Pulse disruptor - is it good for piracy

[Coot]

We just did some testing with it.
It is clearly just a higher chance to cause malfunctions, and is far from guaranteed(a critical hit/stun proc weapon). Cargo hatch down to 57%, no malfunction. Power distributor to 70%, two malfunctions. FSD low charged four times and high charged twice before malfunctioning at 80%. Pretty steady luck at getting drives to malfunction, but it seems it may all be up to RNG. This is all with a shieldless python sitting completely still. This was also only using one disruptor.

You are probably better off shooting their FSD/Drives out with your railguns.

And to answer your question, the FSD malfunction seems to last about 10 seconds, give or take.

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

We just did some testing with it.
It is clearly just a higher chance to cause malfunctions, and is far from guaranteed(a critical hit/stun proc weapon). Cargo hatch down to 57%, no malfunction. Power distributor to 70%, two malfunctions. FSD low charged four times and high charged twice before malfunctioning at 80%. Pretty steady luck at getting drives to malfunction, but it seems it may all be up to RNG. This is all with a shieldless python sitting completely still. This was also only using one disruptor.
You are probably better off shooting their FSD/Drives out with your railguns.
And to answer your question, the FSD malfunction seems to last about 10 seconds, give or take.

Damn, not really what I wanted to read... :-/
But thanks for testing that, have some well deserved rep!

So, to summarize, while it does not damage hull & shield, it may do a bit more damage to modules than a regular pulse laser? Do you believe malfunction of a module is from the damage it takes? Or from the beam itself which may cause random (was it what you meant by "it may all be up to RNG?") malfunction regardless of the damage the module has taken?

At least, do you believe a Courier, part of a wing and equipped with 3 disruptors could avoid a T9 to get away by pounding its FSD? Or still better luck using railguns on the FSD / drives?

 

[yul7896]

Damn, not really what I wanted to read... :-/
But thanks for testing that, have some well deserved rep!

So, to summarize, while it does not damage hull & shield, it may do a bit more damage to modules than a regular pulse laser? Do you believe malfunction of a module is from the damage it takes? Or from the beam itself which may cause random (was it what you meant by "it may all be up to RNG?") malfunction regardless of the damage the module has taken?

At least, do you believe a Courier, part of a wing and equipped with 3 disruptors could avoid a T9 to get away by pounding its FSD? Or still better luck using railguns on the FSD / drives?

Each hits affect is determine by a roll of the dice, or Random Number Generation. If you're in a wing with complementary weaponry, I'd still only run 2 at most on a Courier. Personally, I'd still rather have 3 fixed pulse lasers.

 

[Coot]

Damn, not really what I wanted to read... :-/
But thanks for testing that, have some well deserved rep!

So, to summarize, while it does not damage hull & shield, it may do a bit more damage to modules than a regular pulse laser? Do you believe malfunction of a module is from the damage it takes? Or from the beam itself which may cause random (was it what you meant by "it may all be up to RNG?") malfunction regardless of the damage the module has taken?

At least, do you believe a Courier, part of a wing and equipped with 3 disruptors could avoid a T9 to get away by pounding its FSD? Or still better luck using railguns on the FSD / drives?

It Does damage hull and shield, but with less damage and a slower fire rate than a normal pulse laser. Modules already malfunction as they take damage, (I believe they start to malfunction noticeably after 80%) and will randomly malfunction after their health gets low, even without being actively damaged. The beam does seem to have a higher (Probably not by much, no way to really tell without extensive testing.) chance to cause malfunctions on hit.

As for the T9, FSD malfunctions don't last too long, and there's no visual/audio way to tell you caused one. If you can destroy his FSD completely without blowing him up, you are better off doing that. I'd say it's at least viable as a pirate weapon, since traders don't typically put up much of a fight, the reduced damage may help you hold him longer before exploding him.

Definitely better than that Crytoscrambler...

 

[geoffrey.hdt]

It Does damage hull and shield, but with less damage and a slower fire rate than a normal pulse laser. Modules already malfunction as they take damage, (I believe they start to malfunction noticeably after 80%) and will randomly malfunction after their health gets low, even without being actively damaged. The beam does seem to have a higher (Probably not by much, no way to really tell without extensive testing.) chance to cause malfunctions on hit.

As for the T9, FSD malfunctions don't last too long, and there's no visual/audio way to tell you caused one. If you can destroy his FSD completely without blowing him up, you are better off doing that. I'd say it's at least viable as a pirate weapon, since traders don't typically put up much of a fight, the reduced damage may help you hold him longer before exploding him.

Definitely better than that Crytoscrambler...

Thanks! I believe we now have a clearer view as of what this weapon can and cannot do.
Now may we expect a new breed of lasers in 1.4, such as a mix between the Disruptor + Cyto + Mining lance? Just kidding (or not)

 

[Distance]

I'd say it's at least viable as a pirate weapon, since traders don't typically put up much of a fight, the reduced damage may help you hold him longer before exploding him.

The biggest problem with piracy is that the longer you hold a trader without them dropping cargo it means there's more chance of them combat logging.

Until FD sort this out then I'll be sticking with normal weapons.