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Beam array vs cannons
redz4tw
Member Posts: 3
Why do i see people like Dahminus posting beam array builds on ships like the monbosh, it would seem that DHC would be a better choice, especially if you can get your hands on fleet engineering consoles. If beams get more DPS than cannons, how do they do it?
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Csv vs bfaw
Csv hits 3 targets, bfaw hits 2 (per weapon)
Csv hits much harder then bfaw could hope to do
Csv requires targets in a 45 degree arc, bfaw has a 270 degree.
Csv has an uptime of 15 seconds with a downtime of 5. Beams have an uptime of 10 seconds with a downtime of 10. (you have to wait the downtime before activating another copy of the ability)
Beams array ships typically have 8 weapon slots, while cannon ships (I'm talking ships that should use cannons due to their nimbleness) are 6-7
I don't know what else there could be, besides beam arrays having a much much easier time keeping multiple targets in arc.
Takes a bloody good pilot to break 30k with cannons in ise. That's sustained, not burst...my cannon crits are over 30k now. Beams have a much easier time, but that's not saying 50k dps is easy to pull off...
If there were 3 targets; with infinity hull, bunched together in a 45 degree arc, cannons would destroy beams. But there isn't anything like that in game, therefore beams have the edge
Hope that kinda clears the question up. Or pushes the discussion forward...i dunno
My PvE/PvP hybrid skill tree
My PvE/PvP hybrid skill tree
And my reply is PvE only.
Beam builds can bring more front-line weapons to bear with greater consistency than cannons, at a greater range.
FAW (even in it's crit-less state) dramatically increases the damage dealt. Add APB on a cycle and that damage becomes "amazing".
Cycle A2B while spamming your spacebar and you can see why 30K builds are not just possible, but actually practical as well against static targets.
The key point to understand is this: staying on target longer delivers more damage. The escort shoot and fly by method does deal significant damage.
Turrets are not equivalent in damage potential to a beam. Think of them as being 50% or 'half a weapon'.
Rear firing torpedoes are entirely situational after you leave level 25, and effectively wasted space.
The KCB is just slightly better than a beam over the long term against stationary targets.
Out of boredom I've been trying 'focused' beam builds on escorts for fun. 10-15K damage with all of the fun of having science and engineering abilities make for some interesting games. If you're not racing to get to 20K damage, try them... APB3 and a pair of FAW3's make for some serious hurt.
Lets say you are 11k away from target, flying towards it (head first). When you break 10k, 4 beams forward (or 5 in some cases) will do more damage than DHCs+turrets. As you get within about 6k it starts to get similar damage, but at that range you are close enough to bring the rear weapons into arc as well. Then when you start flying away, you get to keep beams on target and do more damage again. If you have a good sense for how long the target will live, you can time all of this so that you are constantly firing and flying, with very little effective downtime.
On the other hand, DHCs require you to fly up close to the target before it gets the big gains, and because you have to hug the target there is more downtime between them.
The thing is, some procs are more useful than others. The crit proc on AP weapons come to mind (which is why AP DHC builds are practically de rigeur for the Borg STFs). My new favorite is the Elachi disruptor proc, which (IIRC) ignores shields on 50% of shots in addition to regular disruptor damage. OK with beams, absolutely devastating with crescent-wave DHCs.
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You get more aggro with beams.
Your only using 1, right?
My PvE/PvP hybrid skill tree
The higher your crth the more often the bonus comes into play.
so if I am a science ship with 6 beams broadsiding and flying with 4 other escorts, I'll draw the aggro?
No wonder my shields seem to melt in borg stf's even though I have more shields than when I fly my escort.
Also, even though with EMPtE I get 107% defense, it doesn't seem to make NPC's miss anymore than when flying in my escort which has 85% defense...
Also why do the borg weapons still 'hit' graphically when they miss? Unlike all other weapon effects from other npc's in game which miss graphically when they 'miss'.
My main is far too invested into Escorts and cannons to switch now....
I dunno, i use both DHC and beam builds across various toons and both types on my tac. My tac kills faster but the overall damage is usually the same.
I am Il Shadow and i approve these Shennanigans!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Most proper STF fit escorts have at least one -threat plasma science console, partially to not get aggro, partially for the extra dps.
The problem isn't that his Oddsey is getting aggro, or that escorts aren't getting aggro. That's the way it's supposed to be. It's that he's dying and not tanking.:rolleyes:
My PvE/PvP hybrid skill tree
It's what they get running a parser
My PvE/PvP hybrid skill tree
Well I wasn't built to tank in a science ship. Only hull heal I got is hazard emitters. It's amazing I survive at all.
I run a kumari with aux2sif as the only heal, and only really use that for the damage resistance buff. And no threat reduction consoles. If you're escort isn't constantly at 50% hull in an stf engagement, imo you're doing it wrong. That is as an Eng, though.
PvP is a different kettle of carp though, what with some peoples insane spike.
do we play for fun anymore?
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=584871
There's more than one plugin for act floating about, I use the more "negative" one. And don't worry about what you see other people getting: there's a range limit to the combat log.