Weapons choice : advanced technology is useless ?

[trooper]

Hi, here are not-so-dull questions (I think) :

1)fighter / drone : what are the advantages from one or the other ?

2)Ship cannons : good old depleted uranium cannons seems more deadly than meson bLaster and anti-protons guns. any good reason to choose these weapons ?

3)Missiles : plasma bomb and anti-matter torpedoes are quite harmless, opposite to capital missiles,aren't they ?

4) Master computer opposite to crew support : can't see the advantage (first, it takes more space in the ship...).

And Last, on another topic :

5) I wanted to perform research in physics (level 2) and point defense weapons (level 2), but the research windows gives "0.0 years" for completion. Reason why ?

[DavidG]

Originally posted by trooper:
Hi, here are not-so-dull questions (I think) :

4) Master computer opposite to crew support : can't see the advantage (first, it takes more space in the ship...).

And Last, on another topic :

5) I wanted to perform research in physics (level 2) and point defense weapons (level 2), but the research windows gives "0.0 years" for completion. Reason why ?

Master Computer are immune to Aleigance subverters.

If the completeion of a project says 0.0 years it means that no research points are being spent on it. If it is the second project then likely all your point are going into the first project

[Arkcon]

Originally posted by trooper:
Hi, here are not-so-dull questions (I think) :

2)Ship cannons : good old depleted uranium cannons seems more deadly than meson bLaster and anti-protons guns. any good reason to choose these weapons ?

3)Missiles : plasma bomb and anti-matter torpedoes are quite harmless, opposite to capital missiles,aren't they ?

If you do not like them, don't use them. When your enemy uses them against you, you will learn their use.

[Dragon of the void]

Not to forget:

Master Computer I : 40kT (regardless of size of ship)
Master Computer III: 20kT

So if you improve your MC, you get smaller ones. And on a baseship, even a MC I is much smaller than the needed cockpit/crewq./lifesupport, since more are needed.

[oleg]

Trooper, keep playing SE IV and once you get to high levels of meson bLasters, fighters, etc. you will learn their usefullness.
But yes, DUC V is the best weapon earlier on untill your enemy get to Physics II and PPB...

[dogscoff]

Meson bLasters are very good little weapons. If you work out the damage per kiloton per combat turn (ie taking size & reload times into account) then they have one of the highest values after the High energy weapons.

Also, they are only 20kt so you can squeeze them onto ships which don't have enough room left for a bigger weapon.

[rdouglass]

Originally posted by dogscoff:
Meson bLasters are very good little weapons...

I just recently am finding out just HOW useful they are. They research relatively quickly and are (IMO) a nice first weapon for non-racial setups. Lately I've een using only 2K racial points and letting the AI use 5K so there isn't a lot of room for racial types (since I really like Advanced Storage Techniques... )

[Baron Munchausen]

Originally posted by trooper:
Hi, here are not-so-dull questions (I think) :

1)fighter / drone : what are the advantages from one or the other ?

2)Ship cannons : good old depleted uranium cannons seems more deadly than meson bLaster and anti-protons guns. any good reason to choose these weapons ?

3)Missiles : plasma bomb and anti-matter torpedoes are quite harmless, opposite to capital missiles,aren't they ?

4) Master computer opposite to crew support : can't see the advantage (first, it takes more space in the ship...).

And Last, on another topic :

5) I wanted to perform research in physics (level 2) and point defense weapons (level 2), but the research windows gives "0.0 years" for completion. Reason why ?

1)
Fighters are very small, cannot warp, and have very limited range. But they can form Groups and attack en masse -- which muliplies their power, and they can be recovered after being launched and re-used.

Drones are huge for units, meaning they are harder to destroy than fighters. Large Drones are larger than an Escort in the standard game. They can travel through warp points and go long distances towards a remote target IF you can see the target with some other ship or unit. They attack by ramming and cannot be recovered once launched. Think of them as 'cruise missiles'.

Each has it's uses. It's good to have both but you will probably find fighters more flexible.

2) The damage per hit from a Depleted Uranium Cannon looks better than the damage per hit from a Meson BLaster or a low-level Anti-Proton beam, but this is not the whole story. Compare the damage per shot to the size of the component. You will find that the damage/size ratio of the Meson BLaster is better and for the higher level APB is it MUCH better. There are many factors to consider in rating a weapon. Damage per hit is only one.

3) This is a continuation of #2. Torpedos do seem to be at a disadvantage to 'once per turn' firing weapons but there are other things to consider. They do not have range attenuation (reduced damage at greater range) while many other weapons do, for example. And while they do less total damage over a combat session, the greater damage per hit is useful against special defenses like Emissive Armor that reduce a certain amount of damage from each hit. So it can be quite useful to have one torpedo on each of your ships.

4) Master Computer I takes more space than the BASIC crew/lifesupport/bridge of a small ship. Up to a light cruiser. larger ships require more crew quarters and life support and the different adds up. It is well worth using the MC on a battleship. Also, later Master Computers get smaller.

And as others have pointe dout there are other advantages.

5) It says "0.0 Years" when there are no research points be spent on the project. Either you haven't built any research facilities or something else is being researched and must be finished before these other projects can be gotten to. You can re-arrange the order of the projects if you think it's important.

[Taera]

#2, #3 - Good questions. About two years ago, playing SEIII, i was wondering what are the uses of mesons, torpedoes, plasma missiles etc. For the fun of it i played with the designs... resulting in destroyers that were about 1/3 cost of a normal attack ships (LC, CR, BC) meaning that i could build 3 of them for every enemy ship. Also, those three could easily beat any other attack ship encountered and sometimes even two of them.

In SEIV mesons are the king weapon of the early game. Cheap, average damage, one-turn-shot. Medium range. Ok, doesnt look that good, right? Now try this - build a LC and fill it with larger DUCs. Count the damage-per-turn. Now do the same for mesons. You'll see the difference.

APBs? why, they are the only small weapons with ROF 1 that have the maximum range of a direct weapon. Up to about VII level they are pretty weak, but if you keep researching you'll have one of the best weapons in the game.

Torpedoes... ever met the Rage race, one of the best single-player AIs? I was wondering could i design a ship that could beat their cruiser filled with PPBs and NSP. Guess what it was? a LC filled with engine damagers, shield depleters and TORPEDOES. Yes, they have (i think) 1 range more than the Rage and good planning could put you on maximum range where torpedoes have much more advantage than the PPB.

Plasma Missiles are superior to CSM in any way. Yes, they have less damage, but THEY MOVE FASTER, usualy not allowing second barrage of PDCs. Its either you kill them all or you get hit. Nasty in combination with repulsers.

Anyway, the point is, every weapon has its use. Sometimes. You jsut havent encountered the need for these.

[capnq]

More points that others haven't raised:

Fighters can be "parked" in orbit or a warp point, and won't use supplies until they move again or get into combat. After drones are launched, they use supplies every turn, even if they don't do anything, so they can't be left in place indefinitely.

If you want to research two projects, you can turn on "Divide Points Evenly". It just takes a bit of micromanagement to make sure you don't waste any points.