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FAQ for new players - Weapon Types
malazancommander
Member Posts: 0 Arc User
Should you ask any questions here, it may take me a while. So if you're a beginner and you don't hear from me, inbox me ingame (no pm's).
>>> NEED MORE HELP? IF SO, VIEW MY MASTER GUIDE RIGHT HERE <<<
Edited by malazancommander and corrections by virusdancer
PREFACE COURTESY OF DDESJARDINS A.K.A. CAPTAIN THRAX
All energy weapons are essentially the same. The "gaming flavour" comes from the [proc], the weapons color and sound effects. As you level your way to 50, ANY weapon type will do fine.
Weapon forms (beam array, dual beams and cannons) do different amounts of energy damage based on how they are used. While cannons and dual heavy cannons appear to do more damage numerically, beam arrays have the potential to do much more due to their firing arcs. It's about how you use your skills and abilities. While choice of weapon form is based on your play style and ship, but ANY selection can be made to work.
The use of armor such as Neutronium only has value when your shields fail. It's a nice-to-have if you play with weak shields. Later in the game LvL 50 gear includes shields with specific resistances to energy types. MOST lvl 50 players drop armour later in the game for more valuable consoles.
New players should be introduced to their captain skills as a way of getting the most out of their weapons. You become a much better player when you realize it's about technique first.
Before we head into the offensive arena, get the following. Without a good defense in the very beginning, a good offense is useless.
BEST DEFENSIVE CONSOLE (IN OUR VIEW)
SHARED BY
edgecrysger (edited by malazancommander)
Neutronium consoles are the most used and useful ones in terms of defense. They can "save" you console slots, since it already has protection against all energy types and kinetic at the same time. Proton also falls under the category of Energy damage, but the only common armour type that covers it is Neutronium (shared by mandoknight89, edited by malazancommander)
INDEPTH LOOK AT DAMAGE TYPES
SHARED BY
shurato2099 (edited by malazancommander)
- Beam and cannon weapons causes "energy damage",
- Torpedoes causes "kinetic" damage.
- Energy weapons does equal damage to shields and hull
- Kinetic weapons do less damage to shields but more to the hull of a ship.
- Dual Cannons, Dual Heavy Cannons, Quad Cannons: 45 degrees arc. (shared by virusdancer)
- Single Cannons/Cannons: 180 degrees. (shared by virusdancer)
- Turrets: 360 degrees arc. (shared by virusdancer)
- Beams' damage lessens with distance. (shared by virusdancer, edited by malazancommander)
- Cannons' damage lessens with distance. Worst than the beams falloff. (shared by virusdancer)
- In general, cannons are better on manoeuvrable ships (like Escorts) that can keep their forward arc on the enemy
- In general, beams are better on slower turning ships that can't always manage that (like Cruisers).
The only real difference between the various energy types is their special proc ability which, at a 2.5% per "shot" rate really doesn't come up but so often and is more of an issue for the min-maxers. As I understand it you can slightly increase the shield drain proc from Tetryon weapons and the subsystem power drain of Polaron weapons by increasing your Flow Capacitors skill, either in the skill tree or through the use of various pieces of gear.
*'Proc' is short for 'process', it's the extra effect of the various weapon types that only occur, or process, every so often.
Antiproton doesn't have a proc but instead had increased critical severity inherently which makes it the weapon of choice for Captains with a high critical hit rate.
Antiproton and the new Protonic weapons have effects based on critical hits rather than the usual proc rate. Antiproton does more crit damage, Protonic have some shield bypassing damage. Right nowthere are only a few weapons that do Protonic damage, the Proton weapon from the Dyson Sphere reputation system, the Proton cannons on the new Dyson hybrid ships and the Protonic Polaron weapons also from the Dyson rep system.
Disruptor weapons have a chance to reduce an enemy's resistance, increasing damage over a long fight. "Disruptor" weapons lowers the enemies' damage resistance for ALL team members, so everyone does more damage. (shared by bendalek)
Disruptors proc for a short resistance debuff which a few abilities can offset, although I don't know of anything that completely clears it.
Kinetic weapons do less damage to shields but more to the hull of a ship. These are the weapons:
- Torpedoes
- Mines
- The Kinetic Cutting Beam (from Task Force Omega reputation) (shared by mandoknight89, edited by malazancommander)
Note: Melee attacks such as martial arts or with the Bat'leth do NOT count as Kinetic damage."
