Questions: weapons

[Nobukado]

The weapon tooltips don't give much detail info.

1. How much heat does each weapon make? Do some weapons make more heat than others?

2. Does heat affect only each weapon or does the entire ship heat up? And is there a heat meter or something to check how much heat there is?

3. How quickly does ship vent heat?

4. Which weapons can shoot down missiles?

5. Which weapons are "better" for shooting missiles than others?

6. If set to auto fire, do plasma shoot missiles automatically? Do they prefer to shoot missiles over other enemies?

7. I know technically I can choose "any weapon," but there is limited research, so I don't want to waste any points. What's the consensus on best endgame set up, so far? I want to spend research only on weapons I'll definitely use in end game. There's also no testing mode, so I can't test the weapons without spending research points to unlock them, and I can't unlock them to test them until I am much later in the game. So I'm hoarding research points for now until I know what I should be spending it on. I know there's a thread that says that meta is missiles with plasma as point Defense, and OP tested each weapon, but other users disagreed, others preferred fixed guns, some liked laser beams and some didn't...

8. Any way to get more detailed weapon stats, in game or out of game? DPS, range, heat, energy, cost?

Thanks!

[archmag]

You can unlock heat meter in research. After that during ship construction you can activate checkbox and it will show which parts are producing heat and which one will overheat easier.

[Mirkali]

Originally posted by archmag:

You can unlock heat meter in research. After that during ship construction you can activate checkbox and it will show which parts are producing heat and which one will overheat easier.

Oddly in the heatmap it doesn't show weapons generating any heat. Also are heating vents directional? I added one in the middle of my ship next to the cockpit and it made the cockpit even hotter.

There seems to be a lot of weird rules related to heat that aren't apparent at first. Deflectors and put next to engines heat them up for instance. Or maybe deflectors heat up everything even if they show no heat on the heat map.

[AliceTheGorgon]

1. Seems to vary. Not sure how. Mk2 reactors seem to produce less heat than Mk2 plasma for example. Not sure if fire rate effects heat. It would make sense, but some aspects of heat here seem totally different than IRL heat.


2. Just individual parts. But with the important caveat that heat producing parts can spread that heat to other parts, reducing the effectiveness of the adjacent part due to the heat going into that part. (Note: some of this effect might just be insulation from the parts touching, but cooling one part sometimes cools adjacent ones a bit. So heat likely spreads at least a little.)
2a. Heat reduces the effectiveness of the part. Not sure about weapons, but reactors power output goes down when hot. Engines produce less thrust when hot. Etc.


3. Each side of a part that's touching an empty hex reduces heat (meaning giant metal bulkheads actually *insulate* the part, instead of acting as a heat sink, weirdly). Touching a heat vent also reduces heat. The effectiveness of the vents seems to be roughly proportional to the number of hexes the vent counts as. E.g. the small vent is a little less good than the half hex one, which is significantly weaker than the big, 2 hex one.

3a. Vents need access to an empty hex on one of their open sides to actually vent heat. There seems to be a small boost the more of the empty sides have access to an empty hex. (E.g. the half-hex one works better with the empty half of the vent each having an empty hex touching it, but it still works pretty well with only one.)



4. Not sure about which ones total, but plasma can definitely shoot them down. And apparently there's a system called Havock which is some kind of flak system.



Unfortunately I don't really know about any of the others, but this is what I've seen heat do. At least, assuming the heat simulation in the build screen works properly.



Edit:

Originally posted by Mirkali:

Oddly in the heatmap it doesn't show weapons generating any heat.

That might depend on the weapon in question. Mk2 plasma definitely does. Haven't tested any others so far.

[Mirkali]

Originally posted by AliceTheGorgon:

That might depend on the weapon in question. Mk2 plasma definitely does. Haven't tested any others so far.

I'm still pretty early game. Talking MK1 Plasma and MK1 Fixed blasters.

