Null-Space superior to Phased??

[Jason2]

I have read a lot here regarding the phased energy beams but haven't heard anyone mention the null-space.

I always use null-space over the phased-polaron as they ignore both shields and armor.

Any thoughts or comments about this??

Jason2

[Lion of High Park]

I completely agree. The null space cannons are VERY good. I tend to research up DUCs and capital ship missiles as my early game weapons, and then switch to a combination of phased polaron beams and null-space cannons as my main mid game weapons. The PPB weapons still have the edge, given the higher rate of fire than NSC's (until everyone starts using advanced shields, anyways). So on larger ship hulls, I tend to use one or two large/heavy mount NSCs, augmented with the PPBs.

[Zanthis]

NSP III: 50kt, 3 reload, 60 dmg, range 5
PPB V: 30kt, 1 reload, 50-60 dmg, range 6

Assuming only 50 dmg for the PPB, these weapons perform as follows:
NSP: 0.4 dmg/kt/turn
PPB: 1.67 dmg/kt/turn

The PPB deal 4.17 times more damage. Now, the NSP skips shields and armor. A quick check on Daynarr's Sergetti reveals they run around 5% of their ships' kt armor and 20% kt in shield generator.

Assuming a ship is dead when only armor remains, the NSP must do on average 0.95 times the kt of the ship to kill it. The PPB, OTOH, must deal 1.2 times the kt to deal with the armor, and 1.875 to account for Phased Shields V, for a total of 2.25 times the kt of the ship to kill it.

IOW, the PPB has to deal 2.37 times more damage than the NSP to kill a ship. As we saw above, it does 4.17 times more damage.

YMMV, especially in the opening volley, since NSP's kill components while PPB's are still beating down shields.

[Triumvir Emphy]

YMMV?? Yo Mamma May Vent?? what is YMMV?

[Mark Dey]

Your Mileage May Vary

[Zarix]

I use null-space weapons all the time. They are a lot better than PPB because I use them with in a combo with repulser beams. Repulser beams give time to NSP to reload.

Even more powerful is to use ripper beams and tractor beams.

[raynor]

IMHO, the Phased Polaron Beam is the best general purpose weapon in the game. It is extremely cheap to research, does very good damage, has adequate range and fires every turn. The fact that it penetrates non-phased shields is an added benefit but is less than 1% of the reason why I use the PPB. Lately, I have been disabling this tech area because I think it unbalances the game--esp. when the AI doesn't research Phased Shields fast enough except on medium/high bonus games.

Even if a weapon which only fires every three turns did/does more damage than the PPB does in three turns, I think the PPB would still be a better weapon because it has an increased chance of hitting the target with three separate to-hit die rolls.

I like weapons that fire every turn because it makes the combat go faster and seems to require much less micro-management of umpteen million battles. I prefer the PPB over shorter range weapons like the Ripper/Tractor combo because you can also use the PPB to knock out satellites/WEP's with shorter ranges.

One Last comment: I think it is interesting that the null space weapons are so heavily penalized--i.e. they only get to fire--I think Zanthris said--every three turns? But the PPB fires every turn?!? That is the main reason I think this weapon is unbalanced. In every game I've played, I haven't found any weapon further up the tech tree which does more damage per turn than the PPB. Once again, IGNORE the fact that it penetrates shields. Even without that ability, it's still the best weapon out there with perhaps the Meson BLaster coming in second doing less damage but allowing you to mount more weapons--thus increasing your to-hit probability, I would guess.

[Baron Munchausen]

I think that's the distinction to make: 'General Purpose'. The Null Space Projector is a great thing to have when you need to crack a base ship or a starbase. It starts destroying components immediately and saves you 10 turns or more of breaking down shields. 10 turns against a starbase-sized collection of weapons is an eternity. But it doesn't fire very fast and a bunch of little ships with plain old APB or MB will knock down YOUR shields while you're waiting for it to recharge. The PPB is a normal once-per-turn beam weapon that also penetrates first generation shields. Nice weapon, and I can see why some think that it is unbalancing. I can't think of any reasonable way to restrict it, though, except perhaps to make it harder to research. Make it Physics level three, maybe? Or require that Phased-shields be discovered first? That would make some sense.

[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 07 February 2001).]

[Zanthis]

I would at least change the Phased-Energy Weapons research cost. It's, what, 5000 right now? Try making it 50000 and it might be more reasonable. My main problem is I can regularly get PPB's around turn 30 at medium research costs.

For that reason, my weapon research is as follows: DUCII, PPB. That's it. The DUCII and CSMI hold me over until I get PPBs.

[Daynarr]

quote:

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Originally posted by Zanthis:
I would at least change the Phased-Energy Weapons research cost. It's, what, 5000 right now? Try making it 50000 and it might be more reasonable. My main problem is I can regularly get PPB's around turn 30 at medium research costs.

For that reason, my weapon research is as follows: DUCII, PPB. That's it. The DUCII and CSMI hold me over until I get PPBs.

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I that case you don't want to run into Sergetti, they will eat you alive.