Ship Builds & Load Outs Questions from a combat novice. What weapons do what? A full list would be great! :)

[Deleted member 110222]

Hi there. Now I have no immediate need for weapons, as I'll soon be going on a very long journey into the abyss. However, curiosity has bitten me and I'd like to know, what are the effects of each weapon type. Beyond Pulse lasers being good against shields, and multicannons good against hull, I know nothing about weapons in Elite.

Could someone please list down each weapon type & their respective abilities? I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ceekay]

Here's a link to some serious testing although there's probably been some balancing since it was published is still relevant.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=140240&highlight=weapon+shield+dpe

Essentially energy weapons do the most shield damage but are effective against hull just not as much as kinetics, as I just play PVE I just fit pulse lasers to my ships and put up with the longer time for hull kills.

I've tried a fairly wide range of weapons in Beta testing

Railguns are hugely destructive but with 31 rounds they have to be used sparingly!, they're power hungry and they generate huge quantities of heat.

Cannons are effective but the slow projectile speed makes it very difficult get hits on anything but large slow targets, limited ammo 105 rounds.

PA's do large amounts of shield and hull damage but cost, power, limited (105) and expensive ammo, power and heat make them suitable for big powerful ships only, easier to use than cannons.

M-cannons very effective on hull but need to be used with lasers for shields or you'll run out of ammo fairly quick, low power requirements so useful on ships with small PD's (Cobra 3 and 4?)

Frag cannon essentially a shotgun and really only effective under 500m but can do serious damage to an unshielded hull, limited (93) ammo and medium power requirements.

Lasers come in three types pulse, burst and beam increasing in damage and power drain, pulse is the most energy efficient allowing you to run a smaller power plant and won't drain the weapon cap as fast, again heat needs to be considered as large beams have a much higher thermal load than pulse so avoid on ships that run hot.

Fixed, gimballed and turreted weapons have different damage per second levels pulse is 100%, 82% and 32% so don't use too many turrets although they are very useful on large less agile ships.

Missiles currently have fairly low damage making them unpopular but that could change, they come in guided and unguided (dumbfire ) types and can useful against ground targets.

Mines and torpedos I haven't tried but the single round for the torpedo would only be useful for large high value targets, mines I reckon like missiles haven't been completely developed yet.

Hope this helps!

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Here's a link to some serious testing although there's probably been some balancing since it was published is still relevant.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=140240&highlight=weapon+shield+dpe

Essentially energy weapons do the most shield damage but are effective against hull just not as much as kinetics, as I just play PVE I just fit pulse lasers to my ships and put up with the longer time for hull kills.

I've tried a fairly wide range of weapons in Beta testing

Railguns are hugely destructive but with 31 rounds they have to be used sparingly!, they're power hungry and they generate huge quantities of heat.

Cannons are effective but the slow projectile speed makes it very difficult get hits on anything but large slow targets, limited ammo 105 rounds.

PA's do large amounts of shield and hull damage but cost, power, limited (105) and expensive ammo, power and heat make them suitable for big powerful ships only, easier to use than cannons.

M-cannons very effective on hull but need to be used with lasers for shields or you'll run out of ammo fairly quick, low power requirements so useful on ships with small PD's (Cobra 3 and 4?)

Frag cannon essentially a shotgun and really only effective under 500m but can do serious damage to an unshielded hull, limited (93) ammo and medium power requirements.

Lasers come in three types pulse, burst and beam increasing in damage and power drain, pulse is the most energy efficient allowing you to run a smaller power plant and won't drain the weapon cap as fast, again heat needs to be considered as large beams have a much higher thermal load than pulse so avoid on ships that run hot.

Fixed, gimballed and turreted weapons have different damage per second levels pulse is 100%, 82% and 32% so don't use too many turrets although they are very useful on large less agile ships.

Missiles currently have fairly low damage making them unpopular but that could change, they come in guided and unguided (dumbfire ) types and can useful against ground targets.

Mines and torpedos I haven't tried but the single round for the torpedo would only be useful for large high value targets, mines I reckon like missiles haven't been completely developed yet.

Hope this helps!

Yes it does. Many thanks.

