STO Helpdesk With Jo4play, Episode 3: Weapons
Weapons (aka Dakka, Lazerz or whatever cool kids call them)
(Requested by Xaviour and made true by the gamerlaunch deciding to go down)
Weapon type is a decision you will have to make pretty quickly unless you want to be one of those ppl who do this on a ISA que (and piss off everyone around you)
Now back to the main thing. The biggest question i ever get when asked for advice is what energy type should i go with, is there an OP must have one, should i go beams or cannons. My usual response is simple, go with whatever you want just follow:
2 GOLDEN RULES:
1. NO MIXING ENERGY TYPES (unless you know what you are doing)
2. NO MIXING WEAPON TYPES(unless you really know what you are doing)
Weapon types
The neverending question, while your local deepz expert will say something along the lines of Go cannons or go home, if you can't pilot than who cares n00b, git gud, I am a firm beliver in beams, especially for newer players. Now you may ask why, well in my expirience a player is much more useful if he can use all his weapons constantly, instead of being an useless strafer in a ship that can't turn fast enough to make more than 2 strafes in a minute. Cannons have been buffed a lot, they now can dish out triple the damage of a beam boat, but they require skill as i already stated.
Beams
Beams are the backbone of every ship because every ship can use them.
Pros:
- bigger arcs
- easier to manage
- lighter on the trait requirements to be good
Cons:
- lower damage
- make your ship look like a crazy discoball with beams of light coming out of it
- hard to justify using them on high manuverability ships
Types:
Beam array: Standard 250 degree beam array, moderate damage (-10 weapon power)
Beam bank: 90 degree arc, around 30% more dps for a much smaller arc (-10 weapon power)
Omni-directional: 360 degree arc, smaller dps than the standard beam array but fires always (-10 weapon power)
Cannons
Pros:
- bigger alpha
- bigger dps
- more fun to play around
Cons:
- require significant piloting skill to be used effectivlly
- need a good setup to be useful
- require some extortionatelly expensive traits to be made really good
Types:
Cannon: The cannon alternative to a beam array, around 20% more dps than the standard beam array for a 180 degree arc
Merging Dual and Dual Heavys to explain the difference:
The DPS and arc is the same, the main difference is the number of shots fired and power cost (10 for duals, 12 for dual heavys). While Dual cannons fire more volleys, each volley from dual heavy cannon does more damage. (~40% more dps than a standard beam array)
Turrets: Omnis that shoot pulses more or less 360 arc, comparable damage (i think omnis come out on top by a hair, not sure tho)
Projectile weapons:
Pros:
- fun to use and crazy good looking
- no power cost
- decent damage, devastating when shields down
Cons:
- frequentlly overlooked and skipped in favor of more energy weapons
- very few useful projectiles
- underwhelming compared to AI torps (i mean seriouslly Borg high yield deals over 3 mil damage, wthh)
Types:
Standard torpedo: 90 degree arc(unless wide angle, than 180), decent damage,normal reload time
Cluster torpedo: Same arc but instead of exploding on impact it launches mines, wrecks everything in sight but very long reload and unaffected by torp abilities.
Mine: Oh no, just don't, they are next to useless, in order to be worked you have to invest insane amount of resources to even have a chance of dealing decent damage, stationary with homing after activation, pretty meh overall
Missiles: Never tried em tbh, a bit of homework for you guys i guess, i can't really try everything, but my expectations aren't high based on stats, heard it has good reload, hmm
Energy types:
Energy weapons(left out proton due to only 2 items and kinetic due to KCB being its own thing):
Phaser:
The standard, the classic, comes in all kinds of flavours and colors but one thing is the same, the proc to disable a subsytem, all procs are 2,5%, nowadays kind of irrelevant considering the proc isn't put up to rng on firing a weapon but on a start of a cycle. Many different types can suit different phaser needs, it is also annoying in pvp (PvPers would know).
Disruptor:
For the longest time the king of DPS with it's -10 damage res debuff, but with it being pushed to cycles and with TTF phaser on the horizon it is getting harder for disruptors to compete,still if you are looking for a good base for your build disruptor is a great option, especially for those dps chasing endevours
Plasma:
Some call plasma underdog, i call them neglected, give us some good plasma sets dammit, only good plasma is romulan, cause disruptor+plasma proc which applies plasma damage over time.
Tetryon:
On the verge of next great breakthrough but still lacking things to make it really competitive with phaser and disruptor. Shield drain proc is useful to a point but i look down upon it if it's not a drain boat build
Polaron:
The challenger, with Victory is Life it got so much care and sets, it is viable(and even a must for any sci build), very interested what will they do next with this iconic energy type, i would say it could even directly compete with the 2 big ones. Subsystem drain proc (yeahhh)
Antiproton:
The old king of DPS, once upon a time (S8 for those who remember) every single player (and their mother) was using the antiproton, the sound effect became so obnoxious that i had to distance myself from the game. Now stands on old glory and is still used a lot. Crit severity buff instead of a proc
Kinetic weapons (whitout energy torps cause they do the same thing as their energy counterparts):
Chroniton:
Even tho the chroniton in Star Trek is interesting and they talk long and wide about the chroniton radiation, IMHO it is very situational in this game, reduction to speed and turn rate is soo situational
Photon:
With highest dps ability, short reload, it is one of the best torps, also a classic
Plasma:
As i said in energy part, plasma DoT is not enough to carry the plasma on it's own, high yield plasmas are fun tho
Quantum:
Photon's big brother, more damage for more reload time
Transphasic:
Despite the shield pen buff being usefull-ish, you will probably drain the shields before those torps hit so you have sacrificed torp damage for nothing
Tricobalt:
The meanest ones around, dangerous, have repel cc, but targetable, use with caution and care, in the right hands unstoppable
CONCLUSION
Your choices matter a lot, just follow the 2 golden rules and it will work, other than that it is all about calculating and your own assessment. This has been a long one, If you came all the way to down here, thank you for reading, keep the ideas coming
Jo4Play Signing Off
Last edited by jo4play on Tue Nov 06, 2018 9:45 am; edited 1 time in total