Lasers vs Kinetics

[Aury]

the im90 is really best on the freighter; for the yacht and gunship, its handy as a swarm killer, and for when you dont have a megadrive. its not the best weapon by any stretch of imagination though.

[Wurmish]

I'm probably the only experienced player who has never purchased an IM90 in this game.

Depends what you call experienced. Probably not me, but I've never gotten an IM90 due to cost and ease of getting other high level weaponry (plasma cannon drops or positron cannons etc.)

[Curudan]

I'm probably the only experienced player who has never purchased an IM90 in this game.

I wouldn't say that, I've played through several games of transcendence in the past year, and I've never purchased or used an IM90. This is mostly because I always play a Wolfen or Sapphire, and because I think the Lamplighter Archcannon is totally awesome.

And I have to echo the sentiments of the OP. Maybe it's because I've never used kinetics very often, but their slow shot speed makes them worthless to me. The Flenser Relativistic cannon being the very notable exception to this rule.

I almost never find a dual flenser cannon, but I always prefer them over X-ray laser cannons.

[Aury]

dual or spread kinetics make up for their poor accuracy with more area covered, but most single shot kinetics are not terribly useful.

[OddBob]

I use kinetic pretty much exclusively over laser weapons - other than a fast fire, perhaps, none of the fixed laser weapons below x-ray are really worth buying to me. (obviously I'll use anything I find if it's better than my current)

First off, all the standard kinetics have a range comparable to that of lasers.
The Trident is quite short ranged (it's effective range is even shorter because if you're only getting one shot on target it's just a light recoilless).

I've never had any great issue with the projectile speed - there are advantages to it, namely that you can hit stuff in your blind spots by manipulating your speed and when you're bombarding targets you get more shots in the air before they react (which they will happily fly right into).

But even without that - it's still easily possible to hit ships just as much with kinetics. You just have to aim farther ahead, enemies don't really dodge, and the increased damage per shot generally makes up for any you miss.

Once it opens up with more damage types I will take either blast or particle - the increased range of particle weapons evens it out a little, I like slam cannons though for the freighter.

[Aury]

FYI, I'm referring to kinetics, as in, kinetic damage weapons, NOT matter weapons (non-energy weapons)

I like howitzers, late-game missiles, plasma weapons, cake, and pie.

[Atarlost]

I'm probably the only experienced player who has never purchased an IM90 in this game.

I've been playing longer than you and I haven't either. I have generated them in debug though and am not pleased with their performance. Against single targets I consider them inferior to the omni ion blaster and Ares lightning turret because of range considerations, and there are no swarming opponents that merit more than an OIB or ALT.

[Song]

I'm probably the only experienced player who has never purchased an IM90 in this game.

I've been playing longer than you and I haven't either. I have generated them in debug though and am not pleased with their performance. Against single targets I consider them inferior to the omni ion blaster and Ares lightning turret because of range considerations, and there are no swarming opponents that merit more than an OIB or ALT.

I've bought them a grand total of twice, and agree thoroughly...although I'm not a fan of the Ares turret personally...in 0.99c, IM90s were OPed, but still not in any way good against single targets....and I have yet to buy one in 0.99c, simply because I'd much rather have an Ion Lancer+fast in a Wolfen (or Stalwart), or an Omni-Ion or massively enhanced Omni-TEV9 in anything like the Freighter...

[Prophet]

Hey! The IM90 is not a laser or kinetic weapon, stick to the topic! lol j/k

With the changes to shield damage levels laser and kinetics are now more viable in the mid game. I would like to see more additions along these lines. As I said earlier. I made a new laser weapon that is double the stats of the x-ray and I love using on dwarg and ranx.

I also like cake and pie and would love to have an enhancer for them!

[Ihlosi]

As a freighter guy, it's lasers for me. Preferably omni, unless it's a mining laser.

I'd kill for an omni xray laser.

[schilcote]

I also like cake and pie and would love to have an enhancer for them!

Schilcote gave Prophet the Jar of Delisauce.

Gratuitously large images removed by admin.

I like teh LAZAR better.[/code]

[hookoa]

Old Post, yeah yeah.

I also agree, Rasiermesser Smart Cannon is awesome. I tried it after reading the no-buy challenge, and deciding to try weapons that I had not previously used. It's a great weapon.

Also, some ships are just more vulnerable to kinetic. Before the centauri warlords, when viking random encounters were more common, I'd rather be in a sapphire, recoiless,class I deflector than in a freighter, omni-laser, class I deflector.

[Atarlost]

Something all you omni-philes should consider before trashing kinetic is the standard omni penalty. Every omni weapon except the laser cannon and IM90 is a level up from the base weapon. Those being two levels up, the former for no reason. Fully half of omnis have 60% worse firerate on top of that. The omni turbolaser has a 33% worse firerate. The only omnis not suffering firerate reduction are the Ares Lightning Turret, the Omni TeV 9, and the RK15 partisan turret. It's available from nearly the start and will nearly always be the best omni until St. K's. If you find a kinetic enhancer but fail to find a particle enhancer it can remain the best omni until the Akan 600, which is also a projectile weapon, or the omni TeV 9 for those who don't like ammo weapons.

[Blitz]

Also, some ships are just more vulnerable to kinetic. Before the centauri warlords, when viking random encounters were more common, I'd rather be in a sapphire, recoiless,class I deflector than in a freighter, omni-laser, class I deflector.

Don't Vikings have reactive armor??? I think all Charons except the Kronos and the Corsair-1 have reactive armor. I prefer them against Zulus and the like - Zulus with their ceramic armor and tiny size are annoying with lasers...

[Psycholis]

maybe i've never upped a omni-ion to +150, but that's the only way i play with the IM90 and at that power, the spread beams make HUGE difference. i can take down a phobos within 20 seconds with a full IM90 and can actually kill the iocrym with it at a reasonable pace. that triple damage vs. the omni-ion makes a much bigger difference enhanced and for a freighter player like me, it's the difference between being able to ward off a shipyards reinforcements and having to jumpdrive to save my hide.

BACK TO TOPIC - i've recently discovered the ballista which is wonderful for an early howitzer and loot scuttler and a reason to have a kinetic enhancer. still haven't found an RK15 in any game i've played recently.