In short: They are severely underpowered. Pulse weapons are designed for two things:
- Strip enemy shields quickly
- Keep enemy power cores drained so they cannot return fire
The gunboat, cruiser and battleship versions of these cannons exist, but simply fail at their designated roles due to the fact that they are hopeless in terms of damage for power. Granted, these pulse weapons have artillery range, but their alternative for artillery range, the gunboat razor, cruiser light mortar, and battleship (heavy) mortar, while firing at the same speed, are all equally effective at shieldbusting, while sporting hullbusting to boot.
Some statistics for comparison below. Any value under 1 basically means the gun will be useless for keeping an enemy core drained, while firing at a same-class vessel.
Battleship pulse cannon: 0.0815 shield damage per energy unit expended
Battleship Mortar: 0.074 shield damage per energy unit expended. Double this value for hull damage.
Battleship Basic MK1 turret: 0.19 shield damage per energy unit. Double this value for hull damage.
(The battleships long range primary guns are twice as effective at shieldbusting then pulse cannons are. That can't be right, I feel)
Cruiser pulse cannon: 0.094 shield damage per energy unit expended
Cruiser light mortar: 0.075 shield damage per energy unit expended. Double this value for hull damage.
Cruiser Basic MK1 turret: 0.16 shield damage per energy unit expended. Double this value for hull damage.
(Again, the primaries are more effective. Although in this case the range difference of the pulse and primary guns is significant. The shieldbusting capacity difference from the light mortar however is so small that it's questionable if the pulse has much use at that range and speed)
Gunboat pulse cannon: 0.14 shield damage per energy unit expended.
Gunboat Battlerazor (the gunboat's heavy weapon): 0.08 shield damage per energy unit expended. Double for hull damage.
Gunboat Basic Turret: 0.18 shield damage per energy unit expended. Double this value for hull damage.
(These values start to look more appropriate, although with a <1 efficiency, they will still not be able to keep enemy vessel's power cores drained)
Transport pulse turret (Type 1): 3.91 shield damage per energy unit expended.
Transport heavy turret (Type 2): 1.4 shield damage per energy unit expended. Double this value for hull damage.
(This looks how it -should- be. The transport pulse turret wipes about four times it's shot value on an enemy core, making this a must-have in transport versus transport engagements. In terms of damaging capacity, two of these turrets have the same shieldbusting power as a single gunboat pulse turret, but their range is shorter).
And for comparison, the fighter pulse weapons:
Tizona del Cid: 5.7 shield damage per energy unit
Debilitator MK1: 5.1 shield damage per energy unit
Outcast "Inferno" fighter torpedo: 3.01 shield damage per energy unit (and a much higher DPS then the Gunboat version)
What I recommend to balance this out:
Gunboat pulse cannon: Reduce energy per shot to 60000 (currently 70000), raise shield damage to 12000 (currently 10000)
Cruiser pulse cannon: Reduce energy per shot to 150000 (currently 190000), raise shield damage to 22000 (currently 17800)
Battleship pulse cannon: Reduce energy per shot to 250000 (currently 390000), raise shield damage to 44000 (currently 35000)
These proposed changes would still keep them useless at keeping an enemy core drained (won't be able to disable an enemy ship) but at least it will make them significantly more effective at shieldbusting then the hullbusting weaponry, at artillery and close range. At present I know the cruiser and battleship pulse cannons are rarely used by players - I suspect this is the cause.
An alternative solution would be to create a secondary pulse cannon version with greater efficiency (and perhaps higher speed?) but shorter weapons range.
Wide awake in a world that sleeps, enduring thoughts, enduring scenes. The knowledge of what is yet to come.
From a time when all seems lost, from a dead man to a world, without restraint, unafraid and free.
Mostly retired Discovery member. May still visit from time to time.
you are right there - personally, i would never use pulse cannons cause primaries do the job better - and don t become useless once the shield is down.
pulse cannons are doing a fairly good job however when the ship using it is kiting a larger ship at long range. ( not particularly godly - but useful )
all in all - one cannot compare them with the fighter inferno, which is much better - but at the same time you cannot compare most weapons across the shipclasses anyway.
your proposed changes are reasonable i feel. - we could also perhaps make them easier to use than the spray and pray primaries ( meaning - giving them a much faster speed and longer range )
anyway - yes, something might need to be done....
but then.... something has been done already - the turret splitting comes with a revision of most weapons anyway - so we gotto wait for 4.86 .... ( which comes in around 2013 ( right after the world went down ))
Since these turrets fire at artillery range I imagine they'll be classified as either heavy weapons, or primaries. They need to outperform either the mortars or the battleship primaries in that case.
I can see the battleship "turret splitting" overhaul making these weapons worse, not better, sadly. And yes, these suggestions are for the devs, to hopefully take into account in v4.86:)
Wide awake in a world that sleeps, enduring thoughts, enduring scenes. The knowledge of what is yet to come.
From a time when all seems lost, from a dead man to a world, without restraint, unafraid and free.
Mostly retired Discovery member. May still visit from time to time.
' Wrote:In short: They are severely underpowered. Pulse weapons are designed for two things:
- Strip enemy shields quickly
- Keep enemy power cores drained so they cannot return fire
The gunboat, cruiser and battleship versions of these cannons exist, but simply fail at their designated roles due to the fact that they are hopeless in terms of damage for power. Granted, these pulse weapons have artillery range, but their alternative for artillery range, the gunboat razor, cruiser light mortar, and battleship (heavy) mortar, while firing at the same speed, are all equally effective at shieldbusting, while sporting hullbusting to boot.
