Using an all Beam Laser build on a large ship is amazing. Change my mind.
- Thread starter CoyoteXStarrk
- Start date
Sure, lasers can be effective enough to destroy each and every npc you encounter. It's just... you get used to the damage output and consider it normal. At least I did at the start of the game.
But try some engineered frags, or pa's in combination with a corrosive mc and you'll quickly learn you were just holding yourself back. Just my opinion of course.
Also, I don't mind docking to reload every once in a while. By the time I'm out of ammo I'm generally up for a little break from fighting anyway.
And with a lot of mats, I don't even really have to that either.
But try some engineered frags, or pa's in combination with a corrosive mc and you'll quickly learn you were just holding yourself back. Just my opinion of course.
Also, I don't mind docking to reload every once in a while. By the time I'm out of ammo I'm generally up for a little break from fighting anyway.
And with a lot of mats, I don't even really have to that either.
When you use all g5 long range cannons on turrets in the anaconda.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w3e7oslXFM
Visually it is impressive
Visually it is impressive
My favorite pve build for FDL is 4x c2 Longrange beams with thermal vent and a c4 overcharged multi-cannon with corrosive. All gimbled and beams worked great as fixed during chaff. Corrosive making the beams more effective against hull and this build can last forever in cz / rez. I call it the Beam Boat.
The life-cycle of an all-laser build:-
1) Fit a bunch of lasers and be frustrated that they overheat and drain the capacitor.
2) Do a bunch of engineering and be happy with a build that seems to do the job.
3) Enter a CZ and become frustrated that it takes a prolonged time to explode a mid-tier opponent.
4) Decide to test-fit an MC or FC just to help chew up the hulls of tough ships.
5) Realise that a single MC/FC massively improves your ship's effectiveness.
6) Add more MCs/FCs and start to wonder why you actually wanted an all-laser build to begin with.
Said it before but the reason I run 2x 4A beams on my Corvettes is because I do like being able to explode small, medium and some large ships without using ammo.
When I encounter top-tier opponents, though, it really helps to have something more destructive as well.
1) Fit a bunch of lasers and be frustrated that they overheat and drain the capacitor.
2) Do a bunch of engineering and be happy with a build that seems to do the job.
3) Enter a CZ and become frustrated that it takes a prolonged time to explode a mid-tier opponent.
4) Decide to test-fit an MC or FC just to help chew up the hulls of tough ships.
5) Realise that a single MC/FC massively improves your ship's effectiveness.
6) Add more MCs/FCs and start to wonder why you actually wanted an all-laser build to begin with.
Said it before but the reason I run 2x 4A beams on my Corvettes is because I do like being able to explode small, medium and some large ships without using ammo.
When I encounter top-tier opponents, though, it really helps to have something more destructive as well.
But, just this one.
Yeah, really helps to have MC's on board. I run a very similar build. 2 huge beams ( LR w/therm vent ), 2 small beams ( LR w/thermal vent ), and the rest MC's with corrosive.
The beams cook small ships in a single pass, so no ammo expended ( Eagles are a laugh ! ). But on a tougher enemy, I break out the MC's. It allows me to fire something that HURTS while the weapons cap recharges.
You only need 1 corrosive effect MC. It buffs the damage of every weapon hitting the target.
Minor bit of pedantry: It's more correct to say you only need one MC per fire-group with the Corrosive effect.
It might sometimes be useful to have more than one weapon with Corrosive if you're using them in different FGs.
For example, I have Frag-Turrets on my Cutters, one of which is Corrosive and the other is Incindiary.
They're always-online, and get used with lasers for defence and for swatting small/medium ships.
I then also have a pair of C3 MCs, one of which is also Corrosive and the other Incindiary.
They only get brought on-line to chew up big ships.
Course, if you have a bunch of similar weapons, you're probably going to have 'em all in the same FG.
I can't really think of a reason why you'd have, say, C2 MCs in one FG and then C3 MCs in a different one.
I run 2 huge beams also, and for a long time ran MCs everywhere else. Then I discovered frags. I've been using overcharged, but I'm gathering mats now to change them all to high cap/screening shell. Except for one small high cap with corrosive.
Should be fun.
Depending what you use your ship for, be careful about causing friendly-fire with FCs.
FC boat at CNB: World Eater.
FC boat at CZ: How to lose friends and alienate people.
Fair one.Minor bit of pedantry: It's more correct to say you only need one MC per fire-group with the Corrosive effect.
It might sometimes be useful to have more than one weapon with Corrosive if you're using them in different FGs.
For example, I have Frag-Turrets on my Cutters, one of which is Corrosive and the other is Incindiary.
They're always-online, and get used with lasers for defence and for swatting small/medium ships.
