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Aeson -> RE: Best weapon type? (8/29/2014 10:19:30 PM)
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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.
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