Notable Beginner Weapons Discussion

[Prophet]

The moskvas are not a great addition.
They show up early, and have decent basecracking potential, that is, if their range weren't pitifully low. This makes them very dangerous if you're too close and get caught in the blast.

The howitzer's are even more important now, with the addition of the enhancers and you are nearly guaranteed to find at least a Mark I by Rigel Aurelius.

With the nerfing of shields, the lower damage types are more effective in the mid game so flensers and the x-ray are good investments.

[Fossaman]

Oh man. Pumping a Mark III up to +150% is pure poetry now. That thing'll last you through Heretic if you've got a speedloader. This game I'm planning on ordering tons of tritium injectors and boosting a fusionfire the same amount. Should be pretty cool.

I have to agree on the x-ray laser. I might not switch to particle until I've got my 250MW reactor. The collimator unbalances it a little, honestly. But it's a pretty rare weapon.

[Atarlost]

Moskva 11s are very short range. They're an omni for yachts and gunships, not freighters because nothing comes in that close on its own. Haven't tried the ballista, but with its firerate I know I won't like it. That's just personal preference though.

Dual Particle cannon and Dual Flenser have been dropped down a level with no changes to stats that I've noticed and with all the shopping in Rigel are no longer rarities so I'd say they're the new kings of the early game. Howitzers are nice. The speedloader draws quite a bit of power though so they're stongest in the mid game, not the early. Katana's pushed off from mid game to late game partly because of the power requirement and partly because Ventari now resist ion and with shields so nerfed are a far more significant enemy than they were before. Previously if I could only have one weapon it'd be a Katana. Now it'd be a Mark V with speedloader purely because of the Ventari.

St. K shopping is weaker now. Previously something like 7 or 8 random shops were generated and now it's just 3 or 4 because the area around the arcology is reserved for factories and habitats. Your chances of getting a good arms dealer are a lot lower which means you can't allways respec for Sung and Dwarg as you'd want.

[Song]

Oh man. Pumping a Mark III up to +150% is pure poetry now. That thing'll last you through Heretic if you've got a speedloader. This game I'm planning on ordering tons of tritium injectors and boosting a fusionfire the same amount. Should be pretty cool.

It should. I once did that with an omni-thermo cannon in 0.99c.....used Alterecco's G.O.D mod to give me enough ammo, and got lucky and found ~4 corperate traders in one system....and consistently getting 2-3 traders in a few other systems.

Insane fun.......really insane fun...


And given the fusionfire has great damage even BEFORE boosting to +150, speed-loading (which I still haven't used, due to crap luck *sob*) should turn it into an insane instrument of rather pretty globe shooting death.


And given the lack of comments on it, I take it the RK15 Omni isn't really worth it?

[Aury]

The ballista is all around an inferior weapon to the flenser. I think the ONLY advantage it *MIGHT* have (I havn't checked) is that it can use the auto-reloader. I think its even more expensive, or at least if there is a price diff, it's more in the flenser's favor.
The flenser has a fast fire rate, already good damage, fast and accurate projectiles, and a nice price. The ballista has the same DPS, but the projectiles are less than half the speed w/ a much higher interaction, and a poor fire rate, and I think less range if I'm remember correctly.

At least it was this way RC1. I'll need to check in RC2 if it got changed, but I forgot to bring it up before, and I don't think it did anyways...

//edit//
the ballista has WMD 4... but it's heavier, costs the same, uses the same amount of power, has the same DPS, has far inferior ROF, poor accuracy, slow projectiles, can't use an autoloader... It needs a serious buff. Period.

////edit////
The WMD it has is negated by it's tiny range. The only station it outranges are weaponless stations and centauri stations...

[digdug]

well, it's only matter of tastes, but I think that between the single flenser and the ballista, i'll go with the ballista.

They deal the same damage (kinetic max of 96 hp/sec) at the same range(lifetime 60, and that's double of lasers) and same energy consumption (10MW)

So we are trading a higher weight (6 tons) for a higher WMD and momentum.
The Ballista has the highest WMD between all the level 4 weapons (WMD4), and WMD4 is 150% more than WMD3 or 333% more than WMD2, making it my weapon of choice.

[Aury]

well, it's only matter of tastes, but I think that between the single flenser and the ballista, i'll go with the ballista.