 

[Futuristic Kung Fu]

Here's a link to some serious testing although there's probably been some balancing since it was published is still relevant.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=140240&highlight=weapon+shield+dpe

Essentially energy weapons do the most shield damage but are effective against hull just not as much as kinetics, as I just play PVE I just fit pulse lasers to my ships and put up with the longer time for hull kills.

I've tried a fairly wide range of weapons in Beta testing

Railguns are hugely destructive but with 31 rounds they have to be used sparingly!, they're power hungry and they generate huge quantities of heat.

Cannons are effective but the slow projectile speed makes it very difficult get hits on anything but large slow targets, limited ammo 105 rounds.

PA's do large amounts of shield and hull damage but cost, power, limited (105) and expensive ammo, power and heat make them suitable for big powerful ships only, easier to use than cannons.

M-cannons very effective on hull but need to be used with lasers for shields or you'll run out of ammo fairly quick, low power requirements so useful on ships with small PD's (Cobra 3 and 4?)

Frag cannon essentially a shotgun and really only effective under 500m but can do serious damage to an unshielded hull, limited (93) ammo and medium power requirements.

Lasers come in three types pulse, burst and beam increasing in damage and power drain, pulse is the most energy efficient allowing you to run a smaller power plant and won't drain the weapon cap as fast, again heat needs to be considered as large beams have a much higher thermal load than pulse so avoid on ships that run hot.

Fixed, gimballed and turreted weapons have different damage per second levels pulse is 100%, 82% and 32% so don't use too many turrets although they are very useful on large less agile ships.

Missiles currently have fairly low damage making them unpopular but that could change, they come in guided and unguided (dumbfire ) types and can useful against ground targets.

Mines and torpedos I haven't tried but the single round for the torpedo would only be useful for large high value targets, mines I reckon like missiles haven't been completely developed yet.

Hope this helps!

Wow, I've been here a long time and that's still useful! Thanks! For Horizons, missiles are making a come back in outpost assault as they can one shot most defence platforms.

 

[Psycho Romeo]

Cannons are effective but the slow projectile speed makes it very difficult get hits on anything but large slow targets, limited ammo 105 rounds.

PA's do large amounts of shield and hull damage but cost, power, limited (105) and expensive ammo, power and heat make them suitable for big powerful ships only, easier to use than cannons.
[...]
Frag cannon essentially a shotgun and really only effective under 500m but can do serious damage to an unshielded hull, limited (93) ammo and medium power requirements.

I feel this description doesn't do these weapons justice.

Smaller cannons aren't so slow. Cannons have great penetration values, and are primarily good for taking out subsystems.

PAs aren't really easier to use considering they're fixed only, and cannons can be gimbaled.

Frag cannons are just as if not more effective against shields than hull now, with HRPs being a thing. HRPs weigh heavily into their potential due to their tight ammo reserve. But they are among the highest damage weapons to use against a shield.

To put it in perspective, a single clip (3 shots) from a medium gimbaled frag cannon does about 200 damage to hull. This is enough to bring a CIII from unshielded to popcorn in less than a second. All you need is a single good pass.

 

[Ceekay]

"Smaller cannons aren't so slow. Cannons have great penetration values, and are primarily good for taking out subsystems.

PAs aren't really easier to use considering they're fixed only, and cannons can be gimbaled.

Frag cannons are just as if not more effective against shields than hull now, with HRPs being a thing. HRPs weigh heavily into their potential due to their tight ammo reserve. But they are among the highest damage weapons to use against a shield.

To put it in perspective, a single clip (3 shots) from a medium gimbaled frag cannon does about 200 damage to hull. This is enough to bring a CIII from unshielded to popcorn in less than a second. All you need is a single good pass."

Good to know, as I tend to use lasers on most builds I've only tested PA's, cannons and frags in Beta tests, I also can't get used to fixed and leading sights on the HUD simultaneously so I have either all pulse of all m-cannon fits although the huge m-cannon could get a spot on my FDL

 

[slothman320]

What's important is simply this: don't go chasing numbers. You risk becoming a zombie if you do. Find a build that is FUN and doesn't get you killed but unless that is what makes you fun don't worry about minmaxing everything. I ran all turreted cannons on my anaconda once and was dying (of laughter) as modules just blew up instantly and my ammo dumped within minutes.