Posted by: liveware
« on: June 16, 2020, 02:50:51 PM »That answers that question then. Spinal mounts are best on large ships.
Damage Output 6 Rate of Fire 10 seconds Range Modifier 40 000
Max Range 240 000 km Laser Size 5 HS (250 tons) Laser HTK 2
Power Requirement 6 Recharge Rate 5
Cost 49.0 Crew 15
Development Cost 1350 RP
Materials Required
Duranium 9.8
Boronide 9.8
Corundium 29.4
Damage Output 6 Rate of Fire 10 seconds Range Modifier 40 000
Max Range 240 000 km Laser Size 5 HS (250 tons) Laser HTK 2
Power Requirement 6 Recharge Rate 5
Cost 49.0 Crew 15
Spinal Weapon Only
Development Cost 1200 RP
Materials Required
Duranium 9.8
Boronide 9.8
Corundium 29.4
My own attempts at cramming a spinal laser onto a fighter have not been successful, basically because the spinal mounts are too large or I need to use a tiny caliber laser which reduces the effectiveness of the spinal mount. A FAC might be effective but I haven't messed around with that concept enough to say yay or nay.I mean, you certainly can put a spinal laser on a fighter easily. A spinal 12.5cm laser for instance. Which is exactly the same as a non-spinal 12cm laser, except you can't put it in a turret or mount more than one on a ship, and it requires more expensive and less useful technology.
Damage Output 37 Rate of Fire 150 seconds Range Modifier 40 000
Max Range 1 480 000 km Laser Size 9 HS (450 tons) Laser HTK 4
Power Requirement 37 Recharge Rate 1.25
Cost 91.2 Crew 27
Spinal Weapon Only
Development Cost 1900 RP
Damage Output 13 Rate of Fire 55 seconds Range Modifier 40 000
Max Range 520 000 km Laser Size 5 HS (250 tons) Laser HTK 2
Power Requirement 13 Recharge Rate 1.25
Cost 54.1 Crew 15
Spinal Weapon Only
Development Cost 1350 RP
Damage Output 9 Rate of Fire 40 seconds Range Modifier 40 000
Max Range 360 000 km Laser Size 4 HS (200 tons) Laser HTK 2
Power Requirement 9 Recharge Rate 1.25
Cost 45.0 Crew 12
Spinal Weapon Only
Development Cost 1350 RP
Damage Output 6 Rate of Fire 25 seconds Range Modifier 40 000
Max Range 240 000 km Laser Size 4 HS (200 tons) Laser HTK 2
Power Requirement 6 Recharge Rate 1.25
Cost 36.7 Crew 12
Spinal Weapon Only
Development Cost 1200 RP
My own objective is to mount a spinal mount reduced size beam on a fighter sized craft. This objective is primarily for RP purposes but it would but it would suit my overall fleet composition quite nicely, if it proves effective.Spinal and fighter don't really mix well.
I tend to assume that if non-trivial internal damage is happening my ship is fairly likely to become combat ineffective right away.
As best I can tell the lasers get HTK based on their tonnage, so in general you get the same total HTK of lasers either way. Spreading that out in smaller packets does probably increase the chances of graceful degradation though.
Also, it's not a matter of 'does not necessarily yield more firepower'. It necessarily yields much less firepower. 75% size lasers put out 1/3 as much damage per tick per ton, and 50% size lasers 1/10 as much. They get to front-load a big damage spike, but other than that their efficiency is horrendous.