How can we imrpove beams so they are worth using?

[Siveria]

Am I the only one who feels that beams are by and far the worse weapon in drox? The main reason for this is the beams low min and max damage, you may not notice it at low lv but once you get like +100% damage from tactical stats you start to see it. When your beams are lucky to hit for 100 on the high end tops, but your ballistic gun hits for like 350-400 on the high end, there is a pretty large diffrence there.

I think the problem is their low min damage, and their energy use, and also the range penalty, Maybe make beams have high min damage, Like insted of a beam being say 17-50 like they are now, make it 40-50, so that It has a higher constant hit, and also remove the range penalty, when you consider to hit another ship with a beam you are in range of its beams as well.

What do you think could be done to make them actually viable/worth using? Compared to the other weapons. As they currently are from my testing comparing kills with beams, ballistics and missles, beams are always last

[darksilver]

Range penalty is ok, low min dmg isn't. Or vice versa. Two penalties for one weapon's class is too heavy IMHO

[lammaer]

As darksilver says.... 2 disadvantages (range penality and smaller DPS) versus one advantage (always hits) = beams are weak.

In their current state I used them once or twice, when a boss was incredibly fast so I couldn't hit it with rails. Apart from this, in 99% of the gameplay, beams are weak and thus useless.

[Siveria]

Originally Posted by lammaer

As darksilver says.... 2 disadvantages (range penality and smaller DPS) versus one advantage (always hits) = beams are weak.

In their current state I used them once or twice, when a boss was incredibly fast so I couldn't hit it with rails. Apart from this, in 99% of the gameplay, beams are weak and thus useless.

They always impact their target, but they can still miss based on attack vs their def. Range is not so much an issue because of how slow the projectiles travel you have to pretty much be in laser range to hit with ballistics, but when you do it does noticably more damage than a few shots with beams. My higher lv who is 54 crits for 1900 with a missle, compared to 200 crits with a beam. Missle is not really a dps weapon but when it hits that much harder its noticable.

[Tyrax Lightning]

Has anyone ever noticed if the Beam Weapon Range Penalty applies to enemies using it on you or not? It can feel like it doesn't... (Damn Gleria Freeze Rays & Bounty Hunters...)

I too have observed that Beam Weapons are indeed Hit Roll Weapons.

It seems like Beam Weapons are designed to have extremely fast Attack Travel Speed (aka instant) & the lowest weapon cooldown time in the game in exchange for the damage penalty at range & low damage... but NPCs seem to get more use outta them then we do since they get to have infinite Energy for no reason at all, seemingly. I think eliminating the Range Penalty & lowering the Energy Cost per shot is worth a try, then we can see how they go from there.

[Arcatus]

Modding is fun!

[Shameless plug]

http://www.soldak.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24991

[/Shameless plug]

[Tyrax Lightning]

Has anyone tried testing Beam Weapons & Freezer Weapons side by side? There's a weapon in the game that classifies as a 'Freezer' type weapon, but i've tried screwing around with one last night, & it seems like it acts like a Beam Weapon + Debuff infliction. I also wonder if its Classification as a 'Freezer' Weapon makes them not benefit from the Components that add Weapon Damage only for 'Beam' Weapons...?

[darksilver]

Tried 1.005b, playing with beams. Well, still, i'm definitely not a deathstar, more like a disco-ball Still keepin' one beam weapon (ion cannon) to kick some Speedy Gonzalez' butts, but just cuz other weapons 99% miss'em.
Btw did anyone tried virus class weapon? Is a range penalty applies to debuff too? Got -330 atk/def one, if it'd stack three times w/o penalty - looks terrifying

[Tyrax Lightning]

Originally Posted by darksilver

Tried 1.005b, playing with beams. Well, still, i'm definitely not a deathstar, more like a disco-ball Still keepin' one beam weapon (ion cannon) to kick some Speedy Gonzalez' butts, but just cuz other weapons 99% miss'em.
Btw did anyone tried virus class weapon? Is a range penalty applies to debuff too? Got -330 atk/def one, if it'd stack three times w/o penalty - looks terrifying

I've tried out the new Beams on my new Utopian Alt... they STILL don't have enough kill power, & i've given up on them & switched to Missiles till his Tactical gets high enough to use a stored Lightning Cannon. Here's to hoping the Lightning Cannon will be Badass someday.

Note: This is with 0 Beam Boosting Components aiding the Beam Damage... My Alt hasn't gotten strong enough to put stored Beam Booster Components to use... & he's not really gonna bother. I'll screw around with Beams on my Shadow Alt... maybe Beams, Beam Boosters, & Cloaking all together will be able to do something useful...

Suggestion: Boost the Beam Booster Components so they boost Beams, Freezer Weapons, & Virus Weapons that fire in a 'Beam-like' way so they can synergize with each other & compliment each other.

[pieciax]

I have a felling that boost components boost virus weapons as well, i use them together with regular beams, and it looks like boost works well.