From post: 170102, Topic: tid=11401, author=Stateofpsychosis wrote:okay so sapphire it is
totally going to try to make a one shot type low fire rate/high energy costing super laser
so i have something that works for the picard maneuver
anyways thanks for answering me so soon
Hi,
I've made custom cannon & beam myself, BUT, you will NOT be able to make a "high kill" / "low energy" Cannon or Beam - it's just not possible.
That said - I think you CAN make versions better than the default game weapons available.
This is my opinion (so far anyway - I'm still experimenting at times) if you want to get a "modest energy/modest power" Beam.
Experiment with the Metal-Vapor & Coil-Laser.
You have to really tweak the Emitter Output and Capacitor Reserve. Set the Heat Sink to Max.
This is an example of what you will find for all types:
If you Tweak the E.O. & C.R. for a specific Yield (example 42Y) using higher E.O. than C.R. then the "next lower Type beam" will give you a bit lower Energy use for the Same Amount of Yield.
But at some point - to get a Higher Yield you MUST goto the next higher Beam type. I've forgotten my last experiment but just for example:
Say you can get a Metal-Vapor as follows:
42Y with the E.O./C.R. Tweaking and the lowest possible Energy use - Then if you need 43+Y you must go to the Coil-Laser.
But that said - if you go to the Coil-Laser to get 42Y then it will use a bit more Energy than the Metal Vapor did.
This scenario (for given Yields) applies for each Beam Type.
So DON"T make a 45Y Fusion beam if you can make a 45Y Coil-Laser or Metal-Vapor because you will be using MORE energy than the lower Types of Beams.
The same thing applies to Cannon Types.
But for my Cannon I insisted on a higher Yield so I chose the Fusion Cannon and I tweaked it so I got a Yield of 77Y with Range=780 and Refire of 19C - that beats any of the Default game Cannons I've seen by quite a bit.
So far I've chosen a Coil-Laser and have 2 (1 in storage).
#1:
47Y 11C
#2:
55Y 11C
Naturally the 55Y won't fire as long as the 47Y by something like 3-6 sec. when firing both cannon & beam.
Individually each will fire a long time.
If you MUST have a LONG firing combo, you are going to have to sacrifice Yield (thus energy usage) on one or both weapons.
I would sacrifice on the Beam before I would on the Cannon.
You CAN kill with just a Cannon moderately well without firing the Beam - but the inverse is NOT true.
Don't take that as me saying the Beam is not important - it IS - but as much as I hate it - I have 3 controller buttons assigned - 1 to Cannon only - 1 to Beam only - and 1 to both Guns.
I can't tolerate pressing a key or button to Cycle Guns - there's too much else to think about/control during combat and it's SO much quicker to release the Beam button (left hand) while continuing to fire Cannon (right hand) or vice versa - while still manipulating the Axis controls with my thumbs.
Even with the higher Yield Guns I made it's about impossible to kill a Red firing both Guns before energy runs out - about 15+ sec. or so - (unless maybe I could get most/all my hits on him - which is not easy).
The Technical Manual was interesting on the subject of the Weapon Lab but in the end didn't help me a great deal - Tweaking and Experimenting is your best method.
A good test of your Guns is blowing up some asteroids before taking them into Combat. And save your Weapon Lab Templates.
Weapon Lab Missiles - I don't know - they are all so confusing and no real comparison. You can't Mouse-over missiles to see the Yields like you can Beams & Cannons to compare to the ones you've made - and making Missiles is too expensive and time consuming for something you can only fire one time each.
Paul
[Edited on 5-14-2014 by PaulB]
[Edited on 5-14-2014 by PaulB]
[Edited on 5-14-2014 by PaulB]
[Edited on 5-14-2014 by PaulB]
+1 Major