Pulse vs beam vs missile vs wave cannons vs xxx

from Sins Forums
Is there any essential difference between these weapon types other than characteristics like phase miniaturization for the Vasari that you research? eg wave hitting a certain armour type or ship type better than pulse? Or is the main purpose of the different weapon types to make sure that you can't improve all the weapons on your fleet at once but some ships get stronger than others depending on which weapon type you upgrade?
strategy
10,371 views 16 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
No interest?

Has anyone noticed whether missile-based weapons have a better chance to hit than beam weapons?
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
Or is the main purpose of the different weapon types to make sure that you can't improve all the weapons on your fleet at once but some ships get stronger than others depending on which weapon type you upgrade?
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I think that's pretty much it. The hit-rates are set globally based on the classes, AFAIK, and armor/damage types are set on the ship (also based on class), independently from weapon type.
Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
To elaborate on kryo's, this is from gameplay.constants:

DamageData
ChanceToHitTargetType:ANTIVERYLIGHT
CAPITALSHIP 1.00000
INTERCEPTOR 0.700000
BOMBER 0.850000
ChanceToHitTargetType:ANTILIGHT
CAPITALSHIP 1.00000
INTERCEPTOR 0.650000
BOMBER 0.75
ChanceToHitTargetType:ANTIMEDIUM
CAPITALSHIP 1.00000
INTERCEPTOR 0.1000000
BOMBER 0.1000000
ChanceToHitTargetType:ANTIHEAVY
CAPITALSHIP 1.00000
INTERCEPTOR 0.100
BOMBER 0.100000
ChanceToHitTargetType:ANTIVERYHEAVY
CAPITALSHIP 1.00000
INTERCEPTOR 0.100
BOMBER 0.200000
ChanceToHitTargetType:COMPOSITE
CAPITALSHIP 1.00000
INTERCEPTOR 0.100
BOMBER 0.100000
ChanceToHitTargetType:CAPITALSHIP
CAPITALSHIP 1.00000
INTERCEPTOR 0.100
BOMBER 0.100000
ChanceToHitTargetType:CAPITALABILITY
CAPITALSHIP 1.000000
INTERCEPTOR 1.000000
BOMBER 1.000000

Specific damage modifiers based on damage type vs armor type are also in gameplay.constants. But basically, hit/miss only comes into play against fighters and bombers.
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
Just an idea for a major patch or maybe the expansion:
Why not tie the weapon tech to damage types?
Right now we got phase missiles that deal anti very light and phase missiles that deal anti very heavy. Wouldn't it be cool to always have phase missiles as anti X and always have beams as anti Y ?
Would require a rework of the techs involved as well but besides being cool it would also add strategic depth (upgrades would focus on which kind of ship you want to defeat).
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
Seems like a good idea to me MegaVolt... It would also be more logical. At the moment the weapon type for each ship seems to have been chosen rather arbitrarily.
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
Seems like a good idea to me MegaVolt... It would also be more logical. At the moment the weapon type for each ship seems to have been chosen rather arbitrarily.
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How so? The roles each ship plays are set, but if you look there are patterns to which units get which weapons.
Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
There is a real difference between these weapons:

It is the speed of the projectiles.

Missles take longer to hit their targets.

This matters in regards to focus fire, so be careful not to "overkill" when using missle type weapons. Other than that.. the specifics of the weapon are not important, it's only the damage type OF THE SHIP that matters as Annatar11 shows.
Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top
There is a real difference between these weapons:

It is the speed of the projectiles.

Missles take longer to hit their targets.

This matters in regards to focus fire, so be careful not to "overkill" when using missle type weapons. Other than that.. the specifics of the weapon are not important, it's only the damage type OF THE SHIP that matters as Annatar11 shows.
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That's a very good point - I'm surprised no one mentioned this yet. Missile's are a bit more effort to micro
Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top
I also noticed that missiles will sometimes fly around a target if fired at a poor angle. They won't actually do thier damage till the last missile in a volley hits. No big deal for an Assailant but sort of annoying for some Vasari mother ships. And if the ship they are attacking has beam weapons it can get off an extra shot. Not huge but there it is.
Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top
Presumably missiles are 360 degree weapons while other weapons have to be mounted in one direction or another. I would think one approach would be to make different kinds of beam weapons have different ranges.
Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top
I also noticed that missiles will sometimes fly around a target if fired at a poor angle. They won't actually do thier damage till the last missile in a volley hits. No big deal for an Assailant but sort of annoying for some Vasari mother ships. And if the ship they are attacking has beam weapons it can get off an extra shot. Not huge but there it is.
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That is annoying regarding the siege caps for vasari and Tec, but it doesn't actually have much of an effect on the game since the "overkill" from a single cap ship isn't significant.

Missiles are NOT 360 degree firing weapons.. I think it ends up being more like 180 degrees. Comparing the "firing arc in degrees" of these weapons is good though.

What are the firing arcs of these types of weapons? Are they all around 180 degrees?

Are some of them 90 degrees?
Reply #13 from Sins Forums Top
There is a real difference between these weapons:It is the speed of the projectiles.Missles take longer to hit their targets.This matters in regards to focus fire, so be careful not to "overkill" when using missle type weapons. Other than that.. the specifics of the weapon are not important, it's only the damage type OF THE SHIP that matters as Annatar11 shows.That's a very good point - I'm surprised no one mentioned this yet. Missile's are a bit more effort to micro
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Untrue.

The AI changes targets before the missiles hit. The game knows not to over-fire too much.
Quite sophisticated, really.
Reply #14 from Sins Forums Top
The AI may, but if you are focusing fire yourself you have to watch this.

I used this to maximize the rate at which I destroyed your diciples last night.

To be fair innociv beat me though, no thanks to Drexion.
Reply #15 from Sins Forums Top
Megavolt: I too would have set it up like that. It doesnt make sense for weapons on 1 ship to be drastically different then on another, but I guess they were going for the R-P-S approach to balance. IMO thats the easier way, and it takes away some of the realism/tactical nature of the game.
Reply #16 from Sins Forums Top
Yes that is because missiles have a homing device in them to track vessels to a degree