Why in the best load out , the game places beam turrets ?

[dmansail]

and what is the use of them?

[Venerable_Sin]

The advantage beam turrets have over other turrets is projectile travel time. It applies instant damage. Other than that they are not very unique compared to other turrets. The damage output is reduced because of this.

[Azunai]

High preset uses L beams because they are the most expensive turret. I don't think there is more to it.

In practice, they are good for a dedicated anti fighter loadout. I find that somewhat pointless since i use destroyers primarily to kill stations and xenon battleships, so i always use plasma for the L turrets.

[flywlyx]

They are the most expensive turrets in most cases.

[Geist]

Originally posted by dmansail:

and what is the use of them?

It wants to troll you.

Beam turrets are nice if you use weapon modifications to increase damage. But otherwise pretty useless. Sure, you could argue that they are great for missile defense because they auto-hit. Except they are not, because the rotation is too slow.
I never understood why Egosoft made all the beam weapons so weak. Shooting an enemy with beams results in a terrible "time to kill" and is therefore not fun. And I tried to like them. I used 2 beams on my S-class player ship, but killing anything that was not a scout or fighter turned into a looooooong chore.

[¥aeko]

tbf, having a pimped L Beam turret at the rear of a Rattler is very useful. (but not more than that)

[dmansail]

So , which turret is the best for missile defense ? and which mod on beam is the best?

[Comander-07]

Put 8 L Beams on your Syn and watch fighters melt

[dmansail]

I modified a Dragon with all weapons Beams, the ship made a havoc to enemy lines. I want to mention that i had 2 Takoba for escorts with shard batteries. They did well also.

[Doom]

Originally posted by dmansail:

and what is the use of them?

L beam turrets are anti-fighter.

M beam turrets... well... are when you don't want to blow up friendlies with argon flak. (Made a turret wall station recently. Beams + Flak. One salvo --> RIP xenon ship and RIP six ANT freighters that were nearby. "Reputation lost, unauthorized kill...")

[¥aeko]

Originally posted by dmansail:

I modified a Dragon with all weapons Beams, the ship made a havoc to enemy lines. I want to mention that i had 2 Takoba for escorts with shard batteries. They did well also.

try modified pulse thingies from terrans on it, yummy.

[Venerable_Sin]

The Large beam weapon turret shines when combined with other station defense modules. Especially when you have built a gate blockade station. When a wall of plasma balls feel like cheating, A wall of laser beams feel more like meh, it's only kind of cheating now. XD

[Cellar_Cat]

The weird thing is, the in game descriptions imply beams should *not* be the most expensive turret. It's framed as an entry level option whereas in reality it's neither available early due to rep nor (comparatively) affordable.

[dmansail]

Yes, there are many dubious things in the game....like missiles to be slower than ships!!!

[Geist]

Originally posted by dmansail:

Yes, there are many dubious things in the game....like missiles to be slower than ships!!!

Yes, but that is by design, because they are not meant to be missiles like we use them in aerial combat today, but more like missiles in "Star Wars" with glowing trails for dramatic effect, giving characters time to react, dodge, counter, instead of "almost instantaneous boom".

They are also quite weak compared to the other weapons.

In general, all the weapons have a much too low range and their damage output is also way off compared to their size. I mean, have you seen the size of those L-turrets? Have you ever gotten into your spacesuit next to one of those and used the external camera? If not, try it, just for the lol's, those things are gigantic.

[Geist]

Originally posted by Cellar_Cat:

The weird thing is, the in game descriptions imply beams should *not* be the most expensive turret. It's framed as an entry level option whereas in reality it's neither available early due to rep nor (comparatively) affordable.

I talked to one of their developers about it once. It is called entry level because it always hits instantly and does not require skill to aim. Not because it is entry level in terms of affordability or availability.
Personaly I still would make them the cheapest guns to in terms of gameplay loop justify the minor damage and thus the benefit of the smaller versions for S and M ships.