The age of the Pulse Lasers

[Beardless]

No the age of pulse won't end, why? Because they are at the point on a performance curve thats perfect for your average player, efficient, don't punish much for poor use, very little management required, accurate, cheap and effective.

You should not confuse that with other weapons not having a role however, as it isn't the same thing. Beams do considerably more DPS, bursts do in between but have worse penetration and thats just the lasers. DPE only matters in stalemate combat and has its own drawbacks.

Its like this Pythons at 1 ring and hes just triggered a SCB which one do you want, Beams or Pulses?

Pulses every time! If your at the stage of popping scb then you can guarantee that your cap will be empty with beams DPS = 0...pulses your still in the game.

Nothing is more effective pve than a python with 3 x C3 gimb pulses. Cheap and nasty the other 2 C2 g multis cheaper and nastier lol.

I have tried many many loudouts on the Python but the pulses just kill quicker.

 

[Draxxen]

currently my Anaconda has all burst turrets which is kind of fun.

Interesting. So how is your power consumption and dps on that loadout?

 

[Iskariot]

Not going to try to argue why this is. You cant convince me otherwise and if you dont see it for yourself then I cannot help you so this thread is just a question to the devs who might read this.
When can we expect the age of the Pulse Lasers to end? When can we expect a weapon balance overhaul?

I use Pulse on my Vulture, but beams and multi guns and a large cannon on my Python.

So for me it is the age of the pulse laser and beams and multi guns and cannon.

 

[Beardless]

Pvp I sometimes stick a c3 f beam on my nose for shields / chaff then 2 x c2 rails

 

[Soopyyy]

That's funny, I keep going back to that exact loadout on my Python as well, then curse when it overheats.
Right now I am doing 2DG beams on the medium hardpoints and 3CG Cannons on the large hardpoints; It never runs out of juice and never gets too hot. But the medium beams are a bit underpowered against larger ships though.

- - - Updated - - -


Don't you run out of power quickly? I run out of power even with all pulses..

They only run out slightly faster than the Pulse lasers do, but they do more damage over a shorter amount of time.

 

[Jesse Blue]

Age of pulses will end when CQC settles.

After a few months of people using just the same 2 or 3 ships with the same 2 or 3 weapons and NOTHING ELSE, developers will finally understand, and then, will proceed to the weapon overhaul.

 

[Derath]

Age of pulses will end when CQC settles.

After a few months of people using just the same 2 or 3 ships with the same 2 or 3 weapons and NOTHING ELSE, developers will finally understand, and then, will proceed to the weapon overhaul.

Pulses aren't the best pvp weapons now, so the idea they suddenly will be when CQC arrives seems a little bit strange to me ;P

 

[IAM GROOT]

I've tried every loadout possible to find the most lethal balance for my trusty Cobra, finally found all pulse lasers allow me to run shields maxed out and shield cells which makes my ass iron as! . All pulse not only does more damage quicker than 3 beams, it takes out modules better.

 

[Derthek]

[redacted]

 

[znôrt]

Also seem to have lost the firing sound of beam lasers since 1.2. Only seem to get the noise of hitting the enemy.

i can hear them power up, buzz along until i release the trigger, and the target frying like an egg.

it's a more subtle sound than pulse's daft 'pewpew' but i can still hear it (and i do not hear all too well so something must be wrong with your client).

and yes, pulses totally rule nowadays. cheapest weapon is the most effective ... can't say i don't like it!

 

[Para Handy]

I experimented a bit with thermic loadouts tonight and I have to say that I really REALLY don't see me ever putting a pulse laser on any ship ever again. I messed around with pulses, bursts and beams I used gimballed and turreted version of each for different runs. If it were not for the A6 shields and the SCB in my Asp I would have been fried for sure by an Imperial Courier and I never even made a dent in it's outer ring of shield strength.

So it is back to 2 x D2 gimballed beams, 2 x E1 gimballed cannons, a little F1 burst turret on the chin (for Eagles and Vipers that try to slip underneath) with a rack of seeker missiles to whack those naughty pirates as they try to jump away.

