Best weapon to scrap hull?

[Crimson Kaim]

I am asking everyone of you. What is in your opinion the best weapon (DPS only) to deal hull damage?
Sadly I think it is a thermic weapon since kinetic weapons are mostly UP.

Beam lasers and multicannons have almost the same hull damage as it seems.

So, what do you think?

 

[noldunar]

It depends. Mulit-cannons have the distinct advantage of working with very little power in the capacitor and are good for sub-targeting.

I am a PVE only player, so it may vary in PVP, but in my experience a Viper outfitted with two class one beam lasers and two class two gimballed multi-cannons is very effective against large ships and for power plant sniping. Once the shields are down, you need only one pip in weapons and a few bars in the capacitor to fire continously. So DPS only is not the only factor to consider, also energy efficiency and heat build-up.

 

[Astronut57]

Haven't tried all the weapons but so far I'm having much success with 2 class 2 gimballed cannons for hull damage.

 

[Crimson Kaim]

Yea, I am asking about PvP and PvE, so anything helps

Just tried out 3 cannons (one of them being a C4) but they deal absolutely NO (!) - ZERO damage to hull?! after the second shot only 1%? Sometimes 20%? How does this work? Even class one lasers deal mroe damage ... Ofcourse modules suffer more damage but still, less damage than C1 lasers? ...

 

[Alex Brentnall]

You may want to check here:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=140240

Thats only shield damage, obviously cannons are better against hull than shields but if you ignore the laser weapons the best damage to hull is Plasma/railguns followed by frag cannons then cannons.

Yea, I am asking about PvP and PvE, so anything helps

Just tried out 3 cannons (one of them being a C4) but they deal absolutely NO (!) - ZERO damage to hull?! after the second shot only 1%? Sometimes 20%? How does this work? Even class one lasers deal mroe damage ... Ofcourse modules suffer more damage but still, less damage than C1 lasers? ...

Class 4 cannons are really really slow, are you sure you hit the target? Even an armoured Anaconda should loose at least 5% hull unless it has reactive armour. That stuff takes 75% of kinetic weapon damage away so is a bit of a problem for cannons and such.

(4 cannon viper loadout vs a cobra, check 10mins in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VIgKidFmyA)
(2 large cannon Vulture loadout, check 6:30 into vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4iszxrqI-c)

 

[Crimson Kaim]

Yes I have hit. Killed the engines of a sidey and he had only 7% hull left. It took me 4 C2 cannon shots to kill it with the first two shots dealing only 4% damage to a sidey ...

 

[William J Smith]

I fly an Asp, and tried out 6 gimballed cannons.

Results were mixed.... shielded ships .. worthless, takes ages to bring the shields down, unshielded.... well there goes your subsystems in a couple of shots , quickly followed by the hull.

Best results were found winging up with an Asp armed with beam lasers to rip the shields off, then using the cannon equipped Asp for the kill.

Single Asp, 4 E1 beam lasers, and 2 F1 medium multi-cannons seem to work best. 4 pips to weapons until the shields go, then 1&1/2 pips to weapons keeps the multi-cannons spinning

Bill

<<currently somewhere near Rigel

 

[Alex Brentnall]

Yes I have hit. Killed the engines of a sidey and he had only 7% hull left. It took me 4 C2 cannon shots to kill it with the first two shots dealing only 4% damage to a sidey ...

Yeah they arn't the insta-kill like the class 4 plasma accelerator. Due to the aiming problems and time to target you are best using multicannons for targeting smaller ships (anything up to Vulture size) and then Cannons for Pythons/Condas/FDL/Clippers where you can hit their powerplants for huge damage.
Frag cannons would take the prize in all things if they didn't have ammo problems.

Basically its a High damage and low heat solution with the ammo downside instead of lasers which are High heat, high accuracy and drain your distributor.

