Hi all, being a relative newbie to Elite I've only just gotten to a point where I've started really looking at engineering, and I was wondering what people did regarding weapons? If you had, say, two large and two medium lasers on a ship, would you pair them so that both (or all) had the same type of modification, or would you have just one laser engineered for efficiency, another for range, another for etc etc?
Ships Newbie Laser Engineering Query
- Thread starter Iamthequinn
- Start date
It all depends on what kind of lasers.
Beam lasers I always run efficient (more range) with thermal vent so I can keep them on non-stop without over heating.
Pulse and burst lasers I run focused with flow control for more power with less power draw.
Keep in mind though that you need to modify your power plant and power distributor as well to keep that power going without over heating.
I run overcharged with thermal spread on the power plant.
I run charge enhanced with super conduits on the power distributor.
Bear in mind though that that is on a pure combat ship. Things may need to be different on a transport ship or if you're going to be a shield tanking ship.
For lasers i usually run only 2 blueprints:
- efficient for beams (beams have the best damage, but also the highest power and distributer usage, so efficient blueprint usually cuts those in half while still increasing the damage)
- long range for bursts, pulses and even for beams, depending on case - keep in mind that this will put quite a strain on PD/PP
- extremely niche - G4 shortrange on Cytoscramblers or overcharged (again on Cytoscramblers)
So yea, it's not uncommon to run a setup with 6 efficient beams and a huge multicannon on my Cutter
For Beam Lasers, the Thermal Vent already mentioned is a lovely experimental effect which cools while on-target much more quickly than it cooks while off-target. It applies a multiplier to its heat, which appears to be something like 2 if you miss but −1 if you hit, so you need only a third of your beam time to be on-target to place this deal in your favour.
Given that Thermal Vent is indeed a multiplier, note that using the Efficient modification will make the cooling less effective, while using Short Range will make it more effective. I use this in place of Heat sinks; here is a view of Thermal Vent cooling some Shield Cell Banks (class 4 with Short Range; watch the Heat display).
If you have Burst Lasers, it actually helps against ordinary pirates to put Thermal Shock onto one of them. To be clear, you will not actually overheat a pirate this way, however the increased heat does stop them from boosting. Otherwise, by far the most notable effect is Inertial Impact for very high damage if you can get close to offset the jitter it brings, thus also elevating Short Range as the best main modification to use. Here is an Inertial Impact demonstration I made while Fragment Cannons were not working (two class 3 with Short Range).
Aside from that Beam again, that video also contains the Cytoscrambler powerplay variant of the Burst Laser, which has become one of my favourite weapons. It is only class 1, yet deals damage to shields as if it were class 3–4, and can even strike hull effectively if you have Corrosive Shell present (from a Multi-cannon or Fragment Cannon). As a Burst Laser itself it can also be given Inertial Impact, and I have been using one of these at all times since around mid-3308. Here is a non-serious demonstration of Inertial Impact Cytoscramblers versus corroded hull; not the best damage, but incredible for small weapons with only 1 Piercing.
I suggest not concerning yourself much with Pulse Lasers, perhaps except to provide the Emissive effect if you need it, although it would be as well to use a Multi-cannon for that. Emissive increases the target visibility for your sensors, which is useful for keeping gimbal weapons pointed at cold-running ships, or indeed retaining a missile lock.
Given that Thermal Vent is indeed a multiplier, note that using the Efficient modification will make the cooling less effective, while using Short Range will make it more effective. I use this in place of Heat sinks; here is a view of Thermal Vent cooling some Shield Cell Banks (class 4 with Short Range; watch the Heat display).
If you have Burst Lasers, it actually helps against ordinary pirates to put Thermal Shock onto one of them. To be clear, you will not actually overheat a pirate this way, however the increased heat does stop them from boosting. Otherwise, by far the most notable effect is Inertial Impact for very high damage if you can get close to offset the jitter it brings, thus also elevating Short Range as the best main modification to use. Here is an Inertial Impact demonstration I made while Fragment Cannons were not working (two class 3 with Short Range).
Aside from that Beam again, that video also contains the Cytoscrambler powerplay variant of the Burst Laser, which has become one of my favourite weapons. It is only class 1, yet deals damage to shields as if it were class 3–4, and can even strike hull effectively if you have Corrosive Shell present (from a Multi-cannon or Fragment Cannon). As a Burst Laser itself it can also be given Inertial Impact, and I have been using one of these at all times since around mid-3308. Here is a non-serious demonstration of Inertial Impact Cytoscramblers versus corroded hull; not the best damage, but incredible for small weapons with only 1 Piercing.
I suggest not concerning yourself much with Pulse Lasers, perhaps except to provide the Emissive effect if you need it, although it would be as well to use a Multi-cannon for that. Emissive increases the target visibility for your sensors, which is useful for keeping gimbal weapons pointed at cold-running ships, or indeed retaining a missile lock.
Well, nowawadays, most of my combat ships use Cytos only. However, my range control isn't good enough for SRB, so depending on the energy situation I usually either make them Overcharged or Efficient.
For instance, on my Chieftain I happily run them OC, Oversized, and on my Challenger they're Efficient, Flow Control bc on that bucket I have to fight for every watt.
Before I had Cytos, I mostly used gimballed Burst lasers, with one gimb. Long Range Beam added in the mix for tagging the target and thermal venting. TBH I don't remember the main mod on the bursties, and even if I did it may not have been a good choice anyway.
For instance, on my Chieftain I happily run them OC, Oversized, and on my Challenger they're Efficient, Flow Control bc on that bucket I have to fight for every watt.
Before I had Cytos, I mostly used gimballed Burst lasers, with one gimb. Long Range Beam added in the mix for tagging the target and thermal venting. TBH I don't remember the main mod on the bursties, and even if I did it may not have been a good choice anyway.
Long Range is by far the most useful engineering. No damage fall-off- you can engage your target for full DPS at 6km. Combine it with Thermal Conduit, overheating is good, the hotter your ship gets above 100% the more damage the weapon puts out. Use fixed, gimballed is a waste with Long Range due to jitter.
For all lasers, other than Long Range and Focused, the fall-off begins at 500-600 meters. Focused, 1 km.
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