Is it just me, or are beam weapons of such limited use that one is better off just using the other weapon types exclusively?

I've been playing a few battles and for some reason, beam weapons don't seem to even fire until the very end, and I don't see any significant use for them otherwise. I tried, but I can't seem to find a way for beam carrying ships to get into close range faster either (do we have modules that speed up how fast we close in on the enemy fleets?).

Am I just missing something? :(

Yes currently they are pointless to have.
Maybe the final aim is to make them very good against fighters / bombers?
Until we get next updates that will change anything here don't use them.

True.

Hi,

In Update 2 (you can currently play a preview version on Steam), firing ranges are now fixed for each of the 3 phases.
For example:

• If you take a short range intention and the opponent takes long range, you will be at long then medium then short range (for an equal duration)
• If you take a short range and the opponent too, you will be at short range during the entire battle

This means that by having beams and taking a short range intention, you will have between 33% and 100% of shooting opportunities, way better than before!

But we agree with you, weapons still need some tweaking.

In the official update 2, beams damage will be increased again to confirm their rationale: fewer shooting opportunities but ravaging effects.

I suggested in the other thread that beams could act too as point defense weapons (I mean Lasers are even starting to play this role in our own reality). (and to compensate, torpedoes/missiles ought not to have a decreased efficiency at short range imho) 

Must admit, when watching fights it's difficult to gauge what is happening range wise. Are you considering throwing the propulsion systems into the mix too ?

Mysterarts wrote:

Hi,

In Update 2 (you can currently play a preview version on Steam), firing ranges are now fixed for each of the 3 phases.
For example:

• If you take a short range intention and the opponent takes long range, you will be at long then medium then short range (for an equal duration)
• If you take a short range and the opponent too, you will be at short range during the entire battle

This means that by having beams and taking a short range intention, you will have between 33% and 100% of shooting opportunities, way better than before!

But we agree with you, weapons still need some tweaking.

In the official update 2, beams damage will be increased again to confirm their rationale: fewer shooting opportunities but ravaging effects.

I just read this, and tried the recent update. I must say the feel of playing with beams has definitely improved for some reason, though I have yet to check why.

But thanks! Sorry for the late reply.

If beam weapons could intercept torpedoes then they would be pretty damn great. They don't get that early high damage but they won't get wrecked by it either.