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I built a station full of them and they did nothing that I could see to attacking ships? So I replaced them with the early pulse blasters and I destroyed many attacking ships. What good are the long range guns?

Long range guns is probably a misnomer, they actually have a fairly short range. Their key strength is that they completely bypass shields, making them very effective in quickly eliminating targets at short range.

ORIGINAL: Shark7

Long range guns is probably a misnomer, they actually have a fairly short range. Their key strength is that they completely bypass shields, making them very effective in quickly eliminating targets at short range.

But they did nothing to the ships at short range while the pulse blasters destroyed many of them?

It is a complete misnomer - You should look at Missiles or the race unique blasters at the very top of the blaster tech tree for some early long range weaponry.

ORIGINAL: Tanaka

ORIGINAL: Shark7

Long range guns is probably a misnomer, they actually have a fairly short range. Their key strength is that they completely bypass shields, making them very effective in quickly eliminating targets at short range.

But they did nothing to the ships at short range while the pulse blasters destroyed many of them?

When he said short range he really meant it[:)]

The first "long range" guns have a range of practically 0. You need to be more or less atop of what ever you are fireing on.

ORIGINAL: Resan

ORIGINAL: Tanaka

ORIGINAL: Shark7

Long range guns is probably a misnomer, they actually have a fairly short range. Their key strength is that they completely bypass shields, making them very effective in quickly eliminating targets at short range.

But they did nothing to the ships at short range while the pulse blasters destroyed many of them?

When he said short range he really meant it[:)]

The first "long range" guns have a range of practically 0. You need to be more or less atop of what ever you are fireing on.

Yep, I always mix weapon types as much as possible. For bases, Long Range Guns and Rail Guns should be a tertiary system. Instead go with blasters as primary, missiles/torpedoes as secondary, then add in a few rail guns for fun.

Rail guns work well on very fast ships that can overtake an enemy and take away its range advantage. My escorts eventually end up with 4 Blasters, 2 Missiles, and 1 Rail gun on a ship that has a max speed of around 60.

Also, I tend to shy away from area weapons except in special cases. Area weapons will damage any ship in range, be it enemy or friendly.

The Long Range guns are much better on ships than stations because they need to get close. If you try them on an Escort or Frigate, you'll find that they are actually a very effective very short range weapon, more powerful than the blasters in some ways. The blasters are more versatile and multi-role though. For bases, you want as much long-range weaponry as possible, so in the pre-warp era I would go missile-heavy on bases with a few blasters and put long range guns and blasters on my fast military ships.

Regards,

- Erik

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

The Long Range guns are much better on ships than stations because they need to get close. If you try them on an Escort or Frigate, you'll find that they are actually a very effective very short range weapon, more powerful than the blasters in some ways. The blasters are more versatile and multi-role though. For bases, you want as much long-range weaponry as possible, so in the pre-warp era I would go missile-heavy on bases with a few blasters and put long range guns and blasters on my fast military ships.

Regards,

- Erik

Thanks Erik why are they called long range guns then? Kinda confusing [8D]

ORIGINAL: Tanaka
Thanks Erik why are they called long range guns then? Kinda confusing [8D]

Well, from the perspective of the Level 0 technologies and your species just heading into space, they are the longest range guns and the first suitable for space combat, leading up to the later rail guns. I understand how the name could be confusing though - it's a story-based name rather than being truly descriptive. I'll see if we can make this a bit more intuitive.