Energy Siphon worth it?

[Professor Von-Wulfen ]

Hello all.
I have the change to research Frequency Tuning, unlocks Energy Siphon.
I did a bit of reading online but opinions seem split.
Has this changed with 2.2?

[HugsAndSnuggles]

That really depends on settings and playstyle. I'd say it should work fine for the first 50ish years, then you'd better upgrade.

[corisai]

Originalmente postado por Baron Von-Wulfen:

When you say early game, what date would I be looking at? Just started a new game and have the option again.

First 20-30 years. Maybe up to 50 (difficulty setting and will or will not you're using AI mod is very important here).

Just look on your games - when you're able to get T3 railguns or autocannons without focusing access to them?

P.S. I just realized that my experience may a bit misleading, as most of my latest game I'd used 125-150% research cost to slow down tech progress in mid game.

[petrt7]

Originalmente postado por corisai:

Originalmente postado por Elitewrecker PT:

Railgun is starter.

Energy siphon is COMPLETELY better then starter railgun and T2 railgun. As anti-shield weapon is also better then T3 railgun.

I hope that your answer is based on your experiences however I really doubt that such result can be correct for standard settings of the game.
In my game, energy siphon has average damage 3.46, small mass driver has 2.28 and small coilgun has 3.04. All these weapons have the same range (50) and tracking (50%), but energy siphon has 200% (+100%) effectivity against shields and 25% (-75%) against armor, while mass driver and coilgun have 150% against shields and 50% against armor.
So these values means following average damage against shields, armor and hull:
energy siphon: 6.92, 0.87, 3.46
mass driver: 3.42, 1.14, 2.28
coilgun: 4.56, 1.52, 3.04
So energy siphon has more than double effectivity against shields comparing with mass driver, is significantly better against hull but is worse against armor. Comparing with coilgun, it is still much better against shields and better against hull but significantly worse against armor.
Of course, we need to take all three parts into account as they together say how good the weapon really is. Based on exact data saying how fast will be enemy destroyed with each weapon, results are following:
Against usual corvettes using 2 deflectors and 1 plate of basic armor, it is better than mass driver but coilgun is (very slightly) better.
Against corvettes with 2 pieces of armor and 1 deflector, it is still better than mass driver but clearly worse than railgun.
Against spaceports (level 2 station), energy siphon is slightly better than mass driver (but combination of lasers and missile would do better work anyway) and clearly worse than coilgun.
Against space monsters without shields and good armor (like amoebas :)), it is even worse than mass driver. In my last game I have made a big mistake, when I sent corvettes equipped with siphon against amoebas and lost battle although my power was theoretically significantly higher.
Not to mention that energy siphon research last more time than coilgun research and you need +5 power and +5 alloys (it is even more expensive than coilgun), so it is very questionable if it is worth to research it. In game I have mentioned, it was researched in 2213, caused lost battle with heavy causalties (and serious consequences as my expansion is stopped) and in 2219 it is being replaced by coilguns...

[Elitewrecker PT]

Check the date...

[happyscrub]

Zombie dance.

Cause this is thriller!!!! Thriller night!!!!