I then also have a pair of C3 MCs, one of which is also Corrosive and the other Incindiary.
They only get brought on-line to chew up big ships.
Course, if you have a bunch of similar weapons, you're probably going to have 'em all in the same FG.
I can't really think of a reason why you'd have, say, C2 MCs in one FG and then C3 MCs in a different one.
I've slowly cycled more and more MCs into my 'vette for that reason, though I'm kinda tempted to see about beams on the mediums instead of incendiary multis since they run out of ammo way quicker than the huges.
Heh, I've just gone the opposite way.
I used to have a single C3 MC on my 'vette along with a pair of C2 Imp' Hammers (in addition to the 4A beams).
The idea was I'd use the MC to help chew up tough ships and take shots with the Hammers when I got the chance.
I found that the single C3 MC did sufficient damage but, since CZ ships got tougher, it's been taking a while to kill tough ships and I've been running out of ammo quite quickly.
I've now fitted a pair of C2 MCs and replaced the Imp' Hammers with a C3 PA.
The dual C2 MCs do slightly more damage than the single C3 MC.
Possibly more importantly, but less easy to quantify, the C2 MCs are in a better location so they don't miss as much.
Previously, I might've been killing, say, 10 tough ships in a CZ before I needed to synth' a reload.
Now I'm killing 20 tough ships before I need to reload (requiring twice as many mat's, of course) but I can kill each ship considerably faster.
And the PA (to be replaced by an APA eventually) seems to do more damage than the pair of Hammers used to.
I guess we're all biased toward what we're currently using but I genuinely feel like the pair of C2 MCs are more destructive than the single C3 MC although they don't actually save me any ammo/mat's.
I used to have a C3 multicannon and it tended to last as long as the C4s if not longer, 'cause while it's got a higher fire rate it tends to spend less time actually firing 'cause of that godawful spinup delay and awful fire arc so I just replaced it with a turreted frag to make my rams more painful.
My main CZ ship is a FDL with 4x C2 gimballed multi-s (short range blaster, one corrosive) and a fixed C4 long range thermal vent beam. It's effective but runs out of ammo pretty quickly & with four to reload synth isn't a practical option for me.
I'll give it a try the other way round like yours, see if it's a better compromise
The need to reload is why I prefer all laser builds myself. Yeah it may take a bit longer, but it looks cool and it has the added bonus of infinite ammo lol
I guess it's always going to be a compromise and it's up to everybody to decide, for themselves, where they want to make that compromise.
To digress slightly, I always used to run a pair of C7 SCBs on my 'vettes and they worked but they were always the eventual reason why I'd have to bug out of a fight.
When I got rid of them, it meant I could remain in combat for as long as I want.
Thing is, "as long as I want" is a finite length of time.
That being the case, there's not much point in building a ship that can remain on station for longer than I'll actually enjoy being there.
A pair of 4A beams can explode 95% of the ships you'll ever see at a RES or CNB.
Once every 15 minutes, or whatever, an Annie or Corvette will show up and killing that will be easier with the assistance of MCs or FCs.
In that case, a 'vette with 4A beams and secondary projectile weapons can easily remain on station until I've got bored.
Things are a little different in CZ's, these days, now the ships there are tougher.
As a rule, I tend to find that I can win between 1 and 2 CZs before I need to synth reloads for my MCs.
Again, though "time to boredom" is also a factor.
If I was running all-lasers, I wouldn't be winning CZs as quickly so I might win 2 or 3 before getting bored and going home.
With MCs I can kill ships faster, win the CZ faster and, thus, I'll win 4 or 5 before I get bored and go home.
That means maybe 1 or 2 reloads so that's not a huge amount of mat's and it's acceptable to me.
At the other extreme, if I was running an all-MC loadout on my 'vette (and I have tried it) it'd mince opponents quickly but it irritates me to be wasting ammo' just swatting things like Eagles, Cobras and Asps.
For Assassination missions, that'd be a terrific loadout but for farming CNBs and CZs it's too wasteful of mat's for me.
Again, it's about considering all the factors and then choosing the appropriate compromise.
I actually just changed my Corvette from a MC/Beams/rails build to an all fixed Pulse Laser build. I gave all the Pulse lasers long range (500 m damage drop off is brutal) with various experimental effects (there's 7 so I had lots to choose from) and it's a bit a beast in res sites. I mostly did this because I am trying to train my NPC to Elite and this build can stay in res sites indefinitely. I honestly didn't think I was going to like it but after giving it a test run before letting my NPC take the helm I was surprised how much fun I was having with it. It can be a bit slow burning through the hull of the larger ships but shields melt pretty quick. I have not done any CZ's yet but I can see how with the increased hull of NPC's you might want something corrosive for those.