Personally I use a beam laser and pulse laser mix in my Python, pulse lasers do good against modules and not needing ammo is great. I have to say that frag cannons are a lot of fun though

 

[noldunar]

There is a youtube video of a guy named Kornelius Briedis called "fastest way to kill Anaconda" where he compared the different type of kinetic weapons. Can't link it since I am at work and youtube is a no go. Anyhow, while railguns and cannons might do more damage per se, the multi-cannons where the winner in the ammo cost/time needed/energy consumption departement.

Cheap and efficient weapons: low ammo-cost and low energy requirements for only slighter less damage and little more time needed.

 

[Eagle Eye]

You don't want to kill the hull for big ships, you want to snipe the PP. With that in mind, multicannons are the best. Pulse laser is also good for C3. A Plasma Accelerator is also good if you want some punch, or an empty C4 slot with plenty of energy to spare...

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

Ram your opponent to drop its shield. Then use frag cannons at point blank.
Basically, one burst (3 consecutive shots) of frag is equivalent to 4 shots of cannons.



EDIT: PvP weapon, obviously...

 

[Io_Sys]

Multicannons. Cheap on power, plenty of ammo and they shred hull fast. Plus they're accurate and fast enough to do quite well against subsystems, although they're not in the same league as pinpoint railgun hits or the odd lucky hit with a cannon.

To be honest I'm suprised no-one has mentioned missiles or torpedos.
Absolutely useless against shields, sadly-- but I've noticed that seekers tend to do quite well against unshielded vipers and cobras.
Anyone tried firing a full magazine of dumbfires into an anaconda, or just shelling out for a few torps and showing those vulgar fools the meaning of capitalism?

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

=To be honest I'm suprised no-one has mentioned missiles or torpedos.
Absolutely useless against shields, sadly-- but I've noticed that seekers tend to do quite well against unshielded vipers and cobras.

One seeker missile does quite the same damage as a class 2 cannon (tested at a combat zone and 4 seekers either one shoot Eagles or leave them with 1-5% hull...same for a shot with 2x class 1 cannon s + 2x class 2 cannons.
They are limited to respectively 12 and 24 missiles for class 1 and class 2 seeker launchers.
Their main strength is not the hull damage output but that without point defense turrets, ECM or boosting away, they cannot be dodged.
Unlike cannons and multi-cannons, they are absolutely not effective against shield.

I am yet to test torpedos.

 

[Faybs]

One seeker missile does quite the same damage as a class 2 cannon (tested at a combat zone and 4 seekers either one shoot Eagles or leave them with 1-5% hull...same for a shot with 2x class 1 cannon s + 2x class 2 cannons.
They are limited to respectively 12 and 24 missiles for class 1 and class 2 seeker launchers.
Their main strength is not the hull damage output but that without point defense turrets, ECM or boosting away, they cannot be dodged.
Unlike cannons and multi-cannons, they are absolutely not effective against shield.

I am yet to test torpedos.

That's very interesting! I've been avoiding missiles since they got nerfed (back in 1.1?), I guess they're not so terrible after all. The equivalent of a class 2 cannon that hits most of the time regardless of your agility, and has either 12 or 24 rounds is not that bad at all.

 

[Io_Sys]

Hey, thanks for the response geoffrey.
I've not really had chance to test dumbfires or torps yet myself, I just messed around with a few seekers. Every time I load up dumbfires I never find an anaconda to try them out on.
That they do less damage damage than a cannon is quite disappointing really, considering the ammo cost and tiny magazine.
Not to mention the class 2 racks doing the same damage as class 1 and yet needing more power than a class 2 beam laser.

I've only seen videos of people smacking freaking sidewinders and cobras with torpedoes and the moment (and not oneshotting them? I mean that's pretty bad for a 15k price).
Really need to see how torps would work against an anaconda, same with a full salvo of dumbfire missiles, since that 2.5s reload looks like it could be nice for some scary hull burst damage.

Edit: Frankly missiles tend to be my go-to weapon of choice in most games, simply because they're so cool and tend to work well-- even if they do get jammed etc. Going to defect for the pack hound missiles sometime soon.

Also AC4A is fun as hell.

[video=youtube;DiMvZ1DYn4s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiMvZ1DYn4s[/video]

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

Going to defect for the pack hound missiles sometime soon.