Fries up couriers for breakfast (and runs away from condas, pythons, etc).

A6 shields - best thing since fried bread!

 

[CTCParadox]

Most people seem pretty happy with cost being a factor in ship balance. So logically the cost of the modules should also be part of their balance.

C1F Pulse: 2,200 CR
C1F Burst: 4,400 CR
C1F Beam: 37,430 CR

Going by this the beams should far and away be the best laser weapon.

 

[mossfoot]

Experimented with four gimbled pulses on a Clipper. On the upside you feel like you're flying a supersized Xwing and shields go down fast. The downside is taking on the hull after that, even with subsystem targeting, I felt I did the job faster with multicanons.

But it was hardly extensive research. Any hard data regarding laser vs kinetic damage to hulls?

 

[CMDR Starschulz]

Honestly i like a fixed beam laser and 2 cannons on my courier.

 

[Seonid]

Interesting. So how is your power consumption and dps on that loadout?

No idea on dps as yet, the only thing that has interdicted me so far with this setup was an unshielded sidewinder which died before I could even point my nose at it after the interdiction. Power-wise it's no major problem given the size and scale of the Anadonda's PP and PD (I have B and A grades respectively) and I typically run pips split between SYS and WEP in combat, none in ENG since even with A thrusters it's still a barge. Bear in mind this is a trading ship, so if I kill the attacker then fine, if I drive them off and they manage to run away (not hard against an Anaconda) then that's also fine.

 

[HipToss]

That took a while; Had to fly back to Chona to switch, then Shadowplay did not want to cooperate. Patience is a Virtue..

Of course when I was going to do a video, nothing would spawn except sidewinders..
I finally got some footage that I patched together into a 5 minute movie.
(Forgive my lazy piloting, but I didn't want to spill my coffee during this footage...)

Weapons loadout: 2x 3CG Beams on top; 1x 4BG Cannon, 1x 3CG Cannon, 2x 2DG cannons, 2x 1EG cannons on sides and under fuselage.

https://youtu.be/avvxHe8odIo

Nice vid Draxxen! I removed my beams and went with all G pulses on the Anaconda. The side guns are G MC's and the class 4 cannon on the belly. Will check it out tonight at a res

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

But it was hardly extensive research. Any hard data regarding laser vs kinetic damage to hulls?

Nope but I would say that kinetic/thermic are twice more/less efficient against hull. I do not even know if there is an advantage to use kinetic against modules...damn you FD!
You also get -33%/-66% if you use C2/C1 against large hull. I also believe that hitting a module does not damage the hull...

From my side, I tested a full pulse vs full cannon loadout with a Dropship, against different size NPCs (from Eagle to Anaconda) and pulse (targeting powerplant) is sadly the best...
The only real advantage i see with kinetic is that you can keep 4 pips to SYS for a shield more than twice stronger. On the other hand, ammo limit is a drawback and almost any commander would flee as soon as the shield drops.

 

[shadragon]

I use beams to melt shields and cannon to shred hulls.

The beams don't do as much damage as pulse, but with beams I can hit a target continuously and more often than not get credit for the kill. With pulse, if someone hits a microsecond after me they get credit for the kill and entire bounty.

Beams ensure I get the paycheck.

 

[althaz]

Pulse lasers do about double the damage per energy that beams do, so unless you can sustain energy in your cap while firing (which no ship can) you're lowering your overall dps using anything else.

If you're in a Vulture (I am), then this is absolutely true. If you're in something that can't fire at the enemy non-stop, then, especially in PvP, short-term DPS is much more important than prolonged DPS. That's where Beam lasers come into their own. Besides, even in a Vulture beam + cannon is a hell of a lot of fun.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

The beams don't do as much damage as pulse, but with beams I can hit a target continuously and more often than not get credit for the kill. With pulse, if someone hits a microsecond after me they get credit for the kill and entire bounty

Wrong, this was the old system (which to me was fun, I wish we'd go back to this...). Now what matters is the amount of damage you have done during a specific time before the target is down. The one who did the most damage during this specific time wins. Of course, FD did not tell what is this specific time...