Your weapons of choice - Endless Space

Your weapons of choice

Kinetic

Beam

Missiles

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ron_post

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ron_post

Newcomer

13 years ago

May 20, 2012, 11:59:23 AM

I prefer beams, as I find combat often doesn't get farther than long range, where beam weapons have ~50% hit rate while kinetics have ~25%. Missiles, of course, also do well at long range, but they won't damage ships during the phase unlike beam/kinetic weapons (only hitting at the end of the phase), so they can't degrade incoming damage during the phase.

I generally find the AI putting deflectors on ships, and sometimes flak, but rarely shields, despite my nearly sole use of beam weapons once I get the tech. Against an adaptable opponent, of course you'd want to mix it up, but kinetics will always have an uphill struggle against beam/missile ships.

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Acmer

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Acmer

Newcomer

13 years ago

May 13, 2012, 8:03:06 PM

All missiles for me, because... well, AI built them for me and then I started to like them

Only downside is when the enemy has flak wagons, your missile silos just get ripped to pieces.

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seanw3

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seanw3

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13 years ago

May 13, 2012, 8:31:39 PM

It matters not which I prefer. It only matters which defense the enemy is lacking. You have an advantage by always using a mix. It is pointless to try to counter the enemy's designs because in a few turns they will simply change designs and you will be left with a useless specialization. There is a reason that omnivores rule this puny planet.

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Antulamatsch

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Antulamatsch

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13 years ago

May 16, 2012, 1:50:10 AM

Beam! We need more Lasers! More Lasers!

smiley: biggrin

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kokonite

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kokonite

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13 years ago

May 19, 2012, 5:48:17 PM

Beams, Pinch Guns to be more precise, but they might be bugged or something...

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supersoaker9

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supersoaker9

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13 years ago

May 19, 2012, 6:10:21 PM

+1 to Beam because they're freaking lasers. this does not mean I don't use kinetic and missile weapons extensively.

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Virus

Old

Virus

Old

13 years ago

May 19, 2012, 9:49:46 PM

+1 for Beam cause it is the best weapon ever (unless the missels became drones like in Star Gate)

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Lurky

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Lurky

Newcomer

13 years ago

May 19, 2012, 9:59:52 PM

Mostly use beams with a couple of missiles just to make certain i get a kill.... Amarr for ever btw.

smiley: stickouttongue

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Gaudron

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Gaudron

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13 years ago

May 20, 2012, 11:19:35 AM

If i had to choose it would be beams first, they seem way more powerful than missiles who are way too easy to stop with good flaks, or kinetics who are REALLY usefull only on medium-short range and, same, are countered by small defenses. Maybe fooling myself, but beams always appeared to me to be deadly no matter the range or ennemy shields.

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Oliolli

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Oliolli

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13 years ago

May 20, 2012, 11:21:12 AM

The thing about missiles, however, is that if they're not stopped they do some insane damage.

But yeah, beams FTW.

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FOmar

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FOmar

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13 years ago

May 13, 2012, 7:23:06 PM

VieuxChat wrote:
That's the way the game has been designed. But we all can have some irreal attachment to some things. I prefer missiles for their destructive power. BOOOOOM for the win !

I despise missiles on enemy ships :P

No matter how many defenses I have on my corvettes and even after I've destroyed the enemy ships, a hail of EVIL, SPITEFUL missiles will come sauntering over and pop at least 2 ships :P

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Platescale

Drakken

Platescale

Drakken

13 years ago

May 20, 2012, 1:05:46 PM

I've never seen the AI use flak, which really biases me towards missiles as my primary damage dealer. I still use beams and kinetics as secondaries due to their ability to reduce incoming damage during the round. Mainly beams, but having a good kinetic punishes enemies that use too much shielding. I find that the AI uses plenty of shields.

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Raptor

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Raptor

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13 years ago

May 20, 2012, 1:11:58 PM

Platescale wrote:
I've never seen the AI use flak...

It does use flak, I've seen it on several occasions.

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Platescale

Drakken

Platescale

Drakken

13 years ago

May 20, 2012, 1:18:20 PM

Raptor wrote:
It does use flak, I've seen it on several occasions.

Wish I could figure out what makes the AI choose its defenses! It seems pretty random. The only time I've seen an AI make a halfway intelligent choice was that after I pushed a Craver infestation into a corner with kinetics, they finally switched from shields to deflectors. So I switched to beams. So they switched back to shields. So I switched to kinetics... That experience taught me that wars cost a lot of dust when you use pure-counter builds, and omniweapon builds shed a little effectiveness in exchange for being drastically cheaper to maintain.

