PPB is the best weapon in the game. Discuss.

[Dragonlord]

Hi all,

After playing for a few months now, it seems to me that the PPB (Phased Polaron beam) is the best weapon by far in this game, but that it unfortunately unbalances the game. (this applies mostly to PBW multiplayer)

Missiles are useless (as discussed in other threads) because PD is too cheap and strong.
Same for fighters.
DUC's: I start with them but don't bother to research em to level 5, I go straight for Physics 2 and PPB's. I can usually avoid any wars until I have the PPB. It devastates any opponent who went with shields in stead of armor, and it takes a long time before you get worthwile levels of phased shields (3 and up).

Even in the late game (turn 80 upwards) I stick with PPB. I find they outgun graviton beams, rippers, and even WMG's.
I base this on direct-fire attack ships, the bulk of my fleets. Other weapons might be useful in very specialised circumstances (e.g. a battle station with rippers, or a boarding ship with shield depleters). But in order to do most damage, consistently, in large battles, stick with PPB's.

Numbers: don't just look at damage per kiloton ratio's, but look at damage per kiloton per combat turn. A wave-motion gun III (tough to research) has a better damage/kiloton (size) ration than a PPB, but only fires once every three turns. In three turns an enemy ship with PPB's will have done more damage than it's counterpart with WMG's. (ignore chance to hit ratios etc since that depends on sensors etc, not on weapon type). Range? sure a WMG has more range, but does that matter in large fleet battles in strategic combat? Even if you use maximum weapons range, you usually can't shoot and then move away far enough for the enemy (with PPB) to be unable to catch up to you while you reload.

Conslusion: this is not good. It's boring for me to stick to the same weapon throughout an entire game, having found after much experimentation that other ship designs are inferior. I tried missile ships, I tried battleships with the tractor/graviton/repulser combo, etc.
The only thing that comes close is a battleship loaded with Rippers and set to point-blank strategy. Other special weapons (like bio bombs) are nice ideas but only remotely useful in the first 20 turns or so, when you can quickly infect a planet using one to three ships. Later, it's either glass em or capture em.

Am I missing something here?
Your comments are welcome !

Oh while I'm at it: why would anyone bother with dreadnoughts? Battleships give the same heavy mount and have one more speed. I find dreads just slow down my fleets.

Now what I'd really like to know is how range to target affects your chance to hit, and if this is different for each weapon. Where can I find more info / stats on that?
Thanks,
Dragonlord