Underappreciated Weapons

[Deathstalker]

They are in every game, from Moo1, Diablo, to SE4, weapons that at first glance seem useless or just not used.

These are my top 5 underappreciated weapons.

1: Ionic Disperser (engine damage, not blocked by shields or armor, combined with Ripper Beams it rocks!!)
2: Ripper Beam (Major damage, but close range, combine with Trac beam).
3: Tractor Beam or Repulser Beam, both have there uses.(combo: Trac/Ripper/Repulse!)
4: Wormhole Beam: Rocks!! Hit 'em and then send them to the far side of the map!
5: tie: Meason BLaster/DUC damage that is not reduced by range!
(6: honorable mention: Tach Projection Canon, take out weapons without damaging the rest of the ship!).

Anyone else have some suggestions for weapons that rock at second glance??

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"The Empress took your name away," said Chance.
Owen smiled coldly. "It wasn't hers to take. I'm a Deathstalker until I die. And we never forget a slight or an enemy." -Owen Deathstalker.

[Puke]

I think the electron discharge should go here. its sort of poopey as a ship weapon, but it is one of the most efficient fighter / troop weapons in the game. I think the APB is a under-rated weapon. in the end-game, it is a better weapon than the PPB since everyone should have phased shields anyhow.

also, smartbombs are great. you can often disable the entire resource production of a system by taking out a spaceport. you can shutdown production by taking out a shipyard, then muster forces for invasion. unless you are the Nausea Heap, in which case you would have a tendency to reduce your ground combat effectiveness to nothing in favor of techno-industrial superiority (and i dont mean music)

[Taqwus]

Heh. In my present game (current goal: *trying* to get some form of Lasting peace between allies w/o resorting to mass genocide...), I've got both APB and ID designs.


"Long"-range DN: something like 1x heavy shield depleter and 7x heavy APB XII. Combined with training (for a 40% hit/def bonus; both fleet and ship experience), racial bonuses (10% attack, 10% defense), ECM/Sensors, and both "special" armor (scattering/stealth -- another +30% def), they're great at standing off at range 7-8. *Especially* against ships that rely on shields due to the 450-pt depleter, and units (WPs, for instance, can't get the experience bonuses...).

Medium-range BC: older design with PPBs. Useful for finishing off crippled foes, not expected to hold the line.

Short-range DN: 1x heavy ionic disrupter (120 pts -> 6 engines), 3x heavy null-space projector (180 ea., ignore armor/shield), 1x heavy PPB, 1x heavy repulsor beam. Great for crippling enemy ships and hurling out of their formation, but really needs the APB ships for their better range and ROF. And immobile ships are sitting ducks for the other DNs and BCs.

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

[Sinapus]

quote:

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Originally posted by Deathstalker:
5: tie: Meason BLaster/DUC damage that is not reduced by range!

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Actually, the Meson BLaster V and VI edges out the DUC V. DUC costs less research, though, so my usual strategy is to research to DUC V, then switch to Meson BLasters V and VI when I manage to research them.

[Lemmy]

those ionic disperser are definitely not under-appreciated by me, after i researched completely, i put one on each ship.i disable it engine and leave it there for my escort size ships with allegiance subverter to capture them.
i'm currently also researching tach projection cannon, and i'm planning to use it.

i think the best thing about it is that they penetrate shields. i could research PPB, but they will eventually be obselete, but i can always use my ID and TPC. don't know if they skip armor also...would be great if they did, or else also put some crystalline weapon on the ship...

[edit] looks like they do skip armomr
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Q: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
A: Yes.
Q: And what were you doing at that time?

[This message has been edited by LemmyM (edited 04 July 2001).]

[CW]

I tend to put wormhole beams on my "Fleet Auxiliary" class of multi-purpose transports. This single class of ships do everything from laying mines/satellites to transporting population/troops to carrying out emergency repair/resupply on crippled ships and curing level 5 plagues, so I expect them to spend quite a bit of time travelling by themselves. A wormhole beam, a combat sensor plus high speed make them virtually uncatchable, by the AI at least.

A side note on the ship: all the extra gadgets cut the cargo capacity to the bare minimum, but nothing is stopping me from taking *two* ships to do a job right? This all-in-one approach helps cut down the micro-management down a lot. You might want to try it yourselves.

CW

[This message has been edited by CW (edited 05 July 2001).]