Why are beam turrets expensive?

[LameFox]

To quote the encyclopedia:

"Considered to be an entry-level option, the Beam Turret is generally preferred by captains with tight budgetary considerations."

This is describing a turret that costs more than plasma, and is selected when you choose the 'high' preset for ship equipment.

[As25]

You are being intimidated into paying more with that powerful 24 dps.

I don't know man. Egosoft is weird when it comes to beams. In TC, they were cut content left in the files (you could get them in one very specific instance, though it looked like an oversight). In AP, they introduced the Phased Array Laser Cannon, though is kinda hard to get and it's only 1 of the 4 beams "available". In X4, they finally properly introduce them but gave them little dps, and then we have COH, where they went 180 and said **** balance and added an op beam that insta bitch slaps an I.

[dtpsprt]

They have 100% (almost) accuracy and low level energy demands, coupled with minimal heating... that's why...

[GCU Grey Area]

You are being intimidated into paying more with that powerful 24 dps.

It's 24 dps that rarely misses. For years (literally) I avoided even trying beam turrets because that did seem like a very small number. Then one day, completely on a whim, I finally got round to trying them out.

They are effective in the sort of numbers you can fit on a destroyer. Ended up preferring them to the M bolt turrets I was previously using on my capitals. M beams may do only ¼ of the damage of M bolt turrets, however as long as they hit at least 4x more often they can end up doing more damage overall. For the most part, due to their extreme accuracy they do.

As far as I'm concerned it's the item description that's in error, rather than cost or stats.

[LameFox]

They have 100% (almost) accuracy and low level energy demands, coupled with minimal heating... that's why...

This is about the turrets, which is where I got the encyclopedia description. They won't overheat regardless.

[LameFox]

You are being intimidated into paying more with that powerful 24 dps.

It's 24 dps that rarely misses. For years (literally) I avoided even trying beam turrets because that did seem like a very small number. Then one day, completely on a whim, I finally got round to trying them out.

They are effective in the sort of numbers you can fit on a destroyer. Ended up preferring them to the M bolt turrets I was previously using on my capitals. M beams may do only ¼ of the damage of M bolt turrets, however as long as they hit at least 4x more often they can end up doing more damage overall. For the most part, due to their extreme accuracy they do.

As far as I'm concerned it's the item description that's in error, rather than cost or stats.

With M beams they need to hit even more often than that, because the bolts start firing at the target earlier. Pulse also fire slightly earlier than even bolts and have faster projectiles IIRC.

[dtpsprt]

They have 100% (almost) accuracy and low level energy demands, coupled with minimal heating... that's why...

This is about the turrets, which is where I got the encyclopedia description. They won't overheat regardless.

I'm always talking about the ARG ones. As turrets go they have the best turning speed increasing their accuracy in all classes. Personally I always put ARG plasma in the L slots and dedicate them to attack capitals and ARG Flak for the M (defend)

[GCU Grey Area]

With M beams they need to hit even more often than that, because the bolts start firing at the target earlier. Pulse also fire slightly earlier than even bolts and have faster projectiles IIRC.

In my experience pulse & bolt turrets are at their worst as regards accuracy when shooting at max range, barely hitting anything of size S or M until it flies a fair bit closer. In contrast beams are accurate even at max range. Would not use them if I did not find them effective.

[mr.WHO]

The biggest problem with beams is that most ships doesn't have dense enough turret configuration for beams to deal effective DPS.

The beam seem weak, untill you try Jian 6 turrets focused on single target.
Something with a lot of turrets, like Raptor is also very good (especially that Raptor has enough turrets to allow very flexible mix of weapons).

The additional problem with beams is that they are too light to be effective agains M/L/XL targets, so in addition to turret density, you also get very situational weapon, comparing to pulse or bolt or flak.

[Casishur]

I use the beam turrets mainly for decorative purposes only, since they were heavily nerfed when 3.0 was released. Back then, a defense station with these turrets could melt K and I in seconds without any problems. Now they do almost no damage, for they are quite expensive and almost every faction defense stations are expensive = best equipped due to the loadout definition.