They deal the same damage (kinetic max of 96 hp/sec) at the same range(lifetime 60, and that's double of lasers) and same energy consumption (10MW)

So we are trading a higher weight (6 tons) for a higher WMD and momentum.
The Ballista has the highest WMD between all the level 4 weapons (WMD4), and WMD4 is 150% more than WMD3 or 333% more than WMD2, making it my weapon of choice.

But its still a bad basebuster because of how close in you have to get to deal any damage. And it's hard to hit small ships with because of its short range and poor accuracy.

//edit// For some clarification...
The flenser has 108ls range and the ballista has a measly 42ls range.

[Atarlost]

I think you're still better off optimising howitzers rather than using the % boosters. You only need one rom rather than 15 hexagene boosters/tritium boosters, and the fire rate boosts from the rom and the speedloader stack, doubling the rate of fire which gets it down into the slow end of proper skirmish weapons.

[digdug]

yeah, you are right, with speed 35 only, I think it's the slowest weapon in the game! I didn't notice that at first look

maybe it should be speed = 40, to match many other kinetic weapons ?

[Aury]

If the cannon accelerator actually helped boost the projectile speed, or if the autoloader worked on the ballista...

[Retroactive]

I just encountered an interesting new weapon in the RC2 arena; the Slicer mounts an eponymous weapon ("Slicer cannon") which will occasionally drop intact. Its stats seem to be identical to the Shuriken's, but the streams cross at about the edge of the screen rather than going parallel; this means that the streams are tighter at medium range and have greater spread at long range. I optimized it and tried it up through Sanctuary on a Sapphire. It's a little weak for the point in the game at which it appears, since a dual particle cannon will put out slightly more damage per second, but it's very nice for hitting small targets at both medium and long range.

[Wurmish]

Interesting. I've never had a Slicer corpse. I've always totally obliterated him. Never even seen so much as a particle from him actually now that I think about it... and like a Shuriken... hmh.

[Song]

I just encountered an interesting new weapon in the RC2 arena; the Slicer mounts an eponymous weapon ("Slicer cannon") which will occasionally drop intact. Its stats seem to be identical to the Shuriken's, but the streams cross at about the edge of the screen rather than going parallel; this means that the streams are tighter at medium range and have greater spread at long range. I optimized it and tried it up through Sanctuary on a Sapphire. It's a little weak for the point in the game at which it appears, since a dual particle cannon will put out slightly more damage per second, but it's very nice for hitting small targets at both medium and long range.

For al the PM6 is a slightly inferior weapon TECHNICALLY....as a dogfighting weapon, I think it's slightly better. The PM6 is the ONLY dual fire weapon which can be FOCUSED onto a single armor segment. Against a small target, it's a little like a shuriken. Against a big target, however, it will SHINE.
I have used it to take out Scavengers (damned things taking my loot ).....and it's REALLY quick, if you enhance it a bit (I've given it a speed enhancement, but damage would probably be a better bet...)

That I suspect is why George put this kind of weapon into the arena......if you go against 'The Slicer" with an inferior shield, he can focus fire on ONE armor segment....which makes him a far more deadly oponent. Although he does die a little easily.....

I'm going to see how this thing stacks up against some decent enemies.....hopefully, it'll be worthwhile.


If this was 0.99C, then this would BLITZ Charon, I'm reasonably sure....since you are much more likely to hit a single segment on a big ship with lots of segments than with, say, a Shuriken or Dual-particle beam.

[Retroactive]

I think the NAMI launcher is arguably the best weapon in the game.

-Ammunition is comparatively light and easy to come by and does not need to be conserved (drops from common enemies until late-game, you can get hundreds of Lucifers from militia stations, and you can make dozens of Lucifers at Tinkers quite early into the game.)

-Projectile speed is quite fast and lifetime is good

-Offers a choice between guided and unguided projectiles right from the get-go

-Choice of seven ammo types, five of which are very common (Broadswords are very rare and Reavers aren't that great anyway)

-It's available on a starting ship and can be used all the way up to Heretic.

It would be nice if there were NAMI ammunition boxes available, but I guess you can't have everything.

[Atarlost]

While the XM900 is a nice missile, you'll find after Sanctuary or so that it's the only missile, and there aren't that many of them. You can do a lot better with the Makayev launcher for damage/time damage/mass and ammo availability since it sells in huge lots at Makayev dealers.

The NAMI is only king when you're looting ammo for it in large quantites from pirates and marauders. After the marauders run out getting ammo for it is harder. Ammo you have to conserve means a weapon you aren't using.