Duel Beam Banks vs Duel heavy cannons

[Lilith]

whats opinions on using either or a combo of both for a little wider arch , my ships a little slow but im near 100k haul and it works good with my station layouts and current gear. Anyone find duel banks useful vs say an array or just dealing with cannons

[VoodooMike]

Originally posted by Lucifer:

whats opinions on using either or a combo of both for a little wider arch , my ships a little slow but im near 100k haul and it works good with my station layouts and current gear. Anyone find duel banks useful vs say an array or just dealing with cannons

It is generally advised that you not mix-and-match beams and cannons as you can't get the most out of your tactical firing modes when you do. In the current state of the game cannons far outperform beams... but that is obviously predicated on the idea that you can keep your enemies in your front arc most of the time.

Dual Beam Banks are... mostly a waste, at least currently. They're certainly higher damage than Beam Arrays, but they have 1/3 the firing arc. If you can keep enemies in your front arc consistently you're better off with cannons.

This meta may change once the new changes to Beam Overload are finalized. I'm guessing it won't change by a lot, though.

[The Arkady]

Well, I suppose if someone can't maneuver quite well enough to keep dual (heavy) cannons aimed at a target, yet consistently manages to stay within the dual beam firing arc, then maybe there's a use for them; that seems a rather unlikely corner-case scenario, though.

Basically, if you're flying a fast and maneuverable ship, stick to dual (heavy) cannons (+ turrets), unless you absolutely can keep them trained on targets; in the latter case, you mihgt want to switch to a different type of ship, regardless.

On ships slow and turning like a brick, stick to beam arrays (and omnis in the back).

Oh, and you can mix torpedoes in; that's often a good idea, actually, provided you have the right torpedo for a build.

[Gorok Delvedeep]

Originally posted by Lucifer:

whats opinions on using either or a combo of both for a little wider arch , my ships a little slow but im near 100k haul and it works good with my station layouts and current gear. Anyone find duel banks useful vs say an array or just dealing with cannons

get cannon scatter volley 3. in now not only increases damage, but upgrades all cannons to 90 degree cones instead of DHC's 45. combined with the nerf to beams, the nerf to beam abilities, there's no reason to run beams on anything YOu personally can drive and use cannons on.

only reason to have DBB's is if YOu personally suck at driving that particular ship and can't keep the nose on target for 90% of the time

[Eggy]

I break the rules w/a cruiser armed with forward DBB's. Needless to say, it worked far better when my consoles (RCS Accelerators & whatnot) offered a much more significant improvement in maneuverability. It helps to have weapons and abilities that slow your opponent down.

[paintball909]

what better though dual heavy cannons or just dual cannons? i keep hearing regular dual cannons but any of you know which is best?

[VoodooMike]

Originally posted by paintball909:

what better though dual heavy cannons or just dual cannons? i keep hearing regular dual cannons but any of you know which is best?

If your ship is capable, you should mount Dual Heavy Cannons rather than the simple Dual Cannons unless you rely on Kemocite Laced Weapons for a large amount of your damage.

DHC fire more slowly but do more damage.... DC fire faster but do less. The overall number of shots will be higher for DC than DHC, but DHCs have an inherent +10% CritD which makes their basic damage higher (especially as your raise your crit). Most procs are per firing cycle, meaning the number of shots won't matter... but KLW is per shot, so it procs more often based on number of shots fired.

[Gorok Delvedeep]

kemocite was nerfed. so don't rely on it anymore

[VoodooMike]

Originally posted by Gorok Delvedeep:

kemocite was nerfed. so don't rely on it anymore

Kemocite was buffed not too long ago, to a point where it does appreciable damage. What nerf has been done to it since then?

[Lilith]

Originally posted by Gorok Delvedeep:

Originally posted by Lucifer:

whats opinions on using either or a combo of both for a little wider arch , my ships a little slow but im near 100k haul and it works good with my station layouts and current gear. Anyone find duel banks useful vs say an array or just dealing with cannons

get cannon scatter volley 3. in now not only increases damage, but upgrades all cannons to 90 degree cones instead of DHC's 45. combined with the nerf to beams, the nerf to beam abilities, there's no reason to run beams on anything YOu personally can drive and use cannons on.

only reason to have DBB's is if YOu personally suck at driving that particular ship and can't keep the nose on target for 90% of the time

i didnt even think about that increasing my arch , ill have to look into this thanks

[Lilith]

Edit for the most part atm just playing around with ideas , i have gold quality rank 14 duel heavy anti proton cannons. They could be better considering the amount of newer varients that have been relased. I think i will stick with the duel heavy , omni then maybe put 1-2 quantum torpedos.

[alexschulzweil]

Dual Beam Banks have their niche:
- Cannon rapid/spread fire 1-3 is Tier 2-4 while Beam Overload (now de facto "rapid fire for beams") and fire at will 1-3 are Tier 1-3.

Depending on the BOff-Layout of your ship, you can use the better version of Skills (or use any at all)
with 2x Lt. Tac you can use 2x B:FaW Tier2 but only Tier1 in spread fire etc.

- DBBs allow better "control" of your Firepower during fire at will, as all shots go in your front arc, while regular beams spread out at any target in 270°
-> more damage to the target you really WANT to kill (given the fast regeneration of some NPCs this is important)

- with beams you lose less firepower than with cannons, if you are at a larger distance (4km+). This gives you better surivability and usually more DPS. In most PUGs I see Players with cannons often stay to far away from their targets and wasting ~1/3 (or even more) of their Firepower.

-> I have to do the numbers, but i would say an Escort with DBBs and +1 Tier of weapon-ability should outperform an otherwise identical ship with DHCs but worse ability. And are a bit easier to handle/more forgiving.

[Dave of Infamy]

tbh if i have a slow turning ship id rather have all my fore weapons as duel beams and have a couple omni on the back, i make sure that if im flanked from sides i still have atleast 1 single beam on rear and if i can a wide arc torp on rear too however, best thing about having a cannon ship is the trait galvanised munitions it repairs sheilds from damage from cannonfire so if you have heavy cannons on front and blast away head on you will save alot of sheild damage as it repairs from the damage you do and you dont have a trait like that with beams

ill stop waffleling now :P

[★Jaw★]

This is my set up for the most part:

2 dual heavy cannons, 2 Torps on front, 3 turrets, and 1 omni-directional beam array on rear. The damage output is pretty insane. Especially when I use torpedo spread and scatter-shot. One of my torps I like to use either Kentari or Ferengi missles, mostly due to the fast fire rate, and also, cause it looks cool.