Weapon choices - ballistics or lasers?

[System105b]

Should I major in both or does one or the other have more choices ?

[Hobo Misanthropus]

Originally posted by Doombringer:

Originally posted by Jaggid Edje:

I'll bet you 100 bucks it is a bug, and will be fixed.
The ballistics skill doesn't increase particle beam physical damage the same way

Ballistics doesn't affect particle weapons because they aren't ballistic weapons, they are energy weapons (hence they have keyword energy weapon, which is what the Lasers skill looks for).

Technically speaking, all weapons are Energy Weapons. Lasers are Directed Energy, Ballistic are Kinetic Energy

[Jaggid Edje]

Originally posted by Doombringer:

Ballistics doesn't affect particle weapons because they aren't ballistic weapons, they are energy weapons (hence they have keyword energy weapon, which is what the Lasers skill looks for).

That is entirely Incorrect. Particle beam weapons are NOT tagged as laser weapons. They are tagged as Particle Beam weapons. There's no "Energy" weapon tag involved at all.

The reason the Laser skill perk is being applied to them for personal weapons is because the skill perk itself is set up to look for either "Laser" OR "ParticleBeam" for weapon type tag. Specifically, the tags are named "WeaponTypeLaser" and "WeaponTypeParticleBeam"

This is not the case for the Laser Weapon Systems ship skill, only the combat one for personal weapons, making it quite obvious that it was a "oopsie".

[Wanderer]

The big bang shotgun I use is called a particle beam weapon and tagged ballistic and energy weapon with both damages. All I care is on normal dif it will take a terrormorph down pretty easy and you can get a free one as soon as you get to new Atlantis ... still using it as my get out of trouble weapon 40 levels later. Companions hate the annihilator rounds it can use if they are anywhere near where you are shooting :)

[alanc9]

Most of the early drops are ballistics. I didn't see any particle weapons for a long time. (Wherever that free Big Bang is, I didn't find it.)

[Sikirash]

Shotgun with hornets nest mod :D

[Wanderer]

Originally posted by alanc9:

Most of the early drops are ballistics. I didn't see any particle weapons for a long time. (Wherever that free Big Bang is, I didn't find it.)

I was was level 4 when I picked it up the first time. Don't bring Sarah with you :)
Jake's bar in the well ... look behind the bar ... the challenge is taking it without being seen and getting much ammo for it that early in the game. )

I picked it up at a higher level too so pretty sure it is not random .

[RiseM]

Originally posted by System105b:

Should I major in both or does one or the other have more choices ?

I use lasers and energy weps. Revolves are fun too. Try melee for a change, melee is hard and underpowered in this game.

[Tuz]

The vast majority of weapons in the firearms category fall under the "ballistics" tree. You can't go wrong with that choice for most of your game. They are your most common go-to early to mid game weapons.

Lasers are a niche. None of the laser weapons are particularly amazing, when compared to their ballistic neighbors and the best use for these perks is to buff up the cutter, which is free and efficient to use during NG+ speed runs.

The best weapons fall into the late game category of particle weapons and include the Va'ruun weapons. They have good stats, hit like a truck, and will become your favorites. They certainly were mine.

Notice that some weapons go into multiple categories. A Va'ruun pistol will draw bonuses not only from the particle weapons category, but also the ballistics since it has ballistic damage as well. It will also use the bonuses from the pistol category. You can effectively stack buffs.

Good luck in your search! If I were you, as a newer player, I would forget about lasers and dump my hard earned perks into ballistics. Later, around level 45-60 I would invest in particle weapons.

[PocketYoda]

My tombstone is by far my favourite gun.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3057343923

[alanc9]

Originally posted by Wanderer@Home:

Originally posted by alanc9:

Most of the early drops are ballistics. I didn't see any particle weapons for a long time. (Wherever that free Big Bang is, I didn't find it.)

I was was level 4 when I picked it up the first time. Don't bring Sarah with you :)
Jake's bar in the well ... look behind the bar ... the challenge is taking it without being seen and getting much ammo for it that early in the game. )

I picked it up at a higher level too so pretty sure it is not random .

Well, that explains the man's attitude. He doesn't need to care if people dislike him

[sarcastic_godot]

Originally posted by ch33353:

There are a greater variety of kinetic weapons but they all use different calibers so good luck keeping them fed.[...]

Apart from the very early game where the Old Earth Hunting Rifle ammo got tight - and the heavy weapons when excessively used for the skill challenges - I never had any ammo issues at all so far. And I'm lvl 114.

I do concede that I buy ammo when the vendors are too low on cash to cover the price of my most expensive items.

Else: There are no laser sniper rifles. Totally illogical, but thus it is. There are no laser heavy Machineguns (unless you count the Cutter as such). Particle weapons come somewhat late in the game, and again, no long range big scope ones, no heavy ones.

[PocketYoda]

Originally posted by suicidal_godot:

Originally posted by ch33353:

There are a greater variety of kinetic weapons but they all use different calibers so good luck keeping them fed.[...]

Apart from the very early game where the Old Earth Hunting Rifle ammo got tight - and the heavy weapons when excessively used for the skill challenges - I never had any ammo issues at all so far. And I'm lvl 114.

I do concede that I buy ammo when the vendors are too low on cash to cover the price of my most expensive items.

Else: There are no laser sniper rifles. Totally illogical, but thus it is. There are no laser heavy Machineguns. Particle weapons come somewhat late in the game, and again, no long range big scope ones, no heavy ones.

I agree i've only had Old Earth Hunting Rifle ammo early game myself every other ammo was fine..

[Lavian]

I actually see the small number of laser weapons and ammo types as a detriment. Most enemies don't use them, so it's not like you're going to get a ton of ammo for them. Enemies use a variety of weapons, so you get a variety of ammo types. Since the majority of weapons and ammo types are ballistic, that's the most of what you get.

If you run out of laser or particle cartridges of a particular size, you've only got one other ammo size as a fallback (also, the Solstice has pretty underwhelming damage, so it's not a great fallback for lasers). With ballistic weapons, you probably have thousands of a variety of different ammo types you grab from all the enemies you're killing.

[jonnin]

Originally posted by Lavian:

I actually see the small number of laser weapons and ammo types as a detriment. Most enemies don't use them, so it's not like you're going to get a ton of ammo for them. Enemies use a variety of weapons, so you get a variety of ammo types. Since the majority of weapons and ammo types are ballistic, that's the most of what you get.

If you run out of laser or particle cartridges of a particular size, you've only got one other ammo size as a fallback (also, the Solstice has pretty underwhelming damage, so it's not a great fallback for lasers). With ballistic weapons, you probably have thousands of a variety of different ammo types you grab from all the enemies you're killing.

The real limit is the vendors. If you go laser, there are no full auto lasers, so you won't find 400 rounds at a vendor in one stop. So you can't even sell all the ballistic ammo and buy all the battery packs, because they don't have that many.

[Jaggid Edje]

You get a ton of laser ammo from robotic enemies and turrets though. I don't actually ever use lasers myself, but I always have a ton of the ammo to get rid of because of that.