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Author Topic: Pulse Laser vs Heavy Burst Laser  (Read 4340 times)

Blips

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Pulse Laser vs Heavy Burst Laser
« on: January 18, 2014, 01:33:52 PM »

Which of the two are better weapons? The Heavy Burst Laser has a higher DPS but then it says it only has a sustained DPS of 82 which has me a bit confused.

I'm looking for a medium energy weapon for my fleet of Medusas that is a step above the Pulse Laser but the Heavy Blaster generates too much flux.
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LazyWizard

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Re: Pulse Laser vs Heavy Burst Laser
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2014, 01:56:42 PM »

Pulse lasers will be better in the majority of cases. The Heavy Burst Laser has a few significant drawbacks when used as a weapon:
  • It uses charges (very small amount of regenerating ammo). The sustained DPS is how much damage it will actually deal over time after recharging is taken into account.
  • It's a beam. Beams only deal soft flux damage against shields, so the HBL is almost useless against shielded foes.
  • It's a burst PD weapon. Changes to the point defense AI mean it will preserve almost all of its ammo for use against missiles, so it will never deal its listed DPS while on autofire.
« Last Edit: January 18, 2014, 01:58:15 PM by LazyWizard »
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Wyvern

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Re: Pulse Laser vs Heavy Burst Laser
« Reply #2 on: January 18, 2014, 02:00:29 PM »

Heavy Burst Laser is not a good choice for primary DPS - it's meant as a point defense weapon.  There are a couple of reasons for this:
1: It uses a system of regenerating charges.  So, when a target initially moves in range, it'll fire rapidly - getting that full listed DPS - until it runs out of charges.  The charges regenerate, but relatively slowly, resulting in the much lower sustained DPS value.
2: It's a beam weapon, meaning it will deal soft flux against shields.

However, it is very good at shooting down fighters and missiles.

If you don't yet have the tech skills to support Medusas with 2x heavy blaster, the alternatives include:
A: 1x heavy blaster, and fill in the other medium energy with either a pulse laser or maybe even a graviton beam (note: if mixing blasters and beams, make sure heavy blaster & graviton beam are in the same weapon group, otherwise the medusa will tend to hang back at max graviton range and not close to use the blaster)
B: Use the small universal mounts to add more punch - railguns or light needlers are good if you're having issues with shields; antimatter blasters are exceptionally good at putting holes in armor; or you can use one of each for a more general-purpose design.
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Wyvern is 100% correct about the math.

Blips

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Re: Pulse Laser vs Heavy Burst Laser
« Reply #3 on: January 18, 2014, 02:16:41 PM »

Thanks for the responses guys. Definitely clears things up.  :)
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Cycerin

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Re: Pulse Laser vs Heavy Burst Laser
« Reply #4 on: January 18, 2014, 03:40:37 PM »

Those are far from the only options. For instance, you could do a setup that uses two Phase Beams and two frontal Light Needlers as the primary armament for AI-controlled medusas. The two universal mounts on the Medusa REALLY shine with Light Needlers and Integrated Targeting Unit, then you can use some weapons that are great against unshielded targets in the energy mounts - like Phase Beams.
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Megas

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Re: Pulse Laser vs Heavy Burst Laser
« Reply #5 on: January 18, 2014, 04:52:41 PM »

Heavy Burst Laser is a point defense weapon, great for zapping missiles and fighters, but not for killing bigger ships.  For the Medusa, you have plenty of small mounts for burst PD, use medium mounts for either Pulse Laser or Mining/Heavy Blaster.

If you want to use blasters on a Medusa, you need to pump capacitors and vents, and install low OP weapons in the universal mounts, such as machine gun or reaper, or leave them empty.  If you want to use quality high OP weapons in the universal mounts, you will probably want pulse lasers in the medium mounts.
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Doom101

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Re: Pulse Laser vs Heavy Burst Laser
« Reply #6 on: January 19, 2014, 04:32:10 PM »

For PD heavy burst laser all day every day, for what you want which seems to be strike ability, pulse laser but if you really want them to be effective you'll splurge for those heavy blasters they seem ineffective but that much flux coming at a target at once is usually enough to make them back down or seriously think about venting in the middle of a fight. the true difference in the heavy blasters versus pulse lasers isn't DPS, its the amount of time, while your dealing that damage that your enemy has to shoot back at you. With a pulse laser they have a lot of it, because it takes the pulse laser quite a bit of time to equal the one shot damage of a heavy blaster pair that with the flux generated per shot from your own guns and the enemy shooting your shields and your better off with the blasters.

A weapon outfit for the Medusa i like for when i use it is to cover the thing in PD beams like burst pd except the small universals, and the medium energy, stick 4 AM blasters in there and that Medusa ( assuming you pilot it ) will obliterate just about anything that comes up to it, and in a fleet with someone bigger and slower to play distraction it makes an excellent striker for getting behind your target and wiping them off the face of the universe.

A similar loadout if your really good at piloting and have some tech skills or combat skills increasing your armor and speed for free is to put Am blasters all over the thing, in EVERY slot, at first this seems like automatic suicide due to lack of PD, and it would be if you let the ai have it but i've used one of these to great effect, it can one or two shot just about anything below capital ship, and seriously cripple capitals in one pass, the exception is Paragons, unless you again have something big enough to distract it's guns from you.

The thing about having that many AM blasters is to not care about not hitting shields, with that many you'll either add enough flux to a ship that it can't fire and has to drop shields to vent, or just straight up overloads, again the exception is Paragons and their fortress shield, and Onslaughts, if you're hitting an Onslaught's shields that means your infront of it, and that is not a place where ships survive for long.

another quite effective ( surprisingly) loadout for the Medusa is to load it up entirely with beams, specifically phase beams and tactical beams, it only adds a little bit to a fleet for killing really big ships but it will obliterate nearly all frigates, fighters and it's highly effective against phase ships, just hold the beam on them and their AI will usually tell them to not unphase until they absolutely have to which means they'll pop out, take lots of damage, phase back out, Overload, Die. Slap PD AI on there and it becomes a fearsome protector of your fleet from those pesky missiles.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2014, 04:39:51 PM by Doom101 »
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