Vulcan laser is powerful?

[Le Shark]

It has low damage, expencive and use lots of power. I fail to understand how it is good. I hope not to anger fans of the weapon but give me an explanation why you like it.

[gimmethegepgun]

Once it gets spun up it's fire rate is sufficient to overwhelm any amount of shield completely on its own given time to do so. Even faster when you use it alongside another laser.
It's certainly enough to kill boss stage 2 and 3 on its own (some help is usually needed stage 1 because the cloak will interrupt you)

[xenxander]

comtbine the vlucan with stealth weapons and you have a weapon that is so awesome it's almsot broken. ^-^

yes it's 4 weapon bars to use and yes one bar gone = reset of all vulcan progress. But damn if it isn't worth it.
I once had two vulcans and the weapon bars to use them. I sacrificed all but 2 shield bars in order to power it but it was so wirth it.. cloaking helped, I just didnt' have stealth weapons..UNTIL sector 7 XD

[Drain]

Once it's charged up, it can pound through any shield, regardless of size. Once the shield is busted, you're then hitting their shield with a laser every second. That's on top of whatever other guns you may have. There's no way they'll fix the system back up with this gun going. They're totally screwed once the shield busts. This is my favorite gun in the game. I love seeing that constant pew pew pew as their ship is hopelessly wrecked.

[Ray Robertson]

I'm afraid the only thing I like about it, is that it sells for 47 scrap.

[Skinny Pete]

Publicado originalmente por Ray Robertson:

I'm afraid the only thing I like about it, is that it sells for 47 scrap.

I usually do this if I get it early (on Hard that is), because 47 scrap is just too useful to pass up, and the other option is holding onto it until I have maxed out weapons. A couple times I made the grave error of throwing scrap into weapons too early and skimping on shields/engines because of getting an early Vulcan. Never again.

I could see using it early with one of the Stealth ships with maxed cloaks (and Stealth Weapons), or possibly a Zoltan-shielded ship. Another combo I'd be willing to give a shot is the Red-Tail with at least 2 Basic Lasers.

[slappy_d0]

I always keep it and always sell the glaive (and most missiles)... Just different styles.

[xenxander]

Explosive repilicators stack, so if you can get three of those, missile gunboats become so awesome - especially if you get a few swarm missiles xD

[gimmethegepgun]

Publicado originalmente por xens_pineapple:

Explosive repilicators stack, so if you can get three of those, missile gunboats become so awesome - especially if you get a few swarm missiles xD

One time I had a Vulcan with 2 Auto Reloaders. It fired slightly slower than a Charge Laser does when it's got multiple shots. Except the Vulcan doesn't stop. I also had 2 bio beams and a Burst 3, and maxed weapons. And nearly everything else maxed too. Fun times, that. Gotta love Slug A.

[xenxander]

Publicado originalmente por gimmethegepgun:

Publicado originalmente por xens_pineapple:

Explosive repilicators stack, so if you can get three of those, missile gunboats become so awesome - especially if you get a few swarm missiles xD

One time I had a Vulcan with 2 Auto Reloaders. It fired slightly slower than a Charge Laser does when it's got multiple shots. Except the Vulcan doesn't stop. I also had 2 bio beams and a Burst 3, and maxed weapons. And nearly everything else maxed too. Fun times, that. Gotta love Slug A.

Yes, auto reloaders also stack, as do reverse ion fields (which are really good against the flagship) and shield recharge boosters. Always fun times.

[Le Shark]

I see thank you for your reasons. I like multi-shot lasers but I may try the Vulcan. Should I use missles to attack shilding.

[FDru]

Publicado originalmente por franciscorr03:

I see thank you for your reasons. I like multi-shot lasers but I may try the Vulcan. Should I use missles to attack shilding.

You should use question marks when asking questions.

To answer your, uh, statement... if you're using the Vulcan, you shouldn't need to worry much about shields. If you do get something like a bomb, missiles, hacking, etc, consider using it on their engines to help your Vulcan land its shots. Even Mind Control on their pilot would be useful for that.

[Gertjan]

vulcan+defence drone mk2 = win basically.
any amount of shields is useless and the drone shoots down almost everything, even 2/3 from a burst laser 2, so 2 shield bubbles are good, 3 for the boss

[redtieguy]

The vulcan takes about 1.1 seconds to charge each shot. Each shield recharges in about 2 seconds. So unless the ship has a dodge of 55% or above, you'll eventually get thru all shields until you're doing a hull damage every other shot. Takes about 30 seconds to get to fully charged (thinking 11 seconds, 8 seconds, 6 seconds, 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1.1 seconds), which can be a long time to keep a 4-bar weapon fully charged. Any additional weapons will be even better as the Vulcan alone can hold down shields.

Weaknesses are if you're against anything with a cloak. The cloak will give the enemy enough time to regain the shields, so you have to spend about 7 shots to get thru the shields (they are recharging). If you get hit with a powerful enough ion weapon or teleporting bombs, you've lost all your charges. In these cases, I advise you aim appropriately.

It should not be the only weapon you use, but if you have 6 bars available for your weapons system, the vulcan can easily be a game-winner in harder battles.

[Regret]

Vulcan can be a valid tactic, just remember to max out your defense with max shields, max engines, and any kind of defensive drones you can get your hands on. Cloak obviously helps, though without cloak weapons there's little point in upgrading your cloak.

[Skinny Pete]

This is a frustrating weapon but if you combine it with a number of delaying tactics guaranteeing that it gets up to speed, it puts out an annihilating dps. Those would usually be things like maxed Cloaking and/or Hacking, Zoltan Shield, etc. That said, even something as common as a DD II can effectively neutralize it if you have no other weapons.

Worse yet, usually awesome things like Pre-Igniter are barely useful at all, merely starting you out one cycle closer to revving it up to full speed. So this is useful but would almost never be worth 120 scrap to buy if you're depending on something like a Vulcan.

This weapon is, much like the Glaive Beam, a glass cannon with a weak ship, but unlike the Glaive Beam, it's unreliable and you will see this thing miss five times in a row. Fights can end up going on for a while even after it revs up because you hit a really bad string of misses. Compare to Glaive Beam, where 100% of that damage is guaranteed in every unshielded (or even 2-shielded rooms) room. When you draw the beam you know exactly what you're getting.

I would rarely if ever buy this weapon, and would often sell it even if I got it, to get something more practical, but with the right ship, usually one capable of turtling out the first 30 seconds or so of the fight, it can be really good.

It's pretty situational.

At the very worst, you just got 47 scrap.