Engineers Incendiary rounds, what does it even do these days?

[Jotaro]

I've been looking around for an answer to this question, but i can't find any. Does Incendiary Rounds on multicannons make your damage fully thermal or partly? (and if so, how much)
Do you guys think it's better than autoloader against shield tanking ships? I'm about to build a fixed multicannon loadout for my vette to fight other big fish in PvP, and i was thinking that since most people run the reinforced mod on their shield, their thermal resistance is gonna be lower than kinetic, unless if they run 2 thermal boosters. Or will autoloaders still give superior dps?

 

[GraphiteGB]

Incendiray rounds makes the damage 100% thermal... It makes the Multi cannons into a Ammo based laser with very little heat or energy used...
Auto reload will do nothing to alter the fact that kinetic is still rubbish verses shields... youll get a ~10% bonus substained damage with out the reload gap but that will not make up for kinetic being about 40% worse on shields than thermal weapons...
Unlike lasers the default fall off will still be 1.8KM

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Incendiray rounds makes the damage 100% thermal... It makes the Multi cannons into a Ammo based laser with very little heat or energy used...
Auto reload will do nothing to alter the fact that kinetic is still rubbish verses shields... youll get a ~10% bonus substained damage with out the reload gap but that will not make up for kinetic being about 40% worse on shields than thermal weapons...
Unlike lasers the default fall off will still be 1.8KM

I don't get that position.

The laser falloff and higher base dps of kinetic weapons goes a long way to mitigate the NPC shield resistance against kinetics vs thermal.
Eg, I can strip shields way faster with frags than any equivalent lasers; 424 dps(fixed c3 OC/SS) vs 32(fixed beam eff) is absolutely no contest, resistances or not.

All bets are off against players too, as I'm sure you well know.

 

[Jotaro]

Incendiray rounds makes the damage 100% thermal... It makes the Multi cannons into a Ammo based laser with very little heat or energy used...
Auto reload will do nothing to alter the fact that kinetic is still rubbish verses shields... youll get a ~10% bonus substained damage with out the reload gap but that will not make up for kinetic being about 40% worse on shields than thermal weapons...
Unlike lasers the default fall off will still be 1.8KM

100% thermal, got it. Still, wouldn't i be correct to assume that autoloader is going to be more effective than incendiary if the enemy player has a balanced resist shield? But i guess that incendiary is better in most situations. Anyhow, thanks for the information and fly dangerously, cmdr.

 

[GraphiteGB]

I don't get that position.

The laser falloff and higher base dps of kinetic weapons goes a long way to mitigate the NPC shield resistance against kinetics vs thermal.
Eg, I can strip shields way faster with frags than any equivalent lasers; 424 dps(fixed c3 OC/SS) vs 32(fixed beam eff) is absolutely no contest, resistances or not.

All bets are off against players too, as I'm sure you well know.

The OPs only compairing one single experimental effects on a single weapon NOT ALL weapons...

 

[Ian Doncaster]

100% thermal, got it. Still, wouldn't i be correct to assume that autoloader is going to be more effective than incendiary if the enemy player has a balanced resist shield? But i guess that incendiary is better in most situations. Anyhow, thanks for the information and fly dangerously, cmdr.

In a PvP context, you can probably assume that anyone with a shield strong enough that it matters what weapons you use on it will have balanced resists. Autoloader every time.

In a PvE context, none of the NPCs have shields strong enough that it matters what weapons you use on them (though a feedback cascade rail can speed things up a bit versus the big 3) so you might as well go autoloader and not cook yourself.

Incendiray rounds makes the damage 100% thermal... It makes the Multi cannons into a Ammo based laser with very little heat or energy used...

Energy, yes. Heat, no - it's +200% heat for incendiary rounds, which makes them surprisingly hot to run.

 

[Krash]

I've been looking around for an answer to this question, but i can't find any. Does Incendiary Rounds on multicannons make your damage fully thermal or partly? (and if so, how much)
Do you guys think it's better than autoloader against shield tanking ships? I'm about to build a fixed multicannon loadout for my vette to fight other big fish in PvP, and i was thinking that since most people run the reinforced mod on their shield, their thermal resistance is gonna be lower than kinetic, unless if they run 2 thermal boosters. Or will autoloaders still give superior dps?

