The best weapons for a close combat ship?

[CW]

Say you are designing a ship for close combat (let the other guy take it in the face!), assuming that you have max tech, what would you think is the best combination of weapons?

Other than the Allegiance Subverter, which in my opinion is THE best weapon in the game, it seems that the Ripper Beam is next best thing, even though it is somehow marked as obsolete by the time you have max tech. A shield depleter is a bargain too, if your opponent is not leaning heavily on armour. A PDC is standard and I probably would add in either a Phrased Polaroid Beam or a Telekinetic Projector for some extra firepower against fighters. Null Space Projector looks tempting but my recent simulator tests said it loses to the PPB and other quick-reloading weapons most of the time. So what is your opinion?

[Dragonswrd]

I think you get a good bang for your buck with telekensis projector. Without any mods that and the allegiance subverter are all I put on my ships.

[Urendi Maleldil]

Use engine killers as a secondary weapon. That way your opponent can't escape if you can move in fast enough.

[Will]

Shield Depleter/Boarding Party combonation, especially if your ships are small and cheap, and the enemies' are big, expensive, and have a self-destruct component...

[Phoenix-D]

The null-space performs best if your opponent likes to use lots and lots of shields and/or armor. Especially if he uses regenerators.

Phoenix-D

[Baron Munchausen]

As you can see, CW, there are as many opinions as weapons. I do tend to favor the Phased Polaron Beam since it's so cool to just skip shields and start damaging the enemy immediately. In the default game this advantage goes away when phased shields are available, though. I've modded my files to include a new weapon after the PPB that skips ALL shields. It's larger and more expensive both to construct and to use (more supply usage) but it lets me keep the same basic strategy and I think makes the Sergetti as dangerous in the late game as the early/mid-game where they've just got their PPBs and phased shields haven't appeared yet.

The Ripper Beam is a very nice weapon but hard to get quickly. You need level 7 propulsion before you can even begin to research it. If you're playing max-tech, then what the heck. Put a tractor beam or two on your ship (extra in case of a miss) then a bunch of Rippers, then a repulsor beam. This makes a wicked, nasty brawler that sucks the enemy it, pounds it with very high damage and then repulses it out of range if there's anything left. If the target is of similar or smaller size there usually is not anything left to be repulsed away. The Ripper has a very high damage/size ratio. But then if it's larger you cannot pull it in with the tractor beam.

The Null-space Cannon is certainly not something you want to rely on completely because of the slow reload, but it can be a good "auxillary" weapon that lets your ships start damaging the enemy immediately. Just one NSC in a ship with otherwise normal weapons, for example. Using a Tractor/NSC/Repulsor combo might be even nastier than the Ripper setup. You can use the repulsor to keep the enemy away while you are waiting for that reload, too. And the NSC makes a great ambush weapon to put on Sats guarding a warp point.



[This message has been edited by Baron Munchausen (edited 11 August 2001).]