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Author Topic: Hyper Velocity Driver  (Read 26391 times)

Lopunny Zen

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Hyper Velocity Driver
« on: February 15, 2016, 04:20:35 PM »

I think the weapon is too good...has kinetic AND explosive damage so you cant tank with either armor or shield. and it has so much range...the harder fleet just has 12 ships with these and they flood you with all of those cannons and theres nothing you can do about it
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TJJ

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Re: Hyper Velocity Driver
« Reply #1 on: February 15, 2016, 04:29:37 PM »

*kinetic AND EMP.

It can't crack armour; it can disable systems.

Though Resistant Flux Conduits is such good value (+25% venting AND -50% EMP damage for 3/6/9/15 OP is insane!), I consider EMP rather lackluster.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2016, 04:32:40 PM by TJJ »
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heskey30

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Re: Hyper Velocity Driver
« Reply #2 on: February 15, 2016, 05:55:57 PM »

High damage kinetic weapons are decent against armor though. That's why the original sabot was replaced with the spray one, iirc.

I don't think its a bad thing that this weapon is pretty strong, though. There should be some weapons that just are strong, and in a slugfest faced with a comparable opponent at short range, this weapon is lackluster as a shield breaker, so at least it isn't just all around overpowered.
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CrashToDesktop

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Re: Hyper Velocity Driver
« Reply #3 on: February 15, 2016, 06:05:14 PM »

High damage kinetic weapons are decent against armor though. That's why the original sabot was replaced with the spray one, iirc.
It was replaced with the spray because 750 KE damage is equivalent to 375 HE damage.  Which is more than enough to chop up Frigate and Destroyer armor in a single shot, rendering Harpoons pretty moot.
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Dri

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Re: Hyper Velocity Driver
« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2016, 07:18:04 PM »

The HVD has literally the worst DPS of any medium ballistic weapon and as others have said, it does EMP, not HE. Its range is indeed great, easily its best characteristic but its terrible DPS combined with kinetic damage means any ship with decent armor can tank them, easily. Do you not have any heavy armor ships?

Time and time again it is proven that range is the most important stat in Starsector - you only got your ass chewed because you didn't stack range boosting hullmods/skills to go with long range weapons of your own.
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Harmful Mechanic

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Re: Hyper Velocity Driver
« Reply #5 on: February 16, 2016, 09:33:35 AM »

This should be fun.

The best defense against HVD-armed Enforcers is to A) close the range with B) higher DPS weapons. A Medusa with Pulse Lasers does nicely. A Needler/Mauler Hammerhead works too. A swarm of Broadswords will also work pretty well.

The best defense against the Elite Onslaught is the Avoid command.
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Linnis

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Re: Hyper Velocity Driver
« Reply #6 on: February 16, 2016, 05:48:24 PM »

HVD... Meh

The damage is lackluster even agianst shields. Emp dmg is only good as fire support against larger targets then oneself. But HVD is going to ge through ashields on cruisers.


Also consider if your max level fighting low level enemies, your biggest obstacle in killing enemies is the accuracy, thats where HVD actually shines. But the second you fight somwthing on the same level as you that has something like heavy autocannons? gonna have a bad time
« Last Edit: February 16, 2016, 05:50:37 PM by Linnis »
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Cycerin

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Re: Hyper Velocity Driver
« Reply #7 on: February 16, 2016, 06:58:35 PM »

HVDs are really good. Mostly because they're always good if they hit - if the enemy tanks on shield, it's heavy kinetic damage, if they lower shields, they have to take the EMP and a decent chunk of damage. They aren't good against REALLY heavy shields, but you'll rarely rely exclusively on HVDs for kinetic damage.

Best anti-destroyer/frigate weapon in the game.
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Harmful Mechanic

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Re: Hyper Velocity Driver
« Reply #8 on: February 16, 2016, 07:17:03 PM »

HVD... Meh

The damage is lackluster even agianst shields. Emp dmg is only good as fire support against larger targets then oneself. But HVD is going to ge through ashields on cruisers.


Also consider if your max level fighting low level enemies, your biggest obstacle in killing enemies is the accuracy, thats where HVD actually shines. But the second you fight somwthing on the same level as you that has something like heavy autocannons? gonna have a bad time

The DPS is lackluster, yeah - but the per-shot is excellent. You overload something with an HVD, it stays overloaded for a while, and you're more likely to 'spike' a shield and overload your target with single, high-damage shots. And an extra 200su plus destroyer or cruiser ITU and those Heavy ACs aren't going to get too many shots off at me.
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Aeson

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Re: Hyper Velocity Driver
« Reply #9 on: February 17, 2016, 12:28:05 AM »

