Make beam deal 25% damage at medium range.

I feel the beam weapon is rarely a good choice opposed to equal level other weapons. It may deal more damage than equal level weapons on paper, but when looking at the consistency of that dps in battle severely under performs.

Example:

In the example below I am using a made up formula which assumes there are a total of 30 seconds of combat potentially divided into three ranges.

The value called 'Normal' damage assumes the player picks a battlecard which has the best ranges for your weapon, but the enemy counters that range with their battlecard pick intelligently. This will result in a Long, Medium, Short engagement.

Beam

DPS: 19

Able to fire at one range (short).

This means in most battles at can at least fire for one third of a battle.

Normal damage (long, medium, short): 0 + 0 + 190 = 190, actual dps: 6.3

Optimal damage (short, short, short): 190 + 190 + 190 = 570, actual dps: 19

Worst case: (medium, medium, medium): 0 + 0 + 0 = 0, actual dps: 0

Missile

DPS: 11

A missile weapon can fire at two ranges: long and medium (80%).

This means, in most battles, it can at least fire for two thirds of a battle.

Normal damage (long, medium, short): 110 + 88 + 0 = 198, actual dps: 6.6

Optimal damage (long, long, long): 110 + 110 + 110 = 330, actual dps: 11

Worst case: (short, short, short): 0 + 0 + 0 = 0, actual dps: 0

Laser

DPS: 6

Able to fire at all ranges, short being 80% effective.

Normal damage (long, medium, short):  60 + 60 + 48 = 168, actual dps: 5.6

Optimal damage (long, long, long):  60 + 60 + 60 = 180, actual dps: 6

Worst case: (short, short, short): 48 + 48 + 48 = 144, actual dps: 4.8

Kinetic

DPS: 6

Able to fire at all ranges, long 80% effective.

Shoots down incoming missiles, which is great utility.

Normal damage (long, medium, short): 48 + 60 + 60 = 168, actual dps: 5.6

Optimal damage (short, short, short): 60 + 60 + 60 = 180, actual dps: 6

Worst case (long, long, long): 48 + 48 + 48 = 144, actual dps: 4.8

Now, on paper the beam seems to deal a lot of DPS right? If you manage to luck out and get your opponent to also choose a short battlecard then yes, it is absolutely wonderful.

However, this does not happen consistently in the real world, so you usually end up shooting the enemy at the last(if at all) phase of battle, where you took all the hits from their weaponry first.

This is especially vexing when matching up against a missile heavy enemy. They deal all their potential damage before you even had a chance to deal any of your damage, most likely taking losses in the process, decreasing your dps by a lot, because there are less of your ships to fire those beams.

This all is assuming a 1v1 flotilla setup, most battles mid to late game have multiple flotillas, which will cause a lot of sub optimal ranges and most likely cause a lot of beam weapons to do nothing at all that battle.

What this also reveals, the laser and kinetic weapons are a lot more consistent in their dps, where they actually deal close to their advertised dps. Where kinetic weapons even have a defensive trait to boot.

Again, if you look at the 'Normal Damage', the damage doesn't really differ that much from the other weapons, even though you have to take a massive risk to deal that damage.

Alrighty, what do you propose?

I propose beams deal 25% damage on medium range. Making them actually do something in most battles.

For completeness sake, example of improved beam:

Beam (improved)

DPS: 19

Able to fire at short range for 100% damage, medium at 25% damage, cannot fire at long.

This means in most battles at can at least fire for two third of a battle.

Normal damage (long, medium, short): 0 + 95 + 190 = 270, actual dps: 7.9

Optimal damage (short, short, short): 190 + 190 + 190 = 570, actual dps: 19

Worst case: (long, long, long): 0 + 0 + 0 = 0, actual dps: 0

TL:DR

Beams are extreme risk, mediocre reward weapons, because you might not even get the chance to fire them if you take to much damage before entering short range. I propose to make them deal 25% of their damage at medium range in addition to their existing 100% damage at short range to make them a lot more consistent.