Rapid Fire Mod
- Thread starter Wasp0
- Start date
I only tried it on a huge multi-cannon, and you can visually appreciate the jitter it introduces. In my case, it clearly makes module sniping impossible with it (even hitting smaller ships at all unless they're really close), so I may switch to another mod at some point, but I can't really give a conclusive opinion whether the overall damage output is better or not.
digitalscream
Banned
Funny thing, that...I'd always avoided the OC pulse mod because of the jitter on my Vulture; however, at G4 the jitter is unnoticeable, especially with fixed lasers where you're not often mucking around with subsystems. I now have G5 OC pulse on one side and G5 rapid-fire pulse on the other (both C3), and even after adding the scramble spectrum effect I still get about 48MJ/s DPS.
Oh, and I can basically perma-fire them with 4 pips in WEP; with two G5 OC pulses, I couldn't even get close to that (G4 charge-enhanced distributor). This means that for most combat purposes, I can comfortably keep 3 pips in SYS and WEP. I can even put 4 pips in SYS if I need to while continuing to fire if I take a bit more of a break than normal between salvos.
Short version: yes, they're bloody excellent. Not sure whether I can be bothered putting two of them on the ship (which would mean perma-fire at 3 pips in WEP and most combat at 2); I like the extra few MJ/s of burst damage that the OC laser gives me.
I like them on my Corvette 
The main benefit to me is that pip management becomes much easier - even with max size pulses on all hardpoints (gimballed on the huge, turreted everything else) it takes quite a while to deplete weapon capacity even with only 1 pip.
I've no doubt that better players than me could get more out of overcharged and proper pip management, but I like them and think they're fun!
The main benefit to me is that pip management becomes much easier - even with max size pulses on all hardpoints (gimballed on the huge, turreted everything else) it takes quite a while to deplete weapon capacity even with only 1 pip.
I've no doubt that better players than me could get more out of overcharged and proper pip management, but I like them and think they're fun!
Cmdrs, Thank you for your replies, looks like a bit of grinding for me tonight/Tomorrow to get the Rapid Fires on my Vette and Python. I do need to open up Engineer Broo as he offers G5 upgrades on Pulses.
Thanks again, this is where this forum strikes gold in the advice and help it is capable of giving , not the ing, although this thread is still in its infancy so i may get the ing later on if it carries on
Thanks again, this is where this forum strikes gold in the advice and help it is capable of giving , not the ing, although this thread is still in its infancy so i may get the ing later on if it carries on
digitalscream
Banned
Cmdrs, Thank you for your replies, looks like a bit of grinding for me tonight/Tomorrow to get the Rapid Fires on my Vette and Python. I do need to open up Engineer Broo as he offers G5 upgrades on Pulses.
Thanks again, this is where this forum strikes gold in the advice and help it is capable of giving , not the ing, although this thread is still in its infancy so i may get the ing later on if it carries on
Just a word of caution: the jitter on anything less than G4 makes the weapons very frustrating to use.
So just to clarify you are saying get a G4 or G5 upgrade and stay away from anything below G4?
Thanks again, repped already
digitalscream
Banned
Checked last night, and it turns out I'm getting 52.4MJ/s from the OC and rapid-fire pulses - 26.1MJ/s and 26.3MJ/s respectively. In fact, the rapid-fire laser is better than the OC in every regard, except breach damage (it's just over half of the OC's breach damage). Think I'll switch to rapid-fire on both.
If I didn't have scramble spectrum on both, it'd be closer to 60MJ/s.
If I didn't have scramble spectrum on both, it'd be closer to 60MJ/s.
So are you saying that Scrambled Spectrum is not a very good Special Effect to have? What would advise best to go with the Rapid Fire?
Thanks Again
Yeah, this is a really bizarre point that was one of the main falling over moments for 2.1.
You'd kinda want "low investment" to become low positive/negative and the same for high investment, but what we actually have is "high investment" (grade 5) is not only unparalleled but not even disadvantageous in any way, whereas thanks to jitter the majority of interesting weapon mods are rendered worse than useless below grade 5. You'll generally be making the weapon actively worse.
- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -
Scramble spectrum is a funny thing. Most people will use it if they're applying effects but its been noted that it introduces a small DPS drop and malfunction rates aren't great, which is exacerbated by the 25 second cooldown across all your weapons once activated, and that it usually makes something meaningless malfunction.
You won't notice it much against NPCs because being metal of mind they aren't phased by module malfunctions unless its something like thrusters that actually stops them...so many - myself included - would be tempted to say just stay away from effects in this case, don't bother with the effort of burning rep for effects and keep the extra DPS. In PvP, having a distributor malfunction etc. can be quite an advantage if you're lucky enough to get it off, and if your foe isn't stalwart enough can throw them off their game.
Ultimately it highlights that while MCs have a myriad of awesome effects, pulses are like a presidential election - you have to pick the least worst.
P.S. look at a single emissive lazor. Very good tool.
digitalscream
Banned
Personally, I disagree with StiTch - the malfunction rates are actually pretty good. Once the shields are down, with a rapid-fire and OC pulse at the same time, I can keep my target in a constant state of malfunction minus the 10 second cooldown.
Also, against one in three or four NPCs the target ends up with a thruster malfunction at some point, and it usually takes out one of their weapons along the way too. For me, it's worth sacrificing the ~10% DPS (6-7MJ/s) to get that. For others, perhaps not so much.
My logic is that I refuse to play the heat game, so thermal shock is out of the question; scramble spectrum is the next best thing, IMO; especially for the frustration it'll induce in human opponents.
You don't have to worry about the heat game - thermal shock isn't a problem any more. It's only really thermal cascade packhounds that are causing hassle these days. Thermal shock is effectively working as intended.
As malfunction rates go, you're severely limited by the cooldown and number of modules your enemy has. Did some basic tests with another CMDR and it's amazing how little it makes something malfunction meaningfully.
If you're actively PvPing agreed it's a good tool - as I said above, mental games ARE a thing, and watching various modules malfunction and make you need to adapt to malfunctions can throw someone off their game. But NPCs are like the honey badger - they just don't care unless it actually brings their ship to a halt. A weapon malfunction once every couple of fights doesn't justify the overall DPS loss on your end.
Not saying they're useless. At all. I have a few lazors with it. But it's not like incendiary rounds for the MC, where you can basically say "yes, put it on" before the question has even been asked.
Last edited:
digitalscream
Banned
Yep, that's fair. I wouldn't recommend them for everyone, but they're certainly useful to me. I agree that they're more useful for PvP (if you can get your opponent's shields down), but my logic is that with my ship - a fully A-rated Vulture with every useful mod I could find - very few NPCs actually pose enough of a threat for me to tailor my special effects to them. I'd rather be more effective against human CMDRs, because even though I don't PvP much these days...on the occasions that I do, I want to be as effective as possible.
About the heat thing...it wouldn't be a proper boycott on my part if I joined in just because they fixed it
I'm starting to think I'm the only person who likes the Phasing Sequence effect?
Apart from the 'MOAR BLU LAZORS!', it's lovely to chip away at base health when there's nothing the opponent can do about it? When twinned with Rapid Fire (especially on Class 3+ mounts), frequently have chipped off 15-20% of hull by the time shields have dropped (no module damage though).
Got 6000MJ shield? Still taking damage.
Got 20 shield cell banks? Still taking damage.
It really confuses people in my limited PVP experience, maybe the sparks flying in cockpit also help put them off their game.
Apart from the 'MOAR BLU LAZORS!', it's lovely to chip away at base health when there's nothing the opponent can do about it? When twinned with Rapid Fire (especially on Class 3+ mounts), frequently have chipped off 15-20% of hull by the time shields have dropped (no module damage though).
Got 6000MJ shield? Still taking damage.
Got 20 shield cell banks? Still taking damage.
It really confuses people in my limited PVP experience, maybe the sparks flying in cockpit also help put them off their game.
digitalscream
Banned
That was my other option. In fact, I may well go for it when I switch the OC laser for a rapid-fire one this evening.