When I run heat sim, the blasters DPS drops by half, yet they don't have any heat on the heat map. Not sure what's up with that. They also don't have anything hot on the heatmap next to them. They're on a connecting bulkhead between the cockpit and the blaster

Stats: https://puu.sh/KekbX/c4df1381c5.png
Stats w/ Heatmap (note red box): https://puu.sh/Kekc5/8b151f83a6.png

[Namlook]

The heat map takes a second to get started. What it shows when you tick the box is how things heat up as they’re used. Over the course of 15-20 seconds I can see my ship components gradually go from cold to hot in a sort of simulation of sustained usage. You’ll see your dps drop, engine draw go up, and reactor output go down. If you leave this active, you can swap parts or open up holes to see how the adjacent modules react over time. It’s actually kinda neat, really. Remember, it’s a simulation of heat over time, not instantaneous data of heat.

Keep in mind, if you use vents, they have to port into space away from the hull. Sticking a vent in an interior part of the ship will have no effect overall and will actually insulate heat where having an open hole would not.

[RahKiel]

1. Plasma are the main offender, but anything that generate/use energy generate heat. Cannot say how to check it beforehand.

2. Each part generate heat individually, which basically make it more energy-hungry. While in the shipyard, the Heatmap can show you how each part are heating over time. Small burst help deal with heat.

3. Can't say.

4/5/6. Missile act as solid target, so anything can hit them considering they're considered the same way as ships.
As counter, i think there is a way to get the "schrapnel circle" weapon you can encounter in some big enemy, but haven't found how to unlock it yet. Your own missile target enemy's when fired without a focus. It's somehow efficient with the multi-missile modification but can be overwhelmed. Nothing beat the auto-fire plasma for that, as it'll focus the closer target. As long as you are not kissing another ship and with rotating speed maxed, it'll shoot down missile very consistently and precisely.

7. So far, i'm done with the main-quest and just have a few secondary to complete. And i'm FAR from unlocking everything. I think you won't be able to max all secondary weapon unlocking and utility like warp jump. Personnaly i've maxed ship building, plasma, missile, shield, tractor beam. A few fixed gun research, near maxed reactor and officer training and fallen empire.
My end-game loadout is a plasma/missile with shields. Plasma in auto-fire for Point-Defense as you say. Missile can easily deal with small ships as long as you focus them (right-click). Edit : I think the popularity with missile is how easy they are to use compare to fixed gun.
Fixed gun can completly devour others ship imho, high damage and penetration seems really good but i didn't test them much rn. Can't say for energy/drones yet, planning to test all it further on.

8. The Ship System menu is somehow detailled. But i think you want detail per part. The wiki is barebone AFAIK.

[Huillam]

1. From what I've seen Plasma Mk I (barely any) < Fixed Mk I < Plasma Mk II (a lot) < Fixed Mk 2 (turn adjacent module red in just a few seconds).

2. There a few scenarios:
If there's an empty space adjacent to the module heat is ejected into space (depending of the module that may not be enough and a vent may be needed).
If there's another active module adjacent, they share their heats and heat dissipates more slowly.
If the module is covered by non-active module on all side heat is trapped and dissipates slowly.
Overheating modules are less efficient (engines slow down, reactor output is reduced, weapon dps too).

4. Anything with a projectile it seems.

5. Laser or Havok.

6. They do and they appear to prioritize missiles if no enemy is targeted.

7. I haven't reached end game but so far my guess/analysis.
Plasma: Good starter weapons, tons of upgrades, great for mining.
Fixed Guns: Absurdly insane damage output (at least compared to plasma), excellent range. Point the ship into the right direction, watch the explosions.
Missiles: Requires way to much uranium for me to do more than check the numbers. Displayed damage was a fraction of what I could achieve with plasma. They have range but that's it. I have little hope of them.
Lasers: Couldn't even check the numbers as they require diberyllium. The way NPCs use them my guess is on high energy consumption, high damage, deal more damage the longer they focus on a target. Considering the speed a which they tear through my hull, lasers are probably great.
Havok: Some anti-fighter/anti-missile defense. Don't expect that to deal damage to anything bigger.
Hangar: I haven't unlocked them. Fought some, I wasn't impressed.