(http://sto.gamepedia.com/Damage_type#Kinetic_Damage)
Tetryon weapons proc for a minor shield drain effect, which is nice for enemies with shields but doesn't help once shields are down or against things that don't have shields like Borg gates or nanite transformers. It augments the attack with the Science Console - Flow Capacitor, but is resisted by Science Console - Power Insulator. (shared by mandoknight89, edited by malazancommander)
Plasma weapons have a chance to cause a damage over time plasma burn effect, also good for long fights.
Plasma procs for a burning damage over time which Hazard Emitters can clear.
Phasers and Polarons affect enemy power levels, but the effects of strong power drain/disable builds are less noticeable against NPCs than against players, and drain is countered by an enemy player's Science Console - Power Insulator while the disable is countered by Subsystem Repair. The Polaron proc scales with your Flow Capacitors, but no skill improves your Phaser proc.
Phasers proc for a chance to take a random subsystem offline for a few seconds, which is nice when it drops an enemy's shields, but the Emergency Power abilities can clear it entirely.
Polaron procs for a substantial drain to subsystem power, this makes it popular for science ships with drain builds but the various Emergency Power abilities and an Engineer's Nadion Inversion can offset or counter it.
Proton weapons include:
- The Protonic Polaron weapons
- Proton Barrage
- Proc from Dyson reputation Science consoles.
- At least one of them is involved in current "vape" builds (designed to destroy you in five seconds or less), so Neutronium is the best defense against everything. (shared by mandoknight89, edited by malazancommander)
Protonic weapons have effects based on critical hits rather than the usual proc rate. Protonic have some shield bypassing damage. Right now, there are only a few weapons that do Protonic damage:
- The Proton weapon from the Dyson Sphere reputation system
- The Proton cannons on the new Dyson hybrid ships
- The Protonic Polaron weapons also from the Dyson rep system.
Whatever energy type you choose, though, it's typically a good idea to pick one and buff it up with tactical consoles specific to that type rather than go with a "rainbow" build of several different energy types and using the slightly less efficient "all energy" or "all cannon" consoles.
ADVANCED TYPES THE VARIANTS OF THE THE AFOREMENTIONED WEAPONS
SHARED BY
mandoknight89 (edited by malazancommander)
All weapon types also have variants:
Elite Fleet Phasers have a proc that heals your shields. Compared to Advanced Fleet Phasers, they give up some damage for this, so Elite Phasers currently aren't favored. Season 9 will include Bio-Molecular Phasers, designed to combat Species 8472 (The "Undine"). These will have a chance to decrease enemy turn rate, and then deal an amount of extra damage once the turn rate debuff expires.
Dominion Polaron is only available in arrays and dual cannons, and has a Tetryon proc in addition to the normal proc.
Phased Polaron adds the Phaser proc. May take a random subsystem offline for a few seconds, which is nice when it drops an enemy's shields, but the Emergency Power abilities can clear it entirely. (shared by shurato2099, edited by malazancommander)
Protonic Polaron has a chance to deal extra Proton damage to the enemy on a critical hit.
Refracting Tetryon occasionally bounces a little extra damage to another target, but the damage and occurrence rate are so low it's not really worth it.
Destabilizing Tetryon causes a shield damage over time effect rather than the single-shot drain that normal Tetryon has.
Phased Tetryon adds a Phaser proc. May take a random subsystem offline for a few seconds, which is nice when it drops an enemy's shields, but the Emergency Power abilities can clear it entirely. (shared by shurato2099, edited by malazancommander)
MORE ADVANCED TYPES OTHER VARIANTS OF THE THE AFOREMENTIONED WEAPONS
SHARED BY
mandoknight89 (edited by malazancommander)
Caustic Plasma inflicts its damage over a shorter period of time.
Romulan Plasma adds a Disruptor debuff.
Disruptor has the most variant procs:
Elachi Disruptors can occasionally ignore enemy shields outright.
Elite Fleet Disruptors debuff both the enemy's hull and shield resistances.
Nanite Disruptors can make more damage as it bypasses enemy shields.
Nanite and Elachi disruptors completely replace the original proc. In Season 9, Bio-Molecular Disruptors will also be available, and will function similarly to the Bio-Molecular modifier on Phasers.
