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Does anyone use Cannons on their ships?

ericsonxxericsonxx Member Posts: 253 Arc User
edited August 2012 in Federation Discussion
Not DHCs, just normal cannons, I'm curious, they appear to be the ignored aftermath of ship weapons.
Post edited by ericsonxx on

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  • corsair114corsair114 Member Posts: 276
    edited August 2012
    Usually, you'll see them on Excelsiors (turn rate and Tac powers to make good use of them), Negh'vars (because they do better damage than beams, though the Negh'Var loses out a little bit in the turn rate department), and occaisionally Vor'chas (though they often op for DHC's given their maneuvrability).


    Rarely do you see them on Gal-X's (who are looking to optimize their forward firepower without completely giving up a broadside), and Assault Cruisers (who, like the Gal-X, have to work that turnrate pretty hard to get good mileage out of them).

    Oh, they're also common on a lot of sci Ships, particularly the RSV, and when its available, the Fleet Science Ship (Fleet Nova).
  • bohiapbohiap Member Posts: 535
    edited August 2012
    I see them more often on Klingon ships, but I did see an Intrepid class that was using phaser cannons and (I think) turrets in the back. I had to double check and look because that's typically an escort loadout.
  • rdm1958rdm1958 Member Posts: 822 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    i use regular cannons a lot. on cruisers, science ships and escorts. with 180 degree firing radius and rapid cannon fire or cannon volley i do very well with them.

    typical cruiser build for me: 4 beams, 2 front and 2 aft, 2 cannons up front and 2 turrerts on aft.

    on a escort i will sometimes mix cannons with DHCs up front and typically turrets in back or sometimes a photon torpedo on aft; the only projectile i ever use. and i like the torp rapid fire and/or spread.

    my ships; oddys, armitage and mvae.
  • mimey2mimey2 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    I use single cannons on my Bortas cruiser, at least the tactical one, so my Klingon can face his enemy like a warrior!
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  • beritpandionberitpandion Member Posts: 199 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    I don't even use Beam array's by the end game anymore on my cruisers.
    AFT= 1 Torp 3 Turrets
    Fore= 1 Torp 1-2 Cannons and rest Turrets.

    Works for Tac, Sci and Eng and does decent DPS.
  • ericsonxxericsonxx Member Posts: 253 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    And how well does that work, honestly?
  • carmenaracarmenara Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    Escorts with single cannons can be very powerful if you know how to use them.

    If you find you're limited by the 45 degree DHC arc, swap them all out for 4x single cannons and you can now do S-turns while peppering the enemy with MG fire. Very effective with Omega x2 set as the shield drain Tetryon Rider seems to activate each weapon pulse.

    My favourite fleet escort build is 4x cannons 2x turrets and 1 quantum launcher, backed up with APB1, CSV1, CRF3, TS1 and 2x APO1 IIRC.

    DHC builds rely on "sit and point" or "strafe" tactics for maximum forward DPS. On targets that do shoot back sometimes you find yourself valiantly keeping that front shield up using Tactical Team and other defensive powers.

    With a single cannon / turret build you can fly rapid S-turns for maximum defence bonus while shredding the enemy (or 3 enemies with CSV) like toilet paper, occasionally doing a full 360 to unleash the rear torpedo spread.

    With Attack Pattern Alpha and other Tactical Captain buffs, a APB + CSV + TT salvo spam can eat through targets like well, toilet paper.


    Thus if you get sick of pointing your nose at the enemy to use DHCs (or if others are neutering your maneuverability), use single cannons and fly a mad evasive pattern to confuse, stay out of the opponent's DHC arcs and do superior damage over time.

    Cruisers:

    My current Regent build (posted on the Regent thread on this forums) uses single cannons (CRF1) plus Auxiliary to Battery 1 (with 3 pink technicians) to cut down the CRF recharge time from 20 seconds to 11 seconds. This is doable on any cruiser type even the Galaxy R for potent short range 'shredding' damage as again.

    Same for the escort example above, it's best to use Tactical captain skills to buff your weapons damage so you can indeed, do wanton destruction at short range.

