Weapon Lab vs stock beams/particles

[PaulB]

Has anyone done any test and figured out what some of the popular stock weapons, aka, Maxim-R, Icespear, etc specs would equate to what Weapon Lab settings?

It's kinda hard to design your own guns when you have little idea how they compare to stock weapons.

One wouldn't want to design what one thought was a better weapon and sell off his Maxim-R only to later get the impression or find out the Maxim had been better.

I've looked throught the Hint's and Tips and other stuff I cold find - and it has a lot of info - but it doesn't really help you compare stock weapons to Weapon Lab settings.

And another "for instance" - what is more important - less heat generated or less energy used?

Sigh - I miss my tachyon cannons in Privateer GG - and man do I miss 10+ missiles per missile launcher.

Thanks,
Paul

[SeeJay]

Hi Paul.

The crafted guns has a Kinetic effect that most stock weapons don't.

For PvP range is very important, at least the way I fight. If you get to close to a good pilot, you're toast.
For AI fighting, more power and fire rate might be the thing since they are much easier targets than a human is.

Before the weapons lab existed, I loved the IceSpear for it's fire rate. Sounded like a Gatling Gun LOL!

It all comes down to your fighting style how you craft your weapons. I prefer range and as little energy usage as possible.
You don't want your energy to drain fast in a PvP.

Hope this helps a bit.

[DaveK]

Before the weapons lab existed, I loved the IceSpear for it's fire rate. Sounded like a Gatling Gun LOL!

It made my arm ache having to wind the handle though!

[PaulB]

Hi Paul.

The crafted guns has a Kinetic effect that most stock weapons don't.

For PvP range is very important, at least the way I fight. If you get to close to a good pilot, you're toast.
For AI fighting, more power and fire rate might be the thing since they are much easier targets than a human is.

Before the weapons lab existed, I loved the IceSpear for it's fire rate. Sounded like a Gatling Gun LOL!

It all comes down to your fighting style how you craft your weapons. I prefer range and as little energy usage as possible.
You don't want your energy to drain fast in a PvP.

Hope this helps a bit.

Well in Privateer GG I liked the Tachyon cannon - it had power and distance. And if you were doing a Defend or Escort mission both distance and power cold be important in preventing the hostiles from knocking off the ship you were defending/escorting - especially if there were more than one hostile to defend against. Of course in PPG you generally have far more missles (Image Recognition and/or Friend or Foe my preferences, 10 per launcher) rather than the 2 - 6 limit in EM to help you out.

I want power and distance - but I'm not clear at what point Energy and Heat values really become a big hinderance.

So far I've only fought and killed one hostile, a Havy hostile that wouldnm't leave me alone (I think I was in Olympus or Onyx or Cerulean - Cerulean and Atlas were my destinations). He had killed me on one try to make it there and I had to restore a saved game and that's when I got pi***ed and killed him and just went back to friendly old Sapphire to try and get more experience and equip (as best as possible in Sapphire).

I like EM but I'm a picky person and I'm afraid I'll never be satisfied with the limitation of (may I use a PPG terms since my EM memory is still not up to par) mount points and equipment slots. As I implied in another post - I wouldn't mind as much is you were able to swap equipment during flight with others in storage (not cargo storage - I think EM needs a seperate Equipment Hold - and let cargo be for cargo).

I admit I got spoiled in PPG in that I could and did modify the units.csv file to make the Galaxy and Centurion have 4 Gun mounts instead of 2 and 4 Missile launchers instead of 2 (or one) plus a 5th Torpedo launcher on the Galaxy - not to mention mods to engines and shields and speed.
I wanted a great merchant ship capable of heavy combat in the case of the Galaxy. And I like tinkering.

I want a Guardian or larger ship but it looks like I'll have to wait till I'm more proficient in hostile areas to find one and some of the better equipment.

Something else I'm not clear on - what does engin size affect other than speed? Does it have any affect in shield or gun recharge times?

Paul

[-splosives-]

Icespear is still a great choice for low tier civ ships. But for high end military combat frames, the custom ones are always better.
In theory, a railgun (which I use) is probably the best gun, but I'm still not sure if that's actually true.

Fusion cannon has more range and damage at the cost of much higher energy consumption and lower fire rate.
Basically, Fusion cannon is better at shield penetration and a railgun is better at delivering kinetic effect and firing for longer periods of time.
The difference, however, between railgun and fusion cannon is (as fas as I know) almost insignificant.

I hope this helps you in any way.

[Maarschalk]

About the Weapons, the best answer is what Splosives said.

About the Engine classes of what I experienced is it just increases your speed and in combination with Wing class can improve your agility!.....

[-splosives-]

Something else I'm not clear on - what does engin size affect other than speed? Does it have any affect in shield or gun recharge times?

Paul

Engine class determines your IDS speed and your frontal and reverse acceleration (sideways and up/down are determined by wings)
The difference in acceleration is almost insignificant at low velocities (below 1000) but gets more and more significant once you get at higher velocities (2000+).

I made a whole excell file on this with graphs comparing different engines on a Leviathan frame. If you wish to see it, come join us on teamspeak where you can download it.

ts93.light-speed.com:5781



[Edited on 2-28-2014 by -splosives-]

[Marvin]

I admit I got spoiled in PPG in that I could and did modify the units.csv file to make the Galaxy and Centurion have 4 Gun mounts instead of 2 and 4 Missile launchers instead of 2 (or one) plus a 5th Torpedo launcher on the Galaxy....

Due to the requirement in EM to maintain the same profile in MP as in SP, such modifications are considered unacceptable.

[Rubber Chicken]

For custom particle weapons it seems that the higher yield (Y) and lower the rate of fire (RPM) the less they drain energy when operated singly from the beams. Make sure to adjust your S/W settings accordingly for attacking and defensive maneuvers.

[Edited on 2-28-2014 by Rubber Chicken]