Pulse vs Burst

[lazerus]

After grinding away with, to be fair, mainly trading I finally had enough of the green stuff to upgrade to gimballed weapons.

After reading many threads about how gimballed weapons were a real game changer I was very excited as I could now make my fortune bounty hunting, bringing peace to the sector and being an all-round good guy.

I was patient, I didn't get twin gimballed pulse, I waited and waited, coffee and robotics, coffee and robotics.

Finally I got my twin burst. And yes, they are fantastic.....but, even with four pips in weapons they seem to overheat quicker than a [insert analogy of 'something with a tendency to overheat on something that's good at heating things up' here].

I've read Stoopyface's comprehensive guide to weapons, and while on paper burst seems to win, would I have done better sticking to the old faithful pulse laser.

Anyone tried both?

 

[drakmaniso]

I think the burst laser really shines as a fixed weapon, because even if your target is doing wild evasive maneuvers, you can still output a lot of damage if you time your shots correctly (i.e. when the target cross your reticule). I see it as an intermediary between the pulse laser and the rail gun.

To make the most use of gimbaled weapons, you must fire continually, and I don't think the burst laser is built for that.

 

[Commander Dave]

The burst laser does overheat quickly.
That's because it's firing three pulse laser blasts in very quick succession.
and of course each individual blast generates about as much heat as a normal pulse laser blast so it heats up three times as quickly. It's not three times but you get the picture.

For your first weapons I'd suggest two gimballed class one pulse lasers. Cheap at 6k a pop and with 4 pips in weps you can keep zapping with them for a very long time.
This means that you'll probably not kill things as quickly as an experienced pilot would do with the bust lasers but it does allow you plenty of time to get used to tracking targets and following them whilst learning to control your ship and make the most effective manoeuvres.
And actually it's that last part that's the most important bit.

If I were you I'd drop the burst lasers, replace them with gimballed pulse lasers and get yourself into one of the conflict zones. Make sure you have plenty of insurance money. You will need it.
But even at 3k for the insurance (I think) you only have to zap 6 ships to make that up. with any luck you'll be making 10 grand a session and will be well on your way to a ship upgrade.

 

[lazerus]

Thanks for the advice. I'm off to trade down my bursts as, to be honest, I'm not a very good pilot.

More practice required.

 

[nickq]

You may find the resource extraction zone easier than one of the unidentified signal sources because you can work on 1 NPC at a time without ending up on a faction and a load of other's targeting you.

 

[Solace]

You may find that you can fire a single burst laser indefinitely with four pips to weapons (I know you can in the Eagle). You can use this to soften up targets while you're gaining distance on them.

Then when you're at a more damaging range and they're down to hull, or perhaps if you realise you're about to lose target on them (they're moving past you say) you can open up with the full 'burst' of both lasers being fired continually outputting as much damage as possible, until overheat / cap drain.

You can also use this tactic to help vs kill stealing. If someone else is firing on your target, continue with one burst until you're pretty sure the target is close to death, then open up with both. You can increase your chances of landing the last shot by timing your maximum damage output.

I think most people use gimballed pulse, but I had a lot of fun killing npc's with the bursts (tried 3x in the Eagle).

 

[lazerus]

Just did that, resource extraction with twin gimballed pulse lasers. What a difference. Not entirely sure this will help improve my flying skills, but what a blast.

Quick question, and I realise this should be a new thread, but I picked up a canister of Alloys from the pirate (HAHAAArrrrr) I punished, which obviously comes up as stolen in my inventory. Now, I'm trying to be a good boy, if I sell this will I be branded a criminal?

 

[SnowGhost]

Quick question, and I realise this should be a new thread, but I picked up a canister of Alloys from the pirate (HAHAAArrrrr) I punished, which obviously comes up as stolen in my inventory. Now, I'm trying to be a good boy, if I sell this will I be branded a criminal?

No. Sell it on the black market. There is a bug in the system at the moment, so make sure teh first thing you do is visit the black market and sell the stuff.