    For cruisers with 3 or more tactical slots I tend to run 3 cannons 5 beams and no or one torpedo. Firing 8 weapons at once requires EPTW boosting so be warned to master your EPTS/W chains otherwise you lose damage potential.

    The downside of this loadout is although close assault power is increased, the optimal 8-weapon firing arc is a narrow 30 degree field on each broadside and cannons DO lose a part of their damage potential outside of 6km range.

    Do they work?

    Yes they do. Sure it might not be "optimal" to most but results speak for themselves. I love my lolaron patrol escort of doom :3
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  • dradymdradym Member Posts: 38 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    i love that build, makes me think i should do something like that. i fly like a mad man, making me and others dizzy most of the time, and i run beams to allow me to continue firing. but i do a few strafes too. glad to see im not the only one :) my build is currently in flux, and ill prolly switch to the fleet sci vessel. but ill prolly be running beams because beam overload is REALLY satisfying...with cluster torps, because i have to have some yellow somewhere. i just hope i can keep the level of maneuverability that im used to with my MVAE
  • beritpandionberitpandion Member Posts: 199 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    ericsonxx wrote: »
    And how well does that work, honestly?

    For the most part if that was at my load out I love it. I can do some good DPS. I've been using it on my Oddy but even on a lot of my other birds including Klingon Cruisers, a Majestic and moving to it down to lower levels even to the point that as soon as I can with new chars I do that load out on almost every ship.
  • sollvaxsollvax Member Posts: 4 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    only ship I have cannons on is a bird of prey (Got them mounted for main forward weapons)
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  • baudlbaudl Member Posts: 4,060 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    they are great for cruisers in PVE in my opinion. on my PVE tank cruiser i use 2 single cannons 2 quantum torps front, and 4 turrets back.
    i think for PVP beams are better on cruisers that have under 8 turnrate.

    i recently came across a thread here, that pointed out a way for escorts to utilize single cannons very successfull even in PVP.
    an escort that can only reach 30 turnrate with skills, may utilize single cannons very well even in pvp. You get a high rate of dmg on target.
    But you sacrifice burst. since burst with a sci or engi on an escort isn't that potent anyway, i could see my sci escort using single cannons in future...
    my tactical in his defiant is better off with dual cannons, since i do hit and runs mainly. So burst is king in that regard.

    my engi on my oddy starcruiser usees them from the beginning


    rule of thumb:D the more agile your ship the less usefull single cannons become, because you can have a high rate of damage on target even with dual cannons in a ship with high turnrate (above 45?/sec)
    But many have problems manuvering such agile ships, in that case single cannons become valid again.
    In my opinion an escort that is mainly broadsiding with beams is a failboat, nothing more. completely ignoring the ability to use DC and having a high turnrate to bring them on target.
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  • thibashthibash Member Posts: 506 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    carmenara wrote: »
    Escorts with single cannons can be very powerful if you know how to use them.

    I can second that. It makes it much easier to keep moving and still attack. It's more aimed at prolonged fights than single hit-and-run spikes though. But for me, it works.

    My setup is 2 phased tetryon cannons, 3 phased tetryon turrets and 2 quantum torpedo launchers. When I turn towards my target, I activate rapid fire and high yield, and by the time I've turned enough to get my target in the torpedo arc, my cannons have taken a big bite out of the shielding. Hitting hull has become a lot easier now.
  • matth431matth431 Member Posts: 72 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    I'm trying my first Advanced difficulty playthrough with a Sci captain, and was beginning to encounter issues in the mid-Commander levels... engagements against multiple opponents were killing me as my DPS was too low to finish one opponent before the other wore me down. I've switched to a more Escort-like loadout (fore cannon, beam and torp, aft all turrets) and it's serving me well so far. Sci ships can't mount dual cannons but are agile enough to keep the cannon arc on most foes (and need to keep fore arc on them for most Sci abilities). A DBB in the front slot would give slightly better arc but as Cannon: Rapid Fire boosts the turrets as well and Tac BOFF abilities are limited...
  • farmallmfarmallm Member Posts: 4,630 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    I use them, my KDF ship has the dual beam bank and dual heavy cannons. Replaced the stock regular dual cannons for heavy. For that added damage. I know I can really chew up ships if I can get a lock on them long enough. The other slots is regular beam banks for side and rear attacks. Other than my torpedo launchers. I like the dual cannons since the heavies don't have the firing arc. So even then I can get a few shots in from the cannons.
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  • ebeneezergoodeebeneezergoode Member Posts: 227 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    I've used single cannons/turrets on both the Excelsior and Galor before. The Galor actually turns well enough to use DBBs though, so I use them as often as not, although I may switch back as CRF buffs all weapons, where as FAW only the DBBs. I'm gonna have to run some maths on this I guess. I think those two ships suit it best because they can double TT1 up with a pair of purple conn officers, then run CRF 1 & 2.

