Pulse lasers better than starters are where?

[Macgyver]

I am so tired of coming back to the forums every time I hit a brick wall.

now it is weapons, I have $70K I have been to several high tech docks and all weapons have been pitiful.
nothing's better than the F1 rank starter pulse and those suck big time.

all I want is to be anble to get some better weapons for my side winder.
4 hours play time, I have not made any money and have just been flying to every high tech dock I can find, they all seem to have the same junk.

i don't want ammo using weapons, I just want a c grade laser...

also so as a side note, why does the game not have any descriptions for stats on weapons when you mouse over them.....

i dont want want to gripe... But seriously it's gone from having a great time, to swearing and abusing the game for its diabolical time sink needle in a haystack mentality.

 

[Sargon]

You should find them at Industrial systems, high population ones.

 

[Danneh]

There aren't any higher class lasers, the class on weapons is actually irrelevant. You have sizes, not sure on the exact ones but it's something like G = small, E = medium, C = large and A is huge for fixed weapons, with gimballed being a class lower. It generally correlates with raw damage output, but definitely isn't the indicator you need to be looking at.

Basically a small pulse laser is always a small pulse laser, with the exception of some pretty rare overcharged or low heat ones, which are nice but not massively better and too rare to really hunt for. What you want is to pick up some burst or beam lasers, they'll give you a bit more firepower, but watch out for the power requirements, if you go over, when you draw your weapons it'll shut off your systems unless you disable some.

I will say though, there's nothing wrong with the stock pulse lasers, if your aim is good, which just takes practice, you can take out a fair few ships with them, probably up to and including an Asp.

You can try gimballed lasers if you need a little help aiming, but the reduced damage and the fact the gimballing often misses makes it better to learn to use fixed. I'd suggest swapping one of the lasers for a gimballed multicannon. They do a heck of a lot more damage to the hull once you've taken the shields down with the laser, and they're a bit more satisfying to fire

 

[-SOVEREIGN-]

As far as I know there are no better ratings of the exact same weapon type. They would be called "overcharged" then, but I haven't seen overcharged weapons since Beta. There is another topic regarding their existence. If you see class 1 pulse lasers which are more expensive but have worse stats: these are gimballed/turreted versions, trading damage for aim assistance.

 

[Macgyver]

You should find them at Industrial systems, high population ones.

same thing.... F1 pulse and a bunch of other useless junk. Population 18 billion

its a shame this game is so tiring to play.
how on earth it managed to stay so scissors rock paper on release is mystifying.

also, very tired of every station that offers a find the black box mission etc , you always get scanned 100% of the time when returning the goods, and hit with a $15K fine...... This mechanics is total .
every station has always scanned me without fail..... Every time.
it is impossible to do these missions and make money.
Trade sucks
Bounty hunting is because no one sells weapons and I am tired of searching the dots.

good bye Elite Dangerous, you are a cruel joke designed to please only the old school players from the 1980's
should have opened this game up for more general,public testers.... Come back in 6 months.. Probably.

 

[technophebe]

In a sidewinder you're probably best sticking with the pulse lasers due to your limited heat output. They're actually the best all round weapons in many ways.

If you're just bored of them, you could try replacing one with a gimballed multi-cannon which will do less damage to shields but more to hulls; and since it's heat needs are less this will allow you to replace the other laser with a burst or beam laser which are less efficient heat-wise but do greater dps.

In terms of your overall frustrations, the forums are doing a poor job of serving newcomers at the moment but I'm in the process of writing a new player guide that should help a lot, it's already present in a half completed state but keeps getting buried beneath crap threads in the general discussion forum so I'll move it to the newbies area later today.

 

[DaveB]

Also, it's not just your power plant to keep an eye on when upgrading lasers. Pulse lasers are the theoretically "weakest" of the type in terms of damage per second they can inflict, they also produce the least heat and drain the capacitor slowest. You might find your power distribution system needs upgrading to keep them charged. That is an advantage in other areas too as your shields charge faster and your engines replenish faster for more frequent boosts.

 

[Sargon]

same thing.... F1 pulse and a bunch of other useless junk. Population 18 billion
.

Well, I meant overcharged lasers... otherwise, as others noted. A laser is a laser. Size 1 is size 1.

 

[Danneh]

Yeah to be fair I've not been in a Sidey for ages, forgotten about heat output, although I swear I've *never* had an issue with anything but railguns, on any ship, even the stock viper which is supposedly bad for it. I've never even used heat sinks because it hasn't been a problem.

 

[Sargon]

designed to please only the old school players from the 1980's
should have opened this game up for more general,public testers.... Come back in 6 months.. Probably.

Actually yes... most of us are very pleased.
~
We don't find it tiring at all.
~
Rock paper scissors... the same premise on which all well balanced games are based.
~
If you don't want to take black box missions... then don't. Once you gain rep with a faction, they start offering variety and more cash.
~
You wont always get scanned... Besides you could just go to outposts, there are seldom authorities there who would scan you.
~
I've made plenty of money with those smuggling missions.
~
I also find trade is great and very profitable actually. You just need to look to look out for good chances to set up routes.
~
I enjoy bounty hunting and think it's awesome.
~
Most industrial stations sell weapons.
~
If you're tired, take a nap.
~
Had Frontier made a game for the general public, we would have yet another clone of a mind numbing console game.
This is Elite... and unfortunately it isn't for everyone.
~
And welcome to my ignore list.