8. Last tabs (Ship Information or something like that) has more infos than the shipyard tab.

The heat map appears to be a bit buggy at the time. For example it doesn't apply to my Fixed Guns but I can see adjacent modules overheating and the fixed gun dps going lower over time.

[Wlerin]

Originally posted by Nobukado:

5. Which weapons are "better" for shooting missiles than others?

Plasma, with the G key or manually. In theory the Havok system is designed exactly for this but it seems to be on a cooldown so I wouldn't want to rely on it (and I've never taken it). Someone suggested Lasers but they have a warmup period and are generally better used for slicing apart enemy vessels.

[veevoir]

Havoc with max duration/cooldown upgrades have only short breaks between uses. But it doesnt target anything specifically, just makes a Battlestar Galactica flak field around your ship. A few plasma turrets seem more reliable.. except Havoc does not use power? At least when I add it to the ship it doesn't seem to increase potential power draw. Unsure if bug or intended, if intended - that is a much better opportunity cost than having plasma turrets for point defense.

Also - Havoc heats up like a mofo when used.

[Nobukado]

Great, thanks!

[Nobukado]

Ill try posting some weapon data later, based on testing. Like, how much does each upgrade change the range of a plasma or fixed cannon.

[veevoir]

Btw - just put 4x Mk II fixed canon with full upgrade on ship. If you use that setup - remember to key bind them to DELETE, because that is what they do. Atm I think 4xMkII cannons (full research tree) + 6x MkI plasma (prioritize targeting speed then range, use them in auto mode) is a setup that carries me **hard** in mid-game. The cannons are strong enough to harvest Xenium out of.. spoilery debris fields.

Cannons make stations enemies obsolete, outside of their range.

[Nobukado]

Hi veevoir, Agreed. I'm still early game but fixed cannons are my preferred weapon. With range upgrades, they far outrange even upgraded plasma by around 30-40% distance, which is a huge difference. Right now laser beams are unusable because they require 4 units of a very rare material, and reactors also need a rare-ish material. Fixed cannons are the best weapon I can spam for long-range damage. We'll see how the rest of the game goes.

[Huillam]

Made some tests with lasers (with every upgrade minus an unknown one):
Same range as fixed guns (which is enough to outrange stations).
Need a meager 0.5s to acquire a target.
Perfect missile defense as long as you keep your distance.
Doesn't produce that much heat.
Require an absurd amount of power: 14GJ/sec per laser.
Half the displayed DPS of fixed guns but the displayed DPS is innacurate: the beam increases in size and in damage while firing.
Effective DPS is probably higher than fixed guns as they have pinpoint accuracy, no travel time and don't stop firing as long as you're in range and have energy.

Definitly my end game weapon.

[Wlerin]

Originally posted by veevoir:

Btw - just put 4x Mk II fixed canon with full upgrade on ship. If you use that setup - remember to key bind them to DELETE, because that is what they do. Atm I think 4xMkII cannons (full research tree) + 6x MkI plasma (prioritize targeting speed then range, use them in auto mode) is a setup that carries me **hard** in mid-game. The cannons are strong enough to harvest Xenium out of.. spoilery debris fields.

Cannons make stations enemies obsolete, outside of their range.

Well, 4 lasers + 4 MkII plasma carried me through to endgame. Only time I really struggled was once the enemy started teleporting into my unprotected rear.

Originally posted by Huillam:

Made some tests with lasers (with every upgrade minus an unknown one)

The unknown one is presumably Precision Penetration: Allows beams to shoot through partially damaged modules to reach a targeted component. Learn to recognise every variant of bridge.