Beam turrets are useless?!?!?

[Szines Geza]

I'm just asking...
https://youtu.be/a14kxNjgBl0?t=349

[csaba]

Seems like the direct result of cap ship shield changes.

A little more damage wouldn't hurt but they are hit scan weapons so you have to be careful not to make them instagib fighters.

[chew-ie]

A little more damage wouldn't hurt but they are hit scan weapons so you have to be careful not to make them instagib fighters.

Back in the days the used to melt down K's as well. (main weapons on stations -> I win button) Hard to balance, but I like them the way they are now to be honest - if you can concentrate their fire you still get results.

[sware]

Maybe useless against the destroyer. But in your video you can see a S ship getting its shields melted away pretty fast.
I think a problem with people complaining about things like this is the missing encyclopedia.
If it would be telling us that this is an anti fighter weapon people would know what to expect from it.

[sh1pman]

Yes, they are currently next to useless against any target. Pulse is much better vs. fighters. Use beams if you want to challenge yourself.

I like how beams were done in X3 XRM mod. Only the capitals could have beams, and they were super powerful but also slow to rotate. This made them only good vs. other capitals.

[LameFox]

Slower tracking is a much better way to balance them vs fighters for sure.

Personally I've found beam weapons to be totally unnecessary in this game so far. They hit things easily, but lots of harder-hitting weapons land hits often enough to be better, so I'm not sure what niche they're supposed to fill exactly. Maybe the small ones are good for exclusive missile defence or something, but the AI fires so few missiles at me I don't care.

[Meme Turtle]

There is a simple fix to beams I've proposed long time ago. If you want anticapital beams to work you need to add cone mechanic to the beam similar to other projectile weapons.

[mr.WHO]

Additionally there is one more important thing:
- all other weapons fire from all their barrels (e.g. large plasma fire two bullets at once).
- Large beam weapons fire one barrel, then other barrel - reducing DPS by half.

[GCU Grey Area]

Find them sufficiently useful that around 25% of the turrets on my defence platforms are L Beam. Generally go for a mix of L Beam, L Pulse, M Flak & M Tracking, in roughly even numbers (basic idea is Pulse & Tracking for capitals, Flak for M ships, Beam for S ships).

There is a simple fix to beams I've proposed long time ago. If you want anticapital beams to work you need to add cone mechanic to the beam similar to other projectile weapons.

Slower tracking is a much better way to balance them vs fighters for sure.

Really do not like these ideas at all. Have plenty of weapons that work fine against capitals. I have absolutely no use at all for an anti-capital beam weapon - what would be the point? It's not like they can dodge, so a highly accurate beam weapon is completely unnecessary for the purpose. Firmly opposed to the idea of nerfing the ability of L Beam turrets to melt fighters just to have yet another option to use on capitals that I probably won't ever use (L Pulse & M Tracking do a fine job already).

[Warnoise]

I'm just asking...
https://youtu.be/a14kxNjgBl0?t=349

To be frank, they are good at killing surface elements and fighters, so they are balanced imo

[mr.WHO]

I'm just asking...
https://youtu.be/a14kxNjgBl0?t=349

To be frank, they are good at killing surface elements and fighters, so they are balanced imo

Are turrets even capable of targeting surface elements?

[swatti]

I'm just asking...
https://youtu.be/a14kxNjgBl0?t=349

To be frank, they are good at killing surface elements and fighters, so they are balanced imo

Are turrets even capable of targeting surface elements?

Yes, but we dont have a command for it, yet.

If an AI pilot is ordered to capture a target, it will aim at turrets if ordered to. Since big ships move... Umm... Baaadly, it can be helped by pewpewleizoor fighter wing. All commands are filtered down to underlings. A fighter wing under a carrier will strip a target clean of turrets if placed under the capping carrier.

We do NEED a command to shoot surface elements.

[LameFox]

Find them sufficiently useful that around 25% of the turrets on my defence platforms are L Beam. Generally go for a mix of L Beam, L Pulse, M Flak & M Tracking, in roughly even numbers (basic idea is Pulse & Tracking for capitals, Flak for M ships, Beam for S ships).

There is a simple fix to beams I've proposed long time ago. If you want anticapital beams to work you need to add cone mechanic to the beam similar to other projectile weapons.

Slower tracking is a much better way to balance them vs fighters for sure.

Really do not like these ideas at all. Have plenty of weapons that work fine against capitals. I have absolutely no use at all for an anti-capital beam weapon - what would be the point? It's not like they can dodge, so a highly accurate beam weapon is completely unnecessary for the purpose. Firmly opposed to the idea of nerfing the ability of L Beam turrets to melt fighters just to have yet another option to use on capitals that I probably won't ever use (L Pulse & M Tracking do a fine job already).

It wouldn't necessarily have to be anti-capital in role to be balanced via tracking, since tracking matters less at longer ranges, especially if your 'projectile' has no travel time. Smaller turrets could also track faster. It just allows them to deal a less useless amount of damage to larger ships without becoming invariably lethal to small ones. If this is done by having even the largest beam turrets do very little damage but consistently hit fighters, it doesn't leave much incentive to ever use smaller ones.

[Szines Geza]

"Maybe useless against the destroyer."
Those turrets are "L" (Large) sized!!! Think it again! I don't care "S" or "M" ships! Because the fighters don't be able destroying a station!

[Berserk Knight]

They really shouldn't have reduced the damage by 90%...

[burger1]

Beams are for fighters and capturing ships. Not sure how they are at missile defense.

[sware]

Like I said, everybody is fighting over the purpose of beam turrets. Nobody (except the devs) knows whats the role they intended for them.
And this is the main problem. If they say its just missile defence (even as L turret), than they fullfill their role. If they say it should be able to melt L ship shields, then they should buff them again.

"Maybe useless against the destroyer."
Those turrets are "L" (Large) sized!!! Think it again! I don't care "S" or "M" ships! Because the fighters don't be able destroying a station!

If you have enough fighters with plasma cannons you can