I am not sure if a salvo of pack hound does more damage than a regular seeker missile.
However they look faster, and since you launch many at a time, should be way more efficient against point defense turrets.
I wish I had them now, rather than my disco laser...

BTW, here is the config I used at combat zones (not conflict zone, I mean, when I wanted to help expanding a system and get merits by destroying small ships):
http://edshipyard.com/#/L=702,CGlCGl4wtCFB01Q01Q,2-6Q6Q6u5K4s4s6k,7Re4-E7e87e87e87e8
- Lightweight, hence top speed = 455m/s (nobody can catch you!)
- Beam to take down the shield of a weaken prey, and start to eat its hull
- Launch one or two salvo of missiles
- Next!

One of the most fun ship I used to fly...pity that the Power I have defected to does not use combat to expand :-(

 

[Faybs]

I am not sure if a salvo of pack hound does more damage than a regular seeker missile.
However they look faster, and since you launch many at a time, should be way more efficient against point defense turrets.
I wish I had them now, rather than my disco laser...

BTW, here is the config I used at combat zones (not conflict zone, I mean, when I wanted to help expanding a system and get merits by destroying small ships):
http://edshipyard.com/#/L=702,CGlCGl4wtCFB01Q01Q,2-6Q6Q6u5K4s4s6k,7Re4-E7e87e87e87e8
- Lightweight, hence top speed = 455m/s (nobody can catch you!)
- Beam to take down the shield of a weaken prey, and start to eat its hull
- Launch one or two salvo of missiles
- Next!

One of the most fun ship I used to fly...pity that the Power I have defected to does not use combat to expand :-(

I think I remember reading that each missile in a salvo of 4 does a quarter damage so it does the same damage overall, but they look much cooler and you have four chances to bypass PDS turrets instead of one.

 

[Bunkerkind Anni]

two torpedos shot at a phyton in a conflict zone did - less then 30% hull damage (and yes, both hit the shield less phyton)

so in my eyes, their ammo limitation makes them the worst choice of all. even the range advantage just means that they are more likely to be shot down.

the weapon comparison video on YT that was mentioned earlier was from beta days - i doubt its up2date, and there haven't been t2 Burst lasers availiable at that time.

last but not least - hull damage may become more important in the future, since the DEV Update already confirmed that PP sniping will be made a less favourable choice.

oh, and i forgot -
can't wait to see the three other "mine" variants that are already in the ED folder: Homing, Cluster and Impulse. I suspect them beeing PP variants

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

two torpedos shot at a phyton in a conflict zone did - less then 30% hull damage (and yes, both hit the shield less phyton)
so in my eyes, their ammo limitation makes them the worst choice of all. even the range advantage just means that they are more likely to be shot down.

Torpedos are also PvP weapons, specific, but efficient.
Don't believe me? You say about less than 30%? Then, let's say that:
- You are flying an armored Python, as the ones you fight at a conflict zone.
- Your opponent, another Python, manages to take down your shield with its three large lasers.
- He then fire 2 torpedos, via its two medium hardpoints, and continues to eat your hull with its lasers.
- Then he fires again 2 torpedos.
- Then 2 other ones.
- Then he is out of ammo, but you are dead.

EDIT: mmh, can't remember...is it 2 or 3 torpedos per class 2 torpedo pylon?

Now, do you still find that about 30% hull damage via 2 torpedos is not enough?

 

[Ceekay]

Turrets are now a viable weapon (i.e. then don't instantly get you wanted!), they will be scoring hits on the target well outside your field of view and will allow you to make fairly extreme avoidance maneuvers without losing target lock.
So far I've tried 4 m-cannon turrets on the Asp with two gimballed pulse to strip the shields, two small pulse turrets on the Viper with two gimballed pulse on the medium hard-points, I'm currently trying the Viper fit on a Cobra as the weapon locations are reversed it's taking a bit of time to get used to but so far it's fairly effective as both sets of weapons only fire on the target occasionally the power issues are managable.