Pulse Lasers - Are They Superior?

yale3d

Y
Recently i've equipped my Cobra with 4 Gimballed Beam lasers and i went to a little hunting to try my shiny new gear.
The result was devastating but not the way i've expected: I had to spend some really long minutes to kill a low level eagle equipped with shield.
I was really disappointed and after a couple of sweaty fights i've changed my expensive beam lasers (the class 2 pair cost over a million) back to cheap pulse lasers (a little over 70K for a pair of class 2).
And guess what: it feels like i'm back in business!
They eat a lot less power and each shot have a real impact - unlike the beam leasers.
I'm i doing something wrong, or pulse lasers are just simply better?
 

salad

salad
I also had a better experience with pulse. I think you shouldn't look much at the damage of the weapons, just try them all out and stick to what you feel more comfortable, remember that you can always sell them for the same price you bought so feel free to experiment.
 

dementia

dementia
yale3d said:
Recently i've equipped my Cobra with 4 Gimballed Beam lasers and i went to a little hunting to try my shiny new gear.
The result was devastating but not the way i've expected: I had to spend some really long minutes to kill a low level eagle equipped with shield.
I was really disappointed and after a couple of sweaty fights i've changed my expensive beam lasers (the class 2 pair cost over a million) back to cheap pulse lasers (a little over 70K for a pair of class 2).
And guess what: it feels like i'm back in business!
They eat a lot less power and each shot have a real impact - unlike the beam leasers.
I'm i doing something wrong, or pulse lasers are just simply better?
Click to expand...

Totally agree. Beam laser are badly underpowered. Yes they punch harder than pulse lasers but they drain energy like a burst water balloon and heat up like a blow torch. Pulse lasers drain is so low, relatively, that you can keep firing and hitting the target looooooooong after your beam lasers would have cut out even with a 4A energy distributor etc.

I'm still experimenting to find the best energy weapon for my Cobra (for the shields) and the best kinetic/explosive weapon for the exposed hull. So far for the latter I find heat seeking or dumb fire missiles to be the most effective.
 
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Monk

Monk
Beam lasers are wonderful, in moderation.

On my cobra, I've fitted one Class 2 gimbal beam laser...the rest are multi-cannons.

I take this baby out to Nav Beacons and rings and just obliterate Sidewinders, Eagles and sometimes Vipers with the one beam laser and nothing else. The shields simply vanish and the one Class 2 Beam still does excellent hull damage for not costing me any ammo. Also, only firing one beam and nothing else, I can nearly keep it going constantly for a good 20-30 seconds. Indefinitely, if I lightly pulse the beam. When it is time for anything bigger I just fire the beam until shields are down and switch to multicannons to finish the work. 1 class 2 MC plus 2 class 1 MCs do plenty of hull damage and can still tear a power plant apart.

Power management with this loadout, I would say, requires mild attention. Three pips to weapons at all times, bumping up the others as the situation warrants.

EDIT: Class 1 gimbal beam lasers are terrible at tracking...the class 2 gimbal beam laser is much better at it...if fitting Class 1 beams, used fixed if you ever want to hit anything.
 
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gdir

G
I think 4 gimballed beam lasers drain too much power on a Cobra, even with A4 power supply and A3 power distribution. I'm using 2 medium gimballed beam lasers on mine. With 3 pips on weapons they last some seconds and perform quite well for taking down the shields. I'm using kinetic weapons on the small slots. They don't use much power and work well once the shiels are down.
 

Conestoga

Conestoga
Beam lasers purpose in life is to blow an opponent's shields down as fast as possible, before they can react. In PvP encounters this approach makes a huge difference because of how potent shield cells currently are. Once a player's shields are down they tend to either retreat or flat out panic. Beam lasers are particularly effective in fixed form, as the extra damage synergizes with the fact that you don't need to lead your target.

You can't power four beams efficiently anyway on a cobra, so those troublesome wingtip points work well with gimballed multicannons in this type of build. By the time you need to worry about chaff their shields are already gone.

In PvE, I find pulse lasers mixed with the occasional burst laser to be preferable. They can sustain a lot longer and eat subsystems up on the big ships, especially at close range.
 
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Cargobane

Cargobane
I was going to say, I used Fixed Beam on top, and beam gimbal on the bottom. It melts faces way faster then Pulse Fixed.
But use whatever you feel is best.
Plus the awesome burn marks it leaves on ships is so pretty.
 

Bangfish

Bangfish
Beams are best in fixed configuration, as was already stated. Gimballed beams are terrible and even worse when shooting from medium-long distance. A complete waste of WEP resource they are.
3 fixed C3 beams have potential to rip through A5 shield before a shield cell kicks in.

For pve anything works really.
 

