Best single "alpha-striking" weapon?

[蛍Firefly]

I like thematics. Back in Early Access, I liked to outfit my ships exclusively with Pulsars. They had good range, good damage, and strike craft weren't a threat. Now, they are.
Pulsars are letting me down recently, Strike Craft are very powerful and I need to pierce them before attacking the mothership. Pulsars are too slow to hit them, so, I feel like I need to swap weapon choice.

But what? I only like using 1 weapon type at a time. So what weapon is effective in most situations and works best when paired with itself several times? I was thinking either the Sniper Cannon, Particle Hose, or Range Beams. I'll eventually, when I complete this sandbox, arming myself with only 3 core units, 2 large wings, and a small nose and engine. But right now, my ship has 4 large wings, 1 large nose, 1 large engine, and 2 small engines. The engines all have Zappers Drones. I am also allocating all over-level perks to +3% damage.
Anyone have any suggestions?

[Bozobub]

Some observations:

• Sniper Cannons are better than Pulsers (not "Pulsars" ^^) against fast targets, by far; they have a HIGHER DPS in that case, because they hit far more often. They're not great, however, vs. motherships, where Pulsers have a strong advantage.
  
• Plasmas are quite good "all-around" weapons, but to reliably hit strike craft you'll need a very fast and maneuverable ship, so you can chase them down and hit at close range.
  
• You won't be able to have all of the same weapon, because you have small parts, unless you choose basic cannons, lasers, or missiles. Frankly, having only one type of weapon would be a strong disadvantage anyway, and you don't do so already (drones are weapons) =). It's generally best to have at least a few "mothership-killer" weapons on hand, with support weapons for SCs.
  
• If your ship is agile enough, you DO NOT need to attack the strike craft 1st. Simply kite the SC swarm far away, then make an end-run around them and go for the mothership(s). Concentrate on ONE of them, until it is dead. Lather, rinse, repeat.
  
• Your intended ship design will have a very difficult time in mid-to-endgame, even on the easier difficulties.
  
• Don't concentrate solely on damage, for your "over-level" perks, unless you *never* come under fire and *never* ram. The only stat not worth pumping is HP.

[蛍Firefly]

Got it, I'll use snipers for the time being. The "intended ship design" is just for challenge/fun, as smaller ships move faster. Might be enjoyable to use double plasma distruptors.
As for level ups, I'll make every other level shields. Figure that's the 2nd best stat.

Update: Armed with 10 Sniper Cannons, 2 Zapper Pairs, 1 Zapper Hangar, and 3 waves of 4 Shatter strike craft also armed with 2 Sniper Cannons and 4 Zapper Pods each.
After kiting 2 motherships, a station, and their swarm of strike craft successfully with 70% HP and 4 Stirke Craft remaining, I can safely say that this is an optimal setup for most situations.

[Bozobub]

I think you may benefit from looking into synergy builds; it doesn't seem you are using one currently, from your description. You can build VERY agile, large builds using either full or "partial" synergy builds.

Here's possibly the most fun-to-fly full synergy brick I've built to date, from a few games ago (ship total stats are in the upper right green box). It was even part of the press pack sent out at the official release =). It was my 1st 21-core brick, as well:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1112827088
(By turret: 2x Plasma, 4x Sniper, 2 Zapper Hangar, 2x Flak)

Notice the speed and turn rate? That, combined with its relatively low mass, makes it so agile that it can be slightly difficult to fly at 1st o.O ! It's quite literally faster AND more maneuverable than anything else (except Sniper fire) when under boost. It also has over 1/4 million shields. Remember, almost all of those subcores get the max synergy bonus! While the subcores are *all* "perfect", custom-ordered specimens, the weapons were a grab-bag (mostly under 4 stars) at the time.

This is still the most fun to fly of all my build types. It's like driving a Porsche, after only ever driving dump trucks!

Note: As far as I can tell, the speed and turn rate stats don't reflect your ship's mass at all; they're just the raw sums from your various components, after any direct bonuses. So a "stick" build with the same number of cores and identical stats will generally be much less agile, due to having roughly 2x the mass.

Here's my current late-midgame partial synergy ride:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1379172898
(Loadout in description)

I'm going to swap the Pulsers for Snipers soon but otherwise, this ship is a *beast*. Again from a different save, another version of this chassis was my absolute strongest build, ever, to date:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1218156986
(Loadout the same as above but 1 more Plasma, at the expense of the Mass Driver)

And just to show off my prettiest build ever:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1209567449

The Civilian subcore (the circular one on the left) of the above 2 bulds is actually a 7-star subcore, found as Zombie loot, the only one I've ever found. Yes, they exist ^^'. You can actually find them with a Parts Catalog search, if/when they are for sale (you have to pretty much control the entire galaxy).

All of those builds are far stronger than you need to completely whup the game's tukhus, by the by, and will carry you quite far in the "Rebounding Infection" scenario, as well, even on "Insane" (which I don't recommend; "Insane" is not so much harder, as more tedious).

I should mention, however, that wide builds like those I prefer have a physics penalty vs. narrow builds — even at the same mass/stats — when turning. Trust me, however, you'll never notice.

If you prefer smaller builds, however, that's fine too! I occasionally run 21-core games with 15 cores, myself, along with other methods of keeping the game fresh. But I wanted to put out there that extremely agile motherships don't have to be tiny. And of course, I wanted to pimp my ride xD.

Edit -> You also might want to try out a couple of Hammerheads, with your Shatters, if you have the blueprints. I like 'em with 1x Plasma, 1x Mass Driver, 2x Sniper. 2x Plasma works nicely, as well.

[蛍Firefly]

This is my current setup. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1388337003
I'm only doing the 3-core nonsense after the fact, once the galaxy is conqured.

[Bozobub]

Oh, good ^^'.

[Trilithon]

I'm confused. 21-core game? I can't figure out how to get more than 15/15 cores all the time

[Bozobub]

Play a Sandbox, rather than Campaign game. It's one of the sliders.

[Trilithon]

I am playing Sandbox.. can't find the slider at all :O

[Bozobub]

Originally posted by Trilithon:

I am playing Sandbox.. can't find the slider at all :O

It's one of the few that cannot be changed mid-game, if that's what you are attempting. You'd have to start a new one.

[Trilithon]

Well crap.. Ty for the info though :)