    Never tried it on an escort though, I can see it being a good halfway house between beamscort and the regular kind, but losing the massive alpha damage would be a shame. I also find with proper timing you can mitigate the forward shield damage by overshooting or turning or pulling up in between tac team etc.
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  • dashuk2381dashuk2381 Member Posts: 230 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    I will run them on my Excelsior from time to time, but I've honestly tried the cannon cruiser builds and just do not really find them that much more effective that a 3 beam/1 torp set-up, especially given the miniscule damage cannons do at distance. Often times in a cruiser you are not up close and personal with the enemy so you lose a good bit of DPS over that range if you aren't right up in their deflector dish blasting away with cannons.

    It is workable on an assault cruiser though with Aux to dampeners, evasive, and other turn boosting powers. It was actually kind of fun on my Noble to run 4x Single cannons up front with 3 turrets and torp aft. Again when flying a cruiser through I rarely found myself close enough to the enemy to maximize cannon damage so I always go back to beams. I find I do better DPS on my Excelsior running 3X Dual Beam Banks with Beam Overload III then if I run the cannon setup.

    Now on an escort single cannons can be ridiculous, especially if you have the DOFFs to recharge your cannon abilities faster. I love running the Mirror event with my escorts because it's just a shooting gallery in there. Shields melt in seconds and Mirror Cruisers go boom shortly there after. On most of my escorts I will run 2 single cannons fore for a constant stream, along with 2 DHCs for big burst damage when I am coming in head on or when I get behind a target. Two other ways you can go are 3X Single cannons with a Torpedo Launcher or Dual Beam Bank. If you do this you can take advantage of that annoying ensign tac slot with a Beam Overload I or High Yield I and get a nice DPS burst after their shields melt.
  • coffeemikecoffeemike Member Posts: 942 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    I currently fly the Fleet Recon Sci Luna with the Single Cannon layout. Works nicely since the Luna Class fleet version is as close to an escort as you can get with science ships.

    I kinda wish I had a Lt. Cmd tac BOFF seat but that's for the Nova Class... looks like I'll need another ship slot when that comes out.

    Random question though: Does the Subsystem Targeting abilities that the science ships come with work with cannons?
  • carmenaracarmenara Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    coffeemike wrote: »
    I currently fly the Fleet Recon Sci Luna with the Single Cannon layout. Works nicely since the Luna Class fleet version is as close to an escort as you can get with science ships.

    I kinda wish I had a Lt. Cmd tac BOFF seat but that's for the Nova Class... looks like I'll need another ship slot when that comes out.

    Random question though: Does the Subsystem Targeting abilities that the science ships come with work with cannons?

    Sadly the precision targeting skills work only with beam weapons (DBB, BA)
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  • thisslerthissler Member Posts: 2,055 Arc User
    edited August 2012
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZfTwMQRIOE&feature=plcp

    Cannons! And you'll find a few vids up there of KDF ships using cannons or dual cannons or DHC's.

    PEW PEW PEW!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBo6o1l501g&feature=plcp

    This one is nice as it shows a bit of how engineering slots combine with cannon fire to deal damage.

    Cannons and dual cannons are really best on engineering ships.

    Dual Heavies are best on ships that have the tactical abilities to modify the fire.
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