Faded Glory

Faded Glory
yale3d said:
Recently i've equipped my Cobra with 4 Gimballed Beam lasers and i went to a little hunting to try my shiny new gear.
The result was devastating but not the way i've expected: I had to spend some really long minutes to kill a low level eagle equipped with shield.
I was really disappointed and after a couple of sweaty fights i've changed my expensive beam lasers (the class 2 pair cost over a million) back to cheap pulse lasers (a little over 70K for a pair of class 2).
And guess what: it feels like i'm back in business!
They eat a lot less power and each shot have a real impact - unlike the beam leasers.
I'm i doing something wrong, or pulse lasers are just simply better?
Click to expand...

Yes, the beams you put in (the D2's), are very power hungry, and drain the weapons capacitor even on my A rated Cobra very fast. That said, they are very powerful when you hit the target. I still have them on mine, but just have to watch not keeping the trigger pulled for too long, so it'll depend somewhat on your firing style. As others have said, pulse lasers use much less power, so you can keep on firing them and not drain the capacitor.
 

tasev1

T
MrK said:
Beam + gimbal == bad
Beam are awesome when used in fixed configuration
Click to expand...

Totally agree. Because of the way the gimballing system works, most people don't use them right. You usually have to wait for the gimbal to stabilize, and then when you fire, you shoot in short bursts. I use fixed gimbals on my asp and have plenty of success.

It's a matter of target opportunity and what kind of vessel you are flying. Pulse lasers can fire for longer, so even though they do less damage, when installed on a gimbal they can do more damage over time.
 

robbyp

robbyp
Monk said:
Beam lasers are wonderful, in moderation.

On my cobra, I've fitted one Class 2 gimbal beam laser...the rest are multi-cannons.
Click to expand...

About the same as my loadout, which is 1 gim beam plus either multicannons or cannons, dependent on size of expected enemy.

Recently I've been doing 1 class 2 gim beam, 2 multi 1's + 1 class 2 cannon, only use the cannon against the bigger targets..
 

Monk

Monk
robbyp said:
Recently I've been doing 1 class 2 gim beam, 2 multi 1's + 1 class 2 cannon, only use the cannon against the bigger targets..
Click to expand...

Hmm, I must try this. Haven't really ventured towards cannons as I usually prefer the higher projectile velocity. Is it fixed?
 

Arkku

A
On a Cobra fixed pulse lasers seem best to me, or if you want gimballed then bursts on the small hardpoints. On bigger ships I think one fixed beam of maximum size is better, but multiple beams overheat too quickly and again it becomes better to use pulse…
 

CmdrKull

C
Bangfish said:
Beams are best in fixed configuration, as was already stated. Gimballed beams are terrible and even worse when shooting from medium-long distance. A complete waste of WEP resource they are.
3 fixed C3 beams have potential to rip through A5 shield before a shield cell kicks in.

For pve anything works really.
Click to expand...

Gimbal typically don't have the long-distance option, right? It's been a while since I've used anything BUT gimbal beams, so I may be wrong but I thought they had a shorter range than fixed.

I think they take getting used to, and then they can be very powerful in the right hands. Get in close, use them in medium bursts letting the heat subside, and make sure by the time the shields come down you have a component targeted. I use 4gB on my Vipe, and I approve of their use whole-heartedly. NPCs aren't challenging, regardless of ship type or rank. PvP is almost a different game, with people using fotw weapons until the devs realize there is some bug that leaves them without hit boxes or whatever, then everyone changes again. It's a dance I don't enjoy, so for now I'm speaking strictly of PvE.
 

Jordan Cobalt

Jordan Cobalt
Beam lasers are only good in small doses, they heat up too quick if you have more than 2 c1s. On my asp I had 2 c2 fixed lasers and could only fire for 2/3 seconds before they would overheat and that was with a 4A power distributor!!!

Their damage to heat output is terrible, burst laser or pulse laser are usually a better use of wpn energy to damage inflicted.
 

yale3d

Y
i start to get it, i think...
since i play on keyboard and mouse, fixed is a bit far from ideal (or i'm just a bad pilot :) or both).
im thinking about an A2 gimbal pulse on LMB and a fixed A2 beam on RMB. the fixed for 100% firing positions and the gimbal for, well, the not-so-100% moments (just to keep them busy), and some cannons on the smaller hardpoints in the next firegroup.
and yes, the burn marks are priceless :)
 

Vendraen

Vendraen
Jordan Cobalt said:
Beam lasers are only good in small doses, they heat up too quick if you have more than 2 c1s. On my asp I had 2 c2 fixed lasers and could only fire for 2/3 seconds before they would overheat and that was with a 4A power distributor!!!
Click to expand...

... with 0 pips to weapons? o_O

I have 2 fitted on my Asp and I can fire them damned near indefinitely.... But I run 3/3 engines/weapons.
 
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