Ships Cannons - which experimental effect for PvP

[Caspar]

I'm working on long range cannons to increase velocity and have engineer up to lvl 3 which has already made a big different to weapon viability.

What experimental effect would you recommend for PvP? I like the sound of thermal cascade but believe its been nerfed into oblivion. Force shell looks pretty interesting but I'd be keen to hear opinions.

 

[GroG79]

With the spread that is on cannons I would suggest not choosing Long range. As for expreimentals I have no idea. I do know force shell is really annoying.

 

[Old Duck]

I use force shell myself, but I only PvP with cannons either against newer players or in a wing (in 1v1 against a tough meta opponent, cannons do not win).

 

[Caspar]

With the spread that is on cannons I would suggest not choosing Long range. As for expreimentals I have no idea. I do know force shell is really annoying.

I was thinking that long range adds velocity - double by the time you get to lvl 5, which is equivalent to multicannon.

 

[Caspar]

deleted

 

[Caspar]

I use force shell myself, but I only PvP with cannons either against newer players or in a wing (in 1v1 against a tough meta opponent, cannons do not win).

I'm mainly going frags but have a spare huge and want to try something different than a huge PA. Will probably look at force shell.

 

[TheGrimCorsair]

I'm mainly going frags but have a spare huge and want to try something different than a huge PA. Will probably look at force shell.

Put another shotgun on.

If you're going for frags, the best thing you can add is gonna be more frags in most instances.

Long range is fine for cannons when you're using it to match their velocity to your other weapons to simplify leading with fixed. Gimbal cannons have pretty terrible spread, but fixed should be pretty close to pin-point accurate, if slow. Force Shell can give you a way to miss with folks using railguns and fixed lasers by bumping by spoiling shots, but by and large you'd want smaller, faster firing cannons for that, rather than a C4.

 

[cmdr Ramius007]

Cannons are opposite to frags, smaller are better, larger cannons have penalty to speed, also increased rate of fire is not very practical for burst weapon in pvp, unless you want to go with rapid fire mod and force shells. Large overcharged cannon is doing ca 90 kinetic dmg,while large OC or SRB thermal conduit plasma is doing ca. 230 mostly absolute dmg thx to 60% dmg bonus from TC most of the time, in pvp where edges are often small you cant really afford cannons as primary weapon for this reason. In wings it's abit more interesting, as forceshell cannon can reduce dps of attacked ship a lot, same goes with dispersal applied at longer ranges, but you normally take cannons on plasma build when you cant take another palsma for heat or distributor constraints, med cannons are competetive with efficient plasmas in terms of damage, but still worse.

 

[NCFCpaul]

On my Frag Mamba I run a huge LR beam with thermal vent on the huge.

I've been up against people running cannons and have basically run them out of ammo, my shields will hold up. They then either have to synth or leave of I can't get them in time.

One MASSIVE advantage of LR cannon, however, is the range is long enough to ping the mail slot from outside of the 7.5km exclusion zone

 

[Morbad]

Thermal cascade is mostly useless, and can actually help a thermal conduit opponent.

Medium fixed cannon with force shell have the same velocity as PAs, so are frequently used in conjunction with them.

Huge cannon are rather hard to leverage, velocity is hard to match with anything, and the only mode that scales with damage on a cannon that is any good is force shell. If you are using frags and have to get to pointblank range anyway, an SRB huge force shell cannon might be fun.

 

[Northpin]

Cannons are good for module sniping... but that role is invalidated by TLB Plasmas :/
So better pick Plasmas, Rails, Frags or Multicannons for PVP

 

[cmdr Ramius007]

Biggest issue currently is thermal conduit effect, it gives too big damage buff, and also favours medium+ ships due how heat damage work (not proportional to module size) While extra damage to plasma is good IMO, as somehow weakens gimbals, but current 60% is way too much, it creates too big disparity betwean wing and 1vs1 ships in pvp, but also in pve for mediums ships, it kills purpose of using any other weapons, especially with bullet sponges npc's in conflict zones. Before changes to thermal conduit it will be very difficult to find niche for cannons, incendiary munition could help, but I doubt it would be enaugh, corrosive buff to AP removed last adventage cannons had pre engineers.

 

[S0rkvild]

If you rely on fixed cannons go for long range, otherwise short range for maximum damage. But everything really depends on a ship you fly, power plant output and other weapons. You should post your entire buils so we can recommend optimal solution, otherwise we can only express general opinions on weapons.

Since you asked. A good idea is too have plasmas and cannons - all engineered towards same shot velocity with cannons using force shell - all paired on one trigger. Deals good damage, guarantees scored hits and gives annoying push from force shells, I highly recommend such setup - especially if your ship has reinforced shields, at least four boosters and when running low on power might be an issue.

This is what weapon setup on my fdl, fds and fas looks like ( long range cannons + lr plasmas + other weapon in central hardpoint)

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous

s.orbis.zone

Rapid firing thermal multi works on shields when facing the enemy, complemented by heavier blows from fixed weaponry during jousts.

If you are good in delivering slower rounds try using four fixed and short range cannons (mixed effects) + huge plasma. This is quite strong as well, but personally in pvp I tolerate weapons with velocity higher than 1200 m/s because targeting adjustment due to low velocity results in missed shots, so I prefer delivering less powerful but more accurate shots.