APBs.... alternatives?

[Makinus]

When playing SEIV, except when i use racial weapons, i invariably research and use only APBs, since they are good for the early, middle and late game.....

I want to know if other players also think that APBs are the main weapon for non-racial empires? Do you use any other weapons, what would be a good complement to APBs? When to add/research the complement weapon?

[Fyron]

APBs are not so hot for early game. DUC research is cheap and requires no theoretical techs, and they out-gun APBs for a number of levels.

[Captain Kwok]

I'm personally a huge fan of DUC armed escorts - putting like 3 or so DUCs on an escort with ECM and PD is likely to result in your opponent never being able to research APBs.

[douglas]

DUC is king of the early game, and PPB wins mid game. APBs are the best only in the late game. It costs a ton of research points to get high level APBs and they don't get better than DUCs and PPBs until those expensive high levels, and they suffer in the early and mid game compared to PPBs by not being able to skip non-phased shields. Late game that doesn't matter because everyone has phased shields, but until then it's a huge difference.

[capnq]

I've become a fan of Ionic Dispersers as a secondary weapon. You're going to be researching Propulsion anyway, and they help wear down shields as well as killing engines.

[PvK]

I like and have won unmodded hard competitive games in the mid-game using Meson Blasters and/or PPB mark II's (for efficiency). Of course, it wasn't because of this selection that I won, but I think the way I used them was at least as effective as if I had chosen APB's.

PvK

[Fyron]

Both of those weapons are more powerful than low-mid level APBs. MB V has a 1.5 damage ratio out to range 6, and MB VI has a ratio of 1.75. APB doesn't get a 1.5 ratio til APB VIII, which goes down to 1.0 at range 6. With high hit rates at longer ranges, MBs really hold their own in the mid-game. Its not til APB XI that you get a 1.5 ratio at range 6 (which also has 2.0 at range 1, making it generally better than MB overall). APB X can be better than MB VI, if you can get most firing to occur at short ranges or when hit rates are generally low and you avoid max range type strategies (making the higher damage at range of the MB useless). It takes a hell of a lot of research to get to APB XI, leaving a big gap for the MB fleet to research more combat bonus and defense tech than the APB. In the late game when APBs can be maxed out and other techs researched, all that MB spending becomes moot. APBs are definitely a sleeper tech, best not put into field use for a number of levels. It all depends on how long the game is going to last, and when (major) war breaks out.