 

[JimmyC]

Just did that, resource extraction with twin gimballed pulse lasers. What a difference. Not entirely sure this will help improve my flying skills, but what a blast.

Quick question, and I realise this should be a new thread, but I picked up a canister of Alloys from the pirate (HAHAAArrrrr) I punished, which obviously comes up as stolen in my inventory. Now, I'm trying to be a good boy, if I sell this will I be branded a criminal?

Only if someone catches you doing it, But if you make it to the station without being picked up by the rozzers, you can sell it on the black market without any consequences. Other than an increased bank balance of course.

 

[Blaze Stark]

You need to sell it at the blackmarket (under contacts in some stations), cant sell in the regular market. Also if some police stop you, better run or the will shot you down.

Edit: ow, i was way to slow.

 

[lazerus]

You may find that you can fire a single burst laser indefinitely with four pips to weapons (I know you can in the Eagle). You can use this to soften up targets while you're gaining distance on them.

Then when you're at a more damaging range and they're down to hull, or perhaps if you realise you're about to lose target on them (they're moving past you say) you can open up with the full 'burst' of both lasers being fired continually outputting as much damage as possible, until overheat / cap drain.

You can also use this tactic to help vs kill stealing. If someone else is firing on your target, continue with one burst until you're pretty sure the target is close to death, then open up with both. You can increase your chances of landing the last shot by timing your maximum damage output.

I think most people use gimballed pulse, but I had a lot of fun killing npc's with the bursts (tried 3x in the Eagle).

I was thinking of one gimballed pulse and one burst, on primary and secondary. Soften up with pulse as I'm swerving around and missing half the time and use both barrels for the coup de grace.

 

[Philip Coutts]

I couldn't get along with burst lasers at all, found they heated up far too quickly. I traded back down to class 2 pulse lasers and far prefer that set up. I'm avoiding gimballed at the moment because I want to get my piloting skills up in preparation for the long hard grind of the full game.

 

[Alexis]

Anyone know where to get the fixed burst lasers?

 

[Philip Coutts]

Anyone know where to get the fixed burst lasers?

I think I picked mine up at IP - whatever it's called, the anarchy system

 

[Alexis]

I think I picked mine up at IP - whatever it's called, the anarchy system

ok, i'll take a look, thanks

 

[Alexis]

ok, i'll take a look, thanks

In fact its completly random and change over a period of time...

 

[Xzanron]

This means that you'll probably not kill things as quickly as an experienced pilot would do with the bust lasers but it does allow you plenty of time to get used to tracking targets and following them whilst learning to control your ship and make the most effective manoeuvres.

Do they shoot milk?

 

[Crystles]

I've always preferred the consistency I can get from a fixed weapon across multiple scenario's. Ontop of the fact that I dont think gimbaled weapons work on anything you cant target. If i'm right, you could really mess up some one's day by going silent and dropping a heat sink in the seconds your shields were in danger of going down.

 

[Philip Coutts]

I've always preferred the consistency I can get from a fixed weapon across multiple scenario's. Ontop of the fact that I dont think gimbaled weapons work on anything you cant target. If i'm right, you could really mess up some one's day by going silent and dropping a heat sink in the seconds your shields were in danger of going down.

If you go silent gimbals just act like fixed lasers. The problem being gimbals make you lazy, you forget how to properly line up your target and it becomes more difficult to get the kill. For me practicing with fixed lasers makes more sense at the moment.

 

[Lukozer]

I've not been in many combat situations but just did pretty well in one with dual fixed C2 burst lasers. Having one on primary and one on secondary fire, with max power to weapons means you can use a single burst laser to dispose of the enemy ship's shields pretty rapidly and then let loose with both to finish him off before he has the chance to run. I much prefer burst lasers over pulse, but it helps to be accurate with your shots. This is where the combat scenarios come in useful, give them a go. I find it useful to just keep doing the second and third scenarios, to let you practice lining up your shots. The fourth scenario isn't so helpful since although you're up against multiple enemy ships, you have a gimballed burst laser, so get little practice of lining up your shots with it.