Plasma-Disruptor Hybrids are also available as beam arrays and dual heavy cannons, and add the Plasma proc. Add burning damage over time which Hazard Emitters can clear. (shared by shurato2099, edited by malazancommander)
Polarized Disruptors have the Polaron proc. Which adds a minor drain to subsystem power, this makes it popular for science ships with drain builds but the various Emergency Power abilities and an Engineer's Nadion Inversion can offset or counter it. (shared by shurato2099, edited by malazancommander)
Spiral Wave Disruptors have the Phaser proc (but are available only as beam arrays, and only if you own the Cardassian Galor Ship). May take a random subsystem offline for a few seconds, which is nice when it drops an enemy's shields, but the Emergency Power abilities can clear it entirely. (shared by shurato2099, edited by malazancommander)
Currently, the only Antiproton variant is:
Voth Antiproton, which debuffs the target's energy weapons for a short time.
>>> NEED MORE HELP? IF SO, VIEW MY MASTER GUIDE RIGHT HERE <<<
Edited by malazancommander and corrections by virusdancer
PREFACE COURTESY OF DDESJARDINS A.K.A. CAPTAIN THRAX
All energy weapons are essentially the same. The "gaming flavour" comes from the [proc], the weapons color and sound effects. As you level your way to 50, ANY weapon type will do fine.
Weapon forms (beam array, dual beams and cannons) do different amounts of energy damage based on how they are used. While cannons and dual heavy cannons appear to do more damage numerically, beam arrays have the potential to do much more due to their firing arcs. It's about how you use your skills and abilities. While choice of weapon form is based on your play style and ship, but ANY selection can be made to work.
The use of armor such as Neutronium only has value when your shields fail. It's a nice-to-have if you play with weak shields. Later in the game LvL 50 gear includes shields with specific resistances to energy types. MOST lvl 50 players drop armour later in the game for more valuable consoles.
New players should be introduced to their captain skills as a way of getting the most out of their weapons. You become a much better player when you realize it's about technique first.
Before we head into the offensive arena, get the following. Without a good defense in the very beginning, a good offense is useless.
BEST DEFENSIVE CONSOLE (IN OUR VIEW)
SHARED BY
edgecrysger (edited by malazancommander)
Neutronium consoles are the most used and useful ones in terms of defense. They can "save" you console slots, since it already has protection against all energy types and kinetic at the same time. Proton also falls under the category of Energy damage, but the only common armour type that covers it is Neutronium (shared by mandoknight89, edited by malazancommander)
INDEPTH LOOK AT DAMAGE TYPES
SHARED BY
shurato2099 (edited by malazancommander)
- Beam and cannon weapons causes "energy damage",
- Torpedoes causes "kinetic" damage.
- Energy weapons does equal damage to shields and hull
- Kinetic weapons do less damage to shields but more to the hull of a ship.
- Dual Cannons, Dual Heavy Cannons, Quad Cannons: 45 degrees arc. (shared by virusdancer)
- Single Cannons/Cannons: 180 degrees. (shared by virusdancer)
- Turrets: 360 degrees arc. (shared by virusdancer)
- Beams' damage lessens with distance. (shared by virusdancer, edited by malazancommander)
- Cannons' damage lessens with distance. Worst than the beams falloff. (shared by virusdancer)
- In general, cannons are better on manoeuvrable ships (like Escorts) that can keep their forward arc on the enemy
- In general, beams are better on slower turning ships that can't always manage that (like Cruisers).
The only real difference between the various energy types is their special proc ability which, at a 2.5% per "shot" rate really doesn't come up but so often and is more of an issue for the min-maxers. As I understand it you can slightly increase the shield drain proc from Tetryon weapons and the subsystem power drain of Polaron weapons by increasing your Flow Capacitors skill, either in the skill tree or through the use of various pieces of gear.
*'Proc' is short for 'process', it's the extra effect of the various weapon types that only occur, or process, every so often.
Antiproton doesn't have a proc but instead had increased critical severity inherently which makes it the weapon of choice for Captains with a high critical hit rate.
Antiproton and the new Protonic weapons have effects based on critical hits rather than the usual proc rate. Antiproton does more crit damage, Protonic have some shield bypassing damage. Right nowthere are only a few weapons that do Protonic damage, the Proton weapon from the Dyson Sphere reputation system, the Proton cannons on the new Dyson hybrid ships and the Protonic Polaron weapons also from the Dyson rep system.