HVDs are really good. Mostly because they're always good if they hit - if the enemy tanks on shield, it's heavy kinetic damage, if they lower shields, they have to take the EMP and a decent chunk of damage.
As I understand things, the damage a kinetic weapon deals against armor should be (0.5*[rated shot damage])^2 / (0.5*[rated shot damage] + [current armor rating of hit location]). This would suggest that the medium ballistic kinetic weapons deal the following damage per shot against the listed armor ratings:

Code
Armor      100     300    500    700    900    1100
----------------------------------------------------
HMG        3.33    1.25   0.77   0.56   0.43   0.36
Arbalest   32.1    15.0   9.78   7.25   5.77   4.79
HAC        16.7    7.14   4.55   3.33   2.63   2.17
HVD        79.6    43.2   29.7   22.6   18.2   15.3
HN         5.00    1.92   1.19   0.86   0.68   0.56
which would result in each weapon having the following DPS against the listed armor ratings:
Code
Armor      100     300    500    700    900    1100
----------------------------------------------------
HMG        26.7    10.0   6.15   4.44   3.48   2.86
Arbalest   32.1    15.0   9.78   7.25   5.77   4.79
HAC        35.7    15.3   9.74   7.14   5.64   4.66
HVD        39.8    21.6   14.8   11.3   9.11   7.64
HN         21.1    8.13   5.03   3.64   2.85   2.35
This would suggest that the HVD is actually one of the better medium kinetic ballistic weapons for use against heavy armor.

Unfortunately, armor also has the property that it cannot reduce shot damage below 15% of its hit damage. This means that the damage per shot table is actually:
Code
Armor      100     300    500    700    900    1100
----------------------------------------------------
HMG        3.33    3.00   3.00   3.00   3.00   3.00
Arbalest   32.1    15.0   11.3   11.3   11.3   11.3
HAC        16.7    7.50   7.50   7.50   7.50   7.50
HVD        79.6    43.2   29.7   22.6   20.6   20.6
HN         5.00    3.75   3.75   3.75   3.75   3.75
which means that the DPS table looks like:
Code
Armor      100     300    500    700    900    1100
----------------------------------------------------
HMG        26.7    24.0   24.0   24.0   24.0   24.0
Arbalest   32.1    15.0   11.3   11.3   11.3   11.3
HAC        35.7    16.1   16.1   16.1   16.1   16.1
HVD        39.8    21.6   14.8   11.3   10.3   10.3
HN         21.1    15.8   15.8   15.8   15.8   15.8
Somewhat amusingly, despite armor mechanics notionally favoring high damage-per-shot weapons, Heavy Machine Guns, the medium ballistic kinetic weapons with the lowest per-shot damage, are actually perhaps the best medium kinetic weapons to use against heavy armor, while Hypervelocity Drivers, the medium ballistic kinetic weapons with the highest per-shot damage, are perhaps the worst medium kinetic weapons to use against heavy armor, with 'heavy armor' being defined as 'mid-range destroyer-grade or heavier armor.'

(Note that when I say 'damage per shot,' I mean per individual bullet, not per firing cycle; HMGs get 4 shots per firing cycle, HACs get 3 shots per firing cycle, and HNs get 15 shots per firing cycle while Arbalests and HVDs get 1 shot per firing cycle.)
« Last Edit: February 17, 2016, 12:45:41 AM by Aeson »
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sycspysycspy

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Re: Hyper Velocity Driver
« Reply #10 on: February 17, 2016, 01:19:18 AM »

Compare to Heavy Needler and Heavy auto cannon, I prefer HVD, because it's not so flux hungry and very accurate. Its emp damage is useful if the enemy lower the shield. You can use it to kite some slow ships.
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shingekinolinus

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Re: Hyper Velocity Driver
« Reply #11 on: February 17, 2016, 02:35:06 AM »

Get a few Enforcers and the AI can spam HVDs mercilessly.
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Megas

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Re: Hyper Velocity Driver
« Reply #12 on: February 17, 2016, 06:06:39 AM »

HVD is good because their range matches Heavy Mauler and costs less OP than Heavy Needler.  HVD also has perfect accuracy.  HVD and Mauler combo is ideal for kiting.  Matching range is good for AI.

HVD is my go-to for medium kinetics.  I consider it the best medium kinetic overall.

Arbalest is a poor-man's Railgun, in terms of DPS and range, basically a small weapon that needs a medium mount.
Heavy Autocannon's turning speed and accuracy is atrocious.
Heavy Needler costs too much OP for a faster, more precise version of Heavy Autocannon.
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Euphytose

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Re: Hyper Velocity Driver
« Reply #13 on: February 17, 2016, 06:55:17 AM »

Yeah, that's how I build my Enforcers. 1 Mauler, 2 HVDs. They're tough, can catch up with burn drive, and the range is really good. I tried other setups and honestly nothing even came close. I believe this setup is used by AIs as well.
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Cycerin

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Re: Hyper Velocity Driver
« Reply #14 on: February 17, 2016, 06:59:57 AM »

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