8 Beams vs 7 Beams + Torpedo?

nephitis · February 2017

Hello everyone,

I could use some extra insight and thoughts into this matter. I am a player where fun from both just pure gameplay and maximizing damage matters. That is to say, I can forego certain configurations for the sake of gameplay, but at the same time I would like to maximize performance. With that in mind, I would like to ask you all what you think would be best between running a full 8 beam boat or 7 beams + 1 torpedo.

And if you are wondering, I generally fly cruiser and carrier ships with an innate turn rate of 6-8 and broadside. In addition, for power management I have about 600% power transfer rate coupled with Emergency Power to Weapons III, 3.5 Plasmonich Leech (or about ~24 drain) and 130 max weapon power. My turn rate is about 25-30 in cruisers and carriers so firing torpedos is not an issue.

For AOE purposes I use FAW combined with Kemocite and Distributed Targeting. Sometimes I also like to use Beam Overload. Were I to use a torpedo you can add Torpedo Spread into that mix.

So for those who have possibly done more extensive research, which one would you recommend? Would adding a torpedo do more damage or should I stick with 8 beams and FAW my way through with as many beams as possible? If I were to use a torpedo it would require a minor respec to add two skill nodes of Torpedo Specialization for full utilization.

Hopefully someone can offer their thoughts!

skullblits · February 2017

personally I find a 3 beams and a torpedo up front really. good.

if you get high yield. then use your forward beams to soften them up. fire your torpedo's and it finishes them off.

that's what I use.

djf021 · February 2017

I'm like you in that I like to maximize my damage, but within the confines of what I find to be fun. I run 7 beams (6+counter command heavy turret in phaser or disruptor builds) with one torpedo forward on all my cruisers.
I do this because A: I find 8 beams boring and B: because ships in the shows and movies usually had torpedoes, therefore maintaining some immersion for myself.
Hope that helps some...

revanindustries · February 2017

While from a strict DPS perspective carrying a torp is often frowned upon, slotting the right torp can be extremely useful. For example, the Gravimetric Torp (Dyson Rep) can make Grav Wells, the Terran Torp can do insane damage if timed right, the Quantum Phase Torp can strip shields like no tomorrow if you spec into drain, and the Particle Emission Plasma Torp leaves a plasma cloud hat deals DoT and slows (I think).

glenn · February 2017

I always carry a forward torpedo. Torp Spread can be a thing of beauty and it takes no power.

smokebailey · February 2017

the radiant ones can give you temporary HP, which is useful, yo.

toiva · February 2017

On beamboats that have a sorta vacant tac Boff slot, I use the Wide-angle quantum. If I can't use TorpSpread for the ship, I won't use a torp. If the ship is turning fast enough, I'll consider other torps (I traditionally choose the Gravimetric), but then again, I won't use Beam arrays but DBBs or DHCs.

Whether having a torp or not is more effective and efficient depends on your enemies (do they have shields, are they easily stripped, are they natively weak against kinetic damage?), on whether you have that tac slot without other - better - options.

In your case, consider what you'd lose if you slotted a TorpSpread and what enemies you usually fight.

davefenestrator · February 2017

I find torp spread fun, and with beams at Mk XIV 7 are all I need.

seriousdave · February 2017

Depends on the torp and the overall build. Aside from all the special torps (grav, pep, neutronic, quantum phase, energy torps, kelvin,....) there's a lot of traits that are triggered by torps which buff various things like the terran t4 rep traits, the tac flagship trait, etc.
If you can take advantage of the torp then go for it but if it's just an afterthought with nothing really backing it up then just slot a energy weapon instead.

odinforever20000 · February 2017

So..If your goal is for fun (or to maximuse 3 weapons sets like I do on a sci ship), a torp and torp spread wound not hurt ya.I run 3 torps and 3 Beams and have no trouble in Elite content (mostly patrols.) But this also limits my DPS chasing to under 100k..

If its for DPS chasing...That may not work..Up to you tho

nephitis · February 2017

Using a torpedo definitely adds its own flavor to the gameplay and combat. Though I am still finding it hard to a full 100% warrant a respec involving adding two nodes of the Torpedo Specialization trait, followed by replacing the 5th rep trait with either Delta Armor Penetration or Nukara Shield Penetration with Omega Kinetic Shearing.

To add some more information for you to base your recommendations on, I currently use DMGx3 / PEN weapons with 22% critH and unremarkable 100% crit severity. But instead, my damage (toggleable action bar icons) show closer to 3000 damage per array, or closer to 4000 with Attack Pattern Alpha etcetera when in combat. So that 8th array hits quite hard if slotted with crits closer to 15000 against unshielded targets despite the low CritD, and a very high uncrit damage thanks to the raw damage.

But at the same time I can definitely see the benefit of using let's say the Particle Emission torpedo to tear apart hull or Quantum Phase to destroy shields. Kemocite may not be what it used to be but it definitely triggers more often with torpedos.

The larger Tzenkethi ships seem very resilient and there might not be an easy way around that. Though their temporary immunity might be a major reason behind that resilience.

Decisions... decisions.

dracounguis · March 2017

I like torps, and use one fore and aft. But I'm not chasing DPS. Sure a torp saves you 10 power which helps your other energy weapons, but to make a torp powerful you have to dedicate consoles or boff/doff powers for them. Now there are a few torps that aren't torps. There is a AP one from CC event (now in the Phoenix Box event going on) and Naussican Disruptor torp. I believe they benefit from the energy weapon consoles so you'd not lose a console to a torp buffing one. But since they aren't kinetic weapons, they don't have that hull smashing power of normal torps, but they do more against shields than normal torps.

And ye ol' Harp'eng torp... can't use any powers so it frees up your Boffs to just do energy weapon stuff. (Though I would love to see a Harp'eng Torp Spread 3! )

nephitis · March 2017

I decided to go with full beams, but I still have a "Torpedo Loadout" for whenever I feel like having a little bit of fun and different sort of fun.

My current favorite is the Particle Emission torpedo because of its superb hull-eating properties. It makes for an excellent torpedo spread weapon. I also love the Kelvin torpedo thanks to its super fast reload times. In addition, I like the Quantum torpedo for its ability to strip shields, but I rarely need it so sadly it collects dusts too often. I mostly prefer torpedos that hit very hard.

The Crystalline torpedo is very good but sadly I have never found very good use for it because of the 12 second reload time.

8 Beams vs 7 Beams + Torpedo?

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