Best weapon mod

[Spike]

I was reading on other forms what the best mods are. I know [Pen] is a must have for crafted items but in addition, I'm stuck understanding [Crtd] and [Dmg]. I am a tactical officer, and as a TO was told [Dmg] is better over [Crtd]. Is that true? I am trying to get my phasers to do more damage. I have good consoles. For example, would a phaser beam with [Crtd]x3 or a [Dmg]x3 be better overall?

[MeisterGlanz]

First of all, these standard weapon mods only affect the weapon they are on. They do not affect other weapons equipped on the same ship.

Dmg boosts the base damage of a weapon, while crtd boosts the critical damage of a weapon, so the damage that is done on a critical hit.

Which is better depends on how high your global crit chance is. Your global crit chance can be raised with tactical fleet spire consoles or special reputation consoles, set items or boff abilities.

Usually you can't go wrong with Dmg mods in space, because you are not so reliant on keeping your global crit chance above 25%.
However, if you build yourself a crit heavy character, let's say a tactical romulan, then you could reach a crit chance threshold where crtd is better than Dmg. This is because tac roms can increase their crit chance higher than feds / kings due to all their bridge officers can have the superior romulan operative trait.

That said, you can't go wrong with any mix of both.