Some statistics for comparison below. Any value under 1 basically means the gun will be useless for keeping an enemy core drained, while firing at a same-class vessel.
Battleship pulse cannon: 0.0815 shield damage per energy unit expended
Battleship Mortar: 0.074 shield damage per energy unit expended. Double this value for hull damage.
Battleship Basic MK1 turret: 0.19 shield damage per energy unit. Double this value for hull damage.
(The battleships long range primary guns are twice as effective at shieldbusting then pulse cannons are. That can't be right, I feel)
Cruiser pulse cannon: 0.094 shield damage per energy unit expended
Cruiser light mortar: 0.075 shield damage per energy unit expended. Double this value for hull damage.
Cruiser Basic MK1 turret: 0.16 shield damage per energy unit expended. Double this value for hull damage.
(Again, the primaries are more effective. Although in this case the range difference of the pulse and primary guns is significant. The shieldbusting capacity difference from the light mortar however is so small that it's questionable if the pulse has much use at that range and speed)
Gunboat pulse cannon: 0.14 shield damage per energy unit expended.
Gunboat Battlerazor (the gunboat's heavy weapon): 0.08 shield damage per energy unit expended. Double for hull damage.
Gunboat Basic Turret: 0.18 shield damage per energy unit expended. Double this value for hull damage.
(These values start to look more appropriate, although with a <1 efficiency, they will still not be able to keep enemy vessel's power cores drained)
Transport pulse turret (Type 1): 3.91 shield damage per energy unit expended.
Transport heavy turret (Type 2): 1.4 shield damage per energy unit expended. Double this value for hull damage.
(This looks how it -should- be. The transport pulse turret wipes about four times it's shot value on an enemy core, making this a must-have in transport versus transport engagements. In terms of damaging capacity, two of these turrets have the same shieldbusting power as a single gunboat pulse turret, but their range is shorter).
And for comparison, the fighter pulse weapons:
Tizona del Cid: 5.7 shield damage per energy unit
Debilitator MK1: 5.1 shield damage per energy unit
Outcast "Inferno" fighter torpedo: 3.01 shield damage per energy unit (and a much higher DPS then the Gunboat version)
What I recommend to balance this out:
Gunboat pulse cannon: Reduce energy per shot to 60000 (currently 70000), raise shield damage to 12000 (currently 10000)
Cruiser pulse cannon: Reduce energy per shot to 150000 (currently 190000), raise shield damage to 22000 (currently 17800)
Battleship pulse cannon: Reduce energy per shot to 250000 (currently 390000), raise shield damage to 44000 (currently 35000)
These proposed changes would still keep them useless at keeping an enemy core drained (won't be able to disable an enemy ship) but at least it will make them significantly more effective at shieldbusting then the hullbusting weaponry, at artillery and close range. At present I know the cruiser and battleship pulse cannons are rarely used by players - I suspect this is the cause.
An alternative solution would be to create a secondary pulse cannon version with greater efficiency (and perhaps higher speed?) but shorter weapons range.
Hello, My name is Lobster and I endorse this message.
As I cant take part in any debate due to a 16 hour bus ride upcomming.. I'll just go ahead and say I aprove of what the man has pointed out.
Pulses need a slight buff (ESPECIALLY on battleships where they are useless) to be used.
I agree. I had to replace pulses with razors on my cruiser, and resign to using light mortars for shieldbusting at long range, since pulses did stupidly low effect at a compared stupidly high energy cost. And given their range, they should be MUCH faster. I mean it makes sense that a MORTAR has slow projectiles, but a pulse weapon? Its only purpouse should be to hinder the incoming enemy before the real fight begins, so it SHOULD DEFINITELY be able to shoot more than a couple shots and actually hit something before you're forced to hit on hullbusters (which actually bust shields better than shieldbusters...)
Razors, especially the battleship ones, are in terms of damage for power, pointless, Corazon. They have only one real purpose: Singleshotting a bomber when you get the shields down. But truly, cruiser missiles or BS missiles do a better job for less power.
A light mortar would do better on a cruiser, provided you can aim it well. The razors have the same problem as the pulse guns: Their power requirements are rather high, for their effect.
Cruiser razor: 0.1 damage/energy unit (hull).
Light mortar: 0.15
BS razor: 0.056 damage/energy unit
Mortar: 0.14
Wide awake in a world that sleeps, enduring thoughts, enduring scenes. The knowledge of what is yet to come.
From a time when all seems lost, from a dead man to a world, without restraint, unafraid and free.
Mostly retired Discovery member. May still visit from time to time.
' Wrote:A light mortar would do better on a cruiser, provided you can aim it well. The razors have the same problem as the pulse guns: Their power requirements are rather high, for their effect.
Cruiser razor: 0.1 damage/energy unit (hull).
Light mortar: 0.15
BS razor: 0.056 damage/energy unit
Mortar: 0.14
You're missing out the fact that battlerazors are have twice as much projectile speeds than mortars. I'm saying the sacrifice in efficiency should be accounted in the ability to score a hit more easily.
I have two pulses on my cruiser. I like them, but a buff would be nice to hit those pesky gunboats. I don't notice their power drain though, to be honest.