What I should've done was switch to missiles. I've wiped factions off the map with missiles, and never even seen flak. It's a shame. I'm really curious how it works and how it looks on the combat videos, but I'm not getting a chance to learn.

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Xetherius

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Xetherius

Newcomer

13 years ago

May 22, 2012, 7:52:50 PM

Putting on a laser light show is always nice, but I prefer the nice thud of a good Gauss or rail gun. To support my argument, I offer you the famous speech from the Gunnery Chief from Mass Effect 2:

Gunnery Chief: This, recruits, is a 20-kilo ferrous slug. Feel the weight. Every five seconds, the main gun of an Everest-class dreadnought accelerates one to 1.3 percent of light speed. It impacts with the force of a 38-kilotomb bomb. That is three times the yield of the city buster dropped on Hiroshima back on Earth.That means Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son-of-a-***** in space. Now! Serviceman Burnside! What is Newton's First Law?

Recruit: Sir! A object in motion stays in motion, sir!

Gunnery Chief: No credit for partial answers, maggot!

Recruit: Sir! Unless acted on by an outside force, sir!

Gunnery Chief: Damn straight! I dare to assume you ignorant jackasses know that space is empty. Once you fire a husk of metal, it keeps going until it hits something. That can be a ship, or the planet behind that ship. It might go off into deep space and hit somebody else in ten thousand years.

If you pull the trigger on this, you're ruining someone's day somewhere and sometime. That is why you check your **** targets! That is why you wait for the computer to give you a **** firing solution! That is why, Serviceman Chung, we do not "eyeball it!" This is a weapon of mass destruction. You are not a cowboy shooting from the hip.

Recruit: Sir, yes sir!

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AngleWyrm

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AngleWyrm

Newcomer

13 years ago

May 22, 2012, 8:34:12 PM

It seems that the answer to which weapon is best changes over time.

Here is a chart listing the minimum damage at the end of one phase, and how it changes as you invest more research into better weapons:

From this picture we see that kinetics put out much more damage near the end of the game than beam weapons do. But that's not the case in the beginning of the game. At the start, you only have Kinetics, and the first upgrade can get better missile weapons.

Also just a little later beam weapons are a good choice because researching shields requires investing RP to get only that defense, but early beam weapons also provide deflector upgrades.

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MiburosWolf

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MiburosWolf

Newcomer

13 years ago

May 22, 2012, 8:49:41 PM

Depends on whether it's early or late game. If it's early game, I go heavy beam with some ships using missile support, since the AI has not yet researched shields or never uses them. I completely destroy them phase 1/2 and they never get to use their kinetics to damage me. If they do, i.e. they have a bigger fleet, I go heavy deflection to minimize my losses. Works like a charm.

Late game takes a LOT more diversity, since the AI is doing the same...except for missiles really. I load up on the long range department with at least 2 battleships and the rest are a mix of beam and kinetics as well as some repair ships (a must, they kick so much ass).

I usually also have a seperate "invasion force" which I give heavy invasion tech, tough defense and a few escort ships.

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ForceApplied

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ForceApplied

Newcomer

13 years ago

May 22, 2012, 10:05:01 PM

While i personally love the concept of kinetics, I had to vote missiles on the sheer effect I've seen them have on the enemy: One nice volley of death from afar, with rarely anyone left to need a second. Haven't used beams enough to weigh an opinion on them yet.

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Sleel

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Sleel

Newcomer

13 years ago

May 23, 2012, 3:14:49 AM

I find kinetics useless. Throw up my deflector buff and my beamships rip %90+ enemy fleets in the first volley. Most of the time without losses. Occasionally loosing a destroyer or two, rarely a capital ship. Only time I rely on kinetics is if I find myself in a game without the resources to 'beam up'. Bout the only thing that goes on my ships besides beams is counter missile batteries, to deal with the rare occasion when enemies both have missile ships, and get the chance to launch them.

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samboy29

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samboy29

Newcomer

13 years ago

May 13, 2012, 12:12:54 PM

Raptor wrote:
What are your preferred weapons you arm your ships with?

1. Kinetic weapons

2. Beam weapons

3. Missiles

Bit ambiguous. In terms of use, they are all very similar so don't have an opinion there. As for graphics, I can't say that I'm really a fan of any. Would be cool if beams were, well, actual beams. And if missiles were fired in large salvos that'd look great and massively enhance the aesthetics of combat in my personal opinion.

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