Hello! I have just started playing the game again and as I was setting up ships for my new character everything I was reading suggested making use of the burst Laser cannons above all the alternatives.

 

When I look at what all the cannons offer though it seems like a much less useful choice?

I feel I must be missing something truly obvious....

 

If anyone could tell me what makes burst laser cannons so highly recommended and how they might compare to the quad or light laser cannons I have used in the past I would be very grateful!

Hello! I have just started playing the game again and as I was setting up ships for my new character everything I was reading suggested making use of the burst Laser cannons above all the alternatives.

 

When I look at what all the cannons offer though it seems like a much less useful choice?

I feel I must be missing something truly obvious....

 

If anyone could tell me what makes burst laser cannons so highly recommended and how they might compare to the quad or light laser cannons I have used in the past I would be very grateful!

 

• Very high damage per shot -- they easily deal over 500 damage per hit, meaning a single shot with BLC is worth usually 2-3 shots with any other blaster. This is important when you have evasive targets that only let you land a shot or two before escaping.
  
• Very high accuracy close-range -- with the "Pinpointing" passive (which is a must-have) you get 123% accuracy at 500m. That's 7% higher than any other blaster, making them exceptionally good against targets with high evasion close-range (mainly scouts and gunships).
  
• Very low tracking -- if you don't understand tracking, it is a penalty. An accuracy percentage you lose for every shot that you take when your targeting reticule isn't exactly in the center of the screen. BLC have only 0.5% accuracy loss per degree offcenter, and on top of that you get the first 5% you lose refunded! so you can basically fire them at up to 10° offcenter without losing accuracy at all. This makes them amazing in turning fights, because together with their high base accuracy they will miss much less up-close (where tracking is more prevalent).
  
• 100% Armor penetration -- this is essential in domination matches, because turrets have 70% damage reduction and bombers will often have 99% damage reduction. Any blaster without armor penetration will take long to kill turrets, and an unrealistically long time to kill a bomber with charged plating. The armor ignore upgrade allows you to ignore these traits completely.
  

 

Keep in mind -- BLC are effective close-range, preferably in under 2000m if possible. They take some practice because they're different from any other blaster in the game, but they're very much worth it.

 

Hope this helps.

Try to think of BLC as a space shotgun. The closer you get, the more deadly. The hardest part is getting (and staying) close to the guy without getting killed in the process. That's part of the reason why stacking evasion is really useful on BLC scouts.

I see! Thank you both very much for the advice!

I can certainly now see why they are recommended so highly!

 

I am quite curious though if any of the others come close to comparing with them?

I unlocked them and they seem quite fun to use but admittedly I have a sort of bias towards more generalist things.

Given the choice I tend to prefer jack of all trade weapons and such.

I know how often that leads to me having very lacking weapons though...

BLC are the jack of all trades of weapons. Because of their accuracy, armor ignore, tracking and damage per shot they're good against everything.

 

Quads/LLC have high DPS, but their tracking and lack of AP make them only good vs. fairly immobile targets. LLC in particular aren't very good against anything, while quads are good vs. gunships and non-CP bombers mainly.

 

The only other weapon that is so versatile are heavy laser cannons, which aren't an option on a scout (and in any case don't have as good tracking or damage per shot).

Ah okay! I did not realize that sorry.

May I ask at what distance out it is wasteful to use the burst laser cannons?

I am used to using the quad ones and I think I have began firing too early whilst trying out the burst ones.

Generally, under 3000m is ok. Under 2000m is recommended because that's where their accuracy becomes really high. The closer, the better. Firing over these ranges is wasteful because you'll be missing a bunch.

Oh! That is much much better than I thought! Thank you!

I was thinking you would have to be half that distance for it to be useful....

It's still best to use them from as close as possible. Just know that you can use them up to 2000m and still land most of your shots, and even 3000m in certain situations.

The Shotgun vs machine gun analogy is s good one.

 

BLCs have quite a big power draw, so you have to teach yourself to shoot targets only when the reticules line up. -Not slide to the point when they do. -AND stop when they don't. Stray shots into space suck lots of energy, so if you can redirect power to weapons at the same time it helps with longer time on target.

 

I often wondered why Quads didn't really match the power of BLCs. - Though Quads are more forgiving if your reactions aren't pin-sharp and aiming a tad wobbly ( especially vs high evasion / ever-jinking scouts)

Edited August 1, 2017 by Storm-Cutter

I often wondered why Quads didn't really match the power of BLCs. - Though Quads are more forgiving if your reactions aren't pin-sharp and aiming a tad wobbly ( especially vs high evasion / ever-jinking scouts)

 

My guess is that it's several factors:

1. BLCs are vastly better at short range, but nothing is really good at mid range. (Especially when the target tries not to get hit.)
   
2. BLCs have decent crit chance and low rate of fire. Big hits kill ships. Small hits often just hurt them.
   
3. The big hits from BLCs makes it easier to win against unprepared targets.
   
4. Closing to short range is pretty easy if you're at mid range.
   

Edited August 1, 2017 by krfsm

I often wondered why Quads didn't really match the power of BLCs.

 

I mean, against a target you have undernose, they have great dps. They also aren't a super fast gun, so the amount of initial damage you deal is pretty solid, which is a pretty big deal. But generally nothing can beat bursts in effective damage, because it's a really hard gun to escape or turn off in any way.