Disruptor weapons have a chance to reduce an enemy's resistance, increasing damage over a long fight. "Disruptor" weapons lowers the enemies' damage resistance for ALL team members, so everyone does more damage. (shared by bendalek)
Disruptors proc for a short resistance debuff which a few abilities can offset, although I don't know of anything that completely clears it.
Kinetic weapons do less damage to shields but more to the hull of a ship. These are the weapons:
- Torpedoes
- Mines
- The Kinetic Cutting Beam (from Task Force Omega reputation) (shared by mandoknight89, edited by malazancommander)
Note: Melee attacks such as martial arts or with the Bat'leth do NOT count as Kinetic damage."
(http://sto.gamepedia.com/Damage_type#Kinetic_Damage)
Tetryon weapons proc for a minor shield drain effect, which is nice for enemies with shields but doesn't help once shields are down or against things that don't have shields like Borg gates or nanite transformers. It augments the attack with the Science Console - Flow Capacitor, but is resisted by Science Console - Power Insulator. (shared by mandoknight89, edited by malazancommander)
Plasma weapons have a chance to cause a damage over time plasma burn effect, also good for long fights.
Plasma procs for a burning damage over time which Hazard Emitters can clear.
Phasers and Polarons affect enemy power levels, but the effects of strong power drain/disable builds are less noticeable against NPCs than against players, and drain is countered by an enemy player's Science Console - Power Insulator while the disable is countered by Subsystem Repair. The Polaron proc scales with your Flow Capacitors, but no skill improves your Phaser proc.
Phasers proc for a chance to take a random subsystem offline for a few seconds, which is nice when it drops an enemy's shields, but the Emergency Power abilities can clear it entirely.
Polaron procs for a substantial drain to subsystem power, this makes it popular for science ships with drain builds but the various Emergency Power abilities and an Engineer's Nadion Inversion can offset or counter it.
Proton weapons include:
- The Protonic Polaron weapons
- Proton Barrage
- Proc from Dyson reputation Science consoles.
- At least one of them is involved in current "vape" builds (designed to destroy you in five seconds or less), so Neutronium is the best defense against everything. (shared by mandoknight89, edited by malazancommander)
Protonic weapons have effects based on critical hits rather than the usual proc rate. Protonic have some shield bypassing damage. Right now, there are only a few weapons that do Protonic damage:
- The Proton weapon from the Dyson Sphere reputation system
- The Proton cannons on the new Dyson hybrid ships
- The Protonic Polaron weapons also from the Dyson rep system.
Whatever energy type you choose, though, it's typically a good idea to pick one and buff it up with tactical consoles specific to that type rather than go with a "rainbow" build of several different energy types and using the slightly less efficient "all energy" or "all cannon" consoles.
ADVANCED TYPES THE VARIANTS OF THE THE AFOREMENTIONED WEAPONS
SHARED BY
mandoknight89 (edited by malazancommander)
All weapon types also have variants:
Elite Fleet Phasers have a proc that heals your shields. Compared to Advanced Fleet Phasers, they give up some damage for this, so Elite Phasers currently aren't favored. Season 9 will include Bio-Molecular Phasers, designed to combat Species 8472 (The "Undine"). These will have a chance to decrease enemy turn rate, and then deal an amount of extra damage once the turn rate debuff expires.
Dominion Polaron is only available in arrays and dual cannons, and has a Tetryon proc in addition to the normal proc.
Phased Polaron adds the Phaser proc. May take a random subsystem offline for a few seconds, which is nice when it drops an enemy's shields, but the Emergency Power abilities can clear it entirely. (shared by shurato2099, edited by malazancommander)
Protonic Polaron has a chance to deal extra Proton damage to the enemy on a critical hit.
Refracting Tetryon occasionally bounces a little extra damage to another target, but the damage and occurrence rate are so low it's not really worth it.
Destabilizing Tetryon causes a shield damage over time effect rather than the single-shot drain that normal Tetryon has.
Phased Tetryon adds a Phaser proc. May take a random subsystem offline for a few seconds, which is nice when it drops an enemy's shields, but the Emergency Power abilities can clear it entirely. (shared by shurato2099, edited by malazancommander)
MORE ADVANCED TYPES OTHER VARIANTS OF THE THE AFOREMENTIONED WEAPONS
SHARED BY
mandoknight89 (edited by malazancommander)
Caustic Plasma inflicts its damage over a shorter period of time.