If your looking for the fastest most reliable way to strip shields in PvP, its NOT incendiary MC. Friendly duels are one thing, facing pro griefers bent on your destruction are another thing. All of this is debatable, but the griefers use PAs to strip shields and it works pretty good. Some anti-griefers have success with 2 huge fixed beams on the vette and that works as well applied with the right skillset. But then, what do you use once shields are down? You need a hull smashing or model sniping weapon to finish the job. PAs are good at both since they deal absolute damage and ignore something like 60% resistances. Rails. Can't forget rails. I'm still practicing with rails and trying to get good at them: Long range / super pen.

 

[Jotaro]

If your looking for the fastest most reliable way to strip shields in PvP, its NOT incendiary MC. Friendly duels are one thing, facing pro griefers bent on your destruction are another thing. All of this is debatable, but the griefers use PAs to strip shields and it works pretty good. Some anti-griefers have success with 2 huge fixed beams on the vette and that works as well applied with the right skillset. But then, what do you use once shields are down? You need a hull smashing or model sniping weapon to finish the job. PAs are good at both since they deal absolute damage and ignore something like 60% resistances. Rails. Can't forget rails. I'm still practicing with rails and trying to get good at them: Long range / super pen.

You think PA's are gonna be more effective than fixed multi's on a corvette? I would have to disagree. PA's are probably better in some instances, but in a 1v1 against a corvette/cutter it's all about 4 pips to systems and dishing out the most damage sustainably. In my loadout, i'm gonna run 2 huge + 1 large multicannons, and 2 small enforcers all overcharged. That's 177 dps with an energy per second of 4.8 according to coriolis.io. If i were to run plasmas, i would be limited to 2 huge + 1 large, which gives 108 dps with an eps of 8 (guess you could put on 2 medium as well if you ignore the bad placement)

Now i understand that plasma's have the advantage of 60% absolute damage, but even with that taken into account, i still believe i will be dishing out more damage over the fight using multicannons

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

The OPs only compairing one single experimental effects on a single weapon NOT ALL weapons...

The point remains relevant to the OP, since that logic is used in so many poor builds.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Also, I don't think autoloader gives all that much advantage to a huge MC.

 

[Krash]

You think PA's are gonna be more effective than fixed multi's on a corvette? I would have to disagree. PA's are probably better in some instances, but in a 1v1 against a corvette/cutter it's all about 4 pips to systems and dishing out the most damage sustainably. In my loadout, i'm gonna run 2 huge + 1 large multicannons, and 2 small enforcers all overcharged. That's 177 dps with an energy per second of 4.8 according to coriolis.io. If i were to run plasmas, i would be limited to 2 huge + 1 large, which gives 108 dps with an eps of 8 (guess you could put on 2 medium as well if you ignore the bad placement)

Now i understand that plasma's have the advantage of 60% absolute damage, but even with that taken into account, i still believe i will be dishing out more damage over the fight using multicannons

Yes, you have found the new meta. Good luck.

 

[Jaylem]

I use Incendiary round where lasers would often be used, sure they have limited ammo and shot speed, but their DPS can be altered to be much more effective than any of the laser weapons. I use 2 Incendiary size 4 MC's on my corvette, doesn't draw anything from the distributor and melts shields like butter more effectively than efficient Beams (+17% damage last I checked??)

 

[Morbad]

100% thermal, got it. Still, wouldn't i be correct to assume that autoloader is going to be more effective than incendiary if the enemy player has a balanced resist shield?

Yes, this is a given.

In a PvP context, you can probably assume that anyone with a shield strong enough that it matters what weapons you use on it will have balanced resists. Autoloader every time.

Not a sure thing. The prevalence of plasma and feedback cascade makes for a potent incentive to pour on the megajoules, even at the expense of thermal resistance.

A fair number of CMDRs will have balanced resists, but a significant minority won't.

Also, I don't think autoloader gives all that much advantage to a huge MC.

It almost completely prevents reloading pauses, which is pretty significant, and the huge MC needs to reload slightly more often than the large MC otherwise as it fires two rounds per shot.

I use Incendiary round where lasers would often be used, sure they have limited ammo and shot speed, but their DPS can be altered to be much more effective than any of the laser weapons. I use 2 Incendiary size 4 MC's on my corvette, doesn't draw anything from the distributor and melts shields like butter more effectively than efficient Beams (+17% damage last I checked??)

Inside 600m, an efficient 5 (+24% damage) huge beam does about 20-25% better sustained DPS than an OC 5 fixed incendiary MC. DPE is much worse, but tons of hitscan damage has it's advantages.