So what are the best weapons currently?

[Cipher]

I'm at a loss as to what I should be looking for. I don't have any MK2 mods that I can craft yet so I'm stuck with standard mods. I like Flak 1 just for mining but I've also found Beam Laser 2 to be good at mining because it goes fairly quick and also doesn't spray the ore everywhere.

In general I really like Beam Laser 2 but that's about the only weapon I like using at this point and I can't craft it so I have to luck into it.

[BlackjackGT]

I pretty much stink at the game so far, so I'm unqualified to advise anyone.

I think from blundering experience I just need to stick with the initial light missiles, upgrade them and build them as much as possible. I'm way more effective spamming those than with any other weapon I've used to this point.

[Trance]

Flak Cannon MK 1
Mod it with 1x Rapidfire and 2x Energy Reduction and it's a beast!

Don't bother getting Flak Cannon MK 2. It does less damage, fires faster but has a huge bloom. Hard to hit enemies with all shots and it wastes a lot of energy that way.

[David]

Main problem with Flak 2 over Flak 1 was its reduced proximity, area effect and area damage (because it fired 3x as fast, but I felt it didn't make it up that well). I think they upped the damage in the new patch, so when I play again I'd give Flak 2 another try.

OP, it sounds like you already have an idea of the best weapons (pre-patch):
Flak 1
Beam 2 (according to others, I don't use it- would rather use shieldbreaker/pulse + flak)
Pulse 1 / Gatling 1 (maybe II versions)
Shock 1
Light Missile
Shield Breaker Missle
ARC-9000 (difficult to have many of these though)

^ Try those, patch also changed up weapons and added new ones. I haven't tried it yet, I finished the game and collected all blueprints right after the patch.

[Electric6]

The coil gun I/II is a beast. I try and get one of those each run asap and max out shield damage. The fact that it's instant fire and instant hit makes it really reliable, and it does good hull damage off the bat despite being primarily designed to kill shields. Other than that, the vanilla Gattling gun or MK2 is pretty good with mass hull damage/spread/rate of fire addons.

I personally don't like the flak cannon beyond dealing with swam fighters/mining. It takes too much energy per shot, most of its item budget is in splash damage which is situational at best. Don't really like the shock rifle either, feels similar to the coil gun but the charge up time is annoying.

Definitely don't like the spread cannon either, it feels useless to me. I'd opt for the Fusion Cannon II if you want something spammy and close range. The fusion cannon is actually pretty decent.

Beam 2 is alright as well, although I normally just roll with the coil gun in its place. Haven't tried the heat gun yet.

Funny note: Cluster mines are a pretty good poor man's ARC-9000, they actually do devastating damage to corvettes, freighters and the like. Anything that's moving even slightly when the minefield goes off detonates every mine.

[Cipher]

I found out the power of cluster mines against freighters last night. It one shot the thing which was awesome. I have yet to find a coil gun though.

[It'll Bee OK]

The best weapon I've found after 70 runs is honestly the flak1, subroutine mainframe and a cloak. Got a freighter with 3 escorts? Control one with mainframe (cloak if you fail and try again when off CD) then blast the cargo pods with your flak cannon while your new friend handles the other two escorts.

I also had a lot of fun making an Energy Discharger + Energy Core Extension build. Mk Discharger 1 or 3 doesn't really matter that much they very the cooldown a lot though but damage isn't that varied. I stacked myself up to 320 energy with an Mk3 Discharger which equals ~ 780 AoE damage -- this was enough to wipe out a Freighter, all its cargo pods, and its entire 3 ship escort with one press. If I had to do it again I'd sacriice one of the Energy Core Extensions for a Mk1 Cloak (modded with Energy Reduc Cost) so you can escape after discharging if you fail to kill everything.

[Darknoodles]

If you manage to get Subroutine: Daredevil (weapons dont need energy and deal 25% more damage, but you no longer have shield), it sounds like a bad plan, but it's not.

Along with it, get Front Shield then finally those weapons:
-Thermo Gun 1 ou 2 (or both), mod the 1 with hull damage and fire rate
-Flak Canon 1, same mods
-Scatter Gun 2, same mods
and then whatever you want (head for shield shredders)

Then combine with stasis missiles, shield breaker...
Also, you can use and stack Weapon Overdrive with Damage Boosters, you'll deal tons of damage and be almost invincible with the Front Shield, as long as you dont let the enemy get in your back

[Sundowner]

Something that I'm not seeing a lot of so I'll say it.

Shock Rifle II. I picked one up with a slow down time mod so it helped with aiming. Basically this thing has a range of 4 kilometers so while it doesn't have the best DPS and energy consumption it doesn't matter because you're out of range of all the enemy weapons.

Midrange my go too is Coil Gun II and close combat Fusion Blaster. Thermo Canon I was also fun.

Also, I got a blueprint for the ARC9000 on my second run so...

Always keep one on hand for corvetts if you can.

[FancyShmancee]

Shock Rifle. In one of my runs I could 10 shot a corvette and it couldn't even get a shot off at me.

[Mr. Sweetchuck]

Unlock weapon and item slots early. The more you can carry the merrier...

Flak for groups of drones, swarmers, cloaked snipers
Beam for all around and ease of targeting
The 'new' Coil gun is the classic pewpew blaster, not hard hitting but accurate.
Statis missles cut every debate short.
Front shield projecter for all occasions, at range or dog fighting.

Off topic, don't be afraid to 'skip ahead' and warp to the next system early. Being pinged by three groups of same faction Mk2-3 ships in an empty field just isn't worth the possibilities.

[MostDeaf]

My best run so far has been with upgraded beam cannons. 14k sector 4 run.

[Cipher]

I see. Thanks for the suggestions all. I've just automatically dismissed the Daredevil Subroutine as trash but I'll try pairing it with a front shield sometime. Having infinite shooting energy does sound nice.

[Shaitan]

With the new anti-missile device this build is even more capable.

Devices: Daredevil, Front Shield, Anti-Missile, Weapon Overdrive.

Stack it with any long range, high energy weapon. Stack it with fire rate mods, and weapon booster, go to town.

Anything you don't pop can't touch you anyway.

[sycoman2]

My desired build
devastator + daredevil subroutines
Flack 1 with 2x fire rate 1x hull - I use this for basically everything its stupid good.
Fusion Blaster 2 with fire rate and hull damage - This is for bigger targets, pop a damage booster and corvetts melt in seconds.
Beam Lazer 1 - This is mostly for clearing mines and shooting down missles
Shock Rifle 2 - For the occational fun sniping

I strongly reccomend front shield with 3x CD upgrades for any daredevil build for obvious reasons.

[sycoman2]

Originally posted by Meduka:

Something that I'm not seeing a lot of so I'll say it.

Shock Rifle II. I picked one up with a slow down time mod so it helped with aiming. Basically this thing has a range of 4 kilometers so while it doesn't have the best DPS and energy consumption it doesn't matter because you're out of range of all the enemy weapons.

Midrange my go too is Coil Gun II and close combat Fusion Blaster. Thermo Canon I was also fun.

Also, I got a blueprint for the ARC9000 on my second run so...

Always keep one on hand for corvetts if you can.

Honestly ARC9000 is a wast on corvetts as a damage booster with almost any weapon will still end one in mere seconds.
Probobly worth while on an elite corvett and definately helpfull on frigates though.