Romulan Plasma adds a Disruptor debuff.
Disruptor has the most variant procs:
Elachi Disruptors can occasionally ignore enemy shields outright.
Elite Fleet Disruptors debuff both the enemy's hull and shield resistances.
Nanite Disruptors can make more damage as it bypasses enemy shields.
Nanite and Elachi disruptors completely replace the original proc. In Season 9, Bio-Molecular Disruptors will also be available, and will function similarly to the Bio-Molecular modifier on Phasers.
Plasma-Disruptor Hybrids are also available as beam arrays and dual heavy cannons, and add the Plasma proc. Add burning damage over time which Hazard Emitters can clear. (shared by shurato2099, edited by malazancommander)
Polarized Disruptors have the Polaron proc. Which adds a minor drain to subsystem power, this makes it popular for science ships with drain builds but the various Emergency Power abilities and an Engineer's Nadion Inversion can offset or counter it. (shared by shurato2099, edited by malazancommander)
Spiral Wave Disruptors have the Phaser proc (but are available only as beam arrays, and only if you own the Cardassian Galor Ship). May take a random subsystem offline for a few seconds, which is nice when it drops an enemy's shields, but the Emergency Power abilities can clear it entirely. (shared by shurato2099, edited by malazancommander)
Currently, the only Antiproton variant is:
Voth Antiproton, which debuffs the target's energy weapons for a short time.
Post edited by malazancommander on
0
Comments
1.) I would submit the following as a preface:
All energy weapons are essentially the same. The "gaming flavour" comes from the [proc], the weapons color and sound effects. As you level your way to 50, ANY weapon type will do fine.
and..
Weapon forms (beam array, dual beams and cannons) do different amounts of energy damage based on how they are used. While cannons and dual heavy cannons appear to do more damage numerically, beam arrays have the potential to do much more due to their firing arcs. It's about how you use your skills and abilities. While choice of weapon form is based on your play style and ship, but ANY selection can be made to work.
2.) The use of armor such as Neutronium only has value when your shields fail. It's a nice-to-have if you play with weak shields. Later in the game LvL 50 gear includes shields with specific resistances to energy types. MOST lvl 50 players drop armour later in the game for more valuable consoles.
3.) New players should be introduced to their captain skills as a way of getting the most out of their weapons. You become a much better player when you realize it's about technique first.
There is no such thing as a an OP ship build. This is why there are players in Scimitars who do less than 2K dps. Ships don't fly themselves. It's the pilot that makes it OP.
My Two bits,
Admiral Thrax
This is all a new player needs to know:
- Firing arc (how wide an area the weapon can cover, anything outside it cannot be hit) is directly related to damage. The bigger the arc, the lower the damage. A couple of unique weapons are exceptions to this rule. You want the smallest arc of weapon you can handle with your ship's turn rate. As a general rule of thumb, 14+ turn for 45 degree arc, 10 turn for dual beams, anything less than 8 gets beam arrays. Once you understand the game better, feel free to get away from this rule of thumb, its just a starting point for a new player.
- energy type: use only one type of energy in general. There are exceptions here too, but they are rare.
- Cannons do significantly less damage at range. Beams are better if you want to stay back from the enemy.
- beam arrays are for broadsides; the fore and aft weapons overlap on the sides of your ship to bring as many as 8 to bear at once
- weapon power is a big deal. You should try to keep it over 100 even when shooting, with the exception of beam overload which can drop it a little under that briefly. It is especially important to note that a very low levels, turrets drain too much energy for too little dps. It is often more dps to leave the aft weapons disabled and only fire the frontals until you can keep your power high enough.
- accuracy is your friend. The golden standard is accuracy and crit damage (modifiers on weapons you find or buy)
- Try to stick to cannons OR beams, not a mix. Again, there are exceptions; sometimes a cannon ship needs a beam to enable a special attack and sometimes a beam ship has a turret in the aft, but you want to get as much as possible from your officer's abilities like beam fire at will or cannon: rapid fire and so on, and those only work on one type.
- torps and mines are sweet at lower levels (up to 40 or so), use them if you like. At 50, a starting and recommended setup is either all energy weapons or 1 torp up front and the rest all energy. 4/4 weapon ships might have 2 torps, one fore and one aft, some do this to reduce the energy costs of shooting.
