Best weapon type?

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Best weapon type? - 8/29/2014 6:37:38 PM

jadelith

Posts: 32
Joined: 5/30/2014
Status: offline

Well, I read quite a bit of these forums, and (from what I've read), beam weapons (lasers) and torpedoes seem to be the best weapons out there.

Is this correct? Is there any point in researching anything else?

Post #: 1

RE: Best weapon type? - 8/29/2014 10:19:30 PM

Aeson

Posts: 784
Joined: 8/30/2013
Status: offline

How do you define "best?" Missiles are somewhat better at standoff range than torpedoes are for most of the game, though a case can be made that torpedoes surpass missiles in this role towards the end of the tech tree, and blasters have some issues with penetrating armor. Moreover, torpedoes and blasters have significant power requirements, which reduces the effective range of your warships - it doesn't help you at all to have a ship run out of fuel in the middle of an engagement, and a blaster or torpedo ship is more likely to suffer this issue than a missile or railgun ship, given that both ships dedicated the same total amount of space to weapons and fuel cells. Early in the game, railguns are arguably better than blasters as no one has decent armor out yet and the railguns can partly bypass the shielding. Torpedoes look very much like a compromise between a blaster and a missile. Blasters are strictly inferior to phasers for anti-armor purposes.

Beyond that, there's always a purpose to researching other weapons, even if it's only for a special-purpose ship. Missiles are a good weapon for boarding ships due to their poor anti-armor performance, which makes it less likely for the missiles to cripple or destroy the ships you're trying to capture. Railguns are great at close range against poorly-armored targets with heavy shielding because they can probably run the opponent off by damaging the hull before a blaster design breaks the shields. Mixing phasers and blasters on a single design gives your ships better anti-armor performance with most of the DPS of a pure blaster design. Ion cannons can weaken an opponent by disabling some of its weapons during the engagement and have a special use against a certain space monster. Rail guns and especially missiles have significantly lower energy requirements than blasters and torpedoes, which translates to a greater effective range for long-range raids or invasions, or more time on station for long-term patrols in fuel-poor regions.

(in reply to jadelith)

Post #: 2

RE: Best weapon type? - 8/29/2014 11:49:15 PM

westr70

Posts: 1
Joined: 8/29/2014
Status: offline

Great tips Aeson. I was interested in the same question. Looks like I should concentrate more on missiles.

(in reply to Aeson)

Post #: 3

RE: Best weapon type? - 8/30/2014 2:07:46 AM

Nanaki

Posts: 306
Joined: 6/4/2014
Status: offline

The problem with missiles vs torpedoes is that at the higher technology levels Torpedoes massively outpace missiles late game.

Also, Fighters are a really, really good investment. They perform amazingly well at standoff ranges, use zero energy, and they unlock a special 'carrier' ship type which can go 50% above your normal ship size limit, which is great because the only weakness fighter bays have is the large amounts of mass they consume.

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(in reply to westr70)

Post #: 4

RE: Best weapon type? - 8/30/2014 2:27:43 AM

Kilravock

Posts: 65
Joined: 6/10/2014
Status: offline

The best weapon type in the game are torpedoes mid to late game. They are long range, very flexible for point blank to stand off range, have a large alpha strike and do good dps. They are best for fleet combat if you want kill the enemy as quickly possible. They are also power hungry and boring to use.

Missiles and fighters are the best in the early game since they are the longest range weapons in the game, have no damage fall off, have a great upgrade and tech paths. They are the best against small fast ships and creatures. They have other uses too, which some have already been mentioned.

(in reply to Nanaki)

Post #: 5

RE: Best weapon type? - 8/30/2014 7:09:28 AM

feygan

Posts: 323
Joined: 3/31/2010
Status: offline

There is only one "best" type of weapon, it changes almost every game (sometimes even changes during a game). It is the one your opponent has not built to counter against. While there are some small balance issues with the weapons in vanilla such as the missile/torpedo problem, in general any argument to how great one type is is somewhat moot once someone pipes in with a suitable design to counter it.

Considering the AI is limited in how it can counter designs the argument is not which type is best but simply which type has the AI not been programmed to deal with yet.

(in reply to Kilravock)

Post #: 6