Variable Phaser/ Laser ??

[Ekental]

So my understanding of this is it provides PD and is 96/120 of a normal Phaser for a higher tech level.

If I equip these on a ship however and set the weapon to fire at : (testing mode)

PD: It fires at Point Blank, which normal Phasers do as well and end up stopping very litte.

All/Anything Else: Doesn't fire at all.

Has anyone gotten these to be effective, and if so how?

As usual thanks in advance.

[Amalgamachinist]

Yeah, something odd happened to variables. In weapon test you need to set fire mode for them, but in combat they do that automaticaly. Still dedicated laser PD is still more effective.

[Resok]

Works fine in combat. Ignore the behavior in weapon test mode currently. The quick and dirty is you don't need to set them to PD mode - just leave them on 'All' and they'll fire the appropriate weapon mode depending on what targets are in range.

Because the targets are always 'in range' in the weapon test mode they fire on those instead of swapping to PD mode.

[Resok]

For variable phasers, in real combat what you get is added PD potential in your medium mounts when you're not in range of enemy ships, and still the normal combat potential of phasers while in close.

For variable lasers they're a bit less effective than laser PD, but they give you the edge in close combat against enemies packing dedicated PD weaponry. So you're trading some defensive potential for extra close ranged potential.

[Ryat]

Variable Phasers are great for Leviathens as they have no small mounts.

[Fendelphi]

I enjoy Variable Lasers for Deflector/Brawler designs, where I dont "need" PD.

While closing in with the enemy, it will shoot down incomming missiles or drones(not to mention boarding pods), reducing the impact on other, unshielded ship designs which stays further back.
And when they get close enough, they have increased firepower instead of being stuck with PD-only weaponry, allowing them to take down enemies quite fast, inspite of "sacrificing" firepower for the Deflector command section.

I also like Variable Lasers on BRs, as it gives them some decent PD when closing in, and adds to their killing power when close.

I am not that big a fan of Variable Phasers.

[Amalgamachinist]

Originally posted by Resok:

Works fine in combat.

Yeah, they do switch automaticaly, but for some reason are not very effective at swatting missiles. They shoot like ONE pulse at it, and then reload, and again one pulse. Dunno, maybe it's just me.

[Ekental]

Appreciate the replies,

EDIT: Upon further testing, in combat missiles are shot at by PD (PD Phasers), but not Variable Phasers. Maybe the Medium Mounts just track poorly but after setting them on ALL I notice they don't fire at missiles flying by them. Setting them on PD is different but I kinda thought the point was to be more hands free with the setup.

As with phasers I just wanted to make sure they actually make an attempt to fire at ordinance rather than doing it at point blank.

I specifically wanted them for my Levi anyways and the other option was to go Carrier Levi w/ Escort BRs filled w/ PD. I still will probably do that but it's great to know variable phasers do... stuff.

I can see potential in Variable Lasers but only on certain ship types as mentioned above.