More Differentiation Between Lasers

[sandkid]

I have always felt that the lasers are, by and large, not different enough from each other (as in Pulse - Burst - Beam) in performance such that each lends itself to a specific build regimen. The basic separation is still there with a few modifications. So, some ideas below...


Pulse
-Steady, Mildly Rapid Fire with Moderate Consistent DPS
-Moderate Heating
-Low Distributor Draw
-Low Power Draw
-Gimbals and Turrets Track Highest Speed
-Slows Down Broken Regeneration Speed


Burst
-Rapid Burst, but Slow between Bursts with Highest Consistent DPS
-Low Heating (Burst allows cooling)
-Moderate Distributor Draw
-High Power Draw
-Gimbals and Turrets Track Moderate Speed
-Increased Hull Damage


Beam
-Constant Strike (Fast Tick) with Highest Burst DPS, but Lowest Consistent DPS
-High Heating (prevents consistent DPS)
-High Distributor Draw
-Moderate Power Draw
-Gimbals and Turrets Track Lowest Speed
-Increased Module Damage


The main idea is to really separate these three classes of lasers enough that they each have situational or build value (where right now, pulses serve little purpose, and you fit bursts if you can't sustain beams (that's my experience anyways, feel free to correct me if yours is different!)

Without tweaking too much, the notable differences are:
-Pulses are now a solid dps option suitable for low-distributor ships (small ships typically) and assist in keeping shields down for lighter weapons effectiveness
-Bursts are the consistent heavy-hitters requiring a Higher Power Draw but providing more raw ship damage, useful for maneuverable ships
-Beams are the highest *burst* dps useful on low maneuverability ships but providing modular damage, increasing utility for slower ships

I'm of the opinion beams, even heavily engineered (efficient), shouldn't be sustainable for terribly long on even the largest distributors. By augmenting them towards modular damage and burst damage, they better fit this role and make more sense as an option for slower ships. By augmenting Bursts to be the heavy hitters for larger reactors on consistent DPS, they become a reasonable choice for raw damage builds on mostly agile to agile ships. Pulses cease to be an after-thought and could be particularly handy in wing-setups against heavy shielded/rapid regenerating targets and will be particularly useful for rookie commanders or small-ship commanders who need that shield to STAY down so their limited firepower has more punch on hull and modules.

Thoughts?

 

[Ian Doncaster]

The main idea is to really separate these three classes of lasers enough that they each have situational or build value (where right now, pulses serve little purpose, and you fit bursts if you can't sustain beams (that's my experience anyways, feel free to correct me if yours is different!)

Looking at which modules people are engineering in Colonia, pulse and beam both seem very popular, with burst much less so at about a third of the engineering points.

That matches up with my experience of what they're useful for
Beam - higher DPS, poor heat and efficiency
Pulse - less DPS, much more efficient, some good experimentals
...and then burst is just somewhere in between for DPS and efficiency, and doesn't have great engineering experimentals either.

I'd go for pulse on ships which can't sustain beams - the DPS is only marginally lower but the extra efficiency means the sustained DPS once your distributor starts running low is going to be higher.

Regardless of what we specifically find them useful for, I agree that there's probably only useful space for two types of combat laser at the moment, and a third would need to distinguish itself some other way.

 

[Azmuth Divarchchron]

The only two that matter to me are pulse or beam.
Burst isnt a factor for me because ive never had a useful place for it.
I feel as though beams are already balanced because you need to upgrade your distributor recharge rate anyways to sustain them even if you make them G5 efficent. So you actually need to upgrade the weapon and your distributor which is more than balanced.
I would like to see burst worked on some more because pulse or beam are the only two clear options when building a ship in my opinion.

 

[sandkid]

The only two that matter to me are pulse or beam.
Burst isnt a factor for me because ive never had a useful place for it.
I feel as though beams are already balanced because you need to upgrade your distributor recharge rate anyways to sustain them even if you make them G5 efficent. So you actually need to upgrade the weapon and your distributor which is more than balanced.
I would like to see burst worked on some more because pulse or beam are the only two clear options when building a ship in my opinion.

I could agree that beams are fairly balanced from a distributor point of view, until the largest ships...although a fair argument exists in, "Well, duh, big ships should more easily use these weapons!"

What are the thoughts on 'built in' effects like the slower shield recharge or increased hull damage? The former is straight-up a built in engineering augmentation at its heart, while the latter is just a shift in base stats. I think fooling with the stats a little could help with the differentiation...but only so much. I'm personally in the camp that weapons should have distinctive characteristics that go beyond their stats.

 

[Azmuth Divarchchron]

I could agree that beams are fairly balanced from a distributor point of view, until the largest ships...although a fair argument exists in, "Well, duh, big ships should more easily use these weapons!"

What are the thoughts on 'built in' effects like the slower shield recharge or increased hull damage? The former is straight-up a built in engineering augmentation at its heart, while the latter is just a shift in base stats. I think fooling with the stats a little could help with the differentiation...but only so much. I'm personally in the camp that weapons should have distinctive characteristics that go beyond their stats.

not sure frontier will go for standard weapons already having built in effects considering power play weapons are the only ones that have built in effects before engineering.
as for distinct charicteristics. I've used alot of the weapons in the game and alot of them are already pretty distinctive.
pulse and beam are extreme contrast from one another but burst is trying to be one or the other with no clear purpose.

if anything I think burst laser should be redesigned to use the capacitor more rapidly to do more damage and do half second pulses of beams. so you have more damage in a single burst with the trade of of waiting for it to re-spool for another burst rather than just have it do "pew pew pew, wait, pew pew pew, wait"
So maybe burst should do "Beam burst, 100%, 66%, 33%, depleted, recharge, Beam Burst, 100%, 66%, 33%, depleted, recharge"

Then you would have a distinct separation between pulse and beam, where burst would deplete the capacitor rapidly or have some kind of internal firing capacitor but beam and pulse would both have consistent capacitor usage.
there should also be the trade off that burst lasers produce significantly more heat than beam or pulse near the level of a plasma accelerator.

 

[Daynen]

What if burst lasers simply emptied your capacitor in a single "burst" but did more damage in a bigger, more intense shot the more energy they drained? It would allow you to fire them as often as you like by sacrificing shot power or be patient and fire them at full strength. It would also give us an EXCELLENT reason to engineer for distributor capacity over recharge...