Only available in DBB, DC and Turret from one mission in the Wasteland arc.
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1069191&highlight=Tactical+Consoles
What do the weapon types do? And how do you effectively protect against them?
And as a Noob I have to say you make us all look and sound bad.
Your attempt here at helping others in no way makes up for the way you treated those who helped you. I don't care what your learning disability is. And your not the only one with a temper, but I imagine your just a child, I'm an adult so I'll keep mine in check.
But there is nothing, "Nothing" in this thread that isn't in the Wiki or your original post except your attitude. In fact this is still more than lacking for anyone who can actually use "Google"! You have no information about what might be the most important aspect of the game which is your skill points, or the actual mechanics of the game.
To other Noobs I say read the STOwiki (http://sto.gamepedia.com), and be sure to do what this person couldn't...click on the links provided. And investigate the STOked pod cast (http://www.jupiterbroadcasting.com).
There's far more to this game than slapping in a few consoles or particular weapons.
You will save yourself a ton of EC = Engery Credits and Dilithium. Don't just read this post and think you'll be ok, all this person has done is to copy and paste what has already been posted on this forum and in the Wiki there is absolutely no new or more informative information here, in fact there's far far less.
This is a thread posted by a ego-maniac looking to get attention.
This is of course, as you said malazancommander my "very honest opinion".
PS: If you want you can find me in game, I'm Glass@Fuglass & my ship is the Vera Lynn, noob vs noob anytime you want. You friggin disgust me.
-Glass
Would you recommend STO to a friend?
I see nothing wrong with my behaviour. The reality of things is that you know nothing of me. I may lack the social skill/ease that comes easily to others, but in no way does it give you the right to mock me, insult me or insinuate anything as negative as that, merely because I lack the same social skill/ease and understanding other people possess. Not that knowing any of this is of your business.
You speak of MY attitude? Before pointing fingers at anyone, perhaps you should take a hard look at yourself as your attitude is very hypocritical at this instant.
Thank you for your post. It is much appreciated.
It's not minor.
Polaron Power Drain = (Flow Capacitors Skill*0.125) + 25
Drain builds get 60+ drain from the proc
Though boosts from equipment, traits, boff powers etc must be factored in as well as where in the damage calculation those boosts are, so not all types are going to be as good as others.
It should also be noted that a plasma proc can be applied to any weapon type if you use the right romulan embassy console. Plasma weapons will get a damage buff instead if a rom embassy console is used with them.
@lucho80, noted. Will change. Thanks.
If anyone is a child, it is you Glass. You come in here and name call and get hostile and bring up posts from other places that have nothing to do with this post? You claim to be an adult and then you behave like this? Get over yourself and grow up.
I'm not qualified to say whether or not this is a good guide or not, but it's an attempt and if you have any real criticisms of it, you fail to make them. I don't believe this is simply 'copying from the wiki' and while I think that the other poster who boiled it down a little was helpful for me, I can say with 100% certainty that you Glass, contribute nothing other than name calling and childish infighting. I mean, for crying out loud you challenged him to a 'fight'. I mean talk about childish behavior.
YOU disgust me
The proc has a chance to repel enemies while inflicting minimal shield-penetrating damage.
Kinetic Damage does not do more damage to hull, it does the stated damage. It's just that for some reason the designers decided to have shields be significantly resistant to Kinetic damage.
Other than those 2 nitpicks, decent guide. I don't have enough experience to really critique the rest.
They have kinetic damage doing less to shields because of how much more they do to hull...even though it is just because of the base damage.
A Dual Beam Bank has a base damage of 130. Even at 125 Weapon Power, you're just looking at 325 damage. A Quantum Torpedo has a base damage of 1503. That's ~462.5% the Weapon Power modified base damage of the DBB. Throw in a BO vs. HY and the DBB can't touch the spike damage the Quants will do to hull...likewise, the Quants can't touch the spike damage that the DBB will do to shields.
They basically want energy for shields and kinetic for hull...pew pew boom and all that jazz.
If they were to reduce the kinetic reduction shields have, they would have to reduce the damage of the torps themselves...which would end up making them useless because they're not designed as DPS weapons. You'd have to redesign them completely, getting rid of a myriad of other factors - which would leave you with weapons that might as well be energy weapons when one is done with them.