes in some parts of the game) are highly specialized weapons. Their maximum range isn't very high, but unlike most weapons their damage does not drop off with range.   This gives them an advantage in some combat situations.  They cannot be turreted and have poor rate of fire, rendering them nigh-useless at missile defense.

Plasma cannons are cheaper to research than other beam weapons, but are widely considered sub par.  They can do good burst damage at point blank, but their damage dropoff is worse than any other weapon and they have abysmal rate of fire. 

High-Power Microwaves are a specialized weapon that does not do conventional damage. Instead, it does Electronics-Only damage.  If a ship has shields, it damages the shields.  Otherwise, it skips armor and rolls on a special Electronics-Only damage chart. It is very useful for disabling enemy weapons quickly.  A special research field known as "Electronic Hardening" allows electronics to have a chance of surviving HPM damage.
 

Offline Brian Neumann

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Re: Lasers, mesons, torpedoes oh my...
« Reply #2 on: March 06, 2013, 12:24:57 PM »
A couple of other notes.
1.)  Plasma cannon do have the worst rate of fire and damage dropoff, this is in compensation for how cheap they are.  If you are looking for a point blank lots of damage then they are the way to go.  Thier smallest size is a 15cm doing 6 points of damage, and they cost about the same as a 10cm laser to research.  Hence their overall cheap cost.

2.)  High Powered Microwaves (HPM) will do damage to shields.  All sizes of HPM's do 3 points of shield damage, or destroy 1 electronic system on the target ship if they have not been hardened.  Hardening the electronics is expensive however as a 50% chance of surviving a HPM hit doubles the cost of the system. The applicable systems are generally ECM, ECCM, Fire controls, active and passive sensors. HPM's do ignore armor and can have a decent range with a little bit of tech investment.  I usually only recommend using them once you have a decent fleet structure and can experiment a bit.

3.)  Particle beams have two advantages over most other beam weapons.  They do not lose damage over range, and partially as a consoquence even smaller particle beams will have the same range as larger ones.  Hopefully if you have researched your tech right it will be pretty close to the max fire control range available.  This does make them a nice system for taking down shields, and sandblasting away armor.   Used in a small size they are not as bad for point defense, but most other beam weapons will outperform them.  I have used them succeffully against armored missiles in the area defense roll.  While they don't get many hits at long range they do tend to kill the armored missile better when they get a hit so it is of some use.

Brian
 

Offline Nightstar

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Re: Lasers, mesons, torpedoes oh my...
« Reply #3 on: March 06, 2013, 12:45:37 PM »
In order of range (Which goes up with tech. A high tech weapon can out range a low tech weapon despite lower base range):

Lasers. Lots of range. The higher power ones tend to shoot through several layers of armor, and still have enough energy left to do major internal damage. At least at point blank. Very generic, okay at all ranges, can be turreted. Main interesting thing is that you can reduce their size at the cost of firerate.

Plasma Carronade. Where this belongs in range depends on tech really, because it has no multiplier. Carronades are basically giant lasers. Without the range multiplier, turret mount, armor piercing, or reduced size capability. Junk. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise.

Particle beams. A little less max range than lasers, but they do full damage up to that range. As such, they're pretty good when firing near their max range, poor otherwise.

Meson Cannons. Half laser range. Ignore all passive and active defenses. If you hit with a meson cannon, it does one point of internal damage, period. Quite good at their max range, still decent anywhere in that range. Can be turreted. Expensive.

HPM. Even MORE expensive than meson cannons, and pretty similar. Unlike mesons, they can be blocked by shields. On the plus side, they only do damage to electronics. Even against hardened electronics, these are the fastest way to cripple a ship, bar none. They can't actually kill ships or missiles though.

Railguns. Highest simple DPS, 1/3 laser range, damage is split into four shots. Pretty good at point defense due to all the shots. Goes well on fast parasite ships, where the point defense ability becomes really impressive.

Gauss Cannons. Inferior railguns that can be turreted. They are somewhat different, but that's what you need to know. Good for anti-missile turrets, mostly useless for anything else.

Power generally goes up as range goes down, most weapons are (relatively) best at the edge of their range. Enough lasers will beat anything of the same tech level. Or just one if you're faster and they're out of missiles.
 

Offline Maharava (OP)

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Re: Lasers, mesons, torpedoes oh my...
« Reply #4 on: March 06, 2013, 05:54:26 PM »
Thank you muchly, gentlemen. I'll see to updating the wiki accordingly as soon as I can
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Offline Charlie Beeler

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Re: Lasers, mesons, torpedoes oh my...
« Reply #5 on: March 07, 2013, 07:58:54 AM »
I would not put too much stock into the various comments about range.

First, because the main limiter on range is the beam fire control not the weapons mounts.  Gauss Cannons being a notable exception.

Second, through the first couple of tech levels both Particle Beams and Plasma Carronades out range Lasers.  And until the Lasers reach fourth level tech a roughly equal research effort in Plasma Carronades have the greater absolute range.  (see above about BFC's limiting actual engagement range)

In all cases, with the notable exception of Particle Beams (technically also Meson Cannon and High Powered Microwave) , damage potential falls off very quickly past point blank ranges. 

It should also be noted that Gauss Cannon and Railguns are researched through the Missile/Kinetic Weapons track and not Energy Weapons.

As well it should be noted that Cyclic Rate of Fire is controlled by Capacitor tech researched through the Power and Propulsion tech track.  Here the notable exception is Gauss Cannons which have a fixed cyclic rate of 5 seconds.
Amateurs study tactics, Professionals study logistics - paraphrase attributed to Gen Omar Bradley