 

[-SOVEREIGN-]

[...]

also, very tired of every station that offers a find the black box mission etc , you always get scanned 100% of the time when returning the goods, and hit with a $15K fine...... This mechanics is total .
every station has always scanned me without fail..... Every time.
it is impossible to do these missions and make money.
Trade sucks
[...]

Getting in something that is prohibited somehow is not trading, it's smuggling. Even for missions.
The stations themselves do not scan - it's the System Authority ships patrolling it. They can be evaded by using smuggling tactics like boost in with silent running, using chaffs and heatsinks, turn off modules - anything that prevents them from scanning (running cold = invisible on scanners for the cops). Or as Sargon said do such missions at outposts, they mostly do not have any ships patrolling it.

 

[Almighty Bob]

I'm 100+ LY from sol, I have decided to keep my credits at minimum balance of 1 million. What I do is treat 1million as zero and do not go below it. Out here there are less commanders and high grade modules are plentiful. the problem is affording them. As I do not want to mine and good trade routes are harder to find. Come and visit.

I have got 3x 78,000 credit beam, lasers and a gimbled multi cannon, I can not find an upgrade to the cannon but if you travel and look at every station with an outfitting you will find them

 

[Macgyver]

In a sidewinder you're probably best sticking with the pulse lasers due to your limited heat output. They're actually the best all round weapons in many ways.

If you're just bored of them, you could try replacing one with a gimballed multi-cannon which will do less damage to shields but more to hulls; and since it's heat needs are less this will allow you to replace the other laser with a burst or beam laser which are less efficient heat-wise but do greater dps.

In terms of your overall frustrations, the forums are doing a poor job of serving newcomers at the moment but I'm in the process of writing a new player guide that should help a lot, it's already present in a half completed state but keeps getting buried beneath crap threads in the general discussion forum so I'll move it to the newbies area later today.

ok thank you, now I understand how the F1 works. I have the best pulse for my ship size.
This is a shame, I like the Sidewinder, and I can take on Cobras but the DPS is so low it takes a very long time to kill a cobra.
so... By reasoning, there is no way to put bigger guns on the Sidewinder?
i have upgraded the power plant and shields.
i like the Sidewinder but want to kill things faster like Asps, and Vipers take forever to kill, 80% of the time they just jump away which is a PITA.

great Idea for Newb guide,
since understanding to kill only smaller ships, I have made $40K , I would like some bigger ships, so if you have any suggestions for the next upgrade please let me know.

 

[GorgonTMP]

Burst lasers are very nice, even gimballed versions because even at long range, some shots from one burst nearly always hit.

 

[Jarek Storm]

If you want to really increase your weapon grade, you'll need to upgrade ships. That's the progression path for ED in regard to damage output.

All Class 1 fixed Pulse Lasers are the same. Now, there used to be variants like focused, overcharged, or low heat for nearly every weapon available, but those must have been removed in late Beta/early gamma.

To use Class 2 Pulse Lasers, you'll need a heavier ship.

 

[kiario]

I actually swapped out my beams for pulse on my Sidey yesterday. Found the beams to be lacking in dps and draw too much heat.
Killed a Cobra far quicker with pulse than beam.

So if I understand correctly there is no better pulse lasers damage wise than the loaned?

 

[corsa180]

also, very tired of every station that offers a find the black box mission etc , you always get scanned 100% of the time when returning the goods, and hit with a $15K fine...... This mechanics is total .
every station has always scanned me without fail..... Every time.
it is impossible to do these missions and make money.

I've done three black box missions in the past couple of days, and haven't been scanned once coming back. The key is to find these missions at Outposts and not the big Starports -- you are less likely to get scanned. I've been making 11k to 13k per black box mission.

 

[Bambi]

There aren't any higher class lasers, the class on weapons is actually irrelevant. You have sizes, not sure on the exact ones but it's something like G = small, E = medium, C = large and A is huge for fixed weapons, with gimballed being a class lower. It generally correlates with raw damage output, but definitely isn't the indicator you need to be looking at.

This is wrong. The "class" of a weapon is a number which is its size. A class 2 hardpoint can only fit a class 2 item or less. Then there's the letter grade, which presumably means it's better or worse in some way, although it's not clear how. I assume better graded weapons do more damage, but without testing there's no way to know.

 

[GorgonTMP]

This is wrong. The "class" of a weapon is a number which is its size. A class 2 hardpoint can only fit a class 2 item or less. Then there's the letter grade, which presumably means it's better or worse in some way, although it's not clear how. I assume better graded weapons do more damage, but without testing there's no way to know.

It is not wrong. You are right about the class but he is right too. When talking about class 1 weapons, they all have the same class (gimballed have different but it is fixed). He meant that you cannot find better C1 fixed pulse laser. There is just the one + some rare overcharged/low heat/whatever. Grades are used only for components as you say, but what he said about grades in weapons is still true

 

[Bambi]

It is not wrong. You are right about the class but he is right too. When talking about class 1 weapons, they all have the same class (gimballed have different but it is fixed). He meant that you cannot find better C1 fixed pulse laser. There is just the one + some rare overcharged/low heat/whatever. Grades are used only for components as you say, but what he said about grades in weapons is still true

It is wrong, weapons have lettered grades as well.