Overcapping and Cannons

alsayyid

I understand that one of the keys to effectively using beam setups is maintaining the weapon subsystem above 125.

Question however, does the same hold true with cannon type weaponry?

ssb64

no, overcapping only exists in beam weaponry

shandypandy

From various threads on here and my own and testing, it does exist but because of the shorter cycle of cannons and the recharge mechanics cannons ate not affected as much as beams.

The 2-piece of Borg console and beam helps you more than over capping with cannons.

Having said that, I still do it.

kimmym

*WARNING! WARNING!* Hearsay and speculation ahead *WARNING! WARNING!*

I hear that:

1)Over capping cannons is good
2)You don't need to over cap as much
3)It's not as good as overcapping beams.

I haven't run any hard test myself, but to be honest... I didn't notice much of a difference going from being overcapped with my plasma leach and all subsystems over 75 (for my AMP core) or removing the leach for another crit console and readjusting my power so that I just barely hit 125 with EP2W. I need far, far more data to come to a conclusive result, but the effect can't be that much or I think I would have noticed it by now.

Of course... I *DID* add a crit console too... like I said, hearsay and speculation. I haven't run hard numbers and until my in-laws return home after the holidays it's all I can do to get my winter races in... And I'm new to high end escort... I did all my obsessive testing in beam cruisers you will need to find better data then I can provide.

alsayyid

Thank you for the responses. I find it to be an odd game mechanic. It would be nice if it were all a bit more transparent.

I have something of an abundance of weapon power. I hope I'm not being too wasteful.

hereticknight085

Where beams are concerned, weapon power overcapping is a must. The reason is that beams don't do the greatest damage, which is why they are used en mass and why overcapping is so important (you want to keep each beam hitting like it was at least 100 weapons power). Beams also have a HUGE drain built in, which is another reason why overcapping is a must. Also since you tend to have 6 or 7 beams going at once, that's quite a large power drain, and only with overcapping will you be able to maintain high energy levels.

Where cannons are concerned though, overcapping is alright, but not necessary. As long as your cannons are hitting at around 85-100 energy, you're fine. The thing with cannons is they drain more, but because of odd firing cycle mechanics and energy recharge mechanics, power levels don't affect them as much as they do beams, which is why you can hit proportionally so much harder at lower energy levels.

tl;dr

Overcapping not necessary for cannons. Keep them at least at 85 energy or so when you fire them, and you're fine.

ruminate00

Add up the energy drain of every non-Dual Heavy Cannon on your ship. Thats how much overcapping you need to hit maximum DPS.

virusdancer

Because of the way drain mechanics work, there's little point of going beyond 135 with Cannons. With Beams on the other hand, there are folks that are 170+ and still experiencing drain (FAW bug notwithstanding)...