Help me build a new cruiser or Capital. Area weps or beams?

[Larsenex]

So I am going to start a new thread about this topic. Can you post what you put into your cruiser lvl and higher ships? Assume a base size of 800 (?).

Are area weapons your choice, if so why?

Also if you had a choice between a super area weapon (Devastator Pulse) or a Super Beam (Death Ray), which would you put on and how would you build the ship?

If you can from memory list what I should put in please do so.

Are fighters my best bet all around?

I would make these ships for attack and of my 3 or 4 largest fleets for invasion.

Any advice or what you do is most welcome!

[Setekh]

Unless that ship is fighting solo, area weapons are a really bad idea, unless you want to wipe out your support fleet along with the enemy.
I like the damage capabilities of stuff like the Derasian shockwave but they just do too much damage to friendlies, so I don't bother with them at all now except on stuff that's going solo.

[cmdrnarrain]

Actually, I think someone suggested you trade area effect weapons to the AI races. That way they lower their reputation by blowing up a bunch a friendly freighters everytime they use it.

I hate to say it but it is really a taste issue. All of the weapons are fairly balanced.

What I do is missiles on destroyers, torps on crusiers and fighters on capital ships. All of them have point defense and run as a fleet of approx. 6 destroyers, 3 crusiers and 1 capital ship.

There is little point to mixing weapon types unless the ship is really really fast as it appears that ships are only able to target one ship at a time. Super speedy ships are able to mix torps and beams because they can close to beam range faster then their torps can recharge.

[Shark7]

Keep in mind area weapons will destroy any escorts you send with a ship armed as such. If you are going to use area weapons, I suggest the area weapons, heavy heavy shields, enough engines to move it and send it in to a system first and alone.

I prefer a mix of beams, missiles, torpedoes and fighters on my capital designs....jack of all trades, master of none. I usually only employ area weapons on a 'kamikaze' defense clearing ships (the one above) or on my defensive platforms.

[Data]

i plan them exclusevly for defense....for now, the 'kamikaze' idea sound good also

[BigWolfChris]

I wonder how much of a CPU strain it would be to include a "are friendlies in the way?" line of code before ships use area weapons
Friendlies in range, don't fire, if they aren't fire away
Be useful in certain situations (numbers running low, or fleets heading straight on, meaning the lead ship will be clear to use them without hitting friendlies)

[Sabin Stargem]

That would be very useful, and would spur me on to add area weapons to my ships.

[Data]

but then they might not fire when you need or want them to
tbh, i would still prefer it as it is now....but i'm fine either way

[Larsenex]

So I have had some tinkering and here is what I found and need more info on. I am working on Cruiser size. (800 pts).

How many fusion reactors? I put in 4.

Corvadian shields?

Armor?

Do I need more than one med lab, recreation area, and/or long range scanner?


How do I determine speed vrs how many engines? I put in 4 engines but cannot read the graph on thrust to weight, can someone assist me?

How do I determine how many reactors to have vrs max output of energy both max speed and all weapons blasting?


The death ray takes up a LOT of room and is an Energy whore! Is this weapon worth installing if I have near tech maxed Titan beams?

I was going to build a destroyer using just death rays. I can only get 2 on it and even then I have to add more reactors for energy.

If I want to make a 'new' design, it forces me to choose a class and then it 'replaces the default with the new design. What If I jut want to build an 800 point design and also want to keep the default as well?

Thanks much

[Data]

Do I need more than one med lab, recreation area, and/or long range scanner?

one ie enough, they do not stack

[Kayoz]

ORIGINAL: Data

Do I need more than one med lab, recreation area, and/or long range scanner?

one ie enough, they do not stack

I haven't tried this - recreation area on a ship? I thought they were used in space ports and resort bases - and useless in a warship.

[Sabin Stargem]

With engines, I just toss a whole bunch and try to judge what is my breaking point. Engines have an decreasing amount of benefit as you install more of them, so your first engine might net you 10 points, but your 5th engine only manages 2.

[Data]

yes, Kayoz, they are indeed usless on ships and they were designed for resort bases mainly

[Larsenex]

Didnt know that about rec rooms on ships.
I figured they were needed.
I will redesign them immediately

But this begs the question. Do you like the Death ray? Has anyone designed a Cruiser using it and what have they found? Isnt it better simply to have 4 Lasers instead?

DOES DW have a tech that is similiar to Miniturization as in GC2?

The Death Ray is Size 140(!), Hell I can fit 5 Titan Beams for that size and pull out much better dps. Is there a practical use for the Death ray on ships?

[currierm]

Editing the content as some folks might view this is a spoiler. There's some analysis of weapon numbers in the War Room.

After crunching a bunch of numbers, I am questioning the usefulness of the death ray. It does however do great damage per unit of energy. That can have its uses- especially if you have poor reactor tech or not much fuel. Or on bases, where size is generally not much of an issue.

[currierm]

What I wrote up might be viewed by some folks as a spoiler. So, I'm editing the content out. There's some relevant threads over in the War Room for people who are interested.

[Setekh]

Death ray might not be great dps but it gives you a great 'first strike' capability when entering a battle. 

[Larsenex]

Curreiem, I could not find much over in the war room regarding the Death Ray. It looks awesome at first but if you have end tech Titan beams they seem like the winner. Can you link me a thread on a Death ray here on the forums?

Thanks, also can you PM your spoilers?

[ggf31416]

Here it is a thread about superweapons tm.asp?m=2456271&mpage=1&key=
I don't know what their stats are in the expansion.