Beams v Missiles

[geoschmo]

Simple mathematics really:

Name := Capital Ship Missile V
Tonnage Space Taken := 50
Weapon Seeker Dmg Res := 50

Name := Point - Defense Cannons V
Tonnage Space Taken := 20
Weapon Damage At Rng := 65 65 65 65 65

One PDC takes less then half the space, and kills one missle per shot. Forget the fact that the PDC is way cheaper then the missle too. It should be plainly obvious that you simply can't overwhelm PDC with missles without having your opponent way outnumbered in ships. All you are doing by using missles is giving your opponent a sporting chance. Rate of fire is not even relevant. Organic missles are no better. You could have CSM's that fire every turn and travel a speed of 20 and you'd still lose unless you had more ships then the other guy simply because of the difference in tonnage space taken. Because he can put one PDC on his ships for every missle you have and he'll be unhitable by your missles. And he'll have enough room left over for direct fire weapons to shoot back at you.